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User Interface Sucks :\

cantripscantrips Member Posts: 12
in Archive (General Discussion)
The reason I bought this game is I thought it would have better graphics and UI than the original. Turns out I was wrong on both counts :\

Anyway, the following UI is really bugging me. I'm using a Windows PC.

1. Unable to back out of menus or conversations with ESC - forced to click the button every time
2. 'Options' menu should pop up when you hit ESC

I'll add to this list in a minute, friends just showed up at the door. Everyone else please feel free to add to the list in the meantime :)

Comments

  • KirkorKirkor Member Posts: 700
    You can end concersations by hitting enter (if the "end concersation" option is available).
  • thedemoninsidethedemoninside Member Posts: 188
    Little details like this make all the difference, and it is sad that they didn't take the opportunity to do these types of things. It's like coming to work at a restaurant wearing the bare minimum pieces of flair, when they could have shown extra effort by wearing more than 30.

    Other things would be much better mouse scroll functionality thats missing in some cases, as well as moving the camera by holding the middle mouse button(instead of edge scrolling or arrow keys)

    I just want them to enhance the damn thing, not just make it work(barely for some people)
  • cantripscantrips Member Posts: 12
    Thanks for the comments - didn't know about 'enter', I will try that out. Mouse scrolling is a good one.

    3. Mouse scrolling only works in some windows
    4. UI buttons around the edge of the screen are ugly, take too much screen space, and are hard to know what they do
    5. No keyboard shortcut for save / load (that I'm aware of)
    6. The game screen can't be minimized with alt-tab...very annoying
    7. Need a keyboard shortcut to increase / decrease game speed (spend 90% of my time walking, which is pretty boring...)

    More to come...
  • MedullaOblongataMedullaOblongata Member Posts: 434
    1. "Enter" ends dialogue, and "Esc" should let you back out of all non-dialogue menus. If Escape doesn't work, then it's bugged.
    2. "O" brings you to the option screen.
    3. Which windows?
    4. If you hover your cursor over the buttons, a tooltip will appear with said button's description and sometimes hotkey. The UI is also easily manipulated; "Y" lets you hide the left interface, "U" lets you hide the right interface, "H" lets you hide the entire interface. Directly against the right side of the black dialogue box should be one (or two) gold buttons that allow you to change the size of the bottom UI, either by expanding or contracting.
    5. Quick-save is "Q" and Quick-load is "L".
    6. Alt-tab works fine for me... it may be a glitch.
    7. Running wasn't an option in the original either, without mods... but I do feel a run option should be implemented.
  • AlkaluropsAlkalurops Member Posts: 269
    edited December 2012
    1. ESC works for me on most menus. I've experienced 1 glitch though, and have reported it.
    2. Well, maybe, maybe not. I think right now ESC cancels your selected NPC's current action, which also makes sense.
    3. Definitely a valid critique, and this "bug" (or simply forgotten feature) has also been reported, so I'm sure they'll fix it.
    4. I don't really agree. This adds to the "oldschool" feeling in my opinion, and it's not that bad. You can also hover over the buttons to see a tooltip. Oh, and you have to keep in mind this will eventually run on touchscreen tablets.
    5. Q for quicksave, L for quickload. You could have found out simply by looking at the gameplay options.
    6. Alt-tab works fine for me, but I've seen a bugreport for this already, so I'm sure it'll get fixed soon enough.
  • MedullaOblongataMedullaOblongata Member Posts: 434
    I found the keybindings by going to Options > Gameplay > Assign Keys. In several sections, you can manipulate your keybindings and learn what they are.

    I didn't find this out until yesterday, because I derped and missed it while fooling with the Gameplay options. I learned this all by experimental button-mashing :P
  • awin123awin123 Member Posts: 55
    My biggest issues with the UI are:

    Numpad Enter key doesn't work when trying to move dialog along
    Arrow keys only scroll in one direction at a time
  • LuciusDeiLuciusDei Member Posts: 31
    One tweak I would like is pressing the same key again to close the window, i.e. press 'M' to open the map, then press 'M' again to close it.
  • OurQuestIsVainOurQuestIsVain Member Posts: 201
    I noticed pressing the enter button on the num pad doesn't continue or end dialogue like it did in vanilla bg. I'm thinking they were really focused on the touch screen interface for tablets beings what there is a quick save button on the gui now after all. It isn't enough to make me rage but it is just one of those little things I've noticed. I've also mentioned on other threads that on the map screen the game crashes when you try to make or edit custom map points and the journal doesn't scroll properly.

