Campaign summary/Journal

[tracktwo]

Minor point, but unless there's something funky with the perspective, it looks like Canada has annexed part of Alaska in that image :) shouldn't there be a vertical white border between Alaska and Yukon territory near the edge there? Edited July 14, 2015 by tracktwo

[Zyxpsilon]

Look closely... it's hard to detect -- but there is a distinct "greyish" straight line where it should! This is the result of a transparency layer from the admin_boundaries SHP file which i've enhanced to white glowing patterns. Since, i overlay the highly edited shapes on top of the "Black-bordered" Natural-Earth (cyan'ized from their usual pure hues & colors) images, the alpha blending steps can sometimes stick to a grey shade. This effect can also been seen on the southern straight line between Alberta-Saskatchewan-Manitoba & the USA states.

 

I initially wanted to add at least 30-50 more pixels to the left side... but, to maintain the necessary 1024x512 ratio - that would have cut-off Newfoundland nearly in half! Chrys-Hive mission circle tag in St-Johns would have fallen outside the screen area. :wink:

 

Otherwise, the general Clip sizing could be expanded a bit to about 1280x640. Giving us Thule as a bonus for example... but with an indirect deeper intrusion into the US south -- and losing some resolution details, specifically for the various lakes. Not worth it, i think. But, i'll still make another version of that size and upload it here for your decision.

 

EDIT; Ready & willing... :wink:

 

#8 ) NE_Canada(1024x512_WG) ... Scale = 1.25/1 -- Clip Range... T=60 L=320 B=700 R=1600 ((Source size was 1280x640))

 

 

 

http://s22.postimg.org/5c9xqgp1d/NE_Canada_2_1024x512_WG.png

 

 

 

Use if you must, my friend. :ninja:

Edited July 16, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Are you just universally applying the same highlights? If so, you could darken the areas where there are more lines to make it easier to look at.

 

Not as much as you might have guessed. There are some acute variations in the glowing effects extent and/or source image re-sizing along with their clipping ranges. This has weird consequences in the generic feel of most map features. But -- i haven't created the planet... that's how it appears from even Satellite pictures. :D

Edited July 14, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

Update so far tonight:

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/jCuOyUQ.jpg

 

 

 

The menu hiding and back arrow all work, returning you to the normal situation room UI after hitting back. The only thing not yet working is the custom movie (currently just putting up the static world map image) doesn't get properly removed. I was trying to solve this in unrealscript but so far I haven't had much success, if all else fails I'll try to hide it in ActionScript. In theory this should bring back the original.

[Zyxpsilon]

That's just an awesome feeling!

 

We'll need these country names while adapting the current format of their individual flash stuff too later on. ( Remember the May sample? ) Well, click on "Argentina" -- and you'd zoom straight onto its map and get the entire mission symbols, a bottom list... of whatever events that have been piling up in our statistical "gimmick" code from start to the current state of affairs. Sort of.

Switching from that screen - we'll reach the "Monthly version". This is what my tiny boxes (X + Cyan Arrows) at the bottom left & right are supposed to be for in fact. :smile:

 

When it comes to UnrealScript'ing and/or ActionScript -- i completely and blindly trust you buddy. If you should ever get stuck real bad... maybe, we could get some help from XMTS or Amineri.

 

I found the "bottom-top" glowing effect, btw. It's a tiny-biddy 1x64 pseudo-texture that seems to reuse color-transform principles only. Of all the secrets... this may be the most useless knowledge for our upcoming tasks. :wink:

 

I've got each of the remaining basic files & glow layers for the last 8 countries. It is now a simple matter of assembling & re-sizing everything to the 1024x512 standards.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Your sample snapshot gave me a quick idea.

 

Tell me what you think about this mockup...

 

 

 

http://s14.postimg.org/yd7j1y2wx/Basic_Mock_Up8_Japan_w_Adjusted_Hue.png

 

I dumped the Japan map... adjusted saturation (of the current Cyan version) at 75% and gave it a slight Hue scaling of Minus-5% and plouck... that's some friggin magic stuff, AFAIC!

