How have you modified your HUDDATA.ini?

[+malibu43 142]

I'm not asking how to extract or how to change the settings that are in HUDDATA.ini, I'm asking what changes you've made. This question is probably more specifically directed at those that prefer a more "realistic" flying/fighting experience.

 

I've been toying lately with buying FC2. IMHO, SF2 is superior in FC2 in so many ways (I have tried FC2 before). Number of flyable aircraft, terrains/theaters, graphics (with the latest mods), repla-ability, performance, etc...

 

There's just one thing about SF2 that has been bugging me lately, and that's the ability to play SF2 without all the visual aids in the "HUD". I've found that with the red box and red cone turned on, a dog fight quickly turns into "press E, trun in direction of arrow, engage target in red box, repeat." However, due to the draw distances used in SF2, it seems like playing without the visual aids is probably a litte too hard (note that I didn't say unrealistic). I find it nearly impossible to spot an enemy, even ones that are incredibly close. Even when frequently checking the map. Even when using the heck out of Red Crown. It's not just dogfights, either. I tried an armed recon mission in an A-10 last night, and was circling at 2000' AGL right over the top of the vehicle column, zoom in, staring at the ground for a few orbits not able to see anything, before I finally used alt-d to turn the red box back on. The trucks were right where I was staring; they just weren't really visible.

 

The best solution, I think, would be something like IL-2, where a small icon of some sort (type, distance, whatever) appears over the target when you should be able to see them in real life, which I think is a good way to overcome the limitations of computer monitors but still relying on the player for some situational awareness and target selection/tracking.

 

So right now I still have:

- my aircraft speed and altitude. I think in real life it's easier to quickly check a gage or instrument than it is in the game, so I think this is fair.

- red box, but I've made it a little smaller

- everything else is turned off

 

I have other versions of my huddata.ini that have the red box removed (for a really challenging experience), or the cone added back, or the cone with the target info added back (just radar removed). I like that in the version I have right now, I still have to use TrackIR to find my target and I don't have it's type, heading, and speed all spelled out for me. But I don't like the fact that I only can see that one target. When I scan the skies, I don't know if it's just him, or if there's 7 more just as close (or closer) that just don't happen to have a red box around them.

 

One option would be to keep the hud stuff on, and fly with alt-d cycled to remove all of it. Then I can turn it back on mid flight if I really need it. But again, that seems kinda like cheating if my intention from the start is to fly with it off.

 

So what do some of you use? Just looking for suggestion or ideas here. Maybe there's something I don't think would work that well or that I haven't thought of, but you've tried it and it does work well!

Edited May 7, 2012 by malibu43

[+Dave 2,322]

I have been using this same ini for 6 years. Small red dot, yellow diamond and thats it.

[+EricJ 4,244]

I tend to use padlock more (Targeting and Radar on Hard) often than not when dealing with moving targets, the only thing I have is ShowDebug=TRUE.

[Romflyer 25]

I have been using this same ini for 6 years. Small red dot, yellow diamond and thats its.

 

Same here....... red dot is a set at 2, yellow daimonds stay as stock at 10......radar gone......bottom left text gone....waypoints gone.

 

One idea that I have toyed with but never tried is to turn on the labels but to change them so that they are just a tiny white dots.....I dont know where the ini file that controls the aircraft labels is but someone must know.......I don't know how well it would work but the idea is that the white dots would barely be visible and would almost look like a small reflection ??....if it worked you could remove the red target markers completely, and everything in the sky would be a little bit more visible but not just handed to you with a target literally painted on it's back.......If I knew how to change the setting I would have tried by now, maybe someone who knows could explain where the correct ini is that controlls the labels?.......actually I'm not even sure how to turn the labels on, I usually hate them and try to have as little as possible extra crap on the screen

 

 

anyways......it's just a thought, and might be worth trying it out to see if it works.

[+malibu43 142]

I have been using this same ini for 6 years. Small red dot, yellow diamond and thats its.

