Odyssey - Optimisation/Performance and UI (Galaxy & System Map) Feedback
My thoughts on the new UI:
-alignment of the visual of buttons and the actual hit box to click seems to be off for me, vast majority of the time when I am in the concourse areas.
-I freaking love the new search button feature.
-Id really like to have an option to keep the new search features with the Old UI
-alignment of the visual of buttons and the actual hit box to click seems to be off for me, vast majority of the time when I am in the concourse areas.
-I freaking love the new search button feature.
-Id really like to have an option to keep the new search features with the Old UI
Overall thoughts – The outfitting and the galaxy/system map UI are now overly complicated but the station services and mission board are actually better than it was before.
Specific Issues – As mentioned the UI for outfitting and galaxy/system map are now overly complicated, non intuitive and require too many clicks to do something or get the information needed, while in Beyond you could do the same thing and get more information in very few clicks and there was a lot more information present on a single screen. The new outfitting screen is too confusing,non intuitive and hard to use, some players even reported selling stored modules by mistake.
Suggested Fixes for the Issues – Either revert it to the old UI but with whatever new information Odyssey requires or redesign the new UI based on the old style. Honestly the old UI was really good and easy to use.
Specific Issues – As mentioned the UI for outfitting and galaxy/system map are now overly complicated, non intuitive and require too many clicks to do something or get the information needed, while in Beyond you could do the same thing and get more information in very few clicks and there was a lot more information present on a single screen. The new outfitting screen is too confusing,non intuitive and hard to use, some players even reported selling stored modules by mistake.
Suggested Fixes for the Issues – Either revert it to the old UI but with whatever new information Odyssey requires or redesign the new UI based on the old style. Honestly the old UI was really good and easy to use.
Aside from some of the other complaints here are a couple of mine:
1. You cannot use the key that moves horizontally across tabs to access the center search box, you have to mouse over and click to focus.
2. You HAVE to use the mouse to select an item from the list when you have an exact match. Previously I could use the key to move to the search tab, press ctrl v, and return to have search fire. Now I need to always include the mouse.
1. You cannot use the key that moves horizontally across tabs to access the center search box, you have to mouse over and click to focus.
2. You HAVE to use the mouse to select an item from the list when you have an exact match. Previously I could use the key to move to the search tab, press ctrl v, and return to have search fire. Now I need to always include the mouse.
Overall thoughts – Generally I like it, I like the new search (though a search history would be good) - There are a few issues, but this is obviously an attempts to resolve them.
Specific Issues –
1. You cannot select 'Plot Route' directly from a bookmark. This means you have to go in system, or down to planetary level to route to some bookmarks.
2. When plotting a fleet carrier, if there are no slots, you get dropped out of the galactic map and have to start from scratch.
Suggested Fixes for the Issues –
1. Have a button beside each bookmark saying 'plot route', for planets, stations and planetary items have an option 'open map' that opens the correct map type (system or planetary) without having to go to the system on the galactic map, open it, find the right planet, open the planetary map before you can find what you need.
2. Have a message come up in the map for the fleet carrier, with out moving from the current position in the map, also have an option to show systems with no fleet carrier slots. so it is easier to find one with slots. Possibly in 'User View Data' (Contains Fleet Carrier (any number above 0), No Fleet Carriers, Free Slots, no Free Slots could be the options)
Specific Issues –
1. You cannot select 'Plot Route' directly from a bookmark. This means you have to go in system, or down to planetary level to route to some bookmarks.
2. When plotting a fleet carrier, if there are no slots, you get dropped out of the galactic map and have to start from scratch.
Suggested Fixes for the Issues –
1. Have a button beside each bookmark saying 'plot route', for planets, stations and planetary items have an option 'open map' that opens the correct map type (system or planetary) without having to go to the system on the galactic map, open it, find the right planet, open the planetary map before you can find what you need.
