Main Menu

[greebo]

As I wrote above, DoomConfig.cfg is copied from darkmod to the FM folder the first time by our FM installation code.

 

From that point on, D3 is writing all the CVARs and keybinding to that file on each change (possibly getting them out of sync). This is done by closed source code, so I can only watch that happening. If I was overwriting that file with the one from darkmod/ all keybindings made by the user in "FM mode" would be overwritten by that operation.

[Springheel]

I can move the installed mission part to the upper left, with a parchment background? Springheel, what do you suggest?

 

I don't have any problems with the mock-up Fidcal posted.

[greebo]

Ok, the mock-up is implemented now:

[New Horizon]

Very nice.

[Tels]

Ok, the mock-up is implemented now:

 

Very good I would have made the "Install" and "Play" buttons a different color tho, they are not looking like buttons but like ordinary text in the screenshot. But that's nitpicking.

[Springheel]

Presumably they have a mouseover effect. If not, they probably should.

[greebo]

Yes, there is a mouseover.

[Tels]

Presumably they have a mouseover effect. If not, they probably should.

 

Yeah, but it is still bad GUI design if some buttons look different than the rest. "Main menu" is white, "Install this mission" is black. That will confuse quite a few people

[Springheel]

All the buttons on parchment are black. All the buttons on the dark background are white. You can't make them the same colour or one or the other wouldn't be readable.

[Fidcal]

Yes, looks very good to me with the current FM at top left and prominent

 

If current installed FM is selected on the right it still shows 'Install this Mission' under its info even though it is already installed.

 

On other menus, 'Main Menu' is smaller and at bottom right of main scroll on right. Now there is more space there maybe for consistency put it there.

 

I would also possibly suggest moving up the header AVAILABLE MISSIONS a couple of lines if possible to give the max lines for FMs. What actually happens when there are more FMs in the fms folder than will fit?

 

Nobody else getting problems with changes in their doomconfig when installing a new FM? With a previously installed FM being re-installed I think it is probably correct that it uses the settings already in that doomconfig. This gives an opportunity for players to set brightness a little higher for some missions, or quality a little lower for high-performance missions, and when they replay after trying some other FM then their custom config will be restored. My problem is with the default changing when first installing a new FM. I get low res and blurry menus.

 

OK, when I start an installed mission I am seeing a blank scroll where the briefing should be. I'm assuming this is not a fault but these missions are not set up for briefings. Outpost does this too so I need to check what happened to the briefings.

 

At the foot of the screens - briefing - objectives - purchase we still have some inconsistency. I would prefer to see BACK ... NEXT on all and probably in the dark area off the scrolls. This is consistent with common program installers and troubleshooters etc. and user are familiar with these infallibly simple instructions. At the moment they see BACK - OBJECTIVES, BACK - BUY EQUIPMENT, then START MISSION is on the scroll and there is no BACK - no way out. Also, what exactly happens if there is no purchase shop? There should be a way to get back to the main menu even if it means hitting BACK several times (don't know how that might affect an animated briefing.) If a player gets to the purchase shop and decides they don't want to continue and they don't have console enabled then they have to resort to Task Manager to close it down and relaunch Dark Mod or else load the mission then exit back to the menus. Just now I used the console and Quit then reloaded. Maybe I missed it but I think at the shop there is no way back.

[Springheel]

What actually happens when there are more FMs in the fms folder than will fit?

 

It looks like there is an arrow there for scrolling.

[Dram]

Excellent work on the menus

 

Just one thing that could use adding - bloom settings. If you get time to add them, here are all the settings copy/pasted directly from SysCVar.cpp:

 

idCVar r_bloom( "r_bloom", "0", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_BOOL | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Enable Bloom Post-Process Effects (requires DX9 Compliant Hardware)" );

idCVar r_bloom_blur_mult( "r_bloom_blur_mult", "0.5", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_FLOAT | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Blurred image multiplier for bloom");

idCVar r_bloom_src_mult( "r_bloom_src_mult", "1.0", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_FLOAT, "Source image multiplier for bloom");

idCVar r_bloom_buffer( "r_bloom_buffer", "4", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_INTEGER | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Bloom buffer image size: \n1 = 64x32\n2 = 128x64\n3 = 256x128\n4 = 512x256\n5 = 1024x512\n6 = 2048x1024"); // New by Clone JCD

