Open General
by Luis Guzman

GAME INTERFACE

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Main Window.
  • Main menu window will show a different image according the active equipment. Also the equipment folder and version is shown.
  • There is "All Campaigns Summary" dialog showing all campaigns installed, allowing filters by title, equipment, author, country, period and year, allowing to launch any campaign from there
  • There are pop ups to check hotkeys and current scenario options for the scenario you are playing.
  • Tool tips for menus show also the alternative hotkey in case you prefer use keyboard

From version 0.91.0.0 Open General doesn't use Microsoft's DirectDraw/DirectShow anymore. The graphic system has been replaced by SDL2 layer which uses much better Microsoft D3D components.

Map View

Once any scenario (or savegame) is loaded, main view toggles to show the map covering most of the screen. Here is where you will spend all your gaming time.

Map scrolls automatically by moving mouse to any border. Scroll speed can be adjusted on Settings You can move at any time much faster holding Ctrl pressed while moving cursor to any border. And you can also use keyboard to scroll the map using UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, PAGEUP, PAGEDOWUN, HOME, END keys

Map can be shown as to fit the available screen (strategic view) by pressing 'S' in keyboard. Clicking or pressing 'S' again, map returns to its normal size.

The Map - including units and decorative - can be toggled between 30% and 300% by pressing Ctrl+Wheel up/down;  menus and dialogs keep unchanged in size.
For version prior to 0.91.0.0 the Map can be toggled between 100% and 200% by pressing Ctrl+Z,

Settings.

OpenGen can configure different things, like screen resolution. Some of the settings are accessed by mean of the Settings Window which can be accessed either from main game menu (start window) or from sidebar menu in game.

Setting window allow to change:

  • Screen mode : Windowed or Full exclusive directX mode (only prior to 0.91.0.0)
  • Recently files used, quick launch
  • Info about the files loaded and game version you are running.
  • Screen settings: can adjust scroll speed, refresh rate, and frames adjustments
  • Media Settings: different volume controls, toggles for sound, music and video y default background music.
  • Options to include on After Action Report. AAR can be obtained at any point from HQ, Turn Status, End Scenario and Dossier windows at any time. AAR can be obtained also for standalone scenarios
  • User Interface settings: visual effects and info available on map, language and tips to show, combat close to units, seeing an explosion on the target unit when it is fired from range 2 or bigger.
  • Font used for texts, can be configured from this dialog too. Since 0.91.0.0 fonts are read from the FONTS subfolder in main game folder, and can use different TTF files for text in tables and rest of text
Info/Options on Map

Once game is running additional options are available, either by toggling main game menu(tĦat right of map) or by using hotkeys.

  • Toggle to paint terrain type labels and roads/rails on map
  • Toggle to outline range of fire for selected unit
  • Toggle to mark spotted hexes on map
  • Toggle to hide unit strength
  • Can change the way selected hexes are shadowed (when moving / deploying) up to 6 choices, by pressing Alt+1 (old style), Alt+2, Alt+3, Alt+4, Alt+5 and Alt+6. Your setting is saved on windows registry
  • Can toggle how it shown the box for selected unit within a list (HQ & Deploy) with Alt+0 hotkey
  • Toggle to show/hide different properties/helps on map:
    Fog of War; Explosion on target; Combat results near the combatants; Fuel markers for planes using fuel; Range of fire; VH/SH data tootips; Terrain type labels, roads and railways;
  • Fog of War shadow is set by default, showing hexes spotted by your units.
(* All this options can be toggled also by using a hotkey )

Also dynamic info is available, depending on cursor position

  • Top banner shows current/total turn, terrain-type, location, blown status, roads/rails, % supply, transport available
  • Current weather and ground conditions icons inform with a sight and hovering mouse over them shows also a forecast regarding number of turns to change weather.
  • Bottom banner shows selected unit, name, equipment, leader, experience, ammo, fuel, hits, suppression and entrenchment
  • Can open a side-bar panel to see comparative stats between selected unit and the unit under cursor
  • Tool tips for menus show also the alternative hotkey in case you prefer use keyboard
  • When a unit is selected, clicking on a hex while pressing Shift keyboard will show the path that unit will use to move there.
  • Can use way-point to fine tune the path to move

Map views (Zoom)

The map view can be zoomed in/out by using hotkeys or rolling mouse's wheel when pressing Scroll keyboard.
There are 3 predefined levels of zoom, being the current mode and zoom ratio shown in top-left banner as :