2. Have a message come up in the map for the fleet carrier, with out moving from the current position in the map, also have an option to show systems with no fleet carrier slots. so it is easier to find one with slots. Possibly in 'User View Data' (Contains Fleet Carrier (any number above 0), No Fleet Carriers, Free Slots, no Free Slots could be the options)
Suggestions:
In horizons I often set the map to commodity mode to plot route to stations directly from galaxy map. This functionality should be available from galmap in any mode, preferably as a toggle to switch when needed.
We should be able to purchase system maps of inhabitated systems when docked at a station.
In horizons I often set the map to commodity mode to plot route to stations directly from galaxy map. This functionality should be available from galmap in any mode, preferably as a toggle to switch when needed.
We should be able to purchase system maps of inhabitated systems when docked at a station.
Hi Bruce.
Here's my feedback.
I play in VR so first of all there is a very long time standing bug in the FSS that needs to be fixed. It was acknowledged and voted 2 years ago in the Issue Tracker.
The moons orbit lines are completely missing. The lack of these lines is really disorientating when for example a gas giant has a lot of moons around it.
https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/204
In the galaxy map the buttons on the left and right are a bit confusing. Everything should be on the same side.
There are issues plotting routes.
- If I target a specific station in my bookmarks from the galaxy map it only plot a route to the system of the station and not to the station.
- If I plot a route to a far star (3-4 jumps or more), if I stop to an intermediate POI on a planet during my journey, I completely lose the original plot. Even if I go back in the galaxy map the plot is completely lost.
Without repeating what has already been summed up by other commanders, I will just add these specific things:
- Count the number of clicks, and mouse movements/controller movements, required to perform any task. If the number of movements + clicks is more than it was (in Horizons) then the GUI is less user friendly.
- To find out information about "things" (eg:deciding if to swap a stored module that has engineering applied) is this information readily available in one place/screen, or do I have to go to different screens and perform some mental gymnastics?
- While testing your new / tweaked GUI remember that commanders will different input mediums - I personally use keyboard and mouse. As such, I expect to be able to click "anything" and if it can be activated via a button press, it should also work via a mouse click. There should be no difference. Example: The terminals in EDO stations allow you to walk to them, but once you initiate a connection to the terminal your mouse no longer functions - you can only navigate via button pressing. That is poor design.
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I must say, I love the search box, I can write there just the station name and I don't need to search via system => station. But a "plot route" for that search is missing for me. (Or if there is any, it's hidden, I can't see it) 
Suggested fix: Add an icon of "routing" to every found item via searchbox, so you can go right there as you searched the station.
Suggested fix: Add an icon of "routing" to every found item via searchbox, so you can go right there as you searched the station.
About the Galaxy and System map:
- Have an option to use legacy (Horizons) mode or Odyssey mode, it would be the quickest!
- IMHO the new Odyssey UI look worse, its now video-game like. Horizons interface was more science-looking, and fits more into the ED universe.
Overall thoughts – It seems overall more convoluted and hard to use. The search feature is better.
Specific Issues –
Using multiple filters in Galaxy map - Does it actually work? For instance, sorting Federal worlds only, but over a certain size, that have a certain economy. Seems you can only combine one filter with the size (population) filter and it is not very intuitive.
Click to route - It is very hit and miss. Where you have to click seems to be off center and holding the click seems to reset.
System map from Galaxy Map - It took me like 5 minutes of trying to figure out where the System map button in the Galaxy map was, only to discover it was missing entirely because I hadn't gone to that system. Honestly. The button should be there, just grayed out, and when you mouse over you could get a contextual message telling you that you do not possess the data.
Suggested Fixes for the Issues –
Using multiple filters in Galaxy map - Allow combining more filters. Also, reset button for those filters would be great (so it shows everything again rather than whatever you have selected).
Click to route - This is more a functionality issue. No suggestions other than to make it work better. I feel that with Odyssey I am fighting more against the UI than enemy pilots/combatants.
System map from Galaxy Map - The button should be there, just grayed out, and when you mouse over you could get a contextual message telling you that you do not possess the data. If the button is missing, it leads to you trying to look around everywhere trying to find it.
