[23:22] IzNoGoD: eat poo-poo IW
[23:22] IzNoGoD: i got rotating of hud elems working.

And thats about it right now guys.

No need to manually create a lot of rotated images anymore :)


How-to (quick n dirty):
- You need to have an image that already is in .iwi, preferably square (non-square images get stretched)
- Name it something with exactly 15 letters.
- Create a background for this image, same size as the image used above (also square). Give it a 9 char name.
- Now for the tricky part. Find the material files called "hudstopwatch" and "hudstopwatchneedle" and rename the first one to whatever you like (12 chars though), and rename the second one to exactly the same name, but add "needle" to the end. (so a total of 18 chars)
- Open up both files in some program like notepad++. Scroll to the end of the file, notice the hudstopwatchneedle and stopwatchneedle for the "hudstopwatchneedle" file.
Replace the first of those references with the name of the material file (18 char, ending in needle) and the second with the name of the actual image file that has to be rotated (15 char).
Do the same for the other material file, but remember to use the 12 and 9 char filenames here
- Now put the images and the material files in the appropriate folders
- Take a look at sd.gsc: see that both hudstopwatch and hudstopwatchneedle shaders are being precached.
This means you have to precache both YOUR images too
- Scroll to the following part in sd.gsc:

showPlayerBombTimer()
{
	timeleft = (level.bombtimer - (getTime() - level.bombtimerstart) / 1000);

	if(timeleft > 0)
	{
		self.bombtimer = newClientHudElem(self);
		self.bombtimer.x = 6;
		self.bombtimer.y = 76;
		self.bombtimer.horzAlign = "left";
		self.bombtimer.vertAlign = "top";
		self.bombtimer setClock(timeleft, level.bombtimer, "hudStopwatch", 48, 48);
	}
}

The most important line here is:

		self.bombtimer setClock(timeleft, level.bombtimer, "hudStopwatch", 48, 48);

Take a look at the appropriate reference for this function:
http://www.zeroy.com/script/hud/setclock.htm
If you set the full time really high and reset the clock every 0.05 seconds, you can control the angle your image is held under, or just give it a spin with a low total time and let it just go round.

This opens up a LOT of possibilities for modders.

PS: this write-up was done really quick, and should not be made a reference for future generations. If someone has some time to spare and feels like doing a rewrite: please feel free to do so.

For all hungarian readers: if you do not understand a word i said above, please, feel free to NOT contact me about this. You wont understand me then either.

For all dogs reading this: bark bark bark. Good dog.

Very open-minded solution. Good human!

nice idea to solve that!, i'll give it a try later,



Those lines made my day

edited on Jul. 17, 2012 09:12 am by pluxy

hack of the year +1!

IzNoDog, great idea!

The only reason for the limitations on filenames is that the assets manager doesnt produce a proper, rotatable material file.

You really need to edit the stock material files, and without much knowledge of those things, you have to keep the amount of characters in both filenames the same.

The "needle" part in those filenames seems hardcoded, as setclock() never requires an additional needle-shader.

IzNoGoD writes...

It can't be hardcoded if can you can change the materials file name (even if you keep the right number of letters). Hardcoded would mean it would insist on using "hudstopwatchneedle" and nothing else.

What is happening is that you aren't getting the Asset Manager settings right. These can be tricky, it took me a year to find out exactly the right ones for the material file setting for glowing xmodels (using "corona"). In the past I've resorted to hex editing the material file header info to match one IW had made because I couldn't figure out exactly how they had done it. You could try doing the same here:

1. create your custom materials file in the standard way, as a 2d colormap materials, with any number of letters in the name that you like.
2. Open hudstopwatchneedle in a good Hex editor.
3. Also open your new materials file.
4. Now, comparing the 2 together, look at the bit numbers in the header of hudstopwatchneedle and edit the ones in the header of your new materials which are different from those in hudstopwatchneedle.

This will change any setting to match those in hudstopwatchneedle and should give you the ability to create materials with any number of letters in the name but preserve the right Asset Manger settings.

Or, alternatively, you could spend a couple of hours/days/weeks trying different settings in Asset Manager till you stumble on the right combination.

As with everything in this modding lark, it's all trial and error, with most of it being error.

edited on Jul. 18, 2012 05:46 am by Tally

Or, I could just go with 15/9 chars in the filename and dont waste my time on trying to get it to work with other filenamelengths.

LOLOLOL THANKS TALLY! :D

Now i got it xD

i created 2 material files a time ago named "hud_indicator" and "hud_indicatorneedle" and it is working as the normal "hudstopwatch" one

serthy writes...

I was certain it could be done. Perhaps if you shared the Asset Manager settings, IznoGod will be able to take advantage of them?

huh? it was a simple 2d material with no special settings on it