Are you talking about the black areas? They don't bother me, but I can see why they would bother some people. Just aesthetically, I think they should be tightened up, or made given some transparency.
See, this is what feedback threads are for sir
♪ I'm going around not in circles but in spirographs.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
The UI is what you will always be looking at everytime you login. If you don't like the UI then playing the game which uses it for every screen, menu and option could be an unpleasant experience. Leaving because of it isn't extreme at all.
Are you talking about the black areas? They don't bother me, but I can see why they would bother some people. Just aesthetically, I think they should be tightened up, or made given some transparency.
See, this is what feedback threads are for sir
Indeed, it would be playable and maybe even pretty good then but I would still prefer an option for the old UI, I don't really have much against LCARS, I have watched most of Star Trek and love it, but it is a little old and simple (Edit: LCARS not Star Trek lol), this UI does improve upon that but I still like the more colourful and more material like old UI. And scaling down suprisily actually did help a bit at 0.94 but it still makes some of the icons a bit weird the devs need to scale it down with proper methods for laptop screens. Also there was a time when the scan object cog image in space was colliding with the text, I tried to reproduce it but couldn't. But I forgot to compliment the dev or devs with the 3D object ports within the UI.
So basically less gaps, more scaling down of the UI and some of its components and less wasted space (on both the general UI and a lot of the Icons) and maybe even an option to turn off the reflections would be awesome and compatible with UI AA (less jagged edges) this would improve the UI a lot.
Edit: also the shield distribution icons look very bad where they are, and the tray icons (actual boff abilites) need scaling up not down, also the way the full impulse icon leaves a blank space in sector space is a little annoying where it would completely disappear on the old UI.
Edit 2: continuum4t7 thank you
Edit 3: oh and the way it shows a shuttle as the default ship on log in should be resolved as well
Managed to get back on after the server crash earlier.
BIG Window:
Aforementioned HUGE Communications Window and you're BOFFS talking through it.
I can partly understand since I recall in TNG Geordi or one of the Chief Engineers were contacted in Engineering and was on the viewscreen, but that was only once, 99% of the time it was by voice.
No More Shuttle Selection?
Went to try out the Vault and said "shuttle only", and was wonder why it was giving me this message when in the current version we have the shuttles. So why was this function taken out with the new build?
I know it's annoying currently having the shuttle override the ship at times, but people aren't going to be too happy you taking out a new function. In or Out Devs!
(Just tried to switch while in Sector Space, shows "shuttle bridge", but nothing worked, so gae up on the Vault).
BOFFs: Hard to see their Rarity Colors on the side bar.
UI Red Alert: Needs to be brighter! When looking at my shield gauge, I couldn't see the limits and determine how bad my shields were!
Also the "Red Alert" at the top is rather stupid (no offense). My word, put in the canonical Red Alert sign, put in the accompaning flashing lights leading into the Red alert sign at the top (you sort of did that with the Borg DSEs!)
Chat Window Bug: Is the last thing to load when you zone and disappears for several seconds.
In-game Tailor: Lights Out! (Too Dark to see anything).
UI BUGS:
Would not allow me to file a BUG Report
Zone Transition Window - unable to click on minimize (have to use Alt-Tab, which in the past caused CTDs).
Tried Cutting the Cord, after clearing the first part, would not let me beam down after clicking the button. Was able to after changing characters and quickly returning.
Fleet Store: When selecting Vice Admiral-level ships, it still shows Fleet Ships, even when Fleet Ships are a seperate selection.
Traits: I'm understanding them now, you get up to 9. But some of the new ones need better explaining. Like the Conservation of Energy Science gets.
And I worry about PvP Balance with the stacking of DOFF and these new Advanced Traits. Already makes me skeptical of ever returning to PvP since PvPers will definitely go for the more needed abilities like more health, more crits, and more resists. Which could give Hardcore PvPers an unfair edge over casual PvPers.
If you doubt me, this was the even years ago when Hardcore players chosen those skills and maximized everything that increased Criticals that allowed them easy kills.
So Cryptic, you've been warned on the Pandora's Box this will be. Not to mention this could cause a further power creep in making events easier (like the STFs).
What I would like to see:
Personal Info, Window upgraded so you can see the information better (similar to old way). Maybe giving us the option of having something like TOR.
BUFF / Debuff Icons need to be better understood, and laid out in a way that doesn't cross other windows when you got multiple (which is common with the DOFF system).
Focused and Target Windows to be better visually and easier to read.
Shield Indicators more obvious.
New Chat windows, to have a lock so you don't accidentally close them (X out). And the new Tabs created, you can drag from the original Chat window for faster customization.
RED ALERT Mode, all icons turn redish than only part of the UI. (It matches canon).
Toolbar Rows to have LOCKS so you don't accidentally change rows.
Accolade Page to have MASSIVE REVAMP, so it's easier to find accolades.
Replicator Page revamp, have the different parts off to the side so we can have faster time selecting than scrolling. (EX. I want to replicate a commodity, I don't drag down through lists of foods, I can click the tab on the left and presto im in there).
Friendly = Blue for Federation, Orange for Klingon, Green for Romulan
Possible Hostile (I.E. NPC not firing at you) = Yellowish
Hostile = Red
Ship Power: Move the Balance Icon up and in it's place have an Icon for Auxillary.
