Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta Beta UI Wishlist (Menus, Controls, Etc.)

There's one thing I'd love. I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I always look for the possibility to remove the whole HUD for the purpose of taking screenshots.

I already love the graphics of this game and I hope there will be a way to capture it without the map/roster/skillbar.

I'll just piggyback on to this thread and ask again for some improvement in the ability to see conversation dialogues in co-op mode. So much of this game is invested in the conversations. It should not be a struggle to try and catch what is going on with the floating text and then all of a sudden be faced with a pop-up box asking me to react to a conversation I couldn't follow. While there have been nice improvements since the alpha, co-op is still not quite there yet with the conversations.

Please do something like putting the dialogue of your co-op partner into the conversation history text, or giving us the option to follow along with the full conversation interface popped up with the options greyed out. Something, anything beyond the floating text. Pretty please.

UI Improvement for opend chests, crates and barrels:
A sign with the container name on the top and a possibility to rename that container ([RENAME] button?) would be nice.

Just adding something Hassat Hunter mentioned in an unrelated thread: each NPC's Identify/Repair ability levels should be displayed in the NPC's trading menu.

Two more things I've seen/mentioned myself elsewhere on the forums:

--A more convenient option to end an NPC dialogue at any time - e.g. by hitting "ESC" to exit the dialogue screen, and/or moving the "end dialogue" speech option to the top or side of the list from its current position way at the bottom. The only potential problem I see with this are situations where dialogue "can't" be skipped for quest reasons, though maybe the "end dialogue" option could simply be disabled in those (relatively rare) situations.

--The option to zoom the camera out farther. This may be related to a common camera glitch I've noticed in areas with large differences in height, where the camera will suddenly zoom out very far, and then either zoom back in automatically after moving the party to another location, and/or zoom in somewhat but appear "fuzzy" if the player tries to zoom back in manually. Anyway, I'd really like the higher zoom level as a regular feature, though it might not be intended by Larian for balance reasons, so I might be in the minority here.

+1 To zooming out a bit further. The game visual and art design is gorgeous and it should be allowed to see more of it at a glance.

Besides, it would have uses as general navigational help.

No need to make the zoom allowance too distant, of course. I would leave it to the team to figure out how much is best or judge what other features this may impact. (i expect very little)
Enemies and architectural or environmental features are hidden by the fog of war anyway, and enemies do become invisible when camera is moved away so i dont see how that would be a problem.

+2 to the camera.

And I think the best solution the 'goodbye' I've heard was having it standard as 0. Escape would be annoying if you just want the options but don't want the convo to end, and 1 it the standard for next... and you might just end the dialogue expecting the next branch of conversation.

That would work but it would look quite ... inelegantly.
People are generally simply not used to having the "ill take my leave" or "goodbye" option as first, however you number it.
It would look weird.

So, thats why i suggested separating it to the side of the dialogue options. Maybe as a button you click - that makes your character "say" that dialogue line.
Its... more efficient and elegant.
More then enough space in that window.

Although any solution that avoids scrolling thousands of times to get it - in the course of the whole game, is better then current setup.


- edit -

havent seen this thread before, otherwise i would have written my suggestions here. Guess i could copy--paste some from my thread to make it all easier to follow. And write the future ones here.

FYI, 0 is the very last number
(Just check your keyboard)

yeah, yeah - ok.

I would still prefer something i can click with my mouse, since thats how i play the game mostly. Avoiding using keys if not absolutely necessary. Its just easier, especially in the dark.

if it was zero then i would have to take my eyes off the game every bloody time to correctly hit the zero key on the keyboard.

(though i wouldnt have anything against it being also tied to 0 for those who want it)
Just sayiinnn...

I don't really have an issue with the mouse (or ending dialogues in general). But if there's a key needed, the best bet would the be the very last of the keyboard, and simply giving what would now sometimes be 7 or 2 or 4 all that number (0).
Personally I find it very unneeded, but apparently people want it, and I think that's a better resolution than escape or an entirely different buttom than the 1-0 keys.

I agree with that.

But it would be more user friendly to have it as a separate "button" or sentence, positioned on the left side of usual dialogue sentences - so it is easily and quickly reachable with a click of a mouse.

