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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / CUT SCENES & - "codec" - which one should I use?

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billy777
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Posted: 4th Aug 2004 22:30
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Hello,

I have some animated movie-like "cut scenes" in my game which are compressed using the "Cinepak Codec by Radius" - however some computers just see black when these scenes are shown.

Im guessing it's the codec - and the fact that "they" dont have this particular codec on "their" system.

What is the BEST codec to use? What is the codec that ALL systems have? Otherwise im going to get a lot of tech calls.

codecs installed on my system are...

- Cinepak Codec by Radius
- Intel Indeo Video R3.2
- MicroSoft RLE
- Microsoft Video 1

Are any of these on ALL systems. (win95/98/2000/me/xp,etc.)

Should I install the correct codec when installing the game? If so, how? I dont know where to get the correct codec .exe file or how to distribute and install on other computers.

Anyone come across this dilema before?

Thanks
Bill
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eat much pie
21
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Location: Within the mind of a lowly mortal...
Posted: 4th Aug 2004 22:39
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Probably Microsoft Video 1 would be on all PC's, although I'm not absolutely sure


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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Posted: 4th Aug 2004 23:03
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Why not supply a codec installer with your program ?


Come to the UK Convention on the 23rd & 24th of October
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the_winch
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Location: Oxford, UK
Posted: 4th Aug 2004 23:10 Edited at: 4th Aug 2004 23:14
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I'm pretty sure "Cinepak Codec by Radius" should be available on every comptuter unless the user has removed it.

What happens if they try to play the file in media player, do they still get a black screen?

This might be usefull
http://www.virtualdub.org/docs_codecs

It might be worth using;
mpeg - every computer that can run dbpro games is going to be able to play them and it is fairly decent.

wmv (windows media video) - if the codec isn't installed then the user just needs to play the file in media player and it will try and download and install the codec.

it's cool to hate
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billy777
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Posted: 4th Aug 2004 23:25
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Thanks for the quick response everyone!

Yes they just get a black screen.

"Why not supply a codec installer with your program?" - yes this is what i will probably do - I just wanted to avoid this if possible by using a universal codec that all computers already have.

YEAH... i thought Cinepack by Radius was on all computers too - perhaps it was just an isolated case- it was a user on win 2000 that said he got a black screen when the cut scenes where shown.

Thanks again
Bill
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robert day
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Posted: 5th Aug 2004 04:37
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play it safe and use mpeg 1, will work without fail on anyones pc
and without messing around with third party codecs.

may even get better compaction??!!

hummmmm!
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MiR
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Location: Spain
Posted: 5th Aug 2004 07:30
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How about Divx? I as far as I know it´s the most popular mpeg4 codec.


Jam on mother f**ker.
Libera tu mente y te liberaras.
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zircher
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Location: Oklahoma
Posted: 5th Aug 2004 07:36
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Yeah, but DivX does not get distributed with any Windows OS so it is really a bad choice unless you include your own codec installer.
--
TAZ

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
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