HL2RP W.I.P. plugin – Combine Technology Overlay

(working title?)

A plugin I've been working on off and on for the past couple of days. It was originally meant to replace E.V.O. and other 'overlay' plugins, without being intrusive or promote metagaming. It does have some interesting features of its own, too.

Biosignal HUD
Two units with biosignals can see each other on their visors. If one party loses their biosignal connection, the location updates halt where they are. The HUD is meant to be non-intrusive.

When you don't need as much information, the text is tucked away, only showing the unit's digits and a tiny reminder there is more information to be collapsed.


When you need to know more, just look at the biosignals and more detailed information will show.


Ideally two units with biosignals can be patrolling a kilometer away and you would still have a sense of where they are.


If a unit loses their biosignal, their location will no longer be received, causing it to hang there where it was lost until it expires after 2 minutes. And if you lose your own biosignal, all locations will obviously no longer be received, and they will all appear lost to you.


If a unit does have their biosignal, but they are unconscious, units with biosignals will be aware.


All red text will not be shortened to "..." when you glance away as it is considered urgent.

Biosignal locations are updated every couple of seconds when a random display message is received (one of these):

So they serve a purpose.

Request HUD
When a Citizen sends out a request for help using a request device, units with biosignals will receive the location data of where it happened. It won't follow the Citizen, it will hang in the location where the request was sent until it expires after 60 seconds. The default chat-box request mechanism isn't ripped out like in E.V.O.

They are also not entirely intrusive, but they still stand out to grab your attention.


Look at it and you will see the whole transcription.


Display Messages
Biosignal messages and trauma messages will display unit digits, and dispatch will announce them when a biosignal is lost. Because of this, the Overwatch death digits plugin is not compatible.

When a unit encounters trauma, all units with biosignals receive a message.


Or when they get knocked out.


Same goes for losses of biosignals.


And when biosignals are found again.


When a unit loses their biosignal (read further down for more info), this is the last display message they will see. All others will stop being received (even the random white lines).


Losing your biosignal:
Units can lose their biosignals in one of two ways. The first way is, obviously, dying.

The second way is if their biosignal is altered in any IC way. In that case, units can turn their biosignal on or off by doing /SetBiosignalStatus <bool Enabled>.

Admins can also turn units' biosignals off/on using /CharSetBiosignalStatus <string Name> <bool Enabled>.

When your biosignal is lost:
You will stop receiving many things.

All display lines which are communicating with the Combine mainframe. Local messages regarding trauma status and protection regeneration are obviously exempt.

Important dispatch messages, like when a unit loses their biosignal (or regains it) will not be heard. Sounds of other units dying will not be heard. The counterpart to this is that if a unit already has their biosignal missing, other units will not be alerted of their death in any way.

So...
I want input from you guys on what to add, remove, change, etc. I already plan to add small non-intrusive hints when Citizens perform movement violations, but that will be programmed using raytracers. So YOU WON'T SEE THAT SHIT THROUGH WALLS. That is one of the biggest problems that E.V.O. has.

 

Alright, so I've finished the movement violation warnings. Units can see movement violations from any non-Combine faction (citizen, cwu, vortigaunt, etc). They are only seen up to 2048 units (enough to see down a small street, but not on the other side of a field for example), and are only visible if you can actually see the person. No MPF wallhacks.

Multiple violations (ex. running and jumping) will stack and display both at the same time.

Because they are calculated by units' visors and not received from the Combine like biosignals, they update instantly.

They are also non-intrusive, so you will just see "..." until you look at the violation.


Running.


Jumping.


Crouching.


Falling over.


Jogging (alt-running).

 

This is nice, keep it up.

EVO was pretty ugly from the beginning anyways.

 

a nauseating gif

http://i.imgur.com/VeFWpo1.gifv

 

the best part of evo was my superhuman ceepee abilities to see through 4 inch thick walls

 

OK. I just implemented the same movement violation detection, but for the Combine cameras (all npc_combine_camera entities). It works for cameras spawned in by the map, and by players.

When players are in the "inner radius"–when the camera's light is glowing orange–and they run, jog, jump, or crouch, the camera will enter angry mode (it will flash red and frantically take pictures). I may add camera information to the HUD–it'll show how many people are in the camera's line of sight, and will flash when violations occur in front of it.

Showcase video of me pissing off a camera in every way possible:


By the way, if anyone has any suggestions for what to call the plugin, I'm all ears. "Biosignals" doesn't really cut it.

 

Enhanced Enhanced Visual Overlay

E.E.V.O.

 

Just finished adding Camera information to the hud. Look at camera text and it will expand showing how many lifeforms are within range. When anyone within range pisses off the camera, it'll tell you that there are violations in progress and list them off when you look at it.

 

I've decided on a new name for now – Combine Technology Overlay (CTO).

It should be pretty close to release, unless anyone has any brave new feature ideas. I've just got to polish and continue testing everything.

 

I finished writing up the plugin center page, but accidentally closed the tab instead of pinning it. It's coming :/

 

I have a few ideas, unless you already have them.

• Specialized messages for Overwatch
• Violation for raised fists or weapons out
• Violation for dealing out damage
• Working with the combine suits plugin to make it where the hud changes to combine HUD
• HUDs for Stalkers and Cremators
• Specialized messages for Scanners
• Small data section in unused corner with a place to put current frequency and socio stability status

 

I'll work on the second and the last ones. I'll probably hold off on others until version 2.

 

Yeah, everything there except 2 and 3 which seem a bit overkill.

 

I don't know why. All of them add more immersion, especially 4 and 7.

 

Version 1 has been released on the Plugin Center:
http://plugins.cloudsixteen.com/plugin/combinetechnologyoverlay/view

Please refer to the release thread for support:
http://forums.cloudsixteen.com/threads/trudeaus-plugins-–-c-t-o-released.24586/

 

I like it, I like it a lot.

 

You can't see the detections if you can't see the citizen.