Fire suppression timer overlay component

[Tropopyte]

So since having only a [Waiting] message blinking after supressing fire, it can be really annoying when you are in a tricky situation where you know your fire suppresion should be ready soon, so you end up just spamming F, hoping it will pop eventually before you're dead.
Because of that it would be really awesome to have some kind of timer in the recursion overlay that actually tells you how long you have to keep [Waiting].

Now i have no idea how difficult that would be to implement, but it would be really useful!

Depending on how much info the API provides on that matter, the timer could be set either by the user in the mod configuration some how, or it could even adapt automatically depending on the vehicle you're in and depending on the level of FS that vehicle has unlocked. Or you could maybe even set up a number of different timers, that you can switch between via keybinds.

Also it would be needed to be able to change the keybind to activate the timer according to the ingame keybind and there would need to be another keybind to deactivate the "activation keybind", so you don't have the timer go off everytime you use your abbility as infantry.

Maybe even some animated bar, but a simple text based timer would certainly do the job as well.

Anybody knows if that is possible, or is even willing to implement it?

[Exploding Fist]

Hmm, not a bad idea to have a key event countdown timer.

[Tropopyte]

Hmm, not a bad idea to have a key event countdown timer.

...so ...it's happening... ?

[ashley]

Something like this?
http://i.imgur.com/SzmIXMU.gif

Where do you think it would be best positioned?

[Tropopyte]

http://i.imgur.com/7drHiqr.gif

OMG YOU'RE AWESOME!

YES something like this!

As for the positioning, i think that's a bit tricky. Putting it behind "FIRE SPRSN" in 3rd person might make it hard to see it good in 1st person and putting it in a good centered position in 1st person might make it seem out of place in 3rd person.
But a very brief check by looking at some air montage suggests, that it wouldn't be too terrible in 1st person when it's put behind the "FIRE SPRSN" in 3rd person for all 3 ESF. I didn't check for any other verhicle though.

But since i guess we will be able to position it freely like all the other mod components, i'd say put it there initially and then everyone can move it where they prefer it if they don't like it!
Or just put it to the side initially. maybe above the minimap?

Edit: actually centered below 3rd person [WAITING] should work pretty good for all ESF in 3rd and 1st person.

[ashley]

I think I've settled on this as the final position for it:
http://imgur.com/h3TFHjS.gif

It's more visible in first person, you can see it on your screen without shifting focus as far from the center during a dogfight, and it doesn't obstruct anything in 3rd person, being on top of the ESF. Of course, it'll be able to be dragged around and repositioned at will so it's not much of an issue, but as a default I think it works pretty well.

You'll be able to manually adjust the timer duration in the configuration options (to account for various ranks of FS, or to use it for anything else you wanted timed), cancel the timer by pressing the key again, and enable/disable it as a whole so you can turn it off when playing as infantry or something. It's currently bound to "X" by default.

[Tropopyte]

Perfect!

one little final request though:
would it be possible to have the cancel function rebindable indepently from the activation key, or have it (the cancel function only) deactivatable?
I might out of habit hit Fire Supression when i'm being jumped even though it is still on cooldown sometimes. Having the timer canceled in that situation would lead to me having to spam F again (and starting/canceling the timer repeatetly) when the guy who jumped me gets me to burning.

Thanks a lot for the great work!

Edit: in addition to rebinding/deactivating the cancel function, it would be needed that the timer won't just reactivate and start again whenever the activation key is hit by accident before the timer is ready.

[Tropopyte]

...sooooo i know you guys probably have your hands full with all kinds of stuff that is definitely more important, but since it looked like it was almost ready in the gifs (at least to my unproffesional eye)...

...may i kindly ask if there is any ETA on a release for the timer?

[ashley]

Sorry, there are a few issues still that need to be worked out with it. It's technically functional but it's a little annoying to use and I'm going to get that sorted as soon as I can. Been really busy in general, not to mention leading up to the 0.11 release. Look to see it in the next week or so!

[Tropopyte]

Alright, thanks for the update! i was just curious, so take all the time you need!

And thanks!

[ashley]

Hey, I'm gonna be pushing out the Alpha version for public use if want to try it out. It's functional, but has some bugs. I've just been pretty swamped IRL and haven't had time to work on any of this stuff, but you've been waiting for much too long already.

It's by default bound to [X] to activate/deactivate the timer and [0] (zero) to turn it on and off. These can be changed under Tools->Options->Key Map. You can also modify the duration of the timer in the component's configuration options.

[lilmissclever]

would this also work for gate crasher sundis?

