Mojave Wasteland Pop-Up... Huh?

[kylemarshiku]

Hey everyone, if someone could please answer this for me, I'd be really appreciative.

 

So I was installing a bunch of HUD and UI mods when I noticed that the phrase "Mojave Wasteland" appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen every time I go into the worldspace. I don't mind it. In fact, I think it is pretty nifty. The problem however is that this either only happens in the Mojave Wasteland or just exteriors in general. I wanted to make it work for interiors, so I started looking into UI mods. To my surprise, this pop-up is from vanilla, I think? I must have just learned to tune it out. Still, I can't for the life of me find a single mod that changes this pop-up in the entirety of UI mods!

 

Does anyone know of a mod that changes the pop-up to work with interior cells? Seriously, I think it'd be cool if I walked into the Goodsprings Saloon for it to read the cell name and say "Goodsprings Saloon" in the corner. And that goes for any interior cell. Is there a mod that does this? If not... why? Anyone know how it could be done?

 

Please help. : (

[dubiousintent]

Based upon pure guesswork, here is how I would initially investigate it.

Most likely that is the "Editor-ID" of the currently loaded cell. Some variable is getting that name when the cell is "loaded", though it is possible it was saved to an array when the cell was loading the "uInterior Cell Buffer" and "uExterior Cell Buffer". The UI XML file is displaying that variable value in that screen location, so that should give you an idea of the variable name being used. Probably that variable is using a "Game Setting" (GMST record). There is a list of known game settings, and one of known to not be used settings. However, neither has one with the word "cell" in that name, so it won't be that simple to identify without that variable name.

As interior cell names do not appear to be displayed, you would need to identify the process by which the exterior cell "Editor-ID" is grabbed, and perform a similar function on interior cells being loaded. Then when the interior cell is displayed, push it's value into the same variable being used to display the exterior value in the UI.

But as I said up front, that is based upon nothing more than pure guesswork as to the logic of the process.

-Dubious-

[kylemarshiku]

Thank you for the response! So it would seem the first step in addressing this would be to find out what line in the xml is actually doing this, right? And then once I find it, knowing what to do with it would be the second step, editing it to include cells.

 

This reminds me of somewhere else this data is pulled. If you pull up your Pip-Boy and go to a certain part of your Data screen (I forget off the top of my head exactly which screen), in the top-right corner of your screen, it displays the name of your location, whether it be an exterior or an interior cell. Perhaps that is the answer. Perhaps the method that part of the Pip-Boy uses to gather the information needs to be replicated on that bit of the UI?

[dubiousintent]

That seems the logical approach to me.

 

I haven't checked into it myself, but believe the Pipboy display is XML based as well. So that seems to be a worthwhile avenue to investigate.

 

-Dubious-

[kylemarshiku]

Thank you. So I've done some digging, but I'm at an impasse it seems.

 

Within the menus folder within the data folder, I found an xml file called map_menu.xml. This holds the Data screen for the Pip-Boy. It has a section that holds the location info, and it goes like this:

 

<!-- Player's current location -->
<text name="MM_Headline_LocationInfo">
<id> 0 </id>
<font> 2 </font>
<justify> &right; </justify>

<x> 630 </x>
<y> 20 </y>
<string></string> <!-- Set in code -->
</text>

 

I also found hud_main_menu.xml, which contains the pop-up we've been talking about. It goes like this:

 

<!--========= Region and Location text ==============-->
<rect name="Region_Location">
<id> &noglow_branch; </id>
<systemcolor>&hudmain;</systemcolor>
<width> 100 </width>
<height> 100 </height>
<locus> &true; </locus>
</rect>

 

At first I was excited. I swapped out "Region_Location" with "MM_Headline_LocationInfo", but then the game fails to start. I've tried literally a dozen other things, like swapping the id's (&noglow_branch; for 0), but then it's like it completely ignores anything I try to do. Maybe it is hard-coded into the game?

 

This is really unfortunate, because showing the exteriors only gives you, what, 10 possible things that text will read? 99% of the time it just says Mojave Wasteland. It's a waste of a UI element! I thought about creating a duplicate of this pop-up and making it just read interiors. But that didn't go very far with my limited knowledge on the matter.

 

Also, relevant note. When you're in the Mojave Wasteland exterior worldspace but in a town like say Goodsprings, the Pip-Boy's info actually says Goodsprings. So in theory, not only would this make it say Goodsprings Saloon when you walked inside, but it should say Goodsprings when you walk outside. Yet I only ever seen to get Mojave Wasteland.

 

You've been very helpful, but do you have any idea how I might proceed?

Edited April 29, 2019 by MysteryMachineX

[dubiousintent]

Unfortunately, all I know about XML (very limited) is encapsulated in the "XML" section of the "HUD-UI-Menu issues" wiki article. Hopefully the "Reading UI & HUD XML files" tutorial by DoctaSax referenced there will be of some assistance. (I was unable to find anything more specific to Bethesda's use of XML.)

 

My suspicion is that the "name" lines ("text name" and "rect name") are simply identifiers for areas of those HUD display pages, rather than "variable names" containing content. I would expect some background process is collecting the value (cell name) and pushing it to those locations. But I have no idea as to that mechanism.

 

You might try privately asking some mod authors who have done work with XML, such as "Axonis" and "jazzisparis".

 

-Dubious-

[axonis]

Hi there, I'm replying to your PM here since I think this may of be of interesting to others.

 

The code you're looking for is in Data\Menus\Main\hud_main_menu.xml, at the "Region and Location" section.

 

However, you can't control the text at the UI-xml level. It will only display what the engine supplies it, which is the world space name when entering outdoors. You need to supply it with a script. I think you have a good idea there, and it would definitely make this text more useful.

 

@Dubious, you may find this useful: https://content3.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:Oblivion_XML/Traits -- it applies to FO3/FNV as well. More accurate than the loverslab article, and without the sleazy references. Still not perfect though. I'll be writing a proper guide myself once I have the time.

[dubiousintent]

@axonis: Thanks for the link. I'll add it to what I have, and look forward to your write-up when you get to it.

 

-Dubious-

[kylemarshiku]

@axonis

 

Thank you, but when you say, supply it with a script, do you mean to make a plugin .esp with a script contained within it that edits the information supplied to the UI element? That would imply there is a script in the FalloutNV.esm that already does this, doesn't it? I'm not sure where to go with this...

 

EDIT: Or perhaps such a script would be best done with NVSE or JIP?

Edited April 30, 2019 by MysteryMachineX

[axonis]

An .esp plugin with a new script that copies the name of the current location, be it an indoors or outdoors, to that HUD element.

 

I don't think an NVSE .dll plugin would be necessary for that.