Team Info HUD Mod (Updated 5th September)

Artfunkel

I'm looking for server operators to test out my new HUD mod (it has to be installed on the server to work properly). It looks like this:



I made the mod to help new players understand what's going on at a strategic level, but it's really useful for players of all calibres.

Team score calculation needs some testing as I'm not entirely sure what sort of results it will give. Anyone want to put it on their server?

Cataclyzm

I'd be interested to see this in action... as long as it doesn't take up too much space and/or is toggleable.

Artfunkel

I've added a full screenshot to the Workshop page. Clients can't turn it off yet, but it will be easy to add a console command which does that.

aeroripper

I'm confused.  So as a marine this shows how many\what types of aliens you've killed?  And as alien it shows how many\what types of marines you've killed?

The bar on the top is a score calculation of team points being accrued?  Looks neat.

lwf

It looks really cool, but I'm not sure how useful a total team score meter would be, especially for new players. It implies that score is important. Also with such a central position in the UI I would expect it to be nothing less than a win condition if I played NS2 for the first time, if I could figure out what it represented.

It would be nice if a jetpack could somehow be squeezed in along with the weapon for those that have it, perhaps just below the usual icon. A welder icon might be too much.

Artfunkel

aeroripper said:

I'm confused.  So as a marine this shows how many\what types of aliens you've killed?  And as alien it shows how many\what types of marines you've killed?

No, it shows the current status of the players on your own team.

lwf said:

It looks really cool, but I'm not sure how useful a total team score meter would be, especially for new players. It implies that score is important. Also with such a central position in the UI I would expect it to be nothing less than a win condition if I played NS2 for the first time, if I could figure out what it represented.

Score is a proxy for how well your team is doing, and that is important.

You make a good point about it being interpreted as a win condition. I'll have a think about how to fix that.

Artfunkel

Update released:

- Added a label to the score bar (makes it much clearer that it's not a win condition)

- Added client console command "teaminfohud 0/1" to disable the new HUD elements

There are a bunch of subscribers now, but I've no idea which servers they run (if any). Has anyone seen the mod in use? Edit: discovered server tags and added one.

lwf said:

It would be nice if a jetpack could somehow be squeezed in along with the weapon for those that have it, perhaps just below the usual icon. A welder icon might be too much.

A jetpack icon is already too much, sorry. It's not worth the extra visual load.

Cataclyzm

I didn't mention it yesterday... but, I wonder if something more beneficial than score like number of rts controlled and/or tech points versus total (I know you wouldn't compare it to the opposing team since this is an unknown) would help newer players. Then statements like, "guys we need to maintain 3 res nodes right now," might be more meaningful.

Regnareb

This is already in the default HUD.

Good idea on this HUD. But yeah, I am not sure if the "score" is really relevant, I would have to test this in a real game to see it.

Artfunkel

The number of RTs is already displayed, actually: it's the number of blobs under your personal resources. Not obvious, but there it is. Doing the same for tech points is an interesting idea, but having both TP and RT display would be confusing. RTs are much more fluid and are the better choice.

Artfunkel

Regnareb said:

But yeah, I am not sure if the "score" is really relevant, I would have to test this in a real game to see it.

I agree! I'm really keen to find a server running this mod.

Edit: there's one important detail about the score bar that I've not mentioned yet: it flashes when you score points. That might be trivial to us experienced players, but to new players it's a pat on the back and a visual reinforcement that they're contributing to their team's success (much like damage numbers reinforce the fact that you're harming the enemy team). Combine that with the score bar's more obvious function and I think it more than justifies its existence.

Cataclyzm

Artfunkel said:

The number of RTs is already displayed, actually: it's the number of blobs under your personal resources.

Wow... learn something new everyday.

Carrots are a good thing. I like the idea of the flashing bar. Ultimately,this could mean the +X doesn't need to popup upon a kill.

Revy

I just added this to our server "Onos Bar 32 Man server" but I am getting a few requests about adding a on/off switch for clients, if you could add that in it would be a great help.

Also some quick problems we have noticed, on some resolutions the Team Status bar is covering the armor of the exo's

other than that I am really really liking this mod well done

Revy.

Artfunkel

Awesome, thanks Revy. I joined and tried it out and it worked pretty well. There are three servers running the mod now, it's just a shame that the other two are in Korea and Australia...

I've released another update:

- Team scores now reset at the start of each round (whoops...)

- Added icons-only display mode, used for Exos to prevent armour overlap at low resolutions

- teaminfohud console command now has three states: 0 = nothing, 1 = icons only, 2 = everything

- Added a console message about the teaminfohud command

firepower

Would be good to show jet pack and welders, even if its color change for gun, blue just gun, green if have welder, orange if have jet pack, red if welder and jet pack. Allow you to easily see what to buy if team more of something.

Artfunkel

I'm still not convinced. Would you really decide against buying a JP just because lots of other players have one?

Seb

Ah yes, that would be my server. The mod is good! I have been asking the players on my server what their opinions are of it and they all like it. A few of them have asked how to turn it off, and that was going to be my only suggestion, to make it easier but with the console message you seem to be aware of that.

Cheers 

Artfunkel

Awesome, Team Info HUD is the most popular NS2 mod!

I'm on holiday from tomorrow until June 3rd, so don't expect any more updates until then.

Seb

For me on my server, I don't think that toggling between the modes works properly. When you turn it off, its not possible to turn back on and you can't change it to icon mode from the normal mode.

Artfunkel

Have you updated to yesterday's version? Everything works fine on my end.

Seb

Yeah I have, I don't know, I'll see how it plays out.

Edit: all works perfectly! Thanks for a good mod!

Artfunkel

I'm back and looking at adding some extra features. I've just published an update which improves icon layout on servers with increased player limits (works a treat on OnosBar).

My next goal is adding the new HUD to command view. I don't spend a lot of time commanding so any thoughts on the usefulness of these features would be great:

• Fading icon colour to red to show player health
• Click to select player, double-click to select and centre view
• Mouseover info on player name, location, and traits/equipment
• Right-click to give medpack or ammo
• Sorting icons into ctrl-group boxes (not entirely sure about this)
• Highlighting the icons of on-screen players
• Any requests?

Artfunkel

Almost ready to go!

Artfunkel

OK, the update is out! Changes are:

- Added Commander mode
- Icon updates are now more responsive for on-screen players
- Fixed phantom icons remaining for players who disconnected in the ready room

ZEROibis

The one problem I see with this is it makes it more apparent to a player how much their team is losing which will make rage quit more likely to spiral out of control. There is already a problem of users quitting when they perceive that they can not win even in the normal game. Oh the other team has 2 more players I am out sort of thing.

What I do like is every player being able to see the number of rts so they can leave the com alone.

Artfunkel

While that's probably true, I don't think it's a good reason not to expose the information. It's not like you can't already form a judgement from the scoreboard and minimap.

Artfunkel

Updated to fix UWE disabling their own mod-loading code.

Artfunkel

I've started playing NS2 again and it seems that even though the mod has over 1000 subscribers, it's not actually in use on servers any more (pub or league). Does anyone know what happened?

I also just published this update:

- Display mode is now saved to client config
- Remove the default hotgroup commander UI element (player buttons replace it)
- Band-aid for client entity index going out of sync

Maxunit

This looks interesting. I will subscribe to it and check it out. Might add it to my server then as well.

Electr0

Does it work with combat?

I would like to see this there, think it would act as a good motivator for players to do well.

Artfunkel

I don't see why not. There might be some overlapping with the Combat UI though.

I'm aware that the icons overlap the chat box in Commander mode and trying to fix it.