NWN1 vs NWN2 UI interface
HunterRayder93
Member Posts: 266
It is clear that the user interface of NWN1 and NWN2 is completely different from each other.
It's useless to say it, but NWN2 has brought many changes to the user interface and you have controls that make it from the best and most convenient point of view ... action bars, icons etc ... I find it much better than NWN1 than for example in NWN icons and buff-malus were almost of the same color (purple, blue, green).
To make you understand better then I take the 2 pictures taken by NWN1 and NWN2:
_06.png)
It's useless to say it, but NWN2 has brought many changes to the user interface and you have controls that make it from the best and most convenient point of view ... action bars, icons etc ... I find it much better than NWN1 than for example in NWN icons and buff-malus were almost of the same color (purple, blue, green).
To make you understand better then I take the 2 pictures taken by NWN1 and NWN2:
NWN1
NWN2 (Modded)
NWN2 (Original)
NWN1 character creation
NWN2 character creation
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Comments
So if you don't like it - you can change it easily.
NWN1 is much better as you can easily see what you need to see, also the radial menu was superb compared to the RMB menu in NWN2.
and whjo needs more then 3 bars? (ctrl\shift)
The Radial Menu I would argue is very cumbersome once you reach a certain point of clutter. When you are digging 3 radials deep to find a random emote.. You need a new way of handling it.
Most NWN1 PW's have done just that, opting to use conversation trees to replace the radial, that and the UI is completely hard coded.
Which brings me back to the NWN2 alternative -
The best case scenario is a customizable UI. There is no reason it should be hard coded. I would guess you've never seen the custom UI's people have made for NWN2 based on your post.
My first bar on almost all characters fills up with Detect, 2 or 3 weapon/ shield choices, healing kits and potions, and maybe combat modes and an item or two ( like the OC recall stone). Then you add more potions and items with spell effects.
And on top of that spellcasters have their spells, special abilities (Summon Familiar, Turn Undead), and maybe some scrolls.
in NWN1 you don't really need that many spells and I used to play on RP servers mostly casters and still had plenty left over bar space for RP related stuff.
I don't know if you're familiar with EverQuest, but towards the end there my paladin had upwards of 180 buttons on his main screen. Yeah, UI real estate took up 75% of my screen and was terrible, but I would have hated life not having quick and easy access to so many. I wanted more there, too.
Reminds me my EVE Online pvp attempts where 80% of the screen is ui elements and tiny square in the middle was the actual ship flying in space.
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what I was fond of with the radial menu was that I didn't had to invest screen real estate for barrs I could do many things by rmb menu instead.
But that's just me. the NWN ui is in dire need of an upgrade I'm going to take some screenshots and post later today my suggestions.
You can't make everyone happy anyways.
Some UI Things I've made for NWN2
(All 100% Custom for Persistent Worlds)
Much nicer experience than "Dialogue" Trees.
<1> then you hit the arrow and <2> so unlimited bars...
I have a lot of things I prefer from NWN, like the radial menu, but there's things from NWN2 that are straight up good additions, like the fast-cast menu.
At a very base-level glance, it seems like they're similar in ways. However, play both 100+ hour RPGs and you'll see how laughably horrible NWN2's UI is compared to NWN's.
It doesn't matter... much... but with having to use these UI mechanics over 100+ hour games, it makes me want to break NWN2.
The EE could do with a UI redesign though. The transparent borderless windows look a bit plain and the equipment slots are not as logically arranged as they could be. There will be more space now too with higher resolutions.
Using two different fonts on the character record was weird as well. The UI is one aspect where nostalgia can move aside for an aesthetic improvement.
Every PW has their own custom theme of UI to match their setting. There's no reason why this isn't the best option.
We shouldn't be arguing for transparency settings / bigger buttons, but an open source UI that we can do whatever we want with. Let the community do that.
So don't be so quick to dismiss an extremely talented group of people, many of who are artists / designers / developers in their professional lives and are only limited by what the game lets them do.
If I have to choose where money goes, I want the engine to be opened up more every time.
But we shouldn't forget that most players, and any new players who will pick up the EE will see the base game without any mods. Players who never install any community created content could very well be the majority.
It was the same with the BG:EE.. Trent is very good at hunting down the talent and putting them to work in an official position. I guess I just care more about Beamdog doing what only Beamdog can do (Open up the engine) and I prefer the community taking up the slack, which is what they are good at.
I am all for having non-hardcoded UIs however, it would be nice having the stock NWN interface as we all know it well, but having the ability to tweak it.
(That said, there is an option in the menus that makes NWN2 camera work almost identical to World of Warcraft.. IMO it should of been turned on by default)
The only example of one being clearly ahead of the other is nwn2's quick spell menu or whatever it's called. Much simpler and quicker to use than the circular menu thing.