[ZwartePiet]

MKV containers can have forced subtitles in the main subtitles track or separated out into a secondary track.

Kodi behaves properly when forced subtitles are in the main subtitles track. When subtitles are off, only the forced subtitles show. When subtitles are on, all subtitles show.

Things are a bit of a kludge when forced subtitles are in a separate track. When subtitles are off, the only way to get forced subs to work is to the set the forced subs track as default in MKVToolNix. Turning subtitles on during playback then requires pressing a remote's subtitles button twice, once to select the forced subtitles track and again to select the main subtitles track.

IMO, the forced subtitles track should be hidden and never selectable. Assuming container flags and Kodi are set up correctly, forced subtitle operation should be completely transparent to the user. Pressing a remote's subtitles button should only allow the user to select the main subtitle tracks.

[j2k15]

I've some m4v with embedded soft subtitles.
For some, the forced track is merged with the regular track (some samples are forced).
For some, the forced track is a separate track which is marked as forced.

In iTunes, iDevice, AppleTV, ... they play as expected.

In case 1) even if the regular track is turned off, the forced one do appear.
In case 2) the forced track is not selectable and the forced ones do appear.

In my m4v, the subs are In tx3g format.

I'll try them In Kodi this evening and tell you the outcome since as it's working perfecty on my Apple things I'm sure the forced subs are correctly set.

[da-anda]

if the separate forced subtitle track is also flagged as forced (you can check that in mkvtoolnix as well), then it should work as expected AFAIK. If the track is not flagged as forced, than it can't work ofc

[ZwartePiet]

if the separate forced subtitle track is also flagged as forced (you can check that in mkvtoolnix as well), then it should work as expected AFAIK. If the track is not flagged as forced, than it can't work ofc

Forced subtitles work. The problem is that the forced subtitle track is still selectable, meaning I have to select past it in order to get to the main subtitles track. For example, pressing my remote's subtitles button gives me three options when playing a movie.

1. No subtitles --> Only forced subtitles show
   
2. Forced subtitles --> Only forced subtitles show
   
3. Main subtitles --> All subtitles show
   

Being able to select the forced subtitles track is superfluous, IMO -- it should always be on. In the case where movies contain forced subtitles for multiple languages, the correct track should automatically be selected to match the audio language. Keeping this all transparent to the user would give Kodi a lot of polish.

[da-anda]

yeah, makes sense

[j2k15]

Hi,

I did a test with m4v files and observed that forced subtitles are not correctly supported.
I'll create a dedicated topic for this.