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Yeah, +1 to the radial menus! And I'm working on updating what's been changed (and what still "needs" to be done wink ) now. Anyway, the UI is definitely improving with every update.

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OK, I've messed around for a couple hours in the latest update (1.0.59), and have now updated the lists to include only those requests that aren't yet implemented in-game. So Raze (man of infinite patience), if you could please copy the below set of lists (starting with "USER INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS WISHLIST") over the set of lists currently in the OP, I'd yet again really appreciate it.

So I know we're down to only 6 weeks before release, but Larian's been adding additional UI improvements from this and other forum threads with every update so far, so I'll keep asking for all the rest! Here are the requests that were originally posted in this thread which have been added to the game since this all started several weeks ago:

---(NEW) inventory sorting (but not yet "by type") has been added
---(NEW) skills can now be used in combat via the main skill menu
---(NEW) hotbar skill icons now display a colored triangle when plotting character combat movement if insufficient AP for the skill would be available if the path is chosen
---(NEW) a popup message ("Are you sure you want nothing in return for that?") now appears if the player attempts to trade items without selecting any items in the NPC's inventory
---(NEW?) Loremaster now identifies enemies
---recipes learned from books are now tracked in the journal
---the trade window now allows switching between players
---NPCs now repair/identify items in their inventory
---NPCs can now repair equipped items
---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
---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
---(UNCONFIRMED) the order of scrolling through inventory/skill windows using the left/right arrow icons now follows the currently selected player portrait order

Anyway, I'm getting burned out playing the beta (I've now played through Cyseal three and a half times), so I'll probably just check back here periodically until the next major version update. But thanks to all you hard-working beta testers, and to Larian for continuing to improve the UI before final release!



USER INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS WISHLIST



INVENTORY/CHARACTER AND TRADING MENUS/CONTROLS

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

2) A "Sort By Type" inventory sorting option should be added

3) Items should be consistently arranged in the same item grid slot order in all NPC trading and current player inventory menus

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

5) A key ring (functioning as an "openable" container) to automatically store all acquired keys should be added

6) Inventory container fixes (backpacks, pouches, barrels, crates, etc.)
Newly acquired items should automatically stack with identical items already within a container in player inventory; keys and quest items within a container in player inventory should be automatically "used"/recognized in-game just as they would be if they weren't in the container

7) Activating a character via its portrait or the "F1"-"F4" keys should also switch to that character's inventory or skills menu, if open

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

9) The price listed for a stack of items in the trading menu should be displayed both for one individual item and 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) The effects of both the player's Barter ability and the NPC's attitude on price should be shown in each item's trading tooltip

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

14) Ability tooltips that still need to describe exact percentage/numerical effects
Armour Specialist, Body Building, Willpower, Charisma, Lucky Charm, Offense Rating (doesn't include +3/level effect of Lucky Charm)

15) After drinking from a container (bottle/cup/mug/flask/etc.), an empty container should generate in the player's inventory

16) After using a shovel, both your weapon and shield (if previously equipped) should be automatically re-equipped



CRAFTING/IDENTIFICATION/REPAIR MENUS/CONTROLS

1) Crafting overhaul
Anew dedicated crafting window in which items can be combined should be added; recipe information for at least those recipes the player has successfully crafted should be explicitly listed in the format "A = B + C" in the journal; for sample mockups, see: http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=34882&Number=494715#Post494715

2) Loremaster/Identify overhaul (current click-intensive system is extremely tedious, 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 (except those beyond the player's ability)

3) Blacksmithing/Repair overhaul (current click-intensive system is extremely tedious, 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) The ability to attack enemies with "regular" (non-skill) attacks by clicking their icon at the top of the screen should be added
I.e. similar to how attacking with skills works currently

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



DIALOGUE AND NPC INTERACTION MENUS/CONTROLS

1) The effects of a dialogue choice on a Trait should be displayed next to the choice

2) NPC dialogue options previously chosen by the player should be "dimmed"/"grayed"

3) 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

4) The player should be able to attempt to pickpocket each NPC repeatedly
But there should be a higher chance of discovery on subsequent attempts, due to the NPC being aware he/she lost something earlier