So basically - both.

I just finished a playthrough with the latest update (version 1.1.30), and am impressed with everything that’s been fixed/added. I was really happy to see many fixes that I and others have requested here and elsewhere on the forums, some of which weren’t even listed in the complete change log (recipes learned from books are now tracked in the journal, the trade window now allows switching between players, NPCs (except the quartermaster?) now repair/identify items in their inventory, NPCs can now repair equipped items (via the "Equipped" trading inventory tab), unnecessary companion talents are now hidden, weapon tooltips now note "one-handed" or "two-handed", windows now "remember" their on-screen locations, "journal"/"map" keyboard shortcuts now act as proper open-close toggles, the order of scrolling through inventory/skill windows now follows the currently selected player portrait order, switching to a new player no longer interrupts the started action of the original player, left-clicking an unreachable location no longer recenters the camera on the player, the mouse pointer now "cuts through" walls/obstacles to allow interaction with adjacent items/containers/NPCs). It's really gratifying to see Larian yet again listening to player feedback.

But there are still many UI/control improvements that are hopefully in the works for future updates. If Raze wouldn't mind (again) copying the below revised set of lists (starting with "USER INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS WISHLIST") over the single list in the OP, I’d really appreciate it. Either way, the below lists include the fixes that are still requested as of beta version 1.1.30, and that haven't been explicitly referred to as unplanned elsewhere. (Of course, if someone from the dev team could confirm that more work in this area is still planned despite the June 20 release date, that'd be awesome…)

Finally, some UI-related bugs/oversights:

1) "Lucky Charm"'s effect on hit chance still isn't displayed within the "Offense Rating" tooltip
2) "Summon Wolf" is shown under "Survivalist" instead of "Earth Magic" in the skills window
3) Some items still can't be used/consumed despite tooltip information indicating they can (e.g. carrots, wheat, etc.), and/or are missing tooltip information (e.g. jellyrooms, etc.)
4) Ring/amulet problems: bonuses to the same ability (e.g. Loremaster) given by amulets and rings don't stack with each other when worn together; wearing two rings with bonuses results in losing the bonuses from one of the rings
5) Recipe book problems: there are duplicate copies of some recipe books which don't have special icons and aren't automatically added to the journal "Recipes" tab when read (e.g. "He Who Smelts It, Volume I", "Fun With Fluids, Volumes II and III", "Secrets of the Scroll, Volume V", etc.); in the journal "Recipes" tab, the volumes of "The Adventurer's Field Guide" are scattered throughout the list instead of listed together in one section
6) Map marker problems: the "secret" markers added by the treasure maps, as well as some location markers (e.g. for Esmerelda's shop, the cook’s house, Thelyron’s clinic, etc.), still disappear and reappear at random

Thanks for all your hard work, Larian – looking forward to the next big update!


USER INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS WISHLIST


INVENTORY AND TRADING MENUS/CONTROLS

1) All items of an identical type should stack with each other in the inventory window, excluding non-identical equippable items - items that should stack but currently don't: all "junk" items (i.e. (large) bottles, broken bottles, (flower) pots, globes, lab junk, plates, tubes, vials, vial racks), arrow shafts, arrowheads (identical types), books (including all identical recipe books and blank skillbooks), bonedust, cups of water, empty bottles, folded shirts, golden cups, golden spoons, nine inch nails, parchment, pillows, pixie dust, rope, soap, starfish, wooden figurines, apples/bottles of beer/drudenae/hams/herrings/logs/roasted pork dishes/skulls (only some items of these eight types currently stack with each other), "Cyseal Pie" and "Cyseal Fish Pie" (duplicates?), etc.

