Oolite Bulletins

NumericHUDv2.oxp is now available.


NumericHUDv2 #1 by CommonSenseOTB, on Flickr


NumericHUDv2 #2 by CommonSenseOTB, on Flickr


NumericHUDv2 #3 by CommonSenseOTB, on Flickr


Download here:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Numeric_Style_HUDs




Playtest results and comments are welcome.

Have fun with this!

Cheers!

Looking better & better, I'll try this one out today . . . .

m4r35n357 wrote:

Looking better & better, I'll try this one out today . . . .

OK tried it, looks really good & I'd like to keep it for a while but unfortunately there are missing vertical/horizontal lines on some borders and also some numbers at 1360x768. I've seen things like this with the regular scanner at different resolutions so I suppose it's a core game issue.
Really like the big scanner though, "proper" HUD effect etc.

This is awesome. I already took it for a test run.

I'm finding this HUD the perfect compliment to the Vendetta fighter.

First, I noticed that the shield capacitor meters were always showing 0, regardless of capacitor charge. But silly me! Looking closer, I noticed I had an older version of the capacitor oxp. Updated the oxp, and the meters were working as advertized.

Secondly, it was missing the red dot gun pipper from MilHUD I was used to. Easily remedied. I added this code to numberichudv2.plist then copied reddot.png to numberichud's images folder.

Third, since I run the recommended loadout of front beam laser/rear mil laser, I noticed the target box doesn't turn red till I'm within the laser's range - for a beam laser, that's 15km. Very helpful: Don't shoot until you can actually hit.

The last 3 days have gone well. I've been using this hud while testing/tweaking the soundtracks for an event driven music oxp and so far it has performed excellent.

@m4r35n357: I've gone over and done tests with all the resolutions I could test using my cheap HDTV hooked by VGA to my netbook. All the resolutions show the hud appears properly on the netbook itself and I can scroll around when in those resolutions to see this. The view from the HDTV shows that it can display most of the resolutions. The resolution of 1360x768 is displayed properly. What I did note was the HDTV was displaying 1360x768 but the selection in the options of the game shows 1280x768 and yet it works correctly for me. Are your preferences set correctly in GNUstepdefaults? Can your monitor achieve a 1360x768 display mode or is it displaying in a different display mode that is close to the required display but is cutting off some of the screen? I believe there were 2 resolutions my HDTV displayed in a smaller display mode resulting in cutting off either the tops or the bottoms. A few others were not displayed at all because my HDTV is not capable of that high of a resolution. Perhaps you have a hardware issue. Another thought, are you playing in a window? Using a netbook with a native 1024x600 display I never play in windowed mode so I'm not sure if that could be an issue in this. Good luck solving your display problem.
What I can say is that the wide aspect screen ratios are a joy to play on an HDTV and look correct. My current resolution of choice has been 1920x1200 which looks simply stunning.

@Cmdr Wyvern: In looking at the modifications you suggested, the contraster seemed to add to what I was working on for the crosshair concept but the pipper didn't seem necessary. The green target zone shrinks to aid longer range aim and parallax issues vary greatly depending on what ship the player is using. As the sensitive reticle has been greatly improved I decided the adjustable crosshair would be shelved until it becomes easier to achieve and more efficient. The current setup works quite well even at long range with the improved sensitive reticle. Down the road it will be easy enough to have a selection of sights to choose from and the player can select the type of sight he wants.

Thanks to all for the positive comments and feedback.

I've been tweaking on it, and I've come up with a perty cool mix of features over the original Numeric mark 2. I'm not sure you'd call it "better", but it's ringing my bell. Like me to wrap it up and PM you a link for tryouts?

EDIT: A few screenies of what I'm calling the "Marksman's Edition". Pay attention to what the sights are doing.







EDIT 2: I play on a big screen HDTV which has a PC video input. Handy that. 1920 x 1080 native resolution.

@Cmdr Wyvern: Man, you don't waste any time, do you?

