Suggestions for improving Command Panel

[Ales Dvorak]

Great ideas Niessuh, I like them.

[Granfali]

I agree 100%. Good job Niessuh!!!

[jhmorneau]

Interesting ideas indeed. Count me in & thanks for your work, Niessuh !

I tried your "GUI optimization 2: unit info" and adopted it right away.

It makes my life much easier (at least when playing CMSF ;-)

No doubt the gameplay would benefit from your suggestions.

I trust Battlefront will take them into account in some way or another.

Un abrazo grandotote !

[Cymru]

I have played CMx2 since CMSF came out and I am used to this tabs. Sorry to spoil the fun, but I would be upset if the tabs would be taken away.

But I don't think it will happen anyway...

And I was used to the CMBO approach, but accept the changes in CMBN

Of course I always remember "There are two kinds of fool: those that say 'This is the old way and therefore good', and those who say ' This is the new way, and therefore better' "

[LJFHutch]

Yup, and those of us with larger screens (19-24) have a LOT of unused space. Only about 50% of my bottom screen has "stuff" on it, the rest is a useless black bar.

This was my suggestion [back in SF]:

[womble]

Hotkeys are already implemented and combining all the keys on one view would get rid of one of my complaints about the hotkeys - pressing "K" to give a hunt move order after I just pressed "P" to pause the unit a few seconds. Oops! I just told them to BAIL OUT since pressing "P" automagically switched me to the Special tab.

With a singe view, every command would have it's own unique hotkey, which is as it should be (in my opinion).

So you know, the 'alternate hotkeys.txt' doesn't have the ludicrous confusion between 'Direct' and 'Relative' hotkeys that the default layout has. All the commands have distinct hotkeys. As, as you say, it should be.

...another loss would be the ability to use the numpad hotkeys, but I have no idea how many folks use that feature.

If they're redesigning the I/F, one would hope that they address the use of the numpad too...

[LJFHutch]

Numpad, but there are more commands than numpad keys.

[Blackcat]

Some nice ideas but I fear thier implementation would cause as many problems as it would solve (even more accidental bail outs for a start). However, I think BF may have something more radical and much better up their sleeve and are not going to change anything in the meantime.

[Cid250]

Some ideas about command panel reform, now that Battlefront has time to improve the interface and a "mayor overhaul" is on their way -huzzah!-

Command panel is probably the most delicate part of GUI, as everything it contains is highly interactive, opposed to the just informative mission for unit/team/details panel. Also, order system is a core functionality. As you can see on this same forum, It is probably one of the harder learning curves. Of course, It can't lose their richness but it can be presented with less use complexity.

Some constructive criticism first. This is a command panel in RT or at order phase (if playing turns):

Main point of interest is those tabs. First, they hide info. Is my unit deployed? hidden? can they run? you must switch tabs to know all of this info. Second you need to select correct tab if you are using panel to give orders. It's one more click on an already complex procedure. Also, they occupy space.

Turn controls occupy unused space also. They can appear only when watching turns, freeing space meanwhile.

Finally, red button can be merged with timer, they share meaning. This way digits can be seen bigger and with a very proper red background.

This way you can have a solution with all orders at once glance even keeping the same space restrictions. An example with orders buttons reduced half in height:

As you can see I maintain order groups (now columns), even left blank space for non applicable orders to current unit still. Same nine spaces for every group, except special orders wich has its four needed places. More room can be achieved. So, even in the same space, you can eliminate tabs and have full information on a faster interface.

Some similar reform can be made with unit info tabs (ammo/defences/damage - unit/formation), but this another case study...

Now some words about command panel on turn mode, when visualizing

See all this unused space? and, at the same time tiny little buttons for time control very close together. Raise hands those who has finished turn instead of rewind or any other wrong combination. There are a lot of space available on this mode, so you can have BIG buttons, like this:

YEEHAW! those buttons are so huge I can pulse it without staring out of the action! no more frustrating mistakes.

Yes, this is a GOOD UI design.

My only question is about laguage tranlations into german... that language has words very long... Will those space be enought?

[wokelly]

Great concept work, I would love to see this setup. Just had for the fourth time the crew of a tank bail out when I wanted them to hunt, except this time there were enemies within range and they were gunned down as they bailed out. Seriously need to do away with those damn tabs.