2) An "auto-sort" function for all inventory and trading windows should be added

3) Items should be consistently arranged in the same item grid slot order within all inventory and trading windows

4) A key ring (functioning as an "openable" container) to store all keys within a single inventory grid slot should be added

5) Left-clicking (rather than left-clicking-and-holding/dragging) on an item within the inventory window should allow you to pick it up

6) An option to tag/mark items as "junk" for later quick/one-click sale should be added

7) The value of every stat/ability currently modified from its base value should be displayed in a different color in the inventory window

8) Clicking on a character portrait or activating a character via the "F1"-"F4" keys should also switch to that character's inventory or skills window, if already open

9) The price listed for a stack of items in the trading window should be for one individual item instead of for the entire stack

10) An option to manually type the number of items to move/trade from within a stack should be added

11) Each NPC's Identify/Repair ability levels should be displayed in the NPC's trading menu

12) Loremaster/Identify overhaul (current click-intensive system is extremely time-consuming, and adds no challenge) – if a player has an identifying glass and sufficient Loremaster ability, all items (items that are picked up, as well as items displayed in all trading menus) should be identified automatically

13) Blacksmithing/Repair overhaul (current click-intensive system is extremely time-consuming, and adds no challenge) – if a player has a repair hammer and sufficient Blacksmithing ability, a new "Repair All" icon/button usable only outside combat should repair all items equipped by the party with one click (except those too damaged for the player's ability)


COMBAT MENUS/CONTROLS

1) Targeting/highlighting enemies should be easier, especially when enemies are near other enemies or party members

2) A "facing" indicator should be added to the circle under each enemy's feet to aid with backstab positioning

3) Skills should "dim/highlight" when plotting character combat movement to show whether sufficient AP for the skill would be available if the path is chosen


GENERAL MENUS/CONTROLS

1) "ALT" should consistently highlight all items, containers, and interactable objects within the player’s line of sight; there are also problems with the line of sight calculations as of beta 1.1.30 - currently, most items as well as chests (but no other containers) are highlighted; however, some items are never highlighted (e.g. mostly "junk" items - (large) bottles, broken bottles, (flower) pots, globes, lab junk, plates, tubes, vials, vial racks – but also some useful items - pillows, soap, whetstones), and neither are items placed on certain wall shelving, tables, sloped ground, etc. (e.g. inside and just outside Esmerelda's shop, inside the cook's house, inside Aureus's office, on top of the bookshelf at the back of Bellegar’s cave, plants in the garden of the End of Time living quarters, items on the sloped path just outside the lighthouse, items on the sloped exploskeleton path just west of the church, etc. – this seems to be a problem with the calculations for what is considered within the player’s "line of sight") - also, although this should be an optional toggle in the main menu to satisfy both those who enjoy and those who hate pixel-hunting, there should be an option to make item/container/object highlighting always automatically active

2) To assist colorblind players, the color of the "chest" action icon for containers that are "not owned" but not yet opened should be changed from yellow to white – this way, the "chest/door/hand" action icons for all containers/doors/items would be orange if "owned", and white if "not owned", with the label "[Empty]" added but the icon color unchanged if a container is empty

3) All keyboard controls (including WASD, ALT, etc.) should be fully reassignable in the "Controls" menu

4) The camera "zoom out" height/range should be increased

5) A true "pause" function should be added (even opening the game menu currently doesn’t pause the game)

6) A more convenient method of ending an NPC dialogue at any time is needed - e.g. by hitting "ESC" to exit the dialogue screen, and/or moving the "end dialogue" speech option to the top or side of the list from its current usual position at the bottom – in situations where dialogue can't be skipped for quest reasons, the "end dialogue" option may then be disabled

7) All custom map markers should be fully editable - currently, you can delete a custom marker by right-clicking it (sometimes - it's glitchy), but there should be an easy way to select and edit the description for each existing marker as well

8) Pathfinding should be improved such that party members will always avoid damage floors/environments (not only traps) - where a damage area can’t be avoided (e.g. a tight corridor), the player should be required to manually control any party member who must walk through the damage area

9) Hotkey toolbar enhancements – add a tooltip to each spell/skill stating the spell/skill category to which it belongs (e.g. "Fire Magic"); add more toolbars/slots; add new assignable keyboard shortcuts to switch between toolbars; add the ability to assign an entire spell/skill category to one toolbar slot, such that right-clicking the "Fire Magic" slot (for example) would open the player's Fire Magic spells skillbook window

10) Character creation enhancements – add 360-degree rotation of character models; add a true "classless" option (with no pre-assigned attributes/abilities/talents/skills); add the ability to change starting skills and equipment

Done.

