[Multiple Suggestions] A selection of UI/HUD improvements

[Lateralus]

Here's a few ideas on how to make the player-experience a little less frustrating.


Usability

1. Secondary targeting reticle colour
Make the targeting reticle for the secondary fire group the same colour as the secondary fire circle (blue by default). It's easy to mix up the reticles currently and fire the wrong weapon.

2. Module damage feed
When modules take damage there should be some kind of info feed of this in the info panel which displays whats happening. Currently if a player is targeting your modules its hard to tell until they are dead, unless you keep checking the right side panel - which is a distraction in combat (especially PvP). Prioritise showing the ones targeted by your opponent.

3. Active counter measures
Highlight the Chaff/ECM/Point defence/Heat sink HUD label when the countermeasure is active - this is especially useful for chaff where it is not always obvious how long it is active for.

4. Shield strength numeric % value
Shield strength should be shown as a numeric percentage value somewhere on the HUD. It is hard to tell the rate at drop/recharge when your only clue is three rings and their swing from blue to red.

5. Crimes On/Off UI label
Show a light next to the cargo scoop/landing gear or on the info bar which highlights if crimes are on or not to the player. Maybe make it red instead of blue.

6. Player ships in the contacts menu
Currently players are shown by a hollow marker on the radar - could this same hollow maker be used to indicate players on the contact list panel (the little rectangle on the end of the bar would be perfect for this).

7. Show all player ranks upon basic scan
Ranks such as Trading, Exploration, CQC, Powerplay rating and the navy ranks should be shown in the left panel after a basic scan. Currently its impossible to tell if a player is a noob or not, as not enough info is given, only combat rank.

8. Manifest scanner upgrade to show missions
Scanning another ship with a manifest scanner should display to the user what missions the target currently has active and for what faction - this would enhance interfaction PvP warfare (even more once we get squadrons and if Powerplay goes open-only).

9. Target player logging out notification
When a targeted player uses the 'legitimate' way of logging out of combat, a message should pop up in the comms panel like when a friend logs-in or out. 'CMDR Weaksauce is logging out (15 seconds)'.

10. Wingman nav-lock
The key binding option for nav-locking to a wing-mate does not seem to work as consistantly as the wing menu option. Why does the nav-lock marker on the wing-mate icon often go red and non-responsive too? Could these be fixed?

11. Wing target order
Could the leader of a wing (first member) be able to set target orders for other wing-mates (highlight opponent with a gold crosshair icon).

12. Third party interdiction label/status
When an interdiction is occuring between two third parties in super-cruise, it should be shown on the HUD in some way.

13. Docking queue
When all pads are in use there should a docking queue system, which displays your place in the queue on the docking status overlay.

14. Fix navigation target vs contact target
If your navigation target is a station or surface base, switching to target a ship currently wipes your destination and defaults it back to the nearest planet/star - this is annoying, please retain station navigation target.

15. Galaxy map player traffic overlay
Using data from the system traffic report, a player traffic overlay option could be added to the galaxy map (as the data is already there, it seems quite wasteful that this is not used on the galaxy map already).


Cosmetic

1. Manufacturer HUD themes
Give each ship manufacturer a different HUD theme;

• Core Dynamics - Aggressive / angular (default colour red)
• Faulcon DeLacy - Bold / militaristic (default colour yellow)
• Gutayama - Clean / minimalistic (default colour blue)
• Lakon - Simple / utilitarian (default colour green)
• Saud Kruger - Benign / futuristic (default colour cyan)
• Zorgon Peterson - Slick / retro (default colour purple)

* Any ship could be reset back to the default HUD

2. HUD colour options
Give each ship manufacturer theme several HUD colour options.


Reply Suggestions

MadDogMurdock
1. Have the numbers in the Cargo column of the commodities screen a different colour or better still, Buy / Sell filters
2. Secretive Passengers need a warning indicator in the same place that the Illegal Passenger warning displays - obviously with a lower priority.
3. Bottom-left panel - Get rid of the approach information for landable planets and restore the same planetary info as for non-landable planets, but add in Materials % indicators, if known.

Eliza
1. Display details about scanned Bodies: terraformable yes/no, top 3 materials available (maybe more?) on that body, body-type for landable bodies
2. G-Force on the Planet-Surface that one could brace for impacts.

