User Interface

This page lists all user interface additions, changes, fixes that are implemented in Vinifera.

Sidebar

Tabs

• Vinifera enhances the Tiberian Sun sidebar by introducing tabs similar to those found in Red Alert 2.

• There are four tabs, just like in Red Alert 2; however, due to the absence of a defense queue, the “Defenses” tab has been replaced by a new “Special” tab. This tab contains Superweapons, aircraft and naval units.

• Vinifera also introduces new hotkeys for quick tab switching and placing the currently available building (in the case of the Structure tab).

• The new sidebar feature must be enabled in VINIFERA.INI.

In VINIFERA.INI:

[Features]
NewSidebar=no                   ; boolean, whether the game should use the new sidebar.

• Optionally, sidebar buttons like repair, etc. can be centered on the radar, like in vanilla, as opposed to being centered on the tab buttons.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
CenterSidebarButtonsOnRadar=no  ; boolean, should the repair, etc. buttons be centered to the radar, instead of the tab buttons/cameo strips?

• Sample graphics for the new sidebar are available here.

Cameo Sorting

• Vinifera introduces automatic sorting for cameos that appear on the sidebar.

• Cameos are sorted by side (player’s side items appear first, followed by others in side order) and then by type.

• Walls are always sorted after regular buildings, gates after walls, and base defenses after gates. This organization is designed to help players locate base defenses on the sidebar in the absence of a dedicated Defense tab.

• When other factors are equal, cameos are sorted by their index in their respective list.

In RULES.INI:

[SOMEBUILDING]             ; BuildingType
SortCameoAsBaseDefense=no  ; boolean, is this building considered a base defense for the purposes of sorting.

• This sorting feature can be turned off in SUN.INI.

In SUN.INI:

[Options]
SortDefensesAsLast=yes  ; boolean, are base defenses sorted to the end of the sidebar by default.

Descriptions

• Tooltips displayed when hovering over icons on the sidebar have been expanded.

• By default, hovering over an icon will display the object’s name and price. Additionally, a description can be specified for TechnoTypes, which will appear after the price.

In RULES.INI:

[SOMETECHNO]        ; TechnoType
Description=Basic infantry.@@Cheap and effective against infantry and light vehicles, but very short-ranged.

You can use @ to force a linebreak, just like with most text in the game.

Note

Due to limitations of the game’s tooltip system, the length of the description is limited to 200 characters.

Queues

• Vinifera allows the players to batch queue/dequeue units.

• You can hold SHIFT while queueing to queue 5 units at a time.

• You can hold CONTROL while dequeueing to dequeue 5 units at a time, or SHIFT to dequeue all units of that type.

Warning

Due to implementation details, it is recommended that you do not make the queue longer than 50 units. Dequeueing more than 63 units at a time could potentially result in other actions being done by the player on the same frame being ignored by the game.

Hotkey Commands

[ ] Place Building

• Enters the manual placement mode when a building is complete and pending on the sidebar. Defaults to Z.

[ ] Toggle Special Timers

• Toggles the visibility of Super Weapon timers. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Repeat Last Building

• Queue the last structure that was built. Defaults to Ctrl + Q if the new sidebar is enabled, otherwise to Ctrl + Z.

[ ] Repeat Last Infantry

• Queue the last infantry that was built. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Repeat Last Unit

• Queue the last vehicle that was built. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Repeat Last Aircraft

• Queue the last aircraft that was built. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Select Building Tab

• Switch the command bar to the Building Tab and select the completed building if any. Defaults to Q if the new sidebar is enabled, otherwise to <none>.

[ ] Select Infantry Tab

• Switch the command bar to the Infantry Tab. Defaults to W if the new sidebar is enabled, otherwise to <none>.

[ ] Select Vehicles Tab

• Switch the command bar to the Vehicle Tab. Defaults to E if the new sidebar is enabled, otherwise to <none>.

[ ] Select Specials Tab

• Switch the command bar to the Special Tab. Defaults to R if the new sidebar is enabled, otherwise to <none>.

[ ] Jump Camera West

• Jump the tactical map camera to the west edge of the map. Defaults to Ctrl + Left Arrow.

[ ] Jump Camera East

• Jump the tactical map camera to the east edge of the map. Defaults to Ctrl + Right Arrow.

[ ] Jump Camera North

• Jump the tactical map camera to the north edge of the map. Defaults to Ctrl + Up Arrow.

