[minimod][v2.0.1] Target Spy: Health Bar on Steroids

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m8f
 
 
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[minimod][v2.0.1] Target Spy: Health Bar on Steroids

Post by m8f »

Image

[more screenshots (thanks to Spaceman333 for the images!)]

Download
Image
Source

This mod provides a configurable health bar for targeted enemies.
GZDoom version 3.2.0 is required, latest stable is recommended.

Features
  • ASCII target health bar, name, and more;
  • current and max target health numbers;
  • configurable position and colors;
  • different colors for overhealed, injured, and almost dead targets;
  • "Kill Confirmed" message;
  • info on pickups and other objects can be shown too;
  • customizable crosshairs;
  • Weapon Menu integration;
  • Frame around target (off by default);
  • netplay support;
  • custom blacklists (see below).
Custom Blacklists

If you don't want an actor to be displayed by Target Spy, create a lump named ts_blacklist and put actor names here, separated by newlines.

Thanks
  • GZDoom development team and Graf Zahl personally for making and maintaining GZDoom;
  • Blue Shadow for examples of code.
  • Spaceman333, Rowsol, Churrupez, Cyanide, isaacpop23, TheRailgunner, Accensus, Beed28, Ahpiox, ramon.dexter, Dutchygamer, Tesculpture, vapidscum, CthulhuInACan, Someone64, Major Cooke, ProydohaRupert, bogus, and MsrSgtShooterPerson for ideas, feature suggestions, and bug reports.
  • Silentdarkness12 and Zhs2 for testing netplay.
  • Gutawer for Gutamatics. It was used in previous versions.
Credits
Spoiler: Note for monster mod authors
Spoiler: You may also like other mods in the same vein made by other authors:
This mod is a part of m8f's toolbox.
Last edited by m8f on Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:10 am, edited 81 times in total.
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Spaceman333
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy (yet another health bars)

Post by Spaceman333 »

Very nice, I'm really happy to see more ASCII based UI mods being made, they're lightweight and stylish in my opinion. I've recently downloaded pretty much every minimod you've made and they're in standard use in my playthroughs. Its super enjoyable to see someone get inspired by my stuff and make even more cool mods for everyone to enjoy. Much respect man. 8-)

I'm currently too busy to get back to modding, but I may as well share some of the ideas I had for Monster Scouter 2.0 and comment on this mod:
  • Make the ASCII HP bar have three tiers; 10 pips for enemies under 500 HP, 20 pips for enemies between 500 and 2000 HP and 30 pips for enemies over 2000 HP. This allows for faster distinction for the player to know how tough the enemy is based on how long their health bar is. (Basic enemy, Tough enemy, Boss enemy).
  • Make an option to change the ASCII character for the pips that make up the health bar, so players can have ======, ######, //////, ++++++ and whole lot more styles.
  • This is a personal preference, but I think the order of displayed UI elements feel better when they're like this; ASCII HP bar, then enemy name, then numeric health. I also prefer the name of a character to stay a single color instead of following the damage gradient like the ASCII bar and numeric HP display does, to make reading the name easier, while having the color shift only apply to elements that are meant to communicate the feeling of how damaged an enemy is.
  • Whenever an enemy dies, there is an optional feature to display a quick "kill confirmed" message, just below the numeric health display.
  • Allow the player to make-their-own-crosshair with ASCII characters. In how this relates to this mod, is that the crosshair can be optionally made to be displayed in a single color or use the same color gradient as the ASCII health bar/numeric health, so you can see how damaged an enemy is just by looking at the crosshair. The possible crosshairs made with ASCII could be anything, like . <.> [ ] ( ) x ( - ) { . } I-I and many others.
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy (yet another health bars)

Post by m8f »

Thanks for kind words and for ideas!

New version is uploaded (v0.2). New things:
- added an option to select font: small, console, or Mementwo;
- ASCII HP bar now has three length tiers for basic enemies, tough enemies, and boss enemies.
- added an option to set ASCII HP bar pip (character);
- reordered UI: now it is ASCII HP bar, then enemy name, then numeric health (note that every part can be toggled on and off);
- added optional user-defined custom text crosshairs. Crosshair has the same color as HP bar.
Churrupez
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.2] (yet another health bars)

Post by Churrupez »

Got this crash when I got killed while fighting an Abyssal Hell Knight and an Abyssal Imp from Colourfull Hell:



I was playing with these mods:

Factotum
Colourfull Hell
Champions
LegendoomLite
Target Spy
Autoautosave

It should be compatible even while using all these mods at the same time, right?
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.2] (yet another health bars)

Post by m8f »

Thanks for reporting!
It seems Abyssal Hell Knight or Abyssal Imp killed you very much, more than normal monster can kill you :)
Yes, it should be compatible. Version 0.2.1 is uploaded with the fix (null check is added).
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Spaceman333
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy (yet another health bars)

Post by Spaceman333 »

m8f wrote:Thanks for kind words and for ideas!

