Video flags

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Video flags are a series of toggles that determine the properties of graphics drawn during SRB2 runtime, whether in the form of text or patches. These flags are listed here for reference, as they are used by both the console command cechoflags as well as Lua's HUD library functions. Also listed in this page are several constants related to the video flags used for masking and bit-shifting, which are detailed in their respective sections and are relevant only for SOC/Lua.

Video flag bits and masks

Unlike with other types of flags, the video flags are divided into individual sections which take up specific bits in the final combined value. These are detailed in the table below, along with the corresponding mask constants (and their values) to represent these bits:

Bits	Mask name	Mask value (Decimal)	Mask value (Hexadecimal)	Description
0–7	`V_PARAMMASK`	255	`0x000000FF`	These bits are reserved for an 8-bit integer parameter internally. For example, when drawing individual characters in a string, this determines which character in the font is to be drawn. You cannot set nor control these bits using `cechoflags` or Lua's HUD library functions. An exception to this is Lua's `v.drawFill`, where these bits are the palette index to use as the fill color.
8–9	`V_SCALEPATCHMASK`	768	`0x00000300`	These bits determine how to scale text and patches.
10–11	`V_SPACINGMASK`	3072	`0x00000C00`	These bits determine text spacing types.
12–15	`V_CHARCOLORMASK`	61440	`0x0000F000`	These bits determine the color of text.
16–19	`V_ALPHAMASK`	983040	`0x000F0000`	These bits determine the alpha or translucency of text and patches.
20–31	none	4293918720	`0xFFF00000`	These bits determine miscellaneous flags. These flags can be combined with each other freely, unlike flags from the other sections.

List of flags

Scale

These flags control how text or patches are scaled in-game. However, they may or may not have an effect depending on the screen resolution – by default the size of graphics is determined by the ratio of the current resolution to the default resolution (320×200). Having none of the scaling flags set corresponds with con_textsize huge.

Note that the given X/Y positions of the top left corner of text or patches will also be scaled, unless V_NOSCALESTART is set. Patch offsets will also be scaled unless V_NOSCALESTART is set.

If any of these flags are set, the flags V_SNAPTOTOP, V_SNAPTOBOTTOM, V_SNAPTOLEFT and V_SNAPTORIGHT will have no effect.

Decimal	Hexadecimal	Flag name	Description
256	`0x00000100`	`V_NOSCALEPATCH`	Text or patches are not scaled. This will cause them to be sized as if the resolution was the default of 320×200, while still retaining their starting positions for the resolution currently being used, assuming `V_NOSCALESTART` is not being used. This causes text or patches to appear smaller in higher resolutions. Generally not recommended because text or patches will look different in different resolutions. This flag corresponds with `con_textsize small`.
512	`0x00000200`	`V_SMALLSCALEPATCH`	Text or patches are scaled to half of their normal scale. Will have no effect for resolutions 640×400 and smaller. This flag corresponds with `con_textsize medium`.
768	`0x00000300`	`V_MEDSCALEPATCH`	Text or patches are scaled to 2/3 of their normal scale. Will have no effect for 320×200. This flag corresponds with `con_textsize large`.

Spacing

These flags control the type of text spacing used when drawing text. These flags do not apply for patches. By default, all spaces are 4 pixels in width, and a character's width is determined by the width of the graphic used.

Decimal	Hexadecimal	Flag name	Description
1024	`0x00000400`	`V_6WIDTHSPACE`	Spaces are 6 pixels wide; all other characters have a width matching their real image width. Old v2.1-style spacing.
2048	`0x00000800`	`V_OLDSPACING`	All characters are 8 pixels wide, and spaces are 4 pixels wide. This is the spacing used by all versions of SRB2 prior to v2.1, and some parts of the game (menu options, for example) still use it.
3072	`0x00000C00`	`V_MONOSPACE`	All characters are 8 pixels wide, spaces included.

Color

These flags control the color of text. These are not related to skin colors, as color-remapping for text is done differently compared to color-remapping for sprites. These flags do not apply for patches.

Note that the effects of these flags override any and all color codes within the text string, coloring all text drawn in the corresponding color for the flag. For applying colors to specific parts of a text rather than all if it, see SOC > Custom colors or SOC > Hexadecimal input for SOC, and Lua > Special characters for Lua.