Unrelated last note
Honestly, system and galaxy map issues are completely minor and bearable considering how bad the Outfitting situation is.
Specific Issues –
Using multiple filters in Galaxy map - Does it actually work? For instance, sorting Federal worlds only, but over a certain size, that have a certain economy. Seems you can only combine one filter with the size (population) filter and it is not very intuitive.
Click to route - It is very hit and miss. Where you have to click seems to be off center and holding the click seems to reset.
System map from Galaxy Map - It took me like 5 minutes of trying to figure out where the System map button in the Galaxy map was, only to discover it was missing entirely because I hadn't gone to that system. Honestly. The button should be there, just grayed out, and when you mouse over you could get a contextual message telling you that you do not possess the data.
Suggested Fixes for the Issues –
Using multiple filters in Galaxy map - Allow combining more filters. Also, reset button for those filters would be great (so it shows everything again rather than whatever you have selected).
Click to route - This is more a functionality issue. No suggestions other than to make it work better. I feel that with Odyssey I am fighting more against the UI than enemy pilots/combatants.
System map from Galaxy Map - The button should be there, just grayed out, and when you mouse over you could get a contextual message telling you that you do not possess the data. If the button is missing, it leads to you trying to look around everywhere trying to find it.
Unrelated last note
Honestly, system and galaxy map issues are completely minor and bearable considering how bad the Outfitting situation is.
UI
Overall thoughts – Too many sub-menus and clicks necessary to find relevant info. There's still no proper filter system for Fleet Carriers in System Map (and Nav Panel)
Specific Issues –
System Map:
Suggested Fixes for the Issues – clear and concise, directly linked to the issues
System Map:
Overall thoughts – Too many sub-menus and clicks necessary to find relevant info. There's still no proper filter system for Fleet Carriers in System Map (and Nav Panel)
Specific Issues –
System Map:
- Fleet Carrier pearl chains still exists and make looking for a specific carrier (e.g. the own) a pain in the thrusters
- Previously easy to access (necessary) information (e.g. Biological and Geological Sites on a planet) are now hidden behind new sub-menus
- It's not easy to understand on which landable planets with atmosphere I can actually disembark
- Hovering over a star does not show star class and type, but requires another click
- Selecting a star and then (accidentally?) clicking on Market Information (right below "System Information") will switch map modes and all stars disappear. I need to reactivate "Realistic Mode on the opposite side of the screen to get my stars back
- Bookmark folders are nice, but I need to make my own folders (e.g. in a specific region I have systems with brain trees bookmarked for later use. I'd like to make my own bookmark folder for "Potential Guardian Sites")
Suggested Fixes for the Issues – clear and concise, directly linked to the issues
System Map:
- Introduce filters for fleet carriers in the system map (and Nav Panel): Show all Fleet Carriers, Show MY Fleet Carrier, Show SQUAD Fleet Carriers, Show FRIEND Fleet Carriers, Show accessible Fleet Carriers (e.g. docking permitted). In this case don't mind a sub-menu
- Make relevant planetary info easily accessible without using additional submenus (e.g. one click on the planet shows POIs)
- Show some sort of indicator if I can currently disembak on a specific planet by clicking on it
- Re-introduce basic information (type and class of a star) by simple hovering with the cursor over it
- allow us to make our own bookmark folders
Well, I join in asking for a less obscured UI in general. In comparison to Horizons you'd have to forward way more clicks, than before. The most prominent example, for me personally, is how the shipyard is working now. You're forced to constantly move back and forth through pretty much any of the shipyard UI instances, if you're interested in detail or comparison info. I gave up at one point, and just did it on pen and paper, or refering to 3rd party tools, which unfortunately in some cases, are broken as well. But that's not Frontiers responsibility I guess.
This impression should be specially siginificant, because I played Horizons for only a week or so.
