Upcoming changes to text color in dsda-doom

[dsda-dev]

Hello 👋

 

The next version of dsda-doom (0.26) will have some changes to how text color works:

• Instead of requiring color translation lumps, the port will automatically generate color translation tables
• Color ranges will be configurable by authors
• Component colors will be configurable by authors (e.g., to have a custom menu color scheme)

 

Why?

• Many wads with palette or font changes do not specify translation tables
• Wads that do specify some tables are generally incomplete
• I'd like to enable people to create custom color ranges irrespective of the packaged tables (for instance, for people that have difficulty distinguishing certain colors, or who need a higher contrast)
• I'd like to make it easier to use custom palettes and fonts without either requiring building your own tables or otherwise having a diminished player experience in the menus / hud
• I'd like the default coloration of extended hud elements and the menus to be consistent

 

How?

• The port takes a set of color ranges (which can be changed by authors), figures out the color profile of the font, and then maps the palette onto the text color range
• The whole palette gets mapped, so you don't need contiguous blocks of relevant colors in the palette
• The port has a "color test" mode that shows all the different translations for testing purposes

 

Here are some examples of the new feature in action with some wads that have changed fonts / palettes:

Spoiler

 

This is all still limited by the actual color palette, so a palette with no red is not going to have a red 7. The artifacts appearing in range 10 in some of the samples are an example of this limitation in action.

 

This post is both to give a heads up and also to solicit any comments or concerns with this approach. I have tested out a lot of wads and the results are promising, especially for old wads that have almost unreadable menus in previous versions of the port. Please let me know your thoughts below.

Edited March 26, 2023 by dsda-dev