Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
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First, the clean version

[Linked Image]


And the version with the legend

[Linked Image]


Explanation of the legend.

First of all i used the existing visual elements and kept it simple because that was much easier to do. The current "elfish" visual style of the borders of the Ui elements is ok. If i was doing it from the ground up and if i was paid for the work i would probably try something slightly different, maybe using the visual style, the colors and textures of the Baldurs Gate city architecture, maybe something else, but since i dont know what the design team will use to create the city and im not paid for spending time on this, the current visual style and elements will do.

The point of this Ui idea is to present different functionality most of all, not a different visual style approach.
The current Ui is... okaaaay,... its serviceable but, could be better.



P.1 element

Presents the button for grouping and ungrouping the party. What you see there is an ungrouped party where each character is separated from the group and moves independently when selected.
If the button is pressed again, the portraits move toward each other and coalesce until they are touching with the top and bottom of the portrait pictures. The party is then grouped and move all together.
The chain is just a visual detail, it can stay or go, doesnt have any specific function in this example.

The position can be moved a bit lower to accommodate the initiative order portraits during combat. Whatever.


M.1

The minimap. We dont really need it to be open all the time and take all of that screen space.
We have the big map anyway and the small one is actually needed very rarely. It would be nice if we could collapse it to the side slide element.

(it would be nice if the world map, area map and the minimap were improved so they resemble the real world old school-fantasy style maps which i prefer. The area and minimap are not that clear either and look unappealing and somewhat cheap)


S. elements

S.1 element is the same as in the game right now. Ive added two more such side sliding elements - S.2 and S.3, which can serve to show different things that dont need to be in the main Ui element. For example, the Reaction icons can be on the right side, hidden from view in the S.2 element. I didnt notice i can do anything about those anyway. You just choose a reaction on level up and its always on, as far as ive seen. If there will be any options about more different reactions later on in the game - its still nothing we need to see at all times. S.3 element on the left is there to provide symmetry to the Ui elements and to serve as an container for whatever. I dont need to know everything. (although i have a suggestion)


The Main Ui element - U.

The main idea here is to separate all the skills we have into two separate general categories. The Magical skills and the Physical skills.
And to keep each in their own sections of the main Ui element, on the left and right named U.1 and U.2

U.1 on the left,
Contains all the physical skills and abilities our characters have, as well as any other physical items such as potions and bombs.

U.2 on the right,
Contains all the magical stuff, The spells, the scrolls and whatever else is magical. (maybe potions can be moved to this side cause they are relatively magical too)

BUT - all these different items and skills are separated into their own subcategories - inside their specific two general sections.
So for example, the Spells would be separate from the Scrolls and Potions inside the U.2 side of the main Ui. The icons for each sub category would not mix together.

Melee combat and archery and bombs would be separate sub categories of icons in the U.1 side of the main Ui.
As well as the physical abilities such as jumping, helping or reviving the knocked down companion, dashing, throwing items, dipping weapons, pushing and sneaking. (optionally these can be moved to the S.3 element)


[Linked Image]


Next to the clock in the middle on each side, at positions named U.3 and U.4 I positioned the icons to quickly select the sub categories inside each of the U.1 and U.2 main categories (more icons for each subcategory can be and should be added)

So, if you would select the sword icon for melee attacks on the left - you would only see the various melee attack skills and abilities icons in the U.1 section of the main Ui.
If you click on the Archery icon you would only see your different ranged combat options or moves and arrow icons.

If you would click on the spells or the scrolls on the right, you would only see spells or scrolls in the U.2 section of the main window.

The nice big triangle buttons on each side would serve to change sub categories and or to scroll up and down all icons of each sub category in case the visible space fills up.
(of course the actual designers could do these visual elements much better, this is just a simple example)

Each side of the main Ui could be extended to the left and right edges of the screen just like the current Ui can be extended.


-
slightly edited for clarity



Last edited by Surface R; 21/10/20 10:23 AM.
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Nice one... any ideas for the UI and character sheets?

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Not especially, those are relatively small so they can be put anywhere. kept on the minimap, attached to the main ui bar in the middle or be a part of the S.3 element.

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If I have to be honest, I'm generally very interested in UI mock-ups and what solutions people can come up with to address a number of issues, but I don't really like ANY of the changes you are suggesting here.

Last edited by Tuco; 21/10/20 10:30 AM.

Party control in Baldur's Gate 3 is a complete mess that begs to be addressed. SAY NO TO THE TOILET CHAIN
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And why would i care what you dont like?

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Originally Posted by Surface R
And why would i care what you dont like?

I don't remember asking you to care.
Just pointing that you didn't come up with good solutions.


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Much nicer, I hope they take note of this.

For Character sheets I would like to see more equipment slots, which could then be tied to the action tabs the way this UI shows. To toggle different melee weapons sets on the fly.

Just using a layout similar to what's presented above there is like twice as much screen real estate to expand the various hotbars. Having a toggle weapon set/dual icon that is little more visually useful.. Then we could have multiple loadouts, for ex sword + shield, two swords, two handed. Or just show the actual item icons for the loadout exactly as displayed in the inventory. I'd also like a torch button, just as another char sheet idea.

