After careful consideration, @Dee’s four square representation of the EE editions is still the only one that I find appealing. It doesn’t need text added under the icons, it needs the tool tip that used to tell the player what it represented brought back. As it worked in ver. 1.3
I don’t see using one big box instead a good solution. A large box with one scroll bar makes the information not line up with the icons, as @Adul pointed out.
Well, I do think your solution is better then it flipping to a different screen. I don’t know, maybe if the portraits didn’t light up at the same time. Honestly it starts to feel like I’m inside of a Christmas tree. So many different lighting parts are very distracting and out of character for a Baldur’s Gate game.
Well, I do think your solution is better then it flipping to a different screen. I don’t know, maybe if the portraits didn’t light up at the same time. Honestly it starts to feel like I’m inside of a Christmas tree. So many different lighting parts are very distracting and out of character for a Baldur’s Gate game.
agree that the portrait highlights would be better as a toggleable (is that a thing?), option.
I personally don’t like the new font. I find the old one much easier to read. I suppose this is going to vary from person to person. The Letter icon that has always been used to replace the first letter in the first word in letters and item descriptions when you right click on them, has been taken out. Now these windows look like something that I would type on my computer, not something that belongs in a Baldur’s Gate game.
I've accepted it as an unfortunate victim of tablets/mobile with smaller screens needing scale-able fonts.Top: 1.3, Bottom 2.3:
It could at least be changed back to an "italic" font, and it already exists in game, used by the tooltips.
Actually, I’m not sure that the unfurling scroll is a bug. I remember it being talked about a lot before and I was going to look up those posts before I make a bug report.
So many things have been changed, sometimes it’s still hard to figure out what was just left out because it was considered not important enough to mess with, or was an improvement, or a bug, or whatever.
Also when I had asked Dee about it in the map UI section, he had said that he didn’t recall if the v2.0 tool tips unfurl.
I thought I remembered that the sound associated with the tool tip was also missing at first. So I wondered why they wouldn’t have fixed the unfurling scroll when they fixed the sound. I could be completely wrong. Anyway, I was going to look into that more before I placed a bug report.
I had also thought that it had already been reported as a bug before, but I didn’t find it on the current list.
Do you know for sure that the missing tool tips are there but just not showing?
If the change in font caused the loss of another part of the artwork, perhaps something could be added to the screen to soften it back up, make it feel more iconic again. All this, “oh well", there goes another piece” is frustrating.
If the change in font caused the loss of another part of the artwork, perhaps something could be added to the screen to soften it back up, make it feel more iconic again. All this, “oh well", there goes another piece” is frustrating.
I agree, missing features that make the UI look more plain should not be accepted as a loss, they should be brought back.
(I'm talking about the tooltip unfurling animations and the pen-work initials.)
@kjeron Do you know for sure that the missing tool tips are there but just not showing?
They are mapped to the locations of the comparison chart instead of the main Icons, so they are hidden and off-position. Maybe its intended, I can't be sure.
I don't think I'd want to revert 100 percent to the old way if only because I'm sure there are things that are helpful for people on their phones and such. And I admit I think the comparisons are useful at times. But it would be nice if a lot of the new changes were more optional for the people who can't stand them. That said, I did like Mr2150s mock ups.
Here's another mockup of a layout that I call Horizontal One Square:
It's similar to One Square, but with the stat icons arranged horizontally instead of vertically, and there's no APR stat icon as there's not enough room for it.
Hopefully this should address the issue with the stat icons not lining up with the stat breakdowns in One Square.
If text labels are needed for the stat icons (even though they seem pretty self-explanatory to me), there's enough free space above the icons to add them.
Nice mock up. I don’t see room for text, but that could also be solved by bringing back the hover-over scroll, as in ver.1.3
I brought the "Abdel" and "Fighter" text boxes over to the middle, originally they were on the left, just above the equipment panel. I also extended the black area that these text boxes occupy to the right. These changes can be reversed, and then there's more free space above the icons, like so:
(Although I prefer my previous layout to this one.)
@Adul, I prefer the previous one too and now I'm really liking the 'big box' layout! Attacks/round could easily be added to the list without having its own icon.
@Adul I prefer the first one you shared as well. Have you tried using those icons vertically? Or do you just not like that kind of look at all?