[ ] Jump Camera South

• Jump the tactical map camera to the north edge of the map. Defaults to Ctrl + Down Arrow.

[ ] Scroll North-East

• Scroll the camera North-East. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Scroll South-East

• Scroll the camera South-East. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Scroll South-West

• Scroll the camera South-West. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Scroll North-West

• Scroll the camera North-West. Defaults to <none>.

[ ] Previous Track

• Plays the previous music track. Defaults to [.

[ ] Next Track

• Plays the next music track. Defaults to ].

Customizable Vanilla Modifier Keys

• Vinifera allows the player to customize the keys used for Force Move, Force Attack, Select and Queued Move.

Note

Due to engine limitations, these keys will not appear in the options menu and must be customized in KEYBOARD.INI.

In KEYBOARD.INI:

[Hotkey]
ForceMove=18    ; key number, ALT
ForceAttack=17  ; key number, CONTROL
Select=16       ; key number, SHIFT
QueueMove=81    ; key number, Q if the new sidebar is off, otherwise Z

Dropship Loadout

• The Tiberian Sun Map theme is now played on the Dropship Loadout screen (DSHPLOAD can be defined in THEME.INI to customise this.)

• Help text is now shown on the screen to aid the user.

Loading screen

• PNG images can be used as an alternative to PCX images. This new system scans for the requested filename with the .PNG extension and use that if found, otherwise it will fall back to scanning and load the .PCX file.

Note

This system only supports 8-bit PNG. All other formats such as Greyscale, Paletted, Alpha and 16-bit are not supported.

Attached is a set of the original loading screens with a minor edit and saved as PNG for testing; PNG_Loading_Screens.zip

Tactical UI

Super Weapon Timers

• Super Weapon timers, similar to those found in Red Alert 2, can now be displayed on the tactical view. This is disabled by default and each relevant SuperWeaponType must have it enabled. Superweapons that are offline due to low power or are disabled via other purposes will not show.

In RULES.INI:

[SOMESUPERWEAPON]  ; SuperWeaponType
ShowTimer=no       ; boolean, when this superweapon is active, does its recharge timer display on the tactical view?

Chat Improvements

• Vinifera adds a background behind the user typed messages that appear in-game to provide better readability.

• Additionally, Vinifera implements the system to echo the user’s sent messages back to them in-game as a confirmation they were sent. This is an enhancement from Red Alert 2.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
TextLabelOutline=yes                ; boolean, should the text be drawn with a black outline?
TextLabelBackgroundTransparency=50  ; unsigned integer, the transparency of the text background fill. Ranged between 0 and 100.

Unit Health Bar

• Vinifera allows customizing the position of the heath bar.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
UnitHealthBarPos=-25,-16     ; Point2D, the draw position of the unit health bar.
InfantryHealthBarPos=-24,-5  ; Point2D, the draw position of the infantry health bar.

Unit Pips

• The location of the control group number and veterancy pips can now be customized.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
UnitGroupNumberOffset=-4,-4            ; Point2D, the group number offset for units.
InfantryGroupNumberOffset=-4,-4        ; Point2D, the group number offset for infantry.
BuildingGroupNumberOffset=-4,-4        ; Point2D, the group number offset for buildings.
AircraftGroupNumberOffset=-4,-4        ; Point2D, the group number offset for aircraft.

UnitWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-4,-8     ; Point2D, the group number offset for units with pips.
InfantryWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-4,-8 ; Point2D, the group number offset for infantry with pips.
BuildingWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-4,-8 ; Point2D, the group number offset for buildings with pips.
AircraftWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-4,-8 ; Point2D, the group number offset for aircraft with pips.

UnitVeterancyPipOffset=10,6            ; Point2D, the veterancy pip offset for units.
InfantryVeterancyPipOffset=5,4         ; Point2D, the veterancy pip offset for infantry.
BuildingVeterancyPipOffset=10,6        ; Point2D, the veterancy pip offset for buildings.
AircraftVeterancyPipOffset=10,6        ; Point2D, the veterancy pip offset for aircraft.

UnitSpecialPipOffset=0,-8              ; Point2D, the special pip offset for units.
InfantrySpecialPipOffset=0,-8          ; Point2D, the special pip offset for infantry.
BuildingSpecialPipOffset=0,-8          ; Point2D, the special pip offset for buildings.
AircraftSpecialPipOffset=0,-8          ; Point2D, the special pip offset for aircraft.

