Campaign summary/Journal

[Zyxpsilon]

Yippie!

Looks like it works just fine... considering how early we are into the actual design stages, i'd say THAT result is solid enough to scan all the way through anything currently tracked by the "Journal" structure.

 

 

 

 

http://s13.postimg.org/nmoeil2fb/Campaign_Summary_Very_First_Try_Out.png

 

 

 

Although there were some unexpected "indirect flaws" with Mod-Manager processing.

I didn't realize all of my previous Patcher files stuff (ReCLR has many, btw) would need to be re-loaded by it.

Strangely your own "Quiet-Bradford" version failed to install... but i think this may be related to these special UPK not being properly scanned by Mod-Manager itself.

 

Tiny biddy red UFOs on the world-map for two missions listed for the May 5th snapshot sample above are really cool to see! :wink:

Edited August 24, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

Glad you got it working, that's great to hear! I was worried I'd have forgotten a file or a setup step in the installation instructions :smile:

 

Quiet, Bradford doesn't need to be re-installed each time. As you guessed it's because the files I patch in that mod are not modified by LW so it doesn't get automatically uninstalled each time you upgrade/reinstall LW. You only need to reinstall it after a steam cache validation.

 

I used one of the saves you sent me (that had ReCLR present) for a lot of testing so it should be entirely compatible with it. Let me know if you see any bugs with it, though.

 

EDIT: I wasn't sure why your UFOs were showing up so tiny, but then I remembered you mentioned you had shrunk them? I also scale them down 50% when putting them on the map so yours are extra tiny.

Edited August 24, 2015 by tracktwo

[Zyxpsilon]

About that "Quiet-Bradford" stuff.

Strangely, Mod-Manager *DID* create an extra set of sub-folders (root named UPK_Original) for these UPK files.

 

Funny how that program operates though... each & every time a new mod must be added -- it continually resets everything and re-installs whatever is located into its dedicated "Mods" folder. Feels weird and enforces us (modders that essentially work in various projects at any given time) into regular pre-game-session delays.

But i certainly can understand why this process should be necessary... it allows for version tracking & solid compatibility checks within anyone's settings. Luckily the "Config" folder is isolated from these automatic resets... as we all know how highly variable such files content can be. You should see my core duo of INT files... they're filled up with custom HTML-Font Instructions! :wink:

 

Yep... that mini-UFO (indirect Texture switch by TexMod) surely responded to an extra 50% runtime scaling. Temporarily changing it to the yellow'ish Icon-Crit -- maybe? :ninja:

 

PS; ReCLR assets are perfectly fine with the current state of "Campaign-Summary 1.0"... in fact, i'm already planning some Light-Grey font correction to all of these default text strings (( ThermoGenerator (etc) has its INT value shown... meaning proper HTML recognition was integrated -- good call on that, buddy! )). Easily accessed via Flash script, i suppose & hope! :D

Edited August 24, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

Do you happen to know which package Icon-Crit lives in? I did a quick search but couldn't find it.

 

Eventually I'd like to have specific icons for different mission types and for UFOs and interceptors shot down, but if they're custom icons I don't want them to be based off any of the existing Firaxis assets, they'd have to be completely original.

[Zyxpsilon]

My fault for not having given you the exact name for it... Icon_CRIT_HTML

 

http://s11.postimg.org/ugt54gssf/Icon_CRIT_HTML.png --- It is packaged into UICollection_Common_SF and sized @ 32x32.

 

Specific but entirely original icons for all Missions & UFO (Landed and Crashed) + Interceptors (shot down) ??

I could create some of those for later "approval" if you want to! :wink:

 

Examples... this is what i did with the Interceptor Events (ordering and transfering) for ReCLR;

 

http://i.imgur.com/2xrpjfM.png ---- http://i.imgur.com/uDT0lOW.png (( With rotation, adding flames, cyanizing, whatever is necessary!! ))

 

EDIT... here's some quick sample i just made using the above principles...

http://i.imgur.com/Ks3BBh0.png Shot down in Flames! (128x128)

You'll have to remind me what exactly we'd want as every types though. The trick with Exalt is somehow special... as their authentic Logo *IS* the most obvious choice.

 

I also found these oldish assets that were used to insert small overlays in the bottom right corners of the Map Images back in the EW days of ReCLR...