[Lucky_Strike]

Yup, and those of us with larger screens (19-24) have a LOT of unused space. Only about 50% of my bottom screen has "stuff" on it, the rest is a useless black bar.

This was my suggestion [back in SF]:

My thoughts exactly - bit like the ability in most modern applications to dock and undock tabbed palettes ie PhotoShop. Having the choice to undock the tabbed command panels to fill redundant space would be great on larger screens.

LS

[dieseltaylor]

Bump : ) Bump

[ChrisND]

Bump : ) Bump

The last post was nine minutes ago..

[Vinnart]

Nice design concept Niessuh! This is a better, more efficient design than what is currently used with tab system. The tab system just feels clumbsy as is even though I don't use it (N52 all the way!). The only way I think tabs work are as how TOW has them when they are tied to a root command button in the UI.

This design is more RTS friendly for those who use the GUI buttons, and for what the GUI is now. I do also like how it continues to show unit info like "hide", and "open". This looks like it should be easier to implement than a complete more RTS overhall which I think would be most optimized with a more TOW approach since that confines the hotkeys to the Q to B keyboard grid so there is no "hunt and peck".

Could this design be created to a degree through modding?

[Narsus]

That might be too small for something like a laptop, which many people play on. I prefer the way it is, though seeing a unit that is hidden or opened up without having to click on their respective tabs would be nice. I also play wego so I am just casually clicking about. Clock thing is a good idea too.

[Niessuh]

Yes, buttons could be a little small, but this is an idea based on current space restrictions. There are a lot of alternatives, i.e. buttons can be done squared and groups could be put on rows instead of columns. Void space because of non usable orders can be used for the actives ones. Columns can "invade" a little bit of batlle bottom, or, as LJFHutch said, GUI space could be made larger

[Vinnart]

The more I look at it at normal size, the more I think more room could be made by moving the "menu" tab to either just right of the "evade" button, or to the lower right corner of battle screen opposite the soldier stat text. This would allow extra room to make each command box a point of two larger. At normal size the command boxes look a little small, and may result in accidentaly clicking on wrong box. Good way to go, but think command boxes need to be a bit larger when i view it an normal size.

[Kal_PdL]

Some ideas about command panel reform, now that Battlefront has time to improve the interface and a "mayor overhaul" is on their way -huzzah!-

Command panel is probably the most delicate part of GUI, as everything it contains is highly interactive, opposed to the just informative mission for unit/team/details panel. Also, order system is a core functionality. As you can see on this same forum, It is probably one of the harder learning curves. Of course, It can't lose their richness but it can be presented with less use complexity.

Some constructive criticism first. This is a command panel in RT or at order phase (if playing turns):

Main point of interest is those tabs. First, they hide info. Is my unit deployed? hidden? can they run? you must switch tabs to know all of this info. Second you need to select correct tab if you are using panel to give orders. It's one more click on an already complex procedure. Also, they occupy space.

Turn controls occupy unused space also. They can appear only when watching turns, freeing space meanwhile.

Finally, red button can be merged with timer, they share meaning. This way digits can be seen bigger and with a very proper red background.

This way you can have a solution with all orders at once glance even keeping the same space restrictions. An example with orders buttons reduced half in height:

As you can see I maintain order groups (now columns), even left blank space for non applicable orders to current unit still. Same nine spaces for every group, except special orders wich has its four needed places. More room can be achieved. So, even in the same space, you can eliminate tabs and have full information on a faster interface.

Some similar reform can be made with unit info tabs (ammo/defences/damage - unit/formation), but this another case study...

Now some words about command panel on turn mode, when visualizing

See all this unused space? and, at the same time tiny little buttons for time control very close together. Raise hands those who has finished turn instead of rewind or any other wrong combination. There are a lot of space available on this mode, so you can have BIG buttons, like this:

YEEHAW! those buttons are so huge I can pulse it without staring out of the action! no more frustrating mistakes.

Niessuh, that's an interesting bunch of suggestions. I'd love to see them implemented in the game.

Perhaps BFC could give us their opinion about your ideas to improve this GREAT GAME.