[Mod Request] UI Mod: Colonist Titles / Remove Name CharLimit

[MrWeeGee]

Rainbeau made it happen! Editable Pawn Titles over at Rainbeau's Mods
Many thanks to one of the great pillars of the modding community!


TL;DR: Remove 15-character limit for names, modify backstory name string or add '2nd nickname' field, optionally making it more visible in-game.

Hey everyone! So there's this thing I do: when a colonist performs some crazy feat, I like to give them a title or nickname based on the event. Unfortunately, due to character and visibility limits, I'm pretty much restricted to using a short, 1-word nickname. Apologies in advance if this becomes a mess of words..

Simply put, I'd like to be able to remove the character limit of 15 from nicknames and have them be completely visible on both the colonist bar and beneath them. Instead of truncated with "..." which personally, I find pretty irritating. I think that would be the simplest way to do this. I do use Colonist Bar KF which allows me to increase the entire icon size, which somewhat helps to achieve this effect. But it doesn't allow me to increase the name visibility by itself, so you end up with oversized icons. Another route to go might be adding a "Title" name area (basically a 2nd nickname) that only shows in the game world beneath the pawn, saving bar space. My modding knowledge is XML-limited so I'm not sure what's easiest or even possible.

Some examples (and mostly irrelevant): I just had a 77 year old colonist go down against a group of mechs. Throughout the battle, he took a good dozen minigun shots while already laying in shock behind a stone chunk; including one to his unprotected head and lived to tell the tale. Somehow, the colonist still firing 1 cell next to him, never took a bullet from a dozen minigun sprays. I would have liked for their name bars to show something like: Sean "The Invincible" and Viper "The Agile". In this case, I can't even give him the name "Immortal" without it getting cut. The other I opted to use "Dodger" but it feels like I'm replacing a cool name with a dumber one. In another game, several mechs landed on a colonist across the map. He downed 4-5 of them as he was retreating, before going down himself -- leaving an easy 2 for the rest of the colony to take care of. I wanted to crown him "The Mechslayer," but had to go with "Luddite" which I thought was stupid as well.

I believe this would add more "immersion / role-playing" options, especially for tribal colonies. It would also build more into a colony's theme, story, and history. I'm not talented enough to do this (if even possible) but I'm hoping one of the many fine creators here would like to see this and consider it a worthwhile endeavor. Thank you!

Edit: I've figured out I can modify the nickname in the save file, bypassing the character limit, however inconvenient. Thank Notepad++ for its "replace all" feature. I can see why they've placed the limits, it takes a bit of horizontal space and overlapping names could be frustrating for some. I suppose if the '2nd nickname' route were taken, perhaps it could be placed on a line underneath the colonist's name? On the top bar it currently shows as: Sean "... and Viper "... which I don't mind so much, since it's full in the game world.

[SpaceDorf]

I like this suggestion and would love to have something like this ..
or the ability to change whole names.

I prefer to run military camps myself so I would like to use the nickname field to assign ranks and squad as well.
Most of the times this does not work, which is sad, because I prefer to use squad assignment to know who to sent on caravans and who not.

[MrWeeGee]

True, it'd probably even look better that way -- more in-depth and organized.

It could even be used as a replacement for those who like changing names to skill-based ones. Instead of assigning a prison ID like Sh9Crf10Min11 I've seen some do, one could simply use the title area for that or just the colonist's occupation i.e: Crafter, Gardner, Doctor, Human Shield, etc. while still keeping their name. Unless the labor camp thing floats their boat I guess.

Here's hoping somebody wants to give it a go. I think it'd have a lot of function and generally make the game better as a whole.

[SpaceDorf]

I did the skill based names too for a while .. before it got really annoying when the names became incorrect every few days and had to be updatet.

[Lurmey]

I suggested a mod a long while ago to add a second nickname for colonists that could be used for things like their main job, rank, fighting role etc. I'd love to be able to mark some of my colonists as "Combat Medic, Crafter" etc. Combat Extended's loadouts and the outfits kind of allow me to do this in a round-about way; some of my colonists use the outfit "Combat Engineer" or "Combat Medic" and use the appropriate loadout to suit. It doesn't allow me to assign main roles for those of my colonists that aren't soldiers, though, or provide ranks or squad designations to any of my soldiers.

Would be great to see someone address this in one way or another. I vote for the "second nickname" option.

[wwWraith]

I'd suggest to make editable an already existing backstory-related string, e.g. "James, Musician". Most time we don't care who our pawns were before joining our colony, and their role depending on actual capabilities often may differ from backstories. Then it should be not so hard to (optionally) show this second string in colonists bar.

[SpaceDorf]

I did suggest that as well at some time.
That would be the greatest. Still enhancing the char limit would be nice

[Lurmey]

I'd suggest to make editable an already existing backstory-related string, e.g. "James, Musician". Most time we don't care who our pawns were before joining our colony, and their role depending on actual capabilities often may differ from backstories. Then it should be not so hard to (optionally) show this second string in colonists bar.

I really like this idea!

[MrWeeGee]

I'd suggest to make editable an already existing backstory-related string, e.g. "James, Musician". Most time we don't care who our pawns were before joining our colony, and their role depending on actual capabilities often may differ from backstories. Then it should be not so hard to (optionally) show this second string in colonists bar.

Yeah, the thought had occurred to me. They technically already have a "title," being their backstory. The way you described would be best. If a mod could edit that string and (optionally) make it more visible in the colonist bar and/or game world, that'd be exactly what I was hoping for. Definitely adds a lot of charm and lore/story to the colonists. Makes each playthrough entirely more unique.

As for accessing it in game, guess it'd make sense just to include another button near the backstory or rename icon. Perhaps just adding a 2nd text field to the rename window?

I have some other ideas that could expand on this but it'd be venturing more toward a multi-function mod at that point. I'm still just hoping someone who wants this is willing and able to pick it up at a "basic" level.

Nice to see others like the idea, and thanks for everyone's input.

[dburgdorf]

Introducing....

Editable Pawn Titles - A simple but useful mod that allows you to edit pawns' titles as well as their nicknames. This allows you to give your colonists titles that reflect their current jobs instead of their backstories.

Yeah, this discussion got me thinking about the possibility, and then I just had to figure out how to actually do it.

[Harry_Dicks]

Introducing....

Editable Pawn Titles - A simple but useful mod that allows you to edit pawns' titles as well as their nicknames. This allows you to give your colonists titles that reflect their current jobs instead of their backstories.

Yeah, this discussion got me thinking about the possibility, and then I just had to figure out how to actually do it.

Look at this guy, making people's dreams come true!

[Lurmey]

Introducing....

Editable Pawn Titles

Amazing! Thank you very much, Rainbeau. You're the best!

[MrWeeGee]

Hey, that's great! Bit late to the party, but it's awesome that you picked this up!

Funny enough -- I actually considered tossing the thread your way thinking this sort of thing might interest you, but figured you had enough on your plate.

Another Rainbeau mod to add to the collection! Thanks again, for all your work!