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Cinematic OP

v21.1 Cinematic OP 1.1.0

This resource pertains to version 21.1 of Pokémon Essentials.
Pokémon Essentials Version
v21.1 ✅
Cinematic OP Plugin

Add cinematic videos to your game's intro!

Believe it or not, v21.1 supports video playback. This plugin allows you to utilize video playback during the opening of your game. Keep in mind, the native video player isn’t perfect. It uses your cpu for processing and can’t handle high quality video without causing bugs or errors. Expect your video quality to take significant drop compared to the original you created. While the plugin is simple, the process to convert your video properly is a bit more complicated and depends on what tools you have available. I am new to this scene and this is my first contribution to the community. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

The video below is an example of the plugin in action for my personal project:




How it works
When you start the game (not in debug mode), the two splash screens will appear, your custom video will play and then the title screen will appear. You can edit the config to adjust filename, volume and whether or not players can skip the opening.

Plugin Steps:
  1. Extract the plugin into your game.
  2. Place your custom .ogv video in Movies folder
  3. Within the Config.rb, set the name of the video (do not include extension, it assumes the video is .ogv)
  4. IMPORTANT!! Compile your game in debug mode (every time you make changes)
  5. Play Game (DO NOT PLAY DEBUG MODE! It skips the opening)

I have included a test opening, so you can extract, compile and play so you can make sure everything is working before replacing it with your own custom opening.

UPDATE (11/13/24)- Cinematic OP is now compatible with Luka's Modular Title Screen! Make sure to compile before starting game.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

– Video Prepping –
Before converting your video needs to be prepped. In essentials 21.1, the video playback is being processed by your cpu, so your results will vary depending on the original quality of the media and of course, your cpu. When you export your media for the first time, you will want to avoid high bitrates, frame rates and resolutions. I have experienced bugs when testing with higher quality videos. This ranges from game crashing with no errors, game lag, video lag/ crashing, no audio/ not in sync.


Before creating your video, you will need a few things.
  • Access your devices command prompt
  • A video editor that allows you to export your video as a .avi format using a low quality encoder
  • Installation of ffmpeg (Recommendation: Gyan ffmpeg)

Create your video using whatever video editing software you are using; I am using premiere pro. The settings don’t have to be exact but frame size dimensions should be common sizes (no 546x329). If you find other settings that work, make sure to share with the community.

REMEMBER: Do not export media with high bitrates, frame rates and resolutions; Doing so may result in bugs/ weird issues

Recommended Media Export settings:
Format: .avi
Video codec: Microsoft RLE or Microsoft Video 1
Frame Size: 640 x 480
Frame Rate: 24 or below



Take your new .avi and drop in a folder. Preferably, one easy to find via command window


—Video Conversion—
Next, you will need to convert your media into an .ogv. The video player natively supports .ogv and unofficially supports .ogg. I’m sure there are various ways to accomplish this, but I strictly use ffmpeg for conversion (it's free). If you use another method, I cannot help if you get bugs/errors. I won’t go over how to find or install ffmpeg, but I will recommend installing gyan’s ffmpeg. Once installed, make sure to open the command prompt and verify installation by checking what version you have

Paste the following command to check the ffmpeg version (via command prompt):
ffmpeg -version

Once ffmpeg is ready, locate the folder where you put your .avi video via the command prompt (you have to "cd" into it).

Paste the following command (do not hit enter until you change names (via command prompt):
ffmpeg -i VideoIn.avi -b:a 128K -q:v 7 -pix_fmt yuv420p VideoOut.ogv

* Change VideoIn to your created videos name; Change VideoOut to whatever you want output video name to be (or leave it to keep name)

Once it is done converting, place video into your Game -> Movies folder, configure your settings (especially the name) and you're good to go!

Side Note:
1) I have not tested whether this can work on v20. If it uses the same version of mkxp then it should work. Let me know if you happen to test this out in the comments.

2) If you wish to use the .ogg format instead of .ogv, change the VideoOut extension to .ogg (during the ffmpeg conversion). Within Cinematic OP.rb (line 47) change the extension to .ogg;

-Warning: I have not tested .ogg as long as .ogv. If you come across bugs/errors try switching to .ogv before asking for help

Credit is appreciated! Hope to see some awesome openings out there!
Credits
Kronic Respawn
Author
kronicrespawn
Downloads
129
Views
1,624
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More resources from kronicrespawn

Latest updates

  1. Cinematic OP + Modular Title Screen patch

    Cinematic OP is now compatible with Luka's Modular Title Screen (2.2.2)
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