HUD - instrumentation and colour change....

[Gemat]

This is my first "I wish" post after playing the game from day 1.


I was thinking about it since then, but I expected that someday after an update or a patch it would be taken care of...


I am talking about the heads-up display instrumentation of the cockpit. And although I admit it is practical, it is not at all immersive.


I would like parts of the information and indications to be integrated on the dashboard or each ship instead of hovering over it. Just the moving stuff like targets and ammo paths should be on HUD.


I would like a massive and expensive ship to have more detail and better designed instruments than a small and cheap one. A sidewinder cannot have the same HUD with an Anaconda.


I would like a more aggressive vivid coloured Fighting mode, a relaxed dark Exploration mode, a utility Trading mode with emphasis on the things needed for the certain task. I think of it like getting out of a pickup truck and entering a sports car driver's seat.


I would like different ship constructors to have a different approach to their instrumentation, not massive but distinctive. A Saud Kruger cruiser ship cannot share the Core Dynamics battle oriented ideas...


I understand that it would make the game a bit more complex, but most of the players after all those years are pretty experienced to adopt to a change and maybe like me a bit bored of the same HUD after thousands of hours on the CMDR's seat....

CMDRs already try to customize their panel colours, a thing that screams that they need some kind of change.

To be honest I cannot complain about "hollow" updates like some I see in other games. All updates Frontier gives us add gaming content, but I think it is time for some radical HUD change.

 

[Sylow]

I would like parts of the information and indications to be integrated on the dashboard or each ship instead of hovering over it. Just the moving stuff like targets and ammo paths should be on HUD.

A lot of effort and not logical. I see how this could be more beautiful, but it would require a complete rework of all cockpits. While at the same time it contradicts all aviation development. The trend is to put all essential windows head up, and only put secondary information head down. The games equivalent of head down are the side panels.

The distribution is not perfect, but it works. What actually would be a good upgrade would be to actually also have a helmet mounted display. Having weapon crosshairs, shield and hull status, speed and heat on a helmet mounted display would make so much sense. The difference would mostly be noticeable when you use a head tracker or are VR: moving your view away from straight forward currently just always hides some essential information.

I would like a massive and expensive ship to have more detail and better designed instruments than a small and cheap one. A sidewinder cannot have the same HUD with an Anaconda.

Except we have no instruments. We have a standartised HUD. Think along the line of "according to pilots federation requirements the HUD needs to display this information at this location" and you are already very close.

I would like a more aggressive vivid coloured Fighting mode, a relaxed dark Exploration mode, a utility Trading mode with emphasis on the things needed for the certain task. I think of it like getting out of a pickup truck and entering a sports car driver's seat.

Custom hud colors would be very welcome. FD could make some good money by offering them in the store. I'd really like that. (Changing the config files is not cutting it. It's a blanket change which also results in elements changing color, where you wouldn't want to change it. )

 

[Psychomorph]

I could play Elite Dangerous without HUD all the time, because the cockpit looks more immersive without the gamey HUD. I could never understand the appeal of holo HUD's. In Star Citizen they are drawn unreadable by bright backgrounds all the time, in ED sometimes, too.

As much as I'd love MFD's, but in Elite Dangerous it is never going to happen. I find it frustrating that arcade space games, such as Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Wings of Saint Nazaire and No Man's Sky are having MFD's and more space-sim orientated games have holo's.


Only thing I'd wish is if you could change the brightness of the projections (crosshair, markers, etc) and the holo dashboard elements separately, because if the crosshair has optimal brightness, the whole dashboard is glowing too brightly.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

Some good ideas, and I think players would appreciate more variation in the HUD.

I don't think however that many people are going to agree on the same change in arrangement of "instruments", so I would suggest perhaps, as others have before, some ability to move things around, and add and remove optional components to create custom HUD profiles, including with custom colour schemes that don't mess up indicators and avatar pics.

It would be nice as well if, as you suggested, different manufacturers had different looking HUDs. As Sylow pointed out, it's a Pilot's Federation standardisation thing that all ships must display certain information in a certain way, but that doesn't mean that each component has to look identical across manufacturers and ships. The same components of the HUD can be drawn differently and retain the same functionality, and that would at least create a visual distinction between manufacturers, to accent their respective stylistic differences.

As for distinguishing more expensive ships, I think that can be solved by adding new items. Basically, the Sidewinder, which is the most basic ship, will come with the most basic HUD, which includes everything the Pilot's Federation deems mandatory, and nothing more. More expensive ships will, as standard, have other selectable but non-essential HUD components, like for example:

-Proximity Level Indicator: Uses a visual aid to tell you how close you are to other objects, instead of just a proximity or impact warning.
-Media Player: Plays GalNet news, Codex lore, and hopefully local audio files, all controlled directly from your HUD/dash, not a panel.
-5 square cross camera: 5 small screens arranged like a cross, with the centre screen being rear camera, left being left facing, right being right facing, top being top facing, and bottom being bottom facing.
-Landing pad screen: A large screen that pops up in the centre of the HUD when landing, which displays directional guidance arrows with distances.
-Updated Radar: Same radar but with additional features, such as an arrow line that joins from the centre to the blip of the ship you're targeting so you can track it more easily, and the ability to turn off all other blips except your target, and add grid lines.
-Gibberish Code Panel: For people who like "Hackers" type scenes, a novelty panel that generates gibberish computer code corresponding with communications, data scanning, and all types of scanning really. It could also be used by game designers to insert hidden clues or riddles to mysteries, such as Raxxla, that could be triggered by going to certain areas or performing certain actions.

Those are just some ideas off the top. It may also be possible to purchase those additional components for smaller or less expensive ships, or it could be kept restricted to higher tier vehicles.
Alternatively, as an additional incentive for Frontier to actually develop these things, they could be instead purchased from the online store, as things a little more interesting to have than bobble heads, lights, and letters.

+1 overall.