CivGrid: A Visual Civilization Selector Mod

[Lopess]

Hey everyone!

I made a simple mod for 0 A.D. that changes the civilization selection screen into a grid layout.

No more scrolling through a single row – now you can see all civs at once and pick your favorite faster.

Features:

• Clean grid display

• Works with vanilla and most modded civs

• Lightweight and easy to install

Installation:

1. Download the folder.

2. Place it in ~...../mods/ (or your mods folder).

3. Enable it in the mod manager.

4. Launch and enjoy!

Download: https://github.com/0ADMods/civ_grid

Feedback is welcome! Let me know if you run into any issues.

Edited 4 hours ago by Lopess

[Lopess]

@wowgetoffyourcellphone@Stan` Or any of our active 0ad developer friends, I'd like you to test this mod and, if possible, add it to the base game. I welcome feedback for code/logic improvement; I created it with the intention of it being easy to use with any mod. The only detail is that the region filter only works with the civ.json file if the "Region" key is filled in.

[Thalatta]

1 hour ago, Lopess said:

Feedback is welcome! Let me know if you run into any issues.

Maybe buttons to also view Structure Tree, Civilisation Overview and Catafalque Bonuses from there would be useful.

[Perzival12]

Would it be possible to make the emblems their full size? They're a bit squished height wise, though the width seems right.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

@Lopess

 

I had to translate a few things from Spanish (edit" Portuguese!), but I added it to Delenda Est and this is what I've come up with:

 

 

 

So, here're some fixes I've made an some requested improvements:

Green (verde), is the CivGrid section.

gui\civs\civbrowser\grid\CivGridBrowser.js

Line 154: Fixed the emblem's "squished" ratio from 4/3 to 1/1. This makes them perfectly round. 

Lines 156, 158, and 160: Values changed to make the emblem sizes more aesthetic for my 1080p screen.

Desired Changes in this section:

• Remove civ name from under the emblems. The civ names clutter everything up. 
•  
  Change the tooltip from their history description to their civ name instead. The history information will show up in the CivDescription area anyway.
• I wish there was a selection sound when clicking on the emblems. 
• Civs which are non-playable should either not be shown in the grid, or grayed out (still selectable so their history can be read, but not selectable to play)
  
  (this line is in the civ json file)

 

Red (rojo), is the CivDescription section.

gui\civs\civbrowser\controls\CivDescription.js

Line 5: Fixed the emblem ratio from 4/2 to 1/1.

Desired Changes in this section:

• That the large emblem shown here pull a larger sized emblem in a an emblems\512\ folder. So, whatever the civ xml says (athenians.png, for ex), but 512\civemblem.png (512\athenians.png)
  
• That there be a bigger gap between the bottom of the emblem in this section and the civilization name.
• The civilization name in this section should be bigger (more dramatic).
• "Civ Type" should be called "Region."
• "Region" dropdown should capitalize the regions and list them discretely.
   
  So:
  Asia
  Europe
  India
  Iran
  Mediterranean
  etc.
   
• Let's make "Civ Filter" into "Culture." We can extend "culture" in each civ json with more options:
• As others have suggested, adding buttons for the selected civ's Structree and Overview windows would be nice to have (but not 100% necessary). Perhaps right above the 'Pick Random civ' button.
• Speaking of this button, another 'nice to have' button would be 'Pick Random Civ (Hidden)', so that it picks a random civ for you, but you don't know which one until the match is started. It would highlight in red all of the civ emblems. This will work nicely, because you can choose a Region or Culture, and then click the Random (Hidden) button and it'll randomly choose a civ from the selected categories.  In the Match Setup screen, it would show you as Random (All) or Random (Asia) or Random (Hindu).

 

General changes:

• All Spanish in the code should be translated to English so it can be properly translated on Transifex.

 

Summary

If these changes and fixes happened, I think this feature would go nicely into the base game. 

 

 

[Thalatta]

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Remove civ name from under the emblems. The civ names clutter everything up.

Agreed, like something along the lines of Rome TW selection screen:

 

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

As others have suggested, adding buttons for the selected civ's Structree and Overview windows would be nice to have (but not 100% necessary). Perhaps right above the 'Pick Random civ' button.

