[SSJDiVaD]

Hey HLP,
For my first post ever, I'll say that I really admire all the work you guys have done. The amount of talent and motivation this community has is amazing! FSU has taken a great game made 13 years ago and transformed it into the graphical near-equivalent of modern full-budget games. FSSCP and modders have done things that I never would have dreamed possible with mission and campaign design (Blue Planet had me in tears ;_;). You guys kick ass!

Anyway, feel free to ignore me if this suggestion has already been implemented:
AFAIK FS2 gives you the option of toggling a bright HUD (default 'L' key I believe) and always defaults to having your HUD dark. While this default works for most dark missions, the more recent campaigns have trended towards filling your screen with bright nebulae and planets, and I find myself having to take that extra second to toggle bright HUD at the start of missions (Procyon Insurgency, I'm looking at you).

I suggest some kind of way for a mission to tell FS2 to default to a brighter HUD. An easy(ish) way would be just a mission flag to set bright HUD on by default (and give players the option of toggling to dimmer HUD).

I would be willing to give this a shot if someone could point me in the right direction. I have rudimentary knowledge of C syntax and SVN, though I've never used Mantis before.
EDIT: Found the "read this first" thread.

[Kolgena]

Given that things like dual fire, auto match speed, and auto target get remembered, I think this would be an interesting feature to have.

That said, I have no idea how much work it takes to edit this in, so it may or may not be worth the effort, since it literally takes a 0.5 second key press at the start of the mission to set it the way you like it.

[SSJDiVaD]

You're right; it would probably take quite a lot of work to get it done. What about having the brightness setting stay consistent between missions, just like auto target and match speed?

Yes, it does take 0.5s to press the button, but these UI issues can really break the feel of a great game, especially when I'm used to not having to press it at the start of every mission for retail campaigns.

[Mongoose]

I'd be all for having it remember the previous setting, if that's feasible.

[Nuke]

if auto target and auto match speed can remember their settings, i dont see why not.

[karajorma]

I haven't looked at the code but I'd lay money on it being easier to just set it to be bright by default than saving it between missions.

[Kolgena]

But the rest of us don't necessarily want it bright as default.

[karajorma]

I know, it was just that everyone was saying it would be easy. Which it might not be. I have my doubts about if it's even possible in non-antipodes builds.

[Valathil]

Some like their cables thick some like them thin.

[SSJDiVaD]

Well, I was thinking on a per-mission basis originally.

However, now that you guys mention it, what about a launcher flag? Some users just like the HUD bright by default anyway, for all missions.

[Nuke]

or a mission flag perhaps, if the mission designer uses a bright background, then using the bright hud default option. im one of those people who always hits l, because i like my hud to be a little brighter. then i realized i could just edit the hud config file.

[Commander Zane]

Does it say anything about how the HUD handles full nebula missions? While the HUD is on the dim setting on normal missions, it's on the lit setting in full nebula missions. Perhaps that could be carried over to non-nebula missions?

[z64555]

I haven't looked at the code but I'd lay money on it being easier to just set it to be bright by default than saving it between missions.

Not entirely sure, but I think the auto-target and auto-speed are currently tucked away in the pilot's file.

[MatthTheGeek]

Which is the problem. With the new pilot code being worked on, noone wants to have to dig in the old one. Or start adding features to the new one until it's stable, for that matter.

[Nuke]

wasnt the whole point of the upgrade to the pilot file so stuff like this would be easier to implement? im all for the wait for 3.7 mantra, like all the other requests involving the new pilot file code. frankly ive been hitting l since the game came out and i can keep on hitting l for a few more months years.

[CommanderDJ]

I was actually going to say this, but decided against it for whatever reason. Now that Nuke's posted, I think I should: this doesn't sound like it'll be hard to implement into the new pilot code. I didn't even know this feature existed, but there you go. I've worked with the pilot code a bit, and if I wasn't so ****ing busy I'd look at this (along with all the bugs that are awaiting my fixes), but yeah, from a cursory glance it doesn't look difficult. If no one's looked at this by the time my exams are over (about two and a half weeks), then I'll see what I can do.