[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