[wookieejedi]

Sweet, works perfectly.

I kinda wish there was a way to fold nifty scripts like this into a knossos download.  It'd certainly be easier for users to keep updated and easier for users to find (I bet a lot of people haven't started using this just because it's in the "scripting releases" forum and scripting = scary).

Great, glad to hear it! That's a good idea! Though I think the way that Knossos works might make it difficult because Knossos can't really overlap mods/run more then one mod together, and this script would ideally be used with many mods at once. Spoon is using the script in Wings of Dawn, so at least people see it there! 

This functionality is eventually supposed to exist in the form of "extension" mods, it just hasn't been implemented yet (AFAIK).

Gothca. Maybe a Knossos mod with finished community scripts might be worthwhile in the meantime, though I am not sure who else might be interested.

[wookieejedi]

New update V2.3-2.7!

This version provides a new, optional grid view. It also stops the gauge from showing if the player disables the wingmen gauge in the HUD configuration window. The update also provides proper scaling at low resolutions (<1024x768) and allows modders to specify custom fonts and works more like the retail gauge because it won't appear if the player all alone in the mission.

It also, allows modders to more easily specify the position of the gauge easily. To change position of the gauge set values of origin and offset, similar to hud_gaugles.tbl. For example, CustomWingGauge.origin = {x=0.85, y=0.2} and CustomWingGauge.offset = {x=0, y=0}. If you want to use RTT to a cockpit display you can also set CustomWingGauge.RTT = {use=true, gauge_name="Wingmen_Custom_RTT}. If using the RTT feature, the script will use RTT in internal view then switch to screen render for external view. Also, for RTT to work be sure to also make a '+Scripted Gauge:' entry in hud_gauges.tbl, and the 'gauge_name' should equal the 'Name' of the '+Scripted Gauge' in the 'hud_gauges.tbl'.



Download: Custom Wingmen Script V2.7 Script

[themaddin]

I'm getting an error when simply including the tbm:

Code: [Select]

SEXP 'wingmen-gauge-set-wings' is not known to the SEXP system!

------------------------------------------------------------------

stack traceback:
[C]: ?
[C]: ?
[string "cuswingmengag-sct.tbm - On Game Init"]:857: in main chunk
------------------------------------------------------------------

1: Userdata [LuaSEXPs]
2: String [wingmen-gauge-set-wings]
------------------------------------------------------------------
It looks like the script doesn't register itself with the SEXP system properly?
But since I'm not using any SEXP to control it, everything seems fine when I simply comment out the affected block.

[Iain Baker]

Going to sound like a right numbty but how do you download the bloody file from Github? I can't see a download button. 'Go to file' just brings up the list of hyperlinks. Clicking on the hyperlink brings up a wall of text. Am I supposed to copy n paste the text into notepad? If so, does it need all of it, because when I tied that I got error messages when trying to start a campaign. Halp pls 

[m!m]

If you click on a file you will get a "Raw" button with which you can save the file directly. You can also go to the main page of the repo and under "Code" you will have the option of downloading a Zip of the entire Repo where you can then pick the file you need.

[wookieejedi]

I'm getting an error when simply including the tbm:

It looks like the script doesn't register itself with the SEXP system properly?
But since I'm not using any SEXP to control it, everything seems fine when I simply comment out the affected block.

Ah yes, I recently added a sexp which allows the player to choose which wings they want displayed in the gauge. So you will also need to download the sexp file. Both of those files need to go in the same spot, and I've updated the install instructions to be more clear on that. My apologies for just realizing that now! Your shortcut of commenting out that sexp in the file though works too if you plan to not use the sexp.


m!m, thanks for the help in clarifying how to download and install!

[Iain Baker]

Worked like a charm! If all goes well I will be using this with every campaign :-) No more having to cycle through friendlies to work out which wings are the bombers. This really should have been part of FS since FS 1 retail, but at least we have it now, superb job :-)

[wookieejedi]

Glad you enjoy it!

[Mobius]

Any way to trigger this on a per-mission basis, or depending on the combat spacecraft chosen by the player? I'd like to use this script but in specific circumstances, and I have no idea how to set it up that way. I'm looking for a dedicated SEXP, or the possibility to edit the script and get it to work if the mission filename matches any entry in a set of strings.

[Iain Baker]

I'm thinking of adding these files to the getting started thread. They are a fantastic accessibility aid that would prove useful to pretty much everyone :-)

[Iain Baker]

I'm thinking of adding these files to the getting started thread. They are a fantastic accessibility aid that would prove useful to pretty much everyone :-)

Edit - if the player swaps ships around before the mission starts - for example swaps the bomber wing around with the fighter wing, does this take the change into account, or is it based on what the mission dev assigned each wing to be?

