Distribution click action mode

[TaranDahl]

Reopen #1453 again.

[ ] Distribution Mode Spread / Filter / Enable

• Now you can change the click action by using AllowSwitchNoMoveCommand hotkey. If the behavior to be executed by the current techno is different from the behavior displayed by the mouse, and the behavior to be executed will make the techno move near the target, the behavior will be replaced with area guard. Regardless of whether or not switch hotkey is used, default behavior can be changed through DefaultApplyNoMoveCommand.
• Now you can also change the click action when hold down the specific hotkey if enabled AllowDistributionCommand. The new behavior is like using the selected objects one by one to click on each target within the spread range.
  • The targets within the spread range will be allocated equally to the selected technos. Only when the behavior to be performed by the current techno is the same as that displayed by the mouse will it be allocated. Otherwise, it will return to the original default behavior of the game (it will not be effective for technos in the air). This will display a range ring.
  • DefaultDistributionSpreadRange controls the initial spread range, which is a number that's corresponding to the amount of cell radius * 512.
• AllowDistributionCommand.SpreadMode allows you to set spread range by hotkey. There're 4 tiers of range that can be selected by this hotkey which are identical to 0, 4, 8 and 16 cells.
  • When the range is 0, it is the original default behavior of the game.
• You can also adjust spread range by using the mouse wheel while holding down the specific hotkey if AllowDistributionCommand.SpreadModeScroll set to true. This allows a more precise control of spread range that each step will increase/decrease it by DistributionSpreadScrollStep, with 20 cells as its maximum value.
• AllowDistributionCommand.FilterMode allows you to set target filter by hotkey, which default to DefaultDistributionFilterMode.
  • When the filter is None, it is the default behavior of the game. If the range is not zero at this time, a green ring will be displayed. You can adjust the filter mode to:
    • Like - only targets with the same armor type (Completely identical Armor) will be selected among the targets allocated in the range. At this time, a blue ring will be displayed.
    • Type - only targets of the same type (like infantries, vehicles or buildings) will be selected among the targets allocated in the range. At this time, a yellow ring will be displayed.
    • Name - only targets of the same name (or with the same GroupAs) will be selected among the targets allocated in the range. At this time, a red ring will be displayed.
• AllowDistributionCommand.AffectsAllies, AllowDistributionCommand.AffectsEnemies & AllowDistributionCommand.AffectsNeutral allow the distribution command to work on allies (including owner), enemies or neutral target. If picking a target that's not eligible, it'll fallback to vanilla command.
• It's possible to add a button for distribution mode in the bottom bar by adding DistributionMode in the ButtonList of AdvancedCommandBar and MultiplayerAdvancedCommandBar.
  • The positions of each button are hardcoded, so it'll only decide whether enable this button or not. Distribute Mode button is now always listed after all the vanilla ones.
  • The asset of these buttons should be added in sidec0x.mix files which correspond to different sides, with the name button12.shp.
• For localization add TXT_SWITCH_NOMOVE, TXT_DISTR_SPREAD, TXT_DISTR_FILTER, TXT_DISTR_HOLDDOWN, TXT_SWITCH_NOMOVE_DESC, TXT_DISTR_SPREAD_DESC, TXT_DISTR_FILTER_DESC, TXT_DISTR_HOLDDOWN_DESC, MSG:DistributionModeOn, MSG:DistributionModeOff, TIP:DistributionMode into your .csf file.

In rulesmd.ini:

[GlobalControls]
AllowSwitchNoMoveCommand=false                      ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand=false                      ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand.SpreadMode=true            ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand.SpreadModeScroll=true      ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand.FilterMode=true            ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand.AffectsAllies=true         ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand.AffectsEnemies=true        ; boolean
AllowDistributionCommand.AffectsNeutral=true        ; boolean

[AudioVisual]
StartDistributionModeSound=                         ; sound entry
EndDistributionModeSound=                           ; sound entry
AddDistributionModeCommandSound=                    ; sound entry

In ra2md.ini:

[Phobos]
DefaultApplyNoMoveCommand=true                      ; boolean
DefaultDistributionSpreadRange=2048                 ; integer between 0 and 5120
DistributionSpreadScrollStep=16                     ; integer between 16 and 512
DefaultDistributionFilterMode=2                     ; integer, 0 - None , 1 - Like , 2 - Type , 3 - Name

In uimd.ini:

[AdvancedCommandBar]
ButtonList=[Button1],DistributionMode,[ButtonX]     ; List of button entry

[MultiplayerAdvancedCommandBar]
ButtonList=[Button1],DistributionMode,[ButtonX]     ; List of button entry

[github-actions]

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[TaranDahl]

@Metadorius Any issue other than #1949 (review)?

