R3vo – User talk

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System Overview

Tasks Overhaul is name for project targeting UX and visual improvements to Arma 3 task framework. The 1st batch of updates was released to development branch on March 2016.

Goals

Update visuals of task markers in both 3D environment and in map.
Improve diary panels UX and visuals.
Improve map & task interaction - direct task assignment/unassignment from map.
Allow simultaneous display of multiple tasks in 3D environment.
Implement 'Shared Objectives' through new generic feature called Custom Data.

Feature Breakdown

Below you will find brief feature breakdown, that should present you all the core features of Tasks Overhaul.

Task types

There is a new attribute - task type. The attribute describes what is in general the task about and replaces the task label that was displayed on the task marker. Task type is visualized through the icon and unlike the task label, it is fully implemented to the game UI (3D marker, map marker, task list, task index diary panel, task notification, debriefing screen, ...).

Task type definition

Tasks overhaul is going to ship with quite large library of task types, that should suffice the common needs community creators might have when designing their mission tasks. However we felt it would be great to allow community to extend or replace the default task type selection with their own task types in an easy and comfortable way. As result we prepared the system the way that it reads the definition from addon, campaign and/or even mission config and merges them together. In case there are duplicated definitions the more local definition takes precedence.

Config

Task types definition is stored in CfgTaskTypes class. Types can also be declared in Description.ext.

class CfgTaskTypes
{
	class Ambush
	{
		icon = "taskTypes\ambush_ca.paa";
	};
	class Heal
	{
		icon = "\A3\Ui_f\data\IGUI\Cfg\simpleTasks\letters\h_ca.paa";
	};
};

Texture

The default task type icons are .paa textures with 32x32px size, 32bit color, white foreground and transparent background. There are no gradients or any other colors.

New commands

There are 2 new commands for task type.

setSimpleTaskType

Syntax

_task setSimpleTaskType _type;

Example

(currentTask player) setSimpleTaskType "attack";

taskType

Syntax

_type = taskType _task;

Example

_type = taskType (currentTask player);

New functions

BIS_fnc_taskCreate

Task type was fully integrated to BIS_fnc_taskCreate.

Syntax

[_owner, _taskid, _texts, _destination, _state, _priority, _showNotification, _taskType, _alwaysVisible] call BIS_fnc_taskCreate;

Example

(currentTask player) setSimpleTaskType "attack"; // TODO

Notice _taskType and _alwaysVisible params at the end of the definition. Defining task type when the task is created is suggested and most efficient way.

BIS_fnc_taskSetType

In case task type needs to be changed later it is best to use BIS_fnc_taskSetType.

Syntax

[_taskId, _taskType] call BIS_fnc_taskSetType;

Example

["AttackMike26", "attack"] call BIS_fnc_taskSetType;

BIS_fnc_taskType

To get type of given task, use BIS_fnc_taskType.

Syntax

_type = [_taskId] call BIS_fnc_taskType;

Example

_type = ["AttackMike26"] call BIS_fnc_taskType;

3D markers

Task's 3D marker was completely redesigned. It now consists from 3 elements:

background - texture with distinctive shape to visually define the element as task marker
task type icon - texture of task type icon defining nature of the task; replaces the former task label
distance indicator - standardized info about task distance

In standard situation there can be only an assigned task 3D marker shown on the screen. However there are now new commands and functions that allow to bend this behavior by flagging a task to always show - do not fade out.

New commands

There are 2 new commands that interact with task visibility flag.

setSimpleTaskAlwaysVisible

Unassigned tasks under normal conditions fade out. This can be overridden by setSimpleTaskAlwaysVisible command.

Syntax

_task setSimpleTaskAlwaysVisible _alwaysVisible;

Example

(currentTask player) setSimpleTaskAlwaysVisible true;

taskAlwaysVisible

Command taskAlwaysVisible returns true if task is flagged to be always visible or false if not.

Syntax

_isAlwaysVisible = taskAlwaysVisible _task;

Example

_isAlwaysVisible = taskAlwaysVisible (currentTask player);

New functions

The alwaysVisible flag is also fully implemented to scripted framework. There are getter and setter functions that mimic the commands behavior.

