More HUD options...

[tomsk]

I've customised a MilHUD ( https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=5615 ) to my own taste, mostly by trial and error, and during my efforts I thought that some more options would be nice.

1) option to NOT display the scanner grid.
For example, the Medusa HUD - https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=4805
It has some nice concentric rings but the scanner overlays them with it's own grid.

2) defining directions for the power bars instead of the default left to right and bottom to top

3) defining different colours for the power bars. One could get the 'bloo LED' look

4) merging the seperate energy bank indicators into one.

5) option for digital readout of power levels

6) allowing the missile display to be centred (IMO the medusa HUD would look better if the missile display was centred). Or have a scrolling rack that shows only some of the available missiles (eg 3 of 7). The rack would scroll as required by missile selection.

7) allowing the use of a series of (small) images instead of the power bar.
eg one could have smileys to show power levels. >90% = , <10% =
This would allow designers to have shaped power indicators or circular dials with pointers.
Indicators could even overlap by this method.

[ClymAngus]

I thought that some more options would be nice.

Yes, I too found myself sadly limited by the way the information was displayed. (don't get me onto the centered missile thing, that's still something of a soar point).

I've been looking at ways of piping the raw data into mathmatical expressions and variables to get the pie charts, dot's and smilies of which you speak. So far with little success. I will keep on plodding away.

[tomsk]

oo-oops!

I meant this to go in the suggestion area, as I think the changes would need to be made to the core program before any OXPs could access them.

Anyone able to move it?

[Rxke]

Yep, no problem. moved

[Cmdr Wyvern]

When I made MilHUD, I managed to squeeze the energy bank readout into a single vertical bar, and patted myself on the back for managing to make at least that HUD gauge do something completely different.

Being able to use digital readouts and/or analog meters or piecharts on the other gauges would've rocked.

[SgtSchultz]

Here's something I'd like to see as an (optional) HUD element:

First, some background to set the context:

If one has the appropriate upgrade, when one targets a ship (with a missile or via ID comp) the ship is surrounded by a targeting box and the ship type, legal status, and distance from player ship is displayed next to the targeting box. Unfortunately, if one turns away from the targeted ship, or gets close enough to it, the target info goes off-screen.

What I'd like to see:

The ability to add an (optional) HUD element(s) that would display the same target ID information in a fixed position (but settable in the HUD plist), like other HUD elements such as the compass, status bars, gauges, etc. Preferably, each one of the three pieces of information - ship type, legal status, and distance - would be independently locatable, with attributes assignable to each. The attributes I have in mind are:

- Coordinates
- Text color (RGB)
- Horizontal (and perhaps) vertical justification relative to the specified coordinates: Left, Center or Right
- Text/font size

If no target has been defined, the ship type attribute would read "No Target" and the others would be blank/null. If the Ship ID upgrade is not installed, all three would be blank.


One more thing HUD-related that I'd like to see is a change in laser crosshair status (color and/or shape) when the target in the crosshairs is "hittable". That is, and indication that if one were to fire at the target, you would hit it - or, at least, that you'd score a likely hit. I have noted that, at least with the Cobra III, that even if you have a ship perfectly lined up in your sights, you still may not hit it. The laser aim point on the HUD seems to be biased just slightly above the actual laser emission point. I suppose this is because the forward laser is physically located on the bottom of the ship (relative to the pilot's view) and as such a small but noticeable parallax effect comes into play.

One last idea I had - and I'm not sure how practical this would be - is to allow for "HUD AI's" - that is, allow HUD elements to be changed in response to events/messages, and to add new events, messages and readable/settable variables that would be useful to the HUD designer. My knowledge of the scripting environment and capabilities is admittedly rather limited at this point; what I know is limited to what I've been able to guess at based on casual examination of existing OXP scripts. I'm not sure how allowing for "HUD AI's" would affect performance, given that a HUD AI script would have to be constantly "executed" to be useful. If such a thing were practical, I could see how this might be a solution to some of the other ideas presented in this thread, such as the digital or iconic gauges suggested earlier.

[another_commander]

One more thing HUD-related that I'd like to see is a change in laser crosshair status (color and/or shape) when the target in the crosshairs is "hittable". That is, and indication that if one were to fire at the target, you would hit it - or, at least, that you'd score a likely hit.

Plenty of interesting ideas in your post, SgtSchultz, but you may be pleased to know that at least the above quoted gadget exists already in 1.72.2. Check out the reticle_target_sensitive key in your 1.72.2's hud.plist and set it to <true/> to activate it. Alternatively, you can install the Target Reticle OXP, if you don't feel like manually editing plists.

[SgtSchultz]

Plenty of interesting ideas in your post, SgtSchultz, but you may be pleased to know that at least the above quoted gadget exists already in 1.72.2. Check out the reticle_target_sensitive key in your 1.72.2's hud.plist and set it to <true/> to activate it. Alternatively, you can install the Target Reticle OXP, if you don't feel like manually editing plists.

Thanks for the "heads up" AC. I found out about reticle_target_sensitive while perusing the BB yesterday. Felt kinda stupid for suggesting it again What I really had in mind was for the laser crosshairs to change color and/or shape, but the reticle color change is perfectly adequate.

Kudos to the dev. team for adding this feature.

[Commander McLane]

I very much second the first suggestion, especially as its core is already there (and has been forever): The display of the target's name on the HUD, regardless whether you see it or not.


Myself I imagined a couple of times that it would be nice to have the other information from the reticle displayed here as well. And the proposed customization options would definitely be very nice.

So: two thumbs up here.