[Mobius]

FreeSpace makes use of integrity percentages, which aren't used in most games. Overall, it's much more common to see bars and/or different colors.

I'd like to know if it may be possible to replace percentages with colored bars(green = good ---> red = bad) or with bars similar to the ammo/energy gauges the SCP has already implemented.

It would make the game look like a more realistic representation of space battles, with little to poor influence by Maths. Think about a warship whose integrity is reduced by 2 every time a given weapon hits it... if it has, let's say, 9% hull left, we all know it'll drop to 7, 5, 3, 1 and then 0. This system kills the unpredictability factor, which may be a good one.

Thanks to bars/colors, it will be possible to come out with reliable estimations instead of mere numbers. The option may be chosen via Launcher, just like the ballistic ammo gauge.

[General Battuta]

I like the idea, but I disagree that it should be launcher-chosen; this should be a table setting on a per-mod basis, in case some projects want to hide ship integrity from exact player view.

[karajorma]

AFAIK there's no reason this can't be scripted right now.

[Mobius]

I like the idea, but I disagree that it should be launcher-chosen; this should be a table setting on a per-mod basis, in case some projects want to hide ship integrity from exact player view.

But that would prevent you from using that setting normally. If I want to play the main FS2 campaign with that setting, I should be able to do that without making any changes.

AFAIK there's no reason this can't be scripted right now.

Are there any potential issues?

I mean, replacing places devoted to numbers with colors/bars might result in odd effects. It may work perfectly in the escort list... same thing for the target box... but subsystems' integrity values may be a problem.

[Rodo]

IIRC the game already show a "hit bar" on the lower part of the HUD, right next to the target view... but it's a vertical bar.

Even so.. I like this idea, would be a nice improvement on the HUD, I find it sometimes not that friendly to the user and somewhat lacking of life.

[karajorma]

But that would prevent you from using that setting normally. If I want to play the main FS2 campaign with that setting, I should be able to do that without making any changes.

No you shouldn't. You definitely should have to make table changes in order to do something like that.

Are there any potential issues?

I mean, replacing places devoted to numbers with colors/bars might result in odd effects. It may work perfectly in the escort list... same thing for the target box... but subsystems' integrity values may be a problem.

Why?

I've barely touched lua scripting so I have very little idea of what it can or cannot do but I can't see any reason why this should be beyond it.

[Mobius]

IIRC the game already show a "hit bar" on the lower part of the HUD, right next to the target view... but it's a vertical bar.

Even so.. I like this idea, would be a nice improvement on the HUD, I find it sometimes not that friendly to the user and somewhat lacking of life.

Why?

I've barely touched lua scripting so I have very little idea of what it can or cannot do but I can't see any reason why this should be beyond it.

No doubt it can be done... the problem with subsystems' integrity is that the target box lacks the space needed to add a bar. The percentage can be barely read when targeting subsystems with long names, such as "Communications".

[KeldorKatarn]

There already is a hull integrity bar in the target box. And subsystem names should be shortened. This can be done in the ships.tbl with a subsystem naming entry (look up the wiki for the exact syntax).

[Mobius]

There's no integrity bar in the escort list. Same thing for the player's hull and subsystem integrity monitor on the HUD.

[Wanderer]

In 3.6.11 you can spread the subsystem name over multiple lines if you want to (though only in the targeting view)

[haloboy100]

But that would prevent you from using that setting normally. If I want to play the main FS2 campaign with that setting, I should be able to do that without making any changes.

No you shouldn't. You definitely should have to make table changes in order to do something like that.

Really? It seems like it should be a more user-customizable option, to me. As well, it can be forced anyway in the tables if a campaign requires it, right? Otherwise such an option could simply be noted that the player has to enable upon the campaign release.

[General Battuta]

As has been pointed out before with launcher flags, that's a support nightmare.

[karajorma]

Really? It seems like it should be a more user-customizable option, to me. As well, it can be forced anyway in the tables if a campaign requires it, right? Otherwise such an option could simply be noted that the player has to enable upon the campaign release.

So a mod goes to all the hassle of making a cockpit, preparing a HUD gauge to sit in exactly the right position and then some prick comes along and turns the option off cause they don't know what the launcher flags do. And then complains about it to the team behind the mod.

Yeah. Definitely makes sense to have that as a user option.

[Mobius]

Can we expect updates?

[karajorma]

On what? I've not seen any coder say anything other than script it.

[Mobius]

Erm... ok...