I like the basic UI layout presented here. Particularly the party portraits in a vertical orientation. The screen above just looks more like a Baldur's Gate game and seems easier to read and parse at a glance.

There is plenty of room to have 6 portraits, if they ever give me what I want with that. But also could display portraits of summons/familiars below the basic party, or below the relevant character, perhaps with a slightly small portraits or chain to show which summon is connected to which PC esp. when there are multiple of the same summon, which prob happens more at lower levels. Like to show who's spider is who's hehe.

Anyway, nice work! I really do hope they take a look at this mockup.

Its a much stronger design than the one they are using currently. We need built in organization, right now the hotbar is chaos. This gives it much more structure, and easy ways to cycle based on what the player is trying to get at. The scroll button for example. It just feels more throughtful and utility oriented, everything with its proper place and accessible from the main UI elements.

I agree 100% on the map and other collapsible elements. I wish the map could issue movement orders because then it would be much more useful. I agree that its not the most beautiful thing to look at right now. Just feels low rez and hard to tell what's what, whether path or walls or inaccessible rubble or rocks lol. I fight the minimap a lot right now trying to use it for navigation, but you may be right about just getting rid of it if desired to focus on the environment display.

They also really need to have select/cast by character portrait. There are so many spells or abilities that require the player to select themselves to cast (I don't mind the confirm delay with the double click. I just wish I could do it form the portait instead of having to locate the character on screen.) in the chaos of battle with all the distractions and confusion it can be hard to select the right toon and easy to misclick the ground with many spells too. Being able to cast on the picture whether via combat portrait or party portrait would be extremely helpful QoL.

Last edited by Black_Elk; 21/10/20 10:48 AM.
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Wouldn’t dividing toolbar I into magical and physical section simply mean that one of them will be empty for most characters?

What I really want is simply an ability to create folders, which would automatically assign items abilities: “arrows”, “potions”, “healing potions”, “x level spells”, “z (eg. Necromancy) school spells”, “y (eg. Fire) type spells”. I should have to click on those - just over over and content will expand above. Like “better organisation” mod for D:OS2, just better integrated. Even in early levels I saw streamers spending too much time organising and reorganising toolbars.

Customisability is good. Not working well out of the box is not.

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"Wouldn’t dividing toolbar I into magical and physical section simply mean that one of them will be empty for most characters? "

I dont think so. Majority of classes use both physical weapons and types of attacks or whatever similar, both ranged and melee and some kind of spells or magical abilities, - and potions and bombs and scrolls. And you can add consumables and whatever else to it all. Even in the case of the most minimalistic class all these items taken together fill up the current main Ui bar.

Of course to make things less completely separated the categories i suggest can simply attach to eachother so you end up with a continuously filled bar. Already organized into different item or icon categories.
While if you click on the icon of each sub category you see only spells, or scrolls, or potions, or different melee options, etc, etc.



Originally Posted by Black_Elk
Much nicer, I hope they take note of this.

For Character sheets I would like to see more equipment slots, which could then be tied to the action tabs the way this UI shows. To toggle different melee weapons sets on the fly.

Just using a layout similar to what's presented above there is like twice as much screen real estate to expand the various hotbars. Having a toggle weapon set/dual icon that is little more visually useful.. Then we could have multiple loadouts, for ex sword + shield, two swords, two handed. Or just show the actual item icons for the loadout exactly as displayed in the inventory. I'd also like a torch button, just as another char sheet idea.

I like the basic UI layout presented here. Particularly the party portraits in a vertical orientation. The screen above just looks more like a Baldur's Gate game and seems easier to read and parse at a glance.

There is plenty of room to have 6 portraits, if they ever give me what I want with that. But also could display portraits of summons/familiars below the basic party, or below the relevant character, perhaps with a slightly small portraits or chain to show which summon is connected to which PC esp. when there are multiple of the same summon, which prob happens more at lower levels. Like to show who's spider is who's hehe.

Anyway, nice work! I really do hope they take a look at this mockup.

Its a much stronger design than the one they are using currently. We need built in organization, right now the hotbar is chaos. This gives it much more structure, and easy ways to cycle based on what the player is trying to get at. The scroll button for example. It just feels more throughtful and utility oriented, everything with its proper place and accessible from the main UI elements.

I agree 100% on the map and other collapsible elements. I wish the map could issue movement orders because then it would be much more useful. I agree that its not the most beautiful thing to look at right now. Just feels low rez and hard to tell what's what, whether path or walls or inaccessible rubble or rocks lol. I fight the minimap a lot right now trying to use it for navigation, but you may be right about just getting rid of it if desired to focus on the environment display.

They also really need to have select/cast by character portrait. There are so many spells or abilities that require the player to select themselves to cast (I don't mind the confirm delay with the double click. I just wish I could do it form the portait instead of having to locate the character on screen.) in the chaos of battle with all the distractions and confusion it can be hard to select the right toon and easy to misclick the ground with many spells too. Being able to cast on the picture whether via combat portrait or party portrait would be extremely helpful QoL.



