I would ask that everyone keep in mind this is all a work in progress. I have a feeling some of the "complaints" are actually being worked on and just not ready yet.
It doesn't hurt to voice your opinion, don't get me wrong. Just keep in mind when you post that what you see may not be the final design. Tribble is a test server, after all.
Having said all that, I do still voice that a more rounded LCARS styling on the Federation UI should be used instead of rectangular, square, or sharp-edged windows and menus.
But since that won't happen, here are some issues that might have a chance of being adressed:
It's unnecessarily hard to see which systems are active and which are disabled because each system has its own "active" colour. A simple green = okay, red = disabled or other 2-colour scheme would be better.
Maybe my LCD doesn't have the best contrast ratios, but for me the window borders are almost invisible unless I increase the brightness to a degree where everything else in the game starts to look really silly.
Since you are fiddling with the UI anyway - maybe you could fix the performance issues when many things are being displayed? (i.e. the entire problem of the UI being CPU-bound and giving huge framerate drops when windows with lots of entries are open, like mail or foundry mission listings)
Why are my own Boffs talking to me via the viewscreen?
Swap the position of kit and shields in the character window.
When I use the mouse wheel to zoom in on my toon in the character window, it zooms towards the hips - I'd expect a zoom towards the face (or towards the region I point at with my mouse). [Also: rotating the character seems to rotate both the model AND the position of the lightsource - this feels weird.)
i wish we would have an option to use the current HUD from holodeck and the new HUD from tribble because i really hate the new one and i know many other people who agree with me.
Finally, someone with taste. And im not saying it is all bad. I'm saying the aesthetics are horrible
" I believe that I speak for us all sir when I say: To hell with our orders." - Lt. Cmdr. Data
I feel like there are a significant chunk of people who believe that "Good UI design" = "MOAR CHROME".
And honestly I feel sad about that. It was silly when Microsoft did it moving from Windows 2000 -> Windows XP -> Windows Vista (remember the complaining about how Windows had become fisher-price with all the colors and transparency effects?) and it's especially silly in STO because ST's user interfaces are almost entirely devoid of skeumorphism and high contrast.
In this, I think that the current UI is a decided improvement: Not only does it move more toward what a ST UI 'should' look like, but it also drops much of the window chrome that had been plaguing UI design through the 2000s.
Also, it does bring many improvements in key places where that improvement is meaningful and warranted. For example, rather than being just flat 2D images, the ships and officers in the user panel are now 3D and can be rotated and zoomed.
Just adding more shiny doesn't make a UI better.
That said, the new UI is currently extremely buggy. But from a design perspective, it's worlds better.
It's also worth noting that several people have reported that it runs better, less lag.
- BOff contacts on viewscreen. Your the Captain, aren't they sitting next to you on the bridge?
The viewscreen contacts are a real issue. Not every contact is someone you're speaking to on the viewscreen, not even in space. On the ground the current contact window is more appropriate. In space, it's sometimes appropriate and sometimes not. I would like both types of contact dialogues preserved.
At least in the Foundry, it would be nice to be able to select whether it's a viewscreen contact or a normal, in-person contact.
The alternate color palettes are available right now, but due to a bug in the current build, the option for selecting the color palette isn't available. However, it is possible to edit GamePrefs.pref and manually select one of the alternate color palette by adding a new PrefEntry for ColorPalette.
e.g. PrefEntry ColorPalette Federation
The available color palettes are Federation, TNG, Voyager, Klingon, Gorn, Orion, Romulan, and Reman. The color palettes with the greatest differences are Federation, Klingon, and Romulan. The remaining color palettes are based off of one of the faction generic color scheme so there'll be some similarities.
You add the above example's line to the gameprefs file, replacing Federation with TNG, Voyager, Klingon, Gorn, Orion, Romulan, or Reman.
Why are my own Boffs talking to me via the viewscreen?
