[Solved] What is the difference between (show / renpy.show) and (add)?

[Chekhov]

When I read what "add" does it seems synonymous to what "show" does. Is there a difference and are they two different ways to show an image in renpy or are they the same way to show an image, only with different syntax?

Add documentation:
https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/screens.html#add

Show documentation:
https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/statemen ... renpy.show

[philat]

One is screen language, the other is a renpy statement/python statement.

[Chekhov]

One is screen language, the other is a renpy statement/python statement.

Thank you, Philat.

[xavimat]

Maybe some explanation can be useful.
Renpy includes several languages. "Screen language", "ATL", the one used in labels ("label language?"), and python.
They serve different purposes.
- Code in a label is executed one line after another. The "scene" or the "show" statements do not actually show the image, but tell renpy what image should be shown at the next interaction (an interaction occurs in a dialogue line, "menu", "pause" or "with"). For example:

Code: Select all

scene park
show eileen at right
show lucy at left
with dissolve

This code shows three images (park, eileen, lucy) at the same time.
Instead:

Code: Select all

scene park with dissolve
show eileen at right with dissolve
show lucy at left with dissolve

Shows every image dissolving one after another.

- Code in screens use the "screen language". "add" tells renpy to add a displayable to the screen, but it does nothing until that screen in show or called (well, it can be predicted under the hoods, but it won't be visible to the player until the screen is shown or called).

- The python equivalent to "show" is $ renpy.show()

[Chekhov]

Maybe some explanation can be useful.

You're a gent and a scholar.

I was able to learn quite a bit from the tutorial; I hadn't grasped the significance of screen language being something seperate and it actually answered quite a few questions I had.

You ended up filling some more blanks here. If anyone reads this and is still confused, the tutorial is very much recommended to learn more about how to use screen language.