[TaranDahl]

TODO:
(Summarized from #1949 (review))

• Create independent file for AdvancedCommandBarButtonClass.
• Allow registering new AdvancedCommandBarButtonClass like MakeCommand.
• Rewrite the spread range code to allow exact range.
• Press-and-drag mode

@Metadorius Please confirm the above summary, or supplement/correct the incorrect parts.

[Metadorius]

@TaranDahl yeah, correct, there was also a comment about implementing press-and-drag mode (and not sure if the "same type" (infantry/buildings/vehicles/etc) is needed, since we have "same armor" mode). CrimRecya said it's too problematic, however I don't really see why, since we already have drag selection and we could reuse drag selection to calculate the radius.

[TaranDahl]

there was also a comment about implementing press-and-drag mode (and not sure if the "same type" (infantry/buildings/vehicles/etc) is needed

I think there is not enough labor force to add more features.
I think the existing work is sufficient in terms of completion. We should just perfect the existing features and then merge them.
As for more features, they should be another work, and can be implemented later, by anyone who wants them.
Breaking it into two PR can also help avoid the problem of having an excessive amount of code piled up in one PR, which may lead to no one willing to review it.

[Metadorius]

I think there is not enough labor force to add more features. I think the existing work is sufficient in terms of completion. We should just perfect the existing features and then merge them. As for more features, they should be another work, and can be implemented later, by anyone who wants them. Breaking it into two PR can also help avoid the problem of having an excessive amount of code piled up in one PR, which may lead to no one willing to review it.

This isn't a feature though? It is just a somewhat small improvement that brings it in line with how modern games do it.

• 0x6D2280 (exists in YRpp) for transforming screen coords into world coords (though Z is 0, maybe would want to account for that)
• 0x4AC4CC is where the drag-selection band is set and the mouse hold is done
• 0x4ABCEB is where the drag-selection release is handled
• 0xD90 in TacticalClass is Rect that contains X, Y, Width, Height

From that you could calculate 2 points, get world coords via function above, use this info to draw a corresponding circle and set the mode to such. I am not sure what is complex here. If needed I can send my decompile for this.

[TaranDahl]

@Metadorius Is there any difference between ShapeButtonClass and AdvancedCommandBarButtonClass?

[Metadorius]

@TaranDahl ShapeButtonClass is a vanilla engine class, AdvancedCommandBarButtonClass is something I propose to invent (perhaps a descendant from ShapeButtonClass) that stores the extra things that are currently stored as static arrays, for example.

[TaranDahl]

@TaranDahl ShapeButtonClass is a vanilla engine class, AdvancedCommandBarButtonClass is something I propose to invent (perhaps a descendant from ShapeButtonClass) that stores the extra things that are currently stored as static arrays, for example.

Judging from the current code, there seems to be no need for it to inherit from ShapeButtonClass. After all, the game originally stores those attributes in a static array.

[Metadorius]

After all, the game originally stores those attributes in a static array.

Which is a bad pattern. You have class fields and methods for that.

[TaranDahl]

Yeah I will make a new class to arrange the new buttons. But for the vanilla buttons, maybe we should just let them be?

[Metadorius]

Yeah I will make a new class to arrange the new buttons. But for the vanilla buttons, maybe we should just let them be?

Yeah I didn't mean we should be squeezing vanilla static array shitcode into proper classes necessarily, should be good.

[TaranDahl]

If we want to implement dragging, how should we handle the selection range?
Right now, it's several specific values.

[Metadorius]

partial review

[Coronia]

maybe the default DistributionSpreadScrollStep of 16 is too small. Now it takes long time to scroll it to a desirable value. Maybe make it 256 which is 1 cell per scroll, making it more intuitive and easy to use while keeping the preciseness

also the upper limit of DistributionSpreadScrollStep seems to be not needed, as it was 0-4-8-16 range before which are all greater than 512

as for the drag, I think instead of a choice between it and scroll, it'd better just make a toggle in rulesmd.ini to enable or disable it, like AllowDistributionCommand.SpreadModeScroll did, since these 2 patterns can naturally co-exist without conflict

[TaranDahl]

maybe the default DistributionSpreadScrollStep of 16 is too small. Now it takes long time to scroll it to a desirable value. Maybe make it 256 which is 1 cell per scroll, making it more intuitive and easy to use while keeping the preciseness

also the upper limit of DistributionSpreadScrollStep seems to be not needed, as it was 0-4-8-16 range before which are all greater than 512

as for the drag, I think instead of a choice between it and scroll, it'd better just make a toggle in rulesmd.ini to enable or disable it, like AllowDistributionCommand.SpreadModeScroll did, since these 2 patterns can naturally co-exist without conflict

Changed.