Well, I thought the problem with vertical icons (e.g. One Square) was that the icons don't line up with the breakdown headings corresponding to their stats. But otherwise I prefer the vertical layout of One Square.
@Danathion Do you think your suggestions would work if only 4 icons were used, large ones like @Adul is showing?
My suggestion is more to do away with a separate screen for item comparisons, so it would work however many icons there are. I extended the box vertically so that it's inline with the box on the left and to allow an icon for attacks per round as @Dee suggested in his 'one box' layout. I increased the size of the icons by 15%, which was as large as I could go without decreasing the width of the scroll box. Sacrificing width on the scroll box would allow for even bigger icons, but the more I look at @Adul's mock-up of 'big box', the more I like it.
@Adul I prefer the first one you shared as well. Have you tried using those icons vertically? Or do you just not like that kind of look at all?
Well, I thought the problem with vertical icons (e.g. One Square) was that the icons don't line up with the breakdown headings corresponding to their stats. But otherwise I prefer the vertical layout of One Square.
These one square, four square names get confusing. I just went back to check what was what again. One square has 5 icons and they don’t line up.
Four Square, is 4 evenly spaced boxes and 4 icons right beside them, so the icons line up with the boxes of text. It is on page 4, not quite half way down the page.
What I was asking you is if you would be interested in something like Four Square, using your larger icons, but leaving off the text for the icons, maybe having a hover-over for them if needed.
Edit: It’s basically how it is in game now, but get rid of the jumping screens, and don’t add text to the icons, but bring back the hover-over scroll instead.
@Ravenslight I'm OK with Four Square, but I think the four separate text boxes can get a bit complicated, especially if they're overflowing with text. The reason I prefer One Square is that it simplifies the breakdown display and uses only one text box while retaining the same amount of information.
Here's another mockup, this layout is almost identical with One Square, except the whole stat structure has been lowered, and the APR icon is omitted. For comparison, I'll post my previous layout below it.
Lower One Square:
Horizontal One Square:
Edit: Looking at them side-by-side, I think I prefer Horizontal One Square.
@Mr2150 suggested that the text box in Horizontal One Square can be lowered a little bit or made one line shorter to allow text labels to be added. I think that's a good solution, but I still prefer no text labels. I think tooltips should be sufficient.
If the layout for 4 Square isn’t used, then the areas for their corresponding informational text no longer line up straight across. I would personally find this less useful. I’m more likely to have to sort through the list to try and find the information.
If your One Square layout were used, I don’t think it matters that the icons stay vertical, the text won’t be lining up with them anyway. Visually, with that layout, I would prefer your first screen of Horizontal One Square.
So this is basically Four Square, smashed together with Big Box. I call it One Square.
What it does is group the stats on the left side of the box like in Four Square, but with an added box for Attacks Per Round. Then the big text box is one big scrolling container, grouped by headings. Each heading can be collapsed or expanded as needed, and you can click on a stat to collapse everything but that stat's information.
Assuming Item Comparison is an option you can turn on from the gameplay settings, that's all you need to know. If you turn on Item Comparison, though, it works a little differently: the text box then quickly itemizes the stats that change, like so:
Agree @Adul. Horizontal Square all the way! It's like taking One Square and smashing it together with Big Box! Item comparison as @Dee described would be fine for me.
So far I think I'm throwing my vote behind horizontal one square as well (with the preference for tool top labels rather than set ones and the item comparison as an option because I actually do use that).
Otherwise my vote would be four square with better sized text/icons if people don't want big changes.
1. @Adul, please excuse my hack job of one of your pictures. But I wanted to attempt something quick.
2. What does everyone think of something like this:
When one, is selecting items from their inventory, their eyes are looking at the bottom of the screen. When an item is selected, it will highlight the outline of the image in green or red to illustrate that the item is better or worse than one already equipped.
These outlines would be toggable (via the red buttons underneath). Click once to disable, click again to enable, (and here is something to throw out there) click a third time to light up the inventory instead. Want to know, what weapon does more damage than the one already equipped? Double click (or click and hold or whatever) the button below the icon you want to improve, and anything that will improve it will turn green in the inventory (with the best one being bright green or whatever). One button to tell you what items are better than what you are currently using with one quick light up.