Those are all excellent ideas and additions.

This mockup is by no means a complete finished version but just the first pass made most of all to show a different approach to utility and organization basic concept.

All the additional icons and buttons you mentioned can be easily added to the main bar upper border or next to it, some less frequently used can be put in the corners where S.2 and S.3 are now.
Would love the torch icon too, and to have it light up when i light up-equip-use the torch. It would be a very nice warm and homey atmospheric detail.

Personally i would also prefer a more restrictive Ui, with more importance given to quick slots and preparing specific items for use in combat, but it doesnt seem to be the way the company is heading.
And i already have various pictures of additions to this first mockup going off in my head, as well as a different visual style - a darker material looking more like elements of an adventurer equipment, but its all too much effort and for very dubious purpose because i really doubt the company will listen to me when they have people on the payrole specifically for designing the Ui.

I see in a few other posts people argue for very similar kind of categories of items and skills in separate hotbars so, its all on the same track of increasing utility and ease of use.
Hopefully the devs will come to the same conclusions and make an even better version based on the same principles.

Last edited by Surface R; 21/10/20 11:38 AM.
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Originally Posted by Surface R
And why would i care what you dont like?


You sure spent a lot of time (and made sure to mention a few times you're not being paid for some reason) working on a concept to throw away all credibility and interest by responding like that. Have some tact. Or don't- it's your rep.

---

On topic:

Splitting "physical and magical" isn't the solution. You're looking at any one-sided class making poor use of the other side (magic will have relatively empty physical side, vice versa).

So far, the best solution I've seen was one talking about sub-grouping important functions in drop-down (or drop-up) style categorization. For instance: a Level 1 Spells button that pulls up a small window of all level 1 spells to choose from- the same way Hex pulls up a sub-menu on use.

Last edited by Icelement; 21/10/20 11:56 AM.

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You seem to be living in hallucination in which your brainfarts have any relevance on anyone elses "credibility and rep", but its only your own.
Such idiotic vacuous self felating outbursts are simply useless for the actual subject of the thread - and thats why they are irrelevant in every possible sense. I also find it pathetic how your squirming ego got triggered over someone else post expressing nothing but kindergarden level of "intellect".

On topic, which you should have stick to from the start,
That was already asked about and answered.

There is simply so many different abilities, skills, moves, types of attacks, spells and different items that even the most minimalistc class or build will have a full main hotbar.

Drop up or down menus would functionally be the same as i suggest, just presented differently in visual style. If those would present different categories of abilities, skills and items. If those are applied to every single item that has more options it will be a mess and wont really change anything about the current mess of a hotbar.


Last edited by Surface R; 21/10/20 12:09 PM.
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nice work.
id probably prefer consumables in an editable hotbar like the one we have right now and a specificaly designed ui element for abilities depending on the class. mostly because spells are going to be a mess if not.

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I would be happy with just a few buttons and for random items to not pop in everywhere. Give me a button with all normal thrown items, consumables and a Spell scroll area not 3 tabs every time i get a new scroll or other bs.

Also fuck man just let me click the spell slot click a spell and have it ask which spell level.

If I want to add 2nd level specific inflict wounds let me but don't just force that bitch in there in between alchemist fire and a potato.

Its 2020 we can have it both ways and not something thats worse than 1999 planescape torment UI.

Also would much prefer original post UI to current so gj.

Last edited by Varrick; 21/10/20 03:23 PM. Reason: Forgot to comment on original post
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Originally Posted by Surface R
You seem to be living in hallucination in which your brainfarts have any relevance on anyone elses "credibility and rep", but its only your own.
Such idiotic vacuous self felating outbursts are simply useless for the actual subject of the thread - and thats why they are irrelevant in every possible sense. I also find it pathetic how your squirming ego got triggered over someone else post expressing nothing but kindergarden level of "intellect".

Talk about triggered .. lighten up, Francis.

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Also magic pockets say every scroll or item available to everyone in those buttons for convenience.

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There is no reason why these hotbars i suggested wouldn't be editable.

And any spell with higher levels can have that function of choosing which one too. I never said the categories i suggested would be completely fixed.

Oh yeah, i dont see why the portrait in the middle of the hotbar is necessary. Removing it would give more space to use for other things. But for this mockup it wasnt that important.

Last edited by Surface R; 21/10/20 05:19 PM.
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To be honest i dont like it either ...

Cant imagine how this party portraits will work in combat with large group ... in goblin camp for example. :-/
Also it seem even more chaotic than original UI ... you get some things you loot on the left, another will be added to the right ... and then there is some bars that are either hidden, so can be quite simply forgotten ... or they just appear out of nowhere. :-/

Well ... if this is your mod UI, i gues care as much as you care about mine opinion, wich will probable be not at all. laugh
But i certainly hope if Larian will do any UI updates that they will not search for inspiration here.


If my comments bother you, there is nothing easier than telling me to stop.
I mean ... I won't ... but it's easy to say. wink

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