And the aforementioned colored UI for certain powers on the Big Tray.
Maybe special highlight for Devices on both Space and Ground on the big Trays.
Move Buff / Debuffs from the Shield Indicator and move them above the Chat (and give information on what kind of buffs or debuffs).
Have Buffs and Debuffs color coded.
Last, but not least - the ENTER and NUMENTER Keybinds. Having them as seperate Keybinds like they were prior to Season 7. So if you want to chat, you hit Enter. And those who use the Numerical Keypad and like to use NUMENTER to Jump, we can do so again.
On one of my characters, it says he is flying an odyssey, which he is but on the character select page the ship above him is the shuttle.
On the ship HUD, i dont personally like the 100% figure in the middle. Either have an option to toggle or I would personal reduce its size or move it. It looks awkward having it on top of the ship silhouette.
I generally like the look of the new interface, it feels more like Star Trek.
The buttons around the map need a bit of work, probably some colour to make them stand out a bit more as they look very plain at the moment. The character selection screen could do with the ship being lowered. If you go to character create, then come out of it, there is a character selection screen that shows your character in front of a large window and a ship outside, and I quite like that one. If it were your ship behind the window it would be even better.
What I really like is the new hail screen. It's much bigger, and I feel like I have just activated the main view screen on the bridge. I really like the contacts facial expressions! Could have a few different expression emotes to fit their character.
All in all, I like what I have seen so far.
For what it's worth, a word of warning though: If people don't like the new interface, you could add a full Cardassian, Borg and Dominion playable species on the 21st of May as well as the Romulans, but people will hate it all! The interface is very important to the playability and immersion factor! :cool:
Just a thought to help "fill up" the space for the health and shield meters on the ground UI, could the bars be changed to a more Lcars look themselves? Something like this: Lcars border; with the top one being shield power and the bottom one health.
The general problem with a LCARS gui is that is not designed to be useable in the first place.
It is designed to display information on a lowres tv screen from the 80s.
Its usability is pretty bad.
First impressions of the new gui, ugh, to much wasted space, to much black borders around anything. KDF default color palette is horrible. way to stark in contrast, plus sharp and pointy corners all over the place. Orion style is much more pleasant to look at.
I would want to recolor my hostiles on the screen to red.
Remember the old saying from SWG, RED=Red Equals Dead.
I need my hostiles in red
Chat is pretty much borken, can only talk in local or zone, all other channels i can just read but not post.
Tailor, ugh, that needs getting used to. Love the higher res models in it. Can we have an option to look like that in game please? Some people do have machines capable to run that.
New plasma burn effect on ships. Spot on, this is very very good. no more wheres my ship in the green glow.
I like the way when you talk to an NPC now the window which pops up looks like a window which you actually talk to the NPC, and not just a window showing you what the NPC your talking to looks like. The idea of having NPCs you talk to from a distance appear in a viewscreen is nicely done.
That said, the entire above point is USELESS if every NPC you talks to has the exact same default background behind them. It is just plain silly to go out of your way to change the way to make the way you talk to NPCs so it actually feels like your talking to that NPC, but only do half the work and have every single background of everyone you ever talk to in the universe the same.
I know it's a lot of work changing the backgrounds for these NPCs, you'd need to create like a series of backgrounds depending on where the people are, an academy background for anyone you talk to at Starfleet Academy or a ship interior background for whenever you talk to someone on board a ship.
But if your going to go in that direction, don't just do half the work. Either DO IT or DON'T DO IT, but don't just do half of it. Also, if your going to make that window bigger you might want to put more detail into the NPCs models. Some of them look really low quality at the larger size, and the image of the bridge viewscreen definately needs to be upscaled.
I love the new UI... makes me want to reach up and touch the screen... currently using the Voyager sub-palette, it doesnt go to red alert when in battle, but it looks so pretty... Went back to holodeck and was sad that I didnt have the shiny UI.
I do have some critiques:
- Windows and other UI elements (ship throttle, shields, power tray etc.) need borders. I can hardly tell where they stop and it makes it hard to line them up with out overlapping. And this is fueled in part by a bigger issue.
- Related to the above, and more specifially related to the UI elements that display ship status and the power trays and such. You guys need to rework the "Rearrange UI' function in the game. Ideally, when you go to rearrange the UI is shoudnt change to the green boxes, and just show the UI elements that youre rearranging. But honestly what would help is the green boxes not being larger than the UI element that they represent, and that would help.
- Im noticing that even with the UI set to the same scale as my one on holodeck, it seems bigger, but I dont know if this is just me.
- I'm having issues reading text over player ships and players on the ground. The green is not the best colour, it gets too muddy in motion. Can we have the ability to set the colours for Allies, Teammates and Enemies? Or just a couple sub-palettes like Blue-White-Red, and a colour blind option as well?
- Related to the text over players. I think it needs to be bolded to make it stand out as well.
Things I love:
The Status Windows for Ground and Space. I love being able to see my ship better, and zoom in and out so I can see things better. Its awesome.
The contact dialogs, look great. Except for bridge officers... theyre 5 feet away and theyre using the viewscreen... not the best solution.
