Request: Mod to show Hull and Shield Values in the HUD

[builder680]

Is there any mod that can show actual Hull and Shield values on your HUD?

Currently, the only two options are Standard and Numeric Hull/Shield Display, and Numeric displays percentages, not actual values.

I'm interested because it would give more of an instant comparison when you can look at your M3 HUD and see 150,000 kj shields, and the M2 you're targeting has 6,000,000 kj shields... just as an example. I know it's in the Info box when you click on a ship, but it's not always easy to do that in the heat of battle.

Toggling to the next target and seeing it's current/max hull and shield values (instead of percentages and bars) in the HUD would be pretty useful, at least to me.

Right now it looks like this:

Titan
|-----------------...|
|-------------........|

or this:

Titan
Hull 85% Shields 65%

I'm looking to see if someone can make it look like this, maybe even with the percentage shown after the value:

Titan
Hull 425,000 / 500,000 (85%)
Shld 5,200,000 / 8,000,000 (65%)

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

I am not sure if it is feasible, but I like the idea.

Perhaps an alternate option would be for a Hot Key that tells reports your current target's shield and hull strenght as a "subtitle" or via voice as an approximation (3 Significant figures and Giga/Mega/Kilo)?

EDIT: Or perhaps a periodic report at significant times in combat?

[builder680]

I am not sure if it is feasible, but I like the idea.

Perhaps an alternate option would be for a Hot Key that tells reports your current target's shield and hull strenght as a "subtitle" or via voice as an approximation (3 Significant figures and Giga/Mega/Kilo)?

EDIT: Or perhaps a periodic report at significant times in combat?

Thanks for the words of support. However, I have a problem with a couple of your suggested alternatives, though they may be better than what we have currently. I do like the subtitles idea though...

Hotkeys can get overly complicated when the whole point is to make it part of the HUD and not have to worry about doing anything other than targeting the next ship.

Besides, you already have the hotkey "u" for this anyway, I want to get away from needing extra input for the information.

Also, it would be tough to tell a script when a "significant" time in combat was. Maybe every 10% or something... I dunno. Seems like it would lack the flow of information I'd want. I'd prefer a persistent display like the HUD is.

However...

Subtitles might not be a bad idea at all... Have a subtitle pop up with your values, some kind of separator, followed by your targets values in it and have it stay updated and persistent in the subtitles area until you pick another target. Anything that would write to subtitles during combat or while targetting something would write over it though... I think.
____________________________________________________________

It would look something like this:

M4 Plyrshp -- HULL: 9,000 / 9,000 (100%) -- SHLD: 25,000 / 25,000 (100%)

M2 Titan -- HULL: 425,000 / 500,000 (85%) -- SHLD: 5,200,000 / 8,000,000 (65%)
____________________________________________________________

Except formatted so that all of that info fit in one line. And separated by clear demarcations so it was easily readable. If it needed to be shortened, you could easily change numbers to 9k, 25k, 425k, 520k, 9001k ... etc.

Subtitles are probably the best idea if the playership info box and target ship info box portion of the HUD itself is unmoddable. I have no idea if that's the case, though.

It seems to me that you'd just have to find a way to port the numbers that already show up under the 'u' hotkey (for hull and shields)... into those HUD info boxes somehow.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

WRT the subtitle idea...

Other scripts giving subtitles would over-write/compete with the display of this information and there is no easy non-invasive way of changing that. However, it may be possible to create a "utility" script that could be used by other scripts to prioritise "script generated" subtitle text and have it so that the user can configure the priority order.

Now to the basics, of the idea...

• Hot Key used to toggle the continuous subtitle report (that way you avoid the user interaction you are trying to avoid during combat)
• While active the subtitle report will be updated at a regular interval with the requested details of your current target and the player ship.

Just thinking about it, perhaps laser energy information should be included as well?

WRT updating the displayed information on the HUD...

I believe the bars/percent is hard coded and not moddable, beyond basic look and feel (fonts/sizes/positions).

[builder680]

WRT the subtitle idea...

Other scripts giving subtitles would over-write/compete with the display of this information and there is no easy non-invasive way of changing that. However, it may be possible to create a "utility" script that could be used by other scripts to prioritise "script generated" subtitle text and have it so that the user can configure the priority order.

