A spark of hope can change everything.

Research shows that wishes have proven physical and emotional benefits that can give a (man-)child better health outcomes and increase their chances for survival.

-Make-A-Wish America (possibly altered)

................................................................................................

This thread is dedicated to all you creative non programmers out there.

You have struggles in this game, and all you need is that perfect UI mod you so clearly imagine.

But the mod is not in the vault, and you are not a programmer.

Luckily, we are here to help. We make your mod a reality.

In this thread you can pitch for your idea.

Together we discuss your mod and make sure it will work as you have imagined.

I prioritize the best suggestions and try to do as many as I can.

All mods will of course be released to the vault without any copyright.

Focus is on UI-mods, quality of life kind of things, but also open to grand ideas. Let your imagination soar.

PS: I make no legally binding promises, something I learned from here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2OObOM3R_U

Feeling limited in creating your ultimate hotkey layout? Look no further.

TBA/work in progress mod that will allow you to customize your hotkeys programatically. You will need to write code to change it, but it has a fairly easy to understand structure to it. Example:

E =

• If you have only factories selected = execute the custom HotbuildOverhaul (a mod) group "HBO_T1_2". I have it saved as the second T1 unit which means it builds land scout / air scout for example.
• If you have only engineers selected = start reclaim mode
• Else (if you have nothing selected) = select all bombers on screen that are not torpedo ("ANTINAVY")
  • Then, assign a subhotkey for E, meaning that if you quickly click E again you'll select all bombers on the whole map instead.

The time you have to register a subhotkey is taken from the double-click decay time that you can set in the original settings. I think the default is 500ms. Then it is reset. If you use another key that is not in the subhotkeys (or if you don't have any subhotkeys registered) it will ofc register whatever you pressed even within those 500ms. You can technically nest an infinate amount of more subhotkeys inside subhotkeys as well to really go wild with your combos.

More examples:

Q =

• If any unit/units are selected = enter patrol mode.
• If nothing selected = Select all onscreen idle/moving/patrolling/attackmoving T1 engineers (engineers that have no build order as part of their queue basically)
• Q --> 2 = select same but T2 engineers. (Q --> 3 = T3 eng, Q --> 4 = SACUs)
• Q --> Q select all those T1 engineers and enter patrol mode.

I have the Y button set for all my commander enhancements:

• Y = switch to the enhancements tab
• Y --> T = Start Tech upgrade
• Y --> U = Start Gun upgrade
• etc with all buttons surrounding Y

And so on, only your imagination sets the limits.

The obvious advantage here is that you can use the same key for different things depending on the context. Kind of like build mode but automatic.

I have migrated almost all my hotkeys in there and use it on a daily basis, but you can mix with your ordinary hotkeys if you only want to customize a few.

Right now it overwrites every hotkey that you put in there, so you put the E hotkey in there it replaces (and deletes forever) your old E hotkey. Hence I am not publishing an alpha release for everyone yet because I don't want to ruin someones hotkeys. I forked it from the MoreHotkeyLayouts mod that has a neat function that saves your old hotkeys the first time you run the mod, but I still need to make sure that is working and stable.

Future idea

• Multiple profiles. Right now it's all just in one big file, but it would be cool if anyone who takes the time to make their own profile can upload it and we can add those as a different profile. If you like a profile but some key is different on your keyboard, fix it, upload and every profile can then have different language versions too. These profiles could then be selected from a graphical interface as well as resetting your old keys if you want to.

Anyone else obsessed with hotkeys? Feel free to share your thoughts.

As long as you understand that you need to take a backup of your Game.prefs file I'll gladly give you access.

Always open to collaborate if you want to hep out

More mods to come.

// FreadyFish

Its way past midnight. Six night warriors are up. 0 active games, they are all in the 3v3 queue. The 90 seconds come and go, and again, and soon the six warriors were five.

And, of course, no one even thought about joining the 2v2 queue.

If there are no active games, can we just get a game with the best possible balance, even if it's not great?

In the Key bindings menu, under "Camera" category you will find everything.

Activate free mode, then press space and move your mouse. You can do this at lower camera hights without free mode but then it resets automatically.

Tracking is also there.

@Ctrl-K Whats up Az0t?