Rootsrat
1. Make the Info Panel (upper right display) interactive (scrollable), just as the comms panel. Sometimes there is a lot of info displayed on there (for example when collecting lots of materials) and it gets lost quickly.
2. Display more info about the target system in on the target part of the HUD (bottom left - NOT the panel, the dashboard HUD), like security level, allegiance, economy type.
3. Add option to clear comms panel and also block all incoming comms, including system messages (i.e. Commander X logged in) - useful for those that record scripted videos.

Falkner
1. Give a different "SLOW DOWN" Notification for when you are being SLOWED DOWN (I.e. In a gravity well of a planet) or when the computer is telling you to SLOW DOWN or you will overshoot your destination in supercruise. This will save a lot of confusion for newer players.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Have the numbers in the Cargo column of the commodities screen a different colour or better still, Buy / Sell filters

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Secretive Passengers need a warning indicator in the same place that the Illegal Passenger warning displays - obviously with a lower priority.

Bottom-left panel - Get rid of the approach information for landable planets and restore the same planetary info as for non-landable planets, but add in Materials % indicators, if known.

 

[Eliza]

Hey there!

Here my suggestions regarding "exploration":

Display details about scanned Bodies: terraformable yes/no, top 3 materials available (maybe more?) on that body, body-type for landable bodies...maybe I'll find more...

Yeah...uhm...G-Force on the Planet-Surface that one could brace for impacts.

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

Some great ideas there, I especially like 2 to 7 and 14. No. 6 has always been a puzzle to me why players weren't indicated this way to start with. Re No. 4 I am constantly looking down at the Role panel to check my shield % so it would be great to see it on the HUD just like hull %.

 

[rootsrat]

Awesome ideas! I will try to bring community managers attention to this thread, so it can be possibly passed further up the food chain

My suggestions:

1. Make the Info Panel (upper right display) interactive (scrollable), just as the comms panel. Sometimes there is a lot of info displayed on there (for example when collecting lots of materials) and it gets lost quickly.
2. Display more info about the target system in on the target part of the HUD (bottom left - NOT the panel, the dashboard HUD), like security level, allegiance, economy type.
3. Add option to clear comms panel and also block all incoming comms, including system messages (i.e. Commander X logged in) - useful for those that record scripted videos.

 

[Falkner]

Great ideas. I personally love the idea of a numerical shield value. Everything else is shown in percentages on the hud as well as the quick-look visuals, why is the thing keeping me from being shot with lasers just a blue ring? Its on the 3rd lower panel, but still in combat I'd like to be able to see that data more readily as I fly.

My HUD suggestion: Give a different "SLOW DOWN" Notification for when you are being SLOWED DOWN (I.e. In a gravity well of a planet) or when the computer is telling you to SLOW DOWN or you will overshoot your destination in supercruise. This will save a lot of confusion for newer players.

 

[varonica]

The are some good idea there, of course FDEV have said several times that playing with the HUD is a big job, so I expect we will get updates in a major update not a minor one, however having the manifest scanner reveal missions? That just doesn't fit with the theme, manifest = cargo

1.
a document listing a ship's contents, cargo, passengers, and crew, for the use of customs officers.

• a list of passengers or cargo in an aircraft.
  
  
  
• a list of the wagons forming a freight train.
  
  

But having the manifest scanner hack your computer to pull out mission data? No, my computer will be protected with the best anti-hack security the 33rd century can provide, it's just not a reasonable step from cargo scanning to computer hacking. So using a manifest scanner may be able to pull out details of my cargo but what's in my computer, or even just in my head (not going to put it on the computer if it's a secret mission) is not a goer.

 

[Luftwaffle_]

This is kinda 50% UI and 50% gameplay, but I'd like to see an improved filter/ignore list that lets us create custom filter presets for the Contacts tab and quickly switch between them. The current system is crap, if you want to reconfigure your filters you'll actually have to physically find the items you want to ignore before you can add them to the ignore list one by one (whoever thought this was a good idea should be executed in front of their family)... It doesn't even need an in-game filter creator UI, just make the game load the filter presets from XML files and the Contacts tab just has a menu that lets you switch between presets.

