Waypoint Flags

[Michael D. Hafer]

The Waypoint flags should have the following properties:

• Factional: I've made 6 waypoint flags, one for each of the game's factions. I've put them all in one actor, with 6 variations, one for each faction. Let me know if this is adequate or if 6 separate actors are needed (very easy for me to make).
  Implemented as of [10704].

• Visibility: Waypoint flags should be visible in FOW (Fog of War) foremost; secondarily could possibly be visible in SOD (Shroud of Darkness).
  See #908.

• Extended to Units: Waypoint flags should show up for unit movement as well, not just for building rally points. Tasking a unit to move somewhere should show a Waypoint flag at that spot. Selecting a moving unit should show a flag at where he is tasked to move. Tasking a unit to different waypoints should show a flag at each waypoint. These would only show up when the unit is selected and if the unit is one under the control of the player.
  (Related to #1053)

[historic_bruno]

Replying to Mythos_Ruler:

• Extended to Units: Waypoint flags should show up for unit movement as well, not just for building rally points.

The rally line implementation could possibly be shared with way points, so we'd have rendered lines connecting waypoints in addition to flags. I think that basic capability would be nice for trade, too, so there are multiple features that would benefit. If that ends up being too much work, it could be added to an "Advanced waypoint display" ticket.

[vts]

FYI: the first property is implemented as of [10704], and the second property is the same as #908.

[vts]

FYI: the third property is related to #1053.

[vts]

FYI: the second property is implemented as of [11454].

[leper]

#1446 should add some visual feedback to the given target and was a partial duplicate of this ticket.

[leper]

I have a heavy wip for the third (and last) part of this ticket. It could still take some time until it is ready. ​http://ompldr.org/vZnJ4eA

[leper]

WIP patch

[leper]

This patch should work for most cases for single units.
Big TODOs: Formations, cleanup/refactoring of CCmpWayPointRenderer (shares lots of code with CCmpRallyPointRenderer).

[Stan]

Hey Leper could you help me finish the last part of it ? I think it should just work as starcraft. If all units have the same waypoints, each waypoint as one flag (just check if the flag is placed before adding a new one) that shouldn't change for formations.

[leper]

If we just want to have flags (and no lines) this ticket is pretty trivial (mostly removing everything from the wip patch above). AOK does just show the flags, but you have no indication in which order those are handled (nor will you see all flags if you are moving great distances), so having lines would be nice.

With the lines you have the choice of either having them be a straight line to the next waypoint, but that needs interpolation as otherwise you see the line jumping around. Else one could use the same logic as for rallypoints (but with moving units that will lead to a huge amount of recalculations which doesn't sound very efficient), and might jump around in even weirder ways.

With lines you also have the issue of formations where you don't want to see the lines of the formation members, but only of the formation controller. That might still look strange as the formation controller isn't actually visible and the line would just start at an arbitrary point.

(Unassigning myself because I don't plan on working on this anytime soon, if someone wants to work on that and has some question just ask me. The above patch probably has a lot of conflicts by now and should only be used as inspiration anyways.)

[Rolf Sievers]

Leper, you mentioned:

With the lines you have the choice of either having them be a straight line to the next waypoint, but that needs interpolation as otherwise you see the line jumping around.

I don't quite understand what you are saying. Could you rephrase that, if you still remember your original intention? (Do you refer to unit movement being discrete, moving the line forwards in tiny but visible steps?)

Strait lines work well I guess, and with formations you could encircle the units and use that circle to start the line.

[leper]

Replying to rolf.sievers:

Leper, you mentioned:

With the lines you have the choice of either having them be a straight line to the next waypoint, but that needs interpolation as otherwise you see the line jumping around.

I don't quite understand what you are saying. Could you rephrase that, if you still remember your original intention? (Do you refer to unit movement being discrete, moving the line forwards in tiny but visible steps?)

Yes to the question in parenthesis. The unit movement is interpolated, but the position the above wip patch (or some variation of it at some point) didn't account for that, so you see the line moving depending on the currently taken path in very visible steps (imagine going around a mountain).

Strait lines work well I guess, and with formations you could encircle the units and use that circle to start the line.

Using just the line for the formation controller (invisible entity with a position that should be somewhere in the center/front of the formation) was what I did at some point, that way the line starts somewhere in the formation.

Adding a circle around the units could become a performance issue with that circle/box (also note formations like flank, where one huge box does not make sense) having to align to terrain (else you could be in a situation where you don't see the box). You'd also have to interpolate that box with unit movement, else you'll have the same issue as with the waypoint lines itself.

[wraitii]

Bumping for A20, this patch sounds trivial enough with the long-range pathfinder now.

I'll assign it to me but I can't promise I'll actually work on it.

[Itms]

Backlogging again since wraitii is not too available these days. Adding the "simple" flag because, as wraitii said, it should be easier with the new pathfinder.

[leper]

Quite sure this one does not count as simple, and requires some design decisions. Still in case someone wants to work on it and wants some input, just ask me.

[wraitii]

I confirm it's not that simple, because the code quickly gets ugly when you reach the graphical part. In particular, our current implementation is slightly buggy.

It probably should be generalized to support waypoints, rallypoints, and other "lines on the map" but it's quite far from that right now.

[Itms]

Mkay :)

[Imarok]

Couldn't you just use the same function that is used for displaying the rallypoints of selected buildings?

[scythetwirler]

QoL/polish

[elexis]

Backlogging due to lack of progress