    That being said, I do love this game and the improvements that have been made to it by beamdog. I didn't expect it to come out of the gate being perfect. The great thing about this game is sooo many people love it and this company so far has shown that they will listen to the community. I just look at this stage in the game as an open beta. I look forward to when these bugs get ironed out and new dlc starts coming.
  • MedullaOblongataMedullaOblongata Member Posts: 434
    I actually haven't used the numpad at all.. try the other Enter?
  • BytebrainBytebrain Member Posts: 602
    OurQuestIsVain said:

    I noticed pressing the enter button on the num pad doesn't continue or end dialogue like it did in vanilla bg. I'm thinking they were really focused on the touch screen interface for tablets beings what there is a quick save button on the gui now after all. It isn't enough to make me rage but it is just one of those little things I've noticed. I've also mentioned on other threads that on the map screen the game crashes when you try to make or edit custom map points and the journal doesn't scroll properly.

    That being said, I do love this game and the improvements that have been made to it by beamdog. I didn't expect it to come out of the gate being perfect. The great thing about this game is sooo many people love it and this company so far has shown that they will listen to the community. I just look at this stage in the game as an open beta. I look forward to when these bugs get ironed out and new dlc starts coming.

    The crashing while making notes on the map have been fixed in the hot fix we got this morning.
  • joshykinsjoshykins Member Posts: 95
    edited December 2012
    Bytebrain said:

    OurQuestIsVain said:

    I noticed pressing the enter button on the num pad doesn't continue or end dialogue like it did in vanilla bg. I'm thinking they were really focused on the touch screen interface for tablets beings what there is a quick save button on the gui now after all. It isn't enough to make me rage but it is just one of those little things I've noticed. I've also mentioned on other threads that on the map screen the game crashes when you try to make or edit custom map points and the journal doesn't scroll properly.

    That being said, I do love this game and the improvements that have been made to it by beamdog. I didn't expect it to come out of the gate being perfect. The great thing about this game is sooo many people love it and this company so far has shown that they will listen to the community. I just look at this stage in the game as an open beta. I look forward to when these bugs get ironed out and new dlc starts coming.

    The crashing while making notes on the map have been fixed in the hot fix we got this morning.




    Good news! I'll have to try it out when I'm off work in a few hours.
  • cantripscantrips Member Posts: 12
    Thanks for the feedback so far :) Good to know about Q and L, and I've hidden the left side menu so that takes care of a couple issues.

    Just 1 more that was bugging me today.

    8. Tooltips - what's with the huge delay? I can't tell what items are, when they're on the ground. I missed picking up some dude's sword (quest item) because it looked like a normal short sword. It's also annoying to have to right click on people to know if they are commoners, guards, etc. so I know not to bother talking to them.
  • maplejarmaplejar Member Posts: 23
    LuciusDei said:

    One tweak I would like is pressing the same key again to close the window, i.e. press 'M' to open the map, then press 'M' again to close it.

    I *very much* agree to this suggestion. Please implement this.

  • MedullaOblongataMedullaOblongata Member Posts: 434
    cantrips said:

    Thanks for the feedback so far :) Good to know about Q and L, and I've hidden the left side menu so that takes care of a couple issues.

    Just 1 more that was bugging me today.

    8. Tooltips - what's with the huge delay? I can't tell what items are, when they're on the ground. I missed picking up some dude's sword (quest item) because it looked like a normal short sword. It's also annoying to have to right click on people to know if they are commoners, guards, etc. so I know not to bother talking to them.

