I think this should be acceptable, I would like to use these myself. The default ones are obscuring vision so much.
More opinions on this and we might just add it to the ignore list on consistency!
As far as I'm concerned it seems reasonable. It doesn't seem gamebreaking at all.
If anything, I'd like to see if we can make a list of "advised" modifications for ENSL players so that any ENSL player can be more or less on the same ground when it comes to these small mods (visors, minimaps, etc)
This might seem strange coming from me, but I'm actually opposed to customization. The only allowed modification should be crosshairs. Everything else we should lobby for the devs to change in the game itself.
changes for gui will always give benfits to the players who use them. especially with such bad default options. we should either not allow it or force it for everyone imo.
We already allow for changes to the map as well, like transparent/better detailed maps for example.
But I kind of see that stuff like these scanrings can give advantage to some over others, if one is using the scanrings and the other is not. However, if we make an article about mods like huhuh suggested, I think that could help adress it.
I would like to see more opinions on this before making any decision.
And if each whitelisted file is explained in the article with examples of what sort of mods can modify them and what will be the difference with the original..? Waiting for dev's UI changes is nonsense.
I would be amazed to see the devs choose function over aesthetics. Hopefully that's because I haven't paid much attention to the development of the game.
I've got a bit of a rant to make about sensory feedback in this game which I'll write when I get some time. I think there's a lot of problems with this game that are caused by aesthetics.
Anyway, back on point, I say we plough ahead with a big whitelist of shit that is needed - scanrings being number one.
The reason is that I don't want a repeat of NS1. In retrospect, the 9L pack was borderline cheating. While it wasn't really an advantage because "everybody" used it, I still think it degenerated the competitive community.
In regards to degeneration, I think that everybody who plays NS2, knows that NS2 is by default very open to modding. And I don't think it would be degenerating the community to allow some mods/customization in that sense. We just have to set the line somewhere, and everyone will be on the same page.
Changes to scanrings(which are supposed to be a help for the marines, not a hindrance) is something that could easily be generally accepted due to the default option being so bad that it often becomes a hindrance for marines.
While other things like removing vision obscuring stuff like rupture, spit on marines or bilebomb effect on exos, would be something that we would not allow, and that would be something left for the developers as subject to change.
It's all about finding a fine line between aesthetics and gameplay changing mods imo.
What parts of the 9L pack was "borderline cheating"? This could help find that fine line.
Hiveinfo and soundpack I guess? Well, hiveinfo is in ns2 by default. Sounds, ok.. I agree on that (no reload, draw, ambient sounds, etc).
Cos the rest modifications were HUD and some list of dot-like crosshairs...
Removing stuff from HUD and increasing vision that way... well, who didn't use that were in disadvantage, I agree. But hey, the only ppl who were not aware of that were pubsters. And what pubsters use now with so open moddig option? They use green skulks, etc....
So I don't see why making scan circles more appealing and less disturbing would be so big gamebreaker.
I would suggest to devs to do something with the dead Hive. Sometimes it just covers everything in front of you on your screen and aliens can walk through and see you, but you can't.. srsly...
Ok, Hive is dead, if you die it is not that big deal, but why? Why would you have to die 'cos of the dead Hive obstacle...
This sort of thing is hard to fix with mods, I guess. But we can at least fix problematic design parts.
Anyway, it's only one vote for 'no' against a few 'yes' already. I think we should promote discussions in gather chats and TS3, before gather game starts. That way we would involve more discussion. Or use steam...
I think sensor.dds, marine_order.dds and readyroomorders.dds should all be ignored. As swalk said, it is silly for things that are obviously meant to help marine players actually hinder them.
Oh, misunderstood that :P
Yeah that would be a great idea.
Can you explain exactly what marine_order.dds and readyroomorders.dds are? Cause I'm not sure.
My guess is that marine_order.dds are the orders, waypoints, build here etc.
It can block vision some times, so completely removing them would give a distinct advantage if one is using it and another is not. I'm not sure where I stand on the subject whitelisting it for free modding. At the moment I would be against it. I think it's one of those things that should be up to the devs to change(make them more transparent or whatever)
As for readyroomorders.dds my guess is that it's just the thing in the readyroom, which isn't even shown once you joined a team. If that's true, I think it's kind of pointless to whitelist that.
I doubt someone who made waypoints invisible would really have an advantage, comms don't really use waypoints in comp games anyway do they? I just tell my team where they need to be or they figure it out for themself.
Minimap Colored Players mod already works with ENSL consistency config - "marine_minimap_blip.dds", "minimap_blip.dds" are in ignore list.
No, but it was more the "build here".dds I was worried about anyway, not so much the waypoints themselves. We should keep the whitelist as tiny as possible I think. Imo, this case should be subject to change for the devs.
In regards to keeping the whitelist as small as possible and waiting for UWE to change the game, I tend to disagree. A lot of the features in NS2 are designed to make the game easier to learn for new players, but these features are unnecessary and can be distracting or annoying for experienced players.
I do not think these features should be changed by UWE as encouraging new players is obviously a good thing, and the issue of having a separate competitive game-mode is up for debate, I tend to think it would be a bad idea. Therefore, allowing players to tone down some of the noob-friendly features with mods seems like a good compromise, and that is only possible with a longer whitelist in the consistency config.
Quick question, is there a guide / files to configure my server to enforce the ENSL rules? I couldn't find anything in the forums, articles, or files. (Sorry if I missed it like an idiot).
I may be mistaken but I think you can remove all the random files from the ignore list now.
Also, I would recommend you simplify the consistency check by just having the ignore list be:
"ignore": [ "ui/*.dds", "blur.fx" ]
Some people may disagree, but afaik there are no .dds files in the "ui" folder that modification would really give you an advantage, it's all related to the HUD/icons, if someone wants to strip all that stuff down, I don't see why that would be a problem. Thoughts?
