The next Bridge Plugin module - BP Uniforms - Beta soon!

[MLeo]

Welcome to the next installment of the Bridge Plugin system:



That's right, a module that will allow you to change the uniforms on the bridges. Be it based on uniform pack, picked by the bridge you use or the ship your are using or a mixture of the lot!

What's even better, you can change the configuration while you are changing the armada you are playing with and against!

At the end, I will post the features and how far they are.

Last update: 2006-08-20

For now, here are some screenshots of the module in progres.
I currently don't have screenshots of the main menu configuration area, but it's rather the same than the one posted below, just a lot more room to look.
The reason I couldn't make them was that I forgot them in the first place and the temperature control shut my computer down while I was preparing to go back to the main menu after my screenshot run ingame.
I may try tomorrow after my comp has had a change to properly cool off.

Ok, here are some screenshots after some configuration beforehand, firstly setting the "global" uniform pack to Borg (BP Uniform version of LC's uniforms, not sure if he is ever going to release them). And then changing the uniform of Kiska to Romulan (adapted from Oscar's Romulan uniforms, which started all my uniform adventures in the first place, I aparantly forgot to copy a texture or made a typo in the uniform plugin) and I set Felix to the first uniform test (changing Felix into Data) this will be removed for the final version.
The voice of "Nothing to report" is also changed.



Then I started to change the configuration.
I've made the menu's act so that when you select an uniform pack, all the subsequent uniforms (that are in the pack) will also be changed, in real time. I show you that by first checking Brex's uniform first (it's set to Borg) then to show you that I changed it, and then going back, still having the menu open.

 
 

All that made the crew change to the Romulan Crew pack.
Which is shown in the following 3 screenshots:
   

Here are some SP shots (taken in various stages of progress):


Latest SP screenshots (reasonably finnished I would say):

 



Uniforms are currently defined as a pack (optional) and as a character based uniform. You can use the default uniforms as a template (code will be shown how to do that easily) or you can define all required information.


Some information on how to make a new uniform for this can be found here (it's a reply in this thread)
It needs updating because there have been some new features added to the package.

Information about the Beta can be found here


Feature/todo list:

• Create place in QB Setup menu - 100%
• Create a function that will take a panel and adds fully functional configuration menus to it - 100%
• Create an UMM based function for the BP module, using the menu function, to add the ability to configure uniforms from outside QB - 100%
• Add the ability to change uniforms to standard crew - 100%
• Add the ability to change uniforms to extra's - 100% Done
• Add the ability to change uniforms of quests (and other characters seen in the SP) - 100% Done, will need more extensive testing in SP.
• Fix the detached menu bug - 100% fixed
• Add the ability to specify specific uniforms for crew in the bridge and ship specific options - 100% done
• Add the implicit uniforms - 100% done
• Default Bridge Implicit Uniform - 100% done
• Default Ship Implicit Uniform - 100% done
• Race based Uniforms - 99% requires testing
• Add a "random" uniform that picks a uniform from the avaidable uniforms - 100% done[/list:u]
• Create a TotalConversionUniform class - 100% done
• Create a DependUponUniform class - 100% done, also added addon uniforms to the addon uniforms.:P
• Make SP work - 100% will require extensive testing in the Beta
• Extensive readme - 0% yeah, documentation is something I don't really like to do.:P[/list:u]
  
  The beta will be held when the SP is reasonably sorted.
  
  Then, depending on the issue's found in the Beta, the final release will be 1 or 2 weeks after the beta.
  It will likly be an issue of getting a pack of uniforms to go with it.
  
  Uniform count, ready for release: 5, not counting 1 uniform that only has the bridge crew (the Romulan crew), and BlackRook's uniforms (it's a single file that will optionally add 6 uniforms, 7 if you count an addon, I say optionally, because it checks which uniforms you have installed). And 2 more possibly on the way.

[MickJo]

You 3E guys never cease to amaze me...

[Shinzon]

wow awesome work

[JimmyB76]

awesome!!!!  

[MLeo]

Nice that you all like it!


To be honest, I've been stuck with that single bug for a while now.
Though, if I hadn't, you wouldn't have had the ability to change things in the main menu, nor would have a bridge or ship specific "uniform" and now a random uniform, with the possibility of having implicit uniforms in the future.

[blaXXer]

wow! I'm amazed.

[MLeo]

Shameless self promotion wrapped in a small update:

Be sure to check out the scripting forum for 2 mods I made yesterday, related to ATP and Foundation Technologies.


