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HUD Color

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited February 2013 in Controls and User Interface
OK I realize this may be an old topic that's been discussed before and I'm not sure if this is the section to bring it up, but I have a problem with the Klingon HUD.
The red on red HUD is giving me monster headaches, I don't know or care if it's that color because it's supposed to be cannon. I might be playing a Klingon but I'm still a human and red is very hard to focus on. I wish there was some way to either reduce the color saturation of the hud or even to turn the hud borders off entirely. Even the actionbar icons have a reddish overlay. which I think is overkill.
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Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    Agreed, the KDF UI color scheme is terrible, horribly so. You kinda get used to it, but it still is terribly horrible. The UI should not make it impossible to see and identifiy things like "what tier of DOFFs do I have a token for again".

    It not only is too red, it's also too dark overall. The notion that "KDF = evil so UI = evily dark red" is childish and really not needed.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    Red serves a number of purposes that are quite nice.

    It provides illumination without wrecking night vision. If you come from a well-lit area that is red-saturated into darkness, your night-vision will be full-on. Very handy.

    It provides a sense of urgency. Red induces physical changes in our body, including an increase in blood pressure, feelings of alertness, and aggression. Perfect for a military bridge of warriors.

    However, there's a reason that Klingon vessels had the red interspersed with green. It provides a visual breakup for the monotony. It dampens the powerful effect of the color. It also allows color to serve as an indicator, green of that tone being a nice, neutral color to the eyes.

    In addition, the red isn't really red, but AMBER. It's softer, lighter, and much much MUCH easier on the eyes for prolonged periods. This is why the indicators in your car are usually mostly amber, but only the brake failure light is truly RED.

    I second the motion for toning it down, with the suggestion that while they're at it we're allowed some limited amount of color customization. After all, if we're flying the galor, why is our HUD still federation blue?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    Red serves a number of purposes that are quite nice.

    It provides illumination without wrecking night vision. If you come from a well-lit area that is red-saturated into darkness, your night-vision will be full-on. Very handy.

    Yea, so... No Night Vision here... non related.

    It provides a sense of urgency. Red induces physical changes in our body, including an increase in blood pressure, feelings of alertness, and aggression. Perfect for a military bridge of warriors.

    So... Theres not urgency 90% of the time... non related.
    Also... theese are humans, behind a screen using the UI... not imaginary warriors... Non Related


    However, there's a reason that Klingon vessels had the red interspersed with green. It provides a visual breakup for the monotony. It dampens the powerful effect of the color. It also allows color to serve as an indicator, green of that tone being a nice, neutral color to the eyes.

    It's sill not related... Theese are players sitting at a computer, in a room/livingroom... Not some imaginary characters on a imaginary bridge.

    In addition, the red isn't really red, but AMBER. It's softer, lighter, and much much MUCH easier on the eyes for prolonged periods. This is why the indicators in your car are usually mostly amber, but only the brake failure light is truly RED.

    Red on Black, design wise is a BAD idea... Amber even worse... at least as long as theres no balance... This is "amber" all around with a pixel here and there that isnt... The KDF UI is BAD for the eyes...

    I second the motion for toning it down, with the suggestion that while they're at it we're allowed some limited amount of color customization. After all, if we're flying the galor, why is our HUD still federation blue?

    Please stop thinking about the game as real life... cause it is not.

    Theres a reason people like me spend half their education in a design class going over usability and color-usage to make sure the user likes what they see, and ain't scared away by monster colors.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    anazonda wrote: »
    Please stop thinking about the game as real life... cause it is not.

    Theres a reason people like me spend half their education in a design class going over usability and color-usage to make sure the user likes what they see, and ain't scared away by monster colors.
    I'm sorry, but when was it a crime to think of things from a realistic, logical point of view? I'm not disagreeing that the UI isn't bad, I'm just saying that there is logical justification for that kind of UI in the real world.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    I'm sorry, but when was it a crime to think of things from a realistic, logical point of view? I'm not disagreeing that the UI isn't bad, I'm just saying that there is logical justification for that kind of UI in the real world.

