Comitis Reimagining

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:16 am

Right i've been working on this for a while, ideally it's for a second monitor system but in all honesty it is just fine for a single monitor system thanks to the extra features it boasts.

Secondary HUD (Not so useful on single monitor)
Achievements System
Audible Warnings for certain events, (Cargo full, low fuel)
Tour Guide Feature, for tours or intereactive story telling using triggered way points
Compressed Pilot Bu's and Restores
Cash and flight log (Cash is csv file for import into spreadsheet program)
Saving Screenshots taken with Print Screen automatically to PNG
Note taking functionality, allows you to take quick notes about whatever you like, can insert position and cash into the note for you.
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That's just the for now list, I do intend to add some more, like some route tracking through a system/universe etc when I can.

It's pretty complete but needs a few things, there are place holder graphics in it for instance for the achievements for one and the hud. It will warn you if a system is incomplete but it seems to hum along nicely so far.

I could do with comments and suggestions please and if anyone is willing some tours and graphics etc. I'd really like to make this a useful utillity so please give me your comments.

It's not very big and downloadable bellow from my site. It should be extracted to the same directory as EM. It assumes a few things like where the pilot files are. I haven't currently taught it to check savedir.txt or use the directory in the savedataoptions.txt file it assumes all that information is in the root directory of the game (where the exe file is)

Download Link

Please let me know what you think.

See this forum thread about how to use the savedata.txt file and how to set it up to work.

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Again it's unfinished so the looks aren't as polished as I would like. A lot of the features are available via the buttons so not a lot is showing on the screenie above.

[Edited on 19-1-2011 by Zule]

[Edited on 23-1-2011 by Zule]

[Edited on 25-1-2011 by Zule]

[Edited on 25-1-2011 by Zule]

[Edited on 25-1-2011 by Zule]

soulsacrifice · Post by **soulsacrifice** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:51 am

Amazing work. Looks great. Can't wait to try it out! Thanks

Parapilot · Post by **Parapilot** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:02 am

This really looks like it could evolve into a very useful tool. Way cool Zule!!

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:13 am

If you have an event trigger for waypoints, how about one for elapsed time?

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:19 am

I could probably do that with a second 'type' of Tour Guide. just on elapsed time or has to be moving as well?m Having some trouble working out what speed you're going currently, at least in a way that matches EM, but I can sure tell if you're moving or not lol.

[Edited on 19-1-2011 by Zule]

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:22 am

I was thinking more along the lines of using it for interactive story-telling.

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:25 am

Exactly what do you mean by triggered by time, give me an example see if I understand correctly and it's likely that I can do it. I currently check every second for the position anyway so I already have a time counter available to play with lol, just tell me what you need and I'll have a bash at doing it.

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:09 am

From post: 100392, Topic: tid=7178, author=Eclipse wrote:Let me know when it supports non-standard installs or follows where savedata is placed, then I'll be able to try it.

I'll work on that as a priority it's about time I built that in.

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:06 am

That looks really great Zule.

Got to try it tonight. Excellent work!;)

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:32 am

Right update time, I have changed it to work with non standard installs Eclipse that one is for you

I have also improved the Note taking ability greatly, you can now have rich text notes and it has a prettier editor. Screen shots currently tag with your pilot name, this will become optional later on.

It also reads SaveDataSettings.txt for the directory in which to find the savedata.txt file as well. I've tested this on my system and it appears to work fine.

Pilot backups use the savedir.txt to find the directory or defaults to install dir if not found. That also appears to work, (Let me tell you how I had a heart attack when my game suddenly reset to demo mode!)

More to come soon, same download link as before.

EDIT:
Slight update, I forgot something important in the readme/about file and I messed with the Main UI slightly to make it a little more tidier as you can see from the screenie in first post. I also missed setting the initial directory for the pilot back ups to the savedir.txt directory if it exists as this is where the backups will now be created.

[Edited on 19-1-2011 by Zule]

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:02 am

Glad to hear you like it, it's not all that pretty to look at currently. I'm not so hot on graphical design lol. It's informative though and does what it say's on the tin. I will be adding to it a fair bit in the future with extra features but I want to try to keep the main ui the same size/general layout. Most of the extra forms will show up on the same screen that you place it on. I can make it save position for each window if that is needed?