 

 

 

Kinda blends in the SItuation-Room more smoothly, agreed?!? :D

Edited July 15, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

Yeah that looks good. I'd like to try both versions in game to get a feel for how they look. I kind of find the original version too bright in-game, but it looks ok in the screenshot, even in my own screenshot. I'm not sure why that would be, but the brain is funny :)

 

I managed to get hiding working correctly, so now the basic menu system is working completely. I had to resort to the actionscript technique. I'm still not entirely sure why, but it's good enough for now and I'll leave it at that and move onto something more important instead of wasting time trying to figure out why the unrealscript wasn't working.

 

Oh and just a heads up, I'm going to be heading out of civilization on Saturday for a week's vacation. So expect quiet from my end, but I'll be back around the 25th.

[Zyxpsilon]

Here's what i'll do for the two types of maps.

 

I'll still upload the original (Dark pure Cyan) WG files for you to click&save straight off the Nexus Forums popup and make the second kind (( *_WG-S... for "de-Saturated" )) available in two simple but different ways;

A) Send the zipped results to your eMail... or

B) Upload the file to my OneDrive (Bell+Microsoft host) and supply you with a direct sharing link (that has an easy automated password verification step).

 

Which would you prefer?

 

Have a nice week of worthy vacations -- that will give me plenty of time to finish up the whole package in two versions. ;)

[tracktwo]

I'll pm you my email address. I still have a couple of days to get a little more progress before I head off.

 

If you don't hear from me after next weekend I've likely been eaten by a bear ;)

 

One thing that I've been toying with is releasing just the recap data mission location as a mini-mod in the near future, just so whoever is interested in ultimately using this can begin collecting the info in their mission journal. I think (hope) that some of this summary mod would be useful in an existing campaign even if the location data is absent, but a lot if the functionality won't work well without it so the sooner people who want to use this start recording this info the better.

[Zyxpsilon]

Mini-Mod is a neat idea... it's a good (or necessary) step in the right direction for whichever extra stuff we'd like to "design" in a full-blown HUD concept of a pure Campaign Summary feature with complex details. Watch the Bears! :wink:

 

This afternoon we're going to Africa - & - Europe. Adding 6 more maps!

All of them are built around the same source size... 512x256 just like Japan.

 

#9) NE_SouthAfrica(1024x512_WG) ... Scale == 1/2 -- Clip Range... T=1190 L=2130 B=1446 R=2642

 

 

http://s7.postimg.org/c67paecaj/NE_South_Africa_1024x512_WG.png

 

 

 

#10) NE_Nigeria(1024X512_WG) ... Scale == 1/2 -- Clip Range... T=830 L=1830 B=1086 R=2342

 

 

http://s8.postimg.org/qkyr3px39/NE_Nigeria_1024_X512_WG.png

 

 

 

#11) NE_Egypt(1024x512_WG) ... Scale == 1/2 -- Clip Range... T=580 L=2130 B=836 R=2642

 

 

http://s1.postimg.org/thjh3k9vz/NE_Egypt_1024x512_WG.png

 

 

 

#12) NE_UnitedKingdom(1024X512_WG) ... Scale == 1/2 -- Clip Range... T=260 L=1770 B=516 R=2282

 

 

http://s28.postimg.org/3xlty70t9/NE_United_Kingdom_1024_X512_WG.png

 

 

 

#13) NE_France(1024X512_WG) ... Scale == 1/2 -- Clip Range... T=400 L=1870 B=656 R=2382

 

 

http://s9.postimg.org/s3enewcv3/NE_France_1024_X512_WG.png

 

 

 

#14) NE_Germany(1024X512_WG) ... Scale == 1/2 -- Clip Range... T=330 L=1970 B=586 R=2482

 

 

 

http://s4.postimg.org/6is490ynx/NE_Germany_1024_X512_WG.png

 

 

 

*** Just two more to do... USA & Russia. I'll try making them both no later than this Friday.

Should be relatively easy as i'm getting used to the process. :geek: :cool:

Edited July 16, 2015 by Zyxpsilon