Feedback Thread: GUI Changes

[Damon7]

Like Most people i see good and bad with the GUI, mostly bad atm but all is not lost.

The new map and the problems i have with it.
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I'll add to the map issues...while moving the scroll bars around, some portions of the maps "black out" like i went off the readable area. Most times i have to center on character, close it and reopen, etc for the "blacked out" areas to come back.

I'm not sure about this one, but i don't think the skill window can go transparant. If you're gonna keep it big and screen hoggie, let it fade to transparant so i can see stuff behind it. i like to check weapons/other items for requirements to use and keep the skills window open to do calcuations. This is even more annoying now that there is a lag opening it up...

[Telcea]

I'm not sure about this one, but i don't think the skill window can go transparant. If you're gonna keep it big and screen hoggie, let it fade to transparant so i can see stuff behind it. i like to check weapons/other items for requirements to use and keep the skills window open to do calcuations. This is even more annoying now that there is a lag opening it up...

It can fade out, just like most every other window. You can also just move it out of the way or move the other stuff from behind it

[Healyhatman]

Don't forget, you can minimize it and resize it: thus allowing you to keep it open and view your nanoskills or whatever as you go along... Therefore claims of it being too crap and you cn't see if you're debuffed.... are debunked

Unless of course they're running crappy res

[Ebondevil]

One thing with the skill window I did notice a lack of was being able to control how transparent it goes, I know you can control the transparency of chat windows as well as other windows, controling how transparent the skill window goes would be nice.

[Telcea]

To my knowledge, you can't control how faded any windows go outside of the chat windows.

[Tza]

Don't forget, you can minimize it and resize it: thus allowing you to keep it open and view your nanoskills or whatever as you go along... Therefore claims of it being too crap and you cn't see if you're debuffed.... are debunked

Unless of course they're running crappy res

If you don't know what your nano skills are drained, with old gui it took you .5 sec to open up the skill menu and click on 'nano and aiding'. Not likely to happen with new GUI However, why are you wanna keep it open so it can clutter the screen without adding any real benefit?

[Healyhatman]

On high res it takes up barely any room, just resize the min view so you can only see your nanoskills. Plus, it autofades so barely noticeable

Besides once they make it remember size/pos, and fix the lag it'll be just fine

[Destroy]

I've got another problem with the map. When I'm in SL and try to look at the map, I get a error-message like "can't load mapfile in... ".

Prepatch I was able to switch to another mapfile by hitting the button. Now after the patch there is no button anymore. I'm aware that the map-switch functionality was added to the i-menu in the map-window. But I can't find this menu-entry in the error-message. So I'm stuck without a map in SL.

So please add the complete i-menu to the error-messages about the mapfile.

Greetings
Destroy

[Telcea]

Try typing the following line:

/setoption ShadowlandMapIndexFile Spheremap v0.731/Spheremap v0.731.txt

If you're Spheremap is in a different folder or a different version, edit as needed.

[Ebondevil]

Try typing the following line:

/setoption ShadowlandMapIndexFile Spheremap v0.731/Spheremap v0.731.txt

If you're Spheremap is in a different folder or a different version, edit as needed.

Tried this myself and it failed, problem was that AO doesn't like spaces so you may need the following:

/setoption ShadowlandMapIndexFile Spheremap_v0.731/Spheremap_v0.731.txt

I could be wrong however

I think you need to close and open the map for this to actually take effect, you can also change the map to the shadowlands map while on rubika with:

/setoption PlanetMapIndexFile Spheremap_v0.731/Spheremap_v0.731.txt

The opposite also works for setting the Rubika map while in the shadowlands, can be handy if your trying to give someone some directions in one place while your in the other, again check the Folders and map names are correct for your maps.

[Telcea]

Tried this myself and it failed, problem was that AO doesn't like spaces so you may need the following:

/setoption ShadowlandMapIndexFile Spheremap_v0.731/Spheremap_v0.731.txt

I could be wrong however

Doh, you're right, it is with underscores. The window I got it from had it underlined so I assumed it was spaces, after entering it with spaces I got the same error as Destroy then when I did it with underscores it was fine.

