Advanced Soldat Interface Maker (v0.1.2)

[SyavX]

Advanced Soldat Interface Maker
Download

Advanced Soldat Interface Maker is the only available alternative to the default Interface Maker (made by MM years ago).

What it has/can do:

• custom resolutions (including new wide-screen resolutions from Soldat 1.6.0+)
• zooming
• PNG graphics support
• convenient elements positioning
• custom background colors
• custom background pictures
• exporting screenshots
• scoreboard (F1) & cursors preview

Keyboard hints:
While work area is active (has focus) you can use:

• [Ctrl] + [Mouse Wheel] - to zoom
• [Mouse Wheel] - to vertical scroll
• [Shift] + [Mouse Wheel] - to horizontal scroll
• [Arrow keys] - to scroll
• [Ctrl] + [Arrow keys] - to move current interface element
• [Ctrl] + [PgUp/PgDown] - to rotate current interface element
• [NumPad 1-9] - to Zoom 100%-900%
• [NumPad +/-] - to Zoom In/Out
• [NumPad 0/*] - to Zoom Min/Max

Use [Middle Mouse Button] or [Ctrl] + [Left Mouse Button] to drag the zoomed area.
Use [Left Mouse Button]  to move current interface element with absolute positioning or [Right Mouse Button] - to move with relative positioning.


Screens:






ToDo list:

• add Undo/Redo features
• ...

Changelog:
+ Added feature | - Removed feature | ~ Fixed feature | % Modified feature | * Comment

Version 0.1.2 (04 Oct 2011):
+ Added "Default resolution" option
+ Added Scoreboard & cursors preview
~ Fixed "Style" radio buttons invisibility bug
~ Fixed image/controls flickering bug
~ Fixed nades rendering bug
~ Fixed zooming via NumPad shortcuts bug

Version 0.1.0 (16 Sep 2011):
+ Added AutoUpdate feature
+ Added widescreen resolutions support
+ Added "Scale Interface" option
~ Fixed few minor bugs
% Modified Zoom feature
% Modified background picture selection



Check out latest dev version
(with support of HD images and mod.ini)

[croat1gamer]

Kudos.

[Chebur]

hey hey SyavX!    n1 bro

[SyavX]

*bump*

Look what I`v got... I`v got a time!
So now you can test an alpha version of my interface maker named, ehm... Interface Maker 2!

At the moment it can not display texts and doesn't work with custom resolutions (just the basis was implemented)



Have fun.

See first post for the download link...

[DorkeyDear]

Bug: when selected on "Move via mouse" - i cannot see the cursor on the interface window area (except if im moving some object, and my cursor is on top of it)

[SyavX]

Strange... looks like this bug occurs in Win7 (maybe Vista too).
I don't know what is the real reason of this, coz the only difference between selected/unselected states of "move" option is a MousePointer parameter (Arrow/Crosshair) of a window element. Without changing mouse pointer all works fine (at least it worked for 1 tester that helped me). Anyways, I need feedback with possible features/ideas for the new interface maker. It would be much easier add them now, when work on app isn't finished yet.

[VirtualTT]

When you use "Move via mouse" option "inverse" cursor is being used and since bg colour of work area is 128 128 128 cursor also becomes 128 128 128 and isn't visible...
~ "New interface" menu item doesn't work
~ It's impossible to change numbers in the edit boxes with mouse wheel
~ dimensions of the bitmaps used aren't displayed
~ maximize window button should be disabled
~ there should be prompt on close if some unsaved changes were made
~ doesn't detect soldat and provide list of the installed interfaces
~ proper drag-and-drop/rotate would be much better than "Move via mouse"
~ how about replacing/editing(in the external editor) gfx?
~ how about adding undo-redo, snap to grid (and grid itself), moving current part with keyboard keys?

[DorkeyDear]

I wonder... zoom would be really cool

[SyavX]

As it's mostly a prototype atm, lots of "default" features were not implemented yet. Among them are:

~ "New interface" menu item doesn't work
~ It's impossible to change numbers in the edit boxes with mouse wheel
~ there should be prompt on close if some unsaved changes were made
~ doesn't detect soldat and provide list of the installed interfaces

As for the rest:
~ proper drag-and-drop/rotate would be much better than "Move via mouse"
Did you mean drag&drop with any part of an element, not just pointing it's top left corner coordinates?

~ dimensions of the bitmaps used aren't displayed
~ how about replacing/editing(in the external editor) gfx?
Hmm, dimensions? Maybe if replacing/editing will be added, then displaying dimensions should be added too.

Btw, current Width/Height are taking from setup.SIF and used for in-game scaling (for those elements, that has this feature). It's read-only as it was in original IntMaker, but I'm thinking of making it editable.

~ how about adding undo-redo, snap to grid (and grid itself), moving current part with keyboard keys?
Sounds interesting and, I guess, should be added...

Zoom, I don't know... does it really needed?

[Espadon]

I think zoom would be a nice feature when fitting together some oddly shaped interfaces, or trying to line up PNG elements with blurred edges.

