feat(screenshot): Add threaded JPEG screenshots on F11 without game stalls #1785

bobtista · 2025-11-03T03:24:45Z

Summary

Implements compressed JPEG screenshots (F11) that don't stall the game, addressing issues with the current F12 BMP screenshot functionality.

Closes #1555
Closes #106 ... sort of

Adds a new screenshot function using the stb_image_write library with background threading:

F11 - New compressed JPEG screenshot (no stalling, ~600KB files)
F12 - Original BMP screenshot (still works if lossless needed)

Notes

stb_image-write is public domain licensed, single-header, zero compilation needed
Captures frame buffer on main thread (~1-2ms)
Spawns detached thread for JPEG compression and disk I/O
Uses std::shared_ptr for safe memory management across threads
JPEG quality set to 90 (excellent quality, 10x compression)
Works for both Generals and Zero Hour

Testing

Screenshots save correctly with both F11(jpg) and F12(original bmp)
No game stalling during screenshot with F11
Files appear in correct directory with sequential numbering

Stubbjax · 2025-11-03T06:48:50Z

Some initial thoughts:

Keep variants of the same function to a single hotkey; instead toggle image format via a new setting in Options.ini
Apply image compression / quality via a new setting in Options.ini
Can we consolidate this logic in core instead of repeating the implementation twice?

xezon · 2025-11-03T06:58:11Z

Agree with Stubbjax.

JPG 90 is big file. Better make it default 80.

Replace BMP screenshot with PNG screenshot. PNG is lossless compressed and always better than BMP.

Make F12 take JPG 80 screenshot. Make CTRL+F12 take PNG screenshot. Make JPG Quality adjustable.

Remove the old BMP code(s) and only use the new code for screenshot.

xezon · 2025-11-03T07:00:32Z

Regarding Github formatting:

When you write

Addresses #1555

Then it will not close this report when this is merged.

Please read up on it here:
https://docs.github.com/en/issues/tracking-your-work-with-issues/using-issues/linking-a-pull-request-to-an-issue#closing-multiple-issues

bobtista · 2025-11-03T16:26:53Z

Some initial thoughts:

Keep variants of the same function to a single hotkey; instead toggle image format via a new setting in Options.ini

Apply image compression / quality via a new setting in Options.ini

Can we consolidate this logic in core instead of repeating the implementation twice?

RE moving logic to core, I moved what I could to core - but there are a lot more files that need to be moved to core before this can be moved there eg WWVegas/WW3D2/*

Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/MessageStream/MetaEvent.cpp

Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Include/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DDisplay.h

Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DScreenshot.cpp

Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/MessageStream/MetaEvent.cpp

cmake/stb.cmake

xezon · 2025-11-22T17:34:07Z

Needs rebase.

bobtista · 2025-11-22T18:22:35Z

Needs rebase.

Done

Core/GameEngineDevice/Include/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DScreenshot.h

Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/stb_image_write_impl.cpp

Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DScreenshot.cpp

Generals/Code/GameEngine/Include/Common/MessageStream.h

Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/MessageStream/MetaEvent.cpp

GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Include/Common/MessageStream.h

Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/MessageStream/CommandXlat.cpp

Skyaero42

Looks good to me

bobtista · 2025-12-03T17:44:46Z

I rebased again, and moved stb_image_write_impl to core. W3DScreenshot still needs to stay in separate game folders - it uses a relative path that would break if moved to Core

major changes after approval

Add takeScreenShotCompressed() to Display interface

Implement threaded JPEG screenshot for Generals Link stb library to GameEngineDevice targets Remove excessive comments from screenshot implementation

Add shared screenshot implementation in Core

Move W3DScreenshot implementation to game-specific directories Fix include order for VC6 precompiled headers Remove default parameter from function definition Move STB implementation to separate file to avoid PCH issues Include screenshot implementation directly in W3DDisplay.cpp to avoid PCH issues Use Windows constants and switch statement in screenshot code Use vcpkg for stb dependency with FetchContent fallback

… rebase

…rmat enum

…ince it's included in W3DDisplay.cpp

Move stb_image_write_impl.cpp from game-specific directories to Core since it's identical between Generals and GeneralsMD and contains only STB library implementation code with no game-specific logic.