I beleieve the problem is people deleting the default map and not putting it back when they upgrade the client.

[Destroy]

Thanks guys. I will try this when I'm back home from office.

[toewiggler]

ALOT harder to understand because you have to click a button? Sorry but that.... that's just silly :P

Hat, anyone who works in design today knows that an extra click for the user is highly undesired and should not happen.

5 second lag when opening, 2 seconds extra when having to pick a submenu and add a few seconds extra for small text/visual make the new GUI very poorly designed.

The old one was lightningfast and could be used with other windows by seeing through it, you could shift click an item in inventory, drag the info window and still see your skill window, now you cannot.

[Visceru]

I've done my best to read through this thread before, during and after doing some testing of my own. Here's my current state of opinion:

1) I am on the CTRL-Mouse Wheel bandwagon for my preferred solution to zooming, but I'm content with the 'optional' status it now has (on test).

2) The Planet map would be nice if it didn't have flickering grid lines on it on my PC when tracking the player. I have had feedback that this is due to my antialiasing setting (4xAA and 8xAF), and that I should experiment with different AA settings. For some people, setting their AA to 2x does the trick. For me, unfortunately the only setting that fixes the map is no AA at all. Anistropic Filtering has no effect. I'm not prepared to play AO without AA, so I'll live with lines on the map for now. (GeForce 7800GT on ForceWare 91.47 if any FC devs are reading)

3) I'm guessing few people will care about this, but in earlier days it was possible to use 'permanent mouse look' by holding the r-mouse button down until the cursor disappeared, holding shift, then letting go of the mouse button. You would then have no cursor and would be able to rotate the view like an FPS --without holding down any buttons--. The change to the Skills menu finally abolishes any possible way of doing that (as it was still possible with the old skills menu to recreate the same behaviour after the Shift key method was removed. Again, I don't know how many people would use this feature, but it's one that I have relied on to move through AO since beta. If there are any others that remember or used to use this, it would be nice to know you exist.

4) And finally... The Skills menu itself. Nice work, I think. Thank you in anticipation of the opening-speed fix. I also would like to see a visibility tweek for the skills ranging from dark blue to light green -- one of the few things that I think it takes a step backwards on. It would be nice if it's made any more flexible in the XML also. I looked at all the comments regarding 'too much useless info', 'where's the total cost gone!??one!five', 'takes up way too much space' and thought I'd see if I could address these quickly myself.

The result is almost a complete rewrite of the XML but to summarise:
These are all functional screenshots of how the skills menu now works on my PC.

Screen1: 800x600 - Not Minimised - No Details
The Category buttons gathered into logical groups. The Total Cost is now always shown instead of in details'. The stat description has been moved into the 'details' mode so it's not visible here. Other things jiggled around and shortened, Available Improvement Points: shortened to IP: etc as it's designed for a veteran player. The Auto-IP allocation has been completely wiped as it's not something I will ever use. (Again I'm catering for myself here, just want to show that it's possible, without much whining. Even for an MP.)

Screen2: 800x600 - Not Minimised - With Details and IP Reset button on
Same thing, but with the description of a stat showing in a scrollable paragraph (slides open on making the window bigger, removing scroll bar). Also shows where the IP Reset button goes.

Screen3: 1600x1200 - Not Minimised - With Details (328k image)
Same stuff on a larger screen setting.

Screen4: Cropped - Minimised - Nothing open
The changes come not without a price. The minimised view is slightly butchered, but still useable, albeit larger than the default.

Screen5: Cropped - Minimised - Abilities Open
Now the categories open to the right of the button. On the plus side it shows the total expenditure still.

Oh I almost forgot, the text on the buttons -- sorry about that. Must be the Nelebs Cloak getting to my brain.

The things it doesn't address:
Text size on the stats. I don't think that can be changed in the XML. Doh. Certain text like the stat description and the stat numbers below the bars has been made larger.
Newbie players. It was not designed for people learning their way around AO.
Location of stats within categories. I don't think we can change that.
Other people's needs and desires. It looks the way I want it. Just want to show it's wouldn't be the end of the world, if it isn't laid out again by FC.
Opening speed: See point number 4 regarding the fix. Thanks.