Decimal	Hexadecimal	Flag name	Description
4096	`0x00001000`	`V_MAGENTAMAP`	Text is colored magenta.
8192	`0x00002000`	`V_YELLOWMAP`	Text is colored yellow.
12288	`0x00003000`	`V_GREENMAP`	Text is colored green.
16384	`0x00004000`	`V_BLUEMAP`	Text is colored blue.
20480	`0x00005000`	`V_REDMAP`	Text is colored red.
24576	`0x00006000`	`V_GRAYMAP`	Text is colored gray.
28672	`0x00007000`	`V_ORANGEMAP`	Text is colored orange.
32768	`0x00008000`	`V_SKYMAP`	Text is colored sky blue.
36864	`0x00009000`	`V_PURPLEMAP`	Text is colored purple.
40960	`0x0000A000`	`V_AQUAMAP`	Text is colored aqua green.
45056	`0x0000B000`	`V_PERIDOTMAP`	Text is colored peridot green.
49152	`0x0000C000`	`V_AZUREMAP`	Text is colored azure blue.
53248	`0x0000D000`	`V_BROWNMAP`	Text is colored brown.
57344	`0x0000E000`	`V_ROSYMAP`	Text is colored rosy pink.
61440	`0x0000F000`	`V_INVERTMAP`	Text is inverted.

Alpha & blending

These flags determine the alpha/translucency and blending mode of text and patches; if none are used, they will be opaque. Some of these depend on the value of the console variable translucenthud instead of having a fixed translucency.

Decimal	Hexadecimal	Flag name	Description
65536	`0x00010000`	`V_10TRANS`	Text or patches are 10% translucent.
131072	`0x00020000`	`V_20TRANS`	Text or patches are 20% translucent.
196608	`0x00030000`	`V_30TRANS`	Text or patches are 30% translucent.
262144	`0x00040000`	`V_40TRANS`	Text or patches are 40% translucent.
327680	`0x00050000`	`V_50TRANS` `V_TRANSLUCENT`	Text or patches are 50% translucent.
393216	`0x00060000`	`V_60TRANS`	Text or patches are 60% translucent.
458752	`0x00070000`	`V_70TRANS`	Text or patches are 70% translucent.
524288	`0x00080000`	`V_80TRANS`	Text or patches are 80% translucent.
589824	`0x00090000`	`V_90TRANS`	Text or patches are 90% translucent.
851968	`0x000A0000`	`V_HUDTRANSHALF`	Text or patches will be adjusted to be half as opaque (twice as translucent) as the translucency determined by `translucenthud`: 0 – Invisible 1–2 – 90% translucent 3–4 – 80% translucent 5–6 – 70% translucent 7–8 – 60% translucent 9–10 – 50% translucent
917504	`0x000B0000`	`V_HUDTRANS`	Text or patches will be adjusted to the translucency determined by `translucenthud`: 0 – Invisible 1 – 90% translucent 2 – 80% translucent 3 – 70% translucent 4 – 60% translucent 5 – 50% translucent 6 – 40% translucent 7 – 30% translucent 8 – 20% translucent 9 – 10% translucent 10 – Opaque
983040	`0x000C0000`	`V_HUDTRANSDOUBLE`	Text or patches will be adjusted to be twice as opaque (half as translucent) as the translucency determined by `translucenthud`: 0 – Invisible 1 – 80% translucent 2 – 60% translucent 3 – 40% translucent 4 – 20% translucent 5–10 – Opaque
1048576	`0x00100000`	`V_ADD`	Text or patches use additive blending. At 100% intensity by default, but can be combined with `V_10TRANS`–`V_90TRANS` for 90%–10% intensity.
2097152	`0x00200000`	`V_SUBTRACT`	Text or patches use subtractive blending. At 100% intensity by default, but can be combined with `V_10TRANS`–`V_90TRANS` for 90%–10% intensity.
3145728	`0x00300000`	`V_REVERSESUBTRACT`	Text or patches use reverse subtractive blending. At 100% intensity by default, but can be combined with `V_10TRANS`–`V_90TRANS` for 90%–10% intensity.
4194304	`0x00400000`	`V_MODULATE`	Text or patches use modulative blending.

Miscellaneous

These flags can be combined with each other freely; however, some flags may not be compatible with other flags from this or other sections.

