[Feature] Projectile Team Colors

[JaxOf7]

People like knowing what team a projectile came from.

CBM has had this for a while, but I've come up with a new implementation that is hopefully simpler.

Also you can turn it off/on, much like the CTF Radar in case you really don't like them or a mod needs them off.

There is currently an online issue with this with team colors not showing up on certain aspects of the following

(click to show/hide)

duo fist chain
freeze cracker
tornado hold
wild coil
thunder claw
sakugarne
spread drill
drill bomb
lightning bolt
scorch wheel
junk shield

Regardless of that issue, I wanted to make a post about this to show everything that's done and before I had made more drastic changes to fix those.

Also please take note of ProjectileFirstTic.txt . Avoiding first tic functions makes a modder's life easier.

https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolors4.pk3

EDIT:
Online issue fixed.
Also Thunder Beam changed.
https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolors4b.pk3

EDIT2:
Assists added.
Super Adaptor back copies color.
Black Hole Bomb adapted to system. Sakugarne edit. Homing Sniper Crosshair fix.
https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolors4c.pk3

EDIT3:
Item2 resolved.
Ice Wall voxel in software color fixed.
Laser Buster color changed.
https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolors4d.pk3

EDIT4:
v5d update
translations redone, everything is colored
item-1 and concrete block look weird again
https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolorsv5d-1.pk3

EDIT5:
opengl voxel fix
https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolorsv5d-2.pk3

[Stardust]

that's neato, I wanted to see shinies golden/green lime astro crushes and elemental flame swords.
Actually, while this is mostly meant for gameplay (pretty useful for attacks lasting a while on the field, like copy vision, hyper bombs,  flame blast spam and so on), I bet many of us are especially looking for the different color patterns because it looks good.
Too bad it actually modified the actors, meaning it can't be used online in the same way skins or other sprites edit like HUDball

but it could probably get some use in the vanilla core eventually, I wouldn't see any downside to that :d

[JaxOf7]

Updated.
May or may not adapt Black Hole Bomb to my system.
And think Super Adapter wings should just match the player's color regardless of setting, since those are like a part of them.
Also just remembered assists are a thing. I should probably do those too.

[JaxOf7]

Update2.
Only Item 2 is really left. That is gonna be tricky.

[JaxOf7]

Update3.
I am probably done now.

[Gumballtoid]

As much as I want to support this, the execution leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Ranges of colors were specified when applying these translations, but that tends to hurt it in that some translations will overlap and come out wrong--Arrow Buster is a good example of this. I think a little too much of the load was placed on ACS, when parts of it should have been done manually. Surely, it sped the process up by quite a bit, but also left some holes in the resulting product.

Framework aside, the actual translations are... pretty bad. If I had to ballpark estimate, I'd say somewhere between a third and half of the weapons aren't properly translated, but I can't always tell whether it was by design or just due to the color in question falling outside of the translation range. Magnet Missile, Pharaoh Shot, Silver Tomahawk, Junk Shield, Remote Mine, Magic Card, Concrete Shot--the list goes on.

I absolutely love the idea, and have tried it myself in the past (albeit using a very ACS-light, DECORATE-heavy method), but I think this kind of thing is better off as a standalone mod.

However, there are a good deal of lingering or wide-area weapons that desperately need a change like this. Black Hole Bomb does this currently, but I think the dev team should also consider applying it to the following weapons and items as well:
• Hyper Bomb
• Time Slow
• Flash Stopper
• Rain Flush
• Gravity Hold
• Flame Blast
• Danger Wrap
• Tornado Hold
• Astro Crush
• Flash Bomb
• Copy Vision
• Lightning Bolt
• Ice Wall
• Remote Mine
• Plug Ball
• Hornet Chaser
• Tango Roll
• Treble Sentry
• Reggae Trick (including the tanks)
• Eddie Bomber

[JaxOf7]

I think a little too much of the load was placed on ACS, when parts of it should have been done manually.