...Probably for the same reason ships are being designed with site-to-site transport as the primary means to move about the ship, and there are bridges with transporters on them (and maximum security holding facilities are staffed entirely by a computer AI using holographic projections)
Besides, have you seen the bridges? Your comms officer is probably 50 yards away from your Captain's chair. Putting them on the main viewscreen is probably the only way they can be seen or heard without having to hike a mile back and forth to get input from your BOffs without scheduling a meeting in the conference room... that you have to beam to...
Well I personally think the new UI is nice, especially after basking in bleeding red Klingon for the last 3 years it's nice to play the game without squinting.
I agree with some who feel it's a bit too much screen real estate though, especially on a 15 inch monitor.
maybe some of the background bars could be a bit slimmer some bits seem a little wide like button backgrounds.
overall though I think it's a tremendous improvement over the original and I look forward to seeing the tints implemented.
HUD Reticule colors have been standardized across the faction UIs.
Allies are now always green, teammates are always white and enemies are always orange.
To me, green stands out more than white. I think your human teammates should stand out more than ally NPCs. It is especially jarring for every NPC in and around ESD to be green. I recommend swapping the colors of teammates and allies.
But since that won't happen, here are some issues that might have a chance of being adressed:
It's unnecessarily hard to see which systems are active and which are disabled because each system has its own "active" colour. A simple green = okay, red = disabled or other 2-colour scheme would be better.
Maybe my LCD doesn't have the best contrast ratios, but for me the window borders are almost invisible unless I increase the brightness to a degree where everything else in the game starts to look really silly.
Since you are fiddling with the UI anyway - maybe you could fix the performance issues when many things are being displayed? (i.e. the entire problem of the UI being CPU-bound and giving huge framerate drops when windows with lots of entries are open, like mail or foundry mission listings)
Why are my own Boffs talking to me via the viewscreen?
Swap the position of kit and shields in the character window.
When I use the mouse wheel to zoom in on my toon in the character window, it zooms towards the hips - I'd expect a zoom towards the face (or towards the region I point at with my mouse). [Also: rotating the character seems to rotate both the model AND the position of the lightsource - this feels weird.)
They said the UI is already fully GPU accelerated, and that the lag is because of some 'script processing' that's being done like every frame.
And another time i asked another dev, its not the case and most is being done by the CPU and wont change anywhere in the near future.
First time i saw the new UI i was optimistic, but after a day or so i find it too basic, too much contrast and too dark at spots.
- Lets be able to directly change stances for character and BO from the character sheet, given the 3d preview supports set stances.
- Lets be able to load in pre-existing saved costumes/character to the new character creator.
- Lets have a lock option for each character creator/tailor option so that they won't be effected, if locked, by the randomize button.
- Lets have the currently active ship display below the captain entry in the character sheet (displays alphabetically at present despite what ship you may be in - thus what it displays may not be what you fly, costing a click)
- Lets ensure that Mouse Button 4 is a working keybind (its in the list, but it doesn't register once set).
- LETS HAVE A FIX FOR THE DEFUNCT MOUSEOVER HUD SETTING. IT REMAINS BROKEN SINCE SEASON 7. AFTER SOMETHING IS SET TO SHOW ON MOUSEOVER -ONLY- (AND APPLIED, OPTIONS EXITED) IT IS INSTEAD SET TO NEVER.
- Lets have the option to export supplemental log entries to text files created in the logs tab of the mission journal.
- Lets be able to to set up the tracking of accolades through the accolades journal tab. Furthermore, show tracked accolades (and their requirements) amidst the currently active missions window.
- Lets be able to share our accolade status in the form of links with tooltips to our friends over the chat network. Similarly, allow auto-reporting of accolades earned by fleet & team members to fleet & team chats (wherein people can access info on those system links to gauge their own progress and to see what the accolade unlocks, if anything).