 

[Lateralus]

Thanks for your replies and further suggestions, I'll add them to the OP when I can.

The are some good idea there, of course FDEV have said several times that playing with the HUD is a big job, so I expect we will get updates in a major update not a minor one, however having the manifest scanner reveal missions? That just doesn't fit with the theme, manifest = cargo

But having the manifest scanner hack your computer to pull out mission data? No, my computer will be protected with the best anti-hack security the 33rd century can provide, it's just not a reasonable step from cargo scanning to computer hacking. So using a manifest scanner may be able to pull out details of my cargo but what's in my computer, or even just in my head (not going to put it on the computer if it's a secret mission) is not a goer.

It doesn't have to be the manifest scanner.. perhaps a new type? But the idea is sound, currently it is impossible to tell if someones is working against your faction (or Power soon) - this is a missed opportunity in my opinion. It shouldn't be dismissed out of hand because some players don't want added risk.

 

[Lucius-Darcia]

Heyho Lateralus, your ideas are generally good ones. Some are not, however, here is my reply for you

1. Secondary targeting reticle colour
Make the targeting reticle for the secondary fire group the same colour as the secondary fire circle (blue by default). It's easy to mix up the reticles currently and fire the wrong weapon.

I like that one! I was also already confused when using Canonns and PA's in the same firegroup which one i need now.

2. Module damage feed
When modules take damage there should be some kind of info feed of this in the info panel which displays whats happening. Currently if a player is targting your modules its hard to tell until they are dead, unless you keep checking the right side panel - which is a distraction in combat (especially PvP). Prioritise showing the ones targeted by your opponent.

I think that this one isn't necessary since we are not supposed to know, which subsystem our opponent is targeting. We get notifications if a module gets a malfunction in the right upper panel and from Covas. Players tend to subtarget FSD, Thrusters and PP.

3. Active counter measures
Highlight the Chaff/ECM/Point defence/Heat sink HUD label when the countermeasure is active - this is especially useful for chaff where it is not always obvious how long it is active for.

Hmm not bad at all. Like with the FSD cooldown. But not as circle, instead the line where ammo is showen. Would be quite good.

4. Shield strength numeric % value
Shield strength should be shown as a numeric percentage value somewhere on the HUD. It is hard to tell the rate at drop/recharge when your only clue is three rings and their swing from blue to red.

It does exist already, but a little bit hidden. In the lower panel where you also find SRV and fighters, if you select the helmet than there is showen the shield status in percentage. IMO mid-combat not necessary but that's a question of taste. Just my 2 cent here and nothing more.

5. Crimes On/Off UI label
Show a light next to the cargo scoop/landing gear or on the info bar which highlights if crimes are on or not to the player. Maybe make it red instead of blue.

Amen to that. Usefull one that i can fully support.

6. Player ships in the contacts menu
Currently players are shown by a hollow marker on the rader - could this same hollow maker be used to indicate players on the contact list panel (the little rectangle on the end of the bar would be perfect for this).

Correct me if i'm wrong, but even after a partially basic scan, cmdrs get in the contacts list the prefix "cmdr" which makes them clearely different from npc's there so.....IMO no need for this.

7. Show all player ranks upon basic scan
Ranks such as Trading, Exploration, CQC, Powerplay rating and the navy ranks should be shown in the left panel after a basic scan. Currently its impossible to tell if a player is a noob or not, as not enough info is given, only combat rank.

How do you define noob? If i wipe my safe, i'm harmless all the way and still being a very advanced combat pilot who will serve you with a heavy challenge. In combat it's not of interest if someone was scanning the road to riches or if he was able to jump between Sothis and Ceos back and forth

8. Manifest scanner upgrade to show missions
Scanning another ship with a manifest scanner should display to the user what missions the target currently has active and for what faction - this would enhance interfaction PvP warfare (even more once we get squadrons and if Powerplay goes open-only).

I fully support that. This is something that would make me use it. Sometimes i see random players in our area. Some of them respond cool and tell me about their business and we can arrange, some are pure.....wormholes.....
But knowing if someone os working against our faction or if he is just a bypassing....wormhole....could make the difference between rebuy screen or not
I like this one very much! At least the origin system for missions could be revealed.

