Video Cursor

[GORDON]

I have a frame with an invisible cursor but when I play the video in the frame the cursor is then visible in the video area. How can I stop users from seeing the cursor and clicking on the video area which stops the video?

[mercedes]

Hi there..

We had this issue before..Sadly..I don't think there was a fix for it..

One thing I can suggest is put the cursor with a circle around it--and the line thru it... no click cursor...

Then.. in the corner of the frame..put SKIP..have the user click there instead...and that can take them to another frame..

Most who play games..don't click if they are warned not too..but will instead click SKIP..

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I"m not sure if this will work..but you could load the invisible cursor in the Project's Properties..for the background..[outside the video area]..or the noclick cursor there as well..?

[GORDON]

Thanks! Is there really no workaround?

[mercedes]

Have you tried stacking hotspots..?


In the mean time..maybe someone can think of something..using Keygaurd..?
Lyberodoggy's been around lately..maybe he can think of something....

What all have you tried..just to rule things out..

[GORDON]

If you had a timed event loading a hotspot with the invisible curser a sec. after the video starts would it then sit over the video not showing any cursor or would the video still play on top showing a cursor? Just an idea.

[reneuend]

I haven't tried this, but I "think" if you use a hotspot that is as large as your screen size it will work. If the user is allowed to change the screen size, you'll have to resize your hotspot by using the GetDisplayResolutionX and GetDisplayResolutionY at the beginning of the game and storing the values to variables.

Code: Select all

nScreenWidth = Action.GetDisplayResolutionX
nScreenHeight = Action.GetDisplayResolutionY

then on each frame properties - Advanced Tab, you would change the size of the hotspot using something like:

Code: Select all

hotspot(1).width = nScreenWidth
hotspot(1).height = nScreenHeight

NOTE: You have to be careful that the hotspot is NOT overlayed on top of another hotspot within a specific frame.

I might try this later and see if it works. Typically, I just leave it up to the player to decide if they want to skip the video or not.

Let me know how it goes!

[GORDON]

The problem is that the video may be an integral part of the game that has to be seen & the player may inadvertanately click on it not realizing its importance. Thanks for your ideas.

[reneuend]

If you are interested, I built some test frames and got it to work by using a "background hotspot" that changes size based on the resolution used.

I'm going to build a tutorial and add to the next BBB issue.

[GORDON]

Thanks! That would be great!

[Lyberodoggy]

You could also use keyguard to lock the mouse pointer on the lower right corner, where it is invisible and can't click on the video.

[GORDON]

Just wondering how the cursor icon over the video is chosen. If you knew how, you could just make it an invisible cursor. I don't think it's the last cursor you used before the video but mine always comes up as the standard "action1" icon.

[Lyberodoggy]

I think that depends on the version of the media player. You could try changing its default cursor, but I wouldn't recommend it, since we know little about the vista compatible version

[GORDON]

I might have figured a workaround. Instead of "play a video" eg. [9 sec] which has the cursor visible over it, make a hotspot with a looping video which only has time to play once because your frame is set to last only 9 sec. and there is no cursor showing over a looping video. Perhaps you could have the frame only last 9 sec.

[reneuend]

I explain how to do this in the last AM Magazine issue. The main trick is to use a full screen hotspot video and check the box for "resize to fit hotspot size". Check out the magazine article: http://www.hickchickgames.com/am_magazine/bbb20.pdf

[GORDON]

Great stuff! I didn't realize the magazine was out and thought of this idea this morning but you certainly had it figured out already. Great article & great AM magazine.