OSDM (Oldskool Demo Maker) Feature Notes by Roy/SAC

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Main
- Main
Display Settings
- Display
(Vector) Stars
- Stars
Copper/Plasma/Borderline
- Copper Media/Copper Effect
- Copper Effect/Copper Bars & Border Line Effect

Media
Text

3D
- 3D Ball
- 3D Dot
- 3D Vector
- 3D Direct
Misc
Regie (Direction)
- Script
- Storyboard
Tools
- Utilities
- Export
- Megatro

Main

The Main Page of OSDM. Here you enable or disable the effects that you would like to use in your OSDM intro/demo (Control Unit Frame).

Important: If you did not enable an effect here, it will not be shown in your final intro executable nor preview, regardless, if you specified settings for it or even call it via the CAL command in OSDM Script.

There is also a drop down for the Export type:

Default Export
Compact Export - Produces smaller executables, but not all effects available in OSDM can be used for a production that is being exported that way
Debug Export - Creates a much larger executable for debugging purposes. It also allows you to enable/disable the "Show Info" checkbox. If "Show Info" is enabled, OSDM shows on top of the screen technical details of the production while it is running, like Intro Time, Sub Procedure executed (OSDM Script), Coordinates, NOP counts and others.
Special Export

Options

Screen Setup: On/Off - If you want to allow users to specify the screen resolution and if they prefer to run your production in Windowed mode rather than Full Screen, enable this option. Note: you also have to configure the Display settings for your intro accordingly.

Basic OSDM Functions

Load Prefs - Load the settings of an OSDM intro/demo production in .INI text format
Save Prefs - Save the current settings in .INI format
Export - Create an Executable based on the various intro and export settings
Preview - Creates and then executes a temporary executable. The shortcut for this is "F5" and is usefull to review your progress during the intro/demo designing
Exit - Quit the OSDM Interface
About - A little pop-up window to pay tribute to the developers of OSDM

Display Settings

Mode of Display
- Use Window Mode
- Use Full Screen Mode
- Use Full Desktop Mode - Almost like Window Mode, but Window size spans the whole desktop
Title of Demo - Title used for Window and/or Process Name
Size Of Screen
- Best Resolution - OSDM determines the best resolution automatically
- 640x480 (Best Full Screen)
- ... List with various possible resolutions, which depends on the resolutions supported by the current graphics cards.
FPS - Frame Rate (Note: The Frame Rate setting has direct impact on any "Speed" or "Delay" settings of all active effects, so you should decide on this setting as early as possible. Rule of thumb: the higher the frame rate, the smoother the effects (in most cases), but also the higher the resources usage and power requirements. Depending on the type of production, I recommend to choose between the frame rates: 15, 30 and 60.
Display Size (in percent) = 1-100, leave it at 100 unless you are going to use either a "Border Line" or "Misc\Skin Window" Effect.
RGB Hide - RGB Color - The color that will be treated as "transparent" for most of the images that you are using in your production (default is "black", RGB: 0,0,0)
RGB Display - RGB Color
Render View - Adjust Display - On/Off
Screen Fading - Fade Display In and Out - On/Off
Rendering - Bilinear 3D Filtering - On/Off

Vector Stars

Modes
- Move in 2D Order
- Turn in 2D Order
- 3D Simulation
  - X-Rotate Starfield - On/Off
  - Y-Rotate Starfield - On/Off
  - Z-Rotate Starfield - On/Off
Number of Stars = 1-XXXXX
Plane Depth = 1-10 (number of "layers" the specified number of stars is spread over)
Angle (Tilt) = Off, 1-360
Speed = Off, 1-90
Use Picture - On/Off
- Image File - Maximum Size is 10 KB

Copper Effects

Several Effects of OSDM support what is called a "Copper Effect". Although the traditional Copper Effect is based on the manipulation of the palette in the display memory of the computer, the same effect is emulated by OSDM by using a pre-defined image with the desired color cycling effect instead.