New version is uploaded (v0.2). New things:
- added an option to select font: small, console, or Mementwo;
- ASCII HP bar now has three length tiers for basic enemies, tough enemies, and boss enemies.
- added an option to set ASCII HP bar pip (character);
- reordered UI: now it is ASCII HP bar, then enemy name, then numeric health (note that every part can be toggled on and off);
- added optional user-defined custom text crosshairs. Crosshair has the same color as HP bar.
Wowser that was quick, thank you!

I did two playthroughs with it so far and I like it. I've transitioned from using my own mod to yours now.

The options for the new features do puzzle me though.
  • The crosshair only allows for 3 characters max, a limitation that would make it impossible to have more extravagant ASCII crosshair. I would have made the character limit as big as it can be. Sometimes shooting at demons with a crazy xxX (¯`·._.· - W - ·._.·´¯) Xxx crosshair might be exactly what someone never knew they always wanted. Or maybe something more tame, yet still a bit more advanced, like -=.=-
  • The ASCII HP bar pip character selection is limited to a preset selection of # / @ * = and maybe one more. Why not allow the user to type in any character as a string, that is then used as a pip in the HP bar?
Churrupez
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.2] (yet another health bars)

Post by Churrupez »

Got another crash, with another Abyss monster from CH it seems. Same mods as before:

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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.3] (yet another health bars)

Post by m8f »

Update: version 0.3:
- any crosshair length is now allowed;
- any character for filled and empty ASCII HP bar is now allowed;
- added more checks for to prevent crash on Colourful Hell.
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Spaceman333
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.3] (yet another health bars)

Post by Spaceman333 »

m8f wrote:Update: version 0.3:
- any crosshair length is now allowed;
- any character for filled and empty ASCII HP bar is now allowed;
- added more checks for to prevent crash on Colourful Hell.
Thank you! :D
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.3] (yet another health bars)

Post by namsan »

Nice mod!
I liked a minimalist look of your mod.
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.5] (health bars +)

Post by m8f »

Update (v0.4-0.5):
- added proper monster names for Doom/Doom2, Beautiful Doom, EVP, and Freedoom;
- added new y position: between top and center (so centered messages don't cover target spy);
- added optional top and bottom ASCII crosshair parts;
- added optional logarithmic HP bar length scale.
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Rowsol
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.5] (health bars +)

Post by Rowsol »

This looks a lot better than I thought it would. The coloring really sells it. I think this is my favorite health bar.
One issue I had was the "added proper monster names". It was overwriting the names I tagged the monsters with so I just deleted that code.
Figuring out how to remove the crosshair symbols was confusing. Yes, I read the note below it but it wasn't very clear, at least to me.
I like the crosshair showing the health but I wish the crosshair was white when not targeting a monster.
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.5] (health bars +)

Post by m8f »

Rowsol wrote:This looks a lot better than I thought it would. The coloring really sells it. I think this is my favorite health bar.
Thanks!
Rowsol wrote:One issue I had was the "added proper monster names". It was overwriting the names I tagged the monsters with so I just deleted that code.
Can you please tell how you tagged the monsters? Maybe I can add an easy toggle.
Rowsol wrote:Figuring out how to remove the crosshair symbols was confusing. Yes, I read the note below it but it wasn't very clear, at least to me.
I agree, current controls aren't very convenient. I'll add menu commands to clear symbols.
Rowsol wrote:I like the crosshair showing the health but I wish the crosshair was white when not targeting a monster.
I plan to add color settings for target name and crosshair, so stay tuned! :D
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Rowsol
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.5] (health bars +)

Post by Rowsol »

I just used the actor property "Tag". https://zdoom.org/wiki/Actor_properties
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Spaceman333
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Re: [minimod] Target Spy [0.5] (health bars +)

Post by Spaceman333 »

m8f wrote:
Rowsol wrote:I like the crosshair showing the health but I wish the crosshair was white when not targeting a monster.
I plan to add color settings for target name and crosshair, so stay tuned! :D
To add to that request, two different color modes for the ASCII HP bars would be cool.
  • Type 1: Original 4 color gradient (Tan-Yellow-Orange-Red) =======--- ====------ =---------
  • Type 2: Toggled dual color (Green for undamaged pips, Red for damaged pips) =========- =====----- =---------

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