 

Yup. That's what I'm thinking. Mine is really similar to that right, except I still have my aircraft's info and I have a small box instead of a dot. I had a dot for a while, but actually found in a lot of cases that it obscured what was behind it. So i go with a smaller box instead. Another reason I forgot to mention that I keep my aircraft's info in the bottom left is that SF2 doesn't/can't use a detent to set after burner. I found that without the extra visual cue to indicate when i was in burner or not, I was spending way to much time trying to find 100% mil power without going into burner. On some aircraft its obvious due to noise, etc..., but on some it was hard to tell.

 

 

I tend to use padlock more (Targeting and Radar on Hard) often than not when dealing with moving targets, the only thing I have is ShowDebug=TRUE.

 

That is a good point. It's another fall-back for when you can't seem to find whatever it is you're looking for. So are you flying with the HUD "turned off" via alt-D? Or HUD set to "hard"?

 

Another thing I've found fun is using the "target nearest center of view" key. When flying CAS in an A-10, I actually try to visually identify the tanks, look at them, and then target what I'm looking at instead of just pressing E and looking for the red dot/box. The same could be done for A/A combat.

Edited May 7, 2012 by malibu43

[+malibu43 142]

Same here....... red dot is a set at 2, yellow daimonds stay as stock at 10......radar gone......bottom left text gone....waypoints gone.

 

One idea that I have toyed with but never tried is to turn on the labels but to change them so that they are just a tiny white dots.....I dont know where the ini file that controls the aircraft labels is but someone must know.......I don't know how well it would work but the idea is that the white dots would barely be visible and would almost look like a small reflection ??....if it worked you could remove the red target markers completely, and everything in the sky would be a little bit more visible but not just handed to you with a target literally painted on it's back.......If I knew how to change the setting I would have tried by now, maybe someone who knows could explain where the correct ini is that controlls the labels?.......actually I'm not even sure how to turn the labels on, I usually hate them and try to have as little as possible extra crap on the screen

 

 

anyways......it's just a thought, and might be worth trying it out to see if it works.

 

Hey, now that's a great idea. Anyone know what files that stuffs in? What distance to labels show up at? Is it "infinity"? If it's limited at all, this could be a great solution.

[+malibu43 142]

Same here....... red dot is a set at 2, yellow daimonds stay as stock at 10......radar gone......bottom left text gone....waypoints gone.

 

One idea that I have toyed with but never tried is to turn on the labels but to change them so that they are just a tiny white dots.....I dont know where the ini file that controls the aircraft labels is but someone must know.......I don't know how well it would work but the idea is that the white dots would barely be visible and would almost look like a small reflection ??....if it worked you could remove the red target markers completely, and everything in the sky would be a little bit more visible but not just handed to you with a target literally painted on it's back.......If I knew how to change the setting I would have tried by now, maybe someone who knows could explain where the correct ini is that controlls the labels?.......actually I'm not even sure how to turn the labels on, I usually hate them and try to have as little as possible extra crap on the screen

 

 

anyways......it's just a thought, and might be worth trying it out to see if it works.

 

From huddata.ini:

 

...[infoDisplay]

//BackgroundImage=TextBackground.tga

BottomLeftPosition=0.01,0.985

BottomRightPosition=2,1 //0.99,0.985

DisplayWidth=0.20

VerticalBorder=0.0015

HorizontalBorder=0.008

EnemyTargetColor=1.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

FriendlyTargetColor=0.0,0.0,1.0,1.0

UnknownTargetColor=1.0,1.0,0.0,1.0

WaypointColor=1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0

TextFile=HUDText.str <---------- ?????

NormalColor=1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0

WarningColor1=1.0,1.0,0.0,1.0

WarningColor2=1.0,0.0,0.0,1.0

AGLAltStart=609.6

AGLAltWarning=152.4

EnglishUnitUseMPH=FALSE

ScaleTextToFit=TRUE

...

 

I'm not at home so I can't try to find HUDText.str, but maybe it has some of the labels stuff in it...

Edited May 7, 2012 by malibu43

[+ojcar 157]

I let the red box (my eyes aren't very good), but I have deleted the red cones. That's all I need.