- Lets have a further separation of what constitutes a system message in chat options so that we can split all the [NumericReceived] system messages which go to the notifications tab already from the other system messages like [CombatAlert] and [NeighborhoodEntered] (which should be brought out of 'system' and possible to set individually).
- Lets have the color palette options for HUD also apply to the loading screens, e.g. Voyager, Orion and not see the default blue or red.
Honestly, what about keeping parts of the old scheme:
Fed allies are blue, Romulan allies green, KDF red, and enemies yellow like the KDF has on holodeck?
I don't necessarily have a problem with that. I just think green allies look jarring with a Fed interface. Maybe, they should give us the ability to customize the teammate and ally colors.
Being colourblind, I hope there's enough of a difference between the green and the orange. Or I'm gonna end up shooting the wrong people.
*******************************************
A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
While you are at revamping the gui, allow us to extend the tray to slot 11 and 12 and allows us to place powers into those slots. The keybinds for using those slots exist since the game was released, but the abiltiy to actually put something into those slots for us does still not exist. Fix it please.
the icons lost 3 Pixels in size horizontal and vertical.
this directly impacts gameplay, they are now harder to hit with the mouse.
please bring the 3 pixels back.
this is with the default UI size of 100%
please keep the size that they are on Holodeck.
Chat Options: "Active / Inactive Window opacity"
On Holodeck this option responds instantly when i move the slider.
On Tribble it does not react until i have saved and press ESC twice to *restart* the UI, then it takes a few seconds and the Chat window "opacity" fades to the new set level.
general Feedback: Can we please have this opactiy option for ALL windows, not just the chat window?
The Black background in the LCARS Federation UI would be nicer if it was more transparent (60% - 80% looks good imho).
//not sure if this goes here, but here it goes:
- EDC is still listed in the rewards, remove it please, it does not exist anymore.
- The filters by default have all filters tagged, so if i want to filter for Omega Marks, i have to deselect everything else, if i want to filter for Elite dificulty i have to remove Normal and Advanced.... plz invert this selection, if i want to filter for Elite + Omega Marks + Space, that should be 3 clicks, not 10.
the pinned window from the DOff UI is now just a huge black box on the screen.
add some LCARS graphics to it and add some (optional) transparency to it please.
Tailor Screen ESD
i was a bit surprised that there were no updates to the Tailor Screen,
there are certainly updates to the Character Creator, i thought the same new stuff would be used here?
Anyway the problem that i have is that the Tailor has very bad lighting, it is DARK, i can't see the colors right.... do something about that please.
Since all the C-Store items are not bought / available on Tribble i can't really do any proper testing about functionality of the options inside the Tailor UI like that. But i guess nothing has changed here anyway. Like the missing KDF STF Be'eves versions or Trill not having Visor options for 3 years and counting...
#1 the icon looks silly, please bring back the FED / KDF Symbol for this?
#2 the minimized icon does not stay where i move it, i want it in the bottom right corner, like always, but it always defaults back to the bottom LEFT corner.
...i don't need to say that the chat window is genrally broken, can't type in anything else but Zone Chat... that should be obvious and known by now.
//warning: this one gets a little ranty at the end
HUD options: "On Mouse Over" is BROKEN
this bug is now in the game since Season 7 and it has not been fixed.
as soon as i change just one setting in the HUD options and save ALL selected Mouse Overs are gone and can not be brought back.
The only reason i am still able to play STO is because i have saved my UI before Season 7, if i LOAD UI my old settings are restored, but i can not change anything or it breakes all Mouse Overs.
This one is really pissing me off.
Because i remember i reported it in a previous Season (Season 5 or 6) when the exact same Bug happened, and with Season 7 it reappeared and no amount of bug reporting and sending Tweets to Brandon or @EQAH is resolving this issue... and even with the may update it still is here...
but why is my Bridge Officer, that is sitting on MY Bridge, talking to me through a Galaxy Class Viewscreen? (i'm on a Jem'Hadat ship... we do not have Viewscreens on those at all... lol)
idea good!
implementation... could use more complexity.
