[0.49.19 Nightly] RFE - Allow setting of chassis sprites in MML instead of only exact unit

[PhoenixHeart512]

Environment

0.49.19 Nightly 3/13/2024

Description

For situations where the user has created an entirely new unit, it would be helpful to be able to assign a sprite for the whole chassis in MML, so that any future variants don't have to also be set individually every time.

[HammerGS]

@SJuliez Would have to comment but I suspect this is not going to work as the image is embedded as text in each unit file.

[gsparks3]

Plausible workaround: create first variant of a chassis, save sprite to that chassis, then create all new variants by modifying that unit file and re-saving with new model names but leaving the sprite untouched.

[Sleet01]

Should we add a check when the Unit and Chassis name don't appear in the filename? If folks are loading from files, editing the units, and then re-saving, there will be an up-tick in accidental overwrites of the originals with the new variants (if my fumbling is any indication).

[gsparks3]

Should we add a check when the Unit and Chassis name don't appear in the filename? If folks are loading from files, editing the units, and then re-saving, there will be an up-tick in accidental overwrites of the originals with the new variants (if my fumbling is any indication).

An "Are you sure?" box seems reasonable, even separate from this issue - I know I've done that in the past ...

[Thom293]

I haven't tried it yet so pardon my ignorance - but would a file with saved sprite/fluff still be exportable without?

I guess maybe an "export for discord" option that excludes images and fluff text would work? The designs channel is most active on the server and I think having a working g output just for it would be nice.

Maybe that's a separate RFE though.

[gsparks3]

The text-summary export wouldn't include this data at all. Hammer's image above is from opening the .blk or .mtf file in a text editor. Alternately, directly uploading the unit file would work as expected and include the image data (they're not anywhere near typical file size limits, even after including a fluff image, much less a sprite).

Alternately, if you're asking for an export option that excludes the fluff text (which does tend to push text posts well over the Discord character limit), that is a separate issue and should have a separate RFE.

[Thom293]

Edit: Ignore. This is unrelated.

[SJuliez]

As @HammerGS said, setting an icon in MML just saves that image to the MTF/BLK file. It is not possible to set anything for a chassis in this particular way. @gsparks3 gives the way to deal with this: create the first unit of that chassis, save an icon, then modify from that (sounds like a good idea even without thinking of icons, I guess).

To truly have an icon always present for a chassis, the mechset_local file must be edited. This is still totally fine and not going away, it just requires working in a txt file instead of clicking it in MML. Working with the mechset also means that the icon image file must be present for the icon to show at all, but still the icon will not show for anybody else, even in multiplayer MM games (at least I'm not aware of anything that would share this with other players). Contrary to that, when saving the icon to the unit file in MML, the icon will show up for everyone.