A UI modding adventure
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A UI modding adventure
Watch and weep tears of joy (or not, up to you )
Last edited by Mad_Joker on Mon, 21. Apr 14, 08:08, edited 1 time in total.
- YorrickVander
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- werewolves?
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- Moderator (English)
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- TheRealBix
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I'm pretty sur you're feeling like this
[ external image ]
Really nice work. I wish I could manipulate scripts as easily as you..
Big thanks to Night Nord, you have done a really good with the decompiler..
And I still don't know why Efosoft didn't brought us proper tools :/
I'll now search for some velues to enhance and try to upgrade my mods too
[ external image ]
Really nice work. I wish I could manipulate scripts as easily as you..
Big thanks to Night Nord, you have done a really good with the decompiler..
And I still don't know why Efosoft didn't brought us proper tools :/
I'll now search for some velues to enhance and try to upgrade my mods too
This gets me giddy.
This seems like it could definitely open up some great possibilities!
This seems like it could definitely open up some great possibilities!
Check out my mod Crystal Rarities
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- Moderator (English)
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I'm not its greatest supporter but since the radial menu can be accessed while manually flying and fighting (quite a good development despite its shortcomings), I think we'd need another kind of interface alongside this nice adaptation before getting rid of it.Eriodas wrote: Now if we just can get rid of that radial menu... is there a possibility to add specific hotkeys to the mods we have installed like X3?
Below you can find a WIP update screenshot.
Also, I am definitely planning to release a tutorial on UI modding so that others can start with it as well, but I can't promise when this will be, since I want to get my own mod's UIs done first.
And one more thing: Modding the UI is definitely cumbersome. I have no idea what the person who wrote the UIs for Egosoft thought, but it really is a pain and the structure of the required code is rather un-intuitive. Therefore I am currently developing my own small UI framework, which abstracts a lot of the not-so-nice things away. The menu in the screenshot below was made with that framework, so I'm making good progress. The framework also makes the UIs snappier, since I'm building my own menu management system, which works completely in LUA instead of jumping back and forth between LUA and the MD.
With all that being said, stay tuned for more developments, and as always, hafe vun!
http://static-1.nexusmods.com/15/mods/1 ... 236655.png
{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversize image now linked - Terre}
Also, I am definitely planning to release a tutorial on UI modding so that others can start with it as well, but I can't promise when this will be, since I want to get my own mod's UIs done first.
And one more thing: Modding the UI is definitely cumbersome. I have no idea what the person who wrote the UIs for Egosoft thought, but it really is a pain and the structure of the required code is rather un-intuitive. Therefore I am currently developing my own small UI framework, which abstracts a lot of the not-so-nice things away. The menu in the screenshot below was made with that framework, so I'm making good progress. The framework also makes the UIs snappier, since I'm building my own menu management system, which works completely in LUA instead of jumping back and forth between LUA and the MD.
With all that being said, stay tuned for more developments, and as always, hafe vun!
http://static-1.nexusmods.com/15/mods/1 ... 236655.png
{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversize image now linked - Terre}
- Sam L.R. Griffiths
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Nice work, but why basically re-implement Wings from X3 as opposed to using the existing command structure in X-Rebirth?
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)
"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55
"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams
"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55
"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams
Which would be? The only command structure I'm aware of is "Add to player squad", which is highly lacking IMO.Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:Nice work, but why basically re-implement Wings from X3 as opposed to using the existing command structure in X-Rebirth?
I'm seriously asking though, since I haven't really spent that much time actually playing the game. If you have any suggestions on how the fleet management should work, please let me know.
- Sam L.R. Griffiths
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- Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
You can assign ships to "commanders" of ships/stations and build a command hierarchy from that. Essentially having squads with-in squads.
Commanders are nominally Captains (for ships), Managers (for stations), and Defence Officers (for both). I think Engineers are also considered commanders but never seen a point to assigning any ships to them personally (unless it can be used to consolidate the usage of construction drones. Architects on SCODAs are also considered commanders for the purpose of trading resources for construction.
The only problems I have noted really in Vanilla are:-
Commanders are nominally Captains (for ships), Managers (for stations), and Defence Officers (for both). I think Engineers are also considered commanders but never seen a point to assigning any ships to them personally (unless it can be used to consolidate the usage of construction drones. Architects on SCODAs are also considered commanders for the purpose of trading resources for construction.
