taskbar.ame

@a{taskbar}@chapter{ Task bar }

The @wikiterm{task bar} is a central element of Doomsday's UI. It is available
at all times and provides access to key features of the engine. For example,
you can modify configuration settings, show the Home screen, and unload the
current game.

You can show the task bar by pressing @kbd{Shift + Esc}.

@section{ App menu }

The rightmost button in the task bar (with the DE logo) opens the Doomsday
app menu.

@parag{Tutorial.} The first-run tutorial points out the basic features of
Doomsday's UI. It is only shown once, but you can manually show it again by
selecting @ui{Help: Show Tutorial}.

@parag{Browsing and loading packages.} @ui{Browse Packages...} opens the
package list in a sidebar where packages can be loaded and unloaded manually.
You can also view information about packages like in the Home screen. The
sidebar is only available when a game is loaded. You can use the
@dquote{loaded} keyword to filter the list so that only the currently loaded
packages are listed.

@notice{Data from newly loaded packages may not be used until a new map is
started in the game. Use of external textures can be enabled and disabled in
Renderer settings.}

@parag{Checking for updates.} Doomsday queries the dengine.net website to see
if there are newer builds and shows a notification when updates are available.
You can always also do a manual update check by selecting @ui{Check for
Updates}.

@parag{Clearing the resource cache.} Some resources and metadata get cached for
later access. This allows Doomsday to load the resources faster and operate
more efficiently. Usually it is unnecessary to clear the cache manually. See
@ref{files}{Files} for the cache's location.

@a{config} @section{ Configuration }

The task bar's Gear button opens the configuration menu. This is where the
majority of Doomsday's settings can be viewed and changed. Some of the settings
are only available when a game is loaded (@ui{Input}, for instance).

@parag{Reset to defaults and advanced settings.} Many settings dialogs have a
@ui{Reset to Defaults} button. This affects only the settings in that one
particular dialog. Sometimes a Gauge button is also available. It is reserved
for advanced settings that are useful for developers and modding.

@parag{Renderer settings.} Most of the renderer settings are managed via
appearance profiles. This makes it easy to select one of the presets, such as a
vanilla look or more exaggerated effects. The dialog has a couple of general
settings in addition to the active appearance profile. The @ui{Pixel Density}
slider is particularly useful as it allows improving rendering performance and
achieving a more pixelated, 1990s VGA-style look. The selected appearance
profile applies to all games.

Some resource packs with high-resolution textures are intended to be used with
the unmodified original games. However, a PWAD file may replace some of the
textures with custom ones. The @ui{External Images} options allow you to
control when external images are actually enabled if the resource packs in use
aren't compatible with the loaded PWADs.

@parag{Renderer appearance sidebar.} Click the Gear button next to the selected
renderer appearance profile and select @ui{Edit} or @ui{View} to open the
appearance sidebar. Alternatively you can open the sidebar with the
@cmd{rendedit} console command. Individual settings groups can be folded and
unfolded by clicking on the group titles. You can continue playing the game
while the sidebar is visible. When you're done, dismiss the sidebar with the X
button in the top right corner.

@parag{Video aspect ratios.} In addition to basic game window parameters, the
Video settings dialog has a set of aspect ratio options. These control the aspect ratios applied to specific elements in the game:

@list/thin{
    @item @ui{Original 1:1}: The aspect ratio is exactly as in the original game.
    @item @ui{Smart}: The aspect ratio is dynamic but does not stretch too far away from the 1:1 ratio.
    @item @ui{Stretched}: The aspect ratio is unrestricted and adapts to window dimensions. Game elements may appear too wide or tall with this setting.
}

@parag{Audio backends.} Some of the audio options are dependent on the active
audio backend(s). For example, a MIDI sound font is supported by the FMOD and
Fluidsynth plugins. 3D sound and reverb are supported by FMOD, OpenAL, and
DirectSound. The audio backend can be reconfigured on the fly; any changes are
applied when you close the popup.

@parag{Game controllers.} Doomsday comes with a few preset bindings for
different gamepads. To use one of the presets, click on the @ui{Game Controller
Preset} button and select a suitable one. Then click @ui{Apply} to erase all
your existing game controller bindings and activate the ones in the preset. You
can still manually edit the bindings in the game's @ui{Options} menu.