By all means, wrap it up and PM me the download link. I see you have similar ideas for using the ssi for better aim. I really only just came up with the ssi as crosshair idea a day before your crosshair suggestion for contraster and pipper and was going to look at impoving it anyway for version 2.1 after players have had a chance to give the hud a good shakedown. Could look at other things before 2.1 release as well. One step at a time.

@Cmdr Wyvern: I gave it a good test and compared it to the standard numericv2 hud and both on the little netbook screen and the HDTV screen it sadly did not improve my aim.

It would appear what you have is a small sniper sight combined with a small ssi to improve lining it up but at that size I see little improvement. You were right, not my cup of tea and Wildblood's baby anyway, but it did give me some insights and help focus my view as to where I want to take an ssi based sight for version 2.1 of numeric hud. Just like my signature states.

Thankyou, and thanks again for sharing. I really appreciate it. If what I want to do works, you might find the result to be your cup of tea. Back to the drawing board...

If I can see it, I can shoot it.

And therein lies the problem with using ssi as a sight. SSI paints a vision obscuring green disc that's near impossible to see through. While that's fine for getting initial target lock, for precision aim it needs to make that green blob more transparent, or get the hell out of the way.

I played with the ssi alpha setting, and honestly that doesn't work either. Alrighty then, it needs to get out of the way. Time to rethink the precision sight.

EDIT: I took another swing at it, and I think I'm in the ballpark.



Updated "Marksman" variant ready, same link I gave you yesterday.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

If I can see it, I can shoot it.

And therein lies the problem with using ssi as a sight. SSI paints a vision obscuring green disc that's near impossible to see through. While that's fine for getting initial target lock, for precision aim it needs to make that green blob more transparent, or get the hell out of the way.

I played with the ssi alpha setting, and honestly that doesn't work either. Alrighty then, it needs to get out of the way. Time to rethink the precision sight.

Edit: Just to be clear, the pictures in the post just above were added after I made this post.

On this I guess we can agree to disagree. Just to clarify, you did turn your overall alpha up from 0.75 to 1.0. The standard settings make the center of the ssi very translucent but you are right that the center being brighter than space makes it a touch more difficult to see extreme range oblects, though the contraster does compensate for that. Honestly, I find a full cross more distracting and obscures the far away target at least as much. With a single pipper, at least you know if you don't see the target and the reticle is red, then you are on target. When the target drifts slightly it becomes visible and is easy to instantly know how to adjust your aim. With a cross, it could be anywhere along the cross, sometimes forcing you to move off target to regain visual so you know which way the target has moved.

Another problem has to do with how people aim. Some want to see the target and have a nearby reference mark to help line the shot up, some want to not see the target to know that it is lined up. The idea I have in my head right now falls somewhere in between.

Down the road there can be a selection of sights optimized for what one person finds specifically comfortable and practical for their aiming style.

As for the ssi, no worries, I'll come up with something for 2.1. When I do I will want your feedback.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

If I can see it, I can shoot it.

And therein lies the problem with using ssi as a sight. SSI paints a vision obscuring green disc that's near impossible to see through. While that's fine for getting initial target lock, for precision aim it needs to make that green blob more transparent, or get the hell out of the way.

I played with the ssi alpha setting, and honestly that doesn't work either. Alrighty then, it needs to get out of the way. Time to rethink the precision sight.

On this I guess we can agree to disagree. Just to clarify, you did turn your overall alpha up from 0.75 to 1.0. The standard settings make the center of the ssi very translucent but you are right that the center being brighter than space makes it a touch more difficult to see extreme range oblects, though the contraster does compensate for that. Honestly, I find a full cross more distracting and obscures the far away target at least as much. With a single pipper, at least you know if you don't see the target and the reticle is red, then you are on target. When the target drifts slightly it becomes visible and is easy to instantly know how to adjust your aim. With a cross, it could be anywhere along the cross, sometimes forcing you to move off target to regain visual so you know which way the target has moved.

Another problem has to do with how people aim. Some want to see the target and have a nearby reference mark to help line the shot up, some want to not see the target to know that it is lined up. The idea I have in my head right now falls somewhere in between.

