This is simply amazing.... It's quite surprising that 5 years on, someone still comes with a breakthrough regarding SH3. Well, a word about what to do now.
As you all know, all SH games have their interface limited to a 1024*768 space. SH4 and SH5 allow to scale up items in different modes. This thread explains how they do it:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=163118
SH3 however, with this mod, will always scale the interface in a constantAspectRatioVertical style. The left side of the screen, a box in 4:3 format will always look ok, but you'll get "empty usable" space to the right of the screen. The amount of usable space depends on the aspect ratio of the monitor. In other words, 16:10 (1920x1200) resolutions will have less space than 16:9 resolutions (1920x1080).
UI modders will now have the following spaces to work with:
- 4:3 resolutions 1024*768 box, just as before (1024=768*4/3)
- 16:10 resolutions 1228*768 (1228=768*16/10)
- 16:9 resolutions 1365*768 (1365=768*16/9)
Making one interface for all aspect types is IMPOSSIBLE. However, it's easy to convert a 16:9 interface to a 16:10 because the difference is small.
How to do a quick and fast centering on the screen? First of all, all vertical positions are the same as before, nothing has changed.
Here's one example of a page:
[G01 I1]
Name=Page shell
Type=1027;Menu page
ItemID=0x1000000
ParentID=0x0
Pos=0,0,0,0
LoadingMode=2
It starts from the left side of the screen and we want to move it in the center. The "old" center had X=512 (or 1024/2). The new center depends on the aspect ratio, for 16:10 resolutions, X=614 (or 1228/2). This means that you only need to move each page 102 pixels to the right:
[G01 I1]
Name=Page shell
Type=1027;Menu page
ItemID=0x1000000
ParentID=0x0
Pos=102,0,0,0
LoadingMode=2
Of course, you'll now end up with empty bands on both sides of the screen.
Thus, we need to think ahead, leave all pages as they currently are. What we DO need is this:
Divide all items into 3 categories:
- glued to the left of the screen (X position will not change)
- glued to the right of the screen (X position should change by 204 pixels for 16:10 res)
- glued to the center (X position should change by 102 pixels for 16:10 res)
So...
1. We must create MASTER (left, center, right) groups inside each page and place each item inside. Luckily the entire interface has already been carved up in big groups so most of the interface will only require you to reparent just a few groups.
2. We can now make multiple interfaces for all aspect ratios just by moving the left and right master groups.
3. "SOME" items will require multiple TGA versions. I'm talking of course about all backgrounds. These are actually glued to the Left of the screen.
Sounds easy actually. But we DO have 4-5 major interfaces for sh3.. so which one should we start with first? I opt for ACM
