[WIP] - Custom Captain's Log Entries

[panthercules]

Well, right now I'm stuck doing what I was doing in SH3 - manually editing the saved game log file in notepad between game sessions. I still love looking at it in my log book in game, especially since I figured out how to enlarge the clipboard so you can read the log entries in game better, but I'm frustrated by a couple of things ATM:

(1) SH4 seems to be less tolerant of long entries than SH3 was, so you have to keep each entry pretty short or it doesn't work (which I solve just by making more short entries instead of fewer long ones, but it does make the log-file editing more fiddly); and

(2) I have no usable programming skills (I used to know how to write things in BASIC, but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) so I don't have any way to either (a) come up with something you could alt-tab to and edit/make log entries while in game (and I'm not sure the game would recognize them anyway so that's not a big deal unless it could be made so you could really make real-time entries - that would be awesome), or (b) take the edited saved-log file and turn it into nice-looking, cleaned up log reports like SH3 Commander would do - it doesn't seem like that would be that hard, but it's way beyond me. I hope that function will make it into SH4-Skipper, but since that seems to be taking a while to come out, I wish someone with some skills would whip up a little something just to do this. The way it is now, once I finish a patrol I don't really have any way to view the log again other than to wade through the saved log file with all its formatting commands, etc.

What would really be nice is some simple little applet that would let you just type the date, time, and text log entry info into fields and then automatically put that info into the syntax form that the game's saved-log files need (and renumber all the other log entries as necessary), so that those entries would show up in the game's clipboard display.

Hmmm - if I could find my old database program I used to play around with, I might even be able to write something that would automate the data entry like that - trouble is, even if I could figure that part out, it would only work for people who had that same database program (basically, just for me), so it wouldn't be nearly as good a solution than if someone who knows how to write simple stuff like this could just whip something up for all us sub skippers. Any takers?

[panthercules]

BTW - further play with this revealed a small problem with an occasional word sometimes being missing along the right edge in some of the log entries in game - it only happened occasionally and I never could figure out exactly why it was happening, BUT a small tweak to the numbers in my post above seems to have eliminated the problem, at least as far as I've been able to tell so far.

I had posted above to change (among other things) the following line in the menu_1024_768.ini file:

[G35 I19]
Zone= 613 553 445 480 4 1 0x35060000 0.5 -0.5 0x35040000 -0.5 0.4 -5 -10

If you change the third number from 445 to 455, so the line now reads:

[G35 I19]
Zone= 613 553 455 480 4 1 0x35060000 0.5 -0.5 0x35040000 -0.5 0.4 -5 -10

all the words seem to show up where they didn't before, at least in my tests so far. The other pages (radio messages and mission objectives) didn't seem to need a similar change so I haven't messed with the numbers I previously posted for those other lines yet. Of course, as previously stated, these numbers are all for 1024x768 and you may need to adjust them accordingly if you run a different resolution and don't like the way these numbers work for that resolution.

A sample of my latest patrol log in game, after this tweak/fix, is shown below:



Enjoy!

[MaxT.dk]

Looks very nice!

[panthercules]

Ok - since a wonderful discovery was made by LukeFF about how to make the recognition manual open back up to the same page you were last looking at, but it only seems to work at resolutions higher than 1024x768 (see this thread: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...d=1#post565405 ), I decided to start running at 1280x960 to take advantage of this. While I was at it, I decided I would enlarge the captain's log clipboard to take advantage of the increased real estate at the higher resolution - soooo, here are the revised settings for the menu_1024_768.ini file that work at 1280x960, in case anybody wants to use them:

[G35 I19]
Zone= 613 553 589 600 4 1 0x35060000 0.5 -0.5 0x35040000 -0.5 0.4 -5 -20

[G35 I21]
Zone= 613 624 310 35 3 1 0x35040000 0 0 0x35060002 0 1 150 45

[G35 I27]
Zone= 573 186 140 30 0 1 0x35060000 0 -1 0x35060003 0.12 1.36 3 -155

[G35 I29]
Zone= 613 552 556 556 4 1 0x35050000 0.5 -0.5 0x35030000 -0.5 0.435 -5 -32

[G35 I33]
Zone= 689 623 158 35 3 1 0x35030000 0.5 0 0x3505001B -0.5 1 0 48

[G35 I39]
Zone= 573 186 140 30 0 1 0x35050000 0 -1 0x35050001 0.12 1.36 3 -160

[G35 I41]
Zone= 613 553 556 556 4 1 0x35070000 0.5 -0.5 0x35080000 -0.5 0.4 -5 -32

[G35 I43]
Zone= 613 624 310 35 0 1 0x35080000 0.5 0 0x35070001 -0.5 1 2 65

[G35 I46]
Zone= 573 186 140 30 0 1 0x35070000 0 -1 0x35070007 0.12 1.36 3 -160

[G35 I50]
Zone= 613 586 310 32 0 1 0x3500000F 0.5 -0.5 0x35000002 -0.5 4.4 0 115

[G35 I51]
Zone= 552 743 731 938 0 1 0x35000000 0.75 -1 0x3500000F -0.5 1.25 -100 -115


Enjoy!

