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Gui Methods

by Jeff Trier · in Torque Game Engine · 07/22/2003 (1:49 pm) · 6 replies

Hi all,

I want to send a question to all those Gui-Guru's out there.

The game I am working on needs to support multiple HUD screens(Vehicle HUDs, Trooper HUDs, Command View HUDs, etc...).

My question is, what is the best way to approach this? Should I just use PlayGui and add a ton of components to it which get turned on and off in switching groups? Or should I create multiple TSctrl gui's, one for each HUD.

I know that both of these styles will work, but what is the best approach to minimize processing resources?

Thanks guys!
-Jeff
Jeff Trier's profile picture
Torque Owner Jeff Trier
Simple Distractions Software

About the author

Originally a Classical/Metal musician, I've always been attracted to anything involving computers, including: Networking, PC Building and Repair, software design and coding. I've been involved with game design and development for over 10 years.

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    Torque 3D Owner Pat Wilson
    #1
    07/22/2003 (1:54 pm)
    For ease of implementation and use, no question use multiple gui files.

    Torque Owner Badguy
    #2
    07/22/2003 (3:04 pm)
    Umm..
    I would not have multiple PlayGui's
    I would rather see multiple controls on the one PlayGui
    and merely disable and enable them as you need them.

    Torque Owner Jeff Trier
    Simple Distractions Software
    #3
    07/22/2003 (3:24 pm)
    Thanks for the response guys. :)

    Hehe, sounds like I hit an uncertainty... glad I asked.

    Can you guys give pros and cons for your method? This should provide good insight for all of us.


    -Jeff

    EDIT: Spelling.

    Torque 3D Owner Pat Wilson
    #4
    07/22/2003 (3:33 pm)
    Sure. Anyone looking at the gui files will have a lot easier of a time understanding what is going on when you have a VechiclePlayGUI, FootPlayGUI etc. It will be a lot cleaner to look at in the scripts, and you won't have to muck around enabling and disabling gui controls. As far as overhead with switching GUI's I don't think it's all that much of a consideration.

    It's up to you. But I go for the clean implementation because of how much easier it'd be to add controls to a gui etc.

    Alex "IkoTikashi" Zappe
    #5
    07/22/2003 (5:18 pm)
    Multiple GUIs are much easier to handle if you look at them in the scripts, like Pat said. You might also want to consider putting all files(scripts/graphics) needed for the GUI into a seperate folder like client/ui/VehiclePlayGui, client/ui/TrooperPlayGui.

    Torque Owner Jeff Trier
    Simple Distractions Software
    #6
    07/23/2003 (7:08 am)
    If it makese no difference performance wise, I will take the Multiple Gui route.

    Thanks for the input guys!
    -Jeff