The only problems I have noted really in Vanilla are:-
- You can only assign (using the vanilla UI) ships to commanders on some of the other ships (e.g. not a Taranis to another Taranis but you can assign say a Balor to a Taranis - the Vanilla rules and reasons for them wrt inter-ship command structure assignment are not 100% clear).
- The AI may not behave quite as expected (if you were to assign a trade ship to a captain of another trade ship you would kind of expect them to work as a team where trading is concerned).
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)
"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55
"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams
"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55
"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams
Well, what you are describing sounds pretty much exactly like what UFO is doing.
In UFO (so far) you would assign a ship to another ship (or rather its pilot/captain) which becomes it's commander, and which in turn can be assigned to another commander etc building a tree-like command hierarchy (just like in the real military).
I'm planning to keep this format, just the way that the hierarchies are formed will change, because the tree form is not very well representable with what the UI allows (at least I couldn't come up with a nice way).
This is how I imagine it to work: You create a fleet and select a ship (which becomes the commander). Then you can assign other ships to this fleet (which basically makes them escort their commander). You can then give this fleet orders, and one such order would be to "Escort Ship". As the target of that command, you could then choose a ship/the commander of another fleet, thereby creating the command hierarchy.
Do you agree with this approach? Any suggestions to make it better?
In UFO (so far) you would assign a ship to another ship (or rather its pilot/captain) which becomes it's commander, and which in turn can be assigned to another commander etc building a tree-like command hierarchy (just like in the real military).
I'm planning to keep this format, just the way that the hierarchies are formed will change, because the tree form is not very well representable with what the UI allows (at least I couldn't come up with a nice way).
This is how I imagine it to work: You create a fleet and select a ship (which becomes the commander). Then you can assign other ships to this fleet (which basically makes them escort their commander). You can then give this fleet orders, and one such order would be to "Escort Ship". As the target of that command, you could then choose a ship/the commander of another fleet, thereby creating the command hierarchy.
Do you agree with this approach? Any suggestions to make it better?
- Sam L.R. Griffiths
- Posts: 10522
- Joined: Fri, 12. Mar 04, 19:47
The Vanilla tree structure approach seems to work pretty well to me - it looks ok in both the map and "my ships/stations" views.Mad_Joker wrote:I'm planning to keep this format, just the way that the hierarchies are formed will change, because the tree form is not very well representable with what the UI allows (at least I couldn't come up with a nice way).
*shrug* If it works, it does not really matter in the grand scheme of things. I thought the Vanilla "tree" representation works fine (could do with some refinement perhaps though).Mad_Joker wrote:This is how I imagine it to work: You create a fleet and select a ship (which becomes the commander). Then you can assign other ships to this fleet (which basically makes them escort their commander). You can then give this fleet orders, and one such order would be to "Escort Ship". As the target of that command, you could then choose a ship/the commander of another fleet, thereby creating the command hierarchy.
Do you agree with this approach? Any suggestions to make it better?
Lenna (aka [SRK] The_Rabbit)
"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55
"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams
"Understanding is a three edged sword... your side, their side... and the Truth!" - J.J. Sheriden, Babylon 5 S4E6 T28:55
"May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk." - Ancient Egyption Proverb
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time" - Creighton Abrams
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- Moderator (English)
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- Joined: Tue, 30. Mar 04, 12:28
Mad_Joker wrote: Below you can find a WIP update screenshot.
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http://static-1.nexusmods.com/15/mods/1 ... 236655.png
Since his examples demonstrates a way to achieve something that the existing command structure is incapable of (adding multiple Taranis hulls to the same unit), this is an rather odd question.Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote:Nice work, but why basically re-implement Wings from X3 as opposed to using the existing command structure in X-Rebirth?
Your earlier posts were about command structure. Replying above in terms of aesthetics and/or integration with existing windows doesn't address a reply to your earlier point about structure.Roger L.S. Griffiths wrote: The Vanilla tree structure approach seems to work pretty well to me - it looks ok in both the map and "my ships/stations" views.
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I thought the Vanilla "tree" representation works fine (could do with some refinement perhaps though).