Advice(s) on menu_1024x768.ini please

[ichso]

The manual to the sliding dials mod told me to add the following to the dials.cfg:

[Dial74]
Name=CompassFdbk; FLB Sale`s Slideout Anzeigen
Type=12; DIAL_GYROCOMPASS
Cmd=Set_course,Crew
Dial=0x0
CrtVal=0x3F1C7007
NewVal=0x0
DialVal=-180,180
RealVal=-180,180; degrees
Circular=Yes
Dynamic=Yes

(this block being in fact the 75th block in this file and the dialnumber at the beginning of the dials.cfg is set accordingly)

the ID at CrtVal refers to a block in the menu_1024...

[G3F I436]
Name=Crt val
Type=1031;Stat bmp array
ItemID=0x3F1C7007
ParentID=0x3F1C7000
Pos=8,-8,330,330
Materials=1
Display=5;Linear&rotation 
Mat 0=data/menu/gui/layout/Richtung3.tga
Crop 0=0.002994011,0.002994011,0.9940119761,0.9940119761
MatFlags=0x29
TexFmt=0x9
Drag=false
BmpState=1
NeedFocus=true
SelOne=false
IdGroup=0
StatesColors=0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF

The mod works without OLC GUI correctly with this only one additional block in the dials.cfg.
Do I need to add each further new dial too ?

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by ichso

The mod works without OLC GUI correctly with this only one additional block in the dials.cfg.

OIC. Is the problem simply that you can't click on it? In other words, when you add it to OLC GUI, does it update according to the heading of your U-boat?

[ichso]

Sadly not. They are not clickable and and they don't show the actual values. The pointers all are at 12 o'clock position.

[ichso]

[missposted]

[ichso]

After a few days pause I looked into the files again and found out what the problem was.

Probably because the old ItemIDs refered to already existing items in the dials.cfg and just replaced the older IDs in the menu_1024...ini it worked for the original MFD mod.
But because I changed those IDs it did not anymore.
So I added those new items to the dials.cfg and now they work correctly.

But one problem is left. How do I add a button properly to those files ?
There are buttons to toggle the depth gauges (for example). They show up and are clickable but do nothing.

By looking at some buttons of the original SH3-Layout I didn't find their ID in the dials.cfg. Also I found a tutorial about those two files but that either states nothing about making buttons functional.
Any hint there ?

[The Bad Wolf]

You need OLC.

As I understand there are only 3 toggle buttons available, which were used for the original Dials.
OLC used them for his mod. 2 for TDC/attack wheel and to toggle the dials on/off.
Thus you won't be able to toggle the dials.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by The Bad Wolf

As I understand there are only 3 toggle buttons available, which were used for the original Dials.
OLC used them for his mod. 2 for TDC/attack wheel and to toggle the dials on/off.
Thus you won't be able to toggle the dials.

Correct
You can't add new buttons. I used all 3 in OLC GUI.

[bert8for3]

I vaguely remember, but could be quite wrong, that there are only three buttons. I wish I could help but beyond that I don't know. I take my hat off, though, to you for working through this, as well as to all modders. I took a few hours on the weekend looking at stock GWX, 6-Dials and OLCGui menu1024_768 files to compare them and it ain't easy. I'm way behind you in understanding them, never mind dials.cfg ... btw where did you find the explanation for dials.cfg?

Keep at it ... sounds like you're making progress

edit/add: Hadn't seen BadWolf's post, and OLC's while I was writing mine, I was only looking at page 1 ... well at least I was right about the 3 buttons . If you're going to slideout on the dials, that should free up one button if you disable the OLC dial panel ???

[ichso]

I see

So, to get this straight: All the three available buttons are set to a fixed ItemID and to a fixed behaviour. I suspect so because there are no hints what those buttons exactly do, so it must be hardcoded somehow.

Let's take the 25m-260m switchable depth gauge fo an example. What I assume is that in stock SH3 (and MFD also) the 260 version gets printed first and the 25 version afterwards. So the only dial you see in the game is the 25 version.
Then one button refers to the 25m dial and toggles it's visibility. So, when you click it the 25-dial gets invisible and you then see the 260-dial (and the according pointer+value).
Is this right ?

What I would do then is to throw the OLC dial bar overboard to get the switchable depth dials again and split all other dials of MFD up into single ones so that they don't need to be switched.
Also, I would leave out the engine telegraph completely because you can easily control the speed setting by hotkeys. All the other 5 dials are important, though.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by ichso

So, to get this straight: All the three available buttons are set to a fixed ItemID and to a fixed behaviour. I suspect so because there are no hints what those buttons exactly do, so it must be hardcoded somehow.

Yes the IDs are fixed and the behaviour is hardcoded.

Let's take the 25m-260m switchable depth gauge fo an example. What I assume is that in stock SH3 (and MFD also) the 260 version gets printed first and the 25 version afterwards. So the only dial you see in the game is the 25 version.
Then one button refers to the 25m dial and toggles it's visibility. So, when you click it the 25-dial gets invisible and you then see the 260-dial (and the according pointer+value).
Is this right ?

Not quite. The buttons toggle specific menu groups on and off. Each button has two associated menu groups (whos IDs are also fixed and hardcoded). Taking one button as an example, its first menu group (containing, say, the 25m dial) starts visible, and the other (containing the 260m dial) starts invisible. Pressing it switches the visibility of both groups.

Answers above in blue.

[ichso]

Thanks for explaining.

[bert8for3]

Originally Posted by ichso

... What I would do then is to throw the OLC dial bar overboard to get the switchable depth dials again and split all other dials of MFD up into single ones so that they don't need to be switched. Also, I would leave out the engine telegraph completely because you can easily control the speed setting by hotkeys. All the other 5 dials are important, though.

Makes good sense imho. Then you'd just have to find place for one additional slideout.

[ichso]

Is it required that the numberings of the menu items are continuous ?
I mean, is it a problem if I skip a number in between ? I'm getting some strange errors and want to find out whether this might be a problem.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by ichso

Is it required that the numberings of the menu items are continuous ?
I mean, is it a problem if I skip a number in between ? I'm getting some strange errors and want to find out whether this might be a problem.

Yes its required. Yes, its a very big problem if you skip numbers. But, as long as parent IDs are always above their children, the order makes no difference... so just add to the end whenever you can, to avoid unnecessary renumbering.

[ichso]

It's still a bit of a problem because your section containing the dials is somewhere at the beginning of the g3f section. The dials of MFD won't need so many blocks so I have to adjust all of the following numbers, which are several hundered.

I didn't want to do that by hand and had to realise that notepad++ isn't able to do that automatically. I just wrote a little Java program to parse the file and edit the section numbers automatically. This may at least save time for further editings in the future.

Originally Posted by bert8for3

Makes good sense imho. Then you'd just have to find place for one additional slideout.

I will try to put 3 dials on the right side of the screen. If that isn't practical I will have to put one more down at the bottom.
I'm also going to make a version without the digital values, they feel a little bit too arcadish for my taste