Suggestions:
- I'd love to see a colour palette based on the Nemesis Blue/White/Grey colour scheme.
- The Voyager palette needs a couple more colours, as there is too much yellow and not enough of the blue and golds that were on Voyager. Someone else posted about this.
Specfic to the Log In screen;
- The player ship is much too high off the screen. Move it lower and perhaps instead of in orbit of a planet, have it in a ship yard with the ship docked behind... because a person in space looks dumb.
The New HUD/UI is just appalling.:( It looks as if it was created by a 4th rate games company 10 years ago. It looks totally flat, reminds me of Sinclair Spectrum games when you could only have two colours. At least the present Holodeck UI gives a slight 3D look.
I know it's closer to TNG LCARS look but heck it was 25 years ago.
They haven't even improved the Icons. For example the ships power levels icons looks basically the same as each other now. I know this will be forced on us, like they always do, but is there any way that we can have the option to keep the present style of HUD/UI.
I've seen the Neverwinter beta testing videos on YouTube and can clearly see where all the money and skill has gone, but please don't make STO a 3rd rate game.
The new UI seems wonderful, even if it needs a lot more work. I was only able to play with character creation for a few minutes before the client disconnected, and I have to go to work now.
Bugs in character creation, which I'm sure the team is already aware of:
The "sliders" for things like head size, bust size, etc. don't currently slide. The only way to change these things is to click the arrow for each incremental change.
Some customization options cannot be customized. Specifically, eyebrows can't be changed on a human female. Didn't have time to check others, but at least the hair options work.
A few (literally) rough edges where some anti-aliasing is needed. Some of the changes feel like they were trying too hard to change everything, whether it needed improvement or not.
But the biggest complaint is the new shield UI in space. It's unreadable. Actually, that's a bit harsh-- but it's very, very difficult to tell at a glance what the condition of my shields are, because we've got white on white with dark red.
Ignoring the potential issues with users with color deficiency, the UI is just too hard to interpret quickly. The old shield UI was very easy to tell what shape your shields and hull were in (although difficult to tell which shield had priority). The new one... Needs work.
Firstly, wow... what an overhaul. I knew they were making changes, but I didn't think it would be to this extent. Obviously still a WIP, but here's my feedback so far. Only played on my Federation character so far and haven't looked into the character creation screen either.
- Contrast, the blue/red is too dark next to the black. It makes it rather hard to distinguish between the two at a glance sometimes. It doesn't need to be really bright, just a shade or two brighter so it's more noticeable. Especially so for the "Red Alert" palette. The black also needs to be given a sheen or "reflection" to distinguish it from the black of space.
- Shields, I'm finding it harder to see how full my shields are now that each side doesn't meet up with the next. Perhaps go back to the older style for this?
- BOFFS & NPC contacts "viewing screen". I LOVE this, especially the view screen, adds a lot to the immersion. However, it feels like the NPC's are too close to the screen? It looks like that TNG episode "The Last Outpost" where the Ferengi is RIGHT up against the view screen. Perhaps push them back just a wee bit? Looks a little odd as is stands. The only thing I will say that I really dislike with this is your Bridge Officers appearing on the viewing screen too... they're right next to me! No way of changing it so it's more like the ground. Just looks daft at the moment.
- Character screen, rotating ships etc.. great. Love it
- Character selection screen, having my character floating in space seems a little odd. Also, even though it states my current ship is my Vesta it shows my default shuttle (a runabout) instead. Ships also appear too high above the character some are "cropped" at the top of the screen. Also, it shows my uniform as the one currently saved to my top uniform slot instead of the one currently in use.
Still a way to go, but a great start. Definitely a step in the right direction! Will edit this post or make new ones as I find other things to comment on.
_________
Non UI stuff, guys check out Cutting the Cord. Final cut scene shows a "discussion" between Sela and Hakeev. Doesn't have a VO yet but it adds to the story!
Looking for a dedicated Star Trek community? Visit www.ufplanets.com for details.
Now I'm not saying the new UI terrible and I'm not saying it's great...I'll reserve that judgement till the official release. However, here is my two cents, for what it's worth.
The new UI is too big and clunky. Needs a bit more streamlining. And I'm hoping at some point that we will be able to choose our color palettes (I know it was stated that we would be able to so here's hoping)...as it is now it looks like someone threw up on my screen. Pop ups and power tray are WAY too big, at least for my taste.
I haven't tried space or ground combat yet, didn't have a lot of time to check things out. I'll try those later. This is just what I've seen so far. I understand this is a work in progress, and, as I stated above, I'm reserving judgement until the official release. This is just my opinion on what I've seen so far, again, for what it's worth.
I don't care what the header says, I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, an "ARC user".
Outside of some major size issues on some of the changes and a lack of consistency (WIP) on some of the rounded corners - it's something that I could easily get used to and possibly even prefer. The main issue is really just the size things. There are a few things that are more compact (which is great) - but - there are things that are just freaking huge now.
If you scale it for the huge things, well - the compact things are too small then.
There are other things there that could be mentioned, but they're obviously barely placeholders for other things being done...
