SE V demo Interface - Page 9

Phoenix-D · #81 September 18th, 2006, 10:18 PM

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 · #82 September 18th, 2006, 10:37 PM

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 · #83 September 19th, 2006, 02:38 AM

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 · #84 September 19th, 2006, 02:48 AM

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.

AMF · #85 September 19th, 2006, 03:19 AM

Now this is definitely closer to what I am talking about. How did you get it to do this? Ditto on the 2D v 3D thing. 3D systems just don't work with this UI, but a 2D one, with moving windows around as you indicate, might be sufficient, provided something can be done about the planet icons and font size etc...

Good to know the interface can be modded, in any case.

Can you do a step by step HOWTO on creating this layout?

Edit adds: Can you send the pic to Aaron, also?

And, is there any way to offset the flag and other planet icons in the 2D view, so they don't obscure the planet? OR, can the hex selection color intensity be changed, or put on top of the icons, so I can tell which planet I have selected?

Thanks again, this is looking better and better. Will definitely do this to my UI when I figure out how to.

AMF

Quote:

frightlever said:
Okay I tooled around with the Standard System Display I posted at the start of this thread and came up with this. Ignore the crappy resolution (it's about an 80kb file) and the nasty *** cut and pasting - I just wanted to show what it could look like if more room was given to the actual system display by cutting away the thick border at the bottom of the screen. Just try to imagine it blown up to fit your resolution of choice.

And yes I am died in the wool 2D only. The 3D display is faux I tell you! Faux...

Black_Knyght · #86 September 19th, 2006, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Imperator Fyron said:
Black_Knyght:

Have you looked under the hood at the data files yet? Sadly, most of the new features get buried under the deluge of the not-so-stellar interface.

Yeah, I took the time to look at them, but in truth I'm only just beginning to understand the modding process and now I'd have to learn another one.

Additionally, I've run this Demo now a total of 12 times, and it constantly gives me headaches and troubles. In all likelyhood I'd have to update my entire system to play it, which I'm not at all about to do simply for a single game that hasn't impressed me in any way. I think it was a very bad idea to gear it towards higher-end systems graphically.

I liked the playability of SEIV, the "Hands -On" adaptability of the game, and didn't play it simply for the graphics. Being able to do things like rotate a solar system just doesn't give me goose bumps all over.

I know my lack of drool over the new game is a minority opinion, and while I respect those of others folks I think I've come as far as I'm going to with Space Empires. I liked SEIII, I really love SEIV, and SEV just didn't go where I'd hoped it would. They did improve on the things I liked, but then overran it with things I didn't.

Suicide Junkie · #87 September 19th, 2006, 08:30 AM

Quote:

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 · #88 September 19th, 2006, 08:33 AM

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

Suicide Junkie · #89 September 19th, 2006, 08:33 AM

Quote:

AMF said:
And, is there any way to offset the flag and other planet icons in the 2D view, so they don't obscure the planet? OR, can the hex selection color intensity be changed, or put on top of the icons, so I can tell which planet I have selected?

See if smaller flags help any:
Mini Flags

Captain Kwok · #90 September 19th, 2006, 09:30 AM

It should make a huge difference on the amount of the system you can display at once without any of the HUD overlapping the system. For example, a modded system of 20x15 hexes fits quite nicely at 1280x960 (top down or skewed) on my computer. So I'd imagine the default 26x20 hex system would fit very nicely at 1600x1200.