9. Target player logging out notification
When a targetted player uses the 'legitimate' way of logging out of combat, a message should pop up in the comms panel like when a friend logs-in or out. 'CMDR Weaksauce is logging out (15 seconds)'.

Would be a nice QoL feature for better salt mining. I like it

10. Wingman nav-lock
The key binding option for nav-locking to a wing-mate does not seem to work as consistantly as the wing menu option. Why does the nav-lock marker on the wing-mate icon often go red and non-responsive too? Could these be fixed?

YESSSS PLEASE! A hotkey for navlock. Especially when jumping out it turns you instantly back if not turned of. So on-off-on-off-on-off via menu gets really annoying.

11. Wing target order
Could the leader of a wing (first member) be able to set target orders for other wing-mates (highlight opponent with a gold crosshair icon).

Since when do we have leaders in wings?
Ok seriously, in the settings you can bind hotkeys for the targets of your wingmembers. Also they are good visibly due to the markers on them. No need IMO because it already exists. Also....FD has given us an ingame possibility of voice comm to talk about strategys when in wing. It's activated by default and has to be deactivated if you don't want to. So there are plenty of possibilities to organise in wing

12. Third party interdiction label/status
When an interdiction is occuring between two third parties in super-cruise, it should be shown on the HUD in some way.

Could be nice. I for myself usually see it, when it happens but it does still sound like a nice QoL feature. As long as it is not again like in the bug where the whole system got interdicted...

13. Docking queue
When all pads are in use there should a docking queue system, which displays your place in the queue on the docking status overlay.

VERY NICE!!!!! I had an additional idea to that, against pad-blockers. If on outpost, and someone is sitting on the pad, he gets 5 minutes time to leave if someone else requests docking. If he does not, he will receive a fine. These fines should increase exponentially. Each time he receives a fine for blpcking the pad to another cmdr in same session, there shpuld be added a "0" to it.
Like first time 500 credits, second time 5000, third 50.000.....etc
No moar pad blocking!!!!!

14. Fix navigation target vs contact target
If your navigation target is a station or surface base, switching to target a ship currently wipes your destination and defaults it back to the nearest planet/star - this is annoying, please retain station navigation target.

You can scroll through your contacts with hotkeys for "next contact", "previous contact", "mext hostile contact" and also "highest thread".
This is what i am using when scanning ships in supercruise whilst approaching my destination.
You don't loose the target lock when using these hotkeys. Check your settings

15. Galaxy map player traffic overlay
Using data from the system traffic report, a player traffic overlay option could be added to the galaxy map (as the data is already there, it seems quite wasteful that this is not used on the galaxy map already).

Hmm....if someone needs it :| no opinion to that from me


Cosmetic

1. Manufacturer HUD themes
Give each ship manufacturer a different HUD theme;

• Core Dynamics - Aggressive / angular (default colour red)
• Faulcon DeLacy - Bold / militaristic (default colour yellow)
• Gutayama - Clean / minimalistic (default colour blue)
• Lakon - Simple / utilitarian (default colour green)
• Saud Kruger - Benign / futuristic (default colour cyan)
• Zorgon Peterson - Slick / retro (default colour purple)

* Any ship could be reset back to the default HUD

2. HUD colour options
Give each ship manufacturer theme several HUD colour options.

I am all the way up with you for real changeable colors. But i want to choose definitly myself. Red HUD hurts my eyes as same as orange [blah][down]
Everything else than blue i don't like. Professional color changing system to the HUD itself is welcome, but only if we can decide on our own how it should look like :x

I've expected at the start of my carrier, that the different manufacturers have some different styles of HUD. That is something that i'm still missing. Here i would also be with you.

All in all some very good ideas and clearly deserved Rep for that post [up][cool]

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but even after a partially basic scan, cmdrs get in the contacts list the prefix "cmdr" which makes them clearely different from npc's there so.....IMO no need for this.

I think the point is that the radar and the contacts tab are inconsistent. If players are marked as a hollow symbol on the radar, then why are they marked with a solid rectangle in the contacts tab?

 

[Lateralus]

Heyho Lateralus, your ideas are generally good ones. Some are not, however, here is my reply for you

snip

All in all some very good ideas and clearly deserved Rep for that post [up][cool]

Thanks Lucius-Darcia!

If I could counter a couple of your counters..

