GUI Discussion: Modding Info

Discussion in 'Mod Discussions' started by Culverin, October 6, 2013.

  1. Culverin

    Culverin Post Master General

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    Hey guys,

    I'm a professional 3D CAD/Drafter, GUI is very important for me.
    My pet project right now is to compile and manage all the community suggestions for the GUI.
    I found SupCom's GUI to be the best I've used, it was especially good after GAZ UI and Zulan's Hotbuild mods.

    I doubht PA will deliver the best GUI out-of-box and I am sure GUI mods will help to bridge the gap.

    This is the current list of GUI features I have compiled:
    https://forums.uberent.com/threads/unofficial-official-gui-discussion-thread.52055/


    I am hoping you modders might be able to help make a few suggestions on what keys, programing and info you need out of the Uber devs.
    Specifically in regards to what the community is asking for.


    Since I have no actual coding/modding experience, I am relying totally on you guys for this.


    Thank you so much for your time!
    kalherine likes this.
  2. kalherine

    kalherine Active Member

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    Im with you will be great iff we have something like SCommander.
    Iff not, hope some one think something, simple and easy to use.
  3. Culverin

    Culverin Post Master General

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    My google-fu must be weak.
    I couldn't find any info on SCommander, would you happen to have a link handy?
  4. Gorbles

    Gorbles Post Master General

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    Read your other thread, will keep tabs on this one like I keep tabs on all modding threads.
  5. Culverin

    Culverin Post Master General

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    I've been scouring the forums over the last few days.
    I've seen mention of "hooks" for mods, I did a quick google search and all I found was "grappling hooks" :p

    I presume it's info you need from the game model?
    Like which specific keys are what? As in how to extract info (ie. Commander HP) from the game model?
  6. masterdigital

    masterdigital Uber Alumni

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    Currently all information the UI uses in passed in via function calls. Inside the JS files for each scene, there are a set of message handlers (eg. handlers.armies_state in lobby.js), these are called from the C++ executable. Eventually, I expect all relevant information to be passed to the client this way, but currently only the information displayed in the existing UI is sent over. There is a lot of data and it changes quickly... the process of sending data from C++ to JS is not really fast enough to send over every bit of information.

    As perf improves I will send more data to the UI. If it looks like we won't be able to get enough perf to push all the data, I'll implement a query system (so the UI can request particular data).
    LavaSnake and cola_colin like this.
  7. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    Uh yeah for access to more data. I sooooo want to track build orders on pa stats.
  8. Culverin

    Culverin Post Master General

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    @masterdigital , thank you so much for responding!!!

    Dear community,
    Aw crap. I understood none of that. o_O
    hahahaha :(

    My hope is that Uber will build the dream UI. But that is unlikely.
    Modders, I think it is in your hands to help deliver the ultimate gameplay experience.
    I mean no offense to Uber, I know project man-hours hella expensive.

    Here are my top concerns in terms of modding the UI.
    Some of this is directed to Uber and how the engine works.
    The rest of it is directed to you modders to see if it can currently be done.

    • Make it "resizable" with a slider in the options menu.
      Can this be done on a custom UI without adding massive overhead?

    • Is each planet a separate organized "entity"?
      Can the modder extract North Pole, South Pole and the Prime Meridian?
      This could allow for the ability to implement client-side latitude/longitude grid.
      PLANET LONGITUDE.jpg
      This is something that seriously helps with direction sense on a planet.
      (Especially if our planet:unit size ratio can increase!)

    • Access to where each factory is located (which planet) and it's current build queues.
      This would allow for a production manager.

    • Camera zoom position.
      Where it is placed will determine draw distance for unit model vs strategic icon only.

    • Some sort of "active" monitoring system.
      If Commander loses HP,
      then play X-sound.mp3

    • Can the status of in-production buildings be "flagged"?
      If the instance can be flagged, then this can be added to notification system for when "nuke is ready".

    • Fully rebindable keys.
      Key bindings can be accessed/changed in Options Menu.
      Key bindings are stored in a file to share and load.
      All units/buildings to have keyboard shortcut.
    I wish I could be more specific, but to a coding layman, these seem like the hardest to extract from the simulation model. Seems like info that Uber would have to specifically force the Sim model to be extract-able.

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