Interface Mod: BTS please implement this!

[:USERNAME:]

I really wish the "center on selected unit" was either the default or could be the right-click on the mouse.

So instead of highlighting a unit and needing to hit the Tab key so I can shoot down to his level; I would automatically be there. Alternatively, I would like to perhaps hit the right click on the mouse and have it REPLACE the tab key.

Its just so damn annoying to kick back and play a game and constantly go to the keyboard.

Another bitch is the left and right arrow keys (on the screen) at ground level. I find that they are too large in resolution and scoot me all the way to the left or right and I have to use the keyboard arrows for fine resolution at ground level!! I hate the keyboard. I wish I could also just click on the flags and make them go away.

Is there anyway that these can be done>

Lewis

[russellmz]

nooooooooo...no default center please!

i usually give orders AFTER i selected the proper camera angle that shows a bunch of units and where they'll be going...might be a good option though, like the suggestion for an option to get a "are u sure u wanted to hit go?" confirmation.

------------------

"They had their chance- they have not lead!" - GW Bush

"They had mechanical pencils- they have not...lead?" - Jon Stewart on The Daily Show

[aka_tom_w]

I would like to add....

Mac mice have ONLY one button and Mac users prefer keyboard short cuts and are for the most part in the habbit of using and memorizing keyboard short cuts from other apps.

I like the game and the interface the way it is.

If we could configure the key board short cuts that would be nice too.

if the ` key was NOT the chat key that would really nice others have recommended the number 0 on the number pad to intiate the chat.

Again Mac 's have only one mouse button and the game was designed from the onset as being cross platform and there are some real die hard dedicated Mac zealots here, (I happen to be one of them ) who might not be able to accomondate the right click without the necessity of option clicking which is nuisance.

-tom w

[David Aitken]

Sounds like your personal preferences, Lewis. You can't make the mouse do everything, so I'm afraid you'll have to make friends with your keyboard.

I for one rarely use 'lock to unit', so I would not want it to be a major command.

David

PS. Of course, there are other issues involved here. If your mouse is so much easier to use than your keyboard, that suggests the latter is maybe in a bad position. Just remember that PCs never used to have a mouse, and Windows is still controllable without one. A mouse is just a pointing device, and it's not practical to make it do anything but one or two simple secondary commands.

New map! 

[This message has been edited by David Aitken (edited 12-09-2000).]

[Maximus]

Lewis, these have got to be the most laziness-oriented requests I have heard yet!

I'll tell you why...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I really wish the "center on selected unit" was either the default or could be the right-click on the mouse.

So instead of highlighting a unit and needing to hit the Tab key so I can shoot down to his level; I would automatically be there. Alternatively, I would like to perhaps hit the right click on the mouse and have it REPLACE the tab key.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This means that whenever you click on a unit it automatically goes down to the TAB-#1 view. Think about it. So then what do you have to do to find another unit to issue orders to. You have to '+' or '-' (cycle) around them or move out to a higher view point.

What have you saved by doing this?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Its just so damn annoying to kick back and play a game and constantly go to the keyboard.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Whah, whah! My heart is bleeding for ya.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Another bitch is the left and right arrow keys (on the screen) at ground level. I find that they are too large in resolution and scoot me all the way to the left or right<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Too large in resolution? Quit playing the game in 320x200 resolution! Scoot you around to much? Quit clicking on them and use your mouse to scroll...you like your mouse don't you?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I wish I could also just click on the flags and make them go away.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Quit your whining and hit "Shift-F". GEEZ!

I'm sorry, but please have a legitimate complaint before you start pestering BTS.

[This message has been edited by Maximus (edited 12-09-2000).]

[:USERNAME:]

Look Max just because you play the game with your drooling tounge doesnt give you the right to point out my laziness. But you are wrong. I dont want to go down to the lowest level. Just be set up if I need to.

Yes. I am lazy. I like to kick back and pick my ass and just use the mouse.

I dont give a flying rats ass about Macs and the nudniks that use them.

It can be made an option. Or if you click a second time on the unit it can be implemented then. Alot of games have re assignment of commands so whats the big deal?.

I also play the game in in 1100 by something, so I have no clue why the left and right arrows on the screen would jump the game over past a full screen.

But the right click is doing nothing anyway.

Lewis

[Tris]

USERNAME: I could see the right click for PC users as an easier way around the barn for getting to units. Maybe there's a conflict somehow, and if so I don't see it but then again I've spent zero time analyzing this. It just sounds reasonable on the surface. Also, to implement this ought not to affect Mac users one way or the other, so I see no legitimate gripe there. IF there is one, Mac users, spell it out, please.

That being said, USERNAME, you were less than charitable with your remark re Mac users in general and their system needs. If you have a problem with a certain person on the board who uses a Mac then you'd have be better advised to have limited your retort to just that person. No sense lumping everyone else who happens to prefer the Mac over the PC into that business. Right?

