[Wanderer]

Updated the 7zip archive a couple posts above. Now there should be a single mission with ships changing their iff color, the example table files, both fs_d and fred_d (thanks to Karajorma) and the actual combined (and slightly updated) patch. But please do note that this stuff is not in SVN.

As for the (d)radar.. i'll try making something up that could be tested.

[Darklord42]

Wow that would be awesome for Dradis!

[chief1983]

Dradis, true, but almost every universe has its unique sensor technology, and this will help them achieve that uniqueness.

[Wanderer]

For those who might want to test some sort of option for the radar image... Now then... I haven't enabled any size limitations in the linked set and also my attempt to get scaling to work didnt work out as i hoped it would despite the help i got. So if you try it out and do not just want to fool around do not make the images any larger than 32x32 or they will clutter the radar screen. There are couple of small dds images i made from screenshots of the nBSG series which give some idea how it could look like.

The bad thing is that i sort of run out of ideas on what to do with targeted blip and decided simple to draw it twice which is generally a bad choice so that method will most likely keep changing a bit more still.

radar_image.7z


EDIT: And if you try this or the iff thing out please comment...

[Galemp]

Ah, lovely. I'll have to whip up something for this.

Just for reference- these are single-frame images, not ANIs. Are they paletted; if not, how are they colored by IFF? Do they use the alpha-channel or just intensity blending?

[Wanderer]

Single frame - at least for now. The images i used were standard greyscaled DDS images with transparent background (ie DXT5) - mainly due the reason as i needed larger transparent versions of those images elsewhere... So iff status of the target decides the color and the current target as well as weapon range decide the actual alpha value of the blip.

[chief1983]

Do they scale appropriately with the resolution at least, like the radar itself, or at lower resolutions will the icons appear much larger?

[Nuke]

DRADIS contact!

very nice, now all we need is a combo with that, working render-to-texture + cockpits, and the DRADIS Whoosh

they already work if you want to script em

[Galemp]

So far I'm getting this error when I don't use DDS:

Code: [Select]

Assert: !(flags & BMP_AABITMAP)
File: bmpman.cpp
Line: 2265

Call stack:
(etc.)
And this error randomly during missions, using retail data files.

Code: [Select]

Assert: wingp->ship_index[j] != -1
File: aigoals.cpp
Line: 836

Call stack:
(etc.)

[Galemp]

K, I haven't tried these out yet as the debug build is still giving me errors, but here they are. There's also a TBM with them assigned appropriately. (If your mod corrects the SSG Rahu to the SG Rahu, remember to edit the tbm accordingly.)

I've tried to pad the margins of a few things to have the cargo icon sit in the freighter icon's docking bay, and have the support ship stick to the bottom of the fighter and bomber icons. This sort of depends upon them both being in the same location, so it may not work from up close, but any dockees more than a few klicks away should.

Wanderer, if you can get these to function properly, and your patch doesn't break anything, you can commit your changes and we'll include this in the next MVP release.

FS1-style Radar Icons

[Wanderer]

Well... i cant commit anything to SVN.. i can just write something - usually with assistance of more experienced coders - and hope it would be accepted to SVN in one form or another...

Also my main rig (with the code patch, working compiler etc. etc.) is out of action for undefined period of time. I'll test those once i get the computer back up and running though.

[Galemp]

Just to clarify, they go in the Interface folder, correct? And do I need to have 3D Radar enabled?

[Galemp]

THIS

IS

AWESOME



Download the link from my previous post, put the DDS files in Interface and the TBM in Tables, then run the included build.

This is one of the greatest tactical advantages Freespace Open has ever given us! It's increased my battlefield awareness a hundredfold!

This MUST go into the next MVP release. It HAS to!

My only gripe, Wanderer, is that it doesn't work with the 3D orb radar. Personally I prefer the 2D radar, but it has to work with both.

[Backslash]

Holy frak that looks nice!  Yoink!

I suspect the files should be in hud instead of interface, but it seems to work so...

I'm working on settings in hud_gauges.tbl to allow the radar to use a bigger area, so that'll be nice too 

Edit:  Admittedly I don't really understand how this area of the code works... but where do you page in the used bitmaps?  Or does that matter?

[Wanderer]

Well i decided to start doing it originally for 2D radar only though i believe it could be made to work with 3d as well.

As for paging in bitmaps.. I do that while it is parsing the file... and then pass only the index forward from it. This might be wasteful assuming if there are several instances that particular option is parsed (multiple tbm passes) so it might need some cleanup option or then the bitmap(s) ought to be loaded only after the whole parsing thing is over. Though assuming these images are 32 x 32 or smaller the whole shebang for all allowed ships 130 is about on the same level as memory needed for single frame of the glow animation on a shivan ship.

Code: [Select]

   if (optional_string("$Radar Image 2D:"))
   {
      stuff_string(name_tmp, F_NAME, NAME_LENGTH);
      sip->radar_image_2d_idx = bm_load(name_tmp);
   }
And as for the dds files... i placed mine into effects directory but it shouldnt really matter as long as it goes to any of the directories that cfile allows for dds files.

I'm still tackling the scaling issue as i got the scaling image larger working thanks to the help from taylor but scaling them smaller remains something i have not yet figured out. That i can scale them smaller but at the same time i scale the 'canvas' (or what ever you call the are area drawn on screen) smaller and this causes the scaled down images first (as they approach the lower edge of the screen) be only partially drawn (as if part of the image was over the edge of the screen) or disappear totally (ie. like image drawn totally of the screen).

[Backslash]

Aha, missed that line.  There it is.  Yeah that makes sense about the size.  I'm sure you could use DXT1a without mipmaps, if you wanted to be really stingy.

I'm liking this feature a lot and plan to help commit it for you soon.  I think a slightly better place for the entry in the ship table would be right under $Shield_icon , what do you guys think?  The 3D radar would be nice, but it probably needs the scaling support because of how the dots get bigger when they're 'closer' to your 'eyes'.  Not sure how good that'll look when we're dealing with this size.

Very nice art Galemp.  I particularly like how you got the cargo to line up with the freighters.   And wow you're right this makes a HUGE difference in battlefield awareness... especially with a bigger radar area (WIP)  I almost think the special 'big' ships icons should be even bigger (Colossus, Lucifer, Sathanis, Hades, etc)

[Galemp]

I agree, now that I've figured out the 32x32 size is a guideline rather than a fixed limit. I'd like to make the fighters/bombers/support ship smaller and the supercaps bigger, basing them on total pixel area instead of just the longest dimension. I'll be working on that today.

[chief1983]

Really the scaling code needs to be what controls that, not the pixel size of the icon.  I'm still wondering what happens with it when the screen res changes.  I'll probably try it out tonight.

[Galemp]

I'd rather have control over the absolute scale of the icon on-screen (scaling these guys up or down would be nasty) and have Z-drawing order and alpha-blending denote location, orientation and target.

[Shade]

This is brilliant. I would love to see this go into the MediaVPs.