greetings developers and community.
i’ll start by saying that this is not a priority. and quite possibly, something that should come after entities improvements and others improvements to begin with. but it’s a feature that i would love to see, and i believe one that would benefit some.
today i propose a suggestion that i find my self, somewhat needing in order to streamline the explanation parts onto players needed to inform them about our mods settings, and to simply add a few aspects of our modded works.
what i’m talking about, is
Main Suggestion
the allowance to let modders place text based on modders preferences and needs.
reason being, using the briefing text sometimes can lead to an over-excessive wall of text of informations needed to explain mechanics and what not:
which as you can see, the tips have been cutted because of the limits and what not.
( screenshot based on @tommyZZM mod. granted, in his case he didn’t typed too much. and those are settings related to the mod it self as parameters and what not. hence makes sense to put them there )
but the point is, there only so much that you can type in the briefing. and would be apreciated if we could type on our maps to save us some characters and what not.
which leads us modders to create forums thread about it just for being able to link all features, changes, etc.
but, those will not reach everyone.
hence, to make things more organized and compacted, i came up with two methods:
first method:
i would like to see a node where we can place 3d / 2d texts in the map to convey " simple " informations without the needing of pressing f1 ( which many people still don’t do ) and add more variety to our maps.
similar to what’s inside the: smn_build_sign_post_a ( up to smn_build_sign_post_i ) rendinsts that are/have text:
in this node, modders within the panel should be able to decide the font & the color ( although, black and white colors will mostly do for many situations ) and " shape " ( more like, to create the roundy effect like the smn_build_sign_post_d rendinst ) and just like any rendinst, people could then decide to place it where they want like a normal node, decide the rotation, scale it up and down, and what not.
or,
2nd Method:
to make it somewhat simple ( although, tideous ), add the missing alphabet letters in the rendinsts:
( A to Z, Cyrillic symbles/text, Japanese, chinese and what not ) as rendinsts:
Why? and where would you use this?
as explained, to add text visually in our mission instead of adding it to the briefing node.
for example, modders could add texts for armories, thanks credit, define areas of interest. / objectives.
and many, many other uses.
visual examples:
this; is ugly:
this, is also ugly:
Those, are much better: ( and would help to create )
Convey simpler informations:
Better board messages:
warning messages
and, well, you get the rest.
but ideally, is to have some choices when having to name things. just to not clutter once again the briefing tab.
and, additionally, it’s also useful to those mods that have minimal hud forced upon.
hence, to avoid players having to stop each time and check the map / read again the objectives in the briefing area, they could watch the text instead next to buildings and what not.
used as guidelines. or point out an armery / garage what not without the need to mention it in the briefing.
but, i’m running in circle. that’s all from me. cheers.