[ashley]

It'll work for anything you want timed.

[Tropopyte]

Just firing up PS2+RST and saw it! Gonna start using it now. If i come across any bugs or issues with it, i'll make sure to notify you here (or do you prefer reddit PM?)

Thanks a bunch mate!

[Tropopyte]

Alright, initial test showed the first little bug:

Keybinding doesn't work properly:
Whatever i bind to Timer On/Off, will acutally be applied to Timer Activate when hitting Save, while the key you may try to bind at timer activate has no effect and the timer on/off bind will go back to its default "D0". Therefore, the keybind for Timer On/Off cannot be changed currently it seems.
It also means that whenever you hit save on the key map tab (Edit: actually on any tab in the options menu) without changing the key at timer on/off to what you want timer activate to be (because you maybe changed some other option), timer on/off and timer activate will both be "D0", resulting in the the timer not working.

Something visual: against a bright skybox, the timer is basically invisible at the current initial position (which works pretty well besides that), so if there is a chance to get some bright/dark contrast into the Font (by dark outlines or something) it would be great, because than it should be well visible against bright and dark backgrounds!

But other than that, it's pretty much exactly what i was looking for (except for the things i mentioned about the ability to deactivate the timer reset, but you said you didn't have time to work out the stuff you were planning on, so maybe this is on your list anyway)

So thank you again! Awesome work!

[ashley]

Yeah, the multiple keybinds was acting weird for me too. It seems like it may be an issue with the way multiple keybinds are handled by the program. I might have to change it to the system I wanted in the first place to fix this issue, which would be pressing and holding a single key for different durations. Something like 2 seconds holding would turn it on/off, tapping it would activate it if it's on, and holding for one second would deactivate.

For now, it seems like if you go to the .\RecursionTracker\Settings folder and open "ComponentSettings.xml" you can manually change the keybind in there if you search for "Timer" and find the existing bind to change under <Simple name="key" value="D0" /> and <Simple name="key" value="X" />.

What kind of color would you want instead? It was initially made to be similar to the in-game UI but anything is possible.

[Tropopyte]

What kind of color would you want instead? It was initially made to be similar to the in-game UI but anything is possible.

Yea i realize that it is supposed to be similar to the ingame UI and i also think it does look very nice like that! To keep it nice looking, maybe just having very thin black outlines around the numbers would be enough to see it against every background. Another way would be to just put it to some odd color like some tint of pink or red, but then it would be pretty ugly probably. I like the first approach better, but i have no idea if it will still be still looking similar to the ingame UI with black outlines. Also I don't know if that is even easy to implement, since i don't know if some font is used that can be easily edited or if all the numbers are actually images like .png, where black outlines can just be drawn around each number.

In the second case i could try and do that if you send me the images of the numbers.

[ashley]

It's just a normal font that I can change the color and border of. The font color is currently a light blue (almost white) while the border is set to the darker turquoise, which gives it some contrast but probably not quite enough. That could be changed, or I'd also be able to add a subtle background to it that wouldn't be very obtrusive but would help separate it from whatever's behind it more. I'll take a look at improving its visibility in the next few days once I have some more free time to work on these things.

If you've got any particulars in mind feel free to let me know. I could even have multiple versions to select from that are styled differently, so you'd have one that fits the in-game UI and another one that doesn't but is more easily visible.

[Tropopyte]

I could even have multiple versions to select from that are styled differently, so you'd have one that fits the in-game UI and another one that doesn't but is more easily visible.

That would great! Tankers or ppl that use the timer for ground stuff probably don't mind too much if the timer isn't that visible against a bright skybox and prefer the ingame UI style, while ppl that use it for ESF might prefer better visibility with bright skyboxes. So if you maybe can make one extra version with a darker border color, like a darker blue or maybe even one more with dark grey'ish' that would be great. Just to try it, and if it's not too much of a hustle, one version with a subtle background (not sure about a color) would be nice as well. Just to test it, since i think i would prefer a version without on extra background, but with darker borders in the font.

[Tropopyte]

So after some days of using it, i already love it! it's a super nice quality of life addition for flying to me! I can time my engagements so i know FS is ready in time before i will potentially need it and i also had multiple situations already where i survived because i could focus on aiming/dodging and didn't have to spam F because i saw FS would be back before i die!

The mentioned issues of visibility and accidential timer resetting (happened to me quite often already) remain , but with the current version being very useful already, i will gladly wait patiently for them to be solved at some point in the future.

