Feedback Thread: GUI Changes

[Vlain]

The old skill view will not be coming back though, it was a legacy from the very original GUI and we needed to update it in order to be able to move forward. Yes, we know some people will always dislike change, but in this instance we won't be going back to the old skill view.

We will continue to work on the new skill interface and are keeping an eye on the feedback.

There is no chance that we will restore the old skillview though I am afraid, so closing this one down. Please feel free to use the sticky thread for constructive feedback on how you might like the new skillview improved.

pwned
game, set, and match

[atlasdreamer]

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*

mostly. I will hate to give up my current Skin, if only because it minimized everything into two buttons in the lower right hand corner or the mini-rollup menu in the upper right hand corner.

I guess I am going to have to track down from the various GUI mods where exactly the textures are for the new Skill GUI and see about skinning them myself.
perhaps changing the layout if possible to allow a little more versatility and thanks

[Telcea]

Kudos to Sil for closing down the other threads with a clear statement that the old GUI won't be coming back. Hopefully now the amount of pointless posts screaming for it will decrease and we can get some constructive posts in here like the ones from Visceru and others, though I honestly don't think there's really anything that can be posted here that hasn't been said a billion times

[Tchaa]

To keep it constructive:

What I liked about the old skill window was the fact that I could check my ability values with just one swift keystroke. This was extremely convenient when twinking, for example. The other skill tabs were easy to access because of their size, and the window itself gave a good overview of the skills, mainly due to their size and positioning.

I dislike the new skill window because it lacks all the elements that made the old skill window so great - it utterly lacks practicality. ><

[Zartuim]

I suggest you make the skills screen resizable.

From everything I've heard, both in game and out, the single biggest complaint is the amount of space it takes up.

Just resize it and make it smaller/compact. There is no logical reason for it being as big as it is.

That said, I do like the description box on the bottom edge.

[Telcea]

Zzart, you can make it smaller and more compact. Click the 'i' in the top right and select minimised view.

Edit: Here's a screenie I posted previously in the thread to show how much space is still available for things like backpacks in 1024x768 with it minimised

[toewiggler]

The old design was still better, it was a gamer design. The one reeks of.... corporate... Not sure how to put it, but it's simply not useful like the old design.

One major thing about the new window is that you no longer see your abilities right away like in the old system, now you have to click a submenu which takes a few seconds extra every time you need to check your base attributes.

I dunno... whoever designed the new one must not have played the game alot.

[Mannystk]

I hate the skills window Because:

When ur xp'ing/sk'ing and u ding, u normally put ip straight away, the problem i get is that when i press u it lags and next thing i know the window is open and the team is away from me and im getting agg from sumt.

anyone one having this gay lag when u open it ??

[Vlain]

<3 the ability to auto max a skill with ctrl+click (shift+click works too iirc)

One thing I didn't like in the old GUI which is no longer a problem is that sometimes you would lose the ability to pick up and drag items that got caught 'behind' the GUI after you opened it. This forced you to close the GUI, then move the open bag window (or info window, or w/e), and reopen the GUI. This wasn't a huge deal since the old GUI opened/closed instantly, but once they fix the lag with the new GUI I will appreciate not having to worry about this anymore.

I've also gotten used to the minimized view (primarily for use when increasing skills on the run while xp'ing), which can be made even smaller vertically by dragging the bottom upwards. Unfortunately the resized window doesn't save after you close the skills window, so you have to re-adjust it every time you open it.

It would also be nice if there was an option to save the last heading you had opened, such that if you were looking at nano skills open, closed the window, and re-opened it you would still be looking at an open nano skills window.

A further option would be to have a setting which opened a particular header by default when you press 'u'...like abilities for instance. Others have pointed out that they liked seeing abilities by default in the old GUI...this option would expand on that idea by allowing you to default to whichever header you choose.

[Vonna]

The old design was still better, it was a gamer design. The one reeks of.... corporate... Not sure how to put it, but it's simply not useful like the old design.

One major thing about the new window is that you no longer see your abilities right away like in the old system, now you have to click a submenu which takes a few seconds extra every time you need to check your base attributes.

I dunno... whoever designed the new one must not have played the game alot.

I don't know that I'd make it out to be quite that bad. Yes, having a proto-help window come up when I hit 'u' is kind of annoying. A toggle in options would be nice to allow you to skip that text (or just turn it off automatically when tips are disabled.) But what I'd like to see far more is the inclusion of base skill sliders in the skill detail window—so, for instance, you'd click Pistol and it would not only tell you base/buffed/improved/cost info, but it'd also include the Agility and Sense sliders so you can play around with trickle-down without having to shuffle back and forth between sections.

[Wolfmanjack]

"There is no chance that we will restore the old skillview though I am afraid, so closing this one down. Please feel free to use the sticky thread for constructive feedback on how you might like the new skillview improved."


^^^ I have a constructive feedback... About this issue.

Listen to 99.999% of your customers and return the old one That is verry constructive.

Not only is the new one a massive blight it causes massive lagg .. One thing this game has plenty of allready. No need for more ..

Meh.. ive said my piece .. Go ahead and deleat this .. Im sure you will ..

[Healyhatman]

Dewd not everyone hates it. They'll remove the lag, stop whining, there'll be tweaks in the future to make the new one look nicer....

Just let it go, maaaan.... Let it goooo.....

[Dilidoki]

Just make a toggle so people can use what they want, it should not be hard to do, the code is there, the design is there, just make a F10 toggle (new GUI or old style GUI, yes/no) and everyone is happy

Please allow players a choice between the new skill GUI and the original one!

