Complex button highlighting problem

hubchy 2010-02-22 23:03:16 UTC #1

I have completely removed the original navigation of the DVD concerned and replaced it with my own. This is the most major redesign of the navigation of any DVD I have so far undertaken. Possibly my design could be more efficient and simple - I am interested in any suggested improvements. Overall it seems to work fairly well with one exception - the highlighting of particular buttons under some circumstances.

I want to highlight the button I use on a 'base' menu after navigating to one or more other locations. To do this I find that I am creating many more commands than I presume I need to. For instance, in VTS 1 menu PGC2, I created seven commands when I assume that I can achieve the same effect with possibly only one command.

What I want to do is when returning to a menu to always highlight the button I activated when starting from that menu. For instance, when I activate button 2 on VTS 1 menu PGC 2, then after going to VTS 2 menu PGC 2 (and after activating other buttons and commands) when I later return to VTS 1 menu PGC 2 I want button 2 to be highlighted. Conceptually I'd call this highlighting a button on a 'base' menu when returning to it after navigating to 'submenus' and/or titles.

One thing I think I have got right: I do appear to have set up a satisfactory system for appropriate button highlighting for the various chapter menus, e.g., VTS 1 menu PGC 5, or VTS 2 menu PGC 3. The method I used for this is derived from valuable information supplied some time ago by Toaddub.

The whole process is made more difficult because I am working across 3 VTS's rather than just one. I have to use different VTS's because the menus and titles in each VTS have different aspect ratios. VTS 3 has no visual content or buttons in its menu. Its 'base' menu is VTS 2 Menu PGC 2 (button 4). Originally there were 12 VTS's - each title had its own VTS. There was also what appeared to be a duplicate of VTS 1 (which was just a menu without any real title content).

I have uploaded a minisample to 4shared.com. The URL is:
4shared.com/file/227899767/2cab3a53/A_of_S_minisample.htm

Unfortunately I couldn't compress this sample any further (e.g., by deleting some title chapters) because this would have made it hard to see my problem.

CDuncle 2010-02-23 17:47:20 UTC #2

If you are coming from different VTS you have to direct your command to a PGC in VMG domain and from there to any VTS you want.
Only problem is that you can go to a designated menus only, like Root, Audio, Chapter and so on. You find them under “Set Menu Category” if you left click on PGC.
How to go to a button of your choice is already there in VTS1 Menu PGC2. You basically use an R value to link to a button of your choice.
There are other ways, but this one is easy.

toaddub 2010-02-26 23:43:18 UTC #3

There are a few minor errors on some Jump/Call commands. These do not really affect navigational functionality, but to conform to dvd specs, it’s best to fix it. DRMP does not highlight these errors but PgcEdit will.

In First Play, change “(title [B]0[/B])” to “(title [B]1[/B])”. Do the same for other VMG PGC X.
And in VTS1/PGC1/Post and Button Commands, add “[B](resume cell 1)[/B]” to the Call command. Do the same for other PGCs in VTS 1 and 2.

As for highlighting a certain button, CDuncle nails it. Basically you already have R5 to test which button to highlight in VTS1/Menu PGC2, and you initialize R[5]=X in the pre-commands in certain parts of the menu. The value will be the highlight button number of the menu you’re about to return to.

You will notice that [B]Restoration[/B] button will be highlighted in VTS2/MenuPGC2 when activating button 2 in VTS1/MenuPGC2. The player will use the last saved button number to highlight. You can see this in debug player, S[8] (System Register 8). So if you don’t want [B]Restoration[/B] button 2 to highlight, add a highlighted_button=1024 (button 1) command or whatever the number you want in the pre-command.

Also, your R[5] value is used to get which button to highlight when you go back to the main menu (VTS1/MenuPGC2). As for getting which button to highlight after playing a title, insert R[5] at line 1 in the post-command section. Use these approaches for all your other menus and titles.