Custom unit icons - Page 6

Custom unit icons

Discuss the source code and development of Spring Engine in general from a technical point of view. Patches go here too.

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Argh
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Post by Argh »

From SVN:
Disable shadow drawing of units drawn as icons
... sweet! Thanks for taking the time on this, Colorblind :-)
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AF
AI Developer
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Post by AF »

now we just need the same for grass
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Dragon45
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Post by Dragon45 »

Unit icons are supposed to be broad generalizations. They're a summarization tool, in a sense. Creating icons for every unit just doesnt fit that descprition.
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Argh
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Post by Argh »

It does, for a mod like NanoBlobs, but in general I 100% agree. How modders decide to use this powerful new UI tool, which will greatly help with framerate in larger battles and provide users with great feedback about where their units are in relation to the larger battlefield. This should have a great impact on mod design and on the playability of Spring with lots of stuff going on.
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aGorm
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Post by aGorm »

Ummm, i just had a thought... while this is well cool, I hope you can chose to toggel between the icons and the units in game (i dont mean turn things close up to icons or anything like that, i just mean when the y do become icons, i hope you can still switch them to 3d)

Otherwise you'll have crap screenshots with icons all over them for things in the distance... and replays will lose there cinematic feel.

aGorm
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Argh
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Post by Argh »

There's a global setting for the distance at which things turn into icons. Modders don't have complete control over this, basically.
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TradeMark
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Post by TradeMark »

Now when thats done, can we have it work as:
http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4900

So only enemies have different types of icons...
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Argh
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Post by Argh »

No, it won't work like that. Enemies will show up on radar as specific icons, depending on what they are- aircraft, ground vehicles, etc. However, your own units are going to turn into icons, unless you specify the global distance at which this happens to be "never", essentially.

I know you may be skeptical, but I think that most people are going to be very, very happy with this feature, once you see how it works. It's going to mean that managing a very large-scale battle at a very large zoom is practical for even users with fairly crappy computers, among other things, because they won't have the units being drawn once they zoom out. For a mod like NanoBlobs... I'm going to make the settings quite aggressive, so that users won't be seeing actual units unless they're zoomed in quite close. This will make the really insane battles that occur much, much more practical... and with different icons, you'll know exactly where you've put your Demon, or where your clump of fifty Knights is, or... you get the picture ;)
colorblind
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Post by colorblind »

Argh wrote:Enemies will show up on radar as specific icons, depending on what they are- aircraft, ground vehicles, etc.
Sorry, but that's not true. If your read the Wiki a bit more closely you would have found this passage:
Furthermore, enemy units that are within radar range, but not in your Line Of Sight, will be shown as the default icon.
I aprreciate it when you answer questions Argh, but please refrain from spreading untruths :)
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Snipawolf
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Post by Snipawolf »

Hahah, I think this will be pretty damn sweet, I can't wait to get to the part of my mod where I can put these in XD
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Argh
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Post by Argh »

Oops! Sorry Colorblind! Very tired... I should really go to sleep now...
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Snipawolf
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Post by Snipawolf »

What format are they in/should be?
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Dragon45
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Post by Dragon45 »

What format are they in/should be?
From the Wiki, linked to in the FIRST POST: wrote:
bitmap is the location of the custom icon bitmap. If it is missing or incorrect, Spring replaces it with the standard radar dot. The bitmap will get blended with the team color, so there is no special team color channel. In order to look nice, the bitmap will need to have an alpha channel for transparancy.
colorblind
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Post by colorblind »

I guess Snipawolf asks what file format (.bmp, .png, .tga, .dds) he should use. DDS would be best, but you're free to use one of the others.
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FoeOfTheBee
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Post by FoeOfTheBee »

Snipawolf wrote:What format are they in/should be?
The screenshots I posted were of tga's. Haven't tried the other possibilities.
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Caydr
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Post by Caydr »

DXT3 is the best choice for everything that you can possibly use it for.

Haven't visited this thread in ages, it's nice to see how it's coming along. I've been inspired to make some cool vector art for AA now! :D

GOOD IDEA: Can you make icons flash 3 or so times (across a span of, say, 2 seconds) when the unit they represent takes damage? When you're zoomed super far out and your units are being attacked, it's very difficult to tell which ones if all you've got to see are groups of icons in various places on the map.
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BvDorp
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Post by BvDorp »

Caydr wrote:DXT3 is the best choice for everything that you can possibly use it for.

Haven't visited this thread in ages, it's nice to see how it's coming along. I've been inspired to make some cool vector art for AA now! :D

GOOD IDEA: Can you make icons flash 3 or so times (across a span of, say, 2 seconds) when the unit they represent takes damage? When you're zoomed super far out and your units are being attacked, it's very difficult to tell which ones if all you've got to see are groups of icons in various places on the map.
+1
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knorke
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Post by knorke »

A button to ingame toggle between units and icons would be nice.
(like F4 for the metalmap)
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Caydr
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Post by Caydr »

Also, after some testing I've had difficulty (specifically, it don't bloody work) using anything but TGAs. Also known as "the least efficient format in the known universe". Maybe the build I was using at the time was just screwy, I don't know, but for the love of god please make sure that DDS works before release time.
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Argh
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Post by Argh »

Yeah, I second, third and forth that statement... if DDS doesn't work, NanoBlobs is hosed, let alone making properly mipped alphas for the next explosions, etc.
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