Just took a few minutes to look the new shiny UI over and wow...I'm blown away. I can see why it's still a work in progress, but if the trend continues, this will be an amazing overhaul.
A couple of suggestions though...
The red alert status change is a nice touch and really adds a sense of impending doom when a cube is bearing down on you. That said, the deep red isn't quite doing it...it could stand to be brighter. I get that you're likely going for non-intrusive/distracting, but it's one of those things that I wouldn't have noticed unless it was specifically pointed out to me. And let's be honest, in the show, when red alert was called, there were screaming alarms, flashing lights, and usually some poor redshirt got electrocuted and blasted halfway across the room.
I believe it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I'll add my support of it here as well: color coded space abilities. Red for tactical, yellow for engineering, blue for science. It would make organizing and finding them a lot easier. Just a colored boarder around the power would do the trick.
The viewscreen popup is simply brilliant. If it's possible though, having the option to choose between viewscreen types would be fun to have (Galaxy, Intrepid, Defiant...) and allow us to match to the ship we're flying. Also, dynamic backgrounds for the people hailing us. Even if it's just a red off camera light source for Klingons, green for Borg, Blue for Breen, etc... Just a little extra something that will finish it off.
The ground health/shield status...I'm hoping that's one that falls squarely into the "work in progress" category. The rounded bars of the old UI definitely worked better and had a polished look to them. I'll hold off on that one until I see more.
Ultimately, I didn't have too much time to play around with it this morning, but I'll look around more and offer my feedback along the way. So far though, I really like where this is heading.
And I'm hoping at some point that we will be able to choose our color palettes (I know it was stated that we would be able to so here's hoping)
A dev already confirmed (I think in this thread) that Colour Pallets are already ingame right now. The UI option to selected them is bugged at the moment, hopefully it is fixed next week.
You can change the UI pallets manually by editing the gameperf file. But it changes for every UI even Klingon, and it won't turn red at red alert.
When I logged in my initial reaction was wtf, same as many others, and after toying around with it for about 8 hours i still say ....wtf....
I want the old icons back for the minimap for sure, the "newer" icons look like from 2006 concept from PE,
Also, the pop ups, while i think the idea is cool for people to be on screen, why are my own bridge officers on the main view screen? Am I hiding from the bridge? It should have been a POV from the captains chair when addressing other crew members or just not at all (i prefer the not at all, since its now taking up half the damn screen)
Dont care for the object names/people names overhead either, I have to squint in order to see what im looking at now.
There is some neat aspects from this and i think the team can really go far if they push hard in the right directions.
I like the new UI allot from what I've seen, but there are some bugs with the character creator. I tried to create an Alien character but none of my sellections would stay. Each time I tried going to the next bar on the list the stuff above would reset to default. Plus I'd like to suggest being able to hide the presets once we go to advanced and also have gender sellection available without having to go back to the beginning.
Another thing that kept happenning on the character sellect screen was that my VA's ship would vanish and be replaced by a Miranda Class.
I hope this all helps.
While a bit bright I do love the new UI very much.
Yes, that is a nice touch and adds Star Trek feeling.
Uniform
A bigger face it nice, but the upper part of the uniform is at least as important. In the old you could see the the upper part of the uniform, now it's only the face. Not to speak of the different emotional stances, that are no longer visible.
Text window
The text area is now smaller, means more scrolling.
Buttons
Buttons seems a little huge.
Wasted space
Left and right of the viewscreen is always empty. The right button area will be mostly empty and only filled with 5-6 buttons .
Overall the old dialog window feels compact, neat and quick. The new one feels bloated, huge and slow. This will definitely be the most controversial change to the GUI.
For the most part, I am loving the new UI. In an interesting switch, I actually prefer the Klingon UI over the Fed (the current Red UI being the primary reason I don't play my KDF toon).
I feel like the Fed colours could use just a little more contract- the black and then the grey are just a tad too similar. Perhaps lighten the grey colour just a bit. A few if the rounded edges need cleaning up.
The ginormous dialogue screens are tripping me out a little. Everything is so compacted and then you get this huge pop-up in your face. I think it should be scaled down just a little.
The BIG issue I have is the removal of the channel button in the chat channel. That is a HUGE issue for me. I have tonnes of chat channels I'm a part of, and I FREQUENTLY switch from one to another. I REALLY don't want to have to type out some of the long channel names every time I want to chat. PLEASE put it back!
I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a change of this magnitude would be quite controversial.
Thanks for all the feedback from everyone who loves and hates the new UI. I won't go into a lengthy treatise here about why it's LCARS or why it's so flat - you'll get a dev blog on that later. Some people love it, and some people hate it. That's to be expected. But there are definitely some things that need to be addressed, so I wanted to tell you that I am reading this thread very closely and go over a few things with you.
Voyager/TNG color palettes not having Red Alert is a bug and has already been fixed internally. Thanks to everyone who has spotted this!
I am going to investigate the ally/enemy colors. We are definitely going to keep them universal for all faction UIs but the color themselves might change back to blue/red, as this will work much better than green/orange for our colorblind players. Keep an eye on Tribble patchnotes.
The character selection screen is very WIP and missing several key elements.
