Oolite Bulletins

Version 3.4 is now available. In this version:

• Added "Simplified crosshairs" switch (available via Library Config), which turns off the circular brackets around the crosshairs.
• Mini crosshairs (used when crosshairs are off in red/yellow status) were not reappearing after a witchspace jump.
• Temperature change from low to medium was showing the temp bar even when crosshairs were off.
• Incorrect default crosshair image selected for unrecognised lasers when amber mode is on.
• Switched crosshair list to a dictionary for performance improvements.
• Scanner ultra zoom and non-linear settings were being overridden by HUD Selector in a new game.

Version 3.5 3.6 has been released, which corrects some problems with the temperature bar.

I have been enjoying the Xenon HUD for awhile, but there is one issue that is causing problems (well maybe not so much a problem as an annoyance!). Only two MFD's show up, and I thought that the default would be 7 screens. Is there something that I need to configure on the F4 screen when docked?

You can select and adjust what MFD's are displayed during flight - ":" to select a new MFD slot, then ";" to cycle your available MFD options. To do all this when docked requires Norby's HUD Selector to be installed.

phkb wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 6:00 am

You can select and adjust what MFD's are displayed during flight - ":" to select a new MFD slot, then ";" to cycle your available MFD options. To do all this when docked requires Norby's HUD Selector to be installed.

Thanks for educating me on how to switch... But the problem still is that I only have two MDF slot showing...

Before I get too deep into this, how many HUD’s do you have installed? And do you have the same issue if only Xenon HUD is installed?

I want to reduce inflight primeable equipments by automating where possible & moving configuration to station interfaces.

Enhancement request: Replace Xenon HUD's primeable equipment with an automatic transition to high-contrast mode (could be triggered when distance to sun is less than a Library-configurable multiple of sun radius, unless there is a way to detect glare/brightness directly) or always-off/always-on (station-side configuration).

This is something I've been meaning to do actually. I've got a plan (both distance from sun, and direction facing), so I'll try and get some testing time this evening to play around with it. Thanks for the push!

Thanks! I have two more small requests.

1. Could you add two more MFD position slots on the sides, below the current ones? With the addition of the primeable equipment MFD recently (showing where you are in the cycle), I'm finding myself wanting more slots.

2. When weapons are offline, the alpha visibility of the current target name in the lower left corner is reduced. Can that fade-out be made optional? I think I would prefer full visibility.

Edited to add: I just tried enabling the high-contrast mode while facing towards a planet. The text color in the MFDs becomes black and the MFD backgrounds become a semi-transparent black. As a consequence, any portion of the MFDs that is not overlapping something bright becomes invisible against the blackness of space. Since the MFDs are on the edges of the screen, unless the bright thing in front of you is fully covering the screen, the outer portions of the MFDs will tend to vanish. I think the high-contrast mode MFDs should be visible over black space too, so the text color should not be the same as the background color. Maybe change the high-contrast background to white with less transparency (so it appears grey when over space)?

Edited again to add: If you remove the equipment in the next version, this can be ignored. I found out that the Library setting to remove the primeable equipment is not persisting. I change it to true, save and load, and it is false again. The change does apply during the session though (if I launch, the equipment is not in the cycle). I tried changing all the Library settings to true, and save/reloading, and only the primeable equip removal option reverted back to false. Then I looked in the script, and I see missionVariables.XenonHUD_RemoveEquip is not saved in playerWillSaveGame.

I have a beta version of the next release to try out: XenonHUD_beta.oxz. In this version, if you remove the primable equipment (via Library Config) the Hi-Contrast mode should auto-enable when sun glare reaches a certain point. I've also added the extra MFD slots, and fixed the issue with the setting not saving.

For the auto-hi-contrast mode to work, you will need the latest Oolite nightlie, which exposes a new entity property "isSunlit". If you don't have this version, there will be no difference between the current version and the beta version (in that removing the primable equipment just removes it, and you can't change any setting during flight).

