Project WTFMFD - automatic help for a ship's key bindings. Please test, standardize(?)

[atomicdryad]

I love highly interactive ships with a ton of functions, however they can be frustrating if these functions depend on keybindings. While I'm not expecting everything to have a DGIV style panel, sometimes an addon is outright byzantine:

• One popular addon provides excellent PDF documentation that must be constantly alt-tabbed to, because it has a metric crapton of keybindings.
• One of the best ships I've found doesn't even provide any sort of documentation whatsoever, except on a forum hosted in Anaheim CA that I've never heard of.
• I've only found a few that provide an in-game explanation of what key does what, on the hud.
• This is dangerous for simulated astronauts, if one fails to remember that shift+numpad-0 is the eject button, and not the antenna deployment button.

Instead of pestering for developers to add panels and hud info to closed-source projects, I decided to modify [ame=http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3269]NotesMFD[/ame]: It now has a 'KEY' option that enables an automatic mode. In automatic mode, the MFD loads and displays 'doc\keyhelp\NAME.txt', if present, and does so whenever you change ships.

NAME is the current vessel's class, or the actual name if it's a spacecraft3 ship.

For both developers and users, adding in-game documentation for key bindings is quite easy. Just create a text file with the correct name in 'doc\keyhelp'. For every line, all text preceeding a tab will be brighter, but that is not a requirement. Example:

CTRL-G  Deploy antenna.
J       Jettison zombie collector.
__Bright Header__       
CTRL-0  Something else.

I've included a bunch of keyhelp files for: ISS v3.2, Soyuz FG/U, TI Deepstar 2.0, the battlestar from rag tag fleet, and others. I'll probably add alot more, however I think it would be a good thing developers consider adding things to 'doc/keyhelp'.

This is, however just a test release. I will probably add bbcode-style formatting later, and will need to poke vchamp about merging code, or if I should fork this into 'keyhelpmfd' / 'wtfmfd'.

Obligatory screenshots:

Download here: http://orbiterfixes.googlecode.com/files/wtfmfd-test1.zip

TODO:
(?) bbcode formatting.
Toggle filebrowser between '(notes)' and 'doc/keyhelp/**' with directory traversal.
(?) Bare-bones hypertext similar to GNU Info/wiki: ((tagged phrase)), selectable by arrow keys, to load 'doc/keyhelp/classname-tagged phrase.txt'

 

[Izack]

Neat idea. I have files for NotesMFD for the key bindings of Shuttle Fleet, Thorton's addons and AMSO. No wonder those screenshots looked familiar. :lol:

Side note: I've always wanted something called WTFMFD. I wouldn't care what it did, I just want it in the list of tools. It's almost as good as having a WTF Meter on the dashboard. :rofl:

 

[Wishbone]

Am not sure it should be an MFD, rather than a plugin/module with a semi-transparent keyhelp window, or a "floating" cue card look (with a ledger bitmap for background).

EDIT: the GNU info idea is actually great. We also need a bunch of symbols that are found on NASA and Roskosmos cue cards (turn on, turn off, verify etc.)

 

[atomicdryad]

I have files for NotesMFD for the key bindings of Shuttle Fleet, Thorton's addons and AMSO.
(...)
Side note: I've always wanted something called WTFMFD.
(...)

Not surprising, considering Thorton's ISS is partially responsible for this WTF button.

The button started as 'WTF'.. I renamed it 'KEY' in the hopes of pushing a standard; Serious Business(tm).

 

[Mandella]

This is a great idea! (I've been known to run a notebook alongside my desktop just to read the documentation while flying.)

There may be a point about having it as an MFD however. As I understand it Martin likes to keep the MFDs dedicated to flight instrumentation. Although many MFD makers have broken that rule, that is still the intent.

I can see it both ways. Help documentation showing up in a MultiFunctionDisplay in my virtual cockpit seems to make sense, but others may likely disagree.

 

[Lucy]

I like this idea. Certainly helpful for end-users who want to fly right away without having to pore through a manual and memorise umpteen different key commands for each vessel.