Now for the update, I've been working on the ability to specify uniforms on a per character basis, it would seem it requires the implicit uniforms to do it better.

[Legacy]

Well, Leo, you never cease to amaze me.

The only bit of info I have about it, you already know, is that really noone else could manage the characters in the bridge without destroying them, which is at least, a unstable procedure.

I also really like the new menu you added to it.

[MLeo]

Another little update, here is the UMM based menu, as you can see, exactly the same as the in QB menu (same function as a matter of fact), just a little spacier.




Also, finnished the implicit functions, but I need to test them first, of course.
Another little bug has enterd the system, the implicit uniform packs don't show up in the pack list, they do in the crew menu's.
That shouldn't be anything too serious though.

[MLeo]

Well, another update, fixed the bug I mentioned before, a simple logic error.

The list above is updated.



Finalized the Implicit Uniforms, it's a bit more complex than I wanted it to be, but it's managable for uniform makers.

The Random uniform works, or at the very least appears to be working. ;)
I think that having 1 full uniform and 2 character uniforms aside for the 3 implicit ones (which make use of the other uniforms) and the default uniform, it's not bad.

There has been a new issue that I just noticed, the crew with the default uniform look like Vulcans (the head nif is Vulcan). Which gives a strange effect. The thing is, it shouldn't happen.

[Glenn]

Nice Job MLeo, this is quite a project. I will be keeping an eye on this one!!

[BCDS]

Absolutely fantastic, but one questions whether it borders on revolutionary  
Still pretty aussome though.

[Nebula]

OMG thats sweet

[MLeo]

It seems like I, somehow, fixed the bug that's worse than a googleplex of cochroaches...

I basicly did this:

Code: [Select]

if sName == "XO":
QB.g_bAddedUIHandlers = 0
QB.BuildDialog()

# Remove the simulation menus
pMenu = pCharacter.GetMenu()
pButton = pMenu.GetButtonW(QB.g_pMissionDatabase.GetString("QuickBattle Configuration"))
if pButton: pMenu.DeleteChild(pButton)

pButton = pMenu.GetButtonW(QB.g_pMissionDatabase.GetString("Start Simulation"))
if pButton: pMenu.DeleteChild(pButton)

pButton = pMenu.GetButtonW(QB.g_pMissionDatabase.GetString("End Simulation"))
if pButton: pMenu.DeleteChild(pButton)

pButton = pMenu.GetButtonW(QB.g_pMissionDatabase.GetString("Restart Simulation"))
if pButton: pMenu.DeleteChild(pButton)

# And recreate them
QB.CreateSimulationMenus()
When I was creating a crew member to fix the issue.
It's not perfect, yet, I now have double buttons, but that should be anything to serious.


Now, I'm going to show you how the Random Uniform works.
Just for fun.

Code: [Select]

class RandomUniformDef(ImplicitUniformDef):
def GetAllCharacters(self):
return -1
def GetUniformForCharacter(self, char, oBridgeInfo, pBridgeSet, Plug):
global dCharacters
# Pick a random uniform from the list
oPickedUniform = None
Random = lambda iMax : int(App.g_kSystemWrapper.GetRandomNumber(iMax * 1000) / 1000)
while(1):# Fake a "do while" loop
oPickedUniform = dCharacters[char][Random(len(dCharacters[char]))]
if oPickedUniform.name != "Random Uniform " + char:
break
return oPickedUniform

oRandomUniform = RandomUniformDef("Random Uniform")
It's an incentive for you to create your own implicit uniform.;)

A little run down of what I'm doing there.
I inherit from the class ImplicitUniformDef (which can be found in Foundation.py _after_ you installed the mod).
This function requires you to implement 2 functions (otherwise you get a NotImplementedError). As you can mostlikly see they are GetAllCharacters and GetUniformForCharacter.

GetAllCharacters returns a value or a list.
The possible values are -1 for when this uniform pack has (possible) uniforms for all characters and 0 (or None) if there aren't any Characters.
Yes, this has an use. This is for when you want to have a pack with diffrent implicit uniforms for diffrent characters.

Or it returns a tuple (which is similar to a list, but it's started and ended by the ( and ) symbols) with all the names of the Characters (such as Tactical or XO or MaleExtra1) that it has uniforms for.


I have a feeling you are more interrested in how to create your own, explicit, uniform.