My personal version, showing resources/storage + income at the same time. Crude but effective.

I could imagine it as a checkbox option if you're interested.

Also made the ping indicator stay visible longer and bigger.

I think you're onto something here! Arty spam is ugly and works too well. Especially those annoying seraphim floaters. Ugh. Would like to see how it works in game. How about we make a demo mod for it?

I have started to plan a complete rework of hotkeys. I have a previous thread where I demonstrate this, titled "Completely customizable hotkeys mod", and it works fine but its implementation is not exactly user friendly for customizing as it's all code based, for my personal use.

So the main idea: (These are all already working in my version)

• Allow different key bindings based on the context. Primarily this is based on the category of selected units (but could be other things as well). For example, having engineers selected will have its own keymapping, like an automatic build mode.

• Allow for combinations. Modifier keys are great for re-using keys, but this would also make it possible to assign key combinations like Space-A if clicked in succession. It opens up a lot of possibilities to group your keys for different purposes. For example I use Space+other keys to set target priority. This keeps everything in reach at all times.

• Allow chaining actions to run sequentially. If you want one button to do many things, like idk, selecting the closest engineer and build a pd - then you have to find a mod that has put these together for you. So I suggest that to be possible for users directly by selecting multiple actions from the list.

The new ideas:

• Make a UI for all this that is easy to use. I imagine an "Advanced" button that goes into the Key Bindings dialog, that activate advanced mode and expands the dialog. Exact design is a work in progress, many things to consider.

• Exporting of your keys and share it with others, making a list of presets for people to try out.

Questions

• Do you have any ideas? How would you use it?

• Are you interested in helping out? It could be fun you know.

• If there is a desire for this to be integrated in the future, the team might want to get involved early and give me some advice on that process and any requirements. @Jip

My personal code-only version assigns all the hotkeys that I have specified in customKeyMap like you can see below, but its not super clean perhaps. I havent found a way to hijack the keypress in any other way, so suggestions are welcome.

function RunCustom(key)
	ForkThread(customKeyMap[key])
end

function Init()
	from(customKeyMap).foreach(function(k, v)
		local name = string.gsub(k, "-", "_")

		userKeyActions['AHK '..name] = {
			action = 'UI_Lua import("/mods/AdvancedHotkeys/modules/main.lua").RunCustom("'..k..'")',
			category = 'AHK'
		}

		userKeyMap[k] = 'AHK '..name
	end)

	Prefs.SetToCurrentProfile('UserKeyActions', userKeyActions)
	Prefs.SetToCurrentProfile('UserKeyMap', userKeyMap)
end

local customKeyMap = {

	['Esc'] = function() Hotkey('Esc', function(hotkey)
		print("Soft stop")
		ConExecute 'UI_Lua import("/lua/ui/game/orders.lua").SoftStop()'
                
                -- Key combo for double clicking
		SubHotkeys({
			['Esc'] = function() SubHotkey('Esc', function(hotkey)
				print("Stop")
				ConExecute 'UI_Lua import("/lua/ui/game/orders.lua").Stop()'
			end) end,
		})
	end) end, 
        -- ...

local function Hotkey(hotkey, func)
	subHotkey = subHotkeys[hotkey]
	local currentTime = GetSystemTimeSeconds()
	local diffTime = currentTime - lastClickTime
	local decay = 0.002 * Prefs.GetFromCurrentProfile('options.selection_sets_double_tap_decay')
	local inTime = diffTime < decay
	lastClickTime = currentTime

	if subHotkey ~= nil and inTime then
		ForkThread(subHotkey)
	else
		subHotkeys = nil
		func(hotkey)
	end
end

local function SubHotkeys(obj)
	subHotkeys = obj
end

local function SubHotkey(hotkey, func)
        local currentTime = GetSystemTimeSeconds()
	local diffTime = currentTime - lastClickTime
	local decay = 0.001 * Prefs.GetFromCurrentProfile('options.selection_sets_double_tap_decay')

	if storedUniqueIdentifier == hotkey and diffTime < decay then
		subHotkey = subHotkeys[hotkey]
	end

	storedUniqueIdentifier = hotkey

	func(hotkey)
end

@Arran

T1ArtyBalance.zip

https://github.com/FreadyFishFAF/T1ArtilleryBalance

Seraphim is not how you described, I made it as a low arc instead. I'll look into if I can apply a different gravity to it to create that effect you're looking for but this will give similar effect on gameplay, ie the shell arrives faster.