The viewscreen contacts are a real issue. Not every contact is someone you're speaking to on the viewscreen, not even in space. On the ground the current contact window is more appropriate. In space, it's sometimes appropriate and sometimes not. I would like both types of contact dialogues preserved.
At least in the Foundry, it would be nice to be able to select whether it's a viewscreen contact or a normal, in-person contact.
I agree, there should be a difference. Maybe even a third option for "voice" communications.
I feel like there are a significant chunk of people who believe that "Good UI design" = "MOAR CHROME".
And honestly I feel sad about that. It was silly when Microsoft did it moving from Windows 2000 -> Windows XP -> Windows Vista (remember the complaining about how Windows had become fisher-price with all the colors and transparency effects?) and it's especially silly in STO because ST's user interfaces are almost entirely devoid of skeumorphism and high contrast.
In this, I think that the current UI is a decided improvement: Not only does it move more toward what a ST UI 'should' look like, but it also drops much of the window chrome that had been plaguing UI design through the 2000s.
Also, it does bring many improvements in key places where that improvement is meaningful and warranted. For example, rather than being just flat 2D images, the ships and officers in the user panel are now 3D and can be rotated and zoomed.
Just adding more shiny doesn't make a UI better.
That said, the new UI is currently extremely buggy. But from a design perspective, it's worlds better.
How can you not say there hasn't been major improvements. I understand there is much better functionality, which is fine, but i don't want to be playing something that looks ancient. There is nothing wrong with the it looked before, and it doesn't hurt to make something shiny. I cross between XP and windows 7 every day and cant wait to get back to my windows seven each time.
" I believe that I speak for us all sir when I say: To hell with our orders." - Lt. Cmdr. Data
Comments
It doesn't hurt to voice your opinion, don't get me wrong.
Having said all that, I do still voice that a more rounded LCARS styling on the Federation UI should be used instead of rectangular, square, or sharp-edged windows and menus.
But since that won't happen, here are some issues that might have a chance of being adressed:
So now you're insulting us? Just because we like the new HUD doesn't mean that we have bad taste.
It's also worth noting that several people have reported that it runs better, less lag.
The viewscreen contacts are a real issue. Not every contact is someone you're speaking to on the viewscreen, not even in space. On the ground the current contact window is more appropriate. In space, it's sometimes appropriate and sometimes not. I would like both types of contact dialogues preserved.
At least in the Foundry, it would be nice to be able to select whether it's a viewscreen contact or a normal, in-person contact.
Click here for my Foundry tutorial on Creating A Custom Interior Map.
You add the above example's line to the gameprefs file, replacing Federation with TNG, Voyager, Klingon, Gorn, Orion, Romulan, or Reman.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I tried opening it, but I got a "windows can't open this type of file". I know several people have been able to do it, so how is it done?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
This is imperative.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
...Probably for the same reason ships are being designed with site-to-site transport as the primary means to move about the ship, and there are bridges with transporters on them (and maximum security holding facilities are staffed entirely by a computer AI using holographic projections)
Besides, have you seen the bridges? Your comms officer is probably 50 yards away from your Captain's chair. Putting them on the main viewscreen is probably the only way they can be seen or heard without having to hike a mile back and forth to get input from your BOffs without scheduling a meeting in the conference room... that you have to beam to...
Raptr profile
I agree with some who feel it's a bit too much screen real estate though, especially on a 15 inch monitor.
maybe some of the background bars could be a bit slimmer some bits seem a little wide like button backgrounds.
overall though I think it's a tremendous improvement over the original and I look forward to seeing the tints implemented.
To me, green stands out more than white. I think your human teammates should stand out more than ally NPCs. It is especially jarring for every NPC in and around ESD to be green. I recommend swapping the colors of teammates and allies.
They said the UI is already fully GPU accelerated, and that the lag is because of some 'script processing' that's being done like every frame.