 

[Display001]

DisplayType=DIRECTOR

ObjectType=TARGET_ENEMY

ConeSize=25

BoxSize=10

BoxType=SQUARE

BoxColor=1.0,0.0,0.0,0.75

//ConeModelName=redcone

[+malibu43 142]

Well, I looked through the .cat's and some .ini's and .str files and couldn't find anything about the labels, so I don't know where to go next on that one.

 

However, I was going to go from a small, red box to a small black dot. I thought this would be nice since, it would be a little harder to see if marking a ground target, and, since it's black instead of red, would better represent the silouette of an aircraft in the sky.

 

One question though - what do the four values represent in "boxcolor="? I'm assuming the first 3 are red, green, and blue. So black would be 0,0,0. But what is the last value? Most of the entries in HUDDATA.ini use 0.75. Is that some sort of brightness or transparency?

Edited May 8, 2012 by malibu43

[+Brain32 265]

Well, I looked through the .cat's and some .ini's and .str files and couldn't find anything about the labels, so I don't know where to go next on that one.

 

Are we talking about the same labels?

The only controls you have of them is infact in the HUDDATA.ini

 

[smallLabelFont]

TextFontName=Arial

TextSize=12

 

[HUDLabels]

EnableLabels=TRUE

LabelFriendlyAir=TRUE

LabelFriendlyGround=TRUE

LabelEnemyAir=TRUE

LabelEnemyGround=TRUE

[+malibu43 142]

I like this:

 

[Display001]

DisplayType=DIRECTOR

ObjectType=TARGET_ENEMY

ConeSize=25

BoxSize=1 //10

BoxType=SQUARE

BoxColor=0.0,0.0,0.0,0.25 //1.0,0.0,0.0,0.75

//ConeModelName=redcone

 

 

Where is he? (HUD is turned off with alt-D)

 

(alt-D) There he is!

[Romflyer 25]

That does look pretty good Malibu43

 

Did anyone get a chance to play with the numbers that Brain32 posted? to see if the label idea is any good.

[+malibu43 142]

That does look pretty good Malibu43

 

Did anyone get a chance to play with the numbers that Brain32 posted? to see if the label idea is any good.

 

Thanks. I'm very happy with these results. The "target box" is almost impossible to pick up against the ground or a darker background (cockpit) unless you really know where to look. However, when against something lighter like the sky, it's much more easy to pick up.

 

Like Brian32 pointed out, those are the ONLY options to tweak with the labels. Just font size and which labels appear. No option to change color, draw distance, or change the text into a dot or anything. So, unless TK unlocks something else somewhere (which isn't likely to happen given that is locking stuff up these days), the labels are a dead end.

[+Brain32 265]

Well maybe reducing the text size to some very low levels would work?

I mean if the font size is so small it appears as a dot...

[+malibu43 142]

Well maybe reducing the text size to some very low levels would work?

I mean if the font size is so small it appears as a dot...

 

Yeah. I can try that. I still wouldn't have anything control over the colors or the distance at which the labels draw, though. I can try just adding some entries in HUDDATA.ini to see if they have any effect, but it would be a lot of guess work...

[ricnunes 1]

The square solution look great! But this only works for the targeted object, right?

Is there a way to implement this kind of square to ALL visible objects (friendly and enemy aircraft and ground targets and vehicles)?

[Romflyer 25]

Well maybe reducing the text size to some very low levels would work?

I mean if the font size is so small it appears as a dot...

 

That is exactly what I have been thinking

 

 

Yeah. I can try that. I still wouldn't have anything control over the colors or the distance at which the labels draw, though. I can try just adding some entries in HUDDATA.ini to see if they have any effect, but it would be a lot of guess work...

 

It would be nice to have control over the distance, about 10 miles would be perfect ....... as for the colours, I was thinking that the labels were all white in the game??? in which case just making them all as small as a dot could work, but if they are different colours (red/blue) then we are dead in the water

 

 

I havent had a chance to sit down with gaming rig in a few weeks, otherwise I'd be trying these options myself so I'll just keep my eyes on this thread and see where it goes...........until I get to fire up the game, maybe this weekend (damn real life is always getting in the way)...........of course it'll be the second thing I do.......... after I try out those Vipers