Add boot splash minimum display time setting

[dalexeev]

Implements #8867.

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By default, display time is 0 (equivalent to current behavior).

I found this useful because simple games start so quickly that the splash screen blinks and you can't see anything. The recommended delay is 500 ms – 1 s.

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1596

delay_usec is used instead of delay_msec because delay_msec is defined in core_bind.cpp and is not yet available in main.cpp.

This PR is cherry-pickable for 3.2.

[dalexeev]

the engine should load AS FAST AS POSSIBLE

By default, it is. This PR adds the ability to set a small delay. This is not intended to make you watch the splash screen for 10 seconds. I also don't like long splash screens. It might be worth adding a limit or warning so people don't set the delay too long.

On fast devices, simple games start so quickly that you don't have time to see anything, the splash screen literally blinks. It's not very pretty. If you set a delay of 500 ms, then it will not delay you much, but it will give you a chance to at least see what is shown on the splash screen.

[akien-mga]

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[Chaosus]

I think the potential user will use custom/multiply splash screens with possible animation with a much longer delay (as in many games today) so this change is harmless (if this can be configurable to 0 in the editor settings).

[ghost]

Minimum display time is more accurate than delay time. Delays are periods of waiting before something happens.

Seems like a good option for those that only use the boot splash for startup information.

Seeing the msec comparison, I'm curious how long the boot image has been rendered by that point. Is it really going to be visible for all the ticks during setup?

[dalexeev]

@avencherus Yes, that's a good name. I gave the name by analogy with application/run/frame_delay_msec.

As I understand it, OS::get_singleton()->get_ticks_msec() is the time since the start of the process, not since the game window appeared. So, probably, this feature can be improved.

[dalexeev]

By the way, isn't this a mistake?

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1581-L1582

rendering/environment/default_clear_color and application/boot_splash/bg_color are different settings.

Also OS::get_singleton()->_msec_splash is not set if default boot splash is used.
https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1567-L1569

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1581-L1584

[akien-mga]

By the way, isn't this a mistake?

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1581-L1582

rendering/environment/default_clear_color and application/boot_splash/bg_color are different settings.

It looks OK to me. This line is about setting the clear color for the boot splash, which can be customized via application/boot_splash/bg_color (e.g. if you want to have your logo with alpha background on a custom background color).

Once the boot splash has been shown, the default clear color is then set to rendering/environment/default_clear_color which is the value used for the game itself. Most of the time it will be different from the boot splash background color.

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1605-L1607

[akien-mga]

Also OS::get_singleton()->_msec_splash is not set if default boot splash is used.

That sounds like a bug indeed.
Then I don't see what's the point of _msec_splash / OS::get_splash_tick_msec() in the first place.

It was added in 3e20391, not sure why.

Edit: I propose removing it in #42304.

[dalexeev]

It looks OK to me. <...> Most of the time it will be different from the boot splash background color.

Yes, it works right. I am confused because the GLOBAL_DEF macro is used 2 times:

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1542-L1543

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1605-L1608

and the code below looks like the boot_bg_color variable is being applied twice:

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1581-L1584

---

I found an additional problem: the default icon is displayed during boot splash. Is it possible to move the icon initialization code from the start function to the setup2 function? The last function contains the corresponding GLOBAL_DEFs, but they are not used:

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L1610-L1625

and used here:

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/b592b74d66f8d728cc512bbde5448d9f4c4e1624/main/main.cpp#L2266-L2325

[Calinou]

I'm not really convinced of the utility of displaying the "dumb" splash screen for a longer duration. It has no possibilities for animation, fade-in effects or anything of the sort.

When you want to create a polished splash setup, you generally use a plain color as the splash screen and then set a splash scene as your project's main scene (with its starting color matching the plain color chosen).

[reduz]

I understand why this feature is needed, but the way it is implemented is not good. It should be a minimum display time. This means that if the engine initialized and loaded the main scene too fast, it should wait until this time has elapsed.

For this, measuring the initialization time is needed, and then see if waiting more time is needed.

[mhilbrunner]

We reviewed this in the current PR meeting. Its wanted and implementation looks good, seems @reduz feedback was implemented, thansk for that :)

The code should be wrapped in an if clause to check whether the setting is set and just do nothing if it wasn't/is set to 0 just for clarity.

Otherwise, maybe @lawnjelly wants to give it a final look as timing expert :P But should be good to go otherwise

[dalexeev]

There are 2 problems:

1. Time should be counted from the moment the window appears, and not from the moment the process starts.
2. As far as I remember, the default Godot icon is not immediately replaced by the custom one (at least in KDE). But, this is not directly related to this PR, because the icon was replaced during OS.delay_usec (which is weird).

For myself, I solved the problem by using the image of a small hourglass. That is, it is more of a boot image than a splash image.

I understand why people supported this PR, but now it doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Either leave it as it is and add a clarification that the splash image is actually a boot image, which should have an hourglass icon, the text "Loading..." or something similar, and not logos. Or implement this feature, but more thoroughly than in this PR.

[akien-mga]

You can add suffix:ms and remove _msec from the name I think.

[dalexeev]

Done.

[dalexeev]

Note: We should rename other similar settings.

[akien-mga]

Yeah the suffix is a new feature, we could use it consistently for this kind of setting/property.

[akien-mga]

Approved in PR review meeting, though there's still an issue to solve with the docs.

[YuriSizov]

This was fully approved during the PR meeting, thanks for your work!

[akien-mga]

Cherry-picked for 3.6.