Making it Work: Inventory
Dee
Member Posts: 10,447
The discussion here yielded some great constructive feedback about the Inventory screen. Let's talk about that.
The key features at play here:
The key features at play here:
- The item comparison feature (which highlights character portraits if the selected item is good for them) causes lag on some older hardware configurations. While the lag may get addressed through patches, it would be nice to be able to turn off the item comparison feature so that the lag doesn't ruin the experience for the players it affects.
- It's jarring for half of the screen to be visibly altered when an item is selected. The two views should be unified, if they're going to change at all.
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Comments
A menu @Dee that pops up, say on right-click, and gives context relevant options for that item, eg for a potion in an inventory slot it might have:
Description
Drink Potion
Equip to > Quickslot
Give to > Character Name 1, Character Name 2, Character Name 3 ...
Select Qty > 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, all
Drop
A party "Inventory Management" feature would need to be an entirely new screen. Which doesn't mean it's not worth exploring, but I would think of it in that context.
That way, it works based an existing solution and is familiar to everyone.
I didn't like the implementation it had during beta but the current one, I think is good (with the exception of the lag).
An interesting thing to add, would be a combined inventory window where you can see all items from all the party member backpacks. That way you can trade items quickly and see all the inventories at the same time.
- It uses the existing shop window interface so the concept and most of the coding already work - it's just a case of the engine allowing two different characters backpacks to be visible at the same time and an appropriate background.
- It doesn't require any special key-presses or actions.
- It doesn't take away or replace any functionality - it just adds the extra ability to swap multiple items between characters quickly.
Please note - This isn't a discussion about the layout of the Shop Interface, colours or what have you as I think that's probably a different discussion. This is about how to have better cross-inventory management, swapping multiple items between characters etc. It's a concept discussion.
To access it, you would double-click the backpack symbol in the standard inventory window. It would then load a screen like this:
You can clearly see which character is selected for the left-hand inventory and which is selected for the right-hand inventory.
Whichever backpack you were in when you opened this new inventory management screen would be the default left-hand inventory.
To change characters you simply select the character you want on the left, and which you want on the right - and the appropriate inventories open below.
Things I don't like
- It has all the portraits for the characters shown twice - this could be tidied up but I believe it would be less intuitive for new users (EG have only one set of portraits but you left click and right-click to specify left and right inventories for example).
As I see it, this new ability to mod in some of these very different ideas is the one positive thing to come out of all of this. But these very different ways of doing things really disrupt game play for everyone who just wants to come back to an “old friend” updated to be compatible with newer systems.
Let the proposed change stand on its merits, not whether or not it adheres to an 18-year old interface. The EE inventory screen is *not* the "classic" one.
[Feature Request] Add a 'Quick Fill' option to all inventory Bags & pouches.
http://redmine.beamdog.com/issues/22783
Forum post:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/52996/feature-request-add-a-quick-fill-option-to-all-inventory-bags-pouches
This is another feature request which I added aswell to do with the inventory.
[Feature Request] Add toggle Helmet/Headgear graphic option on the Inventory UI or Main menu.
http://redmine.beamdog.com/issues/22840
Description:
-Its only a visual change so wont change the game at all.
-As other has suggested and I agree with, adding a toggle button on the inventory screen or under customize so it can be changed on a per character bases would be the best change.
-Failing being able to do the above, a menu option to just flat turn it off for all would be nice.
There are many forum threads about this on your site, Eg:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/19231/adding-an-option-to-hide-helmets
So its definitely a popular feature
I'm not sure I understand how proposing new features that don't impact the current gameplay at all, and would be completely optional to use, would disrupt your gameplay.
They aren't taking away anything from your 'old friend' but rather teaching the friend something new - put it this way, just because your 'Old Friend' went back to school to learn Japanese doesn't mean you need to learn to speak Japanese to them from now on.
Here's what currently happens:
I am in the standard Inventory menu:
I pick up an item and the screen in the top-right quadrant updates to show the impact of equipping that item:
I agree that it is jarring. A large amount of space is used to show a small amount of additional information.
However, I think it is an important function. Most modern UIs have some kind of 'at a glance' view like this. It will especially help new players who aren't familiar with terms like THACO and AC as the colours are clear and obvious guidance - the forums here are filled with people asking questions to try to understand it all better (and RTFM doesn't always cut it as these days people don't spend ages reading manuals).
It also helps people on smaller screens who don't want to have read even smaller descriptions to read what an item does and understand the impact.
So here's a proposal:
- Power users and those very familiar with the game might not need the function so I think it should have a toggle in the settings menu. It should default to on as the assumption must be that on first install the user is a new user and it's power users that tend to customise the game more to their liking through the settings.
- The area should be smaller and contained so it's not so jarring.
- It should not wipe out / replace the 'current' situation.
- It should be in the same colour as the tooltip background (indicating that it is information) - except for the key red/green to show the impact of equipping.
That way the guidance is still given, it is toggle-able so people can turn it off if they don't like it or if they find it slows down the game, it directly helps new users, and it is consistent with modern UI concepts.
But @Mr2150 's suggestion of an entirely new screen with inventory management here, of course, offers a much bigger change.
But Cross-Inventory management is clearly a desired function - several posts here have mentioned it in one form or another.
I'm not saying my proposal is the right way to do it - that's what the discussion is all about - it's just that it's possible to provide enhanced functionality without forcing people to work in different ways.
One could make the same argument that Including THAC0, Weapon Damage, and the "stat breakdown boxes" on the inventory screen were also "huge departure[s] from any previous version of Baldur's Gate" when introduced with the EEs.
Let the proposed change stand on its merits, not whether or not it adheres to an 18-year old interface. The EE inventory screen is *not* the "classic" one.
Yes, such an argument could be made. There actually are people who were not entirely happy with some of the changes that were made. I wasn’t, but I never said anything about them before because, up to this point, at least the general feel and play of the game hadn’t been destroyed for me.
With the latest patches there were so many changes made that it no longer feels like a Baldur’s Gate game to me. Beyond that, parts of the UI, like the dialogue box and the artwork were changed to the point that I would find them frustrating and unappealing no matter what kind of game we were talking about.
That’s an interesting idea. I personally don't mind fiddling with inventory management so I probably wouldn't use it, but I have seen posts made by others who don’t like it. As long as the only change it makes in game play is to add an extra “quick fill” button to the options after you right click the bag, it wouldn't bother me and I can see how many others might really like it.
I also don’t use the option to turn off helmets from the tweak pack, but a toggle option for people who want to turn them off sounds like a great idea to me.
@Mr2150 I like your version of the inventory. It still makes the info clear.