If you have used the "Rearrange HUD" functionality in the past, the UI has saved the sizes of these old elements and the new UI will be showing a lot of extra blank space. This is not intended. We are looking at the best way to handle the transition from the old UI to the new UI, but in the meantime if you want a lot of that extra dark space to go away I recommend resetting your HUD layout by pressing F12 to get to the "Rearrange HUD" screen, then pressing "Shift+Esc" to reset the HUD sizes to the new defaults for all elements. The downside here is that you would then have to manually rearrange things to where they were before and, if you're a Vice Admiral, will probably have to muck with your BOFF tray layout again.
There is an issue with some icons and other elements looking pixelated - this has to do with the fact that many of the new UI elements have been created at a large scale so they will look crisp at UI Scale 2 (as a way of future-proofing the new UI.) We have ways of specifying different textures at different UI scales, so I am going to look into this problem.
I'll be very straightforward: unlike some posters have guessed, it is not a simple matter to allow you to swap between the old and new UIs. The new UI will replace the old one when Legacy of Romulus launches. We'll be looking very closely at your feedback and determining how to improve the new UI as we get closer to May 21st, so please keep posting your concerns and issues.
For those who prefer the old look, I am considering making a couple of "classic" color schemes that mirror how the old UI looked (frames and buttons same color, button elements are bright instead of dark, etc.).
For now, please continue to try out the UI and post your feedback here. If something looks broken or wrong or you just can't stand it, the best thing you can do for us is post a screenshot! The screenshots that have already been posted have been very helpful and getting that kind of visual feedback is super important to turn your concerns into action items for me and the rest of the team.
Thanks again for trying things out on Tribble and giving us your feedback!
Star Trek Online - Starship Artist, former UI Artist @Cryptic_TTC on Twitter
Generally, I like most of the new UI and I very much appreciate how fast and responsive it is, compared to the current UI on Holodeck that suffers a performance hit with long lists such as DOffs and especially browsing Foundry missions.
Also one thing that has always bothered me, and it's probably a thing for the programmers not the artist is when additional UI frames suddenly superimpose themselves over the UI frame I am actively looking at or interacting with. For example I'm looking at my DOff window while autopiloting through sector space and I'm just about to assign a DOff when [Engage Enemy] pops up and I click because it was so fast. Maybe it's a holdover from my old-school IRC days but I still consider it very rude to have UI frames or windows pop over other UI windows.
Could there be a priority check for which frames are allowed to popover other frames?
While we're mentioning little UI things like that and along the same lines, can we please execute those awful popups in Sirius sector block when you are minding your own business and then some trader you have no interest in pops up with I HAVE TO BE GOING NOW, because that would be swell.
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a change of this magnitude would be quite controversial.
Thanks for all the feedback from everyone who loves and hates the new UI. I won't go into a lengthy treatise here about why it's LCARS or why it's so flat - you'll get a dev blog on that later. Some people love it, and some people hate it. That's to be expected. But there are definitely some things that need to be addressed, so I wanted to tell you that I am reading this thread very closely and go over a few things with you.
*Snip*
Thanks again for trying things out on Tribble and giving us your feedback!
Thanks for responding. Any info you can give players on missinng icon visuals?
I can get you screens of what I am talking about if necessary but This Thread in the bug forums pretty much has exactly what I am experiencing, and it is really game breaking at this point.
Comments
See, this is what feedback threads are for sir
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
Indeed, it would be playable and maybe even pretty good then but I would still prefer an option for the old UI, I don't really have much against LCARS, I have watched most of Star Trek and love it, but it is a little old and simple (Edit: LCARS not Star Trek lol), this UI does improve upon that but I still like the more colourful and more material like old UI. And scaling down suprisily actually did help a bit at 0.94 but it still makes some of the icons a bit weird the devs need to scale it down with proper methods for laptop screens. Also there was a time when the scan object cog image in space was colliding with the text, I tried to reproduce it but couldn't. But I forgot to compliment the dev or devs with the 3D object ports within the UI.
So basically less gaps, more scaling down of the UI and some of its components and less wasted space (on both the general UI and a lot of the Icons) and maybe even an option to turn off the reflections would be awesome and compatible with UI AA (less jagged edges) this would improve the UI a lot.
Edit: also the shield distribution icons look very bad where they are, and the tray icons (actual boff abilites) need scaling up not down, also the way the full impulse icon leaves a blank space in sector space is a little annoying where it would completely disappear on the old UI.
Edit 2: continuum4t7 thank you
Edit 3: oh and the way it shows a shuttle as the default ship on log in should be resolved as well
BIG Window:
Aforementioned HUGE Communications Window and you're BOFFS talking through it.
I can partly understand since I recall in TNG Geordi or one of the Chief Engineers were contacted in Engineering and was on the viewscreen, but that was only once, 99% of the time it was by voice.
No More Shuttle Selection?
Went to try out the Vault and said "shuttle only", and was wonder why it was giving me this message when in the current version we have the shuttles. So why was this function taken out with the new build?
I know it's annoying currently having the shuttle override the ship at times, but people aren't going to be too happy you taking out a new function. In or Out Devs!
(Just tried to switch while in Sector Space, shows "shuttle bridge", but nothing worked, so gae up on the Vault).