[ReallyDedPoet]

Nice work on this, miss this option from SH2.

RDP

[panthercules]

Check the first post, which has been updated with the info on how to get this to work with Patch 1.4.

Enjoy!

[Roger Dodger]

Is it possible to change the Captain's Log Header to read something like this: . . . ?
CAPTAIN'S LOG
S-33 (USS 138)
LtCdr Roger Dodger
<DATE>
. . . BODY OF LOG . . .

Basic setup:

CAPTAIN'S LOG
<BOAT NAME> <(OFFICIAL NUMBER)>
<RANK> <NAME>
<DATE>

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by Roger Dodger

Is it possible to change the Captain's Log Header to read something like this: . . . ?
CAPTAIN'S LOG
S-33 (USS 138)
LtCdr Roger Dodger
<DATE>
. . . BODY OF LOG . . .

Basic setup:

CAPTAIN'S LOG
<BOAT NAME> <(OFFICIAL NUMBER)>
<RANK> <NAME>
<DATE>

It may well be. Line 2167 in the menu.txt file controls what the heading/title of the log screen displays - as you can see from the screenshot below, I was able to change the title somewhat:



Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to make it display more characters or split them onto multiple lines yet - when I changed line 2167 to include the three line format you asked for, it worked and displayed all the new text on 3 lines in the tooltip as you mouse over the button in lower right of screen (to call up the log), but not on the log itself. I suspect that you'd have to play around inside the menu_1024_768.ini file to increase the size of the area for this title and move the date and text area down a bit to make room for the new lines of the title (it had probably worked on the log as well, but you just couldn't see it because the display area for this title isn't large enough).

Will try to tweak the .ini file in a bit and see if that does the trick.

[panthercules]

Ok - got it to work with some adjustments to the menu_1024_768.ini file. It can display 3 lines, but I thought it looked better with only two lines (and it was easier to fit it into the available space without having to move the date and text box down if it was on just 2 lines) - see below:



It's a very simple set of tweaks - a couple to the menu_1024_768.ini file and one to the menu.txt file, as follows:

menu_1024_768.ini file:

[G35 I21]
Name=Captain'sLogTitle
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x35060002
ParentID=0x35060000
Pos=60,-122,310,35
Zone= 613 624 510 135 3 1 0x35040000 0 0 0x35060002 0 1 -25 -27
Color=0x171717FE
Font=19
Text=2167
TextFlags=0x15

[G35 I50]
Name=Date
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x35000002
ParentID=0x35000000
Pos=613,-182,310,32
Zone= 613 586 310 32 0 1 0x3500000F 0.5 -0.5 0x35000002 -0.5 4.4 0 70
Font=19
Text=0
TextFlags=0x5

NOTE - the numbers above work at 1024x768 resolution if you are already using my enlarged Captain's Log tweaks - if not, you'll have to experiment some to find the right placement for your resolution and log position. The font number changes are to reduce the font size slightly to make this fit better.

menu.txt file:

2167=CAPTAIN'S LOG|USS Pantherfish (SS-55) - LtCdr Pops Panther

Of course, you can add your own boat name/number and skipper's name. The "|" (the capitalized version of the "\" key) is what signals the carriage return to put the text that follows on the next line.

Enjoy!

[Roger Dodger]

Thanx muchly, I'll give it a try.

[Roger Dodger]

It almost worked. Here's what I got:



The date seems to have been sucked up under the clip of the clipboard. I used your numbers, but I have a feeling that one or more of them was wrong. Please advise. BTW, I've tried re-entering the boat's name when I get a new one, but the effect is the same.

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by Roger Dodger

It almost worked.
The date seems to have been sucked up under the clip of the clipboard. I used your numbers, but I have a feeling that one or more of them was wrong. Please advise. BTW, I've tried re-entering the boat's name when I get a new one, but the effect is the same.

Did you do anything to your date section ([G35 I50]) other than just change the font number to "19" as I showed? This gets tricky because I've monkeyed with a lot of these section numbers in order to get my log/clipboard to be bigger, and the sections I copied/pasted into my post above are from my tweaked, larger clipboard file. If you're not running with all my large clipboard settings tweaks, or are running a resolution other than 1024x768, then just using the exact numbers I posted above for this fix will probably give results that aren't quite right.



