IMPORTANT NOTE: Read the Readme! If your particular screen width (pixels) is not already in the list within the .font file, add a new line for your screen width as instructed. I think things will work OK without an exactly correct value, the nearest screen width entry probably being used. But being correct is worth the small trouble. And don't be afraid to try different font sizes if you don't particularly like mine.
Get it here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lthnn2isq6tmw4r/%2521_%2521_%2521_HUD_icon_size_and_transparency.7z/fileFrom the included readme file:
Set the HUD icon font size and opacity to taste, by WxTech
At higher screen resolutions distant planes become increasingly harder to spot. This can lead to the desire to use HUD icons in order to compensate as a concession to playability. But the stock HUD icons are awfully easily visible, to point of having one feel that their use is a 'cheat'. Now you can set the visibility of these icons, making them MUCH more subtle and hence not as big a help. I use icons all the time, and here is my solution.
You can adjust things to your own taste!
Note that some mods, like NG_HUD, include the same files. Either replace those files with these, or put this mod higher in your mods folder listing so that this has priority.
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HUD icons for planes are set by the file, arialSmallZ.font. In mine, the contents:
[ClassInfo]
ClassName TTTextureFont
[TTFFile]
// for HUD plane icons; kept as small as practicable
// Il-2-Arial.ttf
arial.ttf
[CharSize]
1024 7 //8
1152 8
1280 8 //10
1600 8 //12
1920 8
2048 8 //12
2560 8
[_CodePage]
ascii
// eof
The stock font is (or was, when I did this years ago) Il-2-Arial.ttf, but I have disabled it with the preceding "//" characters. I now use font arial.ttf. If you don't like it, put "//" characters ahead of mine and remove the "//" preceding the old stock font. I can't recall the differences after all the years since I did this.
I include the actual arial.ttf file in case your game doesn't already have it.
The numerous lines in section [CharSize] set the font size based on the monitor's pixel size in width. Note how I've reduced them fairly significantly. If you use a screen pixel width not appearing here, simply add a new line. For example, if your display width is, say, 3,180 pixels, add a line like this:
3180 8
Any screen resolutions you never use can be ignored. Indeed, they could even be deleted. For the resolution you do use, you can experiment with different font sizes, such as 7, 9, 10.
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A mat file controls the drawing properties. Default.mat (not included here) is the base file, with each individual mat file having any differing, particular settings. Here is my arialSmallZ.mat file contents:
[ClassInfo]
ClassName TMaterial
BasedOn default.mat
[Layer0]
colorscale 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.6 //added by WxTech
tfTestZ 1
tfNoWriteZ 0
For our purposes, the colorscale settings are important. The first 3 numbers set the intensity of the Red, Green and Blue color channels, respectively, and can be set to a range of 0.0 to 1.0. At 1.0, the color for that channel is set to the highest intensity. (The particular color, such as red and blue for Allies and Axis, is set elsewhere.) If you want to reduce the color purity, you could reduce one or more of these numbers, which would also make the tone darker. Making one or more different will induce a color shift. For instance 0.7 1.0 0.7 would somewhat emphasize the green channel at the expense of the red and blue, and make the overal tone a bit darker.
The fourth number--the more important one--sets the opacity, which can be set at 0.0 (invisible) to 1.0 (fully opaque.) This can be used to make the icon semi-transparent. I have opacity set at 0.6, or 60% opacity, which has the text somewhat blend into the surroundings and thereby further reduce the prominence.
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In your game's root folder should be a file called rcu. Here are the contents of mine (B.A.T. 4.0); open yours and compare:
@set fast off
@set echo on
@set alias on
@set history 20
@alias a alias
@a h history
@a s show
@a if mp_dotrange FRIENDLY DOT 25 COLOR 0.01 RANGE 0.01 TYPE 0.01 ID 9 NAME 0.01 ALTICON 12 ALTSYMBOL * ALTCOLOR 0
@a ie mp_dotrange FOE DOT 25 COLOR 6 RANGE 0.01 TYPE 0.01 ID 6 NAME 0.01 ALTICON 12 ALTSYMBOL * ALTCOLOR 1
@a dot mp_dotrange
@a ft fps START SHOW
@a fp fps STOP
//@file icons.rcu
I once had a separate file, activated here by the now disabled line //@file icons.rcu, called icons.rcu and which contained the mp_dotrange settings for friends and foes now included here.
I include this info in case you would like to further make the HUD icons less prominent. I have the minimum info appear. For friendlies the plane ID appears when closer that 9km; for enemies, that threshold is 6km. Beyond these thresholds, only a "*" character appears out to the ALTICON distance threshold of 12km. I never show plane type nor range; only the specific ID.
Note the simple 2-character commands used to activate and deactivate the FPS display after bringing up the console (via SHIFT-TAB). To start the counter, type "ft" and hit ENTER. To stop the counter, type "fp" and hit enter. The 2-character shortcuts come from the first and last characters for "fps start" (ft) and "fps stop" (fp). You can set these however you like, even with a single character as long as it does not conflict with any others as set (such as "s" for show).
WxTech
Mar 9, 2024
Author
Topic: HUD icon size and transparency (Read 2243 times)