Somewhat sad about the identification of vendors... as I said before, it was nice to have a bit of a gamble.

Aaaaanyway;
9) Why not both at once? And from what I hear, the newest version (which I haven't booted yet, shame on me I know) barter no longer shows, so that probably needs fixing. And I still stand behind my other suggestion that price alteration due to attitude should be displayed too.

12/13) Still don't disagree with this. If everything gets auto-identified, might as well get rid of identifications as a whole. Might as well unlock all doors if sufficient lockpick or remove durability with repair/blacksmithing 1.

general 1) Soap is good for something? That's news to me. But yeah, those should be highligted, but not all. No need to see each plate if their only use is... well, decoration.

general 2) Still not sure what you're asking with this. There are only 2 colors; white (not owned) and orange (owned). Currently most outside of the city are incorrectly marked as owned (and properly updated to unowned if interacted with), but that's not a different color to see if you looted it yet or not, it's the same color as owned. It's... as we say, a bug.

Talk to Anna, ALL her magic items are unidentified. I don't mind Gambling, but that is generally more suited to games which have respawning and are closer to Diablo than D:OS is.

Raze - thank you, sir!



Agree on both points.



Everything wouldn't get auto-identified; only those items for which the player currently has "sufficient Loremaster ability".

As to the whole idea that this and the similar requested change to the repair mechanic would somehow "dumb down" the game, the exact opposite would in fact be the case - it would remove some of the dumbest aspects of the game, and allow the player to spend more time doing things that are actually fun/challenging (combat, questing, etc.). What I mean is that there's absolutely no challenge or risk whatsoever to the current mind-numbing process of right-clicking on an identifying glass/repair hammer and left-clicking on (over the course of the game) thousands of individual pieces of equipment, just to do something that your ability calculations should enable organically. As long as you have a working mouse and a movable finger, you and I will get the exact same results, every single time - in contrast to the variables of combat, for example, where you need to consider where to move players, which weapons/skills to use and when, which enemies to attack first, etc. So, why not bypass the unnecessary identify/repair clickfest, while still keeping the underlying ability level requirements intact, and allow the player to move on to things that actually require brain cells?



Yeah, it looks like Larian is intending the nine (and possibly more after Cyseal) listed "junk" items not to be highlighted to avoid too much screen clutter, which I can understand. I'd just like to make sure that - if they're going to continue to highlight very important things like keys, which I very much appreciate - they also consistently highlight everything else that has a use. The real problem is that the new "line of sight" calculations for this purpose are often incorrect, as I noted above, but hopefully they can fix that.



There are actually three colors (which, as a colorblind player, I had to have someone explain to me): white for all "non-owned" containers that have already been opened by the player, as well as for all "non-owned" doors and items; yellow only for "non-owned" containers that haven't yet been opened by the player; and orange for all "owned" containers, doors, and items. So the change I'm suggesting above would actually make the color-coding consistent across containers, doors, and items (everything would either be white if "non-owned", or orange if "owned"), and would also eliminate the current unnecessary confusion between yellow and orange containers. I understand most people would think this is nitpicking, but for me, it's actually a big deal - pity the colorblind!

There is no yellow, someone's messing with you...
You can recognise most opened container by {Empty}

(I say most since in the last version quest-containers didn't get this addition. Not sure if the last patch fixed that)

No - people often do mess with me (I'm an easy target), but there is a yellow icon in addition to the orange ones. Check out the difference between an unopened container that's not owned (like the crates etc. just outside the harbor warehouse, before you open them) and one that is owned (like the crates etc. inside the warehouse). At least you should have an easier time telling the difference than I would.

Agreed with everything in the OP.
Also, i would like a "crafting" tab, where itens learned in the crafting log/Experimentation would be.
The ingredient list is useful, but when you have to use a knife/dagger to cut something, you have to be in the "ALL" tab, which is very cluttered.

Also, having to drag the item to forge/anvil is very annoying, i would prefer to click in it, open a new window where i can select what i want to use.

Also, i would add durability to the Repair Hammer, to add a little of challenge.And the Magnifing glass could have it own Loremaster level to stack with the player, so finding new ones would be actually satisfying.