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:08 am

Will fix that post haste ready for the next update.

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:33 am

New update, because I'm still awake when I should be sleeping - lol.

Added Timed Tours and a short description of how to make tours in the readme html file.
Fixed the target not blanking out
Mussed around with various things to make the app run a little better such as a popup on the tray icon, double click tray icon to hide/show the main ui right click to show menu.
Created nice new menu thingy
Added Story mode option to Tour Guide
Probably more but I've forgotten

Doh! forgot to say update at same download link as first posting, most likely always will be.

As for money decrease sound what's up with it, too loud, to nasty? What sort of thing should I find?

[Edited on 19-1-2011 by Zule]

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:23 pm

There is actually a different sound for decrease and it's worked well in testing here. I will investigate and see if I can duplicate the problem. It's a slightly different chime sound. the sound file is dong.wav in the install directory. If you change it for your own make sure the sound is about 1 sec long or it'll disrupt the update rate.

soulsacrifice · Post by **soulsacrifice** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:50 pm

Ok, tried this out and I noticed a couple of things/have a couple of suggestions.

First of all I think the shield indicator should be reversed i.e. Front shields shown at top and back shields shown at bottom as this is how it is displayed in-game and it feels more natural because the top or front is the way you're facing.

The speed indicator seems to be acting funny, though i'd need to test it more to see what exactly it was doing. (I know this has to be calculated using positions and is not directly taken from the game but it still seemed a bit off as I was moving well over 1500 in one direction and it was showing something like 400).

The timer doesn't seem to be accurate though i'm not sure if this is something you can fix because I assume you're using the game clock. I timed it because it didn't seem to update properly and it seemed to lose about 4-5 seconds over a two minute time period. It would be a cool feature if it works correctly but at the moment it's giving a false reading, for me at least.

I would like to see pilots current coordinate info displayed as well.

Also, i'd change "player name" to "pilot name", adds to the immersion.

Keep up the good work!

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:11 pm

Okay speed is calculated and is giving me a lot of problems so I'm already looking at this.

I can switch around the shield indicators no problems but currently they are lined up with the ship graphic which I thought made more sense, but if enough people think I should switch I will do no problems. I can show current co-ord as well I will add that to the to do.

The timer is accurate-ish but is not using the game clock and instead is using the system clock which isn't always caught at the right moment. Also if the savedata.txt is locked during an update which happens sometimes the timer doesn't update because the proggie assumes the game isn't running. I'm working on solution to this but other than looking for the darn window of evochron I'm not sure what else to do. My app doesn't play well with other apps using the savedata.txt at the moment and I want that to change so I will come up with something over the next few days.

Glad you're using the app, and I'll release something in the next few days, working on a new feature at the moment which is giving me some problems so that's taking a while to fix lol.

soulsacrifice · Post by **soulsacrifice** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:13 pm

You could turn the ship graphic around too so it is facing up/forward, I think most people would want it this way because this is how it is in game and what they're use to.

Had another test with the timer last night and it recorded 8 minutes after 10 minutes of play. Now you've explained how it works, I think it must be because I changed the update rate from 5 seconds to 1, making it less accurate. Perhaps it would help if you could have it only check the game is running a couple of times every couple of minutes? Or simply start the timer when you run the program, and end it when you close it down?

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:44 pm

Quick update to what I've been working on lately.

Cash Graph, it's supposed to help you keep an eye on your incomings and outgoings, not going too well at the moment it works (after a fashion) but needs some modification.

I've done most of the changes SoulSacrifice asked for, other than the timer still messing with ways of checking the game is running. I might say to hell with it and just keep an eye on my program running or run the timer when the game is run from the app, which you can now do.

Not at release level yet, want to get that graph sorted out first, but I may need to release it to some of you richer pilots to really test it out. Math is not my strong point even to the point of plotting things on a graph that scales with your earnings, it's the scaling that is giving me trouble I think.

Quick question, are only people with access to more than one monitor using this? I'm hoping not but it seems like it might be the case.

Zule · Post by **Zule** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:05 am

Working with an overlay on an actual DirectX surface might be a little out of my league though there is another option there I could try lol, but it would be so dependent on res it would be mostly useless. i was hoping the fact that you could hide the main window into a tray resident app with the extra functionality of tours and notes etc would make the app useful to a wider audience. If not I'll keep going anyway as I find it useful for myself lol, I was just hoping it would be used more widely I suppose.