In my opinion the new skill window is better than old for NEWCOMMERS!!!! But! The new style is very bad for old player because it is hard to use.

Example:
I am high level doc. When i ding, i always change my abilitys and primery skills. But i don't want to stop my team, so i heal others and improve my character's property too in same time. BUT!!!! The new skill window is too big, and i can't see my team member's heal energy and i can't heal and change skill in same time. I need to say "pls stop and wait for me!". It is not funny.

[Healyhatman]

omg use minimised view.

[fcProXimA]

<snip>Unfortunately the resized window doesn't save after you close the skills window, so you have to re-adjust it every time you open it.<snip>

This should actually be fixed in 16.3.2. Or 16.3.3.

[Vlain]

This should actually be fixed in 16.3.2. Or 16.3.3.

uber

best part of that reply is to know that you guys are actually still reading this thread

[Vlain]

Listen to 99.999% of your customers and return the old one

lol...it never ends

This program is a shortcut for those who don't want to read through the last 25+ pages of redundancy. Yes, it compiles. And no, it isn't an infinite loop...as tempting as that was.

#include <iostream.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{

bool newGUIexists;
bool threadOpen;
int redundantPost = 0;
int whinerCriticalMass = 0;
int absurdRedundancyFactor = 0;

cout << "Silirrion: Please post feedback and reports on the new GUI elements" << endl;
cout <<"in this thread." << endl << endl;

while (newGUIexists && threadOpen)
{
cout << "Delay sux." << endl;
redundantPost++;
cout << "Scroll wheel camera zoom sux." << endl;
redundantPost++;
cout << "Give back old GUI pls!!one1!!eleven!!!" << endl;
redundantPost++;
whinerCriticalMass++;
absurdRedundancyFactor++;

if (redundantPost > 10)
{
cout << endl << "People...relax, they are fixing the delay, and the camera zoom." << endl;
cout << "There isn't a snowball's chance in hell the old GUI is coming back after " << endl;
cout << "3 years of progressive changes designed specifically to eliminate it." << endl;

redundantPost = 0;
} //end if

if (whinerCriticalMass > 15)
{
cout << endl << "Silirrion: The old skill view will not be coming back though, it was a legacy from the very original GUI and we needed to update it in order to be able to move forward.";
cout << "Yes, we know some people will always dislike change, but in this instance we won't be going back to the old skill view.";
cout << "We will continue to work on the new skill interface and are keeping an eye on the feedback. " << endl << endl;
whinerCriticalMass = 0;
}//end if

if(absurdRedundancyFactor > 50)
{
cout << endl <<"Asomadus: This thread has served its purpose. Closing thread." << endl;
threadOpen = false;
}//end if

}//end while
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}//end main

[Visceru]

To keep it constructive:

What I liked about the old skill window was the fact that I could check my ability values with just one swift keystroke. This was extremely convenient when twinking, for example. The other skill tabs were easy to access because of their size, and the window itself gave a good overview of the skills, mainly due to their size and positioning.

I dislike the new skill window because it lacks all the elements that made the old skill window so great - it utterly lacks practicality. ><

This is a very fair comment. I looked at this after the servers came back up. My skill window now opens directly to the Abilities tab after another change to the XML. There is no intro text. There is a small glitch in that the bars for the abilities come up looking all full because the skills menu isn't expecting to render the bars until you click a button. But all the stats can be edited and seen at a glance, and all render properly when you click a skill or a plus/minus.

Screen of skills as soon as I press U

Another 2 second change that could be happily inserted into a GUI Skinner's mod.
Are people that are complaining about the size of the window even looking at the screenshots? The window above takes up 57% of the screen area of the normal (non-minimised) skills window on release of the patch. It could be made smaller, and still retain all the information with some sacrifice of space placement.

Edit: Thank you for the optional mouse wheel zoom!

[ilon]

Well, I would like to add some whine too.

Skill window:
Pros:
Auto alocation for new players
the info on the skill (instead of shift + click)
ctrl+click for maxing a skill (havent tried yet tho)
cons:
large, liked that the old gui was placed so one could actually contiunue playing while locating ips.
laggy, I guess this will be fixed, but untill then, its a pain in the ass with the lag.
not getting you into basic abilitys when you open it, why the hell not?!
the progressbar for a skill no longer show the max for your title-level, but rather the max for your level, based on the basic attributes raised... WTF?! why? i liked it when it showed max for your title level, instead of some dumbass dynamic content based on what you've raised in the basic abilitys :<

World-map:
pros:
None as far as i've seen
cons:
resetting everytime you close it, isnt that really stupid?
i really liked to NOT have to zoom + center on player each time i had to check worldmap, this sucks bigtime...

ow, nuff. :<

[Telcea]

cons:
large, liked that the old gui was placed so one could actually contiunue playing while locating ips.

Do we really have to go through this again? Minimise

laggy, I guess this will be fixed, but untill then, its a pain in the ass with the lag.

Yay for patches.

not getting you into basic abilitys when you open it, why the hell not?!

So that new people can see the instructions before they screw up. If you don't like it, go change the xml file like Visceru and others did.

the progressbar for a skill no longer show the max for your title-level, but rather the max for your level, based on the basic attributes raised... WTF?! why? i liked it when it showed max for your title level, instead of some dumbass dynamic content based on what you've raised in the basic abilitys :<

I like it, but this is purely opinion of course.