I moved the message screen to the top right where the icons use to be. There is empty space above that with another toggle button. This one is for other characters. press that button, and your party's portraits (tiny version) will be ghosted there. Choose an item from your inventory and they become clear if it is better than what they are currently using and disappear completely if they can not use the item.
There is also one more toggle button that will cover the wall of text if that information is not desired.
1. It might be too big a departure from the classic BG inventory for it to retain the same feel. 2. I'd rather keep the stat icons and the breakdowns together. 3. I wouldn't want to have all those toggle buttons in the inventory, most of that stuff should be fine in the options. 4. If you turn features off, parts of the UI should not turn into blank spaces.
My favourite is the Horizontal One Square from @Adul - it addresses the problems with the existing screen (with respect to fontsize, icons, textbox location) and @Adul has carefully crafted good icons that represent what the content is.
The only issue would be the spikey dog collar which shows the need for labels for mobile/tablet users as they won't have access to mouseover. That could be accomplished by labelling underneath the icons (and losing one line from the big text box).
Well done @Adul on finding icons that 'fit' the stats within, look good, and represent what they should.
I’d personally be fine with going back to the 1.3 inventory. ... The layout in ver. 1.3 is a good one. Why is it being changed? ... What about all the people who just want to go back to something that feels like the 1.3ver. that they liked?
I respect your view, @Ravenslight , but I think that constant "bring the old UI back" appeals are the thing that constrains this thread. It has been stated that the 1.3 ver will not come back "as is", but the current UI can and will be changed to better reflect the BG feel (you can switch to the 1.3 ver on Steam, but of course it won't let you play SoD). This subforum is exactly for this purpose - so that people could emphasize which elements of the UI they would like to be changed and maybe offer a solution. And, actually, there are solutions being discussed in this thread.
The only issue would be the spikey dog collar which shows the need for labels for mobile/tablet users as they won't have access to mouseover.
Yeah, that one's not the best, I should have used @AstroBryGuy 's many-pointed star icon from this mockup, I think it represents the concept of weapon damage better:
Comments
I don’t see using one big box instead a good solution. A large box with one scroll bar makes the information not line up with the icons, as @Adul pointed out.
All the extra text in the EE screens just mucks things up and leads to endless discussions about the size/aesthetics of everything else.
Well, I do think your solution is better then it flipping to a different screen. I don’t know, maybe if the portraits didn’t light up at the same time. Honestly it starts to feel like I’m inside of a Christmas tree. So many different lighting parts are very distracting and out of character for a Baldur’s Gate game.
This topic gets chaotic too fast. @Dee could please you summarize what was being agreed on? We're starting to getting nowhere here.
It could at least be changed back to an "italic" font, and it already exists in game, used by the tooltips.
Actually, I’m not sure that the unfurling scroll is a bug. I remember it being talked about a lot before and I was going to look up those posts before I make a bug report.
So many things have been changed, sometimes it’s still hard to figure out what was just left out because it was considered not important enough to mess with, or was an improvement, or a bug, or whatever.
Also when I had asked Dee about it in the map UI section, he had said that he didn’t recall if the v2.0 tool tips unfurl.
I thought I remembered that the sound associated with the tool tip was also missing at first. So I wondered why they wouldn’t have fixed the unfurling scroll when they fixed the sound. I could be completely wrong. Anyway, I was going to look into that more before I placed a bug report.
I had also thought that it had already been reported as a bug before, but I didn’t find it on the current list.
Do you know for sure that the missing tool tips are there but just not showing?
If the change in font caused the loss of another part of the artwork, perhaps something could be added to the screen to soften it back up, make it feel more iconic again. All this, “oh well", there goes another piece” is frustrating.
(I'm talking about the tooltip unfurling animations and the pen-work initials.)
It's similar to One Square, but with the stat icons arranged horizontally instead of vertically, and there's no APR stat icon as there's not enough room for it.
Hopefully this should address the issue with the stat icons not lining up with the stat breakdowns in One Square.
If text labels are needed for the stat icons (even though they seem pretty self-explanatory to me), there's enough free space above the icons to add them.
For me, I would still miss the ability to just look right of the icon for more information.
Either way, I don’t think the text is needed with a hover-over scroll for the icons.
