Compass Model?

[Gildoran]

@Ishtvan: I'm under the impression that how much it affects performance mostly depends on how much of the screen it covers, how many layers it has, and how expensive those layers are to render (things using expensive shaders take up more fill-rate) Inventory icons take up a small amount of the screen and don't use expensive shaders, so I'm not particularly worried about their performance. In any case, the reason I was using icons rather than models had nothing to do with performance... (see below)

 

@SneaksieDave: Sorry, I guess I wasn't doing a good job of explaining myself... With D3 GUIs, you cannot change a model at runtime. (you can change the model's position/lighting/etc but not which model is rendered) Any model used by a GUI has to be hand-coded to be in the GUI. If you have a GUI with 10 models, it needs to have 10 windows, one for each model. This is not extensible and it prevents a mapper from just coding an item that uses a given model.

 

However, I think Sparhawk's idea of using the GUI overlay may provide a solution, because it can load up new GUIs on top of the HUD at runtime. (and I think this would also simplify the inventory display code slightly) It would still require a mapper to create a GUI for each model, but it's better than forcing them to replace the HUD with their own version.

 

Edit: Also, there's the issue that models may be difficult/impossible to fade.

[Gildoran]

BTW, I had a question regarding realistic compass models... if we went with one, how would you tell which way it was facing when looking at it from below?

[Springheel]

You wouldn't. But I thought you said your version 'faked' it in a way that never got to the point where you were looking at it from below?

 

In any case, the reason I was using icons rather than models had nothing to do with performance... (see below)

 

I think Ish was talking about the effect of adding animated texture effects to the inventory icons--if those animated textures are going to cause any kind of performance hit they probably aren't worth it (I don't know if they would or not).

[Gildoran]

I think I can create a new version that allows it to be seen from above and below, if the sides are a single color.

 

I'm pretty sure animated materials have almost no effect on performance, especially given given the small icon sizes. Icons that rely on scripting to be animated (such as a compass, even with a model) might have a very slight impact, but the compass is pretty much a worst-case scenario (while selected, its script has to be run every frame), and for me the compass has no noticeable effect on framerate. (though admittedly, I haven't tested it in CPU-bound situations)

[Gildoran]

Ok, I've updated the way inventories are displayed, so each item uses its own GUI. This should make it easier to use models. There's still the problem that models don't fade well, but at least they're possible now.