2. Module damage feed
When modules take damage there should be some kind of info feed of this in the info panel which displays whats happening. Currently if a player is targting your modules its hard to tell until they are dead, unless you keep checking the right side panel - which is a distraction in combat (especially PvP). Prioritise showing the ones targeted by your opponent.

I think that this one isn't necessary since we are not supposed to know, which subsystem our opponent is targeting. We get notifications if a module gets a malfunction in the right upper panel and from Covas. Players tend to subtarget FSD, Thrusters and PP.

PvP is very fast paced, and I don't think we should have to wait until we get a malfunction before we get an alert about a failing module - it should give a feed of a falling module % if it is falling at a faster rate than the others. Also Re COVAS, some people are hard of hearing - the information needs to be displayed visually too. As a pirate, this suggestion would normally go against me, but I realise its frustrating to suddenly have 0% FSD/Drives and only be told about it once they're shot out.

4. Shield strength numeric % value
Shield strength should be shown as a numeric percentage value somewhere on the HUD. It is hard to tell the rate at drop/recharge when your only clue is three rings and their swing from blue to red.

It does exist already, but a little bit hidden. In the lower panel where you also find SRV and fighters, if you select the helmet than there is showen the shield status in percentage. IMO mid-combat not necessary but that's a question of taste. Just my 2 cent here and nothing more.

It needs to be in the heads up position really so we can gauge the speed of drop/regen in real-time, otherwise its no more helpful than the rings IMO. I think staring down at the pilots crotch for too long while fighting might be a bad idea

 

[Azreh Helas]

I support this but don't have anything useful to add.

 

[Lateralus]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but even after a partially basic scan, cmdrs get in the contacts list the prefix "cmdr" which makes them clearely different from npc's there so.....IMO no need for this.

I think the point is that the radar and the contacts tab are inconsistent. If players are marked as a hollow symbol on the radar, then why are they marked with a solid rectangle in the contacts tab?

Yes Main Sequence is right, also the 'CMDR' names are only revealed after you scan them - while the hollow marker is available before scan. This would help everybody - defenders and attackers as it is helpful info to see who's around without having to use the comms panel or the history tab.

 

[CaptainCaboose]

I can't throw enough rep at the OP, all of this is awesome!

 

[NeilF]

Isn't there the age old one of having an indicator for if your flood lights are on or not?


And an old HUD one from my vaults - Show your current quantity/stock of materials - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/284783-SUGGESTION-Show-stock-of-material-Simple-change

eg:-

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Whilst fully understanding why these HUD changes are required, as an explorer I would prefer not to have my screen cluttered up with information that isn't relevant to the task I'm performing.

So I suggest that we have two or three HUD configuration options which can be switched between at will:

1. Combat
2. Exploration
3. Trading

The setting can be switched at any time, but the setting should be persisted by ship - so my AspX will always launch with the Exploration HUD, but my aChieftan will launch with the Combat settings.

 

[Pest]

Great ideas. While you're at it, fix the "back" button overlay mess (try to click the wrong "back" button with the mouse) e.g. in outfitting. As well as some highlighting irritations (e.g. remote workshop) where multiple fields appear to be the current position of the selection. Going left and right should be symmetric (main starport menu) but it is not. Mission board selections are a mess to. Especially when you use filters and have 11 missions the cursor jumps up and down etc.

 

[varonica]

Thanks for your replies and further suggestions, I'll add them to the OP when I can.



It doesn't have to be the manifest scanner.. perhaps a new type? But the idea is sound, currently it is impossible to tell if someones is working against your faction (or Power soon) - this is a missed opportunity in my opinion. It shouldn't be dismissed out of hand because some players don't want added risk.

Isn't that the entire point of smuggling? To get stuff in (or out) whilst avoiding the law (enemy PP players). If you can just point at any ship and instantly know if they are the enemy it immediately destroys a part of game play that some people may enjoy, smuggling. It simply shouldn't be possible to know what a person is doing from an external scan, deducing based on what cargo they are carrying or what they are doing yes, but knowing their intentions? It's just to much of a stretch for me. You can guess their intentions and let them go or not based on that, and of course take the risk of being wrong.

It's not added risk at all, it's a simplification of game play to make it easy to identify enemies by magic.