Aeon will also have to be looked into, haven't done something like that before. But I am thinking we can do all those cool visual things last if we manage to get the balance in order.

Relevant code below, it should be easy enough to play around with. Change the "local ____DPS = X" and the Damage will be calculated automatically based on RoF.

-- Disable predictive projectiles to make them ineffective against moving targets
bp.Weapon[1].LeadTarget = false

-- Double the cost
bp.Economy.BuildCostEnergy = bp.Economy.BuildCostEnergy * 2
bp.Economy.BuildCostMass = bp.Economy.BuildCostMass * 2

-- Increase weapon range by 2 units
bp.Weapon[1].MaxRadius = bp.Weapon[1].MaxRadius + 2

if id == "uel0103" then -- UEF T1 Artillery

    local uefRoF = 0.5
    local uefDPS = 2

    bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire = bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire * uefRoF

    bp.Weapon[1].Damage = bp.Weapon[1].Damage * uefDPS / uefRoF

    bp.Intel.VisionRadius = bp.Intel.VisionRadius * 2

elseif id == "url0103" then -- Cybran T1 Artillery

    local cybranRoF = 1.5
    local cybranDPS = 1

    bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire = bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire * cybranRoF

    bp.Weapon[1].Damage = bp.Weapon[1].Damage * cybranDPS / cybranRoF

    bp.Physics.MaxSpeed = 3.7

    bp.Weapon[1].DamageRadius = bp.Weapon[1].DamageRadius * 1.5

    bp.Weapon[1].FiringRandomness = bp.Weapon[1].FiringRandomness * 1.25

    -- Stun
    for k, v in bp.Weapon[1].Buffs do
        v.Duration = v.Duration + 2 -- default is 3s for T1, 2s for T2, this makes it 5s for T1, 4s for T2
    end

elseif id == "ual0103" then -- Aeon T1 Artillery

    local aeonRoF = 1.5
    local aeonDPS = 2

    bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire = bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire * aeonRoF

    bp.Weapon[1].Damage = bp.Weapon[1].Damage * aeonDPS / aeonRoF

    bp.Weapon[1].DamageRadius = 0

    bp.Weapon[1].FiringRandomness = 0

elseif id == "xsl0103" then -- Seraphim T1 Artillery

    local seraRoF = 3
    local seraDPS = 2

    bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire = bp.Weapon[1].RateOfFire * seraRoF

    bp.Weapon[1].Damage = bp.Weapon[1].Damage * seraDPS / seraRoF

    bp.Weapon[1].BallisticArc = 'RULEUBA_LowArc'
end

What if each individual player was able to recall, with a proper delay. And disconnecting could simply trigger that delay. I don't see how anyone could abuse it and so what if it can be slightly beneficial in some circumstance, I say good for you for making the right decision.

I uploaded my first mod, Color Coded Strategic Icons, and the icon is showing up in the ingame menu but in the client it is absent. Why? This seems to be the case for many mods.

@arran Haven't made a sim mod in a while but should be easy. We basically just throw around some numbers and change some trues to falses and we're done!

In Starcraft 2 I remember having a seperate rating for each party. Is this something that could be implemented in FAF?

It is more fun to have a common rating to work on, and more importantly it would allow higher and lower rated players to play together without destroying or inflating their individual rating.

If you are new to mods, then you are in for a treat. They are not just for replays but can help you in-game too, as they give you additional information and hotkeys etc. Focus on "UI-mods", they can be used in rated games and only effects your own UI. "Sim-mods" changes the game itself, are unranked and must be downloaded by all players.

@ctrl-k I'll look into it. Will prioritize based on how many upvotes it gets

@StormLantern I feared that might be the case, but maybe there is an easier solution for the inflation problem? I'll share some more details of my own experience:

I (around 1200) played ladder with a new player, skill level around 0 rating lets say. Because of having no previous games, ranking increased quicker than mine for each game we won, until we hit a point where we started losing more and more, bringing my rating down faster than theirs. In the end I think my teammate rached 7-800 and was crushed when not being carried, making it basically impossible to play alone.