And another time i asked another dev, its not the case and most is being done by the CPU and wont change anywhere in the near future.
First time i saw the new UI i was optimistic, but after a day or so i find it too basic, too much contrast and too dark at spots.
Fed allies are blue, Romulan allies green, KDF red, and enemies yellow like the KDF has on holodeck?
- Lets not return to text-scrolling hell with the hailing window, here is a suggestion: http://i.imgur.com/lmSPDL7.jpg
- Lets be able to directly change stances for character and BO from the character sheet, given the 3d preview supports set stances.
- Lets be able to load in pre-existing saved costumes/character to the new character creator.
- Lets have a lock option for each character creator/tailor option so that they won't be effected, if locked, by the randomize button.
- Lets have the currently active ship display below the captain entry in the character sheet (displays alphabetically at present despite what ship you may be in - thus what it displays may not be what you fly, costing a click)
- Lets ensure that Mouse Button 4 is a working keybind (its in the list, but it doesn't register once set).
- LETS HAVE A FIX FOR THE DEFUNCT MOUSEOVER HUD SETTING. IT REMAINS BROKEN SINCE SEASON 7. AFTER SOMETHING IS SET TO SHOW ON MOUSEOVER -ONLY- (AND APPLIED, OPTIONS EXITED) IT IS INSTEAD SET TO NEVER.
- Lets have the option to export supplemental log entries to text files created in the logs tab of the mission journal.
- Lets be able to to set up the tracking of accolades through the accolades journal tab. Furthermore, show tracked accolades (and their requirements) amidst the currently active missions window.
- Lets be able to share our accolade status in the form of links with tooltips to our friends over the chat network. Similarly, allow auto-reporting of accolades earned by fleet & team members to fleet & team chats (wherein people can access info on those system links to gauge their own progress and to see what the accolade unlocks, if anything).
- Lets have a further separation of what constitutes a system message in chat options so that we can split all the [NumericReceived] system messages which go to the notifications tab already from the other system messages like [CombatAlert] and [NeighborhoodEntered] (which should be brought out of 'system' and possible to set individually).
- Lets have the color palette options for HUD also apply to the loading screens, e.g. Voyager, Orion and not see the default blue or red.
Thanks.
I don't necessarily have a problem with that. I just think green allies look jarring with a Fed interface. Maybe, they should give us the ability to customize the teammate and ally colors.
A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
This sounds like the best solution.
I don't see why this shouldn't be the case. Lets hope TTC agrees.
>
i LOVE the new UI
it looks awesome, at least on FED side (did not try KDF yet)
The Foundry List and DOff List do not produce Framerate drops any longer HOORAY finally some optimizations here!
---ok enough new shiny hooray, lets get to the bugs.
User Interface Icon Size Holodeck vs. Tribble
http://s7.directupload.net/images/130329/jfr3p9yl.png
the icons lost 3 Pixels in size horizontal and vertical.
this directly impacts gameplay, they are now harder to hit with the mouse.
please bring the 3 pixels back.
this is with the default UI size of 100%
please keep the size that they are on Holodeck.
Chat Options: "Active / Inactive Window opacity"
http://s7.directupload.net/images/130329/mxqb9qkw.jpg
On Holodeck this option responds instantly when i move the slider.
On Tribble it does not react until i have saved and press ESC twice to *restart* the UI, then it takes a few seconds and the Chat window "opacity" fades to the new set level.
general Feedback: Can we please have this opactiy option for ALL windows, not just the chat window?
The Black background in the LCARS Federation UI would be nicer if it was more transparent (60% - 80% looks good imho).
//not sure if this goes here, but here it goes:
PvE Queue Window:
http://s7.directupload.net/images/130329/bd9oqj9w.jpg
- EDC is still listed in the rewards, remove it please, it does not exist anymore.