GENERAL MENUS/CONTROLS

1) "ALT" should consistently highlight all items/containers within the player's sight range
Currently, most items as well as chests (but no other containers, like barrels/baskets/crates/vases) are highlighted; however, some useful items are never highlighted (e.g. pillows, soap, whetstones), and neither are any "junk" items ((large) bottles, broken bottles, (flower) pots, globes, lab junk, plates, tubes, vials, vial racks although the non-highlighting of junk may be intentional); also, probably due to errors in calculating the player's sight range, many items placed on certain wall shelving or bookshelves, tables, sloped ground, etc. aren't highlighted (e.g. the fishing rod in the tutorial dungeon, items on the table in front of Esmerelda's shop, items on shelving/bookshelves inside Esmerelda's shop/Aureus's office/the cook's house/at the back of Bellegar's cave, items around the forge/anvil area above Cyseal west gate, the plants in the End of Time living quarters garden, items on the sloped paths just outside the lighthouse/just west of the cultist church, etc.); finally, 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 highlighting always automatically active

2) The "chest" action icon color for containers that are "not owned" but not yet opened should be changed from yellow to white
This would assist colorblind players, as 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 should be fully reassignable in the "Controls" menu
Especially camera movement, so as not to interfere with using WASD for other controls; also ALT for item highlighting, etc.

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

5) A "pause" function should be added
The game should auto-pause when a popup appears, or when the game menu is opened

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

7) Pathfinding enhancements
Party members should always automatically 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; a new formation "Follow the exact steps of the controlled character" could also help

8) Hotbar/skill menu enhancements
Add a tooltip to each skill stating the skill category to which it belongs (e.g. "Fire Magic"); add new assignable keyboard shortcuts to switch between hotbars and/or increase the size of the hotbar switching icons; add the ability to assign an entire skill category to one hotbar slot, such that right-clicking the "Fire Magic" slot (for example) would open the player's Fire Magic skillbook menu; for sample mockup, see http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=34882&Number=494624#Post494624

9) Character creation enhancements
Add 360-degree rotation of character models; add a true "classless" option (with no pre-assigned attributes/abilities/talents/skills, and with the option to name the class); allow editing of starting skills and equipment

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Yeah, by item type is definitely something which should be added to the sort.

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Originally Posted by Aramintai
Ok, so now that sorting within tabs has been added it has become easier to rummage through inventory. But why is there no obvious option to sort items By Type of the item?
Btw, radial menu is neat thankyou


Guess that depends on how they're implemented. They sucked horribly in Neverwinter Nights and I can't think of any other games that had them. Got any names of games with good radial menus?


* as usual this is imho (unless stated otherwise); feel free to disagree, ignore or try to change my mind. Agreeing with me is ofc also allowed, but makes for much worse flamewarsarguments.

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Poaches and backpacks should be a drop target while closed - dropping something on a poach should move it inside.

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I saw they did improve the small icons for skill list and inventory, under the character portraits. Into golden on blue... just as i suggested.

They do look much better and visible now.


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I'm not even going to respond to the points you made in response to my previous post because it was an absolute joke almost to the point of seeming like you're trolling because of the minuscule amount of effort put into disproving my points and strengthening yours (also the fact that you flat out lied in places). I trust larian enough to have good judgement in this situation after seeing what their recent updates have been like, so i'll assume they find a better way to do it than simply hiding enemy levels.


Last edited by Xendran; 17/05/14 01:34 AM.
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Originally Posted by Mikus
So Raze (man of infinite patience), if you could please copy the below set of lists...

Done.

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Raze, you're not gonna believe this, but I saw you just copied the lists to the OP while I was making one or two final edits just a second ago - could you please re-copy? I owe you man!

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So I was 12 hours late, and a few seconds early...

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Ha, they don't pay you enough! So I'm done now, really... until the next update. laugh

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One more thing on the tooltip descriptions for STR/DEX/INT, considering the overhaul to skills/abilities with update 1.0.59. Skills all share three basic variables: damage/power, AP cost, and cooldown (as far as I know, all skills have a 100% to-hit chance, so that's not a variable here). The new "skill" abilities only apparently affect how many skills you can learn at one time, so I assume the only stats that actually control the above three variables are STR, DEX, and INT (and maybe some talents - or possibly player level?). But the only tooltip that currently says anything about the stat's effects on related skills is INT. So, can anyone help fill in the blanks below, or show me where I'm wrong? Thanks!

