Oolite Bulletins

After reading another thread describing all the possible key combinations to access OXP screens I had an idea.

Instead of having to press multiple key combinations for the various screens and special equipment why not move all this to a separate pop-up overlay with tabs.

So say I want to look at my explorers club list, I hit the popup key and click on (or navigate with arrow keys to) the Explorers Club tab.

A similar function could be done with special equipment during flight, but on a smaller scale.
Hit the popup that appears next to the hub. Special weapons and equipment is listed by name.

!m!

I'm kinda surprised there's not one reply to this!

Sounds like a good idea to me.

The devteam has implemented a new screen (F4 when docked) for v1.77 (trunk builds). OXPs can place own entries easily. See https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=980 for more details.

It means that there is no need to use multiple key combinations anymore (at least when docked) and it avoids clashing combinations.

Svengali wrote:

The devteam has implemented a new screen (F4 when docked) for v1.77 (trunk builds). OXPs can place own entries easily. See https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=980 for more details.

It means that there is no need to use multiple key combinations anymore (at least when docked) and it avoids clashing combinations.

So it would take, what, at least a week before about 20 OXPs all start fighting over the F4 key?

Edit: never mind, I see that's been handled quite elegantly!

Svengali wrote:

The devteam has implemented a new screen (F4 when docked) for v1.77 (trunk builds). OXPs can place own entries easily. See https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=980 for more details.

It means that there is no need to use multiple key combinations anymore (at least when docked) and it avoids clashing combinations.

The F4 Screen is very very useful! Thanks for that! It's only drawback so far is that it's only available when docked!

So I'm trying to figure out which key combinations are still "unused", because I need one for my Long Range Scanner, but that's not easy. Here's a post (which I found here) which lists some:

JazHaz wrote:

Wildeblood wrote:

Long Range Scanner (F6, F6, F5), Galactic Hyperdrive (F6, F6, F6), Galaxy Info (F6, something, something).

Galaxy Info is F6, F6, F5.

Hypercargo has two combinations, in-flight and docked. In-flight is F5, F5, F5, F8; and docked is F5, F5, F8.

And spara also wrote:

spara wrote:

This is sort of funny. Maybe a list of "taken" combinations would be in order. I'll squeeze my oxp somewhere.

I fully agree to that So I thought this would be a good place to start. I'd propose we sort the key combinations numerically, that is: all starting with F5 first, then all starting with F6 and so on. If you add a combination, please copy my list below and insert it there, so we have all combination summarized in a single post (which will be the most recent, then).

And of course, suggestions and comments are very welcome!

Note: These key-combinations are in-flight only, since for docked status, F4 should be used.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of in-flight key combinations:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

• F5: Comannder's Profile (GUI_SCREEN_STATUS)
  
• F5-F5[/b]: Ship's Manifest (GUI_SCREEN_MANIFEST)
  
• F5-F8: APRIL content view
  
• F5-F5-F5: List Visas (WIP Visas OXP)
  
• F5-F5-F6: Flight log
  
• F5-F5-F7: In-flight trophy log (from Trophy Collector)
  
• F5-F5-F8: Hypercargo (compatible with Vortex multibay)
  
• F5-F5-F8: Vortex multibay (compatible with Hypercargo)
• F6: Short Range Chart (GUI_SCREEN_SHORT_RANGE_CHART)
• F6-F6: Galactic Chart (GUI_SCREEN_LONG_RANGE_CHART)
• F6-F6-F5: Long Range Scanner
• F6-F6-F5: Galaxy Info
• F6-F6-F6: Galactic Hyper Drive
• F7: Data On Planet (GUI_SCREEN_SYSTEM_DATA)
• F7-F6-F7: GGIndustries Long Rang Scanner (not released yet)
• F8: Commodities Market (GUI_SCREEN_MARKET)

Note: Red indicates that this combination is already used by the system (original game without oxp's) itself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that I just took the data from the post I mentioned above, I didn't test it yet (as far as I remember, Hypercargo is F5-F5-F8, also inflight? )

And while I'm at it, I'll take this opportunity for some related questions:

• How long are key combinations allowed to become? Is there a limit??
• Are F9-F11 also available?
• just curious, not important: is pressing the number the same as pressing the F<number> key? For instance, could I press 5-5-6 instead of F5-F5-F6? Even mix it? (Press 5-F5-6?)