Something i came across as well: timer setting doesn't save over app restarts. I know that because i had to change the timer a bit higher, because after the timer is over with the 45 sec, it always takes a few more seconds for FS to switch to [Ready] again (FS is maxed out!). It seems inconsistent though. Maybe the 45 sec actually start once the healing is over? And depending if you are burning or you are close to full health, the time needed for healing varies? it's really strange. I will investigate further with a stop watch within the next few days!

Anyway KUTGW!

[ashley]

That issue might be fixed with the move to the press and hold solution as well. It may have something to do with the way it currently listens for the key press and activates.

I haven't even had time to boot the game up in like the past 11 days, but I'll see about getting a quick alternative for visibility out later today. The keybind change that will hopefully fix the remaining issues will probably need to wait until I finish up classes/exams or at least get past the crunch period when final projects are due but before exams.

Apologies!

[ashley]

Ok, a version with white text and a black background is up. It'll still have the same issues as the original for now (minus visibility problems, hopefully), and let me know if I accidentally broke anything else.

[Jeslin]

Will this work for the vanguard shield out of the box?

[ashley]

Yeah, you'll just need to adjust the timer duration to whatever it is.

[PastalavistaBaby]

Will this work for the vanguard shield out of the box?

Exactly what I was thinking and was about to post. Let's give Vanguard "Pro"s an IwinShield countdown timer, so they don't have to cower behind cover for 45 seconds, like the little bitches they are. Technically it would definitely work, but would create even more balance problems. On the other hand, it's not like DGC would ban people for using a RTS Add-on that shows the exact cooldown timer of the IwinShield.

[ashley]

This was going to be a game feature in a QOL update like a year and a half ago but like many promises by SOE, it never got past the conceptual stage. I don't think they would've talked about implementing it if they thought it was a balance problem like you're saying and not a quality of life issue.

[Tropopyte]

Ok, a version with white text and a black background is up. It'll still have the same issues as the original for now (minus visibility problems, hopefully), and let me know if I accidentally broke anything else.

Thanks! Visibility is indeed fixed, and i didn't realize anything you might have broken by accident.

[decandence]

Hey.I just noticed after a longer Planetside breake that u made somne awesome job with teh stat tracker.While investigating all the new stuff i found the timer Mod....for some reason i cant get it working at all....i changed the key bindings and reinstalled the mod already.... and advise?

o7

[ashley]

It's buggy and sometimes broken at the moment. Just got home a few days ago after finishing out the semester, so I'll begin work on it again soon.

Changing keybinds might not work in the UI, so you should manually change them in the .Recursion\RecursionTracker\Settings\ folder under "ComponentSettings.xml".

[decandence]

[....] you should manually change them in the .Recursion\RecursionTracker\Settings\ folder under "ComponentSettings.xml".


I did like u advised me i guess.But it still doesnt work.Are there any other options required like some overlay stuff to get displayed?
Folder i changed the keybindings in:
http://http://puu.sh/pmmRw/70f9cd8418.png (http://puu.sh/pmmRw/70f9cd8418.png)

Mods:
http://puu.sh/pmmWB/6590f32bf9.png

Options:
http://puu.sh/pmmZ6/e5a3169496.png



Greetings

[ashley]

Do other overlays work for you? Try running in admin mode.

[decandence]

Do other overlays work for you? Try running in admin mode.

No overlay worked for me.I reinstalled again and started in admin mode.After 4 hours i made it.....Its working....For some reason it doesnt take F10 as on/off but "l" did work....

Iam Writing code since 3 years in buissiness but iam still in an early state.From my point of view u did some solide job.
I have to say for its early state u have done some great work.Thumbs up.

The only thing i didnt get fixed was http://puu.sh/pogTl/fe4ddb95e3.jpg ....How can i deactivate the session stats...I seem to nee the overlay to display the crossair and stuff...makes sence i guess..but is there an option to deactivate the session stuff?

One suggestion i had would be some mp3 countdown that gets activatet at 5 seconds which counts down.(Maybe with an on/off option so not everybody has to use it)

Also u add some options to move the countdown where ever its best fitting for the user..Not too sure but shouldnt be too much work?like u select top right corner in the settings and the coordinates of the timer changes?
So u have 5-7 fixed locations and each user can choose the most fitting for him.



o7 and thanks alot for that awesome mods!

[ashley]

If you go to the "HUDs Package" mod you can click "Remove" on each individual component to turn them off. Position can also be modified under Tools->Options->Display. And thanks! I'll be able to add an optional sound cue soon as well. Preset positions may be possible too, but I haven't done anything like that yet so it'll be something new.

[decandence]

Everything worked like u told me.That Position option is great.Much better than my suggestion!