I guess it's not exactly adviced to play with such large gap in skill level, but this might reveal a problem that exists for any party with a rating disparity even if it's less noticable usually. I don't know much about how the rating system works but I could have a look at it and give some more concrete suggestions. If you think I'm onto something and wouldn't rather dig into it yourself.

Try these and see which one suits you best:

Released v1

@arran Thanks Arran! Glad you like it!

Haha my LEGO-navy icons, as I like to call them. My favourite detail must be the legs on the Salem

Next release is coming any day (or week) now actually!

• Overlays will be optional checkboxes via UMT options menu.
• Every base game unit now has an icon, some have been updated slighly for better consistency.

After uploading the beta I realized I was in the middle of trying some stuff with the factory overlays, so yeah that's my bad. They will be working in V2. For V3 I'm thinking of having the icon change depending on what is currently being built, like when building engineers now. But color coded this time - of course.

About the shields, I am not sure what you are refering to. I haven't had any problems with them. Could you elaborate a bit, or if you have a screenshot?

Feel free to try the current version, maybe it's something I have solved unknowingly. I would also gladly hear your thoughts before the release:

https://github.com/FredrikBergelin/FAF-Mods/tree/main/ColorCodedStrategicIcons

ColorCodedStrategicIcons_V2_PRE_RELEASE.zip

I am totally up for ideas on the design. As is evident from the experimentals, I am no Picasso. Maybe they should not be depicted at all like now, instead just some generic symbol? Spider definitely deserves a cool icon (not that I am biased towards Cybran or anything.. )

The size/zoom thing, I have thought about it too. I don't think it's possible to solve unfortunately, for the same reason many icon mods have 1080/1444/4k versions. Everything is pixel based in a specific format, so they are not intended to scale. It might be possible to create a new set of smaller icons, and load dynamically on certain zoom breakpoints. If anyone knows some limitations here please let me know. Realisically this is a V4 feature at the earliest.

@arran Good catches!

The asymmetry is actually present for all icons. It seems as if its the surrounding glow that gets cut off, on the inside of the glow not the outside. Very strange. Any attempt of mine to mitigate it by changing the icon only makes it worse. When changing colors through the "use team colors" or whatever it is called, it's displayed more properly. Red works bettar than blue for example. This is the extent of my findings.

Does anyone know some more details of how to work with the icon player color? I just set it to a gray with 70% luminance and it works to show the different colors automatically. There is probably something more to it. What thresholds are used for it to count as a player color for example? Not sure where to find info on exactly how it works.

That I havent noticed the bloom problem makes sense since I am going for full performance settings (ie my computer is slow). Will experiment and see if I figure something out, but without that other mod I take it that it is still showing as purple then. I am guessing the only solution is to change the color, to something darker perhaps.

Only showing overlays after building is finished. I tried self.unit:IsBeingBuilt(), but get error: attempt to call method `IsBeingBuilt' (a nil value). Will do some digging.

I actually didnt add UMT as a required mod for two reasons, 1 it can work without it so didn't want to force anyone to download it, and 2 I guess if UMT is updated this will cause a problem. I don't think there is any dependancy management like UMT >= 12 to solve the issue. But UMT is pretty standard and I can always update my mod with new dependencies whenever there is a new UMT release so I will consider it!

Thanks Arran!

@arran It's a rare thing to have a bug work in your favor!

You know, I think the wish a mod foundation might just be able to grant your request.

This idea has been on my mind too for a while, but I am thinking it has to be possible to set each individual launcher differently. For me I don't see how it will be that useful if I am locked to one level, and who has time to go to the menu mid game? Instead, I'd go all the way and put everything into a UI and have an overlay of the number to go along with it. With the ability to save the default number to persist between games as well.

It so happens that I am working on a mod that autopauses any category of units with the click of a button. Only on low energy right now but should be easy to add other conditions. I need to finish up the icons mod first but after that it might be time for me continue on it, and it would fit to integrate your idea there I think. It is a lot of work though, I wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe someone else can make a simple one first. I'd be happy to copy some of that code when I need it