An idea for WHDload

[SuperFuryAnimal]

Could it be possible to have added to the splash screen and option to read the 'readme' and 'cheat' files that come with many installs. Similar to the way that trainer buttons are used.



This is more for when WHDLoad is used with a loader or frontend as if using those seeing these files is unlikely to happen. Plus other readme and cheat txt files have useful info for the games.



Maybe it could be included as a option that could be toggled in the prefs file??


Idea came to me after playing Banshee as it has the 'evil' cheat that if you dont know about it you'll miss something in the game.


Just a possible thought.

[daxb]

More practical and easier would be the possibility to start RequestFile that shows PROGDIR: of the slave/game. So you can choose the file you want to show/read. The used program should be configurable in whdload.prefs like "ShowRegs=". However, I do not need it.

[Radertified]

Interestingly, something similar to this was suggested on WHDLoad MantisBT: http://mantis.whdload.de/view.php?id=4886

Essentially what's asked there is the same thing, but in-game. For example, let's say you're playing Turrican and you need to refer to the manual. You press a button, the game pauses, the manual is displayed. When you're done, it goes back to exactly where you were.

StingRay responded to it and says it's pretty difficult to implement, unfortunately.

It would be handier to have it in-game but if it is indeed a big task, it might be best to do things in the OS before the game starts. It's better than not having it at all

[jotd]

I'd prefer a solution with game menus, generated from an external tool. For instance, my compilation maker tool for AGS extracts info from slaves and prints them in the .txt file.

not all manuals are called "manual", not all readmes are called "readme", too.

Yes, the in-game thing is too difficult to implement. It could break the game displaying the manual. I did something similar with Rocket Ranger level codes, but that requires to store the game copperlist address: depending on each game.

Of course if there's a file called "readme", it wouldn't cost too much to add a "readme" button in the splash screen interface. Let's Wepl decide (knowning him and how he likes it simple, I think he will turn that idea down)

[Wepl]

I think showing additional install content should not be the task of WHDLoad.
If you use a game selector this one should also be able to show the ReadMe and so on.
Interrupting the running game and continue there is not easy to implement and due spare time constraints not likely to happen in the near future.

[Radertified]

I've been thinking about this lately because game launchers are becoming much more common these days.

I think the simplest way to do this is as jotd said. If a certain filename exists (eg. "manual"), a button will be displayed, like this: (excuse the terrible picture edit )



Ideally:
- you click the button
- the game launch would be paused
- WHDLoad launches a text viewer (in-built?)
- when the text viewer is closed, the game launch resumes

The reason why this method is BETTER than in a game launcher is it's immediately clear to a user that a manual, cheat, etc. exists. In a launcher, that sort of thing is usually harder to find due to screenshots and other information.

The reason why this method is WORSE than in a game launcher is it bloats WHDLoad a little, and of course requires time to implement.

I only bring this up again as I've been using iGame lately and find sometimes I need to refer to a manual, which takes a little while to find.

And to be 100% clear, I'm not actively requesting this as a feature. If it gets implemented, great! If not, great too! No big deal

[Bleugh]

The A500 Mini has a function to bring up a virtual keyboard - at ANY time....
could that somehow be re-directed to bring up 'something else' ?
or even like the A500 mini's 'pause' function to switch to another window with the 'game' in a mini window paused......
probably not the job of WHDload, more of the emulator though