Native OSP World Map [Code][Mesh] Emoticons OSP

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Lav

Sergeant Knight at Arms
Lav and Mandible proudly present:
Emoticons v.1.0

A small OSP mod to add "emoticons" (small icons indicating current status and activity) to all, or at least most, game parties on the global map, so the player could tell them apart visually.

Download URL: http://mountandblade.nexusmods.com/mods/3756

About 20 different icons are added in this mod.

3756-1-1345024369.jpg
3756-3-1345024369.jpg


Scripts "script_show_emoticons" and "script_hide_emoticons" will enable and disable emoticons on the global map.

Credits: Lav (idea and coding), Mandible (icons), Caba'drin (problem-solving).

Archive contents:

<.diff> - modifications that you need to make in Module System to integrate this mod.
<.src> - full Module System pack that was used in development (includes some tweaks by myself, including new header_operations file).
<.raw> - PSD and XCF files for icon textures, for easier retexturing.
Resource - BRF file with emoticons.
Textures - DDS file with emoticons texture.
 
I have an idea for yet another crazy OSP mod, but this time I really need help from someone with an artistic brain.

I want to design a set of "current occupation" icons, to hang them above the heads of various map parties. So the player would see a merchant caravan with a couple gold coins indicating what the caravan master is thinking about. Or, if that caravan is currently fleeing from bandits, a different icon would appear to indicate that.

Coding does not seem to be a major problem here, but I need approximately 15 icons indicating various states. Icons themselves must not be complex, ideally they must be as primitive as manga chibi-emotions (and yeah, I got the idea for this project while playing some JRPG's :smile:). But unfortunately I lack artistic imagination to decide what icon would suit what situation. Some are rather obvious, others unfortunately are not.

Right now, I can think of the following icons:

1. Party is considering next objective. Icon: a blue question mark.
2. Party is chasing another party. Icon: sword&axe, or something along these lines.
3. Party is fleeing from enemy. Icon: no idea.
4. Party is patrolling. Icon: no idea.
5. Outlaw party is patrolling. Icon: no idea.
6. Merchants/peasants are going to trade. Icon: a couple of gold coins.
7. Peasants/patrol/lord are going home. Icon: a mug of beer.
8. Outlaws are returning to their lair. Icon: a bag of loot.
9. Lord is travelling to feast. Icon: a bottle of wine.
10. Lord is raising an army. Icon: no idea.
11. Lord is moving back to center because of low force. Icon: red cross and crescent?
12. Lord is going to siege. Icon: battering ram?
13. Lord is going to raid/loot. Icon: no idea.
14. Lord is going to help. Icon: no idea.

This is just a sketch, and the final list may change considerably.
 
Is this actually even possible within the limitations of the Warband engine? If so, what size would be ideal for the icons? And besides this would be less of a 3d modelling job, and more of a 2d image software job. You may also want to consider giving this thread a more appropriate name, as a majority of people will simply ignore it with the current title.
 
Bgfan said:
Is this actually even possible within the limitations of the Warband engine?
(party_set_extra_icon, <party_id>, <map_icon_id>, <up_down_distance_fixed_point>, <up_down_frequency_fixed_point>, <rotate_frequency_fixed_point>, <fade_in_out_frequency_fixed_point>), #frequencies are in number of revolutions per second

should do the trick, so yes, seems quite possible (though the operation is never used in Native)
 
That's all Alien language to me, but if Caba says it's possible, then I trust him  :lol:

Is something like this what you're looking for?

VcqyS.png
 
Bgfan said:
If so, what size would be ideal for the icons? And besides this would be less of a 3d modelling job, and more of a 2d image software job. You may also want to consider giving this thread a more appropriate name, as a majority of people will simply ignore it with the current title.
Well, could yoy advise on the thread name then? Personally I never ignore a thread with "coder needed" (even though I often choose to ignore the author after reading the thread) but I have no idea what words are necessary to attract attention of an artist. :smile:

Trick itself is indeed perfectly possible. I have already used it in another mini osp mod (siege camp) in my sig.

There is indeed not much of 3d, but rather making 3D'fied versions of 2D icons.

Your icon is pretty close, yes. I have also considered a different type of icon, a kind of a small "speech bubble" (a small squashed cylinder, or a "coin", with a "tail") - it's advantage is that you only have to design it once, and all other icons can be made by retexturing this basic model (especially easy if both sides are uv-mapped to the same area on the texture, or if mirrored).
 
