Visual impairment Hud enhancements

[PaulB]

Seejay posted some Hud enhancements modifications I made for people who have difficulties with some of the Hud items and color shades on his web site.

http://www.evochron2.junholt.se/mods/Pa ... l_mods.zip

[Edited on 6-18-2014 by PaulB]

[_-Caleb-_]

Thanks Paul

[DaveK]

Downloaded and going to give it a try!

[DaveK]

It certainly increases the clarity for me! Thanks Paul.

I use a modded HUD and needed to create targetshadows to match the new targets. (the original targetshadow images were quite a bit bigger than the new ones. You might have to do this if you have targetshadow files in your HUD folder already

It's very easy to do. For each targetshadow file you need to create:

1. take the target file and convert it to a negative image
2. next convert it to B&W
3. next blur it (I use gaussian blur) - aim to match the blur on other shadow files
4. then adjust the grey level to match that of other shadow files.
5. finally export the file as a 128x128 png file
   [/list=1] It takes longer to describe than to do!
   
   The main shadowfile is called targetshadow.png
   
   

[PaulB]

It certainly increases the clarity for me! Thanks Paul.

I use a modded HUD and needed to create targetshadows to match the new targets. (the original targetshadow images were quite a bit bigger than the new ones. You might have to do this if you have targetshadow files in your HUD folder already

It's very easy to do. For each targetshadow file you need to create:

1. take the target file and convert it to a negative image
2. next convert it to B&W
3. next blur it (I use gaussian blur) - aim to match the blur on other shadow files
4. then adjust the grey level to match that of other shadow files.
5. finally export the file as a 128x128 png file
   [/list=1] It takes longer to describe than to do!
   
   The main shadowfile is called targetshadow.png
   
   

What is their purpose??? I've never quite grasp that.
And I've only worried about it where there was a shadow mask for one of them already in the Custom Kit. Otherwise I just ignored them. I can't tell a difference between the original game images and the ones I mod'ed on my display - maybe cause I'm not sure what to look for.

[Marvin]

A good way to determine if a shadow is needed is to approach a planet with overcast clouds. Often, without the shadow, elements will disappear when viewed over a white background. The pitch ladder is a good example ... if the shadow doesn't match the tic marks on the ladder, the tic marks will disappear and the shadow will show up in the wrong places when your ship flies through a bright area of space or a cloud bank.

[DaveK]

My original target boxes had four curved corners.

The file below shows two ships on screen - the main target (in yellow) has the new targetshadow.png file (created from your target file) and a second ship (in green) using the old targetshadow2.png file. Without changing the target shadows all the ships had the four thick grey curved corners round them.



Next step for me is to create the other targetshadow files!

[PaulB]

My original target boxes had four curved corners.

The file below shows two ships on screen - the main target (in yellow) has the new targetshadow.png file (created from your target file) and a second ship (in green) using the old targetshadow2.png file. Without changing the target shadows all the ships had the four thick grey curved corners round them.



Next step for me is to create the other targetshadow files!

Ok, If I understood correctly what Vice told me, if the changes I made to the Grayscale Hud items from the Custom Kit were only Color enhancements and not changes in the image design then I wouldn't have to add Shadow mask since they would continue to use the EM default shadows (for items that have shadows) so that's why I didn't worry about mask. The only ones I changed were the Targets I added the R Y & G letters to and I doubt if that would make a great difference missing from the original Shadow mask.

If you are using a custom Hud that had it's own shadow mask AND you were to use my mods then I think if you just (backup) and delete the Shadows you had been using then EM would revert to using the Default shadows (for the Target icons anyway)
If that's not the case let me know so I will "know".

[Edited on 6-20-2014 by PaulB]

[Edited on 6-20-2014 by PaulB]

[Edited on 6-20-2014 by PaulB]

[DaveK]

That describes it nicely - adding the enhancements to the default HUD doesn't need changes - adding the enhancements to a modified HUD might need changes. If you can see strange shadows just add/edit the shadowtarget files.

The minor inconvenience is more than worth the chance to really fine tune your HUD, mixing and matching from other HUD's or editing or creating your own files for the bits you want to change