Down the road there can be a selection of sights optimized for what one person finds specifically comfortable and practical for their aiming style.

As for the ssi, no worries, I'll come up with something for 2.1. When I do I will want your feedback.

It's not a full cross; there's a center gap a few pixels in size. Targets in the middle are easily visible. Even then, the cross, like the pipper, has an alpha channel so it's transparency is tweakable.

And it's still possible to line up the floating reticule on the small center box; if it's red and lined up, you've got your enemy in the death zone. Light 'im up!

I put the cross out & the dot back in, and set the dot's alpha to 0.7. Major improvement! Every pirate I encountered on that test run was easily acquired, locked, and slaughtered, NO missed shots. That's definitely hitting homers.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

@m4r35n357: I've gone over and done tests with all the resolutions I could test using my cheap HDTV hooked by VGA to my netbook. All the resolutions show the hud appears properly on the netbook itself and I can scroll around when in those resolutions to see this. The view from the HDTV shows that it can display most of the resolutions. The resolution of 1360x768 is displayed properly. What I did note was the HDTV was displaying 1360x768 but the selection in the options of the game shows 1280x768 and yet it works correctly for me. Are your preferences set correctly in GNUstepdefaults? Can your monitor achieve a 1360x768 display mode or is it displaying in a different display mode that is close to the required display but is cutting off some of the screen? I believe there were 2 resolutions my HDTV displayed in a smaller display mode resulting in cutting off either the tops or the bottoms. A few others were not displayed at all because my HDTV is not capable of that high of a resolution. Perhaps you have a hardware issue. Another thought, are you playing in a window? Using a netbook with a native 1024x600 display I never play in windowed mode so I'm not sure if that could be an issue in this. Good luck solving your display problem.

Yeah all is as it should be config-wise. I have a laptop with integrated graphics, which should run at 1366x768 but this locks up the whole machine. 1360x768 "works" though, so that is what I use. Even milhud does not display properly, but it's only a couple of missing scanner lines. As I said, I don't think it's anything to do with your OXP, I just have to live with these graphics until I get another computer (on the plus side, I get to use shaders) . . . thanks for looking into it though!

m4r35n357 wrote:

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

@m4r35n357: I've gone over and done tests with all the resolutions I could test using my cheap HDTV hooked by VGA to my netbook. All the resolutions show the hud appears properly on the netbook itself and I can scroll around when in those resolutions to see this. The view from the HDTV shows that it can display most of the resolutions. The resolution of 1360x768 is displayed properly. What I did note was the HDTV was displaying 1360x768 but the selection in the options of the game shows 1280x768 and yet it works correctly for me. Are your preferences set correctly in GNUstepdefaults? Can your monitor achieve a 1360x768 display mode or is it displaying in a different display mode that is close to the required display but is cutting off some of the screen? I believe there were 2 resolutions my HDTV displayed in a smaller display mode resulting in cutting off either the tops or the bottoms. A few others were not displayed at all because my HDTV is not capable of that high of a resolution. Perhaps you have a hardware issue. Another thought, are you playing in a window? Using a netbook with a native 1024x600 display I never play in windowed mode so I'm not sure if that could be an issue in this. Good luck solving your display problem.

Yeah all is as it should be config-wise. I have a laptop with integrated graphics, which should run at 1366x768 but this locks up the whole machine. 1360x768 "works" though, so that is what I use. Even milhud does not display properly, but it's only a couple of missing scanner lines. As I said, I don't think it's anything to do with your OXP, I just have to live with these graphics until I get another computer (on the plus side, I get to use shaders) . . . thanks for looking into it though!

Sounds like one of those infamously onery Intel graphics chipsets in play. Were it an ATI graphics chip, you'd be complaining about it's infamous inability to correctly render OpenGL.

I always go for an Athalon CPU on an nForce mobo, with a Geforce graphics card. So far that's always been win/win; there's about nothing that combo can't handle.