EDIT1: Hypercargo corrected to F5-F5-F8
EDIT2: added List Visas (WIP Visas OXP) - reported by PhantorGorth
EDIT3: added unknown reported by - Thargoid
EDIT4: added system reserved key-combinations and how they are called
EDIT5: added info on Flight log, APRIL content view, Hypercargo & Vortex multibay - all reported by Thargoid
EDIT6: added default key-combo of the (yet unavailable) GGIndustries Long Range Scanner
EDIT7: added in-flight trophy log from Trophy Collector
EDIT8: removed incompatible mark from Hypercargo and Vortex (see http://bb.aegidian.org/viewtopic.php?f= ... 15#p193635)

GGShinobi wrote:

And while I'm at it, I'll take this opportunity for some related questions:

• just curious, not important: is pressing the number the same as pressing the F<number> key? For instance, could I press 5-5-6 instead of F5-F5-F6? Even mix it? (Press 5-F5-6?)

Yes, they are handled identically.. you can even mix them.

GGShinobi wrote:

So I'm trying to figure out which key combinations are still "unused", because I need one for my Long Range Scanner, but that's not easy.

Why not use primable equipment instead? Shift-N to select Long Range Scanner, then N to activate it and display the mission screen. No possibility of conflict with any other OXP that way.

GGShinobi wrote:

• How long are key combinations allowed to become? Is there a limit??
• Are F9-F11 also available?

No limit - you just have to do more tracking of screen changes in your guiScreenChanged handler to work out what's already been pressed. Of course, the longer it is, the greater the chance that a part of the sequence will activate something else.

F9-F11 are not available, because they don't bind to any GUI screen.

Diziet Sma and cim, thanks for the answers!

cim wrote:

Why not use primable equipment instead? Shift-N to select Long Range Scanner, then N to activate it and display the mission screen. No possibility of conflict with any other OXP that way.

Well, that would indeed be possible, but at the moment I'm planning to split the Long Range Scanner into two modes:

• Configuration, done on a configurations screen (that's what I intend to use a key combo for)
• actual use, which is done in-flight, probably replacing the HUD. For that, I'd like to have "n" and "b" available for different features, like filtering of scanning results.

But of course, I could also use "b" and "n", e.g. selecting the different options (e.g. filters or, "enter configuration screen") and activating the selection with "b". Now that I think about it: that solution would only add one more option to the selections that one has to cycle through. Will have to test what feels better

*suddenly awake*

Uhh no no no!! I just remembered why I didn't want to select it with shift-n and activate it with n!

That's because I already have too much primable equipment and don't want to add another one if it's not needed at the moment! So my plan was:

• player enters LRS-Configuration screen (e.g. through F7-F7 or so)
• player configures LRS and selects "activate"
• primable LRS-equipment is awarded to the ship
• when finished scanning, the equipment is removed so it doesn't clutter up the primable equipment queue

neat, heh?

Is there not a good case for a "ship systems" screen similar to the F4 "station interfaces" screen, but accessible in flight?

GGShinobi wrote:

I just remembered why I didn't want to select it with shift-n and activate it with n!

You may be making things harder for yourself here. When the LRS equipment is added, the player will need to cycle through the list to find it and activate it anyway, so all you're saving is an extra slot in the cycling when other equipment is in use.

If everyone took this approach and used combinations to enable their primable equipment, removing it when done, then anyone with lots of OXPs installed would quickly find combinations conflicting (and anyone without lots of OXPs installed won't have a problem with their primable equipment list anyway)

There may be a case for allowing random-access selection of primable equipment while in flight. Unfortunately the obvious place to put this isn't suitable without major changes.

Walbrigg wrote:

Is there not a good case for a "ship systems" screen similar to the F4 "station interfaces" screen, but accessible in flight?

