This section covers some frequently asked questions. Please read them first before asking on the forum because your problem might have been covered here.
Q: Is it possible to compile *.apk Android packages directly with Hollywood so that I can publish them on Google Play?
A: Yes, that's possible with the Hollywood APK Compiler which is available as a Hollywood add-on. Please visit the official Hollywood portal at http://www.hollywood-mal.com for more information. Alternatively, you can also use to freely available Hollywood Player for Android if you want to run your Hollywood projects on Android. See Mobile platforms for details.
Q: Is it possible to create GUIs in Hollywood which use the native widgets of the operating system?
A: Yes, this is now possible with the RapaGUI plugin. RapaGUI allows you to create native GUIs for AmigaOS and compatibles, Windows, macOS, and Linux. GUI layouts can be conveniently defined in XML. RapaGUI is available for free and can be downloaded from http://www.hollywood-mal.com. If you only target AmigaOS and compatibles, you can also use the MUI Royale plugin. This allows you to use almost the complete MUI API from Hollywood and creating GUIs with MUI Royale is also very convenient because GUI layouts can be defined in XML.
Q: I have compiled my project for macOS but macOS refuses to start it. What can I do?
A: macOS is very strict when it comes to executing apps that haven't been signed by a registered Apple developer. Typically, unsigned apps end up in "quarantine" which means that you can't open them. You can, however, clear the quarantine flag of an app by executing the following line on the terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /path/to/your/App.app |
Then you should be able to open your app without problems.
Q: 2D drawing is too slow. What can I do to make this faster?
A: On some platforms Hollywood does all of its drawing using the CPU. This ensures maximum compatibility with a wide range of hardware. Using hardware-accelerated drawing increases the risk of glitches with buggy graphics drivers of the host OS. Nevertheless, Hollywood supports hardware-accelerated drawing. To do that, you need to set up a hardware double buffer and create your brushes as hardware brushes. Then 2D drawing will be done using the GPU and this will be extremely quick. Note that the Windows, macOS, and Linux versions don't have inbuilt support for hardware double buffers and hardware brushes at the moment. You need to use a plugin like GL Galore or RebelSDL in order to be able to use hardware double buffers are hardware brushes on those systems. See Hardware brushes for details.
Q: I'm using the auto scaling engine (or the "FullScreenScale" display mode) to scale my script to a higher resolution. The performance is very poor. Can't Hollywood use the GPU for scaling?
A: Hollywood doesn't support hardware-accelerated scaling on all platforms by default. On Windows, this is only available on Windows 7 and better. On macOS, it is only available on 10.10 and better. If you're running Hollywood on a system where the auto scaling engine shows a poor performance, you might be able to get massive speed improvements by using a plugin which supports hardware-accelerated scaling, e.g. the GL Galore or RebelSDL plugins. Plugins which support hardware-accelerated scaling can apply auto scaling in almost no time. So if Hollywood's inbuilt auto scaling performance is too poor for your requirements, you might want to use a plugin which supports hardware-accelerated scaling. See Obtaining plugins for details.
Q: The Windows version of Hollywood comes with a nice IDE. Why is there no such IDE on the Amiga platform?
A: It would be too much work to create such an IDE for Amiga compatibles. There are already several other programs that you can use on the Amiga to create scripts for Hollywood. Check out Dietmar Eilert's Cubic IDE (Link: http://www.softwareandcircuits.com/) or Simon Archer's Codebench (Link: http://codebench.co.uk). Both programs support Hollywood through plugins.
Q: How can I link images, sounds, fonts, etc. into my compiled executable?
A: If you are using the preprocessor commands like @BRUSH, @BGPIC, @MUSIC, @FONT, etc. then Hollywood will link all external data declared using these commands to your executable automatically. If you are loading your external data manually using LoadBrush(), OpenMusic(), SetFont() etc., then you have to use the -linkfiles console argument to specify which files should be linked to your executable.
Q: How do I switch between windowed and full screen mode?
A: There is a hotkey that can switch your scripts between windowed and full
screen mode: Just press CMD+RETURN on AmigaOS and macOS, or LALT+RETURN
on Windows. If you need to switch modes from your script, use the
ChangeDisplayMode() command.
Q: How can I change the icon in executables compiled using Hollywood?
A: Use the @APPICON preprocessor command for that.
