so sue me

I know this is other places, but ive still never seen a comprehensive guide to picts and descs. Some are listed in the bible, but some arent.

What are...?: reserved picts for interface/etc. Recommended IDs for picts used for shans and such. Reserved Desc IDs, and recommended range for the texts other than onaccept for missions (which i know is predetermined).

What are the pixel dimensions for many things, like the targeting image, or main menu. I used the viper betting buttons as a target pick for a miniplug (since those buttons are some of the few pics included in absolute minimum, and it looked fitting). If memory serves, the picture showed up fine in the outer menu, but was squished on my hud. A better documentation of this behaviour would be cool. Also, I saw rumor somewhere of a bar pic, something about the size of the news pick (probably half the height) That shows above the bar description. Its pixel dimension is especially important, since its unused in the stock scenario.

Also, could someone sketch out what all of the fields in the colr rescource do? Something about the meaninglessness of words like 'main menu' and rollover animation, sliding buttons, etc confuses me. Its just not terribly clear. Things like I remember the game crashed when you gave it a number of picts in the button animations to different from the default version, even something sick like it needing an odd number of frames, but im totally talking out of my ass. I do remember something like that though. In any case, colr looks in need of a guide (wink wink ZP, you done great. Work thine magic here). Crap also like that the animation at the top isnt looped, its random (though i obviously know that part).

Is intf beavior well understood either? Like nonsquare radar, or really really big radar, or if you can make a bigger slot for targeting pics, etc. Also, what is the generally accepted choice of fonts? I bet the answer is no, but can the bar be somewhere other than the right edge?

Im not particularly lazy, I just feel I'll better serve the community testing stuff we dont already understand. If there is any part that is not already adequately tested and retested, ill set up a little guide on it myself.

This post has been edited by NebuchadnezzaR : 09 May 2005 - 10:35 AM

NebuchadnezzaR, on May 9 2005, 07:36 AM, said:

I know this is other places, but ive still never seen a comprehensive guide to picts and descs. Some are listed in the bible, but some arent.

<snip>

Im not particularly lazy, I just feel I'll better serve the community testing stuff we dont already understand. If there is any part that is not already adequately tested and retested, ill set up a little guide on it myself.View Post

About the bar, etc. PICTs:

Zacha Pedro's dësc Annotated Template said:

(Graphic field:) Supported descriptions are all the windowed mission descriptions (i.e. not the mission offer text if it's offered from the mission computer nor the quick briefing text), in that case the image should be 200x200 in size and it will be put to the right of the description (this is used in the bounty hunting missions, for instance), the bar description, in that case the image should be 260x120 and it will appear above the bar desc (there's no use of the latter in the default Nova scenario); if the description will serve for a ship description, it references the ID of the image that will be shown along with the ship characteristics in the ship info dialog, that should have a dimension of 600x400

NebuchadnezzaR, on May 9 2005, 07:36 AM, said:

Is intf beavior well understood either? Like nonsquare radar, or really really big radar, or if you can make a bigger slot for targeting pics, etc. Also, what is the generally accepted choice of fonts? I bet the answer is no, but can the bar be somewhere other than the right edge?View Post

Here's what I know about ďntfs:
Dim radar is used for the system center pointer arrow even with an IFF scanner.

Status bars (shields, armor, fuel) that are narrower than they are tall will shrink from the top down. Same with square ones.

It is possible to place ďntf objects outside of the bounds of the sidebar. Just put in negative numbers. Be warned, however, that space field spites will be drawn over the interface.

A non-square or larger than normal radar will keep the same pixel to distance ratio- a large radar shows more of the system. A 1024x768 radar might be fun...

And I saw somewhere that apparently someone had figured out how to make a different-sized "sidebar". The method was not given in the thread, unfortunately.

Edwards

From my experience, any dimensions other than the ones used in the ATMOS scenereo for the interface sidebar simply do not work- if it is wider only the part of the interface pict that will fit within the bounds of the ATMOS pict are drawn onscreen with the rest shoved off the side and unviewable, and any dimensions smaller than (such as in the cargo or targeting areas) are squashed together and similarly unreadable.

I don't suppose there's any way to make a circular radar screen, is there?

Lindley, on May 10 2005, 03:24 AM, said:

I don't suppose there's any way to make a circular radar screen, is there?
View Post

Which is too bad, by the way, I absolutely love X-Wing's radars.

A cölr annotated template? I don't think it's in my list of priorities; you can do it if you like, currently I'm catching up spring break by reading the topics here I have missed.

Lindley, on May 9 2005, 09:24 PM, said:

I don't suppose there's any way to make a circular radar screen, is there?
View Post

Back in Dec 2003, TheRedeemer posted a screenshot from a TC-in-progress that included a sidebar with a circular radar screen. It looks quite cool! I never saw it in action, so I don't know how well it worked.... He may be hoping that memories of his graphics will fade so that he can surprise us with the eventual launch of his TC, so I won't post the whole screen. Here's the relevant part, though.
radar.jpg (15.07K)
Number of downloads: 56

This post has been edited by Dr. Trowel : 11 May 2005 - 04:14 PM

I would assume that to make a circular radar, all you need to do is make the graphical interface extend over the radar area in the shape of the circle, which is what it looks like that mod does. But that would assume that the radar is drawn underneath the interface.

purple1, on May 11 2005, 06:08 PM, said:

I would assume that to make a circular radar, all you need to do is make the graphical interface extend over the radar area in the shape of the circle, which is what it looks like that mod does. But that would assume that the radar is drawn underneath the interface.
View Post

The radar is drawn on top (although the black background only appears after you get an IFF Scanner), so my guess is that he scaled down the radar so that the corners fit inside the circle. It should work fairly well, although there would be apparent "gaps" on all four sides where it's just a black background, and the radar wouldn't cover as much of the system.

That would definately suck, though I think the ppats for the interference could be made circular. Or... no, they tile and dont have masks. Probably nevermind, unless someone knows fancy workarounds.