New Officer Icons

Stiebler · 01-02-07, 05:22 AM

The small icons at the bottom left of the SH3 screens are supposed to represent the various functions that can be accessed by clicking on them. For example, clicking on the ‘Chief Engineer’ gives access to various engineering options for the game, such as schnorchel operation or silent running.

The original officer icons represented simply officer faces, which gives no information as to who does what. There have been several attempts to overcome this flaw; for example, later versions of RUb used Markimov’s blue-tinged icons of various engineering functions to replace the officers. Captain America produced another series of engineering icons that were used in NYGM. Grey Wolves has reverted to officer figures that are more descriptive than the originals; for example the watch officer carries binoculars.

I venture to suggest that none of these icons are really obvious in their functions, and that users of SH3 rely instead simply on counting subconsciously how many buttons from the left (or right) to click. There is nothing unusual about this. Car manufacturers have long known that drivers do not understand the icons placed on car controls. Drivers just remember the position of the controls instead.

Therefore, finally tiring one day of pressing the wrong icons, I decided to replace all the ‘officer icons’ with heavy colour-coded panels bearing their labels instead:
CHIEF = Chief Engineer.
NAV = Navigation Officer.
WEAPONS = Weapons Officer.
SONAR = Hydrophones and asdic stations.
RADIO = Radio and radar stations.
WATCH = Watch officer.

All simple enough, easy to read and easy to learn the strong colours. No excuse now for clicking on the wrong buttons. My officer-icons add quite a splash of colour to the screens too. See image*.

I’ve tested this icon pack with NYGM. It should work with any modern super-mod that derives from late RUb the assumption that the watch officer cannot check the weather underwater. The original SH3, and some older mods (such as early versions of RUb), may give strange results. However, no permanent harm can result, just re-install the original officer icons.

This is something of an experiment. It will indeed be fascinating to discover whether SH3 users in general prefer appearance over function (the original icons), or function over appearance (the new ones). I suspect the former.

Stiebler.

Download from here:

http://files.filefront.com//;6459367;;/

*There seems to be no way of embedding a small image in these threads, and I don't know of any public file-sharer for images that guarantees not to provide free spyware with the picture. Therefore I've included a jpg image with the download, so you can view it before installing the mod. If anyone does know a safe file-sharer for images, perhaps they would kindly put my jpg image there for viewers of this thread.

01-02-07, 05:22 AM	#1
Stiebler Fuel Supplier Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,237 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 4	New Officer Icons The small icons at the bottom left of the SH3 screens are supposed to represent the various functions that can be accessed by clicking on them. For example, clicking on the ‘Chief Engineer’ gives access to various engineering options for the game, such as schnorchel operation or silent running. The original officer icons represented simply officer faces, which gives no information as to who does what. There have been several attempts to overcome this flaw; for example, later versions of RUb used Markimov’s blue-tinged icons of various engineering functions to replace the officers. Captain America produced another series of engineering icons that were used in NYGM. Grey Wolves has reverted to officer figures that are more descriptive than the originals; for example the watch officer carries binoculars. I venture to suggest that none of these icons are really obvious in their functions, and that users of SH3 rely instead simply on counting subconsciously how many buttons from the left (or right) to click. There is nothing unusual about this. Car manufacturers have long known that drivers do not understand the icons placed on car controls. Drivers just remember the position of the controls instead. Therefore, finally tiring one day of pressing the wrong icons, I decided to replace all the ‘officer icons’ with heavy colour-coded panels bearing their labels instead: CHIEF = Chief Engineer. NAV = Navigation Officer. WEAPONS = Weapons Officer. SONAR = Hydrophones and asdic stations. RADIO = Radio and radar stations. WATCH = Watch officer. All simple enough, easy to read and easy to learn the strong colours. No excuse now for clicking on the wrong buttons. My officer-icons add quite a splash of colour to the screens too. See image. I’ve tested this icon pack with NYGM. It should work with any modern super-mod that derives from late RUb the assumption that the watch officer cannot check the weather underwater. The original SH3, and some older mods (such as early versions of RUb), may give strange results. However, no permanent harm can result, just re-install the original officer icons. This is something of an experiment. It will indeed be fascinating to discover whether SH3 users in general prefer appearance over function (the original icons), or function over appearance (the new ones). I suspect the former. Stiebler. Download from here: http://files.filefront.com//;6459367;;/ There seems to be no way of embedding a small image in these threads, and I don't know of any public file-sharer for images that guarantees not to provide free spyware with the picture. Therefore I've included a jpg image with the download, so you can view it before installing the mod. If anyone does know a safe file-sharer for images, perhaps they would kindly put my jpg image there for viewers of this thread.