BOFFs: Hard to see their Rarity Colors on the side bar.
UI Red Alert: Needs to be brighter! When looking at my shield gauge, I couldn't see the limits and determine how bad my shields were!
Also the "Red Alert" at the top is rather stupid (no offense). My word, put in the canonical Red Alert sign, put in the accompaning flashing lights leading into the Red alert sign at the top (you sort of did that with the Borg DSEs!)
Chat Window Bug: Is the last thing to load when you zone and disappears for several seconds.
In-game Tailor: Lights Out! (Too Dark to see anything).
UI BUGS:
Would not allow me to file a BUG Report
Zone Transition Window - unable to click on minimize (have to use Alt-Tab, which in the past caused CTDs).
Tried Cutting the Cord, after clearing the first part, would not let me beam down after clicking the button. Was able to after changing characters and quickly returning.
Fleet Store: When selecting Vice Admiral-level ships, it still shows Fleet Ships, even when Fleet Ships are a seperate selection.
Traits: I'm understanding them now, you get up to 9. But some of the new ones need better explaining. Like the Conservation of Energy Science gets.
And I worry about PvP Balance with the stacking of DOFF and these new Advanced Traits. Already makes me skeptical of ever returning to PvP since PvPers will definitely go for the more needed abilities like more health, more crits, and more resists. Which could give Hardcore PvPers an unfair edge over casual PvPers.
If you doubt me, this was the even years ago when Hardcore players chosen those skills and maximized everything that increased Criticals that allowed them easy kills.
So Cryptic, you've been warned on the Pandora's Box this will be. Not to mention this could cause a further power creep in making events easier (like the STFs).
What I would like to see:
Last, but not least - the ENTER and NUMENTER Keybinds. Having them as seperate Keybinds like they were prior to Season 7. So if you want to chat, you hit Enter. And those who use the Numerical Keypad and like to use NUMENTER to Jump, we can do so again.
On the ship HUD, i dont personally like the 100% figure in the middle. Either have an option to toggle or I would personal reduce its size or move it. It looks awkward having it on top of the ship silhouette.
The buttons around the map need a bit of work, probably some colour to make them stand out a bit more as they look very plain at the moment. The character selection screen could do with the ship being lowered. If you go to character create, then come out of it, there is a character selection screen that shows your character in front of a large window and a ship outside, and I quite like that one. If it were your ship behind the window it would be even better.
What I really like is the new hail screen. It's much bigger, and I feel like I have just activated the main view screen on the bridge. I really like the contacts facial expressions! Could have a few different expression emotes to fit their character.
All in all, I like what I have seen so far.
For what it's worth, a word of warning though: If people don't like the new interface, you could add a full Cardassian, Borg and Dominion playable species on the 21st of May as well as the Romulans, but people will hate it all! The interface is very important to the playability and immersion factor! :cool:
Also, there's the colours for the "TNG" and "Voyager" UI's. There's some additional colours that could be used, as Voyager had more variations on different blues and yellows/golds along with the light blue and pale yellow, whereas TNG also had pale green and blue mixed in with the usual gold and mauve.
Other than that, the "black space" if it is to stay, needs more of a sheen like look to it, so it resembles more of a computer display reflection.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
It is designed to display information on a lowres tv screen from the 80s.
Its usability is pretty bad.
First impressions of the new gui, ugh, to much wasted space, to much black borders around anything. KDF default color palette is horrible. way to stark in contrast, plus sharp and pointy corners all over the place. Orion style is much more pleasant to look at.
I would want to recolor my hostiles on the screen to red.
Remember the old saying from SWG, RED=Red Equals Dead.
I need my hostiles in red
Chat is pretty much borken, can only talk in local or zone, all other channels i can just read but not post.
Tailor, ugh, that needs getting used to. Love the higher res models in it. Can we have an option to look like that in game please? Some people do have machines capable to run that.
New plasma burn effect on ships. Spot on, this is very very good. no more wheres my ship in the green glow.
this new one is just horrible to look at.
That said, the entire above point is USELESS if every NPC you talks to has the exact same default background behind them. It is just plain silly to go out of your way to change the way to make the way you talk to NPCs so it actually feels like your talking to that NPC, but only do half the work and have every single background of everyone you ever talk to in the universe the same.
I know it's a lot of work changing the backgrounds for these NPCs, you'd need to create like a series of backgrounds depending on where the people are, an academy background for anyone you talk to at Starfleet Academy or a ship interior background for whenever you talk to someone on board a ship.
But if your going to go in that direction, don't just do half the work. Either DO IT or DON'T DO IT, but don't just do half of it. Also, if your going to make that window bigger you might want to put more detail into the NPCs models. Some of them look really low quality at the larger size, and the image of the bridge viewscreen definately needs to be upscaled.
I do have some critiques:
- Windows and other UI elements (ship throttle, shields, power tray etc.) need borders. I can hardly tell where they stop and it makes it hard to line them up with out overlapping. And this is fueled in part by a bigger issue.
- Related to the above, and more specifially related to the UI elements that display ship status and the power trays and such. You guys need to rework the "Rearrange UI' function in the game. Ideally, when you go to rearrange the UI is shoudnt change to the green boxes, and just show the UI elements that youre rearranging. But honestly what would help is the green boxes not being larger than the UI element that they represent, and that would help.
