Experimental units - icons

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Hi,

I developed this concept a while ago. Maybe someone considers it a good idea, maybe not. Just wanted to post it before I forget about it again.

[JoonasTo]

Personally I think this is a great idea.
How did you think of implementing the halo?
White colour might work and highlight it nicely on the battlefield but there's a risk of it being misunderstood as a selected unit then.

I'm not sure if we need the land/navy unit icon since all land experimentals can travel underwater as well.
Even more I'd be wary about using the navy/land icon for fatboy and monkeylord as the torpedos on those are really weak compared to the megalith. It could give false information to the player.

I also think we could use the ingame symbols for specifying what type of experimental it is. So cross for direct fire, etc.

There was quite a bit of similar discussion in here if you're interested. One problem that wasn't solved was how to differentiate between land/air/navy experimentals and this would do exactly that.

I made a couple of quick concept tests on how white halo would work with the current icon system in 16x16 and 15x15 size. This would be a GC, Yotha or a Monkeylord, depending on the faction.

I think the 15x15 is a bit hard to read, especially if the map texture is light but the 16x16 one works really well. I am sure the 15x15 could be made to work, the problem becomes making sure the symbol in the middle doesn't get too squashed.

TL:DR of the other thread:
Some people think they don't need new icons. Others would like them.

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Hey there,
thanks for your reply - glad someone finds this interesting enough to comment
Yeah, the icons are up to debate, nothing is fixed in terms of units. I just seeked some consistency with amphibious units being able to fire under water (e.g. Fatboy). But, yeah, totally up for a change.
I read a little in your other threat. Quite some debate there ^^
I have no idea how to implement it and whether or not it would still be readable. Maybe it is too complicated in the end, but I surely would give it a shot and use a mod.

[ghostronin]

Hi - Just curious if this went anywhere? Echoing the earlier comments, I think this would be helpful as well during the late-game.

[keyser]

Someone can make an UI mod of it, it won't be integrated though.

[JoonasTo]

Pretty sure you can't make an UI mod from icons, it has to be a hardmod into the game files, also pretty sure we can't mod extra categories into game without sim mods. Sad life

[keyser]

heh ? there is some gay UI mod that change the icons already. It's not hardcoded at all

[Franck83]

Pretty sure you can't make an UI mod from icons, it has to be a hardmod into the game files, also pretty sure we can't mod extra categories into game without sim mods. Sad life

You can do custom icons or texts on ui side easy with overlays, but i don't know how to fix the refreshing issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... wPdAmeGhEQ

If someone got an idea about fixing this, this would be really crazy. viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16506

[nine2]

Ui Mod to use normal icons like Shadow's Advanced Strategic Icons:
won't work because you need to edit the blueprint to provide different icon names for the different experimental types (monkey would need experimental_direct and soulripper would need experimental_gunship or whatever). Also note that Shadow's mod isnt really a UI mod.

Ui Mod to use overlays:
won't work because in ui-lua you cannot even get a list of the enemy units at all so there would be no way to know there was a unit there to render the icon in the first place. You could do it on hover over for enemy units.

Semi-integrated FAF version
In FAF blueprints they could change the blueprints to reference some new icon names for each experimental. Then they copy the existing generic experimental icon 10x with the same graphic but different names. Now a mod can be rewritten Shadow's-style to restyle the icons however you want. For users who dont use it they will see the same experience as they do. Shadows himself wont like this approach because users of his mod will get a broken experience - I have spoken to him about this already. Perhaps there is some performance reason why there shouldnt be more icons introduced but I doubt it.

Taking it a step further
Also please make icons for hover tanks

[Uveso]

This can be done with a simple hook inside blueprint.lua

We just change the icon inside all blueprints (also from mods) while loading the blueprints in blueprint.lua.

Then we only have to insert the new iconfiles to:

Code: Select all

/textures/ui/common/game/strategicicons/

And please don't forget that FAF has a build-in "Bigger strategic icon" mod.
So we also need to insert the new (bigger) icons for the internal FAF mod there:

Code: Select all

/textures/ui/icons_strategic/