Warrior, Rogue, and Ranger/Survivalist skills:
Damage/power affected by: ? (STR, DEX, and/or something else?)
AP cost affected by: ?
Cooldown affected by: ?

Magic (4 elemental categories plus Witchcraft) skills:
Damage/power affected by: INT (and something else?)
AP cost affected by: ?
Cooldown affected by: INT (and something else?)

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Well done Aram. I completely agree!


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Yeah, if you're talking about Aramintai's mockups, they are slick. I'd especially like to see that crafting system in the game.

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Skill list - window


1. Instead of Survivalist how about simply - Ranger skills?


2. Not a biggie at all, just an idea:
Instead of earth, air and other - magic, why not
Geomancy, Aeromancy, Hydromancy, and Pyromancy?


3. Nasty deeds?

That seems a bit ... too ... moralizing? Besides, none of those listed there are nasty deeds.

How about just Deeds? Or at worst Naughty Deeds. Although i dont see whats naughty about lockpicking...



4. errmm... i see that my character still has Charm, Reason and Intimidate - when i try to play RPS.
Where is that in the new menu? Do they appear only after i get some points in them?



Inventory


I see now that when i change the characters in the inventory window, the hotbar doesnt change with it. WHY?
The hotbar changes depending on who is selected in the character portraits?

Why?
Why not have all three connected?

I see that when im trading that the character whose portrait is selected is still considered as a chose active character - despite of who i choose in the trading-invetory window.

Now, when im browsing inventories i have to separately select character portraits to change the hotbar... its just unwieldy.
And i dont see any purpose or use for it.


Connect all three?

per favor.



- edit -


Another thing that i just started noticing. Im not really sure if this particular feature was changed recently or was it the same as when i started playing, two version back...

but now it does sting my eye quite often so ... im guessing this was changed recently?


Anyway, the matter of displaying the pop-up Equiped vs. Selected or moused over item in the inventory:

[Linked Image]

versus:

[Linked Image]


I would propose that instead of this setup, the "Equipped weapon" is shown as the further away window, in each of these versions. So it practically changes sides, depending on which side the pop up window appears.

Because, if its locked to be shown on any particular side, either left or right, as it is now locked to be shown on the right side no matter on which side of the pointer these windows are displayed... it creates a confusing instinctive reaction.


At least to me.

In the first picture my brain,... "sees" the item i selected or pointed at displayed as a first window, right next to the selected item i want to compare.

The Equipped item in the first picture is displayed further away then that, as second, on the right.

While in the other picture, the both comparing windows are flipped over to the other side - only this time the Equipped item is first in line and the selected item is second - further away.

And that creates this small kind of instinctive reaction of confusing the two in that split second, - at least to me.


Im not sure if this is just my personal small problem of some kind but... this doesnt have a naturally, quickly understandable result - to me.
I am expecting that the item i selected or pointed at would be first one to be shown, right next to my pointer - and that it wouldnt change depending on how the comparing windows are flipped, to accommodate the screen position.

Im not sure if anyone else finds this a bit confusing (it isnt any big kind of a problem in any way), but it is little bit ... less then optimal?

If no one else sees this in the same way as i do - feel free to disregard. I`ll get use to it eventually.

But it would be easier to get and quickly relate to if my suggestion was taken. (i trust it wouldnt be too difficult to actually do?)

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I do find the current item compare UI to be quite confusing, because it always shows the New/Equipped items in left to right order, and when the inventory is at the right side of the screen, that shows the equipped item closest to the thing you're mousing over, and the item you're hovering over on the far side.

It should ALWAYS show the item you're mousing over closest to the item, regardless of where the inventory screen is. It's just confusing otherwise.

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Thank you. Then it isnt just a small problem for me only.


-edit-

not to double post... i would like to make another argument for allowing zoom out options.

Since pictures speak thousands of words...

[Linked Image]
This is the maximum zoom out that you can achieve now, by tricking the camera. It is too much and that would not be necessary.

However...

When you try to zoom in as much as you can from this position, just by scrolling the wheel, you get this close at the most.

