Memorial Wall - Help Needed

[GlyphGryph]

The soldier itself is deleted upon death so I do have to pick what data is saved. Furthermore, with all the dead soldiers there will be, it doesn't make sense to store a bunch of data in the savegame that will likely not be used.

It does mean that later modders would have more to work with, and any future changes/enhancements to the wall that used the data (should they happen) would have access to it even for soldiers that had died previously. I suppose it really isn't a big deal, though. Looks good, either way! Super excited to get to see this in action.

Edited July 10, 2014 by GlyphGryph

[Solver]

I used Solver's suggestions in all cases.

Solver proud.

[bonds0097]

It does mean that later modders would have more to work with, and any future changes/enhancements to the wall that used the data (should they happen) would have access to it even for soldiers that had died previously. I suppose it really isn't a big deal, though. Looks good, either way! Super excited to get to see this in action.

If future coders want to expand the system, they'll have to make changes to the source anyway so they can add that data if needed.

There's a principle in software development called 'You Aren't Gonna Need It' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren't_gonna_need_it) that states that you shouldn't add unnecessary functionality just in case you might need it later. I myself have been guilty of this in the past but it's something I try to avoid these days.

[Skitso]

I will be storing the dead soldier's country of origin so that if we ever get tiny flags I can display them in front of the name.

If I provide those flag images, will you guys implement them into game so they are visible in soldier equipment screen and ground combat too?

[Solver]

Why not? At least for the soldier equipment screen. In ground combat, I am not sure where a good location for them would be.

[Skitso]

I think in front of the name would be a good place..? <flag> <rank> <name> (the flag would be really tiny and take maybe 2-3 letters space)

Edited July 10, 2014 by Skitso

[Solver]

Can you do a mockup? I think it's kinda narrow in there, could be that the detail on the flag is almost invisible, especially on below 1080p res. But I would like to have that.

[Skitso]

Yeah, I'll play with the idea and post results here...

Another idea would be to display it under rank insignia or as a portrait background... or something. I'll think of something.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Skitso

[GlyphGryph]

There's a principle in software development called 'You Aren't Gonna Need It' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren't_gonna_need_it) that states that you shouldn't add unnecessary functionality just in case you might need it later. I myself have been guilty of this in the past but it's something I try to avoid these days.

I know, and I was debating that with myself, but then, the entire point of the CE project is "Well, I don't need this, but someone else might be able to use it", right? But then I realized that, yeah, you're right - anyone in a position to actually change the wall is also (presumably) going to be in a position to capture that data themselves, because that isn't really 'moddable' via the xml files, so collecting them wouldn't actually help anything.

[bonds0097]

I know, and I was debating that with myself, but then, the entire point of the CE project is "Well, I don't need this, but someone else might be able to use it", right? But then I realized that, yeah, you're right - anyone in a position to actually change the wall is also (presumably) going to be in a position to capture that data themselves, because that isn't really 'moddable' via the xml files, so collecting them wouldn't actually help anything.

Right, I definitely agree that there is a distinction. And I think that Solver's initiative to make as much of the game's logic external via XML so that modders can muck about is the way to go.

That said, some things won't/can't be made external due to the nature of the game/code. And sadly, anything that requires a UI change (beyond just resizing/moving elements) has to be changed in the source code itself. I think mission types will fall into this category as well.

[TacticalDragon]

I really like this work!

Is awesome, Skitso maybe make the watermark little more notorius? Like a serum print? I found that detail gorgeous.

Nice job guys ^^

[dpelectric]

This is just too cool. A perfect example of what polishing can add to the overall experience

[Skitso]

Why not? At least for the soldier equipment screen. In ground combat, I am not sure where a good location for them would be.

You were right. It just doesn't fit that well in the ground combat gui, no matter how I squeeze. This layout was the best I could think of:

...but at 1920x1080 it's 13x13 so with lower resolutions, it's gonna look like crap. (full_hd only -mod?)

Edited July 11, 2014 by Skitso

[skaianDestiny]

Perhaps put it on the lower left corner of the portrait?

[Skitso]

no room and looks ugly

[llunak]

...but at 1920x1080 it's 13x13 so with lower resolutions, it's gonna look like crap. (full_hd only -mod?)

The GC panel AFAIK does not scale up/down, there's only a normal (small) and large version, resolution shouldn't matter (DPI of the screen might though).

[Skitso]

Ok, then those flags could work. Should I proceed making them?

EDIT: yea, you are right and the 13x13 flag fits pretty nicely in the smaller gui too.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Skitso

[Solver]

I think 13x13 sucks too much as size. Does it really look ugly on the portrait? One corner for rank, another for flag.

With 13x13 you get some colour blob, not a flag really. Especially not when you have a flag with a dozen horizontal stripes or fine detail, some simple three-stripe flags like Hungary work reasonably, but more detailed flags like UK or US just look like ass.

If flags go on the soldier equipment screen, what size fits there?

[Skitso]

You serious you can't make out the US flag in my example above? I put US flag there on purpose as it's the most complicated one. So if it's ok, all of them are ok.

If it's put in the corner of portrait screen, the size can't be that much larger as it goes over portraits chin. Also, it just doesn't sit visually there.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Skitso

[kabill]

Personally, I think the image above looks fine (assuming its to scale; any smaller and it would be problematic). This monitor is possibly better than the one I have at home, though.

[Skitso]

kabill: it's in scale. And yeah, I'm pretty anal on these things and I don't see any problems with it.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Skitso

[Skitso]

Do we need other flags than the countries that are in the soldiernames.xml? Like if there are some preorder characters with unique nationalities or something...

[Solver]

Sure I can make out the US flag, I am just saying it looks like a low-resolution flag-coloured blob, not an actual flag. You can't put that much detail into 169 pixels. But I still think it is better than nothing and would like to have it

I just realized there are no Chinese soldiers in the soldiernames.xml. Odd.

Here's a list of nationalities from the exclusive soldiers: British, German, American, Russian, Danish, Scottish, Canadian, New Zealandean, Singaporean, Japanese, Australian, Philippino, Finnish, Czech, Norwegian, Chinese, Swedish, East German, Indian, Spanish, Dutch, Malaysian, Irish, Italian, Swiss, Brazilian, Slovak, Romanian, Icelandic, Polish.

[Skitso]

Thanks. I'll make the flags asap and sent them to... you?

[Solver]

Did you also modify the GC lua to show the flag, or is that a Photoshop mockup?

Also don't bother with the exclusive preorder flags for now. Make the ones in soldiernames.xml. Because I can then add a reference to those flags in soldiernames.xml easily, while exclusive flags will need a better solution, so they'll have to hold off for a bit longer if I'm to squeeze these flags into a release today.