 

http://i.imgur.com/vzzZ5Xr.png ---- http://i.imgur.com/dcLje7L.png ---- http://i.imgur.com/DthVsJ4.png ---- http://i.imgur.com/Y7DhVf2.png

 

1) Landed UFO 2) Another Landed 3) Crashed in City 4) Crashed in Forest

 

I would use various UFO symbols and drop them over these "backgrounds" or somethin' ? Unless you'd have a better idea! :smile:

 

We could even "re-purpose" the small 3D animated Models (used when the Skyranger is in flight to indicate locations... "Crime Scene" corpse for abductions, etc) by designing our own. Such pictures would be quite easy to produce in fact since the basic default template(s) needs to be 128x128, IIRC. Up to you to decide. Lemme know.

 

PS; XMTS might also be interested in creating such custom graphics. He's sooooo talented with glyphs anyway! :smile:

Edited August 24, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Alright then... here's what i generally have in mind for the Missions tags. They would mostly get some visual focus from a black background "Burst".

 

http://s13.postimg.org/ve3rdeumr/TLTag_Interceptor_Shot_Down.png --- http://s11.postimg.org/a9f8yqqf3/TLTag_Abduction.png --- http://s24.postimg.org/a2b9waon5/TLTag_Terror_Attack.png ... (More later)

I'm just adding the Abduction & Terror-Attack versions.

[tracktwo]

Cool, thanks. I don't have them hooked up to the actual map yet, but I did quickly just drop them into the flash movie to get them up on the map in a fixed place and they look pretty good to me scaled down to 32x32. I was worried the interceptor would be a little too colourful, but it looks OK to me.

[Zyxpsilon]

Dunno, but i feel a 64x64 (down for the 128x128 sources) size (as defined by the actual sprite, i suppose) for these would be okay when shown on the whole map.

Rarely do we get to have more than two mission events per day. So there's a very low risk of interference.

The Summary will be a lot more complex to deal with, i gather. Another reason why i was planning on the previous style and types of 48x48 multi-colored circles as provided to you in the initial Zip package, btw.

 

Then, i'll begin drawing up some versions for the rest.... so, it's revision time;

 

1) UFO Landed + Crashed (( Do you want to differentiate City & Wildnerness?? )) + Shot-Down + Escaped... four of them.

2) Council... which happens to have a City-Scape as 3d model too, but i'll change its configuration and use a different color for it.

3) Exalt... their approximate Logo -- customized again, that's for sure.

4) Alien Base Assaults... any suggestion for those ?!?

5) XCom-HQ Defense.

6) Radar-Station/Hangar assaults by Aliens.

 

PS; I've found this cool tiny symbol for UFOs -- i think it could fit the deal with various orientations on each related kinds.

http://s28.postimg.org/6gzs8hbrd/UFO1.png -- Would need to spiff up the Alpha layer and maybe adapt a few colors (metallic shine already), whadd'ya'think??

 

Anything else?

Edited August 26, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

I can downscale the images to arbitrary points in the flash so it doesn't matter too too much what the original resolution is other than there will be a considerable loss of detail so more stylized is better than trying to be too realistic with lots of tiny details.

 

I don't think we need to distinguish city vs. wilderness crash sites, as it's just random as opposed to actually considering *where* the UFO crashed - you can shoot down a UFO in the extreme north of Canada or Russia and get a "city" crash if the dice happen to roll that way. For that matter you can shoot it down in the ocean or half the world away from the country it's supposedly in. Also escaped is not necessarily "escaped", it'll be used for any UFO that completes its mission without getting shot down so it doesn't necessarily need to be "escaping" from anything.

 

Not sure about the alien base icons, maybe an alien head over the little "burst"?

 

Could distinguish covert extractions from data recoveries in the icon if you feel up for 2 exalt ones. Plus the exalt base raid.

 

I got the icons hooked up to the map now and they appear to be displaying mostly correctly. I need to play a bit more with the scaling as they're a little stretched at the moment. I'm going to try to treat them exactly as the ufo icon currently is and hopefully that'll improve things.

[Zyxpsilon]

Alright -- gotcha!

 

Here's four more...

 

http://s16.postimg.org/rc0p7110x/UFO_Land_Wild.png --- http://s23.postimg.org/opqqu19lj/UFO_Crash_Wild.png --- http://s28.postimg.org/4xjch8021/TLTag_Council.png --- http://s16.postimg.org/9fpwwn3ox/TLTag_Exalt.png

 

1) UFO-Land 2) UFO-Crash 3) Council 4) Exalt (( Finalized version! ))

 

I feel the UFO(s) being in such cyan shades is a good thing. The Council "orange" might seem familiar -- did it on purpose.

I had made a first Exalt with a slight Logo tilt and stormy yellow twirl effect. Extraction or recovery? It might be alright if they both use the above version. Their HQ should be fun to do though. :wink:

Edited August 31, 2015 by Zyxpsilon