Cheers

[wookieejedi]

Any way to trigger this on a per-mission basis, or depending on the combat spacecraft chosen by the player? I'd like to use this script but in specific circumstances, and I have no idea how to set it up that way. I'm looking for a dedicated SEXP, or the possibility to edit the script and get it to work if the mission filename matches any entry in a set of strings.

Definitely possible to add any of those options. For your specific situations I can just show you how to do that over PM in Discord if that works?

I'm thinking of adding these files to the getting started thread. They are a fantastic accessibility aid that would prove useful to pretty much everyone :-)

Edit - if the player swaps ships around before the mission starts - for example swaps the bomber wing around with the fighter wing, does this take the change into account, or is it based on what the mission dev assigned each wing to be?

Cheers

Yes this script accounts for any changes to the ships in the loadout menu, and only assigns the shapes once the ship arrives in the mission.

[Iain Baker]

Yup, tested it out and it adapts accordingly :-)

Quick question - is there a way to alter its placement on the screen, and perhaps its orientation (to make it horizontal) as its position on my screen slightly overlaps the escort list.

PS - thank you again making this 

[wookieejedi]

Glad you like it! Pop open the script file in a text editor (I use notepad++), and the user options and what to do to change things are listed in the first part of the table.

[Iain Baker]

Glad you like it! Pop open the script file in a text editor (I use notepad++), and the user options and what to do to change things are listed in the first part of the table.

Thanks for the heads up. I had a look at the instructions and my brain said    (). I imagine the brain of someone even less au fait with FreeSpace coding, scripts etc would go  . 

Could I ask for a favour then, please? Could you upload a version or versions tailored that are tweaked to do the following?

•   Multi-coloured. ‘Landscape’ orientation. Size the same as default wingman gauge. The top right corner of the screen – same as default wingman gauge. Different icons for bombers and fighters. Resolution suitable for 1080p displays.

•   A version with those settings but suitable for 4K displays might be worth creating too since 4K is seemingly becoming the new standard for some gamers.

•   A version with those setting but with larger icons and text would likely be useful as an accessibility aid for those with poor eyesight.

•   A version with those settings but using the default HUD icon colours would likely be useful for those suffering from colour-blindness

These would provide the main benefits of the custom gauge whilst also providing maximum compatibility, since they would be a straight swap for the default gauge, and thus should work without further modification for the majority of campaigns. This would likely be very useful for many players, newbies especially. I could then add links to these files on the getting started thread, under the accessibility section I am planning to add soon.

You could probably create these in 5 mins, whereas it would take me hours since I would have to figure it all out first. So, if you could do me a solid and create these, I would be very grateful, as would (I imagine) many other existing and future players.

Cheers

[wookieejedi]

Here's a few points about the logistics and reasoning of why I did things this way:

The typical practice of script conditions is to release one file that can be configured by the user. This is seen in all other large script releases (see Axem's scripts, and even the command line for FSO itself). Generally the default settings are good for many users, but if a user does want to change a setting they can edit a line in a text file, which is good practice and helps many folks get more comfortable with the idea of possibly trying out modding themselves. (Speaking from personal experience and things I've seen with many other folks). The user options within this script are setup similarly to editing a table file or the command line, so the idea was following the practice setup by this community If someone who wants to change a lighting setting in the command line is comfortable reading about that setting on the wiki and changing the value, the goal was to make it about the same experience as reading what the script settings do and changing that in the user options section of the file.

Having multiple iterations of the same release with one setting that is slightly different can lead to confusion, and it's much more difficult to keep things efficiently updated on the release logistics side of things. If each slight iteration had to be its own file, then that leads to many permutations of files (such as a grey scale that is 4k, grey scale that is 1080p, large text that is gray scale, large text that is 4k, etc). As an aside, I'm a teaching by nature and training, so I'd rather take the time to show someone how to change something then just give them a different file each time they want one setting changed

I'll also note that this script already scales by resolution. If the resolution is <1024, the script changes size and uses the smaller default text. If resolution is > 1024 but less then 3200 then it uses the default medium size text, and if resolution is higher, it uses the largest default text.

Regarding the landscape orientation to match the retail gauge style: the only two configurations I have coded in are the vertical and horizontal ones shown in the screenshot on the first page of the forum. These configurations allow for longer names to be displayed, whereas the landscape default of FS does not easily allow for that (hence why I went with those two options).