The one issue I found during my testing (and the reason I'm pre-releasing this as a beta) is that, the very first time the hi-contrast mode is auto-enabled, there is a very slight stutter in the game - around .3 seconds, which is sometimes enough to trigger the "script ran too long" debug message. The problem appears to be the final step, where the player.ship.hud is changed to the hi-contrast version. The first time it does this, it stutters. Each subsequent change happens without any visible stutter at all. Because of where this line of code is, there won't be any impact on the functionality of the HUD, and the HUD does switch to hi-contrast successfully. At the moment it's just annoying, but it would be good to get some feedback on other player's experiences with it.

I don't think this is a bug in the script, but if you have any insight into the reasons for this please let me know.

It's very nice. Apparently I experienced that stutter the first time, but I didn't actually notice it while I was slowing from torus. Later transitions took 1-2 milliseconds. First time:
13:08:42.259 [fcb] GlobalLog: pre hud change
13:08:42.753 [fcb] GlobalLog: post hud change

I still think the black-on-transparent-black MFD color scheme for the high contrast mode would benefit from more contrast, perhaps keep the text foreground color the same as in low-contrast mode (amber/blue), just change the background. As it is, the HUD transition occurs for me when the sun is only occupying one third of the screen (when I tilt the ship vertically towards and away from the sun), and if the sun is at the lower part of the screen (because the ship is aimed upward), the MFDs at the top in high-contrast mode are over the dark (though not pitch-black, thanks to the overall brightness increase when near the sun) space/nebula background. The black text is still hard to read there. Also, I wouldn't mind if the high contrast transition happened a bit earlier (when I was farther from the sun).

The new MFDs are great, thanks.

Is it possible to reduce the font size for the console and comms output areas on the sides of the scanner so more text can be displayed there?

In high-contrast mode, the small horizontal bar in the fuel gauge (that shows the amount that will be used for a witchspace jump) is not visible.

OK, here's a new beta: XenonHUD_beta.oxz. This version should address all the issues listed above.

Reduced row height is great, thanks. Fuel gauge looks good too. Distance before switching mode could still be farther: https://pasteboard.co/JewfMCX.png

I encountered a glitch with MFD slot 4. I think I had it set to "none", and when hi-contrast came in, a dark background rectangle appeared there without any amber border or text. Cycling that MFD after the hi-contrast mode came on, it disappears properly when I cycle back to none. I'm not sure if the same issue would occur with other slots. 8 and 9 were also set to none before the transition, but it didn't happen with them. Snapshot for reference: https://pasteboard.co/JewezaB.png

Also, in high-contrast mode the MFDs now have a bit of a gap between the edges of the background and the thin amber/blue rectangle of the MFD foreground. This gives the impression of a much thicker border around the MFDs. I think it would look better if the black backgrounds were slightly bigger to fill in that gap around the edges.

OK try beta version 3.8.2.

The empty slot underlay-only fix worked, but the hi-contrast transition happened long after it needed to. (Full disclosure: I removed Sun Gear from my OXPs folder because it was taking too long to reach the sun, but I don't think that would affect it.)

https://ibb.co/BqxLYwT
https://ibb.co/fvgb1ks
https://ibb.co/LNN4W4J

Also, nitpicking, there still appears to be a slight one-pixel-thickness gap between the MFD underlays and the border line where the background bleeds through (maybe due to alpha properties of the border which seems to be 3-pixels thick with semi-transparent border lines on each side of the solid central border line). It can be seen more easily if you open the screenshot in a photo editor and zoom in.

In slot 1, I see the gap at the top, the right and the bottom, but not the left side. In slot 2, mirrored (1-pixel-thickness gap at top, left, and bottom). In slot 3, top and right side only. In slot 4, mirrored (top and left). In slot 5, gap is at right and bottom. In slot 6, mirrored (left and bottom). In slot 7, only the top has a gap. Slot 8, right and bottom. Slot 9, left and bottom.
Also, on line 1169, p.position is undefined when player ship is destroyed, a repeating error. And (only logged once):

Exception: TypeError: player.ship.script is undefined
Active script: XenonHUD 3.8.2
script.js, line 454:
player.ship.script._redoUnderlays = true;