This is an example of the default BC uniform for Tactical:

Code: [Select]

dDefaultTacticalUniformConfig = {
"DisplayName": "Felix",
"NIFs": ["BodyMaleL/BodyMaleL.nif", "HeadFelix/felix_head.nif"],
"Textures":["BodyMaleM/FedGold_body.tga", "HeadFelix/felix_head.tga"],
"Size": App.CharacterClass.LARGE,
"Gender": App.CharacterClass.MALE,
"RandomAnimationChance": .75,
"BlinkChance": 0.1,
"Module": __import__("Bridge.Characters.Felix"),
"BlinkStages": {"Blink0": "HeadFelix/Felix_blink1.tga",
"Blink1": "HeadFelix/Felix_blink2.tga",
"Blink2": "HeadFelix/Felix_eyes_close.tga"},
"FacialAnimation": {
"SpeakA": "HeadFelix/Felix_head_a.tga",
"SpeakE": "HeadFelix/Felix_head_e.tga",
"SpeakU": "HeadFelix/Felix_head_u.tga"},
"MenuName": "Tactical",
"NothingToAddLine": "FelixNothingToAdd",
"Custom": """pCharacter.AddAnimation("Place", "Bridge.Characters.CommonAnimations.Standing")
pCharacter.SetLocation("")
pCharacter.SetAudioMode(App.CharacterClass.CAM_EXTREMELY_VOCAL)
pCharacter.SetStanding(0)""",
"Type": BRIDGE_CREW_MEMBER,
"sCharacter": "Tactical"
}

Don't worry, you don't need everything.
This is all the required information, but I'm providing you ways to copy it.
Now, this isn't all there is to it.

There are 2 ways to add this to a pack.
One ways is to put it in a Character Uniform (which is used for a single uniform for a single crew member, but can be used in a pack).

Code: [Select]

oBCDefaultFelix = CharacterDef("Default BC Uniform Tactical", dDefaultTacticalUniformConfig)
Something you should notice is the following:
"Default BC Uniform Tactical"
The underlined part denotes the uniform, and the bold part the character. They are seperated by a single whitespace.

Don't worry, this isn't the real identifier for a character, but it is used later for the menu's, so this is a requirement.

That's it for a, single, Character Uniform. Please note, this uniform is already included (it's always included).


If you want to put that, single, uniform in a pack, then that's also possible:

Code: [Select]

oDefaultBCUniform = UniformDef("Default BC Uniform",
dict = {"Characters": {
# Bridge Crew
"Engineer": Foundation.dDefaultEngineerUniformConfig,
"Tactical": { "Object": oBCDefaultFelix,},# Test to see if the linking works...
"Helm": Foundation.dDefaultHelmUniformConfig,
"Science": Foundation.dDefaultScienceUniformConfig,
"XO": Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig
}
})

And that's all of the bridge crew in a pack.
You may notice that the Tactical key is a so called "object", that links an existing Character Uniform to the uniform pack. This is also part of why the name is important, the mod identifies the character uniforms with that.
And this in turn is used in the menu.

The other ways is to put it directly in an uniform pack.
Which you can do in 2 ways, the direct direct way, and the direct way.
The latter is already shown in the code above.
Let's use an example in the following line, I assign Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig to the "XO" key, Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig is a so called dictionary (hence the d) and the structure is that of key-value pairs (remember the big daunting list with info on Felix? That's a dictionary).

Code: [Select]

"XO": Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig
Now, you may wonder about the Foundation. being prefixed to the dDefaultXOUniformConfig, but I'll get back to that later.

The direct direct way is simply bypassing a variable, and put the { Some info } directly there instead of the, in case of the example, Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig. I'm not going to post that here. It would just use a lot of space and I think it's straight forward enough.


To get back to the easy doing your own explicit uniforms, without the daunting list of things you need to fill in.
This is where the Foundation prefix I mentioned earlier comes in.

<Big>I would like to seriously note that I only did the Foundation prefix, which I'll get back to in a minute, is only something to make everything a bit easier to access. All relevant classes (UniformDef, ImplicitUniformDef, ImplicitUniformPlaceholderDef, CharacterDef, ImplicitCharacterDef and CharacterDefDummy) are accessable through Foundation.py, that is, after the mod is installed. The use for this will get clear soon. But it is not intended that _everyone_ does this for their uniforms, nor will any uniform from my hand (aside for the Default BC Uniform, which basicly is just the stock uniform) do this. Thank you for bearing with me.</Big>

You can access the Default BC Uniform dictionaries for all the bridge crew (and Extra's, and some of the other SP characters, but this might be removed in the future) through Foundation.py.
Let's take a look at a simple uniform that changes the head texture for Saffi.

The first thing I will do is create a dictionary (after creating a file in scripts/Custom/Autoload and importing Foundation).