@parag{Mouse input settings.} The @ui{Sync Axis Sensitivities} option will
ensure that mouse sensitivity is the same in both the horizontal and vertical
directions.

@parag{Minimizing mouse latency.} The default input settings try to replicate
the feel of the original 35 Hz input events of Doom. However, when the screen
is actually refreshed at a higher rate, this may feel distractingly laggy. The
35 Hz limiter can be disabled in the advanced input settings (click the Gauge
button). This will minimize mouse input latency as much as possible. You may
additionally want to disable mouse filtering by toggling the @ui{Filter X Axis}
and @ui{Filter Y Axis} options.

@parag{Local multiplayer packages.} By default, clients are not allowed to load
packages in addition to what the server is using. This avoids any potential
compatibility issues with the client's packages overriding some of the game's
definitions. However, you can manually enable local packages in Network
settings. You can then select additional local packages for multiplayer games
in the server information popup before joining the game.

@parag{User Interface settings.} The @ui{Scale} setting applies to the Doomsday
UI only, and adjusts the overall size of UI elements and fonts. Lowering the UI
scaling may be helpful for example when using a very low display resolution. In
the Home screen there will be more tabs visible at the same time when using a
smaller UI scale.

@parag{Updater settings.} The Updater settings determine when Doomsday will
check for available updates. When an update is downloaded, it is saved to @ifdef{MACOSX}{@file{~/Library/Caches/Deng Team/Doomsday Engine/}}@else{your temporary files folder}.

@section{ Log history and log options menu }

The log message history panel slides in from the left edge of the view. When
visible, you can drag its right edge to resize it.

The leftmost button in the task bar opens the log options menu:

@deflist{
    @item{Show Full Log} Expands the log history panel to its full size. When the task bar is open, pressing @kbd{PageUp} will also expand the panel size.
    @item{Close Log} Dismisses the log history panel.
    @item{Go to Latest} Scrolls the log history to the latest message.
    @item{Copy Path to Clipboard} Copies the @file{doomsday.out} file path to the system clipboard to make it easier to find the output file.
    @item{Clear Log} Deletes all log messages from memory. The @file{doomsday.out} file is unaffected.
    @item{Snap to Latest Entry} When this setting is enabled, new log entries will cause the history panel to scroll to the latest entry (bottom of the list).
    @item{Entry Metadata} When this setting is enabled, log entries will be prefixed with a timestamp and categorization symbols.
    @item{Log Filter & Alerts} Settings for filtering which log messages get printed. You can choose filtering options individually for each engine subsystem. Developer messages (@ui{Dev}) are primarily intended for developers and debugging, so they are disabled by default. The @ui{Alert} toggles cause warnings and errors to pop up in the notification area.
}

@section{ Command prompt }

The middle of the task bar is occupied by a command prompt text field. Here you
can enter console commands and modify console variables manually. This is
typically most useful for developers, modders, and other advanced users.

@parag{Console basics.} Type @cmd{help} to get started. This prints some basic
information about how to use the @wikiterm{console}, and commands for listing
all the available @wikiterm{console commands} and @wikilink{variables}{console
variable}. At any time, press @kbd{Tab} to autocomplete the word being typed.
This will pop up a list of all possible completions, including the current
values for any variables. You can change console variable values as follows:

@samp{@cmd{sound-info 1}}

@parag{Shortcut key.} You should set up a console shortcut key if you find
yourself going to the console often. The shortcut defaults to @kbd{Tilde} (U.S.
keyboard) but you can choose your own shortcut key by clicking the @ui{>}
button next to the command prompt.

@parag{Interactive Doomsday Script prompt.} @wikiterm{Doomsday Script} is a
fully-fledged Python/Ruby-like scripting language built into Doomsday 2. While
it doesn't yet allow full access to all engine features, it is being improved
in each release. The command prompt can be switched to Doomsday Script mode by
right-clicking the @ui{>} prompt menu button. Everything entered into the
command prompt is then run as Doomsday Script.This mode is intended only for
developers.