• TS Patches changes some of the default values. Below are the values that match them:

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
UnitGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
InfantryGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
BuildingGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
AircraftGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
UnitWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
InfantryWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
BuildingWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33
AircraftWithPipGroupNumberOffset=-8,-33

• You can also customize how many pips can be drawn per PipScale.

In RULES.INI:

[AudioVisual]
MaxPips=5,5,5,10,8  ; list of integers - Ammo, Tiberium, Passengers, Power, Charge.

Selection Band Box

• Vinifera allows customizing some properties of the band box used for unit drag-selection.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
BandBoxDropShadow=no                     ; boolean, should the tactical rubber band box be drawn with a drop shadow?
BandBoxThick=no                          ; boolean, should the tactical rubber band box be drawn with a thick border?
BandBoxColor=255,255,255                 ; RGB color, color draw the tactical rubber band box with.
BandBoxDropShadowColor=0,0,0             ; RGB color, color to draw the tactical rubber band box's shadow with.
BandBoxTintTransparency=0                ; integer, transparency of the tactical rubber band.
BandBoxTintColors=(0,0,0),(255,255,255)  ; two RGB colors, "dark" and "light" tint colors, interpolated based on the map's ambient light level.

• Vinifera allows customizing some properties of the movement, target and target laser lines.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
AlwaysShowActionLines=no           ; boolean, should action lines remain visible continuously, instead of disappearing after some time?

MovementLineDashed=no              ; boolean, should movement lines be drawn with dashes?
MovementLineDropShadow=no          ; boolean, should movement lines be drawn with a drop shadow?
MovementLineThick=no               ; boolean, should movement lines be drawn with a thick line?
MovementLineColor=0,170,0          ; RGB color, color to draw movement lines with.
MovementLineDropShadowColor=0,0,0  ; RGB color, color to draw movement lines' drop shadow with.

TargetLineDashed=no                ; boolean, should target lines be drawn with dashes?
TargetLineDropShadow=no            ; boolean, should target lines be drawn with a drop shadow?
TargetLineThick=no                 ; boolean, should target lines be drawn with a thick line?
TargetLineColor=173,0,0            ; RGB color, color to draw movement lines with.
TargetLineDropShadowColor=0,0,0    ; RGB color, color to draw target lines' drop shadow with.

TargetLaserDashed=no               ; boolean, should target lasers be drawn with dashes?
TargetLaserDropShadow=no           ; boolean, should target lasers be drawn with a drop shadow?
TargetLaserThick=no                ; boolean, should target lasers be drawn with a thick line?
TargetLaserColor=173,0,0           ; RGB color, color to draw the target lasers with.
TargetLaserDropShadowColor=0,0,0   ; RGB color, color to draw target lasers' drop shadow with.
TargetLaserTime=15                 ; integer, time in frames the target laser should be drawn for when the unit fires.

• Additionally, you can also enable lines to be drawn indicating the unit’s current navigation queue.

In UI.INI:

[Ingame]
ShowNavComQueueLines=yes              ; boolean, should NavCom queue lines be displayed?
NavComQueueLineDashed=no              ; boolean, should NavCom queue lines be drawn with dashes?
NavComQueueLineDropShadow=no          ; boolean, should NavCom queue lines be drawn with a drop shadow?
NavComQueueLineThick=no               ; boolean, should NavCom queue lines be drawn with a thick line?
NavComQueueLineColor=74,77,255        ; RGB color, color to draw the NavCom queue lines with.
NavComQueueLineDropShadowColor=0,0,0  ; RGB color, color to draw the NavCom queue lines' drop shadow with.

Miscellaneous

• Vinifera adds support for 8-bit (paletted and non-paletted) PCX and 8-bit PNG cameos. This system auto-detects and prioritises the PNG or PCX file if found, no additional settings are required.

• Vinifera thickens the waypoint and rally point lines and adds stroke/outline to the waypoint number.

• Vinifera adds a “Load Game” button to the retry dialog shown after a failed mission.

• Vinifera changes the game to save screenshots as a PNG file instead of PCX file. In addition to this, it also changes the filename format to be unique. Instead of writing SCRN[0000-9999].PNG, the game now writes SCRN_[date-time].PNG (example, SCRN_02-06-2021_12-51-40.PNG).