Now to the basics, of the idea...

• Hot Key used to toggle the continuous subtitle report (that way you avoid the user interaction you are trying to avoid during combat)
• While active the subtitle report will be updated at a regular interval with the requested details of your current target and the player ship.

Just thinking about it, perhaps laser energy information should be included as well?

Actually yeah, other info would be great. Honestly, with all the info that 'could' be displayed on the HUD, the subtitles area would get crammed fast. I played a lot of WoW (don't laugh) and that game allowed extensive modding to the UI. It seems the X3 isn't quite so friendly about HUD modding? There is so much information I'd like to be able to filter and put in the HUD, maybe even move it around and resize it... that kind of thing.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

WRT the subtitle idea...

Other scripts giving subtitles would over-write/compete with the display of this information and there is no easy non-invasive way of changing that. However, it may be possible to create a "utility" script that could be used by other scripts to prioritise "script generated" subtitle text and have it so that the user can configure the priority order.

Now to the basics, of the idea...

• Hot Key used to toggle the continuous subtitle report (that way you avoid the user interaction you are trying to avoid during combat)
• While active the subtitle report will be updated at a regular interval with the requested details of your current target and the player ship.

Just thinking about it, perhaps laser energy information should be included as well?

Actually yeah, other info would be great. Honestly, with all the info that 'could' be displayed on the HUD, the subtitles area would get crammed fast. I played a lot of WoW (don't laugh) and that game allowed extensive modding to the UI. It seems the X3 isn't quite so friendly about HUD modding? There is so much information I'd like to be able to filter and put in the HUD, maybe even move it around and resize it... that kind of thing.

True, and an option might be to simply have a toggle "Hot Key" so you can either concentrate on your target's details or yours in full detail or both in abbreviated. For example:-

• Own: 6.00G/870K/256 Tgt: 2.75G/1.00M/5.12K

where the order of information is Shield/Hull/Laser.

[builder680]

WRT the subtitle idea...

Other scripts giving subtitles would over-write/compete with the display of this information and there is no easy non-invasive way of changing that. However, it may be possible to create a "utility" script that could be used by other scripts to prioritise "script generated" subtitle text and have it so that the user can configure the priority order.

Now to the basics, of the idea...

• Hot Key used to toggle the continuous subtitle report (that way you avoid the user interaction you are trying to avoid during combat)
• While active the subtitle report will be updated at a regular interval with the requested details of your current target and the player ship.

Just thinking about it, perhaps laser energy information should be included as well?

Actually yeah, other info would be great. Honestly, with all the info that 'could' be displayed on the HUD, the subtitles area would get crammed fast. I played a lot of WoW (don't laugh) and that game allowed extensive modding to the UI. It seems the X3 isn't quite so friendly about HUD modding? There is so much information I'd like to be able to filter and put in the HUD, maybe even move it around and resize it... that kind of thing.

True, and an option might be to simply have a toggle "Hot Key" so you can either concentrate on your target's details or yours in full detail or both in abbreviated. For example:-

• Own: 6.00G/870K/256 Tgt: 2.75G/1.00M/5.12K

where the order of information is Shield/Hull/Laser.

Sounds good. Now to find someone who has skills! Not me, I know nothing of such things.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

...

Sounds good. Now to find someone who has skills! Not me, I know nothing of such things.

I currently have a fair amount on the go, but I will see if I can find/make the time to do something along these lines in the next week or so.

[builder680]

Can I pay you in game credits?

Seriously, if you do this it would be awesome. I look forward to hearing more if you get time for it.

Also, remember it should show "Current / Max" values for all of those.

Example:
SHLDS 124,697 / 125,000 (99.7%)

not just:
SHLDS 124,697

unless you include the percentage of max next to it, I guess.

Like this:
SHLDS 124,697 (99.7%)

I dunno, up to you. It just gives a frame of reference to the numbers relative to their max values that I would find useful. After all, 124,697 (8%) is an entirely different story than 124,697 (97%), especially when other factors such as who else is attacking that ship with you come into play.

Off topic a bit... I don't suppose there's a way to include a "target of target" display, is there? Would be helpful in dogfights. Or does the AI even use the same targeting as the player uses?