Decimal	Hexadecimal	Flag name	Description
8388608	`0x00800000`	`V_ALLOWLOWERCASE`	(Strings only) Allows use of lowercase letters, instead of forcing letters to be all-uppercase by default.
8388608	`0x00800000`	`V_FLIP`	(Patches only) Flips the patch across the X axis (horizontally).
8388608	`0x00800000`	`V_CENTERNAMETAG`	(Nametags only) Centers the name tag text horizontally.
16777216	`0x01000000`	`V_SNAPTOTOP`	Text or patches snap to the top edge of the screen in non-green resolutions. This means that the top of the string or patch will remain the same distance from the top edge of the screen as if it were using a green resolution. This flag has no effect if `V_NOSCALESTART` or any of the scaling flags are set.
33554432	`0x02000000`	`V_SNAPTOBOTTOM`	Text or patches snap to the bottom edge of the screen in non-green resolutions. This means that the bottom of the string or patch will remain the same distance from the bottom edge of the screen as if it were using a green resolution. This flag has priority over `V_SNAPTOTOP`. This flag has no effect if `V_NOSCALESTART` or any of the scaling flags are set.
67108864	`0x04000000`	`V_SNAPTOLEFT`	Text or patches snap to the left edge of the screen in non-green resolutions. This means that the left end of the string or patch will remain the same distance from the left edge of the screen as if it were using a green resolution, and text will be left-aligned. This flag has no effect if `V_NOSCALESTART` or any of the scaling flags are set.
134217728	`0x08000000`	`V_SNAPTORIGHT`	Text or patches snap to the right edge of the screen in non-green resolutions. This means that the right end of the string or patch will remain the same distance from the right edge of the screen as if it were using a green resolution, and text will be right-aligned. This flag has priority over `V_SNAPTOLEFT`. This flag has no effect if `V_NOSCALESTART` or any of the scaling flags are set.
268435456	`0x10000000`	`V_AUTOFADEOUT`	Makes `cecho` text automatically fade out before disappearing. Does not have any effect for non-`cecho` text or patches.
536870912	`0x20000000`	`V_RETURN8`	Line breaks in text move the start of the next line of text down by 8 pixels rather than 12. Since text characters are normally 8 characters tall, this means lines of text will have no distance between them vertically. This has no effect for patches.
1073741824	`0x40000000`	`V_NOSCALESTART`	Do not scale the text or patch's starting position, i.e., the top-left corner of the text/patch. This will cause it to be placed as if the resolution was the default of 320×200, while still retaining the size of the text/patch for the resolution currently being used, assuming `V_NOSCALEPATCH` is not being used. This causes the text/patch to be in the top-left in higher resolutions. Generally not recommended because the resulting appearance will vary depending on the resolution used. Patch offsets will also not be scaled. If this flag is set, the flags `V_SNAPTOTOP`, `V_SNAPTOBOTTOM`, `V_SNAPTOLEFT` and `V_SNAPTORIGHT` will have no effect.
2147483648	`0x80000000`	`V_PERPLAYER`	In Splitscreen mode, text and patches will automatically adjust coordinates and scaling to fit on-screen.

Bit-shifts

These constants are used to bit-shift integer values to the bits for specific types of video flags, or to shift the flags back down to their integer values:

Name	Value	Description
`V_CHARCOLORSHIFT`	12	Number of bits to shift up to convert integers 1–16 to the color flags `V_PURPLEMAP`–`V_INVERTMAP`, or the number of bits to shift down for vice versa. Example: `1<<V_CHARCOLORSHIFT` is `V_MAGENTAMAP`, and `V_MAGENTAMAP>>V_CHARCOLORSHIFT` is 1.
`V_ALPHASHIFT`	16	Number of bits to shift up to convert integers 1–9 to the alpha flags `V_10TRANS`–`V_90TRANS` and integers 10–12 to the alpha flags `V_HUDTRANSHALF`–`V_HUDTRANSDOUBLE`, or the number of bits to shift down for vice versa. Example: `1<<V_ALPHASHIFT` is `V_10TRANS`, and `V_10TRANS>>V_ALPHASHIFT` is 1.
`V_BLENDSHIFT`	20	Number of bits to shift up to convert integers 1–4 to the blending mode flags `V_ADD`, `V_SUBTRACT`, `V_REVERSESUBTRACT` and `V_MODULATE`, or the number of bits to shift down for vice versa. Example: `1<<V_BLENDSHIFT` is `V_ADD`, and `V_ADD>>V_BLENDSHIFT` is 1.