[PC] Controls, user interface, and more

qaoz

This forum is extremely convoluted, but I finally found the "Feedback" forum, and the "Controls, User Interface" sub-forum, so here's my "new player" feedback on it:

Controls

• Some key binds reset themselves when you switch between Shooter and RPG mode (B-key) - notably the Aim and the "secondary attack" key binds.
• Sometimes, switching between Shooter and RPG mode doesn't switch the key bind set at all.
• There needs to be a key bind for "Activate dialog window", because damn... that pop-up has a mind of its own, and trying to bring it back in Shooter mode is such a pain.
• Aim (X-key) works okay in Shooter mode, except for the ridiculous sniper scope on all weapons, but it's terrible in RPG mode.
• Crouch (C-key) can sod off entirely - it's a terrible mechanic in both modes.

User Interface

• The "Special Ship Tray" frame cannot be hidden in the "Rearrange HUD" mode.
• You cannot change the width/height of the individual frames in a window. This results in some frames being ridiculously narrow despite the window being very wide (e.g. Bridge Officer Training window).
• Navigating dialog options, and playing resource mini-games, requires the use of your arrow keys (or clicking) instead of WASD, which is terrible for a game this new.
• Rearranging the HUD is nice, I guess, but you can't change the size or shape of skill bars, which is also terrible for a game this new.

Overall
The game lacks an extreme amount of polish for being this old. With the new lighting effects, it may look contemporary, but it feels ancient. Like... 2003 Star Wars Galaxies ancient.

makbure

I agree with just about everything here. The ground UI design is just bad to sum things up. This game engine was designed to be, what seems to me, a pure melee attack fighter where you just run around in circles on the map over and over fighting spawns. Space UI is 'ok', but the ground really does feel like 10+ year old game and that's being generous. Ground shooter combat feels way too clunky and akward, like fighting with the controles akward.

lordzandor

I agree with some of your points, but not all.

If you don't like the pop-ups, you can disable those under the Basic-tab of your options. They will then appear as a button on the right side of your screen which you can click to open it.
Aim isn't meant to be used in RPG mode. Why would you be in RPG-mode during battle anyway?
Crouch - to each his own I guess. I occasionally like to use it. It also gives you defensive bonuses, which could be useful when you're fighting defensively.
Navigating dialogue options is easiest to do with your mouse in this game. To be honest, there are not much RPG games I have played in which using the keyboard would be absolutely preferable.

I agree with most of the other points though, but they're not that huge problems to me.

des101

Completely agree. After returning to the game after a few years, the whole UI looks shocking and I'm very surprised it hasn't been updated!

More customization is needed, whether it's additional action bars, changing the look and feel of the map or just how the whole overall UI looks so it's more similar to the layouts we see in the movies/TV series.

Disappearing icons, A massive list of actions to scroll through to drag items to the bars is not intuitive or fun to do.

C'mon - the UI is the first thing people will interact with in any game and should always be in the top 3 list of things for any game company to keep on top of.

captainpurple

I tried the new UI updates just today. Seems the same to me, other than the ability to add more columns finally. But I still can't adjust the size of the rows. Maybe I want three columns, but I don't want them all to be 10 rows long. No option for that. Glad I can finally rotate my extra columns to horizontal now, but I'm forced to have them 10 buttons long.

While on that subject, not only would I like to be able to make them shorter than 10 buttons, but how about longer than 10 buttons? Or even some additional re-vamp of the UI. With all these traits and abilities from ships, unique kit modules, ship abilities, set abilities, and specialization trees, I'm buried in stuff to stick on my power trays and the UI needs to be much more configurable and customizable if I'm going to fit all that mess on my screen.