Start

The frame of the shape the animation's first stage displays.

Specification

Applies to: AnimType
File: art.ini
Section: [<ObjectType ID>]
Value: integer
When omitted: 0

The frame drawn is always Start plus the animation’s current stage. The first stage is 0, except for the reversed and chained animations described below. The animation therefore uses a run of frames beginning at Start. Several animations can share one shape file this way, each using a different run of it.

The value is not checked against the shape file. If Start is at or past the shape’s frame count, the animation draws nothing for as long as it plays.

What is counted from here and what is not

End is a number of stages counted from Start, so a single pass shows frames Start through Start + End - 1. LoopStart and LoopEnd are frame numbers in the shape file, not stage numbers. Set End and the loop range so that they describe the same run of frames.

[MYPLUG_D] ; the damaged form of an animation sharing MYPLUG's shape
Image=MYPLUG
Start=10      ; the damaged sequence begins at frame 10
LoopStart=10  ; a frame number, not a count
LoopEnd=20    ; ends each pass on frame 20, which is not displayed
End=10        ; ten stages, so the final pass also covers frames 10 through 19
LoopCount=3

If End is omitted, the animation has as many stages as the shape file has frames, not as many as remain after Start. Without End=10, the final pass of the example would start at frame 10 and run 10 frames past the end of the shape.

Three cases use a frame number where a stage belongs, so the animation acts on the frame Start past the one set. In the example above, twice Start is frame 20.

A Reverse=yes animation begins each pass on frame Start + LoopEnd. On a single pass, it ends on reaching the frame at twice Start, which is not displayed. Given more than one pass, it holds frame Start + LoopEnd until its final pass. Keep Start=0 on a reversed animation.
A PingPong=yes animation given more than one pass turns only once. It climbs to frame LoopEnd or to the frame at twice Start, whichever comes first. It then plays downward through frame 0, draws nothing after that, and never finishes. Keep Start=0 on a ping-pong animation.
An animation that switches to this type through Next begins on the frame at twice its Start.

The moment an animation leaves its scorch mark or crater is tied to the largest frame in the shape file, not to a stage, so Start does not move it. Crater covers that timing.

See also — End, LoopStart, LoopEnd, Reverse, Next