idCVar r_bloom_contrast_mult( "r_bloom_contrast_mult", "1.55", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_FLOAT | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Contrast multiplier");

idCVar r_bloom_contrast_min( "r_bloom_contrast_min", "0.1", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_FLOAT | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "This is the minimum contrast value when (shift sensitivity based)bloom drops \nWhen shift sensitivty is turned on bloom contrast varies from (constrast_image x r_bloom_contrast_min) to (constrast_image x r_bloom_contrast_mult)");

idCVar r_bloom_shift_delay( "r_bloom_shift_delay", "0", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_INTEGER | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Delay in millisecs for shifting the bloom sensitivity \n0 = No shift sensitivity delay, sensitvity shifts immediately. \n-1 = Disables sensitivity shifting"); // New by Clone JCD

idCVar r_bloom_blurIterations( "r_bloom_blurIterations", "1", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_INTEGER, "Blur iterations for bloom"); // New by Clone JCD

idCVar r_bloom_hud( "r_bloom_hud", "0", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_BOOL | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Enable blooming of the HUD" );

idCVar r_bloom_lightRayScale( "r_bloom_lightRayScale", "1.3", CVAR_GAME | CVAR_FLOAT | CVAR_ARCHIVE, "Brightness scale of light ray effects when bloom is active");

 

The only important ones are:

r_bloom

r_bloom_blur_mult

r_bloom_buffer

r_bloom_contrast_mult

r_bloom_contrast_min

r_bloom_shift_delay

r_bloom_lightRayScale

 

If everyone feels it is not necessary to have bloom setting then fair enough, they can be configured individually through the console, but IMO it is better to have everything in the main menu.

[Springheel]

There is already an option for turning bloom on, even though we weren't going to support it officially. I don't think we need half a dozen other options for tweaking the exact amount of bloom.

[New Horizon]

There is already an option for turning bloom on, even though we weren't going to support it officially. I don't think we need half a dozen other options for tweaking the exact amount of bloom.

 

Agreed, and the default that it turns on should be bare minimum...just to add some mood, but nothing more. It has to be representative of the mod as a whole.

[greebo]

Yes, I saw all those bloom cvars, and I decided to include the bloom on/off switch only. I didn't want to introduce a whole new settings GUI page just for all these distinct bloom sliders, that's just too much.

 

The default bloom settings need to be adjusted fit the 80:20 rule of players wanting bloom switched on in the first place (if they aren't already).

[Dram]

I thought that would be the position taken. Fair enough, well at least the option of on or off is available.

[New Horizon]

I thought that would be the position taken. Fair enough, well at least the option of on or off is available.

 

It's a minimal approach, but it suits the over all mod aesthetic.

[Flanders]

I was just playing jesps airship mission and I got the disappearing menu bug . Could that be because I use use a regular shortcut instead of the tdmlauncher? I do use the latest svn build.

[Springheel]

I was just playing jesps airship mission

 

[greebo]

I was just playing jesps airship mission and I got the disappearing menu bug

Did this happen after loading a saved game?

 

@Springheel: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=8904

[Flanders]

Did this happen after loading a saved game?

I did use quicksaves and a few quickloads, it happened after a quickload IIRC. I can test some more now, anything else I should pay attention to?

[Flanders]

Tried playing the mission with lots of saving and loading in a row, but I didn't get the disappearing menu bug. It seems it only happens if you play the mission for a longer time than a few minutes.

[SneaksieDave]

The 'longer than a few minutes' thing once again makes me suspect the looping menu music as being related in some way. After the music gets hung up and stops looping, the menu issue appears (at least, that was my experience in the past; I haven't had repro of this yet).

[Fidcal]

The objectives menu behaves oddly at first when run from the console. My map has 4 objectives. What I see first is no objectives but an arrow at the bottom. I click that and three of the objectives show. The arrow reverses. Click it again and all 4 objectives show. So it's as if at the start the arrow function thinks it can scroll up one which it does effectively scrolling the top one off the screen even though there is room for all 4. I can then scroll it down again and see all 4 at which point the arrow function is now synched and recognizes that there is no need for the arrow so it disappears.

 

I've not installed this map so it might be related to running it from the console where the objectives menu is not seen prior to the game running.

[greebo]

Yes, running maps from the console is something I didn't exactly plan for - as I figured that people won't do it this way regularly. But it is possible to fix nonetheless.