Code: [Select]

CreateProjectileTranslation("ShadowBlade", 210, 220, -1, -1);
CreateProjectileTranslation("SparkShock", 210, 240, -1, -1);
CreateProjectileTranslation("TopRadius", 0, 255, -1, -1);
CreateProjectileTranslation("DiveMissile", -1, -1, 180, 200);
CreateProjectileTranslation("DrillBomb", -1, -1, 220, 240);
CreateProjectileTranslation("DustCrusher", -1, -1, 80, 120);This is manual and I don't know what you're talking about.

I'd say somewhere between a third and half of the weapons aren't properly translated, but I can't always tell whether it was by design or just due to the color in question falling outside of the translation range.

I went through 3 updates, do you really think these are not by design?
I could translate them however I wanted.
current, not all grays

Code: [Select]

CreateProjectileTranslation("JunkShieldWarper", 50, 90, -1, -1);all grays

Code: [Select]

CreateProjectileTranslation("JunkShieldWarper", 50, 90, 91, 200);
The reason I chose not to translate neutral colors I said in the Discord

well the main reason is projectile identification
we have a lot of projectiles.
and the retro style has a rather low detail level.
and the original sprites were not made with the intention of looking distinct when sharing a color.

by keeping colors that don't have to be translated, this can be alleviated somewhat

and the other reason
i feel some obligation to keep some of the original colors when megaman's entire gimmick is changing color to throw out different colored attacks

If people don't like specific translations, whatever. PROJTRAN.acs is right there.
I find it more important that team coloring happen at all.
I'm not changing them myself because I think this is how they should look.

[Gumballtoid]

This is manual and I don't know what you're talking about.

I don't think I worded that properly. I was trying to say that it might have been a little more practical to simply create translated projectiles and an auto-use inventory item in DECORATE for weapons like Hyper Bomb, which fire one projectile on-click with no strings attached. In hindsight, that seems pretty senseless when there's a script that can accommodate literally everything. My bad.

I went through 3 updates, do you really think these are not by design?

That possibility existed, and I didn't want to jump to conclusions right away. Still, I felt it was pretty likely when I saw some of those translations in-game. I don't completely agree with it, but I at least understand your reasoning behind it.

I find it more important that team coloring happen at all.

I agree, but not necessarily for every weapon in the game. Translating the big offenders is important, but I don't think it's necessary to translate everything else, all the way down to Top Spin's motion, when it can jeopardize their identity if translated fully. Sure, your take on Pharaoh Shot will probably help preserve its identity, but you have to admit it's not exactly pleasing to the eye. I think coloring projectiles that extensively is best done within its own mod.

[JaxOf7]

Sure, your take on Pharaoh Shot will probably help preserve its identity, but you have to admit it's not exactly pleasing to the eye.

It might have grown on me, but I actually just like Pharaoh Shot.
It's looks like a ball of colored light surrounded by or radiating into non-colored light.
I think some DBZ stuff does this.
And I mean, the standard Megaman explosion has white turning into peach.

I don't think it's necessary to translate everything else

But it's better.
Sure, a lot of the time you will see who fired a projectile.
But you don't exactly want to commit that to memory.
And sometimes projectiles pass a corner and you don't see the firer.
And sometimes you see projectiles pass to your front from behind and you really need to know whether that's an enemy or ally behind you.
And sometimes you see a spammed up battlefield and you just want to estimate which team makes up more of the spam.

People like knowing what's going on.


(Note to self: look into network usage)

[Hilman170499]

I have a question for the official development team of the game:
In case you choose to accept this suggestion, instead of integrating this into the core .pk3, can you make this a separate file that is bundled with the next release of the game? Thanks in advance.

[bass44]

This idea is fucking genius to be honest, but I agree it should be kept as a separate PK3 in case people want to have the original weapon colors.

[JaxOf7]

in case people want to have the original weapon colors.

Also you can turn it off/on, much like the CTF Radar in case you really don't like them or a mod needs them off.

I have a question for the official development team of the game:
In case you choose to accept this suggestion, instead of integrating this into the core .pk3, can you make this a separate file that is bundled with the next release of the game? Thanks in advance.