  • (Z0:xx%) Strategic view: the map shows scaled as to fit the screen
  • (Z1:xx%) Custom view #1: the map is scaled to a custom zoom ratio (by default 100%) that the player can set when it is active
  • (Z2:xx%) Custom view #2: the map is scaled to a custom zoom ratio (by default 100%) that the player can set when it is active

There is always an active custom view (either Z1 or Z2) that can be toggled with the hotkey: <Ctrl><Z>

Strategic view (Z0) and the active custom view (Z1/Z2) can be toggled at any time by the hotkey: <Z>

The active custom view (Z1/Z2) can be changed by using:

  • <Alt><+> and <Alt><-> hotkeys which increase/decrease the zoom ratio
  • Roll mouse's wheel up/down while pressing Scroll keyboard
  • Using <Z> hotkey (which restores zoom level to 100%)

Custom zoom ratios are stored in Settings.cfg or the registry when the game is closed and are retrieved the next time you play.
Z1 and Z2 are also stored in .xsav and .xcsv saved games (but not in .xeml spbem saved turns) and restored when loading those saved games
After restored, Z
2 becomes the active one.

Most of the options showing the map from a dialog (HQ, End Turn, ...) shows initially in "strategic" (Z0) view but can be toggled to any of the "custom" using <S> hotkey again (or clicking in the map).

Dialogs

From Map View, several dialogs can be show, either using menus or hotkeys.

  • Can review scenario intro - and if playing a campaign also campaign introduction
  • Can review turn data info, including victory conditions status, current player type, side and stance, date and weather conditions
  • Intros, Pick files dialogs and text files defined in scenarios/campaign can use also a custom image.
  • Can review at any time last combat results pressing <Ctrl><C> on keyboard
  • Can review current turn data, pressing '1' or 'B' on keyboard. From this dialog you can get also AAR
  • Can review scenario intro, pressing 'I' on keyboard. If scenario is part of a campaign, you can also review campaign intro.
  • Can get AAR, at any time, from HQ, Turn Status, End Scenario and Dossier windows
  • Can review options used by scenario loaded, pressing a question mark in keyboard.
  • Can pop up the list of Hotkeys by pressing F1.
  • View Unit window can show transport name and movement allowance when hovering on transport icon. You can also click on left side to switch which data to show (main, organic transport, naval/air transport if embarked). Also you can check special attributes, leader attributes and movements cost for different terrains, by hovering mouse on "attributes" label, leader icon or movement icon.
  • Can review pool transports available for active unit by <Ctrl><Click> on any dialog where the Unit icon is shown (Unit dialog, HQ, purchase, upgrade or inspect).
  • Can get AAR, at any time, from HQ, Turn Status, End Scenario and Dossier windows
Getting info from cursor...taking actions
  • Cursor changes according the actions you can take, so some actions as embark/disembark can be done with a combination of mouse and hotkeys
  • When a unit on naval transport can disembark on a shore, mouse changes to show possible hexes. If you click on a valid hex, unit will disembark at once (no need to right click, get unit details dialog and then embark).
  • On HQ view, hovering any unit box, writes on first line equipment and transport name.
  • When unit can Blow/Build/Repair, mouse will show a menu to select an option (typing a single char in keyboard)
  • Same for embark/disembark
  • Same to pick a mission when Air Missions are activated
Custom languages

Open General interface can be translated (up to a point) to different languages as far as no Unicode is required.
Text files for campaigns and scenarios can exist also to allow reading in different languages and then Open General will load when possible
Language mechanism is completely optional, as all strings are included in executable. Default is English

To enable additional languages you need to set up a String-XX.txt file, being XX the ISO 639-1 code (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-1).
for desired language, and place it into your main OPENGUI folder.

When Open General finds one or more Strings-??.txt files, it adds additional entries to language combo-box available in User Settings Dialog. So if you drop down the list and select a different language, all strings will be read from that Strings-XX.txt file.

Efile folders can also include different Text-XX subfolders to hold text files in different languages, so translated NATIONS.txt TERRAINEX.txt STRINGS_EFIlE.txt ... can be placed into Text-XX subfolder and translated text files for scenarios and campaigns can be placed in Text-XX/SCENARIO subfolder so when XX language is selected OG will try to load text files from those Text-XX subfolders first and any not found will be loaded from normal folders

Installer includes for EFILE_OLGWW2 a Text-ES subfolder with a Text-ES/SCENARIO including text files translated to Spanish for DAK campaign

Note: This feature is currently under review.