Yes, that's the positioning I had in mind. Also (related but more in general), in Learn to Play, Catafalque Overview is stated, but the window has as title Catafalque Bonuses, which is a better name to avoid repetition with Civilisation Overview, but I think it would be even better to put Catafalque Bonuses inside Civilisation Overview. This would streamline the menu better, and for this Civ Browser, only two buttons would be needed above "Pick Random Civ".

Edited 31 minutes ago by Thalatta
Second quote.

[Lopess]

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

@Lopess

 

I had to translate a few things from Spanish, but I added it to Delenda Est and this is what I've come up with:

 

 

 

So, here're some fixes I've made an some requested improvements:

Green (verde), is the CivGrid section.

gui\civs\civbrowser\grid\CivGridBrowser.js

Line 154: Fixed the emblem's "squished" ratio from 4/3 to 1/1. This makes them perfectly round. 

Lines 156, 158, and 160: Values changed to make the emblem sizes more aesthetic for my 1080p screen.

Desired Changes in this section:

• Remove civ name from under the emblems. The civ names clutter everything up. 
•  
  Change the tooltip from their history description to their civ name instead. The history information will show up in the CivDescription area anyway.
• I wish there was a selection sound when clicking on the emblems. 
• Civs which are non-playable should either not be shown in the grid, or grayed out (still selectable so their history can be read, but not selectable to play)
  
  (this line is in the civ json file)

 

Red (rojo), is the CivDescription section.

gui\civs\civbrowser\controls\CivDescription.js

Line 5: Fixed the emblem ratio from 4/2 to 1/1.

Desired Changes in this section:

• That the large emblem shown here pull a larger sized emblem in a an emblems\512\ folder. So, whatever the civ xml says (athenians.png, for ex), but 512\civemblem.png (512\athenians.png)
  
• That there be a bigger gap between the bottom of the emblem in this section and the civilization name.
• The civilization name in this section should be bigger (more dramatic).
• "Civ Type" should be called "Civ Region."
• "Civ Region" dropdown should capitalize the regions and list them discretely.
   
  So:
  Asia
  Europe
  India
  Iran
  Mediterranean
  etc.
   
• Let's make "Civ Filter" into "Culture." We can extend "culture" in each civ json with more options:
  
• As others have suggested, adding buttons for the selected civ's Structree and Overview windows would be nice to have (but not 100% necessary). Perhaps right above the 'Pick Random civ' button.
• Speaking of this button, another 'nice to have' button would be 'Pick Random Civ (Hidden)', so that it picks a random civ for you, but you don't know which one until the match is started. It would highlight in red all of the civ emblems. This will work nicely, because you can choose a Region or Culture, and then click the Random (Hidden) button and it'll randomly choose a civ from the selected categories.  In the Match Setup screen, it would show you as Random (All) or Random (Asia) or Random (Hindu).

 

General changes:

• All Spanish in the code should be translated to English so it can be properly translated on Transifex.

 

Summary

If these changes and fixes happened, I think this feature would go nicely into the base game. 

 

Excellent observations, I agree with them, and yes, Spanish and Portuguese are definitely very close to each other . I'll see what I can do here later this afternoon.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

2 minutes ago, Lopess said:

Excellent observations, I agree with them, and yes, Spanish and Portuguese are definitely very close to each other . I'll see what I can do here later this afternoon.

I was afraid I was mistaking the language. My apologies.  

But great! I'll be happy to see what you come up with! I'm glad you agree with all the fixes and improvements.  

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

For capitalization in the dropdowns, I think we can simply capitalize the words in the civ jsons:

"Albion" is the ancient word for Britain. Sounds nicer to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[guerringuerrin]

Great work, @Lopess! 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Speaking of this button, another 'nice to have' button would be 'Pick Random Civ (Hidden)', so that it picks a random civ for you, but you don't know which one until the match is started. It would highlight in red all of the civ emblems. This will work nicely, because you can choose a Region or Culture, and then click the Random (Hidden) button and it'll randomly choose a civ from the selected categories.  In the Match Setup screen, it would show you as Random (All) or Random (Asia) or Random (Hindu).

I think this button could be called, "Surprise Me!"