How to add new items to Reauthorist script for scenarist can import them?

[Talayero]

Sorry for asking so many question but I'm involved in a project that's driving me crazy.
I have no words to explain the whole thing. Briefly:

I need to include in that project one subpicture with highlight in a track which only has a video stream. If I put it manually after importing the original script scenarist can't compile. May be because it doesn't recognize that new item. The solution could be to modify the script in order scenarist could import that subpicture from the beginning.

I've tried something but it didin't work. I made a new project only with that video track and the subpicture, I exported it and made some copy paste from this script to the origina. I copied the item subpicture with colours, data file, etc. I don't know exactly how much I had to copy and may be that's why scenarist didn't import that subpicture. Or may be it's impossible to do what I'm trying.

Thanks in advance.

I've tried also to make the original script with scenaid, to see if that meant a change, but I got that "subscript out of range" error. Anyway, I think the result would have been the same, because of that item that wasn't in original script. I don't know.

[Zeul]

Modifying the script is dangerous. Even the slightest syntax error will crash scenarist. Trust me I know :D . Your original approach is better. Import the RA script, then manually add the substream & highlight. dropping the sub should be no problem, the highlight can be more tricky. What have you done so far, and what was the error. Being able to do this manually will make a huge difference in the future, and give you a much better understanding.

The information you will need:

Button coords. Get these from vobedit or menuedit.
Selection / Action highlight colours. These are in RGB format. Again vobedit / menuedit will provide these.
Button command.
Is the track a still or a video clip?
If video are the buttons selectable from the beginning of the clip?

Depending on the video/still Aspect Ratio will dictate whether multiple sub streams are required (there is only ever 1 highlight though), possibly one for a Wide display, 1 for letterbox.

Once we have this information, we can offer some guidance on creating the buttons.

Zeul

[Talayero]

Thanks for answering.

I'll try to explain the project.
It's a film with only one vts that has 8 pgcs. Three of them are related to the main film and two extras (interviews and so on). The problem is that the other 5 are slides, that's to say, stills with filmografphies, notes, posters, etc.

OK, I demuxe it with Doitfas4U and I don't tick these 5 pgcs because I know that scenarist can't handle slideshows imported in that way.
At the end of the process I have three streams of video beautifully compressed and 5 dummy pgcs.

Fine, but I'm stubborn and want to keep these stills. So I demuxed the five pgcs by cell and add them manually in Scenarist, a lot of work, all the subpictures with buttons, links, etc. I realize that I can't delete the dummy pgcs from the project, because scenarist refuse to compile (and this is the origin of the whole problem).

So I add the stills as new cells to the dummy pgcs and the compilation goes perfect. The trouble appears with ifoupdate, logically.
The original pgc2, for instance, has 7 cells, but the one I've created has 8 (7 stills plus one dummy.m2v)

Second try:
I change the name of the first still in each pgc and rename it with the dummy.m2v names that had these 5 dummy files created by Doitfast4U. Now I have the right numbers of cells in each pgc.

But there's still a problem: If that dummy pgc (that is a still really) has a subpicture added (the one it needs to navigate with the buttons to the next cell) then scenarist refuses to compile.

Well, and that's all. I think stubbornness must have a limit. I'm not now in front of my PC but in half an hour I'll get home and try something easier: not to add these subpictures to the "dummy pgcs-first still" and let the viewer jump to the next cell with the remote.

What I don't understand is why scenarist compiles perfectly when you add a lot of cells to each dummy pgc from the project imported, and when you add a tiny subpicture to these same dummy pgcs it says no.

Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Zeul]

If it errors then there is a reason. Please show the actual error message.
If you are adding 5 new PGCs (the stills) then remove the 5 dummy PGcs that RA created.
Why are you leaving in the dummy .m2v?

[Talayero]

The problem is I can't remove these dummy.m2v created by Doitfast4U. If I add the stills and remove the dummies Scenarist gives me this error: DVD Files could not be created due to a setup error.

I tried to cheat scenarist changing the names of the first stills of each pgc for the name of the dummies.m2v, but it didn't work. Yesterday I thought it was a problem of the subpicture I added to that still that had the name of the original dummy. But I was wrong. With the subpicture added scenarist gave that error: "Validate from DB failed". Without subpicture: Mux FromDB.MuxVTS failed".

So far the only way to compile successfully is by keeping the dummies.m2v.
As I said before that makes one cell odd and ifoupdate can't do its job.
For instance, if pgc6 has the whole filmographie of an actress that amounts to ten stills, I have to sacrify one of them because the dummy.m2v I'm forced to keep takes up one of the cells.

I've just compiled and have a project that is not perfect. In the five pgcs that in the original DVD are filled with cells-slides there's one missing, because the dummy.m2v is taking its place. If I delete that dummy.m2v Scenarist doesn't compile.

Before giving up I think there are two solutions to make a perfect backup:

1: Start a new project with the whole menu demuxed and taking the streams compressed an all the stills. So I don't need ifoupdate, and the issue with undeletable dummy.m2v is over too. But that's too much work. In my actual project I have already all the stills placed with its subpictures and buttons, and I have also the menu copied by Doitfast4U in the VIDEO_TS file.
It would be easier:

2. To find a way to replace these dummy.m2v for the stills I need. Manipulating the script I suppose.
I think the script retains some information about these files, may be the bitrate or something, and when I rename one still "vts__01_pg5.dummy.m2v", for instance, the program knows that I'm cheating.

Anyway, I'm ready to give up.

[Zeul]

We all like a challenge :)

I suggest showing us the script file. Provide a link for us to d/l and view it. If are you replacing the dummy then you will need to actually import these new stills and then replace them.

[Talayero]

Thank you..
I didn't have time to finish the project, but what you said in your last post helped me a lot.

This is the process:

1.-I replace the dummy.mpv for the first still.

2.-I create a new script with reauthorist. I hadn't done this before. I had used always the original script after renaming the still as dummy. That's an advance, but the real good thing is that this doesn't work yet unless I use your suggestion:

3.-I import these same stills named as dummy in scenarist, delete the ones that have been imported by the script, and that's it. It works. Scenarist can compile.

So, the trick is to replace before the script, and then import and replace again.
Tomorrow, if I have time, I'll add the rest of the stills. I don't think I'll have more problems.
I'll post the results.

Thanks again

[Talayero]

Everything went perfect. No problems compiling nor with ifoupdate. More than 70 stills in their right place, with buttons to navigate that work fine.

Now, since the root menu was outside the scenarist project, I have to create the commands for the buttons of the stills that pointed to that menu.

I have one more question about this last matter, just to see if it is possible to speed up the way to create these commands. Since that's another theme, I post the question in a different thread.

Thanks for the help.