- Im noticing that even with the UI set to the same scale as my one on holodeck, it seems bigger, but I dont know if this is just me.
- I'm having issues reading text over player ships and players on the ground. The green is not the best colour, it gets too muddy in motion. Can we have the ability to set the colours for Allies, Teammates and Enemies? Or just a couple sub-palettes like Blue-White-Red, and a colour blind option as well?
- Related to the text over players. I think it needs to be bolded to make it stand out as well.
Things I love:
The Status Windows for Ground and Space. I love being able to see my ship better, and zoom in and out so I can see things better. Its awesome.
The contact dialogs, look great. Except for bridge officers... theyre 5 feet away and theyre using the viewscreen... not the best solution.
Suggestions:
- I'd love to see a colour palette based on the Nemesis Blue/White/Grey colour scheme.
- The Voyager palette needs a couple more colours, as there is too much yellow and not enough of the blue and golds that were on Voyager. Someone else posted about this.
Specfic to the Log In screen;
- The player ship is much too high off the screen. Move it lower and perhaps instead of in orbit of a planet, have it in a ship yard with the ship docked behind... because a person in space looks dumb.
I know it's closer to TNG LCARS look but heck it was 25 years ago.
They haven't even improved the Icons. For example the ships power levels icons looks basically the same as each other now. I know this will be forced on us, like they always do, but is there any way that we can have the option to keep the present style of HUD/UI.
I've seen the Neverwinter beta testing videos on YouTube and can clearly see where all the money and skill has gone, but please don't make STO a 3rd rate game.
Bugs in character creation, which I'm sure the team is already aware of:
The "sliders" for things like head size, bust size, etc. don't currently slide. The only way to change these things is to click the arrow for each incremental change.
Some customization options cannot be customized. Specifically, eyebrows can't be changed on a human female. Didn't have time to check others, but at least the hair options work.
But the biggest complaint is the new shield UI in space. It's unreadable. Actually, that's a bit harsh-- but it's very, very difficult to tell at a glance what the condition of my shields are, because we've got white on white with dark red.
Ignoring the potential issues with users with color deficiency, the UI is just too hard to interpret quickly. The old shield UI was very easy to tell what shape your shields and hull were in (although difficult to tell which shield had priority). The new one... Needs work.
- Contrast, the blue/red is too dark next to the black. It makes it rather hard to distinguish between the two at a glance sometimes. It doesn't need to be really bright, just a shade or two brighter so it's more noticeable. Especially so for the "Red Alert" palette. The black also needs to be given a sheen or "reflection" to distinguish it from the black of space.
- Shields, I'm finding it harder to see how full my shields are now that each side doesn't meet up with the next. Perhaps go back to the older style for this?
- BOFFS & NPC contacts "viewing screen". I LOVE this, especially the view screen, adds a lot to the immersion. However, it feels like the NPC's are too close to the screen? It looks like that TNG episode "The Last Outpost" where the Ferengi is RIGHT up against the view screen. Perhaps push them back just a wee bit? Looks a little odd as is stands. The only thing I will say that I really dislike with this is your Bridge Officers appearing on the viewing screen too... they're right next to me! No way of changing it so it's more like the ground. Just looks daft at the moment.
- Character screen, rotating ships etc.. great. Love it
- Character selection screen, having my character floating in space seems a little odd. Also, even though it states my current ship is my Vesta it shows my default shuttle (a runabout) instead. Ships also appear too high above the character some are "cropped" at the top of the screen. Also, it shows my uniform as the one currently saved to my top uniform slot instead of the one currently in use.
Still a way to go, but a great start. Definitely a step in the right direction! Will edit this post or make new ones as I find other things to comment on.
_________
Non UI stuff, guys check out Cutting the Cord. Final cut scene shows a "discussion" between Sela and Hakeev. Doesn't have a VO yet but it adds to the story!
Looking for a dedicated Star Trek community? Visit www.ufplanets.com for details.
The new UI is too big and clunky. Needs a bit more streamlining. And I'm hoping at some point that we will be able to choose our color palettes (I know it was stated that we would be able to so here's hoping)...as it is now it looks like someone threw up on my screen. Pop ups and power tray are WAY too big, at least for my taste.
I haven't tried space or ground combat yet, didn't have a lot of time to check things out. I'll try those later. This is just what I've seen so far. I understand this is a work in progress, and, as I stated above, I'm reserving judgement until the official release. This is just my opinion on what I've seen so far, again, for what it's worth.
It's cool.
If you scale it for the huge things, well - the compact things are too small then.
There are other things there that could be mentioned, but they're obviously barely placeholders for other things being done...
A couple of suggestions though...
The red alert status change is a nice touch and really adds a sense of impending doom when a cube is bearing down on you. That said, the deep red isn't quite doing it...it could stand to be brighter. I get that you're likely going for non-intrusive/distracting, but it's one of those things that I wouldn't have noticed unless it was specifically pointed out to me. And let's be honest, in the show, when red alert was called, there were screaming alarms, flashing lights, and usually some poor redshirt got electrocuted and blasted halfway across the room.