BIS_fnc_taskSetAlwaysVisible

Syntax

[_taskId,_alwaysVisible] call BIS_fnc_taskSetAlwaysVisible;

BIS_fnc_taskAlwaysVisible

Syntax

_alwaysVisible = [_taskId] call BIS_fnc_taskAlwaysVisible;

Task overview

Task overview is a new display that shows all tasks available to player in 3D environment. It is triggered by new action 'Tasks Overview'. Action can be found in 'Common' section and uses the keybind that was previously used by 'Diary' action.

Interaction

on keydown - all task markers and navigation elements show up and a special widget with assigned task type and name pops-up in the top-left corner
on keyup - 3 secs timer starts to tick, when it is over the task markers, navigation elements and assigned task widget fade out

Map markers and tooltip widgets

Map marker

The former non-interactive markers were replaced by new interactive markers that shows the task type icon and have a tooltip widget.

Interaction patterns (marker)

on click on marker - opens-up the task diary panels and selects the task in the task index. Color of the selected task marker on the map gets inverted.
on click outside of the marker - closes the diary panels and deselects task marker if it was previously selected. Colors return to normal scheme.
on mouse over - marker scales up and tooltip widget get displayed

Tooltip widget

The tooltip widget shows task name, its state and can also display custom data info. The widget can be used to quickly assign to or unassign from a task.

Interaction patterns (tooltip)

on mouse over - task state text (bottom text) changes to action which will trigger on click; it is either assign or unassign
on mouse leave - tooltip hides
on click - assigns or unassigns task; bottom text shows the action that will trigger on click

Task index and description panels

Task index panel

There were 2 major improvements done to the task index panel functionality wise:

inactive (succeeded, failed or cancelled) tasks are automatically drawn in 'disabled' color and are moved down to the bottom of the task list
parent/child task folding visualization and functionality was fixed

Interaction patterns

on click (on a list entry) - selects the task in the list and opens up the task description panel. In addition to the former state it also highlights the task marker on the map
on double-click (on a list entry) - centers the map on the task marker (if present)

Task description panel

There are now 2 new buttons under task title - toggle button 'Assign'/'Unassign' and 'Locate' button (with distance indicator).

Interaction patterns

on 'Assign' button click - assigns the task to player; mimicing functionality of previous 'Assign task as current'
on 'Unassign' button click - unassigns player from the task; was not possible before
on 'Locate' button click - centers the map on the task marker (if present)

Locate button remarks

Locate button currently uses "Find" string. It is subject to change.
If task doesn't have an objective linked the Locate buttons is disabled.
Number in parentheses shows the actual distance from player to the task objective.
If showing distances is blocked through difficulty settings, button is visible, but the distance indicator is hidden.

Diary screen

Visual and functionality of task index and description panel is almost identical to map diary panels, with a single exception - there is no 'Locate' button in the task description panel.

There were 2 major changes done to the Diary display:

In addition to the former functionality it also shows 3D markers of all tasks available to player; similarly to the 'Task Overview' action.
The 'Diary' action was remapped to 2x[J] as its former keybind was taken by the 'Task Overview' action.

Debriefing

Changes and fixes done to the debriefing screen:

Task type icons were added to each task.
Task list placement was fixed, list made wider so it properly fits the area dedicated to the task list.
Uncompleted tasks are now in 'disabled' color. It usually should not happen as it is a good practice to complete every task at the end of the mission - either cancel, fail or succeed it.

Custom Data and 'Shared Objectives'

Custom data is a brand new feature that was prototyped on the scripted 'Shared Objectives' system. Custom Data allows for displaying extra information in task index and description panel as well as map marker tooltip.

New commands

Custom data are completely local. There are 2 new commands that interact with custom data.

setSimpleTaskCustomData

Command setSimpleTaskCustomData attaches icon, short text (max. 3 characters) displayed next to the icon and long text displayed on the task description panel locally to given task.

Syntax

_task setSimpleTaskCustomData [icon, iconText, descriptionText]

taskCustomData

Command taskCustomData returns custom data attached to the local task or [] if there are no custom data attached.

Syntax

taskCustomData _task

Shared Objectives

Task Overhaul is going to ship with one system build on Custom Data - Shared Objectives. The system monitors people assigned to particular tasks and displays locally the assigned player count per task.

Shared objective can be added to mission from EDEN editor by:

opening Attributes >> Multiplayer >> Tasks >> Shared Objectives panel
selecting either: 'Enable' or 'Enable with Task Propagation'

If 'Enable with Task Propagation' is selected, system automatically re-assigns tasks to every subordinate according to the group leader whenever the leader changes his assigned task.