Final update: I've now ported all the features from this script into FSO. These included color for health, full wing names, and custom dot icons for ship classes (now bombers, interceptors, and fighters all have unique wingmen dots). Beyond the substantial optimization, this has the added benefit that the gauge will now scale at varying resolutions, use HUD brightness settings, and fully work in multiplayer.
Details of which new features were added:
'$Wingmen Gauge Dot Override:' within ships.tbl. This allows modders to set wingmen status dots on a per-ship class basis. If no animation is specified then the default dot animation specified in the HUD table wingmen gauge is used. Wiki link here:
https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Ships.tbl#.24Wingmen_Gauge_Dot_Override:'Use Full Wing Names:' within hud_gauges. Enabling this setting draws the full wing name and does not alter the capitalization. Wiki link here:
https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Hud_gauges.tbl#.2BWingman_Status:'Use Expanded Colors:' hud_gauges. Enabling this setting uses red, yellow, or green color to designate wingmen health (green 1.0 to > 2/3, yellow 2/3 to > 1/3, and red <= 1/3. Wiki link here:
https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Hud_gauges.tbl#.2BWingman_Status:As a final note, I very much appreciate all the folks who commented or used the script. This was one of my first larger scripts, and it was a great learning experience. I'm also very happy so many folks found use for it, including Wings of Dawn. Also, if anyone has questions about how to use the new FSO features I would be happy to help.