Hotkey to display techtree map

[Omega]

Because mods are growingly complex, and many already have a techtree map, such as Military's here:

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[sup]1240Kb 1400x1050[/sup]
What I'd like is a hotkey we can press in game to bring up a pre-created image so players can see what produces what in an easy map form. Other games like civilization, etc have done this before, and pretty much all newer mods have released a trechtree map at one time or another. Presumably the command would be ignored (or perhaps it would be better to have a console message stating that there is no map) if the image does not exist. Otherwise, it could just be a specified image in the faction XML. Preferably at least 1024x768 in size, though it would be nice if scaling is possible (the military example above is 1400x1050, but can be scaled to 1024x768 and maintain viewability).

Pros:

• Easy to see what produces and upgrades what
• Good for players new to that faction

Cons:

• You tell me!

Discussion below:

[ultifd]

Sounds good, of course. But where would this be done? In a menu, or in game...or both?

[Psychedelic_hands]

Sounds good, of course. But where would this be done? In a menu, or in game...or both?

in game

I wouldn't mind this... but I think it could be more than an image..... I haven't looked at the new widget shiz yet, but I bet we could have things like unit descriptions when you hover the mouse over an icon (like in the actually game.)

[ultifd]

Oh, I didn't see that.
Hmm...I'm leaning towards in a menu.

[Omega]

Depends on what you mean by "menu". If you mean the short menu you see in game when you press escape, then sure, but if you mean the menu before you start the game, then no, as that is not helping the players who are playing that very faction.

And a still image can still have mouse-over tooltips very easily by using an image map. Many webpages can do this, for example (it's a standard part of HTML). The best example I can think of is facebook, where you can tag the people in an image so when you hover over them, you can see their name and click to see their profile page. In this case, it could just raise the standard description by taking it from the faction language file (GAE mods should already have descriptions for units inside this file anyway). Naturally, the tooltips would be optional.

[ultifd]

I mean the "short menu", as then it would probably cause less problems for multiplayer, later on.

[Omega]

I mean the "short menu", as then it would probably cause less problems for multiplayer, later on.

I don't see how, but I'm fine with it's location being there. In fact, that could be better, as it'd be easier for a new player to see than an (unknown) hotkey.

[ultifd]

I mean the "short menu", as then it would probably cause less problems for multiplayer, later on.

I don't see how, but I'm fine with it's location being there. In fact, that could be better, as it'd be easier for a new player to see than an (unknown) hotkey.

Well whenever this is implemented, it would have to auto-pause the game somehow...or else the player might get invaded while they are analyzing the map. With multiplayer you can't pause, so...

[Omega]

I mean the "short menu", as then it would probably cause less problems for multiplayer, later on.

I don't see how, but I'm fine with it's location being there. In fact, that could be better, as it'd be easier for a new player to see than an (unknown) hotkey.

Well whenever this is implemented, it would have to auto-pause the game somehow...or else the player might get invaded while they are analyzing the map. With multiplayer you can't pause, so...

It can still be available for multiplayer though, they'll just have to be sure not to waste too much time looking at it. You'd expect that if someones going to play a faction in multiplayer, though, that they'd at least have at least a bit of skill with the faction, so wouldn't need to stare at it forever.

[ultifd]

I mean the "short menu", as then it would probably cause less problems for multiplayer, later on.

I don't see how, but I'm fine with it's location being there. In fact, that could be better, as it'd be easier for a new player to see than an (unknown) hotkey.

Well whenever this is implemented, it would have to auto-pause the game somehow...or else the player might get invaded while they are analyzing the map. With multiplayer you can't pause, so...

It can still be available for multiplayer though, they'll just have to be sure not to waste too much time looking at it. You'd expect that if someones going to play a faction in multiplayer, though, that they'd at least have at least a bit of skill with the faction, so wouldn't need to stare at it forever.

Perhaps, I'd expect people with skill to usually not view the techtree map anyways. It's just that with multiplayer, sometimes enemies are much more cunning and I think every second matters then. Similar in singleplayer, though it's not that bad since it's just cpus. That's why I think it needs to auto-pause...

[Mr War]

Seeing another factions tech tree ingame would also be cool. Image size should bs small enough that you can still see the game going on in the background, like peripheral vision so that you can sense if you are being invaded.

Just a jpg like the loading screen in MG

[Omega]

Seeing another factions tech tree ingame would also be cool. Image size should bs small enough that you can still see the game going on in the background, like peripheral vision so that you can sense if you are being invaded.

Except they would also have to be big, because otherwise complex factions won't be able to show the techtree. Perhaps you'd be able to scroll if the image is too large for your resolution?

Just a jpg like the loading screen in MG

Or PNG.

[ChupaReaper]

I'd imagine my tech tree images would be pretty big but scrolling up and down them would work fine, only downside is that these are large image that could take up a lot of texture space so maybe xml defined ones would be better, that way we can use the already loaded unit icons, etc.

[Omega]

Just to prove an example of the size we are looking at here, this is Military's outdated techtree map. It's very outdated, and may actually have to be bigger for the next release, due to a fair number of new units that are added, but overly, it goes to show the degree of quality one would expect from a techtree map. Not some scribbled mass of red text with lines drawn with a brush tool instead of a line tool on white background, but actually with some resemblance to the theme of the faction. The next techtree map will replace the worlds Military with UNATF, add an UN logo, and show images of each unit instead of just buttons.

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