Custom Loading Screens

Hi everybody,

Lately I've been thinking about a new level/game that I am planning on making. I got most of the things out of the way; Story, setting and most of the Logic (Thanks Comphermc!). I have already figured out what I want to do with most of my ideas, except one thing... Loading screens. After writing most of the story I realized how big it had gotten and that I will need to have level links and maybe even separate levels within one level (Using that technique were you destroy the part of the level that you don't need and emit the rest).

So I figured that I will probably need to learn how to make loading screens to prevent it from looking un-professional (Not that a level NEEDS loading screens to be a good level, but it'll certainly look cool). A good example would be "The Adventures of Outback Jack" by Alley_Cat_8633 or "Little Big Fantasy- Goddess of War" by X-NOBODY-X. Or maybe (Since it is likely that I will transfer the project to LBP PS Vita instead) "Hexagonal" by Comphermc.

I looked everywhere for tutorials on how to make custom loading screens, but I just can't seem to find it anywhere.
Can somebody please help!?
Thanks in advance

P.S. Please don't redirect me to any LBP2 level tutorials on loading screens, as I will be gone from home for quite awhile (I'll bring my Vita though) and am thinking about selling my PS3 to save money for the PS4.

A Loading Screen is not really that hard. Basically what you are trying to do is keep the player distracted while your level mechanics elsewhere sets the stage for the next part the player is to take part of.

Realistically you need to create a wall or space to display whatever loading screen you want. This can be a wall of sticker material with a picture to give something the players can look at or if you rather see the screen go dark, have a global lighting tweaker with darkness at 100%. A cool trick is that hologram or neon will still illuminate in these settings, so you can create a simple mechanic to have a light cycle icon to keep players distracted.

Try this exercise next time you are on LittleBigPlanet 2 or LBP PS Vita

1. Open a new level on your moon, place an object of your choosing in any spot near the entrance, make sure each spot has a different object. Then attach a microchip to the object. The microchip should have a destruct tweaker and a tag sensor. The tag sensor's maximum range should be set to Infinite (press left on your D-pad until the maximum range goes to zero, then infinite).
2. Next somewhere near the object and close proxminity, go into your materials place a piece of hologram (with a setting of 0% brightness, white color). Now place another microchip on it. The microchip should have a player sensor (with a maximum range that can be reachd by a sackperson, set to all players required), which is connected to the increment of a counter (maximum count at 1, current count 0), then the counter should be connected to a movie camera, a global lighting tweaker and a timer. Set the timer to 2 seconds maximum, current time 0. Set the global tweaker settings to a transition time of 1 second, darkness 100%). Movie camera should have a fade or crossfade transition, with a transition time of 1 sec, hold time of 4 seconds (don't worry about it's position until we build something else). The output of a timer needs to be connected to a tag that is the same color and label as that of the tag we attached in the Microchip of the object we placed, in addition the output of the timer needs to be connected to an emitter. The emitter should be set to emit once, infinite lifetime, 1 maximum emitted, 1 maximum at any time emitted, and 'no' on destroy when oldest reached. Then load a new different object of your choice to be placed in the position of original object.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...g+Screen+5.jpg
3. Now in a new spot, go into your materials and bring out some Neon material, using your Big Grid setting. Place three blocks of the material (with one space in-between each). Before closing your pop-it attach an anti gravity tool with 100% antigravity and 100% dampening (or if you rather stick a thin layer of dark matter on the back of each piece of neon (VITA FEATURE TIP, instead of a anti-grav tweaker, simply tweak the Neon to have a static property). Either way will keep them holding up in place. Now attach another microchip to any one of the three neon pieces, place a timer with a 0.2 maximum time with the output line connecting to its own reset input and to the increment input of a 3-output selector. Each of the 3 output selectors need to be connected to each of the neons.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8...g+Screen+4.jpg
4. Back to the microchip with the camera, go the movie camera and tweak it so that it focuses on those three pieces of neon in the right lower corner of the screen. Now insert another movie camera on the microchip with it focusing on the area of the object. Again, fade or crossfade, but with a 1 second transition time, and a 0 sec (NOT infinite) hold time. Connect the outline of the original movie camera (not the one you just created) to the new movie camera and a new global lighting tweaker with the original settings of the level's current lighting again with a 1 second transition time.
5. Start the level. Walk the sackperson into the trigger range of the player sensor near the first object, if everything is set right, what should happen is that the screen goes dark but you see the cycling lights of the neon in your lower right corner of your screen, after a few seconds the camera returns to the player with a new object in its place.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...g+Screen+3.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2...g+Screen+2.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X...g+Screen+1.jpg

Thank you so much WyomingMyst!

I appreciate you writing that out in such great detail. This is the first thing I'll try the next time I play LBP. Once again, thank you so much!