- The filters by default have all filters tagged, so if i want to filter for Omega Marks, i have to deselect everything else, if i want to filter for Elite dificulty i have to remove Normal and Advanced.... plz invert this selection, if i want to filter for Elite + Omega Marks + Space, that should be 3 clicks, not 10.
pinned windows from DOff UI (Assignment Summery)
top right: http://s7.directupload.net/images/130329/bd9oqj9w.jpg
the pinned window from the DOff UI is now just a huge black box on the screen.
add some LCARS graphics to it and add some (optional) transparency to it please.
Tailor Screen ESD
i was a bit surprised that there were no updates to the Tailor Screen,
there are certainly updates to the Character Creator, i thought the same new stuff would be used here?
http://s14.directupload.net/images/130329/zzryxkba.jpg
Anyway the problem that i have is that the Tailor has very bad lighting, it is DARK, i can't see the colors right.... do something about that please.
Since all the C-Store items are not bought / available on Tribble i can't really do any proper testing about functionality of the options inside the Tailor UI like that. But i guess nothing has changed here anyway. Like the missing KDF STF Be'eves versions or Trill not having Visor options for 3 years and counting...
Chat Window
- minimizing the chat window
bottom left corner: http://s14.directupload.net/images/130329/zzryxkba.jpg
#1 the icon looks silly, please bring back the FED / KDF Symbol for this?
#2 the minimized icon does not stay where i move it, i want it in the bottom right corner, like always, but it always defaults back to the bottom LEFT corner.
...i don't need to say that the chat window is genrally broken, can't type in anything else but Zone Chat... that should be obvious and known by now.
//warning: this one gets a little ranty at the end
HUD options: "On Mouse Over" is BROKEN
this bug is now in the game since Season 7 and it has not been fixed.
as soon as i change just one setting in the HUD options and save ALL selected Mouse Overs are gone and can not be brought back.
The only reason i am still able to play STO is because i have saved my UI before Season 7, if i LOAD UI my old settings are restored, but i can not change anything or it breakes all Mouse Overs.
This one is really pissing me off.
Because i remember i reported it in a previous Season (Season 5 or 6) when the exact same Bug happened, and with Season 7 it reappeared and no amount of bug reporting and sending Tweets to Brandon or @EQAH is resolving this issue... and even with the may update it still is here...
Bridge Officer Popup:
http://s7.directupload.net/images/130329/btv75bi6.jpg
looks cool...
but why is my Bridge Officer, that is sitting on MY Bridge, talking to me through a Galaxy Class Viewscreen? (i'm on a Jem'Hadat ship... we do not have Viewscreens on those at all... lol)
idea good!
implementation... could use more complexity.
/quote end
hope this helps
//
i also just noticed in this picutre
http://s7.directupload.net/images/130329/btv75bi6.jpg
that the hull indicator of the Ship is GREEN.
i thought it was a nice gimmick to have Jem'Hadar Ships purple and Cardassian Ships yellow etc.
Green... should be for Romulan Stuff.
You and your deployables (Fighters, Mines, etc).
Teammates and their Deployables
Friendly Federation
Friendly Romulan
Friendly Klingon
Neutral or Unknown (Yellow reflecting Yellow Alert / Unknown intention)
Hostile NPCs (Reflecting the Red Alert Status)
I agree, there should be a difference. Maybe even a third option for "voice" communications.
Federation (default) - http://s1.directupload.net/images/130330/fhyvmtv6.jpg
TNG - http://s1.directupload.net/images/130330/n329djkd.jpg
Voyager - http://s7.directupload.net/images/130330/ydtetwek.jpg
Klingon - http://s1.directupload.net/images/130330/uwu9vuwf.jpg
Gorn - http://s14.directupload.net/images/130330/xrbmliqw.jpg
Orion - http://s7.directupload.net/images/130330/ll9cp6tq.jpg
Romulan - http://s14.directupload.net/images/130330/ri2mx5jr.jpg
Reman - http://s14.directupload.net/images/130330/oqaqmipl.jpg