[s9ilent]

AI targeting and player targeting are a little different, but you can get their target. (Player targeting has it's own system)

*is wishing cycrow kept his gui plugin code*

[Cycrow]

AI targeting and player targeting are a little different, but you can get their target. (Player targeting has it's own system)

*is wishing cycrow kept his gui plugin code*

i've been working on a new one and its close to complete

[builder680]

@ Roger:

I notice you've been working on AWRM recently... just curious if that has left you any chance to think about this? Understandable if not, just curious is all.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

@ Roger:

I notice you've been working on AWRM recently... just curious if that has left you any chance to think about this? Understandable if not, just curious is all.

Unfortunatly not yet, I *may* have some time to look into it this week, will post update here if I manage to squeeze it in

[builder680]

@ Roger:

I notice you've been working on AWRM recently... just curious if that has left you any chance to think about this? Understandable if not, just curious is all.

Unfortunatly not yet, I *may* have some time to look into it this week, will post update here if I manage to squeeze it in

Roger! errr... Affirmative!

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Here is my initial release of the script:-

[ external image ] Advanced Tactical Computer System (ATCS) v0.1 (ZIP format)

It gives you three hot-keys which hopefully are obvious in purpose for now.

[builder680]

Here is my initial release of the script:-

[ external image ] Advanced Tactical Computer System (ATCS) v0.1 (ZIP format)

It gives you three hot-keys which hopefully are obvious in purpose for now.

From what I could see of it working, it's exactly the information I was looking for! Excellent work, and thank you!

I do have some reports about areas for possible improvement, if you have any interest. I'm imagining myself as a beta tester so I'm giving you my results.
____________________________________________________

Initial observations:

The three Hotkey entries show up as "Readtext###.***" in the Hotkey configuration.

I was able to get the middle one (of the three) working to show me what appeared to be a toggle between my info and my target's info.

I couldn't tell what the other two were for because nothing showed up when pressed.

EDIT: Ok, it seems the first one is the toggle of display type, Self, Target, and Self+Target. Still not sure about third one.

Formatting is hard to read, everything is jammed right next to each other.

As numbers change, they jump around... as "1" takes less room to display than "8" for example. Across a row comprised of 20+ digits, this can make reading hectic.

It's hard to know what is what without deduction, there are no indicators that a number is a percentage, or that a larger number is referring to hull or shields.

No color indications of what indicates what. Goes along with last sentence of above.

I can't get it to stay persistent when in spacesuit. It blinks off. Would be nice to watch that last 1 percent of capital ship repair in real time.
____________________________________________________

All in all, not bad for your first crack at it!

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Do you get the welcome message or is that a readtext error as well?

If so, make sure that you have extracted the entire zip file into your game directory and not just copied the scripts folder. There should be the 2507-L044.xml file in the t folder. Providing that is the case, and you are running in English mode, the short-cut keys should not appear as readtext.

The order of the statistics is the same as the you get from the u key (Shield/Hull/Laser).

WRT the text jumping around there is nothing I can do about that as the "subtitle" font is not changable from a script.

WRT the tet being scrunched up, again there is very little that can be done to improve on it as the formatting options for subtitles are extremely limited. The best that can be "potentially" done in the long term is to colour the text, but initial attempts to do so were fruitless.

The three Hot Keys are:-

1. Toggle continuous reporting On/Off
2. Cycle report mode (Both --> Target --> Self --->)
3. Poll a report

[builder680]

Yes, I saw the Welcome screen.

The \t folder .xml files were copied over as well, running English version. Still see readtext####.***

I understand the hotkeys now. But the toggle persistent display doesn't seem to work? I hit it and the display doesn't stay. What does Poll mean in this context?

I figured the font was pretty much locked. Oh well.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Yes, I saw the Welcome screen.

The \t folder .xml files were copied over as well, running English version. Still see readtext####.***

I understand the hotkeys now.

I figured the font was pretty much locked. Oh well.

Try renaming 2507-L044.xml to 2507.xml

44 is one of the Brittish/UK English language codes, I think American/US English is a different code.

[builder680]

Edited post above. Regarding toggles.

For this post...

I have other files that use L044 as a suffix and they work fine. I'll give it a shot though.

EDIT: It shows up now... maybe it just needed to be reloaded? I didn't change the file name. Well... I did but I changed it back before I reloaded my game.