full PLE mod for BUG

[ruff_hi]

Sorry I haven't progressed this much lately - RL study / work / relationships / dog walks (not in priority order ) have to take precedence over civ.

I've been thinking about the PLE filters (show only air units, show only healthy units, etc) and I think that we can still do this to some degree while maintaining the generic civ4 selection process. I was thinking that we could do one of the following:

• grey out any unit that doesn't pass the filter (similar to a an AIs unit)
• completely leave the slot for a unit that doesn't pass the filter blank
• pulse (similar to suggested worker actions) units that do pass the filter
• remove the unit icon but put a light green box there (the same as the promo frame) for units that don't pass the filter

Alt and Ctrl-click wouldn't be filtered so you could still pick up units that you are trying to filter ... but you could use hunt and click.

 

[EmperorFool]

grey out any unit that doesn't pass the filter (similar to a an AIs unit)

I really like this option. It will be easy to spot when you have a filtered unit selected so you can remove it if you want. In fact, we could add a new button that removes filtered units from the selection list. Hmm, if that works, we could even have an option that does this every time after you select units (I think).

 

[_alphaBeta_]

Sorry I haven't progressed this much lately - RL study / work / relationships / dog walks (not in priority order ) have to precedence over civ.

I'bve been thinking about the PLE filters (show only air units, show only healthy units, etc) and I think that we can still do this to some degree while maintaining the generic civ4 selection process. I was thinking that we could do one of the following:

• grey out any unit that doesn't pass the filter (similar to a an AIs unit)
• completely leave the slot for a unit that doesn't pass the filter blank
• pulse (similar to suggested worker actions) units that do pass the filter
• remove the unit icon but put a light green box there (the same as the promo frame) for units that don't pass the filter

Alt and Ctrl-click wouldn't be filtered so you could still pick up units that you are trying to filter ... but you could use hunt and click.

I guess this comes down to personal preference. I never use the PLE filters (except in the beginning with 12monkeys on original Civ4), and I think we have a similar dislike for it. That said, I'm trying to look at this objectively:

There's nothing really wrong with this idea, but I think your time could be better spent. Personally, I don't think it's necessary, but I'll continue to help you test it if you go in this direction. I think it's already painfully obvious which units are air/naval/land by the grouping already present in your current design, as it was in the unaltered plot list of BTS.

The colored dots further illustrate who's wounded and you even have health bars to show how badly. Plus you have CTRL+H that came with BTS to instantly highlight wounded units. A quick regrouping, and it's very simple to invert the selection and move out the units who aren't wounded to continue the advance.

Foreign units are already grayed out. I'm not sure why I would ever want to show foreign units by themselves on the plot. Even if I did, they're already grouped and greyed separately.

The colored dots already show status as they did in BTS.

Promotions are easy to spot, even in large stacks, with the blue outline. Same for the upgrade arrow.

If I ever were to use the filters it would be to quickly select all the units that survived the filters. EX: I want to move all military, full health, ground units to plot X. Your last statement says this functionality would be lacking. If we're going to have to hunt and click anyway, I don't see why the current visual aids aren't just as helpful.

My conclusion: devote your precious time to finishing off the list of issues & required items and call it a day. You achieved what you wanted: a fast plot list with the best qualities of the PLE.

 

[ruff_hi]

Hey - ab - don't get me wrong. Replicating filters is way, way down the list. Getting a working BUG unit plot is the first goal. I'd be quite happy to say 'on your bike, sunshine' to the filters and the various stacking options found in PLE. If people really want them, use PLE.

 

[ruff_hi]

BUG Unit Plot Items Required

See the SVN for the latest version (https://civ4bull.svn.sourceforge.net...g/branches/PLE). Note that the unit scroll white arrows are NOT WORKING.

Update as of Revision 2166

1. unit button (done)
2. selected unit yellow highlight (done)
3. other player units in non enabled mode (done)
4. Promo Frame (done)
5. Dot information (done)
6. Upgrade arrow (done)
7. Mission (done)
8. Health Bar (done)
9. Hide Health bar if in battle (done)
10. White arrows if more than x units (x changes with resolution) (under development)
11. Number of units per row changes with resolution (done)
12. City screen up (done) - but the white arrows are broken
13. Normal unit actions (issue orders, upgrade, promote, group, degroup, etc) (done)
14. movement bar (outstanding)
15. ALT click to only select units of similar zone (all air, all ground, etc) (outstanding)
16. 12Monkey's movement plot display (outstanding)

Reported Issues

• (fixed in 2108) Promotions appear behind the unit graphics. The attached Calvary example is no big deal, but other units cut off half the promotions. Switching back to vanilla mode corrected the problem as expected
• (fixed in 2103) Plot list leaks through on the spaceship completion screen. (I'll try to check if that always happened. It's not a big deal since the popups in the upper right corner do the same thing)
• (fixed in 2103) CTRL and ALT clicks deselect the current unit if it was already selected. If I have an infantry selected (with yellow outline) and CTRL click on it, I'd expect to see all the infantry in the stack selected. That happens, except the Infantry I CTRL clicked on is now deselected. Similar erroneous behavior with ALT clicks. After more tinkering I think the unit is selected (as far as the game is concerned) but the yellow outline disappears
• Possible enhancement: ALT click on ground units select all ground units, not air units. This behavior has been around since vanilla civ4
• Possible enhancement: It would be nice if the right-click movement indicator actually displayed how far a stack can move over railroads. See the last two screenshots below
• (fixed in 2103) Hiding the interface (via ALT+I) doesn't hide the plot list. May be related to the issue of the plot list not disappearing on its own if you switch back to Vanilla or PLE mode. A screen refresh via ALT+TAB is necessary otherwise the BUG plot list turns into a ghost
• (fixed for real in 2106) Great general star dot non-functional
• (fixed in 2103) Plot list should hide when fully zoomed out (in world view)
• (fixed in 2108) Non current players units are missing their health bars
• (fixed in 2166) Quirky highlight behaviour, especially when loading game
• (fixed in 2166) Yellow highlight for foreign units
• (fixed in 2166) Missing health bars for foreign units

 

[_alphaBeta_]

J. (fixed in 2166) Quirky highlight behaviour, especially when loading game
K. (fixed in 2166) Yellow highlight for foreign units
L. (fixed in 2166) Missing health bars for foreign units

Need to beat it up some more, but initial testing looks good.

 

[ruff_hi]

good - just need to nut out that silly white arrows when you get tons of units, fix the city screen and we might be good to go for a public release.

 

[ruff_hi]

BUG Unit Plot Items Required

I spent some time nutting out what Civ does with these white arrows (only happens when you have too many units on the plot to display. Finally figured it out only to work out that my basic approach was a little broken. Luckily, I found a quick shortcut and not (I think) the little white arrows are working on the maininterface. I haven't tried them on the city screen yet. See the SVN for the latest version (https://civ4bull.svn.sourceforge.net...g/branches/PLE).

Update as of Revision 2172

1. unit button (done)
2. selected unit yellow highlight (done)
3. other player units in non enabled mode (done)
4. Promo Frame (done)
5. Dot information (done)
6. Upgrade arrow (done)
7. Mission (done)
8. Health Bar (done)
9. Hide Health bar if in battle (done)
10. White arrows if more than x units (x changes with resolution) (done)
11. Number of units per row changes with resolution (done)
12. City screen up (done) - haven't checked the white arrows but they might work
13. Normal unit actions (issue orders, upgrade, promote, group, degroup, etc) (done)
14. movement bar (outstanding)
15. ALT click to only select units of similar zone (all air, all ground, etc) (outstanding)
16. 12Monkey's movement plot display (outstanding)

Reported Issues

• (fixed in 2108) Promotions appear behind the unit graphics. The attached Calvary example is no big deal, but other units cut off half the promotions. Switching back to vanilla mode corrected the problem as expected
• (fixed in 2103) Plot list leaks through on the spaceship completion screen. (I'll try to check if that always happened. It's not a big deal since the popups in the upper right corner do the same thing)
• (fixed in 2103) CTRL and ALT clicks deselect the current unit if it was already selected. If I have an infantry selected (with yellow outline) and CTRL click on it, I'd expect to see all the infantry in the stack selected. That happens, except the Infantry I CTRL clicked on is now deselected. Similar erroneous behavior with ALT clicks. After more tinkering I think the unit is selected (as far as the game is concerned) but the yellow outline disappears
• Possible enhancement: ALT click on ground units select all ground units, not air units. This behavior has been around since vanilla civ4
• Possible enhancement: It would be nice if the right-click movement indicator actually displayed how far a stack can move over railroads. See the last two screenshots below
• (fixed in 2103) Hiding the interface (via ALT+I) doesn't hide the plot list. May be related to the issue of the plot list not disappearing on its own if you switch back to Vanilla or PLE mode. A screen refresh via ALT+TAB is necessary otherwise the BUG plot list turns into a ghost
• (fixed for real in 2106) Great general star dot non-functional
• (fixed in 2103) Plot list should hide when fully zoomed out (in world view)
• (fixed in 2108) Non current players units are missing their health bars
• (fixed in 2166) Quirky highlight behaviour, especially when loading game
• (fixed in 2166) Yellow highlight for foreign units
• (fixed in 2166) Missing health bars for foreign units

 

[ruff_hi]

PLE / BUG Unit Plot enhancements folded back into branch - r2173

 

[_alphaBeta_]

I haven't tried them on the city screen yet.

BUG r2174 (which includes PLE branch r2172): I have no plot list on the city screen.

 

[ruff_hi]

so - guess it is working perfectly then. Oh well - something for me to look at. Does it work for Vanilla and PLE draw methods?

 

[_alphaBeta_]

PLE and Vanilla draw methods are okay.
BUG draw method doesn't show on the city screen.

Clicking the city bar is fine from the main view, but opening the city view is a problem.

 

[Civahaulic]

those links you posted to sourceforge are chopped and don't work.

 

[ruff_hi]

those links you posted to sourceforge are chopped and don't work.

They are also now out of date. We deleted the BUG Unit Plot branch. It got folded back into the trunk.

 

[ruff_hi]

Clicking the city bar is fine from the main view, but opening the city view is a problem.

Are you saying opening the city screen when using BUG draw method results in a crash?

 

[_alphaBeta_]

No, the plot list is simply missing, that's all.

Does it show up for you?

 

[ruff_hi]

Ok - guess I have something still to look at. I also got a report that Ctrl and Alt unit selection isn't working on PLE either.

 

[_alphaBeta_]

I also got a report that Ctrl and Alt unit selection isn't working on PLE either.

Looks accurate. CTRL or ALT clicking causes the plot list to disappear when using the PLE draw method. You need to click on a stack once again to make it reappear.

 

[EmperorFool]

Odd, for me the plot list flashes but the unit selection doesn't change. In any case, it's borked.

 

[ruff_hi]

Odd, for me the plot list flashes but the unit selection doesn't change. In any case, it's borked.

fixed in r2182