I mean
I'd like to know why you want this.

[CutmanMike]

Just noting this will probably be something to be considered for V6, but not V5D

[JaxOf7]

an update
so some people didn't like the semi-colored projectiles, and i didn't like maintaning a list of projectile colors to translate
so instead, i just made general purpose translations that translate every single color
also improvement to how i handled certain cases

bad news is, concrete block and item 1 voxels look weird again.
item 2 would look weird, but i changed that voxel.
anyway i don't feel like fixing it right now.

https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolorsv5d-1.pk3

[JaxOf7]

https://allfearthesentinel.net/zandronum/download.php?file=corewepteamcolorsv5d-2.pk3

fixed opengl voxels

repaste from discord on how I made those

(click to show/hide)

step 1
make sure your voxel looks right with this palette (8bdm palette)





step 2
replace that palette with a transformed palette





step 3
make sure the actor has translation "0:255=0:255" as default

repaste of stuff that would make my life easier if this feature isn't added

(click to show/hide)

1. stop it with these ignored first tic actions

Code: [Select]

Spawn:
AIRS AABBCC 1 ThrustThingZ(0, 2, 0, 1)
loop
should technically be

Code: [Select]

Spawn:
AIRS A 1
Spawn2:
AIRS ABBCCA 1 ThrustThingZ(0, 2, 0, 1)
loop
because my implementation is

Code: [Select]

actor AirShot_C : AirShotF replaces AirShot { states { Spawn: TNT1 AA 0 A_GiveInventory("ProjectileCode",1) goto "Super::Spawn" } }

so it would go higher than normal if i didn't do this

Code: [Select]

actor AirShotF : AirShot
{
States
{
Spawn:
AIRS A 1 //ThrustThingZ(0, 2, 0, 1)
goto "Super::Spawn+1"
}
}
1b. actually this is a better example of that first tic irresponsibility

Code: [Select]

Spawn:
RUSH D 0 A_Jump(256,"Death")
RUSH D 0 A_ChangeFlag("MISSILE",0)
RUSH D 0 A_ChangeVelocity(0, 0, -32, CVF_REPLACE)
RUSH D 1 A_JumpIf(z-floorz<=0, "Search")
Goto Spawn+2

actor EddieF : Eddie
{
states
{
Spawn:
RUSH D 0 //A_Jump(256,"Death")
goto "Super::Spawn+1"
}
}EddieF shouldn't exist, but i have to account for that inexplicable A_Jump(256,"Death")

2. include the non blue/cyan spirtes i made in corewepteamcolors, don't have black hole bomb go team colored
if you're not going all in on blue/cyan sprites or projectile team colors, then this just makes my job harder

3. have SXF_TRANSFERTRANSLATION for things spawning clientside fx/trails

Code: [Select]

GEMI A 0 A_SpawnItemEx("GeminiTrail",0,0,0,0,0,0,0,SXF_TRANSFERTRANSLATION)
without this, i either gotta modify the GeminiLaser or GeminiTrail further for my team colors
and with this, if a dude wanted a class shooting red gemini laser, they could just

Code: [Select]

actor GeminiLaser2 : GeminiLaser { translation "0:255=227:227" }done

4. semi-related but, crux of this feature is

Code: [Select]

actor MegaShot_C : MegaShot replaces MegaShot { states { Spawn: TNT1 AA 0 A_GiveInventory("ProjectileCode",1) goto "Super::Spawn" } }on every projectile, so i can understand if you don't want to do that
but this on every weapon actor would be so helpful

Code: [Select]

Spawn:
WEAP Y 0
WEAP Y 0 A_GiveInventory("WeaponSpawnCode",1)
Spawn2:
WEAP Y 1
loop

actor WeaponSpawnCode : CustomInventory
{
states
{
Pickup:
TNT1 A 0
stop
}
}
WeaponSpawnCode would have so much utility
you could spawn minimap icons
you could remove troublesome weapons from certain modes
in cscc or convclasses, they execute custom pickup script