[WIP] All-new in-game interface for GWX

[onelifecrisis]

I thought I should let people know that I'm working on something, mostly in the hope that if anyone else is working on something similar then we can maybe colaborate, or at least let each other know! I have thought up some nice tricks

I'm making a new in-game interface for GWX. When I say "in-game" I mean not the menus/barracks/loading screens/etc - I am not touching those - I'm redesigning the in-game toolbar, periscope, control dials, etc. I know there are already a lot of good interfaces available so let me explain the two main reasons I decided to do this (and tell you about the mod while I'm at it ):

1) I wanted a fully integrated periscope and TDC. So far I have only seen partial integration; in all the interface mods I've seen, there is no "TDC auto-update" switch in the periscope view (often a keyboard shortcut key is used as a workaround for this). Also, the "glass" effect seen in the TDC is always missing from the periscope dials. These two things combined mean that there is no visual indication whatsoever as to whether or not the TDC switch is on or off. Oh, and lastly, the labels on the salvo tube selection dial are always either missing or "hardcoded" to a certain sub type (e.g. type VII).

Well I have managed to get a working TDC switch in all the periscope views and the 4 TDC solution dials (bearing, range, AOB, speed) to automatically hide from view when TDC auto-update is switched on, which provides immediate visual feedback to the player as well as keeping the screen uncluttered. I've also found a way to get the glass effect in the periscope view for the TDC dials. I actually have taken the glass off the 4 solution dials for readability, but I am using the glass effect on the salvo dials (tube selection and spread angle) to indicate when they are modifiable and when they aren't. Also, people using SH3 commander will have the added benefit of seeing the correct tube labels on the salvo tubes selection dial.

2) The mods I've seen mostly just add more dials to existing screens, wherever they will fit. There isn't much spare room on most screens least of all the periscope view, so sliding dials seem to have been very popular as a space saving device. But, I hate them! They're ugly and I'm always accidentally pulling them out from the edge of the screen. I wanted to redesign the screens from scratch to maximise space at 1024x768 resolution, so that all the necessary dials could be shown without anything sliding and without anything looking cluttered (and without shrinking anything! ). I feel I've managed to do this very well at least for my own tastes. There are other benefits to the redesign, for example, the recognition manual is no longer obscured by the control panel at the bottom of the screen.

So, those are the main two reasons. There's other less important things I'm trying to do (e.g. make the draggable chronometer clickable, make the current course show in numeric form like the the current depth and speed, and so on) with varying amounts of success - no promises (yet!) on these.

I realise that interfaces are very individual and everyone wants something different, but I reckon probably some people's GUI desires will be similar to mine, so this mod is for those people. And for me, obviously. :p

That's it for now. I'll post screenies as soon as they look good enough (right now it's very much WIP).

OLC

[Kodaita]

Sounds great, can't wait to see the screenshots.

[Venatore]

About bloody time.

[Spruence M]

Man. Keep up the Good work fellow mariner.

I mean it. Been looking for something like this. Please make sure it works with integrated odrers.

[onelifecrisis]

I will release two versions - with and without IO.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Will be a nice addition


RDP

[JCWolf]

Onelifecrises mate,
you have to clean up your PM,
just sent you a PM and it seems you have the PM box full mate...


time to clean the place bro!

[mic1184]

whooho finally someone who hates slideout dials too and actually tries something else. up to now i havent found a satisfying solution for myself for the dials and TDC stuff.

i always found the solution from SH4 perfect, with the magnifying dials and the very space effective TDC instrument. if there could be anything like that, i would pay for it...

would be cool to see some screenshots...

[Maraz]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

1) I wanted a fully integrated periscope and TDC.

IIRC, Hitman was trying to incorporate some new gadgets in the periscope, some rotating dials that were actually present on KM periscopes. Maybe you could be able to help him.

Maraz

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by mic1184

whooho finally someone who hates slideout dials too and actually tries something else. up to now i havent found a satisfying solution for myself for the dials and TDC stuff.

i always found the solution from SH4 perfect, with the magnifying dials and the very space effective TDC instrument. if there could be anything like that, i would pay for it...

would be cool to see some screenshots...

I don't think magnifying dials can be done in SH3 - at least not very well. After seeing a different thread on the matter I tried to think of a way with the 6 main dials but the best I managed was to replace the white-grey "new setting" needle with a full rotating dial which was much bigger than the normal dial, so that when you click on a small dial it becomes a big dial which rotates... but there would be problems with that solution: only the centre of the big dial would actually be workable (drag the mouse outside the original small dial which is behind the big dial and the big dial would disappear) and also the big dial would stick around for too long after being set at a new value. So instead I've come up with an alternative solution... screenies to come probably mid week (haven't been able to work on it this weekend )

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Maraz

IIRC, Hitman was trying to incorporate some new gadgets in the periscope, some rotating dials that were actually present on KM periscopes. Maybe you could be able to help him.

Maraz

Do you have a link?

I tried a search, but I don't know exactly what I'm looking for and didn't see anything obvious. I know a wazzawotsit is being done by someone... that device which lets you calculate target speed by getting on an intercept course... but I guess that's not what you're talking about?

Hitman are you reading this?

[papa_smurf]

Looking very much forward to the release of this mod

[Maraz]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Do you have a link?

I tried a search, but I don't know exactly what I'm looking for and didn't see anything obvious. I know a wazzawotsit is being done by someone... that device which lets you calculate target speed by getting on an intercept course... but I guess that's not what you're talking about?

Hitman are you reading this?

This is where Hitman first talked of his project

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=117480

Maraz

[jaxa]

Any screenshots?

[Hitman]

Hi onelifecrisis

yes I'm reading this now....catching up as fast as I can :p since I'm currently off for weekends and can only read the forums monday to thursday.

Someone I can't disclose now has been doing a hell of a work with much stuff I provided him, and he is willing to do a release soon, but it will not be a final version. It is instead thought of as a kind of "evolutionary" mod, that will be updated in the future, time permitting. The objective is to recreate all the gadgets that were available in real life in the attack periscopes for speed and AOB estimation.

I guess his and your work would be very well complementary

I will contact him per PM. Be sure to empty your PM box and allow the pop-up warning about a message received, you could get PM soon.

Cheers