Anyway, I think your request is a good one, beneficial to all PC users.

[David Aitken]

I'm afraid I can't sympathise with anyone who wants a software developer to expend time and energy modifying their program because he is unwilling to use his computer properly.

Here's an idea Lewis. Get a four-button mouse for your PC, and it should have software which allows you to assign commands to each button for each program you use. I have one for my Mac, so I'm sure you'd be the first to boast that PCs can do much more.

David

[JeffRaider]

The only interface mod I'd like to see, and this is very specific to MY needs (I think), would be to be able to toggle the "jump to unit" when you scroll through the list with + and -. The reason is that I use + and - during set up, and I normally find a good angle to work from, e.g., facing the front, and my units are normally behind, so whenever I select a new unit, the camera whips back to the map edge, instead of towards the enemy, where I always replace it.

WEEEEEEOOOOOOO. Sorry, sir. Run-On Sentence Police. You're under arrest for malicious running-on.

Anyway, that's what I would like. I know it won't happen JUST for me, so I'm not really counting on it or somefink.

Bah. I'm tired.

[M. Bates]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Here's an idea Lewis. Get a four-button mouse for your PC, and it should have software which allows you to assign commands to each button for each program you use. I have one for my Mac, so I'm sure you'd be the first to boast that PCs can do much more.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

EXACTLY.

I use an Intellimouse which has 5 buttons and a scroll wheel.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't map the necessary keys to the buttons on a mouse.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Yes. I am lazy. I like to kick back and pick my ass and just use the mouse.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, but you used a keyboard to create and respond to this very topic did you not??

[deanco]

OK, I can't resist... Here are my ideas for improving the interface.

Remappable keys. Please, BTS, can you give an answer on this? Let us know if you think it's a good idea, or if it's impossible to do given the way CM is programmed, or an unnecessary addition in your opinion, or that we can expect it for CM2... somefink???

If there is to be no roster, how about buttons that will jump to the first team (T-1) and the first vehicule (V-1)?

Steal the mouse scrolling idea from Shogun. The bottom 1/3 of the side of the screen 'sidesteps' the camera, while the top 2/3 turns the camera. This system is so instinctive that I found that I was manipulating the camera in Shogun perfectly without even realizing what the programmers had done.

Having said all that, I have to admit the interface as it stands is really pretty efficient. I give it 84%, I like the melody and you can dance to it. (quick, from what old TV show does that come from??)

Someone said that CM is at the top of it's class, and as such deserves the best of everything. I agree. It's not enough that CM kicks every other wargame's ass. CM deserves to kick every other GAME'S ass, period. That means a topnotch interface, a tight, good looking front end, killer graphics, intro movie from hell, etc etc etc. The other elements of the game must reach the level of the programming effort and gameplay IMHO. Voilà.

------------------

DeanCo--

CM interface mods: http://mapage.cybercable.fr/deanco/

[David Aitken]

deanco wrote:

> intro movie from hell, etc etc etc.

Ooo golly, pet hate. How many games look like the developers have spent more time on the intro movie than the rest of the actual game? I watch movies once and then switch them off. Hardly worth the effort – put it into the gameplay or graphics or something.

David

[Tris]

Amen.

[Flix]

An intro movie would be no problem. Just take some footage from a CMBO game, and put it infront of the main menu.

I had some problems at first with all of the commands affliated with the keyboard in this game. Most commands are simply preference sets but I've finally learned most of the unit commands. As for the "Tab" key. Man, that is the best key on the board!

I love riding on the top of a Sherman as its hauling down a road tracking a German squad running across an open field.

As far as being lazy. Hey, I'm just as lazy as the next guy. Fortunately, my keyboard cord is long enough that I can put it in my lap as I've got my feet up on the desk.

[:USERNAME:]

Look I have a Logitech 3 button scroll mouse and it allows re-assignment of the buttons. It does not allow the option of the Tab being one of tehse re-assignments!

If I could just get F12 or something to be TAB I would be happy. Maybe theres a cheap keyboard that will do this? Then I could re-assign the center click on my mouse to be F12.

I still say the left and right arrows are too sensitive on the screen and wish that the screen would not spin about anything but just move linearly right and left. That upper and lower part of the screen having both options might be cool.

Its just that I get into a routine when playing and quickly moving down to the level 1 view each time gets wearing on me.

The scroll wheel should be an option too.

[David Aitken]

:USERNAME: wrote:

> Look I have a Logitech 3 button scroll mouse and it allows re-assignment of the buttons. It does not allow the option of the Tab being one of tehse re-assignments!

Well go tell Logitech their software sucks.

[Simon Fox]

How delightful! Here we have Lewis putting his opinions in his usual inimitable way and Aitken responding in his characteristic acerbic fashion even Maximus blundering around in here too. Ah those were the days...

