Quote:Now back slightly from this discussion to a question about what is better coding wise for defining textures in controls. If I have a texture in a control that I don't want shown, what is the better way (in terms of efficiency) to code this. For example
Do I drop <texturenofocus> completely, code it as <texturenofocus></texturenofocus> or continue to code it as <texturenofocus>-</texturenofocus> ?
The second two are identical - i.e. "-" is interpreted as empty. The first will also be the same, as long as you haven't also defined <texturenofocus> in defaults.xml. So basically all these are exactly the same. I guess one could argue that the first would be marginally more efficient as it's less XML to parse, but we're talking picoseconds during a load of microseconds
Quote:How is it done with the same texture in multiple windows, e.g. when I use a large background texture in all windows as an overlay? Is that texture also loaded only once?
It depends
. Typically if it's a large background texture, then the same texture will be used, assuming it was used within the last 2 seconds in the previous window. This is because the large textures hang around for 2 seconds before they're removed, exactly for this (as well as moving quickly between two items with separate fanart images etc.) If it's a texture in the XBT, then it's not necessarily so clear. I *think* that the same thing will happen, as long as it's used in the previous frame in the previous window.
As for the corner texture thing, I guess my point is that "round" is the current fashion. But round might mean different things to different people - it might also include some sort of edge highlight, or be slightly more oval than round, or angled, or you might want to put glass over the top etc. Thus, allowing it to be specified using a texture allows the flexibility for the skinner at just a tiny bit of extra effort. Further, it easily allows you to see what it will look like as you're mocking it up in Photoshop/Gimp etc. Basically you want a "bordered diffuse" where the border applies to the diffuse rather than the texture. I'm not sure the best way to incorporate that within the current XML element. Perhaps we need to just bite the bullet and allow separate bordering on diffuse (via diffuseborder) texture anyway by basically splitting up the model (rendering 25 quads instead of 9 if it's put on both required).
Cheers,
Jonathan