I tidied up my earlier suggestion:
(Although I prefer my previous layout to this one.)
It looks really great!
I prefer the first one you shared as well. Have you tried using those icons vertically? Or do you just not like that kind of look at all?
@Danathion
Do you think your suggestions would work if only 4 icons were used, large ones like @Adul is showing?
Do you think your suggestions would work if only 4 icons were used, large ones like @Adul is showing?
My suggestion is more to do away with a separate screen for item comparisons, so it would work however many icons there are. I extended the box vertically so that it's inline with the box on the left and to allow an icon for attacks per round as @Dee suggested in his 'one box' layout. I increased the size of the icons by 15%, which was as large as I could go without decreasing the width of the scroll box. Sacrificing width on the scroll box would allow for even bigger icons, but the more I look at @Adul's mock-up of 'big box', the more I like it.
These one square, four square names get confusing.
Four Square, is 4 evenly spaced boxes and 4 icons right beside them, so the icons line up with the boxes of text. It is on page 4, not quite half way down the page.
What I was asking you is if you would be interested in something like Four Square, using your larger icons, but leaving off the text for the icons, maybe having a hover-over for them if needed.
Edit: It’s basically how it is in game now, but get rid of the jumping screens, and don’t add text to the icons, but bring back the hover-over scroll instead.
Here's another mockup, this layout is almost identical with One Square, except the whole stat structure has been lowered, and the APR icon is omitted. For comparison, I'll post my previous layout below it.
Lower One Square:
Horizontal One Square:
Edit: Looking at them side-by-side, I think I prefer Horizontal One Square.
@Mr2150 suggested that the text box in Horizontal One Square can be lowered a little bit or made one line shorter to allow text labels to be added. I think that's a good solution, but I still prefer no text labels. I think tooltips should be sufficient.
If your One Square layout were used, I don’t think it matters that the icons stay vertical, the text won’t be lining up with them anyway. Visually, with that layout, I would prefer your first screen of Horizontal One Square.
Otherwise my vote would be four square with better sized text/icons if people don't want big changes.
2. What does everyone think of something like this:
When one, is selecting items from their inventory, their eyes are looking at the bottom of the screen. When an item is selected, it will highlight the outline of the image in green or red to illustrate that the item is better or worse than one already equipped.
These outlines would be toggable (via the red buttons underneath). Click once to disable, click again to enable, (and here is something to throw out there) click a third time to light up the inventory instead. Want to know, what weapon does more damage than the one already equipped? Double click (or click and hold or whatever) the button below the icon you want to improve, and anything that will improve it will turn green in the inventory (with the best one being bright green or whatever). One button to tell you what items are better than what you are currently using with one quick light up.
I moved the message screen to the top right where the icons use to be. There is empty space above that with another toggle button. This one is for other characters. press that button, and your party's portraits (tiny version) will be ghosted there. Choose an item from your inventory and they become clear if it is better than what they are currently using and disappear completely if they can not use the item.
There is also one more toggle button that will cover the wall of text if that information is not desired.
1. It might be too big a departure from the classic BG inventory for it to retain the same feel.
2. I'd rather keep the stat icons and the breakdowns together.
3. I wouldn't want to have all those toggle buttons in the inventory, most of that stuff should be fine in the options.
4. If you turn features off, parts of the UI should not turn into blank spaces.
The only issue would be the spikey dog collar which shows the need for labels for mobile/tablet users as they won't have access to mouseover. That could be accomplished by labelling underneath the icons (and losing one line from the big text box).
Well done @Adul on finding icons that 'fit' the stats within, look good, and represent what they should.
As for "getting nowhere", I don't agree - this post by @Adul is some kind of an output after last 3 pages.
One thing, though, indeed brings some chaos here. I respect your view, @Ravenslight , but I think that constant "bring the old UI back" appeals are the thing that constrains this thread. It has been stated that the 1.3 ver will not come back "as is", but the current UI can and will be changed to better reflect the BG feel (you can switch to the 1.3 ver on Steam, but of course it won't let you play SoD). This subforum is exactly for this purpose - so that people could emphasize which elements of the UI they would like to be changed and maybe offer a solution. And, actually, there are solutions being discussed in this thread.