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StreamControl 0.2

The first part of the big changes I mentioned in the previous post are here.

When I first made StreamControl, all I was after was an easy way to get an XML file into flash files in XSplit. To that end the interface was extremely basic and was only the was it was because it was functional enough and did what it needed to do. I put in enough fields that I thought I would need for a Fighting Game event and that was basically the end of it.

As time goes on however I’m finding that shoehorning what are essentially random fields into use in my flash files is starting to get really annoying. Not to mention confusing to anyone who isn’t me who happens to be running a stream with my overlays.

In addition, the old layout limits it’s use outside of what amounts to my narrow scope of streaming events. Different people stream in different ways and display different information on their stream. Not to mention the old layout is woefully unsuited to streaming the myriad of non-fighting games.

To that end I’ve taken that factor out of the equation by making layouts dynamically loaded from an XML file. You’re now able to use any number of fields for any purpose in your flash files. I’ve also introduced tabs to the layout to allow you to better organise your fields.

The new default layout is a streamlined version of the old layout to serve as a relatively sane default and not break compatibility with my old overlays. I’ve also included the XML files for both the new layout and the old layout so you can have a reference for making new ones.

streamcontrol

This is just the first step for what I have planned. It just eliminates what I feel was one of the biggest limitations with StreamControl as it was before.

A word of warning. There is no error checking in this version. It’s entirely possible a malformed layout file will cause crashes and other weirdness. This is something I intend to add but for now it should work fine for the most part.

Download here

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Some new StreamControl scoreboards.

So I’ve teased the flag loading overlays for a while but took quite a while getting round to it. Well in any case they’ve been uploaded and are ready. I’ve also uploaded a generic Naruto themed scoreboard for Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. (It’d probably work for other Naruto games but I dunno.) It’s pretty nice if I do say so myself. Some videos of them in action below and you can download them (along with source code) at the StreamControl page.

In other news I have some pretty big plans for some StreamControl changes. The current version is extremely basic and I’m pretty excited to start work on them.

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StreamControl is now released!

Now a lot of people in the Singapore FGC know I’ve been using this software for nearly a year at this point to do Fighting Game streams. And it has been fully my intention to release it for free from the start. However I put it off for a long time because I wanted it to be “ready for release.”

Some time in the middle of last year I decided I really needed to get going on that. I put in some time and indeed the Software has more or less been ready to be released for something like 4 months. My reasoning for putting it off this time was because when I put it out I wanted to have some tutorials ready when I released it. And I’ve successfully managed to put it off until now since one of my New Year’s resolutions was to get this out the door ASAP. Well mission accomplished I guess.

In any case I started work on it pretty early on when I found out that XSplit allowed you to put SWF objects on the stage. Being a Flash developer I quickly realised the number of possibilities with Flash. I then went to work seeing how I could get external data loaded into an SWF in XSplit. I didn’t want to develop a pure XSplit plugin. Because I found the interface for managing data with XSplit (and indeed most of the interface of XSplit) kinda clunky.

I made a rough prototype in Qt which happened to work. And since it worked I didn’t really need to work on it much more particularly since most of the heavy lifting was done in Flash. Hence me putting off releasing it until I felt it was ready.

Now that it’s out, hopefully I’ll be better about updating it. As it stands it’s actually not that much more functional than the initial prototype. And there are a bunch of things I’d like to do with it.

Also oddly enough I started developing this system before Jaxel released his XSplit Panel Writer program on 8WayRun. I even have proof. This is from an event where I believe I first used my software to stream an event. Oddly enough on the same date that I believe the XSplit Panel Writer software was released. I do remember being mildly bemused that we’d essentially done the same thing except went about it in different ways when he did release it.

That said, I don’t think we’re necessarily in competition. Flash does take more CPU power to render and it does to a certain extent reduce the amount of sheer CPU power you can pump into your making your video quality better. That said, if you happen to be already using any of the built in XSplit SWF plugins it won’t take much more CPU if at all. Images are quicker to render and that is what Jaxel’s software does. However, I am slightly lazy and I do like the fact I don’t have to switch scenes to update my scoreboards. Creating SWF files is also considerably more effort.

Furthermore, Jaxel is welcome to implement support for my SWF overlays in his software as well. It wouldn’t be too hard I would think.

Now in case you’re not here to hear me ramble about how my software came into being, here is where you can download it!

StreamControl

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On VF5 and SCV haters.

I made this part of a post in response to someone bringing up VF5FS and Sega as a paragon and balance and game support in comparison to SCV. And quite frankly if you’ve played VF in the past, you know that’s a fucking joke. The larger context is that France is debating a Viola ban in SCV and for whatever reason 8WayRun decided to frontpage it as news. If ever the people at 8WayRun ever come to their senses and unstickies it from the front page and maybe deletes the thread, I figure that this part at least is worth saving. If only because it’s something that’s brought up a lot in the FGC and it annoys the crap out of me. Here’s the thread if you happen to want to see me spew more vitriol.

And one more thing since people decided to bring up VF.

I fucking love VF to bits. So don’t think I’m talking bad about it.

I bet a bunch of people here are going to be like, “Yeah I’m just going to play VF. It’s a better game anyway.”

Why is it a better game? Because people keep repeating over and over how great it is? If you really sat down and thought about it SC and VF at this point are roughly 60% the same game mechanically. Except SC has a higher emphasis on spacing and has meter management.

It should then be noted, that a large percentage of Japanese VF players have picked up SCV and are playing it seriously. Don’t believe me? Just look at Evo. I don’t even need to go to a Japanese source for that. Do it. Go through the player list and find how many VF players are in there. Some of them have dropped other games and now consider SCV their main game.

I think all of us know for a fact that the Japanese are the best VF players in the world and there’s no way you can even begin to argue otherwise. So when the best VF players in the world seem to think SCV is The Fucking Shit™ whereas apparently there are a bunch of people who think SCV is just shit but VF5FS is amazing. I think you should stop. Think for a bit. And maybe, just maybe. Consider that you might be Full of Fucking Shit™. Think about it.

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New Website

I’m still here. I noticed my term on my previous webhost was running out and ditched them. Moved to a new (non-dumb) web host that doesn’t randomly not work properly. Figured I’d also ditch my old custom software and just switch to a full WordPress site since I have no desire to actually think about maintaining this stuff anymore. I just want a place to dump my thoughts when it’s not appropriate on Facebook.