assets for research matrix arrows????

from Sins Forums

Anybody know where the research matrix "arrows" are placed in to the matrix?

 

I would like to mod a couple, and delete others.  I have found the "ResearchScreen.window "arrow brushes fine.  Just can't find which file(s) control their input into the matrix block itself.

 

   eg.    arrowBrushes
            Right1 "ResearchWindowArrowRight1"

            researchWindowLocation

            block 0

            pos [ 7 , 0 ]

(I'm guessing it will be something similar to tech icons???)

 

                                                        

Thanks in advance,

 

AS

modding
6,489 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I believe the arrows are automatic. Just remove the prerequisite to the research you don't want an arrow to.

Or, if you want to mod their appearance, they are in BackdropInGame.tga in the textures folder.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
The .brush files map the tga contents into their designations (like ResearchWindowArrowRight1). I think the right brush file for arrows is Screens-InGame.brush, but I'm not 100% positive.

You gotta use the ones included in the mod pack, since the default ones are binary also :)
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
You need to Calculate the Arrows for yourself. Each research has a Block, Row and Col like this

researchWindowLocation
block 0
pos [ 3 , 0 ]

now you go to the Research which is the Prerequisite and calculate how much you need to go Up,Down, Right, BlockUp or BlockDown and then Add the Number you Calculated to it.

Research
researchWindowLocation
block 0
pos [ 4 , 0 ]

Prerequisite
researchWindowLocation
block 0
pos [ 3 , 1 ]

this would be ResearchWindowUp1Right1 this needs to be included in the ResearchScreen.window and on top of all in the Scrren-InGame.brushes file.


In the Brushes file you save the correct position (in the TGA Picture) of the Arrow you created and also the FileName which TGA includes the Arrow.

The biggest Problem for this is, that the Names they used in the firstplace. It couldn't get any more complex than that. Instead of simply first check Right then up then down it's all mixed-up ... eg. ResearchWindowRight1Down1 but ResearchWindowUp1Right1. I guess to save the information where the arrow starts from (like first up and then Right) .. so i think for more complex Arrows you should check if there is another Research in the Way for one or the other type of Arrow.

For I've already done a program which reads all research Data and shows it like in the game i may be able to help you with this. If you need help, that is.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks for the responses.


Yes!!! They are automatically generated based on prerequisites...that makes things really simple!

After I read Uzii's post, I realized I only had to have proper coodinates with no obstructions to generate the tga arrows.(like Tarnal said for those scratching their heads)

And to Annatar the brushes are in "ResearchScreen.window ", but are not needed as they are auto assets (unless you want to actually mod the arrows themselves)


I spent a couple hours trying to find an actual placing file associated with the arrows  :NOTSURE: , when all I had to do was delete a prereequisite to discover my problem.....geeesh!!



Thanks to all again,


As
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Technically, the brush usage is in the window files, but the definition for them is in the .brush files ;)

Glad you got it working, I was actually confused about what you were asking first, thinking you wanted to create custom ones :)
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
...... thinking you wanted to create custom ones
End of quote





That gives me tech tree ideas for later... ;) 



Now would you be able to point to more than one brush type for arrows? Say, different colours for different research?


As
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
I'm not entirely sure, I haven't looked at it too much. There are a lot of global things that are one way only, so I don't know specifically if you can use different arrows for different research.

Basically the way it works is like this:

You have your .tga file with a bunch of stuff thrown in (I forget which one the arrows are in). You have your .brush file that says "Hey, take this box of pixels from this file, and call it ResearchArrowRight1", and then you have your .window file that says "Oh, we have ResearchArrowRight1 now, here's where it goes".

Check it out sometime, it's not too bad to figure out. The .brush file specifies:

- name given to the object
- type (like, for buttons, there's normal, disabled, clicked, hovered over or something like that)
- .tga file to use
- pixel box within the .tga to use for the object.

The pixelbox is basically pixel coords for the image chunk to use, in the [x,y,i,k] format. X,Y is the top left corner as the starting point, and i,k are basically length and width of the box in pixels.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
This is a Tool I'm programming. It is far from being done. Just wanted to show, that you can read all researches out and display them properly if your want.


Download

I put it in a nice Installer. All necessary files (the research Entitys, brushes and the English.str) are included. However you need to have Sins installed for this because of the TGA files (80 MB was a bit too much ^^) It will read out the Registry Key to find the Folder.