    You can adjust the delay in Options > Gameplay, and I think under Assign Keys.
  • SiddhamSiddham Member Posts: 31
    @cantrips re tooltips. in this case you are complaining about something that can be changed in the gameplay options. not a genuine complaint.
  • kazrobkazrob Member Posts: 18
    It is a geniune complaint about the tooltips. At least while I'm playing with the tooltip set to the absolute minimum in the settings it still takes a measurable amount of time after you hover over something for the tooltip to pop up. Not only that it varies for no reason that I can determine.
  • LuciusDeiLuciusDei Member Posts: 31
    edited December 2012
    kazrob said:

    It is a geniune complaint about the tooltips. At least while I'm playing with the tooltip set to the absolute minimum in the settings it still takes a measurable amount of time after you hover over something for the tooltip to pop up. Not only that it varies for no reason that I can determine.

    As a quick fix for now, if you hold down tab whilst hovering over something it pops the tooltip up for you straight away.
  • DaelricDaelric Member Posts: 266
    I agree wit the title of this thread. I expected a much improved and 'eye friendly' UI... All the way from the gameplay UI to the inventory screen, it just looks so dated and low res, that's my biggest disappointment in this game. You'd think the UIs would have been right at the top of the list to overhaul??????
  • BytebrainBytebrain Member Posts: 602
    edited December 2012
    @KryptBeowulf
    Hmm, I feel completely the opposite.

    I think they did a great job with it. They could maybe streamline a few functions and give us more options for customization, but for me, it's a huge upgrade over the old.

    Another thing is that a whole host of the complaints of things supposedly missing, was in fact there if you just take the time and look for them, maybe even look up the interface in the manual BEFORE creating a thread with such a condemning title...
    In fact, I feel it's warranted that the OP changed the title to something else, like for instance:
    "I'm new to this game and need a few pointers on the interface",
    or something to that effect, and the same result would have been achieved, and the OP wouldnt have sounded aggressive even before the first post.
  • DaelricDaelric Member Posts: 266
    Bytebrain said:

    @KryptBeowulf
    Hmm, I feel completely the opposite.
    I think they did a great job with it.

    ...but they didn't do anything to it...

  • thedemoninsidethedemoninside Member Posts: 188
    edited December 2012
    Bytebrain said:

    @KryptBeowulf
    Hmm, I feel completely the opposite.
    I think they did a great job with it.

    I think they did OK, but the word enhanced to me means "Above and Beyond". What they put in looks like the bare minimum. I imagine they must have had some difficulties actually modernizing it.

    It is functional, but there isn't much exciting about it.

    Back in the day I created "Emerikol's UI" for Dark Age of Camelot. The game was released a few years after BG I believe, and I had a good bit of freedom in creating a UI that was very functional and unobtrusive. I wish I could do the same for this game.
  • MedullaOblongataMedullaOblongata Member Posts: 434
    Nothing is stopping you from making a mod for it :P
  • thedemoninsidethedemoninside Member Posts: 188
    Unlike the tools available for DAoC, i wouldn't know where to begin.
  • BytebrainBytebrain Member Posts: 602
    The Devs have said in advance that they didn't want to make too many changes in the game, it had to be recognizable Baldur's Gate. Also, although some feel too little changes have been introduced to the general interface, one could easily fear that many more would be angry with too many..

    It's a balancing act to enhance a revered game like this.
  • thedemoninsidethedemoninside Member Posts: 188
    The option is already available to play the game with very few changes, on gog.com. It wouldn't make much sense to me for them to hold back on the enhancements to preserve anything that isn't already available elsewhere. They missed a big opportunity not going balls deep with UI improvements.

    I just want the tools and knowledge to modify it. I heard alot of that its still hard coded though.
  • BytebrainBytebrain Member Posts: 602
    thedemoninside said:

    The option is already available to play the game with very few changes, on gog.com. It wouldn't make much sense to me for them to hold back on the enhancements to preserve anything that isn't already available elsewhere. They missed a big opportunity not going balls deep with UI improvements.

    I just want the tools and knowledge to modify it. I heard alot of that its still hard coded though.

    Yes, you may feel that way, but a lot of other people would likely be outraged if they went "balls deep" with the interface.

    If you go very far and deep in interface changes in a game like this, there's a huge risk that you'll go too far, and alienate your audience.
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