I believe it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I'll add my support of it here as well: color coded space abilities. Red for tactical, yellow for engineering, blue for science. It would make organizing and finding them a lot easier. Just a colored boarder around the power would do the trick.
The viewscreen popup is simply brilliant. If it's possible though, having the option to choose between viewscreen types would be fun to have (Galaxy, Intrepid, Defiant...) and allow us to match to the ship we're flying. Also, dynamic backgrounds for the people hailing us. Even if it's just a red off camera light source for Klingons, green for Borg, Blue for Breen, etc... Just a little extra something that will finish it off.
The ground health/shield status...I'm hoping that's one that falls squarely into the "work in progress" category. The rounded bars of the old UI definitely worked better and had a polished look to them. I'll hold off on that one until I see more.
Ultimately, I didn't have too much time to play around with it this morning, but I'll look around more and offer my feedback along the way. So far though, I really like where this is heading.
A dev already confirmed (I think in this thread) that Colour Pallets are already ingame right now. The UI option to selected them is bugged at the moment, hopefully it is fixed next week.
You can change the UI pallets manually by editing the gameperf file. But it changes for every UI even Klingon, and it won't turn red at red alert.
I want the old icons back for the minimap for sure, the "newer" icons look like from 2006 concept from PE,
Also, the pop ups, while i think the idea is cool for people to be on screen, why are my own bridge officers on the main view screen? Am I hiding from the bridge? It should have been a POV from the captains chair when addressing other crew members or just not at all (i prefer the not at all, since its now taking up half the damn screen)
Dont care for the object names/people names overhead either, I have to squint in order to see what im looking at now.
There is some neat aspects from this and i think the team can really go far if they push hard in the right directions.
Another thing that kept happenning on the character sellect screen was that my VA's ship would vanish and be replaced by a Miranda Class.
I hope this all helps.
While a bit bright I do love the new UI very much.
Viewscreen
Yes, that is a nice touch and adds Star Trek feeling.
Uniform
A bigger face it nice, but the upper part of the uniform is at least as important. In the old you could see the the upper part of the uniform, now it's only the face. Not to speak of the different emotional stances, that are no longer visible.
Text window
The text area is now smaller, means more scrolling.
Buttons
Buttons seems a little huge.
Wasted space
Left and right of the viewscreen is always empty. The right button area will be mostly empty and only filled with 5-6 buttons .
Overall the old dialog window feels compact, neat and quick. The new one feels bloated, huge and slow. This will definitely be the most controversial change to the GUI.
I feel like the Fed colours could use just a little more contract- the black and then the grey are just a tad too similar. Perhaps lighten the grey colour just a bit. A few if the rounded edges need cleaning up.
The ginormous dialogue screens are tripping me out a little. Everything is so compacted and then you get this huge pop-up in your face. I think it should be scaled down just a little.
The BIG issue I have is the removal of the channel button in the chat channel. That is a HUGE issue for me. I have tonnes of chat channels I'm a part of, and I FREQUENTLY switch from one to another. I REALLY don't want to have to type out some of the long channel names every time I want to chat. PLEASE put it back!
Directive 010
Thanks for all the feedback from everyone who loves and hates the new UI. I won't go into a lengthy treatise here about why it's LCARS or why it's so flat - you'll get a dev blog on that later. Some people love it, and some people hate it. That's to be expected. But there are definitely some things that need to be addressed, so I wanted to tell you that I am reading this thread very closely and go over a few things with you.
I'll be very straightforward: unlike some posters have guessed, it is not a simple matter to allow you to swap between the old and new UIs. The new UI will replace the old one when Legacy of Romulus launches. We'll be looking very closely at your feedback and determining how to improve the new UI as we get closer to May 21st, so please keep posting your concerns and issues.
For those who prefer the old look, I am considering making a couple of "classic" color schemes that mirror how the old UI looked (frames and buttons same color, button elements are bright instead of dark, etc.).
For now, please continue to try out the UI and post your feedback here. If something looks broken or wrong or you just can't stand it, the best thing you can do for us is post a screenshot! The screenshots that have already been posted have been very helpful and getting that kind of visual feedback is super important to turn your concerns into action items for me and the rest of the team.
Thanks again for trying things out on Tribble and giving us your feedback!
@Cryptic_TTC on Twitter
Generally, I like most of the new UI and I very much appreciate how fast and responsive it is, compared to the current UI on Holodeck that suffers a performance hit with long lists such as DOffs and especially browsing Foundry missions.
Also one thing that has always bothered me, and it's probably a thing for the programmers not the artist is when additional UI frames suddenly superimpose themselves over the UI frame I am actively looking at or interacting with. For example I'm looking at my DOff window while autopiloting through sector space and I'm just about to assign a DOff when [Engage Enemy] pops up and I click because it was so fast. Maybe it's a holdover from my old-school IRC days but I still consider it very rude to have UI frames or windows pop over other UI windows.
Could there be a priority check for which frames are allowed to popover other frames?
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
Thanks for responding. Any info you can give players on missinng icon visuals?
I can get you screens of what I am talking about if necessary but This Thread in the bug forums pretty much has exactly what I am experiencing, and it is really game breaking at this point.