Slot specific gunsights mod

[VonBeerhofen 64]

I've managed to give each plane type in EAWPRO it's own reticule by copying the same parameter used in the P***VIEW routine into the GUNSIGHT.SPT loader without having to reserve any extra memory for it. This allows the use of any available reticule drawing per plane slot. For example, the SpitIX will use GUNSP111.SPT for now but may change if needed.

The change can also be added to the STEAM or GOG versions of V1.2.

[MarkEAW 63]

Nice work and discovery VBH.

Do you or will you have a list of the filenames for each slot? (I'd like to add it to the fxexe-patch page...)

[VonBeerhofen 64]

Sorry guys, I spoke too soon. The game did ask for the new files when switching planes but didn't accept the new drawings when I gave it one. I should have known I can't make it work this way after all, memory use is seamless and you can't squeeze something in without reloading all. Wasted a lot of time on this, sorry.

VBH

[MarkEAW 63]

aw, man. I'd imagine a lot of things don't pan out. Your use to it though right? 

Sorry, it sounded promising.

[VonBeerhofen 64]

Yeah, pretty devastated after all the work that went into it, but I'm not giving up. Weird thing was that my original sight remained visible but it's transparency was gone inspite of the filename having changed. Instead the reticule was shown against a non transparent yellowish back ground. The routine itself worked fine and gameplay was normal besides not seeing the enemy ahead of me. Will test some more at a later date, got all the relevant stuff backed up for now.

[MarkEAW 63]

Ugh, Sounds rough. I have these devastating EAW moments all the time. :)

Any luck on getting the files to work correctly?

[VonBeerhofen 64]

The routine was added to v1.2 for further testing and it worked fine after removal of an old UHR tileset. Most aircraft were tested extensively this time and I even tested a few of EAWPRO's hires reticules which occupy app.10 times more memory then stock v1.2.

I'm not yet celebrating but sofar I've learned a few new things about how to modify filenames from within the game and how and where to attempt to load them, so there is still hope. More ideas for this method is to add. year/slot specific file names to certain files which may benefit from it.

Probably not many players may be interested in this as other versions already have this change but for me it's a challenge and a hobby, so the work continues!

VonBeerhofen

[VonBeerhofen 64]

It's now fully working in EAWPRO too. The problem was caused by the added transparency and (sadly) had to be removed and the original filename restored. I think I can give it PRO transparency in a similar manner as was done with these reticules, without the need of reserving memory. All which is needed is to add the word TRA to the filename and create a single link in the TRA list which will work for all reticules. Anyway that's how I see it, but that's for later. I also have a nice little instrument sprite for some of the bombers which don't have human controlled guns and have no need for a gunsight. It's now time to party 🥳 and move on to the next challenge!

 

VonBeerhofen

[VonBeerhofen 64]

Scary moment adjusting to my new gunsight.

VonBeerhofen

[MarkEAW 63]

Nice going with the new feature, VBH!.

Love your screen shot too , lol omg. :)

[VonBeerhofen 64]

Well things went horribly wrong when I noticed another sprite file got damaged so spend this weekend searching for answers. The sprite table was reorganized, something I already planned a long time ago but never got to it. The gunsight switch kept working great but plane damage kept showing an alien terrain tile being animated and a giant soldier in between the explosions and in desperation I decided to try the routine without an extra call I added to free up memory prior to loading the new reticule, i.e. I rolled back to what I believed was causing the first problem which made me add that call, as I was about to throw in the towel. Again it showed I should have done more testing but haste got the better of me as the sprite table still needed a complete overhaul. The reorganisation meant I had te relearn all the mess I made from mixing animations and improving what was there already. I crashed about 1000 planes on the runway and kept switching and taking pics to see if all was there. When the free up call was removed things finally went my way, and here's one shot which I liked and gives a small impression of the new animation order and one resized reticule. It's a bit small but it was just a test and in comparison an easy fix. Hope you like it.

VonBeerhofen

[VonBeerhofen 64]

The EXE was tested on various operating systems and computers in online battles with Launchpad members and worked great. In the process of it's creation the no longer needed transparency link of the reticule, which is now under hardware management, was given to the only explosion animation which didn't have the feature and was showing jagged edges. Those are now gone and with the transparency in it looks pretty Impressive and realistic.

VBH

[VonBeerhofen 64]

Here's a shot with the old jagged edges explosion overlayed on top of a screen shot of last night's online mission in the EAW Launchpad. Notice the red hot colored shrapnel and the old rusty version. These were both rusty before the changes to the sprites list, so there are now 8 different planehit animations of 8 frames instead of the stock planehit of just 2 large debris parts. So lots of stuff flying around when you explode💥

VonBeerhofen