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[PREVIEW] Juju's TweakedUI v1.1 interface enhancement mod


Juju

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@ Erwin: I'd like to limit any optional stuff to the command buttons. I'll think about it, though. Let's all urge BFC to include a separate file for the British in a future patch. ;)

@ Gurra: The mouth bothers me as well. An ear sounds like an excellent idea, thanks! I'll get to work on that.

Edit: Gurra, About that ear, it's not going to work because the ear in that size tends to, um, look just like, well, lady parts...

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Juju, maybe there should be a rework for those icons: let say level 1 is the whole commander figure, level 2 is the 'American Framing' (cinematography term for the upper body), level 3 may be the whole head and neck (instead of just one eye, that BTW is very well made), and finally level 4 would be the face only (eventually screaming! :) )... What do you think?

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I almost hate to say it, but the screaming mouth is the perfect and most easily recognizable icon for what it represents. The ear or any of the other suggestions would make me have to stop and think what is that symbol about.

I wish we could figure out a way to explain the C2 system more easily - like in a flowchart so we could see where a communication break is, and what to do about it.

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Ehrm, yeah, perhaps not ladies parts in that particular part of the GUI. :D

Ok, so, like Erwin is hinting at, I think, the C2 symbols are....well not very intuitive, although the mouth is in a kind of way. But for example the radio - that tiny - looks not really like a radio when you quickly glimpse it.

What the icons basically are trying to convey, is different levels of distance, right? If they were not placed in an illogical way for the purpose, I think I actually would prefer just a suitable symbol of whatever kind with different levels of filling in some colour. Much like the suppression meter. Perhaps with a distinguishable letter telling me whether its eyesight, hearing or radio. Because practically, the info whether his troops get their orders via handsignals or shouted commands doesn´t matter to the player , only the effect of this, right?

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Verrry nice looking! The color choices and shading on the command buttons is sweet. The Pause button does seem a bit close in color to the Bailout button, however.

One idea I had was for the bonuses: graphical lines instead of readable numbers. This works well at a glance, I think:

- Chris

post-640-141867623666_thumb.png

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Not a bad idea for the bonuses, Wolfe. But I'm not sure it'd work better than numbers. At least we're all used to the numbers.

About the similarity of pause and bailout button; that's always been like that, isn't it? Remember, I do not use colored buttons myself. I did use the stock colors when I made them.

About a total rework of the C&C icons; I agree things could be clearer but the tiny size of the icons is definitely a factor. There's only so much one can do. The lady part thing is kinda proof of that, eh. ;)

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I'm perfectly fine with the "shouting" icon but what I do not like is the radio icon which by all means and purposes does not resemble anything connected to radios.

Also I can back Juju's opinion on unit bonuses - current numerical ones are far better (more intuitive) then the newly suggested ones by Chris.

Binocular icon (and many other new icons while we are at it) seems really good now, superb work!

Maybe something can be made with satchel charge icon - it looks like a bucket now doesn't it? Just a minor change can mean big improvement - what if you make it more dark brown so that it stands out a bit more in comparison to other icons?

One more suggestion - make the colour of the sea beneath the ship icons more dark blue. As it is there is not enough contrast between water and air.

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what I do not like is the radio icon which by all means and purposes does not resemble anything connected to radios.

It really does resemble period specific radio equipment. To a certain degree. I'll admit it's pretty generic, though. Fact is, in 10 months I haven't been able to come up with anything that's even slightly better. And believe me I've tried. Repeatedly.

The satchel charge really is a satchel charge. You do have a point about the color, or lack thereof, though. I'll look into it.

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I'd prefer numbers for now as again, it takes longer to mentally process the lines than to read a number.

My only beef is that the effect of the quality are so much more subtle than in CM1, I rarely if ever notice any actual difference in performance - I guess I do not run my guys to exhaustion much. Also, when we had the bug which caused dead HQ's to not regenerate in subsequent campaign missions, I got used to handling leaderless squads without much problem. (I think that bug has been fixed.) Anyhow, that's not a graphics problem...

Another tiny icon I find hard to interpret is the color of the circular "quality of C2" indicator that appears on each arty icon when one selects the arty tab. I don't think that one can improve or degrade that C2(?). I know green and larger is better. But, I have no idea what the colors mean in terms of minutes to FFE or anything definitive. The time to FFE is all that's important and that is given in the window when you click on an arty icon.

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It really does resemble period specific radio equipment. To a certain degree. I'll admit it's pretty generic, though. Fact is, in 10 months I haven't been able to come up with anything that's even slightly better. And believe me I've tried. Repeatedly.

The satchel charge really is a satchel charge. You do have a point about the color, or lack thereof, though. I'll look into it.

Yeah I concur coming up with radio icon can be hard and I see now why it would resemble the radios of the era (checked pics of them).

As for satchel charge I'm sure light or dark brown can make a huge difference.

Edit: While you are at it you can also make portable radio icon that units units have more greenish.

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Re the HQ icons... can you do a Brit version? That way we can simply swop em out when we play the Brits.

At first I wasn't going to, but then I thought, what the heck. ;)

I was hoping to make it an officer, like the other two, but could only find a single grainy black and white picture of a saluting British soldier. Had to color it in myself, which was a first for me (and rather fun, because it kinda worked). If someone can supply me with a clear color photo of a saluting British officer, bring it on and I may redo it.

Some further changes to the HQ letters. If someone can suggest and supply me with a more appropriate period/nation specific font for the US and/or British icons, let me know.

HQ2.jpg

@ Hister, as requested, the demo charge now has a little color.

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Heh, I used similar models for the others. Nice find. The one on the top right looks pretty usable. But let's wait a little and see if someone can come up with one where the officer is looking directly at the camera. I'd really prefer that. If nothing else comes up I'll try this one.

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If nothing else comes up I'll try this one.

If you do; change the red cap to khaki.

Edit: and tone down the webbing straps, and get rid of that chain between the pockets. And the black armband.

Bloody MPs :mad:

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Not a bad idea for the bonuses, Wolfe. But I'm not sure it'd work better than numbers. At least we're all used to the numbers.

Not a problem; I wanted to throw that out there to see what others thought.

About the similarity of pause and bailout button; that's always been like that, isn't it? Remember, I do not use colored buttons myself. I did use the stock colors when I made them.

It was always similar (a bit more brown than Bailout), but I have a tough time seeing the difference in your pic. Any chance of giving it a bit of a color tweak? Thanks.

One other suggestion I thought of was to differentiate the defensive icons by shape as well as color. Here are a number of variations, including one of my own. I think I like the CMBN one myself, but would prefer the yellow box be more intense.

- Chris

post-640-141867623668_thumb.png

post-640-14186762367_thumb.png

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@ Wolfe; personally I find the stock differently shaped defensive icons very confusing, hence the change in my mod in the first place. Sorry.

@ Gen Von Television; The capital HQ for the Germans looks extremely 'bulky' compared to the Allied one. Anyway, since we all pretty much know by the icon that it's an HQ unit why even use letters and not go a step further and handle all nations at the same time as well. Like this:

HQ4.jpg

I might even do this for Luftwaffe and SS if there's call for it (who am I joking?).

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@ Gen Von Television; The capital HQ for the Germans looks extremely 'bulky' compared to the Allied one.

True, but in practice you'd never see them beside each other in the game.

Anyway, since we all pretty much know by the icon that it's an HQ unit why even use letters and not go a step further and handle all nations at the same time as well.

Or that!

and ... ah ... Heer, SS, LW as seperate choices :);)

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