From the looks of your screenshot, you seem to be running with the stock clipboard size - that would mean that using my exact numbers for this latest fix on the header will screw things up. As I noted in my post:

NOTE - the numbers above work at 1024x768 resolution if you are already using my enlarged Captain's Log tweaks - if not, you'll have to experiment some to find the right placement for your resolution and log position.

I tested the following on a stock 1.4 setup and it seemed to work fine - Only make the following changes (in yellow) to your stock menu_1024_768.ini file settings:

[G35 I21]
...
Zone= 588 624 510 135 3 1 0x35040000 0 0 0x35060002 0 1 -75 -12
...
Font=19


[G35 I50]
...
Font=19

Good luck.

[Roger Dodger]

Hokie Dokie

I've made the following changes. I've also listed the unmodified sections for comparison. I'll load up the game and send you a screen shot.

'Twould be nice if the MENU.TXT could be a little more automatic so I wouldn't have to change it every time I got a new boat, but I guess that's a little much to ask. Something like:

2167=CAPTAIN'S LOG|$BOATNAME$ ($BOATNUM$) - $PLAYERRANK$ $PLAYERNAME$

Thanks for your help and the rapid reply.

<BEFORE>
[G35 I21]
Name=Captain'sLogTitle
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x35060002
ParentID=0x35060000
Pos=60,-122,310,35
Zone= 613 624 510 135 3 1 0x35040000 0 0 0x35060002 0 1 -25 -27
Color=0x171717FE
Font=19
Text=2167
TextFlags=0x15

<AFTER ADJUSTING>
[G35 I21]
. . .
Zone= 588 624 510 135 3 1 0x35040000 0 0 0x35060002 0 1 -75 -12
. . .
<TMARU 175 UNMODIFIED>
[G35 I21]
. . .
Pos=35,-122,310,35
Zone= 588 624 310 35 3 1 0x35040000 0 0 0x35060002 0 1 0 36
. . .
Font=21
. . .
<MODIFIED> [G35 I50]
Name=Date
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x35000002
ParentID=0x35000000
Pos=613,-182,310,32
Zone= 613 586 310 32 0 1 0x3500000F 0.5 -0.5 0x35000002 -0.5 4.4 0 70
Font=19
Text=0
TextFlags=0x5

<TMARU 175 UNMODIFIED>
[G35 I50]
. . .
Zone= 613 586 310 32 0 1 0x3500000F 0.5 -0.5 0x35000002 -0.5 4.4 0 0
Font=21
. . .

<MENU.TXT>
2167=CAPTAIN'S LOG|USS Balao (SS-285) - LtCdr Roger Dodger

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by Roger Dodger

Hokie Dokie

I've made the following changes. I've also listed the unmodified sections for comparison. I'll load up the game and send you a screen shot.
...

<MODIFIED> [G35 I50]
...
Zone= 613 586 310 32 0 1 0x3500000F 0.5 -0.5 0x35000002 -0.5 4.4 0 70

If your date header is still up way too high, I'd focus on this line's setting - I'm not sure why you would have changed that last number, but that would tend to raise the date header up on the screen like your other screenshot showed. The only change I made to the date header was just to change the font line from 21 to 19, which just reduced the size of the letters (so the extra lines would fit in the same basic space). I'm not running TM and am not familiar with what TM may have done to the clipboard, but under normal (stock) circumstances there shouldn't have been a need to change the location/height of the date header, so there shouldn't have been a need to change that last number in the "Zone" line to "70" like shown in your message above.

Hope you get it working.

BTW - It would be nice if the menu.txt file portion could be made more automatic - maybe it can be, but I have no idea how to make variables work like that in SH4 and have only made straight text changes to that file so far, so I do have to manually change it if I want to change my captain or boat name/number. Maybe it would be worth looking through some of these files to see whether/how the game uses variables for those things (player and boat names) in some other context and then see if trying that same sort of syntax would work for this - would be cool.

[Roger Dodger]

Sorry its taken so long to get back to you. I've been trying to get screenshots of my Captain's Log to include, but <CTRL>+F11 no longer seems to work. I can't find any reference to it in Commands.cfg. I also know that I didn't fool around with that. Do you know where the Screenshot command is?

BTW, I changed the Date/Zone figure because it was in the original message (#24) you sent. To wit:

[G35 I50]
Name=Date
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x35000002
ParentID=0x35000000
Pos=613,-182,310,32
Zone= 613 586 310 32 0 1 0x3500000F 0.5 -0.5 0x35000002 -0.5 4.4 0 70
Font=19
Text=0
TextFlags=0x5

I'll change it back to '0' and let you know what happens. Thanx for the help, and I agree with you that there must be some way to make it more automatic to insert the needed data into the Captain's Log Header.