Frontier, I appreciate ED's HUD & UI

[Old Duck]

I've been playing games like No Man's Sky and Subnautica on PS4, and I just want to compliment Frontier on their UI and HUD, as it is light-years ahead of other games like it, at least on the console. I'm not saying it's perfect (the new HUD modes need a rework, as do some of the menu layers), and I'm not considering bugs in writing this post, but all-in-all I'm impressed with the HUD / UI and Frontier's implementation of controllers like the DS4. Really impressed. Spoiled even, as it causes me to become really frustrated with games that are clunky like the aforementioned ones.

Anyway, I just wanted to balance some of the complaints (mine included) with some praise. Sean Murry or Charlie Cleveland, if you are reading this, feel free to study and learn from Elite Dangerous!

 

[babelfisch]

Absolutely agree. Sound and HUD in Elite are probably the best in the history of video games.

 

[Old Duck]

I'll also toss keybindings into this thread. I know they must be a pain to lose (hasn't happened to me), but be glad you have them to begin with. Many games give few if any options when it comes to reassigning keys, axis, using button combos, etc. Flying in NMS or Subnautica (underwater) is a frustrating exercise of will for me, where it just happens naturally in ED thanks to the amazing flexibility Frontier has given us with our controllers, HOTAS, K&M, etc.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

They made the choice to have all instruments and option on a single HUD system and they are rolling with it pretty well.
The big lack in my opinin is the possibility to customize it. Not only in terms of colors but deciding what information are shown and what are hidden, in fact imho there are info shown that I don't care and there are other ones for me important there are missing.
I hope they will consider some degree of customization in the next future.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

I don't at all. Just had to use the inventory panel.. and its pretty obvious the person who made it has never played the game.

One of the most common features you use there isn't there anymore. The only way this could make sense is by someone thinking about a ui in theory fron scratch.

You'd have to play the game to know that it was there to put back, and then to know that its the first thing you do to drop cargo.

Its honestly tough to be interested any more than the disk space it takes up when you see stuff like this.

And this patch was supposed to improve accessibility... I guess if the scaling thing from the commodities interface is also missing.. just wow. I think i need a white knight to make me feel better because fact and logic is really alarming.

 

[Stigbob]

I'm enjoying the upgrade. The help buttons are nicely unobtrusive for old space-dogs and the pilots handbook seems a very sensible addition.

 

[Bigmaec]

I don't at all. Just had to use the inventory panel.. and its pretty obvious the person who made it has never played the game.

One of the most common features you use there isn't there anymore. The only way this could make sense is by someone thinking about a ui in theory fron scratch.

You'd have to play the game to know that it was there to put back, and then to know that its the first thing you do to drop cargo.

Its honestly tough to be interested any more than the disk space it takes up when you see stuff like this.

And this patch was supposed to improve accessibility... I guess if the scaling thing from the commodities interface is also missing.. just wow. I think i need a white knight to make me feel better because fact and logic is really alarming.

Which feature? I wanted to get rid of 300 limpets and was missing the left-click drop all feature, which was dropped, but it accelerates reasonably fast, so I ditched the bug report I wanted to write.

Regarding topic: what do you miss with Subnautica, Duck? It's a long time since I played but I was at over 300 hours, completed twice and wasn't really missing something? Just curious, because I really love that game.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Which feature? I wanted to get rid of 300 limpets and was missing the left-click drop all feature, which was dropped, but it accelerates reasonably fast, so I ditched the bug report I wanted to write.

Yes, that feature. If this gets set right, i'll admit that i'm wrong There are many ways to get by, its just a matter of confidence.

 

[Watcher]

I tend to agree, the HUD and UI are generally pretty good - difficult to get right as more stuff is being added and people (like me) keep calling for additional information and options.
Sound is great, love the sound of things from the little UI bleeps to engines noises and the audio hints on planets in the FSS. Shouldn't forget the music too - I'd turned this off previously (to better hear the SRV scanner) but the recent updates reenabled it and I've not been sorry about that.

 

[GormDeGamle]

The UI overhaul with this update is generally very good.
Sure there are a couple of minor problems (eg. font for "number of jumps" not very readable in VR or low resolution) - but all in all it's fine.
Especially the Commodities Market ist much more usefull now - it's simple to earn some extra cash while doing mission runs...
Very cool!

 

[Helvellyn]

Regarding topic: what do you miss with Subnautica, Duck? It's a long time since I played but I was at over 300 hours, completed twice and wasn't really missing something? Just curious, because I really love that game.

I know it wasn't me you were asking but the biggest problem with Subnautica's UI for me is that it shoves the PDA an inch off your nose in VR.

I do like (most) of ED's UI though, the only shortcomings being in having to step through the menus for a few things like launching the fighter (macros rely on things being in a certain state) and some map VR issues. The pop-up panels all feel smooth and intuitive and a natural part of the game rather than an interruption.

Considering the number of keymappings what I'm most surprised with is mentioned in the OP, working well with a controller. I've not played ED on any console so I don't know how it works but someone must've done a very good job to achieve what sounds like the impossible to me.