    Wich leads us back to STO not being the real world.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    anazonda wrote: »
    Wich leads us back to STO not being the real world.

    As a Star Trek fan, I want my Klingon interface to look Klingon! Blood red fuels my thirst for conquest and battle, while the cool blue of the sniveling petaQ' federation interface reminds me that they are diplomats and scientists first, and warriors last.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    anazonda wrote: »
    Wich leads us back to STO not being the real world.
    There is such a thing as immersion.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    Hmmm isn't there some scientific thing to colors?

    Blue Calming, Lowers Blood Pressure.

    Red energetic, stirred, raises blood pressure.

    Maybe why so many of the primary Klink players are so cranky all the time from staring at the red UI... :rolleyes: hehe
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    There is such a thing as immersion.

    Yea... heres immersion for you: How often do you use nightvision on a bridge...?

    As a Star Trek fan, I want my Klingon interface to look Klingon! Blood red fuels my thirst for conquest and battle, while the cool blue of the sniveling petaQ' federation interface reminds me that they are diplomats and scientists first, and warriors last.

    Indeed... but you can still create a red-ish UI without killing the eyes of your customers... Wich is the point here.

    The UI design is poor at best... And while we are at it, the KDF UI looks nothing like the stations at a KDF bridge from the series.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    I hate to point to this...shudder... but look at World of Warcraft and the Horde UI.... its a nice tone of red that 'sells' the fact that the Horde...is...well... the Horde... but without giving you massive headaches.

    I've actually had this conversation with several in my Fed fleet and the general agreement is that its an annoying tone of red and that's typically a general point of annoyance when trying out the KDF side.... THAT SAID.... i fully recognize that if I had played it a little longer then I probably would have gotten used to the colors.

    Re: new colors for the HUD... i like the concept but at the same time I recognize that from a 'internal branding' standpoint the Devs might prefer sticking to 'Fed colors' and 'KDF colors', so if that's the case then maybe add in a neutral grey/black color scheme similar to this forum's palette?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    After 460 days in game I only recently got into my Klink toon, the delay is due to the red hud. I am partially colour blind on reds but even to me it is horribly red, bad on the eyes and just terrible to work with. You do get used to it a bit, but even now after Klinking around for the last two weeks I hate it, if I could change it I would be a happy Klink. However, this has been requested before and like 99% of what the paying customer asks for we don't get even a response let alone a fix, so don't hold your breath.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    anazonda wrote: »


    Indeed... but you can still create a red-ish UI without killing the eyes of your customers... Wich is the point here.

    The UI design is poor at best... And while we are at it, the KDF UI looks nothing like the stations at a KDF bridge from the series.


    It's not that Red is bad per se... it's that the Red that they're using (particularly the outline super-saturated intense Red) is mind-searing. It's hard to look at. Turning down the intensity a fwe notches would make it a LOT easier on the eyes.

    The crazy duty officer fonts should go too... hard to read.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2012
    Yes, I'd like to see some improvements. I have real problems working with the Klingon HUD...


    The red has less contrast overall to all the other red stuff in Klingon space, and it's also a rather dark red, leading to a bad contrast.

    Also, having to distinguish red and orange colors to identify friend from foe is something that Klingons may easily do (since they presumably see in a different range then humans do), but for me, it sucks greatly.

    I would prefer more customziabl UI here. Ideally, hostile/Fed ships simply would appear blue. That would already improve a lot even if there was no customization option at all. (Better if people could still switch between old and new, though, since some people seem to like it).

    Then, we can probably go into a Fed/KDF neutral territory and adjust the BO power colors:
    • Tactical = Red
    • Science = Blue
    • Engineering = Yellow

    I've seen screenshots of people that modded their UI like that and it is really a big improvement.


