Author Topic: An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.  (Read 1916 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Fineus

  • ...But you *have* heard of me.
  • Administrator
  • 212
    • Hard Light Productions
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
In this thread:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,17486.msg335826.html#msg335826


LAW ENFORCER, mentioned his hate of command lines. I'm inclined to agree with him and that got me thinking about another option. How about this?

A separate program and .INI file. The program has a list of check boxes down one side of it with the various options that can be activated / deactivated. If two options conflict (say, cell shading and specular mapping - which don't go together) then if one was toggles then the other would be greyed out.

At the top of the program, two buttons - "Commit" and "Discard". Commit saves the changes to a .INI file and closes the program. Discard just closes the program without saving anything.

On starting up FS2, the .INI file is referenced to see what options are selected by the individual. Basically this is a nice GUI for creating the command line strings - you can keep them if you like, but the average man doesn't need to see or grasp them to be able to turn things on and off easily - and the process of turning all SCP changes on and off is only a few button clicks away (as is turning the whole lot on).

What do you guys think? Waste of time or something for the future for those who don't know to much about changing any options - let alone command line strings?

 

Offline RandomTiger

  • Senior Member
  • 211
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
My launcher has some of this functionality.
It has a list of checkboxes that relate to command line options.
These options are stored and reloaded when you next load the launcher.

If someone could give me an up todate list of all the commands it would be more useful.

Would be nice to have them in a proper ini file but you'll have to find someone who's willing to program / intergate an ini parser when theres far more interesting things to do. Warning parsers are fairly boring and can cause huge problems if theres even a tiny mistake in them.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2003, 05:28:35 am by 848 »

 

Offline karajorma

  • King Louie - Jungle VIP
  • Administrator
  • 214
    • Karajorma's Freespace FAQ
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
The second I saw this topic I thought RT's launcher was exactly the place this should go.

My only comment is that the important options should go at the top of the list rather than making the user scroll through all the others to get to them.
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]

 

Offline Fineus

  • ...But you *have* heard of me.
  • Administrator
  • 212
    • Hard Light Productions
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
Fine by me - whats important (to me) is that it's there. I leave the details to you coding geniuses out there, heck you can break it down into menus, drop down bars and god knows what else if you really want.

 

Offline RandomTiger

  • Senior Member
  • 211
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
Quote
Originally posted by karajorma

My only comment is that the important options should go at the top of the list rather than making the user scroll through all the others to get to them.


If someone gives me the list ordered by importance I;ll get onto it

 

Offline Fineus

  • ...But you *have* heard of me.
  • Administrator
  • 212
    • Hard Light Productions
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
Out of interest - do you guys plan on doing this as changes are made - or compiling it along with the release build every time that's finalised?

I think the second would be easier is all, certainly more straight forward than having dozens of editions with only one change made floating around...

 

Offline J.F.K.

  • 29
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
:yes: Once I get my new computer, which will hopefully be able to run this beast, this will definitely be useful to me. ;)
.
[font="SerpentineDBol"]. . . . W H O . I S . T H E . M A N , . W H O . I S . T H E . M Y T H ?[/font]

 
An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
Quote
Originally posted by RandomTiger


If someone gives me the list ordered by importance I;ll get onto it


RT: when you get it, forward it to me would you?:D
When will I learn?  The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV! -- Homer,  "There's No Disgrace Like Home''
I sometimes find myself here on this forum, late at night constantly pressing "Reload" over and over again

 

Offline Inquisitor

An easier way to activate / deactivate SCP changes.
bottom: how IS the new readme coming?
No signature.