From a development standpoint, it would be helpful to know while thinking of what keys to bind what to, which bindings are already in use by the more common addons (i.e, the most likely binding clashes you're likely to run into). I don't think this is too far away from being able to help with that too.

 

[atomicdryad]

Am not sure it should be an MFD, rather than a plugin/module with a semi-transparent keyhelp window, or a "floating" cue card look (with a ledger bitmap for background).

I went with MFD because I already used NotesMFD for just this purpose (only manually). The Custom menu is less convenient...and activating it via hotkey just seems silly, considering. Adding a HUD overlay mode is a good idea, however.

EDIT: the GNU info idea is actually great. We also need a bunch of symbols that are found on NASA and Roskosmos cue cards (turn on, turn off, verify etc.)

Ideally this should strike the right balance between making this simple for devs to add to, and fancyness... Slapping a plaintext file into a directory is a cinch, wannabe-bbcode/wiki tags slightly less so, and past that it's just another language to learn...so I'm still iffy about adding markup.

 

[Wishbone]

The only sound (IMHO) argument against the MFD design is the limited screen real estate. I can fit 4 MFDs in the screen at a time (5 if I don't need the pitch ladder), and that's it. (for instance) Orbit, BurnTime, Docking, TransX/IMFD... A transparent cue-card would be very appreciated...

 

[Thorton]

Well, i like the idea, sometimes i find quite difficult to memorize all key combinations in complex addons like ISS.
I wonder however is it possible to create MFD which could be able to open pdf file, having direct access to the manual without interrupting the simulation would be really great.

 

[Wishbone]

Think have seen an Acrobat ActiveX control somewhere, could be used to render the manual to a hidden window and transfer to the MFD surface, but it is a bit over the top IMHO and requires fiddling with the registry (registering the control) which goes against the grain of zero-installation effort ideology of Orbiter.

EDIT: another way to do it is via on-screen annotations (like in the tutorials/challenges) - this would be quite flexible.

 

[marooder86]

When I saw part of a title of this tread on "Latest Post" column I thought to myself what I great idea to have "What a Terrible Failure Multi Function Display" showing you, your current re-entry is what could be classified as "you're doing it wrong":rofl:.
Now I see it's purpose is different but it's still cool and handy:thumbup:.

 

[Carmen A]

It would be lovely to add a "don't panic" button somewhere which will summon the wtfmfd

 

[Izack]

In large friendly red letters, of course. :thumbup:

 

[atomicdryad]

The only sound (IMHO) argument against the MFD design is the limited screen real estate. I can fit 4 MFDs in the screen at a time (5 if I don't need the pitch ladder), and that's it. (for instance) Orbit, BurnTime, Docking, TransX/IMFD... A transparent cue-card would be very appreciated...

Do you mean with ExternalMFD? I've been using that, however it refuses to play nice and let itself be moved out of the way (partially offscreen). I'll try adding an overlay mode, however this will require communication with a plugin (I think), as well as a better means of rendering text (to outline every character with black, thus be legible).

Well, i like the idea, sometimes i find quite difficult to memorize all key combinations in complex addons like ISS.
I wonder however is it possible to create MFD which could be able to open pdf file, having direct access to the manual without interrupting the simulation would be really great.

PDF sounds troublesome, as every renderer I've seen is a bloated slow resource hog. Even were it not so, when it comes displaying hotkey help or checklists ingame, I'd rather not see fancy formatting, fonts, background images, or artistic design, as (colored) ascii conveys information with the least amount of clutter.

I can an image renderer as potentially useful; in the case of ISS, for example, a picture to identify WTF is what for the attachment mgr - <offtopic>though it would be cool if a selected attachment showed a longer/unique blinking arrow, when 'show attachments' is on.</offtopic>

It would be lovely to add a "don't panic" button somewhere which will summon the wtfmfd

Since I'm likely to add an overlay mode, and (i think) this could read mouse clicks, a small, optional button to turn the overlay on/off might be possible. This will likely be a tiny image in a corner somewhere, which could easily be turned into

 

[Wishbone]

"A transparent cue-card" as in a separate modeless, always-on-top, transparent background dialog window.

 

[RisingFury]

I love the name! :thumbup: