GUI Modding Questions

[Marching Thru Georgia]

How does one stack more than one draw condition for a button? For example, I want a button drawn for an infantry brigade commander from side 1.

[RebBugler]

You can have only one draw condition per button, or window. What I did was make a draw condition on one layer, a window, then stack a layer on top in the same space with another draw condition, a button. Sometimes I used three layers with three draw conditions. Check out the Grog Toolbar, numerous examples of this method.

However we have a snafu with what you want to do in your example. Officers call no unit type, they just call a zero. So, there's no way to differentiate inf, cav, and art officers. For your example all you can call now is the officer's level or side. I have requested this adjustment in a patch and if made available then I will fix the Grog Toolbar appropriately.

When folks see charge on the artillery officers' toolbar, form square on the cavalry officers' toolbar, and other similar irregularities, hope they'll understand the dilemma of currently making these adjustments.

Level 6 is covered, they call the correct unit types, 1 for inf, 2 for cav, and 3 for art.

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Nothing like making an easy job hard. :blink: The system used in the previous game was far more elegant and sophisticated. With just a couple lines of code an entirely new toolbar could be adapted from another. MyGUI seems to be geared more towards simple toolbars one finds in RPGs.

I'm surprised to read that there is no way to access the officer's unit type since they are in unitglobal and even in the new file unittype. That really makes for amateurish looking toolbars.

[RebBugler]

It was explained that we had to abandon the previous gui system because of the way it handled, or didn't handle fonts. Any further explanation or specifics will have to be explained by Norb, my expertise is shallow in this area.

I too balked initially at this new system, primarily because an entirely new system had to be learned, and as a team member, obligated to explain such. Now, having designed the Grog Toolbar I have a good understanding of the system and am fairly confident I can help guide others toward their own designs.

True, MyGui has introduced new issues as it interacts with csv files retained from the previous system, especially modding. Hopefully these issues can be resolved in a timely manner. At present my primary concerns are the fact that mod included Layout files won't load when checked in Modifications, once checked and enabled the game must be restarted for them to apply. And, the unit type snafu already discussed, as the unittype.csv correctly shows unit types for officers, but MyGui doesn't interpret this. Down the line, as modders and the team dig deeper, there may be more issues, but I know of no others at present.

Personally I like the new system, primarily because it's challenging and my old brain needs new challenges to keep it from becoming dormant. Don't know either way about it's sophistication, elegance, or gearing towards simpler toolbars, but I do know we've barely touched the surface in reference to the number of tools and functions it has available that haven't even begun to be tapped yet. However, with the lack of documentation with this Russian app, will we ever figure it all out, and reach it's potential?

Regardless, I'm not balking, at least for now. I'm diving in and trying to figure everything out with the tools presented. And striving to grasp the Brave New World of MyGui to improve battlefield representations and interaction, for the end results of ultimate immersion and gameplay...isn't that what design and modding are all about, and our passion for doing so?

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Is there a way to test if a certain formtype in unitglobal is blank? For instance, if I don't want every infantry unit to be able to skirmish, I would leave formtype 6 blank. If it is blank, I don't want the skirmish button to appear. Can it be done?

[mitra76]

No, there's not variable for check the data in this field as far I know