Message help

[jamistara]

In HPL2, I remember just being able to use the SetMessage(?) function to show messages on the screen.

I can't find any functions like this in engine scripts for Soma, anyone else knows if/where/what is that function?

[A.M Team]

Have you tried looking through the HPL3 wiki?

https://wiki.frictionalgames.com/hpl3/start

[jamistara]

Have you tried looking through the HPL3 wiki?

https://wiki.frictionalgames.com/hpl3/start

Yeah I've tried but so far haven't found anything :/

[Mudbill]

There's no such function for it, but you can create one using the GUI code. I remember someone asking something similar. Perhaps it was Abion47 who replied with an example.

This might've been the thread I was thinking of, but it doesn't quite have your answer.
https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-31660.html

[WALP]

For now the easiest solution is to use subtitles instead.

But I know for a fact that it is possible to project a terminal on top of the players face, and therefore get all of the GUI features they have, since they did this with the deathscreen in the maingame.

The problem with using this method in the main game is the following:
1. the deathfx terminal is non transparent, and completely dark, so a custom one must be made (do note that transparent terminals are indeed supported, tested it myself, so it's just a matter of setting it up)
2. the old terminal code was never intended for a moving player, and will likely need to be revised, at least from what I can remember I could not get it to work properly in the time I spend fiddling with it.

This is pretty advanced stuff, so I would recommend going with the subtitle solution for now, unless you suddenly become super modder man.

[Abion47]

I've seen people asking about this a lot, so I did this today: https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-41838.html

[jamistara]

I've seen people asking about this a lot, so I did this today: https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-41838.html

Awesome!

[Abion47]

For now the easiest solution is to use subtitles instead.

But I know for a fact that it is possible to project a terminal on top of the players face, and therefore get all of the GUI features they have, since they did this with the deathscreen in the maingame.

The problem with using this method in the main game is the following:
1. the deathfx terminal is non transparent, and completely dark, so a custom one must be made (do note that transparent terminals are indeed supported, tested it myself, so it's just a matter of setting it up)
2. the old terminal code was never intended for a moving player, and will likely need to be revised, at least from what I can remember I could not get it to work properly in the time I spend fiddling with it.

This is pretty advanced stuff, so I would recommend going with the subtitle solution for now, unless you suddenly become super modder man.

Forgot to address this.

The reason that FG went with the terminal-attached-to-the-player's-face approach for the game over sequence was so they could make use of the visual effects (like chromatic aberration) during the sequence in addition to the spooky pictures. The regular way to draw stuff to the player's screen doesn't support these effects, which is why they went with that approach.

Unless you have a specific reason to use specialized terminals over player modules for the HUD stuff, the modules are supremely simpler to use, and they don't require that the player is otherwise stationary (which adds a whole other level of complexity to it all).