Q: When using TrueType fonts, I noticed that the text looks slightly different between AmigaOS and Windows, or Windows and macOS, or AmigaOS and macOS. How can I fix that?
A: If you want TrueType text to look exactly the same on every platform,
you have to use Hollywood's inbuilt font engine. You can enable the
inbuilt font engine by passing #FONTENGINE_INBUILT to the SetFont(),
OpenFont() or @FONT commands. By default, Hollywood will use the host
operating system's native font engine (#FONTENGINE_NATIVE) and this
leads to a slightly different look on each platform. If you don't
want that, use #FONTENGINE_INBUILT.
Q: How can I increase the raw performance of my script?
A: You might want to disable the line hook for brief periods of time to increase the raw performance of Hollywood's virtual machine. See DisableLineHook for details.
Q: I have compiled my script for macOS but when I start it under macOS, I get an error indicating that the data files for my program could not be found!
A: Make sure that you put all data files required by your program
inside the Resources folder of the application bundle compiled
by Hollywood. For example, if Hollywood compiled a bundle called
MyCoolProgram.app, then you need to put all data files that are
required by MyCoolProgram.app inside the following bundle folder:
MyCoolProgram.app/Contents/Resources. Then it will work.
Q: I have compiled my script for macOS/Linux but it won't start. What's wrong there?
A: Make sure that the main program inside the application bundle has the executable flag set. When cross-compiling programs for macOS/Linux on Windows or AmigaOS, the executable flag often is not set correctly because macOS and Linux use a different file system. So you sometimes need to set this flag manually.
Q: Is there visual designer for Hollywood scripts or do I have to edit every script using a text editor?
A: Yes, there is a program called Hollywood Designer which has a powerful WYSIWYG interface to create your Hollywood projects. Have a look at http://www.hollywood-mal.com for more information about this great program. Please note that Hollywood Designer is currently only available for Amiga compatible systems.
Q: Is there a Hollywood forum where I can get in touch with other users?
A: Yes, please check out the "Community" section of the official Hollywood Portal online at http://www.hollywood-mal.com.
Q: When I compile my script for Windows/macOS, I'm getting an error message that Hollywood can't open the fonts I'm using! What am I doing wrong?
A: See Working with fonts for a detailed explanation of how to deal with fonts in multi-platform scripts.
Q: I see that programs compiled by Hollywood support many different console arguments. But I never start my programs compiled by Hollywood from the console! Can I still pass console arguments to them somehow?
A: Yes, that's possible. See Passing console arguments without a console for details.
Q: When trying to load an animation, I'm always getting an "Out of memory!" error although I have 512 MB RAM.
A: Make sure that you enable disk-buffered playback. This can be
done by using the FromDisk tag in LoadAnim() or @ANIM. If you
don't specify FromDisk, Hollywood will buffer the entire anim
in memory and because Hollywood always uses 32-bit graphics,
512 MB are used up pretty soon.
Q: When I'm trying to access a non-existing field in my table, Hollywood immediately exits with an error message! Can I somehow check if a table field exists before accessing it?
A: That is possible using the HaveItem() function. It will return False if the
specified table field does not exist.
Q: The sound Hollywood outputs is distorted under AmigaOS. What is wrong there?
A: Check your AHI settings. You will have to set the master volume in your AHI advanced settings to "With Clipping". If this does not help, try to reduce the master volume in Hollywood, by specifying the -mastervolume argument. You can also reduce the master volume in the GUI preferences. You should also turn off the echo and surround modes if there are any sound problems. Also make sure that you have set the frequency for your sound driver correctly. It should be at least 22050 Hz.
Q: I would like to add my own commands to Hollywood using a plugin. Is there a SDK available?
A: Yes, the Hollywood SDK is available for download from the official Hollywood portal at http://www.hollywood-mal.com. It comes with many examples and extensive documentation that should get you started.
Q: How do I interrupt scripts that run in a window that has no close box?
A: Just press CTRL+C. This will always work except when CTRL+C has been disabled using CtrlCQuit().
Q: Where can I ask for help?
A: The best place to ask for help is the official Hollywood forum http://forums.hollywood-mal.com. There is also a newsletter which is used for announcements. So if you want to stay up to date about the latest Hollywood releases, new plugins, updates, and everything else about Hollywood visit http://www.hollywood-mal.com and sign up for the newsletter.
Q: I have found a bug.
A: Please post about it in the "Bugs" section of the forum.