[Linked Image]

And this is perfect. The camera even tilts as you are zooming in, so you can see further ahead.

[Linked Image]
You can move - as long as you dont talk to anyone or click and change the selected character.

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

You can push the camera forward and swivel it as usual.

[Linked Image]


This way... you get treated with extremely beautiful scenes you cannot get otherwise, such as this:


[Linked Image]


I rest my case!

Pretty please, with sugar and cream on top?


- its mr. Wolfe asking nicely, now you have to do it!



- oh, of course, this isn't that useful for actual gameplay and especially combat or searching for traps. But its great for navigation through environment and just traveling around.

In combat you would automatically zoom back into the usual camera positions, or you could of course do it yourself to explore in more details.

It could be limited - zoomed in a bit more then this, but that tilt angle should stay.


- edit -

Moved most of the screenshots behind a spoiler tag for easier viewing.


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100% behind the increased zoom level, also the fog/blurring is gorgeous at that level hehe

I also would like to be able to target portraits, have a toggle for link all, separate all characters.

But the main wish is that when i have an inventory open, if i click a different portrait, it switches!


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Because of the new "Sort by..." dropdown menu, there now is a gap between the inventory and the stats pages above. That gap would be the perfect place to drop in buttons like "Repair", "Identify", and "Craft".

Craft would pop up its own interface which has two slots for the items to combine and a button to craft it.

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-Another good sort option would be "Sort by Items that need Identifying". (But by Item Grouping is the most needed)

-The ability to mark Items in inventory as Junk (aka quick sell) and then the ability when selling to sell all junk on one click. Great quality of life feature.

-Quests. When reloading all the quest details are closed but flashing as if they are new. No likey.

-Quests. When you get a new update to a quest, when going into the Quest Log, the Quest either title or Sub Part should be flashing. (By the way love the Dialog Tab!)

-ESC Closing - Any window, Any. If you press ESC it will close them all first before it shows the Main Menu. The most particular one is Dialogs that you have to scroll down to click "End Convo", this way pressing ESC also ends a conversation. Pretty Std.

-Also if you selected a Skill to Use and want to back off it, yes Right Click usually does the trick, but pressing ESC should also cancel selected skill back to "no skill selected".

-One Keybind to Cycle all controlled players.

-When trading you should be able to scroll through the players (using the arrows keys we have) and each character should be able to add to the "Sell List". Right now it can only be one at a time.

-When comparing items Buying and Selling it should should compare against the player in the Buy/Sell screen and if you change the player via the arrows it should change the comparison to that new players gear.

-The ability to show more than one power bar at a time. We can have up to 3 power bars but you have to toggle through them. Even early on, you can easily blow well past 10 items. Having the ability to stack and show all 3 at once simply makes a turn based game more elegant to play. I prefer this over a Radial Menu, but limiting to only 10 at once, I may prefer a radial menu to that. Have it as an option and I don't care if it looks good, I'm after functionality, like how many mmo's do it.

-If not multiple power bars, then please a keybind to quickly cycle. (Or am I missing seeing it?)

-Have like spell books in vendors stack.

-UPDATE: Dialog Window keeps creeping a little each time after a load. It has some memory but some math must be off a little.

-When comparing while buying. Equipped is on the Right and Potential buy is on the left, opposite of the orientation of the player is on the left side of the screen and the vendor the right. If the compare while buying was flip flopped it would be more logical.

-When dragging to place an Inventory Item from say the top to the bottom, you can't hold an item and scroll the inventory. So you move it a few blocks down, scroll, pick it drag a few more and drop, scroll, rinse and repeat until at bottom. UPDATE: It can be done you have to hold LMB down and use the scroll wheel, that's pretty hard to do as a no-brainer.

-Character Portraits on the left side are too big and when you have a full party it limits the Chat Screen size. Perhaps a Horizontal Portrait Layout Option? Or make them smaller? Or an option to scale them in size.

-Random NPC chatter should not show in the bottom right dialog window. Redundant and erases and clutters things I really want to see.

Added:
-Red Items at Vendors that you cannot equip.
-Gray Items X levels below your level.







Last edited by Horrorscope; 21/05/14 11:10 PM.
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