UI Suggestion

[CrankMann]

As a hardened Eve Online Player I cannot stress enough how useful the system name and other key info, as found in the Top right of the MAIN UI in Eve, was to keeping one located and dialed into the complexity that is these huge game universes.

I actually found myself naturally looking up and to the right in XTC as I flew around exploring and using the systems, and was shocked that this critical info was buried in yet another menu. One learns the names and spacial layout of systems to each other, by seeing them constantly. The game can be turned into work, by having to dig for a system name, that one is located in.

I've preordered this game and look forward to many hours of fun.

I cannot express how important and useful, an EVE style system info box is to gameplay....

Thank you for all your hard work on these games.

[Tenlar Scarflame]

Definitely agree that basic situational info like your current system/cluster/sector should be presented right up front.

It would make a lot of sense for it to be in the info panel in the lower-right of the cockpit display - maybe it would only be presented while no targets are selected so it doesn't crowd out targeting info. ^^

[radcapricorn]

I actually found myself naturally looking up and to the right in XTC as I flew around exploring and using the systems, and was shocked that this critical info was buried in yet another menu. One learns the names and spacial layout of systems to each other, by seeing them constantly. The game can be turned into work, by having to dig for a system name, that one is located in.

X3 is not EVE. You:
- get told where you are when you arrive
- can see the name of the system and it's owner in the sector map
- get centered on your location in the universe map

The information is not "buried" anywhere, it's literally one key away at all times.

That UI was conceived and utilized well before there was an EVE, and was, and still is, quite sufficient for a single-player game. So I'm not sure what is there to get "shocked" about. Not to mention that if you actually play the game instead of getting "shocked" how it's not EVE at every turn, you learn various regions rather quickly, since the world is flat and somewhat organized.

I cannot express how important and useful, an EVE style system info box is to gameplay....

To you, perhaps. Then again, some people play WoW with 90% of the screen riddled with menus and icons, and only very small portion actually showing the game world. Some people preferred, for some bizarre reason, to see the amount of money in their wallet in Rebirth at all times, to which end someone made a mod that put an ugly and out-of-place text box on the screen. Does that make those things important and useful? To someone, sure. But to some other someone, they're useless clutter.

What, exactly, do you expect to happen when making such a "suggestion" a month before release? For the devs to rework all the cockpits so that that very crucial bit of information organically fits in the UI?

[radcapricorn]

It would make a lot of sense for it to be in the info panel in the lower-right of the cockpit display - maybe it would only be presented while no targets are selected so it doesn't crowd out targeting info. ^^

Last time Egosoft tried to compress information into a single display, we got a pretty useless monitor that hardly ever was showing what you needed. Just saying.

[jamesdehunter]

With the new HUD panels shown in the more recent videos I think that this would be a good idea, perhaps in the future if such a thing isn't in the works already.

The OP makes a great point about how that constant little reminder of where you were in association to where you are helps us learn our way around subconsciously.

[Len5]

It basically comes down to showing not too much and not too little information.
A screen littered with info is annoying, but having to dig deep into a menu to find something is also annoying.
Personally I like more info to pop up when hovering the mouse cursor over something in the menu or map.

[CrankMann]

How about a toggle to select a Upper right hand terse UI info box, such that if you find it useful see and know the current system, and say your current Money, and locally own ships, to quickly select and right menu orders for or teleport into.... (you get the idea)

Thus one could just toggle on and use it's utility, then.....

or not.... and go hardcore X and hunt menus....

[fcth]

Personally I like more info to pop up when hovering the mouse cursor over something in the menu or map.

Of course hovering will work very poorly if playing with a flightstick or controller. I'm pretty curious as to how the UI will work out for different inputs. The mouse-driven map and right-click context action menus seem unlikely to to work well for non-mouse devices, but Egosoft has said they are looking for much better stick support in X4 vs. what they had with Rebirth, so we'll see. With enough hotkey support, things might be usable, but I've got a feeling that I'll have a mouse hanging out next to my joystick (I understand that plenty of people are quite happy playing with a mouse, but frankly the only mouse driven space sim interface that's ever felt right to me was Freelancer's, so I suspect even with some control juggling I'll be happier with a stick in X4).

[BigBANGtheory]

I can imagine there will be a fair few UI requests and tweaks coming in...

To be honest the best way to handle that will be a concise list with reasons and justification so the devs can consider them a single pass or modders can see a solution.

Personally (at this stage) the main thing that stuck out for me for improvement was how the cockpit radar wasn't well integrated into the HUD, it looked like you were seeing it through a box. The rest I liked what I saw... maybe some concerns over transparency with the background but we'll have to see.

[Vandragorax]

I can understand such a ui element in EVE because it's so big you could never remember all the sectors, plus most of them looked the same so it was hard to tell where you were by looking around you.

In X games I've always been able to learn most of the sectors by look. They have unique backgrounds and station layouts etc. And pressing one button to see the sector map is very easy.

I think this is a bit of a pet peeve of yours but really a bit of a non-issue. Feel free to make a ui mod though which covers your needs when x4 is out

[Tenlar Scarflame]

Personally I like more info to pop up when hovering the mouse cursor over something in the menu or map.

Of course hovering will work very poorly if playing with a flightstick or controller. I'm pretty curious as to how the UI will work out for different inputs. The mouse-driven map and right-click context action menus seem unlikely to to work well for non-mouse devices, but Egosoft has said they are looking for much better stick support in X4 vs. what they had with Rebirth, so we'll see. With enough hotkey support, things might be usable, but I've got a feeling that I'll have a mouse hanging out next to my joystick (I understand that plenty of people are quite happy playing with a mouse, but frankly the only mouse driven space sim interface that's ever felt right to me was Freelancer's, so I suspect even with some control juggling I'll be happier with a stick in X4).

Personally that's what I usually have set up - joysticks for flight-related stuff, and a mouse (trackball actually) for anything non-flight-related.

I'm hoping in this case that X4 takes some notes from Elite Dangerous - in which the mouse is not commonly used during flight unless you're using it FOR flight, but in any other situation (like the map, or commodity market, etc) is used to its fullest capabilities. Targeting stuff using the mouse in X3 was honestly kind of obnoxious - if I was already mouse flying, I'd have to *stop using the mouse to fly* for a hot second so I could use the mouse to do something else, and if I was using a joystick, I'd have to *let go of the stick DURING FLIGHT* so I could use the mouse... not ideal.

[brevi]

It would make a lot of sense for it to be in the info panel in the lower-right of the cockpit display - maybe it would only be presented while no targets are selected so it doesn't crowd out targeting info. ^^

Last time Egosoft tried to compress information into a single display, we got a pretty useless monitor that hardly ever was showing what you needed. Just saying.

This! So much this... it drives me crazy

[Len5]

Personally that's what I usually have set up - joysticks for flight-related stuff, and a mouse (trackball actually) for anything non-flight-related.

That's the most sensible way to do it if you choose to use a joystick or HOTAS. The X games are much more than just space flight sims.
With a flight sim it's logical to have the UI design focussed on the use of joysticks and such.
Not using a mouse and K/B in the map and menus of an X game is like controlling the GPS system in your car with the steering wheel, shifter and pedals.