Siege · Post by **Siege** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:08 am

ooh I've been moved, sorry I posted in the wrong place! and yes it's the same person just finally managed to get back into my old account! lol

Siege · Post by **Siege** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:40 am

Right update time:

Added Cash graph, shows the general gain, loss over 18 transactions.
Moved stuff around a little on this one, but the shield indicators match up to the ones on EM now.
Pilot position is now displayed.
Timer should be slightly more responsive let me know if it isn't.
The graph needs a lot of testing by people with serious money so please let me know your thoughts on it.

Download link is same as first post (Which dumb as i am i can't really edit now lol)

Siege · Post by **Siege** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:55 am

Did I forget to mention that they are working?

Timed and Way Point and a Story Mode versions so far. I just need to write a few, there's a working model of story mode included in the zip as well as a naff timed mode one as well.

i would very much like some narration done, I'll see about actually putting pen to paper and writing something then, I will probably do that when I'm more happy with the proggie itself.

Generally I can add a feature fairly quickly unless it throws me for a loop in which case I'm very slow. Timed shows weren't hard all told, I just have yet to find a way to create a type that allows for both. Stuff that slows me down are heavily math based usually or working in 3d gives me a nose bleed math wise too.

EDIT: Had a slight booboo and left in some debug stuff, removed it and reuploaded it. Sorry about that!

[Edited on 21-1-2011 by Siege]

Post by **DaveK** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:58 pm

Hi Siege

First let me say thank you for this mod! It has the potential to be very very useful!

I'm field testing your programme and hope that you find the following helpful;

please rotate the ship graphic so that front is at the top - and move the shield bars so that they match

When I run the program I get a "list index out of bounds(1)" error - though the programme seems to run OK after that

Why are there two bars at the front of the ship?

I don't have my position coordinates underneath the weapons/Nav/shield line although my position does appear at the top (e.g. Glacia), but the dark blue font on the dark blue background is hard to read

I like having the info available on my second monitor but my poor old eyes need a larger font - the size of the speed, name etc would be good! (speed actually is labelled as "speed1"

The contrast between the blue background and the blue lettering for secondary weapons makes it nearly impossible to read

I haven't got a cash graph - do I have to do lots of selling buying before it kicks in?

Excellent idea - thanks again!

Siege · Post by **Siege** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:04 pm

Righto, well the latest download (link at top) will sort out the ship graphic for you straight off, i'll play with the font settings shortly and see what i can do about them. Cash graph is WIP and doesn't work very well yet over certain values for some reason that is driving me totally bannana's I will fix the blue on blue, sorry about that, my bad been meaning to fix that. They are links you see and comply with the html default link coloring. The latest version has the cash graph also though I currently make no guarentee's about how well the stupid thing works and it might well be removed shortly.

Speed has been removed since I just plain couldn't get it to match up with what is said in the game.

Two bars at front of ship are front shield (small) and the larger is the general shield (Hull) integrity. If that one drops to zero watch out! lol.

The list index out of bounds error sounds like your savedatasettings.txt file has not got a second line that tells the game/app where to place the savedata.txt file. Add that even if it is to the same directory as the install and it will stop the error. I will place some error checking in for that on next update I do.

Hope this all helped and thanks for using the util.

Post by **DaveK** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:58 pm

Hi

very quick reply - thanks

The "error" was because I hadn't put the file location in! - doh!

I now have my coordinates

The ship and its bars still feel upside down - for me at least it feels more natural to look down on the ship and have the front at the top - the way I am sitting. Still it's your prog, so its your call!

Will the money graph appear in the bottom black section (under the coordinates)?

The weapons info is still in dark blue on dark blue, as is the descriptive location. The light blue on dark blue is very clear for labels and the green is clear enough for the info

Would it be possible to have the fuel readout in a larger font, it's one that I like to keep an eye on when I get carried away gadding about the universe - running out of fuel after a jump was a lesson well learned!:P Fuel is the one I want to see at a glance - equipment and weapons loadouts don't change during flight so having to squint a bit isn't really a problem

Again thanks for the help and for creating the programme;)

This is turning into a cool tool:D

[Edited on 23-1-2011 by DaveK]