Asset - Graphics FMV creator; best one?

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Misty

Guest
My question is, does ThinkBoxly's videoplayer have a startup lag to it like the old game maker videoplayer?
The old game maker video player irked me because it had a 1-5 second delay before playing videos.
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
The GML Video Player by ThinkBoxly (https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/2947/gml-video-player-edge-engine) ($1.99) is not actually a video player at all. I bought it yesterday, and after looking at the FMV format, when a single file, it can be opened as an archive with 7zip. The zip contains images, just rename their extensions to png. When in the pre-cache format, the same applies, only it is in a directory, instead of an archive. All it does really is play a sequence of PNG's in sync with the associated OGG. It doesn't have a startup lag, at least.

The "AVI to FMV converter" it comes with, is not actually a converter at all. It extracts the frames and audio to an archive or directory, and it seems to change the resolution of the original frames. From my testing, the max width a video can have is 960, and the max height is 540. So you can't have anything greater than 960x540, unless you extract the frames yourself, using a different software and changing the frame filenames and extensions to whatever.FMV manually.

I personally recommend Captain Ten Thirty's CTTVideoPlayer extension (https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/1524/cttvideoplayer) ($19.99), which will run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. If you want Android support, there's also an Android VideoPlay extension by PlayLight Studios (https://account.yoyogames.com/assets/1406/videoplay-android) ($14.99).
 
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zbox

Member
GMC Elder
@Samuel Venable I think you and I both left a review for that; the description needs to acknowledge that it is an image viewer and no form of video decoding is done at all. I refunded my purchase on the grounds of misleading description, it's only two bucks but it would take me ten minutes to write something much more functional.

No cross platform video playing for now :(. I did attempt to write one with the aide of a shader the other day, some preliminary tests did actually go fairly well so we will see.
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
Pretty much. Hey if you make something cross-platform that works on iOS, you have my purchase at the ready.
 

zbox

Member
GMC Elder
Pretty much. Hey if you make something cross-platform that works on iOS, you have my purchase at the ready.
Ahuh! This is where I posted about the video player! Well, gave it a shot, and the only caveat really is the file size, which is really manageable if you can tweak the converter values per-situation :)
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
[my ignorance removed]
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
CTTVideoPlayer is supported properly on all platforms including consoles
I didn't know this. Super cool! Where are the mobile versions available for purchase? :D
 

zbox

Member
GMC Elder
lol someone copied what the FMV extension does precisely, only charging a lot more for it.

https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/4808/gmlvideo

Let this be a red flag, no one buy it, as just like the FMV extension, it doesn't actually play video files, it converts them to PNG frames and OGG audio, then zips it up with alternate file extensions to camouflage the fact it is only a zip file. I reported them for false advertizing.

Let's face it, video playback is not possible in pure GML. Rename the *.vid extension to *.zip and open it with 7zip, and see for yourself. I will encourage anyone who has already bought it to edit their review and let everyone know about the false advertising in the edit. There is no way I'm paying $20+ just to leave a stinkin' review.

Well there's a lot to unpack here - First of all the zip isn't trying to hide anything. In fact I'd be content with leaving it as a zip file but it would confuse novice users as to where to put the file and how to handle it etc.

Since you didn't buy it, I would assume that you just used to converter and inspected the file that it produced, from which you can draw no actual conclusions, only that it stores data about each single frame. Don't look now, but that's what a video is.

The reason I'm charging full price for it is because it is what I believe to be (I can't see what the CTTV extension is about - seems to be desktop only?) the only current way to get some OK video, cross platform devices. There is a lot going on behind the scenes in this extension in the ways of compression, proper disk streaming and optimization to ensure that it can play on all platforms, including low-spec mobile devices, and a lot of time, knowledge and perfecting went into creating the first viable solution.

Do not compare it to the FMV player. It is not that, the FMV player thing is indeed ridiculous.

it converts them to PNG frames and OGG audio, then zips it up with alternate file extensions to camouflage the fact it is only a zip
And for this part, I'm sorry, this is nothing but an absolute falsehood. If you'd like me to explain what false advertising is, it is where you claim something can do something else, and then it cannot perform that task. It is very clear in the description, I set out the limitations, and the fact you have to use a CONVERTER should make it fairly obvious that the file gets CONVERTED first before playback, into a more optimal form for GMS to read. The extension does literally everything it claims to do on the description page, if not more.

Furthermore convenient that you neglect to mention the files included in the video zip package are not pngs as you claim they are, because I imagine you tried to open it and most certainly failed (hint: they are an optimized file to store frame data that actually enables real time video streaming from the HDD).

I guarantee you this is the best video you will get with a full, GMLONLY implementation and I fully stand behind it. There are also a lot of grateful people who currently use it you can ask as well.

@Mike there seems to be a very strange bug with it in GMS 2 and I filed a bug report but have not received an email about it, not even a confirmation one. Where is the best place to raise this issue?
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
Sorry I had no idea. Next time I'll think twice before drawing to conclusions. That, and I didn't know that you were the publisher of the asset. Again I apologise.
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
Hey wow I didn't know you replied. Anyway I'm contacting the helpdesk to tell them please disregard my report, as I was heavily misinformed.

Edit: helpdesk ticket submitted. :)
 
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zbox

Member
GMC Elder
Hey wow I didn't know you replied. Anyway I'm contacting the helpdesk to tell them please disregard my report, as I was heavily misinformed.

Edit: helpdesk ticket submitted. :)
No harm done, thanks for being civil with me :)

Don't fret too much about the report, although I thank you for rectifying it with Helpdesk... I report actual spam and it doesn't get removed so it should be ok haha
 
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