Increasing the character count of my trigger_multiple messages

[Darth_Stewie]

How do I do this? Do I have to edit something in the triggers.qc or suchplace? Any guidance would be most highly appreciated.

[R00k]

ask over on Inside3D - that's more the programming/modding side of Quake.

That said, i think the messages are limited to 128 or 256 characters? not sure, actually.

[Adam]

I got round it by breaking my sentences up into a readable size (so you have enough time to read them) and then using multiple trigger_relays that all had longer delays set so that they displayed one after the other.
At the time, I can't remember why, I had the trigger_relays targeting another trigger which actually displayed the message. I had problems when I tried to use the trigger_relays alone.

With a bit of qc knowledge tho' this can all be avoided.

[Zop]

Judging by a look through the code, there doesn't seem to be a limit on the length of a message. If the message is too long for the screen to show, then you will need to use newline characters in the character string, which are implemented with "\n" in qc.

If there still is some sort of cut-off on string lengths, I would guess it is due to the qc compiler. To test this idea, open the progs.dat file with a text editor and look for your centerprint text.

[Darth_Stewie]

Judging by a look through the code, there doesn't seem to be a limit on the length of a message. If the message is too long for the screen to show, then you will need to use newline characters in the character string, which are implemented with "\n" in qc.

If there still is some sort of cut-off on string lengths, I would guess it is due to the qc compiler. To test this idea, open the progs.dat file with a text editor and look for your centerprint text.

Yeah, I'd like to use QC if possible. I have used the \n function, but there is still a cutoff point, about 100 characters in, which I'd ideally like to expand. I'm typing the text into the 'message' field in the trigger_multiple properties box. Is there a way I should type the text into the qc itself? Thanks.

[nahuel]

Is there a way I should type the text into the qc itself? Thanks.

yeah! check "client.qc" you will find some large messages there

[Darth_Stewie]

yeah! check "client.qc" you will find some large messages there

Yeah, I've managed to change the intermission text to display custom text at the end of a level of my choice, but how might I implement text that appears when the player enters a trigger brush, in client qc?

[Zop]

Ah, I just realized you're editing a map, not the code, so ignore that qc stuff I mentioned... for the moment.

I assume your editor keeps the full length message on the trigger, even when reloading from a save file, so it must not be its filetype causing a problem.

Can you export to a .map file? You can open this file with a text editor and look for your message to see if it's truncated. Then, you can also open the compiled .bsp file as text and find your message and check there. That will give you an idea of which part of the process is causing it.

[Darth_Stewie]

Thanks, I did just that, and can report the following: the .bsp cuts off the text string in the same place as it does in-game, whereas the .map cuts it off in the same place as it does in the trigger_multiple object properties dialogue box where it says 'message (set sound too). What should I do now?

[Zop]

So, the building tools you have might not be too great (qbsp.exe, light.exe, vis.exe). Replace them with the ones here: utils You may still need to edit the map file as text and put in your longer message each time you want to test it. This also makes building a bit more complicated, since you'll have to export to map, edit the message, then use each build tool. A batch file can help automate the last bit, at least.

[Darth_Stewie]

That sounds like a good idea, thanks. So to clarify, I should edit the text in my .map file, then run the updated build tools? Also, how do I create a batch file to run these automatically?

[Zop]

@echo off

realqBSP -oldexpand -nowatervis %1

light -soft -extra4 -light 50 -addmin -dist 0.7 %1

vis -level 4 -noambient %1

copy %1.bsp D:\GAMES\QUAKE\id1\maps
copy %1.pts D:\GAMES\QUAKE\id1\maps

This is what I had as my most recent build batch file. I had a similar problem where I had to start using a batch file as well. I renamed qbsp.exe to realqbsp.exe and made this batch file called qbsp.bat. I basically tricked my map editor into running this instead, so I can use my own command line arguments as needed.

[Darth_Stewie]

Hi, I'm not sure I get it. I've downloaded and replaced the vis, light and qbsp programs, and configured worldcraft to use them as opposed to the originals. I've edited the text in the .map file, but when I compile that, I still get the cut-off text in the .bsp. What am I doing incorrectly?

[Adam]

I think there may be a text amount limit and even if there isn't,
it wouldn't be displayed long enough onscreen for you to be able to read it.

I don't know qc, so I broke my text up but there are definitely talented qc coders
who call by, that would be able to override the text amount limit (if needed) and the onscreen display time.

It's unfortunate that you ask at this time as there has been some turmoil here lately.
Hopefully as the dust settles some of the usual suspects will return and lend you a hand.

[Zop]

Looks like I should have tested my idea rather than assuming. I'm used to a large centerprint text size thanks to doing qc code- I didn't know the map compiler truncates it.

Well, thankfully Tyr has provided source code, so I'm looking through it to see why there's a problem. It seems the .bsp file has a limit of 128 characters for both "message" and [actual message], so you're allowed only 111 characters.

Looks like we'll have to use qc to do what you want, but it might be more trouble than it's worth. I'll be happy to answer whatever you have about that, if you do go for it.