Introduction

The ComputerGui class is a custom-made unit extension that adds an interactable screen (through mouse input) with window management logic to a select object inside an unit's .model file. It is designed to be highly customizable through Lua configuration, allowing you to make your own 2D object classes to later reuse in many different windows.

Installation

1. Download the extension files and extract it to your map's root folder.
2. Add the following XML to your main.xml file, outside the <level> tag:

<AddFiles directory="assets">
    <!-- ComputerGui: window corners (can't rotate vanilla texture or else they escape monitor, Diesel limitation) -->
    <dds path="guis/textures/pd2/hud_corner_down_left"/>
    <dds path="guis/textures/pd2/hud_corner_down_right"/>
    <dds path="guis/textures/pd2/hud_corner_top_right"/>
</AddFiles>
<Hooks directory="hooks">
    <!-- ComputerGui -->
    <hook file="FPCameraPlayerBase.lua" source_file="lib/units/cameras/fpcameraplayerbase"/>
</Hooks>
<Elements directory="elements">
    <!-- ComputerGui -->
    <element name="ComputerSetValue"/>
    <element name="ComputerValueFilter"/>
</Elements>

1. Add the following XML to your main.xml file, inside the <level> tag:

<classes directory="classes">
    <class file="ComputerGui/ComputerGui.lua"/>
</classes>

You're now all set to use the extension.

Unit setup

See this page for reference on .unit files. For this extension, the bare minimum that needs to be included in your .unit file's extensions is:

<extension name="damage" class="UnitDamage"/>
<extension name="computer_gui" class="ComputerGui">
    <var name="gui_object" value="timer_gui"/>
    <var name="camera_object" value="camera_object_name"/>
    <var name="tweak_data" value="tweak_data_name"/>
</extension>

• UnitDamage: A base game extension which is required for sequence managers.
• gui_object: Where the graphical interface will be created and displayed. This is the name of an object inside the model, which should be a plane (curved surfaces not tested, but would probably not work).
• camera_object: An empty where the camera will be locked when entering the interaction state.
• tweak_data: The tweak_data.computer_gui entry containing your workspace and application definitions. More information on this on the next section.

To actually start-up the screen, you'll also need some sort of interaction extension in your unit. You can find plenty of them in the base game. By default, they look for the interact sequence in your unit's sequence manager. This sequence should include a reference to the extension's start method and pass params.unit as the first parameter:

<sequence editable_state="false" name="'interact'" triggable="false">
    <function extension="'computer_gui'" function="'start'" param1="params.unit"/>
</sequence>

Tweak data configuration

Each map project you create needs its own tweak data definition in order to avoid conflicts with other maps making use of this extension. ComputerGui.TWEAK_DATA_FILE indicates the file inside your map where you edit the tweak table; you can change the path however you prefer. The extension will load this file with dofile() on initialization.

An empty configuration file, with no applications or workspaces defined, will resemble the following:

local MODULE_DIRECTORY = BeardLib.current_level._mod.ModPath .. "classes/ComputerGui/modules/"
local REQUIRED_MODULES = {
    "base/ComputerObjectBase.lua",
    "base/ComputerWindow.lua",
    "base/ComputerBitmap.lua",
    "base/ComputerText.lua",
    "base/ComputerRect.lua"
}
local modules = {}

for _, module in pairs(REQUIRED_MODULES) do
    dofile(MODULE_DIRECTORY .. module)
end
for _, module in pairs(modules) do
    dofile(MODULE_DIRECTORY .. module)
end

tweak_data.computer_gui = {}

• MODULE_DIRECTORY: The directory inside your map where module files are to be loaded from.
• REQUIRED_MODULES: Absolute dependencies ComputerGui needs in order to work.
• modules: A table containing module files, inside which, you define classes based on ComputerObjectBase. ComputerGui comes with some extra modules as example material; feel free to modify them.
• dofile(BeardLib...: Module loader, which first loads ComputerObjectBase (required) and then any other modules specified in modules.
• tweak_data.computer_gui: Tweak data table the extension will refer to when loading your configuration.

A very basic GUI definition, with no events, which adds a single application which, when opened, pops-up an "Access Denied" window:

tweak_data.computer_gui = {
    example = {
        workspace = {
            background_texture = "guis/textures/computergui/backgrounds/example",
        },
        applications = {
            {
                name = "computer_gui_app_example",
                icon = "guis/textures/computergui/backgrounds/application_icon_example",
                window = {
                    config = {
                        halign = "grow",
                        valign = "grow",
                        w = 340,
                        h = 84
                    },
                    background_color = Color.black,
                    children = {
                        ComputerBitmap:new({
                            config = {
                                name = "icon",
                                texture = "guis/textures/pd2/feature_crimenet_heat",
                                w = 64,
                                h = 64,
                                x = 10,
                                y = 10
                            },
                            events = {}
                        }),
                        ComputerText:new({
                            config = {
                                name = "text",
                                text = "Access denied.",
                                font = "fonts/font_medium_noshadow_mf",
                                render_template = "Text",
                                font_size = 40,
                                color = Color.white,
                                x = 85,
                                vertical = "center"
                            },
                            events = {}
                        })
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

See ComputerObjectBase for a detailed rundown on how to write tweak data for modules.

If you plan on reusing the same panel for multiple applications, it is recommended to create a "preset" table for its configuration and then use the game's deep_clone(table) global method to use it to define the window value.

Workspace values

workspace = {
    background_texture = "guis/textures/computergui/backgrounds/example",
    start_post_event = {
        sound_event_id = "highlight",
        clbk = "clbk_highlight_sound_end",
        flags = {
            "end_of_event"
        }
    }
}

• background_texture: The texture to use for the background of the entire interface.
• start_post_event: An event to play when the interface starts up. Refer to Events/Playing Sounds

Bolded values are required and will cause a crash if missing.

Application values

applications = {
    {
        name = "app_name",
        icon = "path/to/icon/texture",
        window = {...}
    },
    {
        name = "app_two_name",
        icon = "path/to/icon/texture_two",
        window = {...}
    }
}

• applications: An array containing applications. For each item:
  • name: The localized name of the application which will be written alongside its desktop icon.
  • icon: The texture to use for the icon of the application.
  • window: Tweak data for creating a ComputerWindow object which will be displayed when the player clicks on the application icon.

Bolded values are required and will cause a crash if missing.

Things to note

Textures

Base game textures load as you use them. For custom textures, you will need to add an AddFiles module to your main.xml file.

Mouse clicks

Currently, ComputerGui only listens to left mouse button clicks.

Bloom

The screen workspace is greatly affected by your environment's bloom value. Play around with it until you are satisfied about how the interface looks.

Multiplayer

ComputerGui syncs mouse movement, presses, releases, and interaction interface closures. Everything else is left up to the local player. In practice, everything from window movement to their events and sounds will be synced. Dropping in when the mission has already started has not been thoroughly tested.