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch 4 times, most recently from 20a3df1 to 37bd840 Compare November 3, 2025 04:32

xezon added Enhancement Is new feature or request Major Severity: Minor < Major < Critical < Blocker Gen Relates to Generals ZH Relates to Zero Hour labels Nov 3, 2025

L3-M added this to the GenTool features replication milestone Nov 3, 2025

L3-M added the Input label Nov 3, 2025

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch 3 times, most recently from 3535e1e to efc773f Compare November 3, 2025 17:45

Skyaero42 requested changes Nov 3, 2025

View reviewed changes

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch 2 times, most recently from 977a6dc to f8162f3 Compare November 3, 2025 23:07

OmniBlade reviewed Nov 5, 2025

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cmake/stb.cmake Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch from d7e8a8d to d197bdd Compare November 5, 2025 18:04

L3-M mentioned this pull request Nov 6, 2025

Replicate relevant GenTool fixes and improvements #850

Open

34 tasks

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch from d197bdd to 9669966 Compare November 11, 2025 21:27

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch from 9669966 to 4897b0b Compare November 22, 2025 18:10

Skyaero42 requested changes Nov 22, 2025

View reviewed changes

Skyaero42 previously approved these changes Nov 22, 2025

View reviewed changes

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch from 9c99306 to de35e57 Compare December 3, 2025 16:48

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch from 44ca79d to 33f899b Compare December 30, 2025 20:24

bobtista added 18 commits January 14, 2026 16:15

Add stb library dependency via FetchContent

e812fdc

Add MSG_META_TAKE_SCREENSHOT_COMPRESSED message and F11 keybinding

cace321

Add takeScreenShotCompressed() to Display interface

Implement threaded JPEG screenshot for GeneralsMD

7459504

Implement threaded JPEG screenshot for Generals Link stb library to GameEngineDevice targets Remove excessive comments from screenshot implementation

Use Win32 CreateThread for VC6 compatibility and add GUIEditDisplay stub

1bd3ab4

Move screenshot logic to Core to eliminate code duplication

918315c

Add shared screenshot implementation in Core

Change F12 to JPEG and add CTRL+F12 for PNG screenshots

9f4fdd5

Remove old BMP screenshot code

ff690d5

Remove trailing whitespace from empty lines

9f1d2f3

Fix copyright headers: Change Electronic Arts Inc. to TheSuperHackers

3e50e1b

Add file headers to W3DScreenshot.cpp files

0f5e63d

Rename MSG_META_TAKE_SCREENSHOT_JPEG to MSG_META_TAKE_SCREENSHOT_PNG

cbce4f7

fix(screenshot): Fix W3DScreenshot.cpp references in CMakeLists after…

0f506db

… rebase

fix(screenshot): Add missing W3DScreenshot.h include for ScreenshotFo…

34eb797

…rmat enum

fix(screenshot): Use full include path for W3DScreenshot.h from Core

c7b3d91

fix(screenshot): Remove W3DScreenshot.cpp from separate compilation s…

ffaad25

…ince it's included in W3DDisplay.cpp

refactor(screenshot): Consolidate stb_image_write_impl.cpp to Core

e825810

Move stb_image_write_impl.cpp from game-specific directories to Core since it's identical between Generals and GeneralsMD and contains only STB library implementation code with no game-specific logic.

docs(unify): Document stb_image_write_impl.cpp unification in script

7d40c12

bobtista force-pushed the bobtista/compressed-screenshot-f11 branch from 33f899b to 7d40c12 Compare January 14, 2026 21:18

feat(screenshot): Add threaded JPEG screenshots on F11 without game stalls #1785

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Summary

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Testing

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Stubbjax commented Nov 3, 2025

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xezon commented Nov 3, 2025

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xezon commented Nov 22, 2025

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bobtista commented Dec 3, 2025

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bobtista commented Nov 3, 2025 •

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