moving the minmap?

anyone know?

-Dave

I'll ask our screen guy...if anyone would know, it'd be him 

Yes, it is in the DXPack, there is a script in it as well that moves it, so it alway stays in the right location. But all of which can be changed with DesktopX. You can even resize it.

which dxpack? and how do i access this script? i can't even find the object!

-Dave

also, can it be reshaped or turned to make it look square??

-Dave

Well I can give you an answer for one question and maybe two. The .dxpack is MainWnd. When you open it and switch to the DXbuilder you can rightclick the tray icon and choose list objects, I find that real helpful for finding a specific thing on the packs like MainWnd that has so many objects. Look for the Main_Minimap items, there is quite a few and I don't remember the specific one to look for off hand.

I'm afraid I only know how to manually move it for personal use. Without the proper scripting though for scaling it would do no good for people running other resolutions. I haven't delved into the scripting enough yet to go there .

There seems to be no edit button today.

On the resizing , You can reshape it by altering the sizing parameters of it. I usually rightclick selected object and go to properties, the last tab is summary and you can use the comments to set up the settings you want or just the height/width parameters on that tab, but I have had weird results with the latter. I have just looked through a lot of them to figure out how the commands work in DesktopX as it is difficult to find good info on DX relating to using it for GC2.

thanks for trying to help, but i already know that part! i still can't find which object is the right one! that's my real problem.

-Dave

I believe it is MiniMapDisplay. I pulled it up and took a look. I wasn't sure how much you knew so I had to just assume the worst case scenario   

i've moved that thing around but the minimap still shows up in the same place!

-Dave

hmmm, it should move it. This is after I just used the Height/width and Placement commands messing around with it. It is also resize to 250x250, just an example, unless you were talking about another part if it.

I'm actually interested in getting some conversation going about working with DX for GC2 since the info available is so limited. Maybe a few of us messing around with it can help eachother out on things we find that could be helpful.

I'm all for it. It's a great idea!

-Dave

Take a look at this! why does the command bar stretch and why does the minimap disappear?



-Dave

Hey Dave, the idea is pretty good, although I think there is a pack with all the images of Red Alert 2's UI.

If not than I can help you cut each image from a screenshot, so you will have individual images instead of all together. Let me know what you think.

About that resizing thing, try stretching the menu to the start, rather than in the middle, that's just my opinion, I don't really know how to fully use this programme.

where can i find the pack? cutting screens and resizing the pieces sucks! If you want to help out by cutting a screen into all the parts, then by all means do so! What do you mean about stretching it to the start rather than in the middle?

-Dave

IIRC, there was an actual alternative setting (in the example mods folder) of the DL_mainwnd.dxpack which had that minimap nicely tighted in left-side corner with more 'concise' options grouped up for easier access. But, that particular thing never got updated to DA features by SD staff.
It seems to me that if you were to study up on these parameters and fiddle a bit with that screen you may endup figuring out how to control any parts of the interface including the minimap moving_editing attempt you mentioned in your post.

I've also tried a few tricky edits in a number of areas (including a total revamp of the title screen, with fair results -- not ready yet for final distribution in my mod but still reasonably stable until i finish what i really want; namely, quick access to many splasher movies as it relates to any custom races found in the mod).

In general, the DxPack(s) and how the DesktopX encoding works would be a simple matter of grasping the entire mnemonics and procedures as they'd be given by a fair helpout guide; which is, at least partially, available into the appropriate section of StarDock core site - have a look, you may find some key hints overthere too.

I would agree though, that editing the interface surely is a huge part of better modding stuff as it implies a complete overall of the gameplay "context" as much as simple aesthetic changes. Just the new X-Worlds Victory screen demonstrates what can be truly done rather easily; i'll probably integrate that one into the 05-E version as well along the totally new sets of surface building/Icons_Queries & maybe, a giga-wrecking size of a tech-tree (with dozens of new X-Com research paths)!

Anyway, good luck with your exploration of the interface possibilities, i know for sure that anything new (or strangely enough maybe, fun!) might certainly be worth plenty of anyone's time.

You should be able to change the entire interface its not hardcoded but as you already know its not easy.Ive done it myself nothing serious like what your trying to do i've just changed the race selection screen thats quite easy to do.

On your missing minimap, check the Z-order as I mentioned at I-Mod. Just seems to get thrown off for no apparent reason and can drive you nuts wondering how something got stuck under the background . If that doesn't do it I'll try to think of something. Unless it's a top secret type thing you could send me that pack and I could play around with it an try to see if I can find out what the deal is.
The stretching is due to the scaling. Your objects should be setup as child to the mainbackground's parent. You'll have to use the commands like these;
Example:
Sub System_OnScreenChange

Object.Width = Object.Parent.Object.Width - 200

End Sub

there's also System.ScreenWidth commands that I believe have something to do with it, but I haven't quite delved into this aspect of it yet and have a very rudimentary understanding of these commands so far. Without the proper scaling though the display will look different to people using different resolutions. I recently was modding the GalaxyWnd and had sent it to a friend to look at and due to the lack of scaling some options were totally off the edge of his screen where they had been fine in mine. Not sure if any of this rambling will help, but if nothing else you know how little that I know .

i got the minimap to show up, but it still shows up in the corner and the console still gets stretched!

-Dave

Arrrrggghh... the pains of testing.

I just found out that screen-auto-calibration might just as well push_out the title menu off the right side edge! Darn, it's back to the drawing table.

Lesson being, that without exact ObjectX process definitions or incode tricks - one modder MUST do it the hard(est) way.

Patience, Dsep and you'll get there... i'm sure.

After emailing back and forth with Paul (mormegil), i got the answer to my sorrows! You must delete the code for those objects! after that, you also have to delete the code in the "comments" box!

-Dave

Is Paul the DX guru with SD? If so we could really use a small guide or maybe some Q and A for us trying to work with it for GC2. I have tried the DesktopX forum, but most of the topics concern widgets and things that seem to have little to do with how GC2 uses it.

yes paul AKA mormegil is the DX guru! he's helped me with many problems today, even though he is very busy!

-Dave

Cool! You'll have to share some of those new tricks your learning .

Yup, and make that a SECOND person at least quite interested in such 'primer' stuff for proper & thorough GC2_dxPack(s) editing skills.