Sprite display instructions?

[DGM]

Is there a guide on how to use the sprite display object in the sandbox mode? I can't find one, either in-game or out of it.

[SunCat]

there's one in-game, in the manual pages (button at the top that looks like a book), and there's a bit of info when you click the component itself and looks at the menu at the bottom

[MegaIng]

There is also an example on the schematic hub in game from the game dev.

[DGM]

When does the manual page unlock? I'm up to Wire Spaghetti and I still don't see one on displays.

[MegaIng]

Originally posted by DGM:

When does the manual page unlock? I'm up to Wire Spaghetti and I still don't see one on displays.

When you are able to place the sprite display you will get the manual page for it. I.e. in the sandbox and after completing the 2nd arch.

[DGM]

Okay, the page is there. I just didn't realize you see a different set of pages in sandbox mode than you do in the main game.

However, none of the standard display types have the qualities I'm looking for and it doesn't seem like you can design your own in the component factory. Is there a way for us users to mod in new types?

[MegaIng]

Originally posted by DGM:

Okay, the page is there. I just didn't realize you see a different set of pages in sandbox mode than you do in the main game.

However, none of the standard display types have the qualities I'm looking for and it doesn't seem like you can design your own in the component factory. Is there a way for us users to mod in new types?

Not the moment. What qualities are you looking for? The console display can quite easily be used for a pixel display to sizes about 160x50, everything above that get's hard in terms of simulation speed right now anyway.

[DGM]

> "What qualities are you looking for?"

1) More control over the resolution. I was thinking 320*200, which was a popular resolution back in the 80s and allows you to cover the screen with a single KiB of RAM.

2) The ability to load a tile set from code. I don't like being forced to choose between a fixed ascii tile set or having to load an external .png for custom graphics.

I have more ambitious requests that I admit might be too much, but those seem reasonable enough.

I believe the dev is currently working to make the simulation faster? When he's done with that I hope his next big improvement is to let us design our own displays.

[ikeaman]

You kinda can make your own display using the dot matrix, it's way slower than the sprite display for higher resolutions though. You can basically put as many as you want side by side. It seems you are looking for a display where you can set each pixel to what you want in code so I think that's the best there is for that.

Loading a tileset from code in the sprite display could be cool but it seems more practical to use a png. At least if I understand what you mean correcty, like you would want to be able to set the picture data in code pixel by pixel ? What's good with the sprite display is that it is much faster at drawing a scene because it works with sprites instead of going pixel by pixel.

[DGM]

> "You kinda can make your own display using the dot matrix, it's way slower than the sprite display for higher resolutions though."

Yeah, I probably couldn't get up to 320*200 and maintain a decent speed. But 320 isn't evenly divisible by 6 anyway, so the matrix display has the wrong dimensions for this.

> "At least if I understand what you mean correcty, like you would want to be able to set the picture data in code pixel by pixel ?"

No, I'm fine with using tiles instead of having per-pixel control. But I want the tile set to come from - and be re-writable by - my code, not an external file that has to be chosen in advance.

[ikeaman]

it's what I meant for the sprite display, you want to be able to make the tileset programatically pixel by pixel instead of loading an image. You would need to build the tileset each time you start the program which would make for a long loading time. Also not sure if tileset is the right word, it's not a tilemap it's really only sprites unless what you meant was that you want to have an image with tiles and then programatically arrange these tiles to make a level ?