Something else that may be useful:-

If you connect a battery to the first Cut Scene Camera (instead of the player sensor and counter) the players will not spawn until the cut scene has finished, i.e. when you play the level your loading screen will play and when it's finished the players will spawn from the entrance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by just-in8or

Thank you so much WyomingMyst!

I appreciate you writing that out in such great detail. This is the first thing I'll try the next time I play LBP. Once again, thank you so much!

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I am glad you appreciate it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fluxlasers

Something else that may be useful:-

If you connect a battery to the first Cut Scene Camera (instead of the player sensor and counter) the players will not spawn until the cut scene has finished, i.e. when you play the level your loading screen will play and when it's finished the players will spawn from the entrance.

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That would be the case for starting scenes, however to setup a cut scene in the middle of a level in order to give the time to change the elements of the level, the steps above would be followed, in one way or another. The trick is finding the right points to retract or remove the old stage setting and placing in the new one.

Oh and be sure to check out a level like shookie_monster's I love my companion bomb 2. He has cut scenes where the cut scene actually shows the changes in his levels (even though the changes are relatively simple). But it illustrates how a cut scene can be watching the changes itself.

haha great job with the responsess

Thanks everybody for the feedback. It has really helped me out to understand how this all works. I just have one question: (which I'm pretty sure the answer to would be yes, but I'll ask anyway just incase)
So to my understanding it is impossible to create loading screens between linked levels, correct? If not, how would you do it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by just-in8or

Thanks everybody for the feedback. It has really helped me out to understand how this all works. I just have one question: (which I'm pretty sure the answer to would be yes, but I'll ask anyway just incase)
So to my understanding it is impossible to create loading screens between linked levels, correct? If not, how would you do it?

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You'd either have to create the fake loading screen BEFORE activating the level link, or after you've entered the next level by having the cutscene activate (eg with a battery) as soon as you enter. This is what I did in my Contrast level. After it's loaded a level link I then have the kinda fake (I say kinda, because there are actually some calculations going on when you enter each sub level) loading screen.

That is correct, with the exception of creating a cut scene before the level-link activates or after the second level loads, there is not any way to distract players in LBP2. (VITA Exclusive Tip: In LBP Vita, you can however elect to retain current BGM playing into the next level.)

Thanks Ali_Star and wyomingMyst once again for some great advise! Just making sure, BGM stands for Back Ground Music right? If so, is letting it play in between levels done automatically or do you have to do something manually to get it working? To bad that the best thing you can do to make a true loading screen in between linked levels is to start a cut scene right at the end of level A and/or as soon as level B starts.

Also (this is quite irrelevant so you may stop reading if you want to) for LBP PS Vita, do any of you know a way how to use the memoriser in Multiplayer? Let me paint you a picture: You are playing an RPG or a fighting game similar to Playstation All-Stars battle royal with a friend of yours and you both earn a different amounts of XP. You finish a battle and decide to take a break and have lunch. As soon as you turn on you Vita and have another battle in that same level, you should still have the same amount of XP you had when you decided to stop playing a few minutes ago even if it's on single player or against somebody else.

Is that possible? Does only the host create a save? Will the amount of XP you have be the same as the hosts'? Will using the memoriser in a multiplayer environment even work properly? Are there any other ways of doing it? How about with power ups and such in an RPG and the weapons you have.

I thought of an extremely complicated way of doing it. When ever you decide to stop playing you will get a sticker with a code based on all the XP you have gained, secrets you have discovered, the weapons and armor you have etc. So that next time you play the level you'll come across a lock box where you have to insert that code in to receive all you items. The code could even be similar to the ones in the classic megaman games (with grids) or like in the breath taking LBP2 level "Sealed Fate"

The only thing I am worried about is that it will fill up the thermo quite fast, people may forget the codes or misuse it and be able to max out everything by simply asking others for the codes and stickers. It might only work in single player. Or not at all. What do you guys think? Are there any other ways? Do you have any video's or games I can look at as examples? Or will memorisers simply just work in multiplayer by creating specific labels for each player (P1, P2 etc.)? You don't need to help if you don't want to, but I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by just-in8or

Thanks Ali_Star and wyomingMyst once again for some great advise! Just making sure, BGM stands for Back Ground Music right? If so, is letting it play in between levels done automatically or do you have to do something manually to get it working? To bad that the best thing you can do to make a true loading screen in between linked levels is to start a cut scene right at the end of level A and/or as soon as level B starts.

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Yes BGM is the common video game acronym for Background Music. In LittleBigPlanet 2, when a level link activates, the music WILL fade out. The new level when loaded needs to be programmed to start the same or a new song, HOWEVER it can only start at it's designated start point setting that Music Player's settings. It will NOT resume where the previous level last played at. I mentioned that as an exclusive feature for Vita (in case anyone reading this also has the Vita version of LBP) does have a new feature where the currently playing song can continue to play through the loading screen. However this feature must be enabled in the settings of the Level Link object in that level. Again, this is only for LBP Vita and I apologize for bring it up in the LBP2 help forum.