Thanks to the work of mjn.mixael and libRocket (see the
High Resolution UI system thread for more information) it is now possible to build new user interfaces relatively easy. Since FSO lacks a fully featured in-game options menu, mjn.mixael and I decided that we would like to build a user interface for that next. This will require changes to the engine since most of these settings have been managed by the launcher until now.
The reason I am creating this thread is that I would like to collect some input on what this new system should be able to do.
Here is my current plan:
The system will have a list of options that are separated into various categories (e.g. Graphics, HUD, ...). This system will be dynamic so Lua scripts could add their own options if necessary. I also plan on adding an "Expert level" to each option which would allow to show or hide certain options depending on what the user specified.
There have been some discussions on how to allow mods to override the values of certain options. At the moment I'm thinking that there will be a number of game_settings options which would specify the override value. This would automatically increase the expert level of this option to the highest level so that the option is hidden in almost all circumstances.
Please let me know what you think about this and how it could be improved. I'm still in the design stage for these changes so nothing about this is set in stone yet.