The accessibility option is something that I have thought about as well, and I definitely support the overall goal of making FSO more accessible!
Right now, the gauge can be set to use larger text and sizes in the options.
A grey scale version can also be used, and it was suggested to be during development of the script To use the grey scale version all the user has to do is find the line
'CustomWingGauge.isgrayscaled = false'
and change it to
'CustomWingGauge.isgrayscaled = true'

The tricky part about making this single gauge much larger at the 1080 resolution is that the rest of the gauges will still be the same size, and this will look strange and have a higher probability of overlapping. The larger goal would be to have a HUD that scales all the gauges up if someone wanted the HUD to be larger, but that is alas far beyond the goals of this script.


Perhaps that was more exposition then you might have been looking for I hope it helps explain my reasoning for things, and I very much appreciate your support and enthusiasm for the script! If you'd like I could make the default of the gauge to use the horizontal configuration, so it does not overlap any other lower gauges.

[Mobius]

Any way to trigger this on a per-mission basis, or depending on the combat spacecraft chosen by the player? I'd like to use this script but in specific circumstances, and I have no idea how to set it up that way. I'm looking for a dedicated SEXP, or the possibility to edit the script and get it to work if the mission filename matches any entry in a set of strings.

Definitely possible to add any of those options. For your specific situations I can just show you how to do that over PM in Discord if that works?

We're addressing the topic in SerRes right now. At this point I think there's a tangible chance for this script to become a standard setting for all SR campaigns, even though it derails a little bit from the main FS1 interface. It's a derailment the kind of which we like. 

I'll definitely let you know.

[Iain Baker]

Perhaps that was more exposition then you might have been looking for I hope it helps explain my reasoning for things, and I very much appreciate your support and enthusiasm for the script! If you'd like I could make the default of the gauge to use the horizontal configuration, so it does not overlap any other lower gauges.

Changing the default to either be horizontal, or simply moving the grid further up the screen so that its bottom doesn't overlap the top of the escort list would be very much appreciated. This would solve the problem for most campaigns, and would better use the 'screen real-estate' in the top right corner, which looks kinda odd being blank.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WucEZ2J8IXsiq3BRWVCq_CQdaaoY8rLlUu7W1xzTOwU/edit?usp=sharing

Campaigns that use custom HUD elements might run into some problems, but that would be up to the Mod dev themselves to sort. So long as new players are spared from having a heart attack due to being faced with the scary-wall-of-text-and-jargon I'm happy (speaking with my New Player Experience hat on  )

[wookieejedi]

Any way to trigger this on a per-mission basis, or depending on the combat spacecraft chosen by the player? I'd like to use this script but in specific circumstances, and I have no idea how to set it up that way. I'm looking for a dedicated SEXP, or the possibility to edit the script and get it to work if the mission filename matches any entry in a set of strings.

Definitely possible to add any of those options. For your specific situations I can just show you how to do that over PM in Discord if that works?

We're addressing the topic in SerRes right now. At this point I think there's a tangible chance for this script to become a standard setting for all SR campaigns, even though it derails a little bit from the main FS1 interface. It's a derailment the kind of which we like. 

I'll definitely let you know.

Sounds great!

Perhaps that was more exposition then you might have been looking for I hope it helps explain my reasoning for things, and I very much appreciate your support and enthusiasm for the script! If you'd like I could make the default of the gauge to use the horizontal configuration, so it does not overlap any other lower gauges.

Changing the default to either be horizontal, or simply moving the grid further up the screen so that its bottom doesn't overlap the top of the escort list would be very much appreciated. This would solve the problem for most campaigns, and would better use the 'screen real-estate' in the top right corner, which looks kinda odd being blank.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WucEZ2J8IXsiq3BRWVCq_CQdaaoY8rLlUu7W1xzTOwU/edit?usp=sharing

Campaigns that use custom HUD elements might run into some problems, but that would be up to the Mod dev themselves to sort. So long as new players are spared from having a heart attack due to being faced with the scary-wall-of-text-and-jargon I'm happy (speaking with my New Player Experience hat on  )

Updated the file to use the horizontal configuration by default. The upper right corner of the screen should remain open because that's where the comms menu pops up at 

[Iain Baker]

Updated the file to use the horizontal configuration by default. The upper right corner of the screen should remain open because that's where the comms menu pops up at 


Awesome, thank you so much :-)

If I was being extra picky,  I would ask if the default position could move over to the right a little, so that its right edge lines up (more or less) with the right edge of the escort list box? It looks a little out of place in its current position. (Image from BP AoA)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-fHbjoDq-XE4SxT42byo8NLn6Qh7_tY2/view?usp=drivesdk

Would this be effected if the other HUD elements are different sizes? I ask as I notice the size of HUD elements tends to vary between campaigns. Compare the previous image to this one: (Image from The Aeos Affair)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fXTvsCoK-gXkplFxltIJ__uXqYARpog8/view?usp=drivesdk

Superb work BTW, this needs to become FSO standard