Very few existing OXPs need in-flight configuration that's so complex it needs a mission screen to either report status or present config options. On the other hand there are a lot of OXPs - equipment, mission, status, all sorts - which would/should have used interfaces had they been available at the time (which was the main motivation for implementing it). So I think the case is less strong, and there's a question about where it would go, too. However, there may be other alternatives:

Config, with the mode switch 1.77 adds to primable equipment, can probably be done in flight. Two buttons is enough to implement a menu system, though really complex config might have to be done while docked.

Status reports I think are better done as a HUD overlay, rather than as a mission screen. Not that you can do that at the moment, of course, without horribly complex shader tricks (or very limited overlay flexibility), but it wouldn't be too difficult to add them for the future. Scriptable HUD overlays have been either explicitly or implicitly requested several times in the last few months alone, so they're one of the things I want to look into after 1.78 is out.

cim wrote:

You may be making things harder for yourself here. When the LRS equipment is added, the player will need to cycle through the list to find it and activate it anyway, so all you're saving is an extra slot in the cycling when other equipment is in use.

Yes that's true, but the long range scanner I imagine is a tool you don't toggle on/off lightly, but rather use it strategically with some foresight. So you don't want to accidentally select it while cycling through your equipment... and I for my part am glad when it doesn't get in the way when I don't need it.

cim wrote:

If everyone took this approach and used combinations to enable their primable equipment, removing it when done, then anyone with lots of OXPs installed would quickly find combinations conflicting

cim wrote:

Very few existing OXPs need in-flight configuration that's so complex it needs a mission screen to either report status or present config options.

I don't wanna be cocky, but to me these two statements sound a little bit like a contradiction?

But you are right, it would be bad if everyone would be doing this... I think I would feel egoistic if I do it. I haven't checked OXPConfig yet; would it be possible to set the way how the config screen is activated there? If so, I could leave the choice to the user: either always have LRS available as primable equipment and access the config menu through priming, or use a key combination to enter the config menu, having the LRS show up as primable equipment only when needed.

cim wrote:

There may be a case for allowing random-access selection of primable equipment while in flight. Unfortunately the obvious place to put this isn't suitable without major changes.

Hmm... my brains' apparently still not working. Where would that place be?

cim wrote:

Walbrigg wrote:

Is there not a good case for a "ship systems" screen similar to the F4 "station interfaces" screen, but accessible in flight?

Very few existing OXPs need in-flight configuration that's so complex it needs a mission screen to either report status or present config options. On the other hand there are a lot of OXPs - equipment, mission, status, all sorts - which would/should have used interfaces had they been available at the time (which was the main motivation for implementing it).

Hmm. Perhaps if the game provided the possibility, there would be even more such oxp's. But don't get me wrong: I don't wanna sound like I'm not satisfied with what the game offers! It's awesome, and really greatly customizable! I just wanna know what's possible and how difficult it would be to do.

cim wrote:

Status reports I think are better done as a HUD overlay, rather than as a mission screen. Not that you can do that at the moment, of course, without horribly complex shader tricks (or very limited overlay flexibility), but it wouldn't be too difficult to add them for the future. Scriptable HUD overlays have been either explicitly or implicitly requested several times in the last few months alone, so they're one of the things I want to look into after 1.78 is out.

I think for the LRS the console messages should be sufficient for many status reports, and for everything more complex I will use a mission screen. But good to hear that you have scriptable HUD overlays on your radar

GGShinobi wrote:

I haven't checked OXPConfig yet; would it be possible to set the way how the config screen is activated there?

Yes, easily. You could even give them the option to select various different activation combinations, to make it easier to avoid conflicts with other OXPs.

GGShinobi wrote:

cim wrote:

There may be a case for allowing random-access selection of primable equipment while in flight. Unfortunately the obvious place to put this isn't suitable without major changes.

Hmm... my brains' apparently still not working. Where would that place be?

The F5 screen already has an equipment list on it, so letting people make equipment primed by picking it from that list feels obvious. The problem is that the GUI management code in Oolite does not allow two different selectable items on the same row, and a single-column list would be excessively long (especially for the people who already have lots of OXP equipment installed and might benefit from this feature)

GGShinobi wrote:

cim wrote:

Very few existing OXPs need in-flight configuration that's so complex it needs a mission screen to either report status or present config options.

