Is it possitbe using forge to draw to the HUD after the other HUD elements (like the dimming at the edge) have drawn, but before GuiScreens (like menus, inventory screen etc) are drawn?
To explain, here is what I ran into trying to do this with ModLoader. I know this isn't a modloader forum, but it illustrates my issue, which is hopefully one that won't be there with Forge.
I've been maintaining Zan's Minimap since Lahwran let it go http://www.planetminecraft.com/mod/zans-minimap/
I recently had someone ask if my mod worked with Advanced HUD. As is, it does not. Rather than using modloader, I have been calling the minimap code (rendering, calculating, handling menus etc) at the end of GuiIngame's renderGameOverlay. This draws it over the top of things like the fading at the edge of the screen, and before EntiryRenderer calls this.mc.currentScreen.drawScreen on whatever (if any) GuiScreen is called. So the map is not faded at the edge, but gets drawn behind menus, chest containers or whatever.
Obviously the minimap won't work with AdvancedHUD as is, since advancedHUD replaces GuiIngame with AGuiIngame, so mine is never called.
So I made mine modloader compatible. Each onTickInGame, call the maps rendering, menu handling etc. The problem with this is Modloader's EntityRendererProxy does this:
super.updateCameraAndRender(var1);
ModLoader.onTick(var1, this.game);
calling HUD drawing AND menus before any registered mods get their ontick. (updateCameraAndRender calls
this.mc.ingameGUI.renderGameOverlay(par1, this.mc.currentScreen != null, var11, var13);
this.mc.currentScreen.drawScreen(var11, var13, par1);
in order) So hud draws, menu draws, THEN the map (on top of whatever if any GuiScreen is currently up). This is not what I want.
So instead, in my onTickInGame, I set minecraft.ingameGUI = fakeGui;, fakeGui being a class that extends GuiIngame. Its renderGameOverlay calls super.renderGameOverlay, then my map's code. So HUD is drawn, then my map, then GuiScreen.
This is mad kludgy, especially when working with another mod that does something similar (like AdvancedHud) It works, and I'm not asking for help getting it to work. What I want to know is if Forge does it better; if Forge provides an official way to draw something after the HUD and before the menu. As far as I can tell it does not. Specifically, this section in minecraft.java
FMLCommonHandler.instance().onRenderTickStart(this.timer.renderPartialTicks);
this.mcProfiler.endStartSection("gameRenderer");
this.entityRenderer.updateCameraAndRender(this.timer.renderPartialTicks);
this.mcProfiler.endSection();
FMLCommonHandler.instance().onRenderTickEnd(this.timer.renderPartialTicks);
shows forge doing stuff, then updateCameraAndRender (which calls ingameGUI then MenuScreen) then maybe some more forge stuff. I see no way to insert something between HUD and menu rendering.
IMHO (and assuming I'm not wrong) this is a bit of an oversight for mod APIs. There's no way to add a HUD element that acts like the other ones. The add on either draws over menus, or disappears whenever a GuiScreen comes up (which the built in ones do not). I'd like to leave the map up (dimmed, and behind the menu) so users can see the effect of changes they make to the config in real time.
I assume I can do something similar to what I did with modloader, hijacking ingameGUI, but I'd love to be wrong!