Changing the Colours in the TAC

[Olham 164]

Some time ago, I had changed the colours in my TAC, and made it smaller too.

After my system crash and re-install, I wanted to do it again.

I found three ViewUI.xml files, changed them all identically - and still get the standard colours?

 

Does anyone know, where to find the right file?

[Burning Beard 14]

This was posted back in July of '08, hope it is what you need.

 

Beard

 

Hello All

 

UncleAl has a great explanation of the TAC display in the 'OFF Tips and Cheats' sticky explaining what the "blips" on the

TAC screen represent.

 

-White blips indicate unidentified Bogies on-screen - usually targets beyond visible range.

-Red and Blue blips indicate Enemies and Friendlies respectively within visible range.

-Purple blips indicate Goal targets like enemy two-seaters within intercept range - usually seen in Quick Combat intercept missions.

-Yellow indicates a designated target. You can set the focus on specific target by Tabbing through the on-screen targets using TAB or Ctrl-TAB key combinations respectively for Enemies or Friendlies.

 

Ok. I don't like the default pale Yellow color of the designated target "Blip" in the TAC display. It is too light and too close in color to the White Bogie "Blip" and it difficult to descern in a quick glance at the TAC display during a heated furball. So I have edited the color code in ViewUI.XML file to give it a highly visible bright Yellow color.

 

The ViewUI.XML file is found in the C:\Documents and Settings\Users_Name\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders

Fields folder. Be sure to backup the original file.

 

We need to edit the value of TargetColor in the .XML code line

 

<Colors FriendColor="0xFF0000FF" EnemyColor="0xFFFF0000" TargetColor="0xFFFFFF00" BogieColor="0xFFFFFFFF"

GoalColor="0xFFAF00AF" HumanFriendColor="0XFF00FFFF" HumanEnemyColor="0xFFFF00FF" />

 

to be as follows

 

<Colors FriendColor="0xFF0000FF" EnemyColor="0xFFFF0000" TargetColor="0xFFFAFA00" BogieColor="0xFFFFFFFF" GoalColor="0xFFAF00AF" HumanFriendColor="0XFF00FFFF" HumanEnemyColor="0xFFFF00FF" />

 

Notice that the TargetColor="0xFFFFFF00" was changed to TargetColor="0xFFFAFA00".

 

For your information the Hexdecimal color codes are as follows:

FriendColor="0xFF0000FF" is Blue

EnemyColor="oxFFFF0000" is Red

TargetColor="0xFFFFFF00" is pale Yellow

TargetColor="0xFFFAFA00" is bright Yellow

BogieColor="0xFFFFFFFF" is White

GoalColor="0xFFAF00AF" is Purple

HumanFriendColor="0xFF00FFFF" is Cyan (neon Blue)

HumanEnemyColor="0xFFFF00FF" is Magenta

 

OlPaint01

 

 

Just a note: If you are using Windows 7 you will find the file in

 

Users_Name\AppData\Roaming\Micorsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders

 

Beard

Edited December 18, 2010 by Burning Beard

[von Baur 54]

XP

C:\Documents and Settings\(your profile folder)\Application Data\Microsoft\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\ViewUI

 

Right-click, then click 'edit'. About 1/3 of the way in is the label colors, which also controls the colors of the dots on the TAC. The HUD text (F5) colors are about 3/4 of the way down and the size and position of the TAC is just below that.

[OlPaint01 0]

Thanks Beard

 

You beat me to the punch. Saved me from having to post the how-to again.

 

BTW, Olham, here is VonBaur's tweak for making the Labels a little more transparent.

 

"I like to be able to ID the aces as well as my flight mates (I count noses on the way home to know who, if anyone, I lost).

 

About 1/3 of the way down the ViewUI file (XP users, BOOTDRIVE:\Documents and Settings\your user folder\Application Data[a hidden folder]\Microsoft\CFSWWI Over Flanders Fields) you'll find the color settings for the labels.

 

The numbers are in hexdecimal, with A=10, B=12, C=13, D=14, E=15, and F=16. To represent colors in CFS3, each number is preceded by an 0x. The first two numbers after that represent opacity, as explained above, and the next six numbers represent the amount of red, green, and blue or RGB values. Each color ranges from a value of 0 to 255. So, 0x00000000 is a solid black, representing the absence of color, and 0x00FFFFFF is solid white, representing the maximum amount of red, green, and blue mixed together.

 

Red=0x00FF0000

Green=0x0000FF00

Blue=0x000000FF

Yellow=0x00FFFF00

Cyan=0x0000FFFF

Magenta=0x00FF00FF

 

and so on.

 

I use 0x2FCCCCCC for the Friend, Enemy, Bogie and Goal colors. That renders all AI labels the same from any distance.

 

The two numbers after the 0X are the level of transparency, 00 being invisible and FF being 100% opaque.

 

You have to add the opacity value in front of the codes.

 

0x2F will be quite transparent; try also 0x4Fand 0x6F - I have even used 0x7F.

 

2F makes them clear enough to be read without having to pause the game but at the same time they're not overwhelming in a dogfight (i.e. you'll usually see the plane before the label...and if you're looking for the labels I hope you've filled out your will before taking off).

 

I find this a good compromise between the full DiD standard and a playable game. It's also a good middle ground for those wishing to work their way up to full DiD without having to go off labels cold turkey. Of course, you may want to modify the specifics to suit you, should you even choose to try this at all.

 

Another side of this is that it makes the information lines ("you hit enemy aircraft", "structure damage",etc.) the same as the labels, so they're not gone but they're not in your face.

 

The waypoint advisory lines are still a solid red."

 

 

OlPaint01

Edited December 18, 2010 by OlPaint01

[Olham 164]

Thank you guys! With your help, I found my mistake - I had set the first numbers for the opacity/transparency wrong.

Here is a Jpeg to show how I have changed the colours now. I used these settings:

 

Friend Color: 0x7F0099CC

Enemy Color: 0x7FCC9900

Bogie Color: 0x7FCCCCCC

Target Colour: 0x7FFFCC00

 

In the upper right corner you see the friend colour.

The picture is a cutout - the TAC is much smaller now; I used a size of 0.24

 

 

Edited December 18, 2010 by Olham