 

[Stealthie]

Erm, I dunno.

Overall, I like the way ED presents itself to the player and I like the new thing with "panes" rather than text representing options in menus.

Thing is ED is screaming out for consistency in all the various menus and options.

By all means, have the "game" menus and options presented in one way and the "flight" options presented in a different way.
I think that helps with immersion and differentiates between the two aspects of the experience.

It's within these two categories that it's all got tangled up though.
The main menus now have the orange "panes" but why am I seeing them in parts of a ship's HUD that doesn't use them everywhere?
Why do some menus force me to scroll up and down while others wrap-around from top to bottom?
Why do some menus have an on-screen "back" button while others don't?
Why do I need to use a cursor pad to access some menus while a mouse works in others?
Why don't the same controls apply to all menus?
Etc.

Somewhere in there is a great UI for both the game and the HUDs but it all needs untangling, standardising and all the extra guff needs removing.

 

[Hellakitty]

The UI is terrible. It's very much designed by someone who rarely, if ever, plays the game. It's inconsistent and at times just makes no sense.

The HUD is decent enough as a start point for a basic Sidewinder, but is missing variety between ship manufacturers and types. It's also crying out for the ability to customise, move panels around etc. and be very modular.

 

[sgurr]

Yes, that feature. If this gets set right, i'll admit that i'm wrong There are many ways to get by, its just a matter of confidence.

Unless it's changed in the last patch you can cycle backwards through your cargo numbers, so from 0 to your maximum value rather than counting up. Whichever button is set to go left through menus.

Oh, and I like the hud, and. for the most part the recent changes have improved things.

 

[Florenus]

The HUD is ok, but what I actually don't like is the fact all ships use the same design. I would love some variety in that regard, maybe some actual screens in some ships, because those half transparent holograms are sometimes difficult to read - In Type10- f.ex. side panels can be difficult to read when front thrusters are working - and there's actually no reason to have this weird table in front of pilot's seat, when it doesn't have any reason to exist (only serves as a backdrop for HUD), only obscures the view.
I don't believe it will change, sadly - it's easier to have one design for everything.

 

[Old Duck]

Regarding topic: what do you miss with Subnautica, Duck? It's a long time since I played but I was at over 300 hours, completed twice and wasn't really missing something? Just curious, because I really love that game.

Subnautica is an AMAZING game, but it's interface is clunky, at least on consoles. Examples include adding items from my inventory to my "quick use" bar, being forced to use the same controls for walking as I do for "flying" (vehicles), my PDA functions not working with my reassigned buttons (I use L1 and R1 for my hands, which conflict with the PDA function select), etc. It feels like much of the interface was designed with K&M in mind and was never properly thought out for the DS4 controller. ED, on the other hand, deserves an award for how well it integrates very complex functions into my controller, especially things like gyroscopic head look, touch pad use, and of course ease-of-use with HUD.

ps - I'm basing this post on the HUD / UI from before the April update. I've not even bothered downloading the latest update due to all the bugs (hence why I'm playing Subnautica right now).

 

[Tarman]

Subnautica is an AMAZING game, but it's interface is clunky, at least on consoles. Examples include adding items from my inventory to my "quick use" bar, being forced to use the same controls for walking as I do for "flying" (vehicles), my PDA functions not working with my reassigned buttons (I use L1 and R1 for my hands, which conflict with the PDA function select), etc. It feels like much of the interface was designed with K&M in mind and was never properly thought out for the DS4 controller. ED, on the other hand, deserves an award for how well it integrates very complex functions into my controller, especially things like gyroscopic head look, touch pad use, and of course ease-of-use with HUD.

ps - I'm basing this post on the HUD / UI from before the April update. I've not even bothered downloading the latest update due to all the bugs (hence why I'm playing Subnautica right now).

I like Subnautica but I found the interface to be a bit weird when I first started, even on PC. Some things just didn't flow for me; I was always using stuff I didn't want to use, equipping and unequipping things unintentionally. Took a while for it to settle in.

Still not as bad as Skyrim though; that was the opposite for me. It was completely console-based menus. I had to wait it out till the community spun up a real PC-based interface. Can't imagine Beth games without Beth modders.

For the vast amount of stuff plugged into any given version of Elite it's pretty amazing that it works for practically all of it. Pretty sure if hamsters had USB compatibility you could use them as an input device.

 

[Darkfyre99]

They made the choice to have all instruments and option on a single HUD system and they are rolling with it pretty well.
The big lack in my opinin is the possibility to customize it. Not only in terms of colors but deciding what information are shown and what are hidden, in fact imho there are info shown that I don't care and there are other ones for me important there are missing.
I hope they will consider some degree of customization in the next future.

^^^
This.

I would love to be able to check out the information about a planet without having to go to a separate screen to view it. Let me be able to bring it up on the right hand panel, similar to how you can pull up faction information.

 

[Helvellyn]

Good point raised above about it being the same on all ships. Logically I could see standardisation like that happening but it does make them all look a bit samey, which is a pity considering some of the increasingly great cockpit work that doesn't get seen often.