[Caloss2]

New Skill system window, should be optional, and possibley on by default for new people, but it's a huge step backwards compared to the old one in terms of sleek design and functionality, to the point where the old one looks more like a "new one" and vise-versa.

New skill interface 2/10 (but good for n00bs)
Old skill interface 10/10 (there was no problem with it what so ever)

Fix please, or unfix wichever it needs to be.

peace
cal2

[Kahmang]

New Skill system window, should be optional, and possibley on by default for new people, but it's a huge step backwards compared to the old one in terms of sleek design and functionality, to the point where the old one looks more like a "new one" and vise-versa.

New skill interface 2/10 (but good for n00bs)
Old skill interface 10/10 (there was no problem with it what so ever)

Fix please, or unfix wichever it needs to be.

peace
cal2

Wow, took the words right out of my mouth!! I'll agree with that 110%! Skill interface, while nice for the hoards of newbies, and froobs... I prefer the slick futureistic style of the old one. This new deal, is just too... un-inspired.

[Tchaa]

5 second lag when opening, 2 seconds extra when having to pick a submenu and add a few seconds extra for small text/visual make the new GUI very poorly designed.

The old one was lightningfast and could be used with other windows by seeing through it, you could shift click an item in inventory, drag the info window and still see your skill window, now you cannot.

Q F T
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For the love of God - bring back the old skill window. Please.

The new one is laggy, awkward, confusing (what's wrong with putting skills in one single column?), too small and just a plain unnecessary change imo (it feels like you changed it just for the sake of changing something).

@Sil: the lag that comes with the skill window is a huge issue indeed when piled together with all the other bits and pieces of lag we are faced with every day. It does nothing but add to the already existing frustration - especially since the old skill window was flawless in that aspect...

Also, wtf does the planet map default to zoomed out every time I reopen it? I call that bollocks! ><

[Gerlinde]

I beleieve the problem is people deleting the default map and not putting it back when they upgrade the client.

I didn't delete any map. I believe the problem is that if you have an invalid map pointer there is NO WAY to select a valid map. (thanks for your postings though and I finally managed to fix my map by editing the logon.cfg file).

[atlasdreamer]

Sadly I will have to side with the haters

1. Hate the look. The old skill gui put me in mind of Sci-Fi. some amazingly advanced civilization. the new one puts me in mind of M$
2. Love the IP max option.
3. Hate how difficult the text can be to read at times.
4. Hate how it lags


I am not against changes. I am just really unhappy with the loss of the wonderfully sci-fi feel of the old gui. It would put me in mind of CyberPunk
Johnny Mnemonic, Star Trek, Babylon 5. Do I really need to keep quoting sci-fi sources? the new "block" version looks like somethign designed by Micro$oft. plain Dull boring and just plain displeasing to tthe eye. It kind of jars a person out of the feeling they are playing a sci-fi game.

Perhaps if the new Gui were done as a muted open Frame. with very light "neon" glow to the edge. Nice high contrast Text would also help.
if there is a way to Skin this particular Menu I would love to know. because if so I will get to work on it at least for myself. The look of the new GUI is just too plain.
I realize the old GUI is not comeing back. I understand that it needed to be changed in order to clear up some code issues or something along those lines. I just really hope that it is a temporary thing

[Visceru]

I'll list it here just to have it on record.
The time it takes to open the skill view sucks

Yes, we are aware of that one, at least that its a couple of seconds whereas the previous version was almost instant. The coders are looking into improving it for a future update, but we didnt feel that it was an issue that should delay the update going live.

Can we please take the opening lag issue as 'player stated and FC noted' for a couple of posts?

Re: The 'non-futuristic look', it's possible skinning it will help if it's not to your taste. If these don't do it for you, maybe it would be fun and interesting to make a skin yourself.

Screen1: Darktech 4

Screen2: Notum Dovvetech Edge 4
This image also shows the problem I have on the planet map with lines on tracking. It can actually look worse on the CSP map, but they appear on any.

Skins by Misat0 Katsuragi-Tremor

Edit: Atlas, maybe this answers your question? *smile*