Hmm. Perhaps if the game provided the possibility, there would be even more such oxp's.

Very true - I just think mission screens are not the best way to provide that sort of feature. That said, the mission screen functionality in 1.77 is sufficient to do an F4-like screen in flight by OXP - set allowInterrupt, and build up the choices list by letting OXPs register themselves with the "in flight interfaces" OXP - so if you want to go down that route the functionality is there.

cim wrote:

GGShinobi wrote:

I haven't checked OXPConfig yet; would it be possible to set the way how the config screen is activated there?

Yes, easily. You could even give them the option to select various different activation combinations, to make it easier to avoid conflicts with other OXPs.

Awesome!! Not only that it's possible, even easily so!! Great great, that's what I like to hear! *grins*

cim wrote:

The F5 screen already has an equipment list on it, so letting people make equipment primed by picking it from that list feels obvious. The problem is that the GUI management code in Oolite does not allow two different selectable items on the same row, and a single-column list would be excessively long (especially for the people who already have lots of OXP equipment installed and might benefit from this feature)

Uh man, that's indeed obvious! But blame it on my lack of sleep (and that on Oolite) that I didn't see it Ok, and very interesting info also, thanks!

cim wrote:

GGShinobi wrote:

Hmm. Perhaps if the game provided the possibility, there would be even more such oxp's.

Very true - I just think mission screens are not the best way to provide that sort of feature

Hmm... now that's probably my tired brain again but... what would be the best way in your opinion?

cim wrote:

That said, the mission screen functionality in 1.77 is sufficient to do an F4-like screen in flight by OXP - set allowInterrupt, and build up the choices list by letting OXPs register themselves with the "in flight interfaces" OXP - so if you want to go down that route the functionality is there.

Hmm... I'll think about it (when my brain works again). Sounds like a good idea. Though right now I prefer that OXPConfig-solution But an F4-like screen would be nice 4 other oxp's... but that would of course be a separate OXP then, not part of LRS! (To me, LRS has priority now, but who knows, perhaps I manage to publish both at the same time, making LRS the first OXP to use the new inflight-F4-like OXP?) EDIT: of course I meant "in flight interfaces" OXP

GGShinobi wrote:

Note: These key-combinations are in-flight only, since for docked status, F4 should be used.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of in-flight key combinations:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

• F5
  
• F5-F5
  
• F5-F5-F5
  
• F5-F5-F5-F8: Access Hypercargo
• F6
• F6-F6
• F6-F6-F5: Long Range Scanner
• F6-F6-F5: Galaxy Info
• F6-F6-F6: Galactic Hyper Drive
• F7
• F8

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that I just took the data from the post I mentioned above, I didn't test it yet (as far as I remember, Hypercargo is F5-F5-F8, also inflight? )

And while I'm at it, I'll take this opportunity for some related questions:

• How long are key combinations allowed to become? Is there a limit??
• Are F9-F11 also available?
• just curious, not important: is pressing the number the same as pressing the F<number> key? For instance, could I press 5-5-6 instead of F5-F5-F6? Even mix it? (Press 5-F5-6?)

Just for info my WIP Visas OXP uses F5-F5-F5 to list visas and permits you have (both inflight and whilst docked).

cim wrote:

Very true - I just think mission screens are not the best way to provide that sort of feature. That said, the mission screen functionality in 1.77 is sufficient to do an F4-like screen in flight by OXP - set allowInterrupt, and build up the choices list by letting OXPs register themselves with the "in flight interfaces" OXP - so if you want to go down that route the functionality is there.

I did have the same idea of making a Triple-F5 interfaces like screen. It was for both inflight and whilst docked too as I was thinking about it before th F4 interfaces screen was born. The idea was to register a screen function to call with the OXP and it would list the options on the OXP's own mission screen. (I have experience of writing list based mission screens.). If only one screen was registered with it you wouldn't get a list but it would go straight to that screen.

I can certainly pull such an OXP together in a reasonable amount of time if people want one.