Also, average fps in Horizons in space 140-200(RTX 3070), now is 80-140. Performance in stations significantly dropped as well, ranging anywhere from 60-90 fps, where it was stable 140 most of the time before. However, it's worth mentioning, that this does not affect gameplay at all, because my eyes do not really notice the difference between 80 and 140fps. They prolly would if perf. is dropping below 40-50 fps.
One thing I do however notice, is rendering lag during intial build up, when you enter a new room, or change location from inside your ship, to disembark etc. This is also not game breaking, but it is a significant, and noticeable difference to Horizons in rendering performance.
This impression should be specially siginificant, because I played Horizons for only a week or so.
Also, average fps in Horizons in space 140-200(RTX 3070), now is 80-140. Performance in stations significantly dropped as well, ranging anywhere from 60-90 fps, where it was stable 140 most of the time before. However, it's worth mentioning, that this does not affect gameplay at all, because my eyes do not really notice the difference between 80 and 140fps. They prolly would if perf. is dropping below 40-50 fps.
One thing I do however notice, is rendering lag during intial build up, when you enter a new room, or change location from inside your ship, to disembark etc. This is also not game breaking, but it is a significant, and noticeable difference to Horizons in rendering performance.
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Overall thoughts:
The UI revamp in the G/S Maps is understandable and looks like an aesthetic upgrade that's keeping up well with the progression of the game. But now every task the UIs and menus are useful for must be carried out with extra clicks, rather than streamlining for efficiency (which is what a UI revamp is usually designed for).
EDIT: The system search box is brilliant. System names are so numerous and similar to one another; it's great to have a way to search that has a bit of leniency.
Specific Issues:
Suggested Fixes for the Issues:
The UI revamp in the G/S Maps is understandable and looks like an aesthetic upgrade that's keeping up well with the progression of the game. But now every task the UIs and menus are useful for must be carried out with extra clicks, rather than streamlining for efficiency (which is what a UI revamp is usually designed for).
EDIT: The system search box is brilliant. System names are so numerous and similar to one another; it's great to have a way to search that has a bit of leniency.
Specific Issues:
- The ability to plot a route directly to station/body is now completely removed and requires half a dozen to a dozen clicks rather than the original 3, not to mention considering the extended loading times now when swapping between G & S maps to accommodate for the removal of this feature. The issue is similar with the new mission location button and the below suggested solution would be the same.
- The removal of any UI text until a mouse hover makes it difficult to know where to navigate to unless you learn off what all the similar icons mean, adding to the steep (and unnecessary addition to the) learning curve of Elite which I assumed the team was trying to address rather than contribute to.
- It is not possible to see whether you are checking/unchecking the favourite option for a bookmark when editing its details.
- The segregation of bookmarks into different categories is understandable at a surface level but misunderstands the types of categories CMDRs would store their bookmarks in. Most players would group their bookmarks by items such as tourist locations, mining spots, mat traders, current best commodity trading stations, etc, rather than the type of location.
- Extra clicks are required to find out information that was previously a hover box, e.g star types, planet information, etc.
- Outfitting layout is wildly confusing - so much so that I've basically avoided trying to use it. How do I transfer in a stored module when looking at an empty slot in my option modules list?
Suggested Fixes for the Issues:
- A simple addition in the bookmarks menu to add a button to plot directly to the bookmark would be sufficient. A real treat would be to add favourited bookmarks directly to the Navigation panel in-cockpit (this would eliminate the need to spend too much extra time in the G/S maps when CMDRs are travelling between frequently used systems.)
- Adding a little extra text to the UI to categorise the map screens a little more would lead the eye to the relevant places to operate with, without so much exploring, adding to the unnecessary time figuring out the UI every time.
- Adding a checkbox/star/etc. in the editing window of a bookmark to show whether you just added/removed a bookmark from favourites.
- Adding custom categories to the bookmarks menu would immediately solve the final issue. Ideally, with as fewer clicks as possible (so adding folders and sub-folders is less efficient than category separators that show multiple categories at the same time.)
- Simply opening the information panel (which would have originally required a click) when hovering over a body/station.
- