Including text in transition...screenshots?

[FiliaFlammae]

As I'm sure we know, by default, the Ren'Py text window is not included in transitions. You can show and hide the window manually, but the text is not preserved. If possible, I'd like to come up with a way to include the text and textbox in a transition as if the whole screen were one big displayable. For instance, wipeleft would not only wipe away the background and sprites, but the textbox along with them. So is there a way to get the text to act like a displayable, and if not, how can I best replicate the effect?

My first idea was to take a screenshot when the text is done displaying (our game is NVL, so it'd be at the end of the page), set the screenshot to a displayable, and use a transition on that displayable to give the illusion that the text is being wiped away. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to retrieve the filename of the last screenshot made, and since that method would clog up the game folder and make a mess of any future screenshot support anyway, we scrapped it.

Plan B was to turn on autosave as frequently as needed, then use FileScreenshot() to retrieve (as a displayable) the screenshot taken for that save. Unfortunately, these screenshots are apparently already the little thumbnails used in the save/load screens; full-size versions are not stored.

It seems like the only two ways to get screenshots are (1) by pressing s and saving external image files, or (2) using the save system's screenshots. As explained above, neither of these are what we're looking for. Is there something we've missed, or otherwise some other way to wrap up the textbox to use with ATL and such?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

[PyTom]

You might be able to get what you want to happen by setting config.with_none to False. This prevents Ren'Py from removing the window at the end of each interaction - at which point, you might be able to come up with transitions that work for you. (Or maybe not - I'm not sure if this will work with screens.)

In general, this is poorly defined and looks bad. That's because we don't know what the new text will be until after the transition, so you wind up transitioning from a full textbox to an empty one, or something like that.

[FiliaFlammae]

Thanks a bunch! I'll try your suggestion. We were planning on having it transition to an empty textbox, so that's not a problem. If we can't get what we're looking for I guess we'll think of something else. Thank you again for your help!

EDIT: Ren'Py claims that config.with_none is not a variable.
I guess we should stop worrying about this and find a more standard transition that works. But again, thanks anyway!