    Maybe they could sell it via a lockbox? Would that be enough incentive for Cryptic? :eek:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    Would it be possible to simply get an option for blue(fed)/red(kdf) HUD-Colours?
    I am used to "Red = soon dead", so i prefer the blue setup;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    i have to agree, i have been here since the beta, and am only now considering the klingon gameplay, after finishing everything fed sevral times

    the reason: i DESPISE the red hud on the klingon side
    some interesting differences here, but every few minutes i'm reminded of it, this ui could not be more annoying without adding the ms office paper clip
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    Even if they only used the red for the frames and borders of windows, but left action bar icons, health gauges, target frames, etc alone, it would be a great improvement. My problem is that the red is overlaying everything, making the HUD almost monochromatic. They don't overlay blue on everything for the Federation HUD, why did they red filter everything for Klingon?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    i agree with the headaches, it just adds to more of Cryptics headache of a MMO
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    I had problems with the Klingon UI just for few hours. After that I got used to it. It's not bad.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    The UI is the absolute worst in the DOFF shop. When you make it to a new tier and get a DOFF token, it's as good as impossible to distinguish if the little indicator is red or orange.

    The KDF UI color scheme is a nightmare, plain and simple.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    maxvitor wrote:
    Even if they only used the red for the frames and borders of windows, but left action bar icons, health gauges, target frames, etc alone, it would be a great improvement. My problem is that the red is overlaying everything, making the HUD almost monochromatic. They don't overlay blue on everything for the Federation HUD, why did they red filter everything for Klingon?

    That is a good idea! Brown, while close to Red, is easier on the eyes. Maybe a rusty brown. You know, to add a splash of red into the brown. :cool:

    A little green, like the color of the Birds of Prey would not be bad in the UI.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    I've had to tolerate the Klingon UI if I want to play a Klingon toon, but tolerating is not the same as liking it, I csn only play a klink for short periods before my eyes start to go buggy and I start getting a headache, at which point the game ceases to be enjoyable. Some things are worth suffering for, a video game does not fall into that category.
    Since this is in the Feedback forum I'd like to suggest that an additional customization that allows changing UI colors would be a good thing to add at some point. With the HUD being as customizable as it already is, it's a shame that such a feature wasn't already included.
    If anyone knows of a mod that would allow me to change it myself I would love to here about it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    I don't care if the default color is Red, or Orange, Muave, whatever-- but a UI tool to let you change the color like in the ship customization menu would be great.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    The UI is the absolute worst in the DOFF shop. When you make it to a new tier and get a DOFF token, it's as good as impossible to distinguish if the little indicator is red or orange.

    The KDF UI color scheme is a nightmare, plain and simple.

    Yup, that's terrible as well.

    They removed the Klingon texts on the signs on the Qo'nos ground map for better usability, but they haven't done anything to make the rest of the KDF UI more readable or useable. I actually could work with those texts, on short distances they used to turn to English test and were so overall still pretty good. But the orange/red contrasts exist everywhere in the UI!
  • pulserazorpulserazor Member Posts: 590 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I wouldnt have a problem with the red hud if friendlies on it werent so damned close to being as red as hostiles on it. Everything on the Klink HUD is the same color to me unless I look really close. The purpose of a HUD is to give information at a glance, Klingon hud fails at this.

    I will never play Klingon until it is changed.
  • sbe913sbe913 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2013
    yes but as the saying goes different strokes for different folks. not all the players spending money on this game are you. and an option for changing the color of the hud would get more people playing klinks and spending more money
  • daveynydaveyny Member Posts: 8,227 Arc User
    edited January 2013
    Just a heads-up...

    Around here, any thread that hasn't been posted in for over Thirty Days is considered DEAD...

    And They want you to start a new one instead of Resurrecting an Old one.

    This Zombie will soon be Crushed.

    ;)
    STO Member since February 2009.
    I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
    Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
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  • madblooddollmadblooddoll Member Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    how do we get it blue. in city of villains (when cryptic made it) they let us change it to any color. this red is just hard to see. I love the color red just not as as hud.
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