So far I have three possible designs for icons in my mind.

5k5c80.png

The first has the benefit that it obstructs player's vision the least. However it also means that every icon needs it's own mesh.

The second can be re-textured at will (so it only needs to be modeled once), and is the easiest to design. It is also closest to the original inspiration. :smile: However it also obstructs player's vision the most.

The third is the improved second: it's middle area is transparent, with icon picture "floating" in the center. It will need some tricky design (as it needs pictures on both sides, and both must be invisible from behind, so as not to overlap with each other) and transparent textures, but combines the benefits of both previous versions.

Note that 2nd and 3rd variants must look absolutely the same from behind, i.e. they are not mirrored, but instead the "icon area" from both sides is uv-mapped to the same texture area. Alternatively, they may be mapped to different areas with identical size, so two different pictures can be put there (as the icon will be rotating in-game, this might provide some interesting effects).

If you have other ideas, please feel free to override my suggestions (as they are just that). I know better than to override artist's decision on an artistic subject (for as long as he doesn't try to tell me how to code :wink:).

P. S. Seems I still haven't answered the question on icon size. Well, from my earlier experiments it seems that the diameter of 0.1-0.2 units works the best (Warband icons are about 2 units wide, but they are scaled by a factor of 0.15 to 0.3 actual size). However for as long as all icons are of the same size, I can always scale them to necessary size in OpenBRF, so size is not an issue here.
 
3. Party is fleeing from enemy. Icon: no idea. - White flag make it so you can see there's wind blowing it so you can see the party is running.
4. Party is patrolling. Icon: Scout horse and the rider ofc.
10. Lord is raising an army. Icon: Soldier with an arrow pointing up in the background.
13. Lord is going to raid/loot. Icon: Burning house.
14. Lord is going to help. Icon: Handshake.

Just giving some direction.
 
IMHO (may be wrong here) you will just need one 2D square blank mesh. Use textures with alphas for the different icons.
I like the first style the most, but I disagree that every icon would need its own mesh. Won't alpha textures do the trick?

P.S.: This is one of these cases that I haven't any idea what I'm talking about, so feel free to kill me with fire if needed. :smile:
 
Just a thought. It's possible to have multiple statuses shown in the extra icon, by changing the icon every half a second or so. Example: very low on party size, but following leader. Or: following leader, but fleeing from an immediate threat.
 
MadVader said:
Just a thought. It's possible to have multiple statuses shown in the extra icon, by changing the icon every half a second or so. Example: very low on party size, but following leader. Or: following leader, but fleeing from an immediate threat.
Possible. Not for the first version though. :smile:
 
That's cool!

Can you send me some examples, so I could test how it looks in-game?

I assume you need 3D editor to do simple re-mapping of uv positions on the texture, or can you do this with OpenBrf?

And how did you manage the transparency? I never could make it work for me. :sad:
 
Current sketch for possible behaviors of game parties. If I missed something, please point this out.

Bandits: patrol (?), following prey (axe?), returning to lair (sack of loot), fleeing (rope loop).
Manhunters: patrol (?), following prey (shackles), fleeing (standard flee icon?).
Caravan: travel (gold coins), fleeing (standard flee icon?).
Kingdom lord: travelling to center (?), travelling to feast (wine), patrol (?), visiting village (?), following prey (?), fleeing (standard flee icon?), going to siege (ram), going to raid (?). Maybe some more as I delve deeper into scripts.
Farmers: travelling to town (gold coins), travelling home (beer), fleeing (wolf's head?).
Routed enemies: travelling to town (standard flee icon?).

Quest-related:

Cattle herd: normal (bay of hale), fleeing (wolf's head).
Bandits awaiting ransom: waiting (gold coins), going to center after successful transaction (beer). Otherwise same as normal bandits.
Kidnapped girl: waiting (?), fleeing (wolf's head?).
Spy, spy partners, sacrificed messenger: waiting or travelling to destination (black half-mask), fleeing (standard flee icon?).
Runaway serfs: fleeing (beer?), returning home (unhappy mask).

Any party, when no current objective is set (i.e. previous task has been complete or cancelled, and AI has not yet fired): thinking (question mark).
 
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