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General Art Information

One of the most basic elements of BBS customization is through it’s artwork. ENiGMA½ supports a variety of ways to select, display, and manage art.

Art File Locations

As a general rule, art files live in one of two places:

The art/general directory. This is where you place common/non-themed art files.
Within a theme such as art/themes/super_fancy_theme.

MCI Codes

All art can contain MCI Codes.

Art in Menus

While art can be displayed programmatically such as from a custom module, the most basic and common form is via menu.hjson entries. This usually falls into one of two forms:

Standard

A “standard” entry where a single art spec is utilized:

{
    mainMenu: {
        art: main_menu.ans
    }
}

Module Specific / Multiple Art

An entry for a custom module where multiple pieces are declared and used. The second style usually takes the form of a config.art block with two or more entries:

{
    nodeMessage: {
        config: {
            art: {
                header: node_msg_header
                footer: node_msg_footer
            }
        }
    }
}

A menu entry has a few elements that control how art is selected and displayed. First, the art spec tells the system how to look for the art asset. Second, the config block can further control aspects of lookup and display. The following table describes such entries:

Item	Description
`font`	Sets the SyncTERM style font to use when displaying this art. If unset, the system will use the art’s embedded SAUCE record if present or simply use the current font. See Fonts below.
`pause`	If set to `true`, pause after displaying.
`baudRate`	Set a SyncTERM style emulated baud rate when displaying this art. In other words, slow down the display.
`cls`	Clear the screen before display if set to `true`.
`random`	Set to `false` to explicitly disable random lookup.
`types`	An optional array of types (aka file extensions) to consider for lookup. For example : `[ '.ans', '.asc' ]`
`readSauce`	May be set to `false` if you need to explicitly disable SAUCE support.

Art Spec

In the section above it is mentioned that the art member is a spec. The value of a art spec controls how the system looks for an asset. The following forms are supported:

FOO: The system will look for FOO.ANS, FOO.ASC, FOO.TXT, etc. using the default search path. Unless otherwise specified if FOO1.ANS, FOO2.ANS, and so on exist, a random selection will be made.
FOO.ANS: By specifying an extension, only the exact match will be searched for.
rel/path/to/BAR.ANS: Only match a path (relative to the system’s art directory).
/path/to/BAZ.ANS: Exact path only.

ENiGMA½ uses a fallback system for art selection. When a menu entry calls for a piece of art, the following search is made:

If a direct or relative path is supplied, look there first.
In the users current theme directory.
In the system default theme directory.
In the art/general directory.

ACS-Driven Conditionals

The ACS system can be used to make conditional art selection choices. To do this, provide an array of possible values in your art spec. As an example:

{
    fancyMenu: {
        art: [
            {
                acs: GM[l33t]
                art: leet_art.ans
            }
            {
                //  default
                art: newb.asc
            }
        ]
    }
}

SyncTERM Style Fonts

ENiGMA½ can set a SyncTERM style font for art display. This is supported by many other popular BBS terminals as well. A common usage is for displaying Amiga style fonts for example. The system will use the font specifier or look for a font declared in an artworks SAUCE record (unless readSauce is false).

The most common fonts are probably as follows:

cp437
c64_upper
c64_lower
c128_upper
c128_lower
atari
pot_noodle
mo_soul
microknight_plus
topaz_plus
microknight
topaz

…and some examples:

cp437
pot_noodle
mo_soul
microknight_plus
topaz_plus

topaz

Other “fonts” also available:

cp1251
koi8_r
iso8859_2
iso8859_4
cp866
iso8859_9
haik8
iso8859_8
koi8_u
iso8859_15
iso8859_4
koi8_r_b
iso8859_4
iso8859_5
ARMSCII_8
iso8859_15
cp850
cp850
cp885
cp1251
iso8859_7
koi8-r_c
iso8859_4
iso8859_1
cp866
cp437
cp866
cp885
cp866_u
iso8859_1
cp1131

See this specification for more information.

SyncTERM Style Baud Rates

The baudRate member can set a SyncTERM style emulated baud rate. May be 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 76800, or 115200. A value of ulimited, off, or 0 resets (disables) the rate.

See this specification for more information.

Common Example

fullLogoffSequenceRandomBoardAd: {
    art: OTHRBBS
    desc: Logging Off
    next: logoff
    config: {
        baudRate: 57600
        pause: true
        cls: true
    }
}

General Art Information