VGUI Screen Creation

Getting it to load

( Originally from jim_the_coder from TheWavelength )

1) Create a .res file in steamdir\SourceMods\yourmod\scripts\screens ex. vgui_test_screen.res:

"screen_basic.res"
{
   "Background"
   {
       "ControlName" "MaterialImage"
       "fieldName"  "Background"
       "xpos"   "0"
       "ypos"   "0"
       "zpos"   "-2"
       "wide"   "480"
       "tall"   "240"
       "material"  "vgui/screens/vgui_overlay"
   }
   "OwnerReadout"
   {
       "ControlName" "Label"
       "fieldName"  "OwnerReadout"
       "xpos"   "10"
       "ypos"   "20"
       "wide"   "240"
       "tall"   "34"
       "autoResize" "0"
       "pinCorner"  "0"
       "visible"  "1"
       "enabled"  "1"
       "tabPosition" "0"
       "labelText"  "No Owner"
       "textAlignment" "center"
       "dulltext"  "0"
       "paintBackground" "0"
   }
   "HealthReadout"
   {
       "ControlName" "Label"
       "fieldName"  "HealthReadout"
       "xpos"   "240"
       "ypos"   "20"
       "wide"   "240"
       "tall"   "34"
       "autoResize" "0"
       "pinCorner"  "0"
       "visible"  "1"
       "enabled"  "1"
       "tabPosition" "0"
       "labelText"  "Health: 100%"
       "textAlignment" "center"
       "dulltext"  "0"
       "paintBackground" "0"
   }
   "DismantleButton"
   {
       "ControlName" "MaterialButton"
       "fieldName"  "Dismantle"
       "xpos"   "78"
       "ypos"   "160"
       "wide"   "324"
       "tall"   "48"
       "autoResize" "0"
       "pinCorner"  "0"
       "visible"  "1"
       "enabled"  "1"
       "tabPosition" "2"
       "labelText"  "Dismantle"
       "textAlignment" "center"
       "dulltext"  "0"
       "brighttext" "0"
       "Default"  "0"
       "command"  "quit"
       "paintborder" "0"
       "enabledImage"
       {
           "material" "vgui/screens/vgui_button_enabled"
           "color" "255 255 255 255"
       }
       "mouseOverImage"
       {
           "material" "vgui/screens/vgui_button_hover"
           "color" "255 255 255 255"
       }
       "pressedImage"
       {
           "material" "vgui/screens/vgui_button_pushed"
           "color" "255 255 255 255"
       }
       "disabledImage"
       {
           "material" "vgui/screens/vgui_button_disabled"
           "color" "255 255 255 255"
       }
   }
}

2) The materials used in the .res file can be found in source material.gcf using Nem's GCFScape. Extract the files in hl2\materials\vgui\screens to steamdir\SourceMods\moddir\materials\vgui\screens.

3) In steamdir\SourceMods\moddir\scripts create or open the text file vgui_screens.txt and add a new entry for the screen. ex.

"VGUI_Screens"
{
   "vgui_test_screen"
   {
       // This is our example screen
       "type"		"vgui_screen_panel"
       "pixelswide"	480
       "pixelshigh"	240
       // This must be the file you created in step 1
       "resfile"	"scripts/screens/vgui_test_screen.res"
   } 
   "teleport_countdown_screen"
   {
       "type"		"teleport_countdown_screen"
       "pixelswide"	480
       "pixelshigh"	240
       "resfile"	"scripts/screens/teleport_countdown_screen.res"
   }
}

4) Open Hammer create a small square map with a spawn, a light, and a vgui_screen. Change the vgui_screen's properties like so: Panel Name = vgui_test_screen Panel Width in World = 64 Panel Height in World = 32

Height and Width can be changed to whatever you need. Those values define the actual size of the screen in the world.

5) Save your files, build your map, launch your mod, and whala! you have a vgui_screen in game.

Getting Input to work

Most of the information in this section came from Helk over at HostilePlanet

First I will explain how the code is set up. 1) Input is gathered and sent to in_main.cpp 2) CInput::CreateMove is called to handle the input 3) After some other classes look at the input, it goes to C_BasePlayer::CreateMove 4) After all other input handling in C_BasePlayer, it is sent to C_BasePlayer::DetermineVguiInputMode. 5) DetermineVguiInputMode then checks for a vgui_screen, and sends the input to SetVGuiScreenButtonState which is defined in c_vguiscreen.cpp 6) SetVGuiScreenButtonState then sends to input to C_VGuiScreen::SetButtonState 7) C_VGuiScreen::SetButtonState determines which buttons have been released and which have been pressed and saves them. 8) C_VGuiScreen::ClientThink is called every x ticks, like most Think Functions, and acts on the input.

The problem with the input is that it is generated several times per tick and the input gets flooded to C_VguiScreen. This wouldn't be a problem except only 1 out of every 4 or so input messages contains the actual input. Because the C_VguiScreen is flooded with bad data( the bad data that is sent is a zero ), the buttonstate that gets saved is garbage and when it is used in C_VguiScreen:ClientThink, it does nothing.

I have found one very easy way to solve this. All my code changes are in c_vguiscreen.cpp and mostly involve SetVGuiScreenButtonState. Here is a general overview: 1) Start a counter at zero. 2) Increment the counter. 3) Look at the input. 4) If the input is non-zero(ie. we have valid data) or if the counter has hit the max(I used 5), reset the counter and send the input to C_VguiScreen::SetButtonState.

My final code looks like:

#define MAX_VGUI_SCREEN_INPUT_TICK 5
static int tickCount=0;
void SetVGuiScreenButtonState( C_BaseEntity *pVguiScreenEnt, int nButtonState )
{
   tickCount++;
   if( nButtonState !=0 || tickCount == MAX_VGUI_SCREEN_INPUT_TICK )
   {
       DevMsg( "Button state = %d tick = %d\n", nButtonState, tickCount );
       if ( pVguiScreenEnt )
       {
           Assert( dynamic_cast<C_VGuiScreen*>(pVguiScreenEnt) );
           C_VGuiScreen *pVguiScreen = static_cast<C_VGuiScreen*>(pVguiScreenEnt);
           pVguiScreen->SetButtonState( nButtonState );
       }
       tickCount = 0;
   }
}

Further Possibilities

1) Make it so that a player has to hold down a button to use the screen. 2) Make it so that when a player is viewing the screen, all input is sent to the screen, including movement keys. The player will not be able to move again, until they look outside the bounds of the screen

Revision History

Created: 7/13/05 by TJMonk15