Visual effect while cloaked

[Bothkill]

I feel the need of having a visual hint indicating I am cloaked.
I find it pretty difficult to trace the pop-up message that the cloaking device is on or off, and if there are other previous messages, tracing it makes it even harder.

Pros:
Back in the Spectrum Elite, the blackness of spaces turned blue while cloaked. That way, you knew instantly that your device was activated/deactivated.
I was thinking I would like to have in Oolite some kind of fog (shroud/veil) on the screen while cloaked, with the foggiest part towards the edge of the screen and progresively getting clearer towards the center. The center clear part could be any range, from one pixel to, say, half/2 thirds of screen (it depends on the taste of developers/Oolite community).
One argument could be that: Ok, I am cloaked, nobody sees me, but I shouldn't see perfectly either. That cloaking thing must come at a cost (besides the rapid energy drain).

Cons:
Difficulty in grafic implementation.


So, do you like the idea and is it doable?

Thank you!

[another_commander]

It already exists. You can add this line in your hud.plist (say, as the last line before the final closing brace) and Shift-restart:

Code: Select all

cloak_indicator_on_status_light = yes;

When you activate the cloak your status indicator takes on a distinct blue tint (green, yellow and red are still clearly visible as the main alert condition colors).

[JazHaz]

It already exists. You can add this line in your hud.plist (say, as the last line before the final closing brace) and Shift-restart:

Code: Select all

cloak_indicator_on_status_light = yes;

When you activate the cloak your status indicator takes on a distinct blue tint (green, yellow and red are still clearly visible as the main alert condition colors).

I just checked my install of MilHud v4.0 only to find it set already. However its slightly different:

Code: Select all

cloak_indicator_on_status_light = "true";

So are "true"; and yes; both ok as responses?

[Cody]

I thought cloak_indicator_on_status_light = yes; was in the core hud.plist by default - it is in trunk.

[another_commander]

So are "true"; and yes; both ok as responses?

yes; works for me. If "true"; works for you, then I can confidently say that the answer is yes.

I thought cloak_indicator_on_status_light = yes; was in the core hud.plist by default - it is in trunk.

Indeed it is.

[Cody]

So you've got the status light (and the energy-drain) to tell you when you are cloaked - and if you fire your laser, you'll be automatically uncloaked.

[JazHaz]

So are "true"; and yes; both ok as responses?

yes; works for me. If "true"; works for you, then I can confidently say that the answer is yes.

Don't know, don't have a cloaking device yet on my current commander.

[JensAyton]

Anywhere Oolite expects a yes/no value in a plist, "true", "yes", "on" or "1" should all work.

[Mauiby de Fug]

I was thinking I would like to have in Oolite some kind of fog (shroud/veil) on the screen while cloaked, with the foggiest part towards the edge of the screen and progresively getting clearer towards the center. The center clear part could be any range, from one pixel to, say, half/2 thirds of screen (it depends on the taste of developers/Oolite community).
One argument could be that: Ok, I am cloaked, nobody sees me, but I shouldn't see perfectly either. That cloaking thing must come at a cost (besides the rapid energy drain).

I used to use a HUD which I think did exactly that - it put a blue overlay over the screen, getting slightly foggier on the outside. Only problem is, I don't thing the author ever put it up on the wiki or oxp page. I'll go search the board and see if I can find it for you...

Okay then, search done!

'Tis a custom dynamic HUD by JeffBTX, which I quite like!

Relevant BB topics are https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8830, and https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8868. You can see pics of it from http://www.flickr.com/photos/34159828@N06/, and download it from http://www.box.net/shared/zq6hgs9ocl.

It's my current favourite HUD, which I moved to from MilHUD. I've changed the alpha of the cross hair image and the width of the critical/cloaked overlays to match my preferences. The blue glow you see in the screenshot is the cloaked overlay.

As you can see, it uses overlays for both critical condition (red) and cloaked (blue), which are the same apart from the different colours.

[Bothkill]

Thanks Mauiby de Fug!

I like the blue glow a lot, since it matches the original idea!

Pity it's not in the standard Oolite, cause I'm aiming for Elite status with no OXP!

[Diziet Sma]

I'm aiming for Elite status with no OXP!

I don't think just changing the HUD would really be breaking the rules.. just bending them a little, at most..

[Smivs]

Indeed, while I fully understand the thought behind 'no OXPs' I think it is OK to make a distnction between purely cosmetic upgrades and those which have a direct impact on gameplay.
My No 2 Commander lives in a beautiful and visually exciting Ooniverse, but plays a very 'pure' game.

[Commander McLane]

When you activate the cloak your status indicator takes on a distinct blue tint (green, yellow and red are still clearly visible as the main alert condition colors).

To be precise: the indicator is blue when your status is green, and white when your status is yellow.

Pity it's not in the standard Oolite, cause I'm aiming for Elite status with no OXP!

It is in standard Oolite, and has been there for a looooong time, possibly since 1.65. I have my cloaking device since about 2007, and have always had the blue/white status light when cloaked, and my hud.plist doesn't even contain the cloak_indicator_on_status_light key, which makes me assume that this is Oolite's default anyway.

[another_commander]

When you activate the cloak your status indicator takes on a distinct blue tint (green, yellow and red are still clearly visible as the main alert condition colors).

To be precise: the indicator is blue when your status is green, and white when your status is yellow.

Pity it's not in the standard Oolite, cause I'm aiming for Elite status with no OXP!

It is in standard Oolite, and has been there for a looooong time, possibly since 1.65. I have my cloaking device since about 2007, and have always had the blue/white status light when cloaked, and my hud.plist doesn't even contain the cloak_indicator_on_status_light key, which makes me assume that this is Oolite's default anyway.

No idea how you managed to have this since 1.65. The changelog history shows that it was entered for the first time in version 1.73. A quick further investigation shows that it was implemented as a result of the discussion on this thread: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=5832.

[Commander McLane]

Now I'm confused. What you describe in that thread does not match what the indicator looks like for me. I don't see a "blueish shade" or "blue tint" with the actual green, yellow or red still visible. I see this:


pulsating green light (status green)


pulsating yellow light (status yellow)


pulsating blue light (status green while cloaked)


pulsating white light (status yellow/red while cloaked; note that—differently from what I understand from your description in that thread—there is no colour difference between status yellow and red; I think the reason is that there is no status red while cloaked, because you're no longer targeted)

I may not always have captured the exact darkest and brightest shades of the colours. I repeat that my hud.plist does not contain cloak_indicator_on_status_light, and never has. But it doesn't matter. The indicator light behaves exactly the same when I remove my hud.oxp and use the default hud.

I don't recall exactly since when this indicator feature exists. It may not have been there in 1.65. But it has been there for years now, and it is a vanilla Oolite feature.