That said, I absolutely concur with Lewis's suggestion. It seems to me that one of the most common keys I use is TAB and since the right button of the PC seems to be unused.... It may not be a high priority (for BTS that is, other agendas varying widely) but if it is easy to implement such an incremental improvement to the interface shouldn't be discounted even if for CM2. I wouldn't like to see it as the default for the left button though. As for Mac users (for the record I use both on a daily basis but play CM on a PC), well it would have no impact on them so

[Maximus]

Well I usually had no problem with Lewis, but this time he's just being a pain. Basically he wants BTS to implement interface changes, namely Hot Key re-assignments, to accomodate his laid-back style of play.

Well I say "Poo on him."

Granted most other games have re-assignable hot keys and keyboard commands, but what he's wanting is the ability to have his mouse do everything. That's just pure laziness in my book.

And what he wants re-assigned is very strange indeed. He wants the "locked unit view" to be an automatic default view whenever you select a unit. I don't klnow about the rest of the players out there but I scan the battlefield and issue orders at View #3 most of the time. I only get down to view 1 & 2 to more clearly check land contours. And I'll watch the movie in those views too, but to have the locked unit view as a default view would be cumbersome as hell in trying to issue orders in any battle larger than TINY.

How in the hell can you see the whole picture at this view??? This isn't a FPS Lewis, it's a wargame! Granted a 3D wargame, but before CM, a player had to issue orders from a 2D top-down view or 3D(2D isometric) view ala Talonsoft's Campaign Series.

I just don't see how anyone could toggle around the battlefield on every unit and issue every order from locked unit view. Yes you can play like this, but why???

[Simon Fox]

Look here Blundermus,

If you are going to get stuck into someone at least get your facts straight <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>He wants the "locked unit view" to be an automatic default view whenever you select a unit.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>To be precise he gave two alternatives <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>"center on selected unit" was either the default or could be the right-click on the mouse<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I am not particularly fond of the first idea but I think the latter is a good one. As you should very well know (see page 15-16 of the manual) the TAB key "locks" the view to a unit and has nothing whatsoever to do with the "view levels" (ie camera positions 1-8). You seem to have confused the two.

[RMC]

I want the helmet interface thing from Firefox so I don't have to move a muscle to play.....but it'd have to be an english version or maybe german and not use babelfish software.........

[Maximus]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by :USERNAME::

So instead of highlighting a unit and needing to hit the Tab key so I can shoot down to his level;

Lewis<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Simon Fox,

Well I interpret the above quote as being the TAB-View #1. Note: "shoot down to his level" Sounds like TAB-1 to me!

Actually yes, an option to automatically center on the unit with a mouse-click could be useful, but as the way CM's interface is currently coded, I don't see how it could be done without totally changing the whole interface.

[Croda]

I have two hands and an itch-free ass.

Steve, Charles, the interface is great as it is. If my quiet opinion is of as much importance as the loudmouthed opinions so prevalent in this thread, then I ask you not to make any interface changes. I feel it's a waste of your time to rework an already simple interface.

You want to change views? There are two buttons on the right of the screen that your mouse should be able to figure out. If the extra clicking hurts your clicky-finger, live with it. The rest of us don't need to suffer through an interface change because you haven't figured out the optimal way to clean your crack. My guess is that you also hire people to mow your lawn and do odd jobs around the house. I also suspect that you don't watch TV when the battery is dead in the remote control. Throw in a craft-matic adjustable bed, and you're all set.

The interface is perfect, please don't change a thing.

------------------

Coming soon, a sig from PeterNZer.

[Maximus]

Oh I agree, there doesn't need to be ANY interface changes, other than the automatic ass-scratcher button that you click when your panties get all in a bunch.

As for Lewis's second paragraph of requests, those have got to be the funniest requests I have ever heard.

What does the size of a button have to do with its function?

And "just clicking of the flags to make them go away."? Com'on, can we try to be any lazier? That's what the HOT KEYS are for. Following that logic, why not just click on a building to change it from transparent to invisible walls, and a click on the roofs to make them disappear as well. COM'ON!

[Robert Mayer]

I find the interface pretty good. I would like to see user-configurable keyboard commands, though, and support for a mousewheel. I'd like to use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out (the bracket keys) probably. But really, it's a tempest in a teapot.

[russellmz]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maximus:

And "just clicking of the flags to make them go away."? Com'on, can we try to be any lazier? That's what the HOT KEYS are for.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

actually it might be a good idea to be able to click the keyboard items in the hotkey list...that way everyone is happy from mouse lazy lewis to keyboard jock and me, 1/2 lazy 1/2 keyboard jock

------------------

"They had their chance- they have not lead!" - GW Bush

"They had mechanical pencils- they have not...lead?" - Jon Stewart on The Daily Show