Code: [Select]

dNewSaffiUniform = {}
That creates a new dictionary, you could optionally put something in there already, but it would be a waste of time since we are going <code>update</code> it with the default BC Uniform of Saffi.

Code: [Select]

dNewSaffiUniform.update(Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig())
Oh, btw, I've named all the dictionaries systematicly.

That will cause whatever is in dDefaultXOUniformConfig to be copied to our dNewSaffiUniform.

Next we want to update the head texture.
Remember that big daunting list? Well, almost every system works on a set of clearly defined interfaces, BP Uniforms is no exception.
In case of the uniforms it's the required information that it needs to recreate the correct character.
I'll provide all the required, and optional, information later.

Now, say we want to change Saffi's head texture to that of Data's, then we need to do this:

Code: [Select]

dNewSaffiUniform["Textures"][1] = "HeadData/data_head.tga"

Please note that the head nif will still be Saffi's, but jus a diffrent texture applied to it, but this is just about having a little example.

Next we want to create our character uniform from our dictionary with character information.
We do that by doing this:

Code: [Select]

oNewSaffiUniform = Foundation.CharacterDef("New Saffi Uniform XO", dNewSaffiUniform)

And that will create an uniform called New Saffi Uniform in the XO's menu.

The entire file will now say this:

Code: [Select]

import Foundation

dNewSaffiUniform = {}
dNewSaffiUniform.update(Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig())
dNewSaffiUniform["Textures"][1] = "HeadData/data_head.tga"
oNewSaffiUniform = Foundation.CharacterDef("New Saffi Uniform XO", dNewSaffiUniform)


Now, say you want your uniform to be compatible with BC installs that don't have BP Uniforms installed. You can still use the old way with Overrides, but you can use the old way as a fall back mechanism.

You would first have to do your uniforms the old way (with the mutator and overrides).

Say, that the file looks like this:

Code: [Select]

import Foundation

mode = Foundation.MutatorDef("New Saffi Uniform")

<Your>

Then, remember when I said I put all the classes in Foundation, so they could be more easily used?
Well, we can use that piece of information here.

We change our file to represent this:

Code: [Select]

import Foundation

if hasattr(Foundation, "UniformDef"):

else:
mode = Foundation.MutatorDef("New Saffi Uniform")

<Your>


That will check to see if BP Uniforms is installed.
And if it isn't then it will present the end user with a mutator.

We are not entirely finnished here yet, we are missing the BP Uniforms code from that plugin!

In the end, it looks like this:

Code: [Select]

import Foundation

if hasattr(Foundation, "UniformDef"):
dNewSaffiUniform = {}
dNewSaffiUniform.update(Foundation.dDefaultXOUniformConfig())
dNewSaffiUniform["Textures"][1] = "HeadData/data_head.tga"
oNewSaffiUniform = Foundation.CharacterDef("New Saffi Uniform XO", dNewSaffiUniform)
else:
mode = Foundation.MutatorDef("New Saffi Uniform")

<Your>


That's our final plugin (well, not final, but you get the idea).



Ok, last stop, the interface on how to make your own explicit uniform (I think that the people who want to make implicit uniforms have enough information to go on. But feel free to ask if it hasn't).

I will present you all the information that the plugin can use.

Let's hope tables are allowed.

