The Mod Configuration Menu

[schlangster]

There:

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/qen9pw0z/ScreenShot237.png

 

Turn up the brightness of your monitor! :)

 

Edit: About the game reloaded. listAddForm additions persist until the next game restart, isn't that exactly what you want?

Edited June 19, 2011 by schlangster

[Pelinor]

There:

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/qen9pw0z/ScreenShot237.png

 

Turn up the brightness of your monitor! :)

 

Edit: About the game reloaded. listAddForm additions persist until the next game restart, isn't that exactly what you want?

(Edit: Found the problem! I'm going to be late now, lol. It was the iModIndex check. Use ListAddForm under the GetGameRestarted, then use:

 

begin MenuMode 1013
if IsModLoaded "The Mod Configuration Menu.esm"
	set iActiveMod to GetUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_ActiveMod"
	if GetGameLoaded
		set iModIndex to GetModIndex [Your mod]
	endif
else
	Return
endif

 

or

 

	if iActiveMod > 0 && iActiveMod == GetModIndex [Your mod]

 

 

 

I do see the problem with the background now, though. (I had to really turn up the brightness.) It's all done using vanilla texture assets, so I may have to make my own.

Edited June 19, 2011 by Pelinor

[schlangster]

Hm well, here's what I did so far:

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/k474v13w/ScreenShot238.jpg

 

So far I've been unsuccessful in finding a layout that looks good, but I'll try some more. The problem is that there's only indentation to separate options from suboptions/group stuff, and in a 2 column setup with many options it looks really inconsistent. How about adding an additional option attribute for brightness, maybe even color. Or a new option type "horizontal line".

 

Edit:

 

Or how about this: You could add something like the filter option on top of the vendor inventory (<ARMOR|WEAPONS|MISC>). The arrows generate an event which could be handled like this:

;1 - RESET
if getUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_Reset" != 0
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_Reset" 0
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/*:1/_columns" 2
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/*:1/_pages" pageCount ; if 0, the page selector element is not shown, so the whole page aspect can just be ignored if mods don't need it

if pageIndex == 0

	setUIString "StartMenu/MCM/*:1/_pageTitle" "GAMEPLAY FEATURES"
	....
elseif pageIndex == 1
	setUIString "StartMenu/MCM/*:1/_pageTitle" "IMMERSION FEATURES"
	....
endif
.......

;8 - NEXT PAGE
elseif getUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_NextPage"
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_NextPage" 0
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_Reset" 1
set pageIndex to pageIndex + 1
if pageIndex >= pageCount
	set pageIndex to 0
endif

;9 - PREVIOUS PAGE
elseif getUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_PrevPage"
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_PrevPage" 0
setUIFloat "StartMenu/MCM/_Reset" 1
set pageIndex to pageIndex - 1
if pageIndex < pageCount
	set pageIndex to pageCount -1
endif
.....

 

I think this concept would integrate fairly well with the existing system and remove the size limitation of 50 cells.

 

 

Edit 2:

Oh and here's my next attempt:

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/to52vkc0/ScreenShot239.jpg

... http://www.imagebanana.com/view/rtz4htvh/ScreenShot240.jpg :(

 

Edit 3:

 

Ok after giving it some more thought, what would you think about just adding a new general _type for this kind of <Option1|Option2|...OptionN> button?

 

I made a little proof-of-concept to show what I mean. It only has left arrow button since the right would work in the same manner:

http://pastebin.com/jccSg5bK (sorry, just dumped it all on pastebin cause I'm off to bed now :))

Edited June 20, 2011 by schlangster

[Pelinor]

I see what you mean about that not being very pleasant to look at. At least you're able to get it working! :biggrin: Did you try using 2 columns but keeping the parent and children options in the same column? (Screenshot1 in the OP shows what I mean.) It's a fairly clean look when using only a few children options.

 

Also, you can add images to your menu with the "StartMenu/MCM/*:1/Option#/image" element if you want lines, or any other images. Not sure why I didn't document that... Anyway, I can certainly add real support for horizontal lines under/across options if you'd prefer.

 

About the bigger issue, I tried several different ways to handle multiple pages. The only one that I liked the look of was sub-menus, which have been added to beta 5. There's 5 sub-menus available now, and if that's not enough I'll add more. The sub-menu names appear under the main mod name in the list when it's selected and disappear when another mod is selected. They're also slightly darker and indented. Here's a screenshot.

 

• Added sub-menus
  
• Increased background alpha
  
• Changed The Mod Configuration Menu.esm to *.esp (Requires menu script update to look for new .esp)

 

• Added "Sub-Menus" section under Advanced Uses
  
• Fixed MCM Example Menu.esp script where using wrong input for types 2.5 and 3
  
• Added MCM Example Menu2.esp as an example of using sub-menus
  
• Sample scripts now use ListAddForm instead of AddFormToFormList
  
• Sample scripts now use IsModLoaded "The Mod Configuration Menu.esp"
  
• Sample scripts now use cleaner checking for _ActiveMod == ModIndex

 

 

(Edit: I forgot to add color options... I knew there was something I was forgetting. It's too late to do now, since I need an hour or two of sleep before getting on with the day. I'll add it tonight.

 

Also, I'm curious about something... What do the people reading but not posting think of MCM? Is there any reason why you wouldn't use it, or don't like what you see? Is there something I can make better?)

Edited June 20, 2011 by Pelinor

[schlangster]

Nice changes, sub menus are certainly a good thing to have.

 

Since you asked if I tried the default layout style with the options below the feature, I tried that first but it didn't look right either.

 

But I think now we're getting somewhere :):

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/ejrak5b2/ScreenShot241.jpg

 

It makes use of an additional _altFont property (the one used there is font 3 with DUI). I think having a separate font for headlines looks nice.

[Pelinor]

Ah, that does look nice. I'll look into adding an _altFont and _RGB tonight. Does that font not fit correctly into the space for one line, or is the line skip just for clarity? I might have to add a more intelligent Y coordinate system if variable fonts are going to be a problem.

[schlangster]

The line skip is just for clarity, but I had to change the height of the options to

<height> <copy src="MCM_Options" trait="_optionHeight"/> <add> <copy src="MCM_Options" trait="_padding"/> <mul> 2 </mul> </add> </height>

with _optionHeight = 15. There's probably a better solution.

 

Edit: Oh and one thing, the width of the mod list is pretty small. Let's say I wanna add "Stealth + Combat", that might already be too long.

Edited June 20, 2011 by schlangster

[Pelinor]

Well, the width of the mod list will increase if a mod name is too wide. Just don't use extra, extra long names because it'll probably go beyond the screen width with a 4:3 or 5:4 resolution.

[schlangster]

Well, the width of the mod list will increase if a mod name is too wide. Just don't use extra, extra long names because it'll probably go beyond the screen width with a 4:3 or 5:4 resolution.

That's what I meant: http://www.imagebanana.com/view/5yusuwui/ScreenShot242.jpg

[Pelinor]

Hmm...I checked it before uploading with names like "Sub Menu 1 Really Long Name" and the width increased like it should have, then went back to normal when selecting another mod. It's obviously not working for you, though; I'll have to investigate later. Thanks for letting me know.