SE V demo Interface

[wrongshui]

Whats wrong with the UI exactly?

Ive played SE 3 and 4 and im enjoying the demo, everyone else seems to be acting like the game kicks them in the balls or 2 or 3 clicks equals a MoO3.

It could be more intuitive I suppose but its not ruining the game for me.

[Phoenix-D]

frightlever: good news and bad news. The good news is that SE5 has a Hudsettings.txt file that lets you move various interface elements around. So in theory we COULD make your custom UI layout.

The bad news is the file doesn't have all the settings needed to do that. :/ You can move the buttons of the main bar and orders menu around, but you can't move the containers they are in or any other interface element. Looks like something that was started and put on the back burner.

[Noble713]

So if we moved the buttons like frightlever did they would just be floating in space? What about editting the images for the "HUD panels" so they are completely black or something similar?

[Phoenix-D]

That might work, but they could still get in the way of clicks. And yeah, the buttons would just be floating in space. No border or anything like that.

EDIT: yep. The main buttons are in Dlg_Main_ButtonBar.bmp. If you replace the contents of that file with that nasty pinkish color, it turns transparent. Boom, instant buttons-only display.

EDIT2: here's a larger, easier to see version of the minimalist UI.

[Phoenix-D]

Here's a tiny, crappy picture of a ultra-minimalist UI. Not that I haven't MOVED any of the buttons yet, just got rid of their borders entirely.

You'll note that the quadrent map is transparent, too. You can click on sectors through it now; the only thing there that is clickable is systems and the command buttons above.

[AMF]

That's a good start, and very encouraging. Can you do the same, but with a 2D view, so we can see how feasible it is to see all the planets names at a legible size?

[TheDeadlyShoe]

my UI gripes:

Having to use the filter button in the design screen is extremely annoying. It would be 900% better if you had a ships button, units button, and a Filter button that did obsolete designs/enemy designs.

The non-stackability of Units in most aspects of the UI makes handling them extremely clunky, particularly in the Log, which is continiously spammed with individual unit construction reports. Ideal would be a single construction complete notification for each type of unit under construction, listing the quantities and locations of completed units. Stacking units in cargo would be nice too but far less crucial.

I'm not sure if this is a UI issue or not...I don't understand how to get the AI to automatically upgrade facilities for me, nor automatically colonize.

[Suicide Junkie]

Phoenix-D said:
You'll note that the quadrent map is transparent, too. You can click on sectors through it now; the only thing there that is clickable is systems and the command buttons above.

How about making the greyed out orders 50% transparent via the good old "every-other-pixel" trick?

[AMF]

Has anyone out there played the demo using 1600*1200 resolution?

In about 10 months, I plan on buying a new monitor capable of that resolution, and I'm wondering if I can anticipate a big difference in playing SEV? Is everything much more legible etc at that res?

Tks,
AMF