Attribute:	Type of value:	Optional:	Description:
FullPath	1 or 0	Yes, defaults to 0	If FullPath is 1, then it will expect that the nifs and textures are from the BC root, instead of the usual data/Models/Characters/(Heads/Bodies)(Detail)/
DisplayName	A string (text)	Yes, it defaults to names like "Tactical" or "Helm"	It's the name of the Character that is to be displayed, for example "Felix" or "Kiska"
NIFs	A list (denoted with [ and ]) containing 2 strings	No	2 strings which respectively are the body nif and the head nif, the path is influenced by FullPath
Textures	A list (denoted with [ and ]) containing 2 strings	No	2 strings which respectively are the body and the head texture, the path is influenced by FullPath
Size	A decimal number	Yes, defaults to 0.75	This number represents the height of a character (rather, the scale of it)
Gender	Either App.CharacterClass.MALE or App.CharacterClass.FEMALE	Yes, defaults to App.CharacterClass.MALE	Defines the Gender of the character, I currently don't know (or remember) the effect of it on the game
RandomAnimationChance	A decimal number between 0 (never) and 1 (always)	Yes, defaults to 0.75	This number represents the chance of the character doing a random action (like pushing some buttons)
BlinkChance	A decimal number between 0 (never) and 1 (always)	Yes, defaults to 0.1	This number represents the chance of the character to blink
Module	An imported module	Technicly no, practicly yes, more info later though	This is partly the reason why it's possible to have backwards compatible uniforms. The new uniform system still needs a character files for things like LoadSounds (and in some cases, Liu and Graff for example, Breath and some other functions), the requiredness is in case of most uniforms not existent, atleast, if you update from an existing uniform, since they already have the module part set for their respective characters. But if you want to update things like LoadSound as well, then you need to create a new module for your character (if you need to just update LoadSounds for example, contact me for a way to do this easier)
BlinkStages	A dictionary with spefic keys/values	Yes, defaults to an empty dictionary	If this dictionary is left empty (or there is a naming mistake) then it will cause your character not to blink. Normally, there are 3 blink stages. The naming is as following, the key is the word: "blink" with a number appended to it, the first blink stage is blink0, the second blink1, etc, etc. Now, the value is the path to the texture for that blink stage, this path is also affected by the FullPath attribute. Please try to keep it in order (as you add it) from 0 to n
FacialAnimation	A dictionary with spefic keys/values	Yes, defaults to an empty dictionary	If this dictionary is left empty then it will cause your character not to speak animated (the sound will play, it just won't change the textures to make it look speaking). There are just 3 possible (atleast, as far as I know it, if anyone has successfully tried otherwise, please let me know) keys, SpeakA, SpeakE and SpeakU. Their respective values are the paths to the textures, this path is affected by the FullPath attribute
MenuName	A string (text)	Yes, defaults to the name of the character (Tactical, Helm, etc)	This attribute holds the name of the menu that belongs to this character. It must be one found in the Bridge Menus tgl, or it will generate a None value which causes problems in the scripts. If you have a diffrently named menu for this character, then you need to use the Custom attribute to assign the correct menu to this character afterwards, but this field must be correct in the first place.
NothingToAddLine	String (text)	Yes, defaults to None	This attribute holds the name of the "Nothing to add" line of the character and only the standard crew have these. If it's not None, then it will get the Game database and use that to load the sound into the game. If you are basing your new uniform of the existing crew, then you don't need to worry about this attribute
Custom	String (text)	Yes, defaults to None	This attribute can hold custom code that needs to be run for a character. Some of the default uniforms use this to work properly (2 of them are Tactical and Engineering, those are just of the standard bridge crew, there are a couple of guest characters as well that use this). The code is in text format (to do this easy, just write your code, and put """ before and after it, and put that entire part in your dictionary, don't worry, it will work, pCharacter will be a valid variable which will hold the new character) and it will be evaluated in the code.
Type	One of 3 values	Yes and no	Type is one of 3 values, namely: "BRIDGE_CREW_MEMBER", "EXTRA_CREW_MEMBER" or "GUEST_CREW_MEMBER", these values are all found in Foundation and are accessed through (for example) Foundation.BRIDGE_CREW_MEMBER. The value is optional if you base your uniform through an existing uniform (through update), otherwise, it's a not optional attribute

Well, this seems to be all the information you could possibly need.
But if you do have questions, feel free to ask.

[Phaser]

/\ Longest post ever made in the history of BCN/BCU. lol

Very nice work, MLeo!  This mod goes WAY above what I had imagined: Appropriate uniforms loading for each bridge.  Include that (which I think you did...you wrote a lot), and I'll be happy.  

[MLeo]

/\ Longest post ever made in the history of BCN/BCU. lol

It's not even done yet.

Very nice work, MLeo!  This mod goes WAY above what I had imagined:

Thanks!

Appropriate uniforms loading for each bridge.  Include that (which I think you did...you wrote a lot), and I'll be happy.  

Check out the first post, what you describe is possible, I call it the "Default Bridge Uniform" (and a variant, "Default Ship Uniform").
But there isn't any automation (yet), it requires the bridge to define a variable which will be read by the "uniform".

[Tuskin38]

Awesome thos are the borg models from EF right? Lol someone needs to model the BC crew as borg. Also I think there a Locutas Model for EF i'm not sure.

[MLeo]

Awesome thos are the borg models from EF right? Lol someone needs to model the BC crew as borg. Also I think there a Locutas Model for EF i'm not sure.

Not sure where LC got them from, but Locutus is also part of that uniform.

[Mark]

yes theyre from ef2, and yes we have ones for the normal crew, but no-1 has had time to import them to BC

[cpthooker]

that looks so cool, something i have been wanting for ages