[DorkeyDear]

I think zoom would be a nice feature when fitting together some oddly shaped interfaces, or trying to line up PNG elements with blurred edges.

or making it pixel-perfect

[SyavX]

I've added texts output.
However it doesn't look exacly like in Soldat. Because of:
1. Soldat uses FontHeightScale parameter (\Txt\font.ini) while drawing text. And, as I found out, 150 is equal to the font`s original height.
2. Soldat scales font width too, with unknown ratio.

So I'm planning to use information from font.ini about fonts names and styles (bold). But I really don't want to waste a time with scaling...
Atm the default "BankGothic Lt BT", "Lucida Console", Bold & FontHeightScale=150 are using.

Besides, now you can move elements with both mouse buttons: left one - to point absolute position (as it was before), right one - to move with drag&drop style.

Elements HIGHLIGHTING was added too. Weeeha!



Next step: custom resolutions support.

From: May 03, 2010, 03:19:44 pmupd: I almost forgot about PNGs, added too. Attachment has been updated.

See first post for the download link...

[SyavX]

Next step: custom resolutions support.

Done!



See first post for the download link...

[freestyler]

bump

Great job, I love the test slider changing weapon name and all other texts.

I don't know why I didn't see this thread before. I hope it's not too late for feature requests:
- an option to use your own image background (actual Soldat screenshots put on the background would help in coloring)
- an option to export the screenshot of the whole working area (with custom background)

[SyavX]

Don't be afraid, it's not too late
After a long break I've returned to the work on this application (actually it happened few weeks ago), but due to some reasons (extreme HEAT too) the progress is very slow...
I was planning to complete with basic functions before posting new results, but as I can see there is a new interested person here ^^ (and it's very important for the developer to keep motivation), so... you can test the latest version of my app.

As for the suggestions, I hope to see them in the final version too



See first post for the download link...

[freestyler]

Whoa, this is awesome! Exactly what the community needed for easier interface making. I don't understand why VirtualTT thought the maximize button should be disabled - it makes interface positioning harder (I have 1280x800 screen on my laptop and I don't see the bottom border of the window when IntMaker is set to 1024x768 - the title and menu bars eat the remaining height).

More suggestions:
- dragging the zoomed area (space + left mouse button)
- make mouse wheel move the scrollbar instead of activating next/prev item of the last active droplist*
- zooming with ctrl + mouse wheel

* would be nice if the mouse wheel scrolled up/down when the mouse is over working area and left/right if over horizontal scrollbar.

Good work with the project, I'm looking forward to new versions.

[SyavX]

I don't understand why VirtualTT thought the maximize button should be disabled - it makes interface positioning harder (I have 1280x800 screen on my laptop and I don't see the bottom border of the window when IntMaker is set to 1024x768 - the title and menu bars eat the remaining height).

Actually he was right, coz MAX button had no effect except maximizing main window. Working area didn't change it's size, so it couldn't be usefull in any way. To make interface positioning easier for custom resolutions and for users with custom resolutions itself, I need to add some code into program. As a result we'll have someting similar to primitive graph. editors (with scrollbars when picture is bigger then work area's actual size, like it works for Zoom function at the moment).

- dragging the zoomed area (space + left mouse button)

Try middle mouse button. Sorry, I didn't say anything about some new features You can change zoom with NumPad (1-9 keys for 1x-9x Zoom; Plus and Minus for Zoom In & Zoom Out; 0 and * keys for Min & Max Zoom)

- make mouse wheel move the scrollbar instead of activating next/prev item of the last active droplist*

It's how Windows GUI elements acts. Droplist had a focus at the moment you scrolled the wheel. That's why droplist items were scrolled, not the scrollbar that mouse was hovered on. To activate control (scrollbar, interface work area, etc.) you had to click it or set a focus with TAB key. But... it needs another code update, to make scrollbars and work area react to mouse wheel. And due to VB6 limited functionality this will be added in the last (subclassing sometimes could be so unstable...).

[SyavX]

I've added background image & screenshot export function (look into "Interface" menu). As it's a testing version, atm you have to place "back.bmp" into the IntMrk2.exe folder manually (even while program is running, just press F5 ("Reload images") after).

Also, there is a mouse wheel support now (text boxes /w scrolls, dropdown boxes, scroll bars).

While work area is active (has focus) you can use:
Ctrl + Mouse Wheel - to zoom;
Mouse Wheel - to vertical scroll;
Shift + Mouse Wheel - to horisontal scroll;
Arrow keys - to scroll;
Ctrl + Arrow keys - to move current element;
Ctrl + PgUp/PgDown - to rotate current element.

Maybe there is something else I couldn't remember...



See first post for the download link...

[Prodigyx]

Nice job!

Tip: Add your name/contact info on "About"

[SyavX]

At last Interface Maker has the "make" function Use "Interface" > "New (F8)" menu to make new interface (based on the default one).

Added few features and settings + INI file for saving them (to make application portable). Also fixed bug with zooming from previous version.



See first post for the download link...