Custom unit icons

colorblind · Post by **colorblind** » 29 Jun 2006, 13:22

On the big units and icon distance:
I will make it possible to set the icon distance in the mod, I just don't know what the best option will be. But don't worry, this will make it into the next release.

On the non-LOS icons:
Enemy units in radar range and outside LOS will probably show the default icon (see http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/CustomUnitIcons for more info on the default icon). I still have to code this though.

On where the image should go in the mod:
You can place them anywhere you like, just don't forget to add appropriate relative dirs before their bitmap tag. In the example I've given in the wiki the images are placed in a /icons directory.

EXit_W0und · Post by **EXit_W0und** » 29 Jun 2006, 17:42

As an addition do you think it would be a good idea to show a short list of the types of units currently selected with their volume percentage?
E.g you select a group of 20 peewees and 10 hammers itll show :
PeeWee 66%
Hammer 33%
This would be good for when you're moving troops across large maps frequently and want to see everything at once when making commands.
It should probably have the option to switch it off if people don't want it cluttering the GUI.

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 29 Jun 2006, 18:16

I was just thinking unit size might need to be a factor in loddiong... for example. those commader units smoth is making are freaking huge, and you'll be able to see what they are from any zoom distace... though this could still be handled by unit specific iconifying instead of distance based iconifying... and then have the modder specifying the distance in the units fbi.

AF · Post by AF » 29 Jun 2006, 20:22

What happens when you select a unit while in this mode? Does it show up any different? ideally a square box with gaps at the centre top and bottom should show up around the blip/image or the image change to something defined in the tdf

mongus · Post by **mongus** » 30 Jun 2006, 02:04

is it possible to malicious user to assign, lets say a special icon/flag for commander, so he can exactly know where yours is just by looking at minimap?

makes sense to make it deppendable on something more generic.. like size only?, or class.. (er commander is a class too.. ). got hit by that.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 30 Jun 2006, 02:43

AF wrote:What happens when you select a unit while in this mode? Does it show up any different? ideally a square box with gaps at the centre top and bottom should show up around the blip/image or the image change to something defined in the tdf

The units are white.

mongus wrote:is it possible to malicious user to assign, lets say a special icon/flag for commander, so he can exactly know where yours is just by looking at minimap?

This would be set by the modder. if someone changes a mod they get a sync error.

.

So... no.

colorblind · Post by **colorblind** » 01 Jul 2006, 18:30

Ok, I've made some changes to the icon handling:

* the distance at which the icons show up is controllable per icon type.
* radar blips are read from the default icon type (so modders can change the radar blip).

I've updated the Wiki page ( http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/CustomUnitIcons ), and released a test .exe, which you can find in the first post of this topic.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 01 Jul 2006, 22:01

dude, awesome! thanks tons!

Decimator · Post by **Decimator** » 01 Jul 2006, 22:11

Question, could we use something like .5 for the icon size multiplier?

colorblind · Post by **colorblind** » 01 Jul 2006, 23:17

Decimator wrote:Question, could we use something like .5 for the icon size multiplier?

Yes, you can.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 01 Jul 2006, 23:22

Sweeeeet.

Very nice work, thanks a lot.

colorblind · Post by **colorblind** » 02 Jul 2006, 00:17

It seems that the "distance" tag didn't work quite as it should in the first .exe I posted. You only got the square root of the number you put in :P.

This is fixed though. So if you downloaded the custom exe before this post time you should download it again.

colorblind · Post by **colorblind** » 10 Aug 2006, 18:27

I made a change to the way transparancies are handled: black no longer gets set to transparent. Instead the bitmap will need to have an alpha channel.

It's a bit more tedious when making the bitmap, but you get a lot more control for it in return.

colorblind · Post by **colorblind** » 11 Aug 2006, 13:34

I've released a set of example icons. You can download them here:

http://teake.home.fmf.nl/temp/unit_icons.zip

They'll look something like this:

Sheekel · Post by **Sheekel** » 11 Aug 2006, 17:44

colorblind wrote:In the next release this feature will kick ass

Fixed.

Dragon45 · Post by **Dragon45** » 11 Aug 2006, 18:23

You guys really ARe copying supcom

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 11 Aug 2006, 18:36

That rocks, great work colorblind.

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 11 Aug 2006, 21:20

Dragon45 wrote:You guys really ARe copying supcom

... and GalCiv2 and Homeworld etc... so I think it'll be okay

alik83 · Post by **alik83** » 11 Aug 2006, 21:50

Just checking if the sizes of icons will not change depending on how far from 0 height the unit is
how it should work is:
1) if some units are high in the air or on top of big mountain their icon size shouldn't change.
2) As soon as the most far unit will get zoomed far enough to turn into icon, all other units should turn into icons (of same size)
If it isn't like this, can you implement this at least as an option?

P.S. Also maybe a possibility to select unit when it's actually smaller than icon even when you click on the edge o the icon. That would help for other strategic options like when you click (or ctrl-click) on icon it will select the whole group this units belings too, so you can command groups of icons; Add drawable and draggable command ques for those groups (which also don't change size in icon view) and you'll have whole theater of iconic war

And great work, Colorblind

mongus · Post by **mongus** » 12 Aug 2006, 01:35

hm.. you will be able to see where your enemy's commander is?

Spring RTS Engine

Custom unit icons

Re: Custom unit icons

just checking