[WIP] [A11d] EdB Interface 3.0.1 Beta (Updated 8 Aug 2015)

[EdB]

EdB Interface 3

While I've kept the EdB Interface mod up-to-date with each alpha, it really hasn't changed that much in about nine months.  I haven't had as much time to work on it, and my attention has been focused on other things.  Recently, I decided to dive back into the code to try adding a major new feature that I've wanted in there for a long time.  I've got an initial "beta" release of the mod that I think is far enough along to share.  I'd love to get some feedback on it.

Squad Management

The biggest problem with the Colonist Status Bar is that is doesn't scale very well with larger colonies.  For people who like to grow their colony into the dozens, I wanted to have other options for colonist management:

• Organize your colonists into squads and view those squads in the colonist status bar.
• Filter your colonists by squad in the Overview Work tab
• If you don't like the order your colonists are listed in, re-order them however you like.
• Assign key bindings to your squads to quickly bring them up in the colonist status bar.  Shift-click the key to assign the squad in the status bar to the hot key and click the key to switch the colonist bar to your assigned squad.

Before You Try It

I'd love to get some feedback on what works, what doesn't, what else I should add, etc, but before you try the mod, be aware that it's definitely a beta release.  You can expect bugs.  Don't add the mod to your favorite game without making a backup.  No guarantees that it won't break your colony.

An important note: if you use the squad management features, your save game will require the mod to load it up again.  This is a change from previous versions of the mod which don't include anything in your save game.  You can disable squad management from the interface options and re-save the game to remove all of the squad management data from your save game. 

How It Works

Right-click the colonist bar and click "Manage Squads..." to bring up the new squad management UI:



Create squads and assign colonists to them as needed.  Once created, you'll be able to scroll through the squads in the colonist bar.  Note that you cannot delete the "All Colonists" squad, which includes your full list of colonists.



By default, none of the bindings are assigned, so you'll have to assign them in the Game Options -> Keyboard Configuration screen.  In this example, I've assigned the number keys 0-9 for my squad hot keys and the comma and period keys for quickly scrolling through squads:



Download

You'll need to be logged into the forums to get the download.  You'll find it as an attachment at the bottom of this post.

What's Next

I'm still working on a few things:

• I plan on integrating squads into the Restrictions and Outfits tabs.
• I'm considering removing the Colonist button in the lower-left corner and instead adding a couple of other ways to navigate to the colonist tabs through the colonist bar.
• I'm considering splitting colonist-related tabs from the Overview panel into a new panel.

I'm open to other ideas, but I probably will not be adding any other large feature not related to squad management.

I hope to have the mod finished by the next alpha, assuming that the next alpha does in fact arrive near the end of the month.

[attachment deleted due to age]

[mrofa]

You might wanna look on haplos miscelasue mod he got something similar there.
You should kinda recosider this thrugh especialy the placment in overview tab, since in a12 overview tab will be reworked and many of its features will be placed elseware.
And lastly since i like the idea and screens
You could consider doing a button that share one squad members work order especialy the manual one(yes it is for lazy ppl like me )

[tirramissu]

Hi.
Adding this mod to game does nothing:(

[EdB]

Hi.
Adding this mod to game does nothing:(

Did you double-check that you didn't double-extract the mod?  In other words, you should have an "Mods/EdBInterface" folder and not a "Mods/EdBInterface/EdBInterface" folder.  This is the most common cause of the "mod doesn't do anything" problem.

If that's not it, are you running with any other mods?

[tirramissu]

Yes, I'm pretty sure.
I have few mods, all I did was disabling old EdB version and enabling new EdB.
All was fine with old version.

[losten]

With the next alpha, will the colonist bar become "colonist and pet bar"?

[EdB]

With the next alpha, will the colonist bar become "colonist and pet bar"?

I've been wondering that myself.  We'll see how pets work and if it makes sense to include them in the bar.  My initial thinking is that they will not be included, but it depends.

[FMJ Penguin]

Throw a lil "paw" in the corner of each colonist portrait so you can jump to that pet if they actually DO own one? Honestly don't even seem like anything else would be needed or used from my little time fiddling with pets so far. Even that is arguable haha.. My 10cents anyways. 

[Batpeter]

Yes a smaller icon for assigned pets, next to their master. That way you can at least see if they are hurt, which is basically all you need.

[Dragoon]

FMJ Penguin
Batpeter

What if they don't have a master and just roam? You have to think about those things. Pet icons should be smaller, but they should have their own section somewhere.

[whoishigh]

FMJ Penguin
Batpeter

What if they don't have a master and just roam? You have to think about those things. Pet icons should be smaller, but they should have their own section somewhere.

Whether or not the player should see "free" pets could be an option maybe, I could see livestock icon spam getting to be a bit much. If I assign pets it's usually in a "war animal" capacity, so I'd probably only want to see the health of my assigned creatures, personally, and even then only when their master is drafted. Another point to be considered is how to show someone with multiple pets. I've been trying to wrap my brain around it and I just can't think of a good way to do it :/

[Tekuromoto]

Whether or not the player should see "free" pets could be an option maybe, I could see livestock icon spam getting to be a bit much. If I assign pets it's usually in a "war animal" capacity, so I'd probably only want to see the health of my assigned creatures, personally, and even then only when their master is drafted. Another point to be considered is how to show someone with multiple pets. I've been trying to wrap my brain around it and I just can't think of a good way to do it :/

I also like to see what my mastered pets are up to when they're out of the base gathering and whatnot, but it would be way too much to have a bar with all 26 chickens...

One way to do it might be to have a button under each colonist that is disabled/greyed/invisible if they have no pets assigned to them, and when it's clicked then a cascade of (smaller that colonist-sized) icons drops down below the master. I suppose that would only work if the colonist bar is always only one row deep - does it go to multiple rows with scads of colonists? I've never had more than 7 or 8 myself...

What's really needed for animals though is renaming functionality.

[milon]

Any progress on this mod?

[MightyGooga]

Edb Your mods are awsome. Cant play the game without them. I would like to suggest on thing.
I wish we had a more graphic of vizualizing gear equipped by the colonists. Like traditional games where you drag and drop a certain clothing item in a spot.
I also think that there should be categories in the uniform menu, so we can for example, ban all winter clothes and allow only for the more refreshing ones. Do you think any of this is possible?

[Iwillbenicetou]

Is this going to be scrapped? Not seems to be any progress, even though the idea is flawless. Really need this lol.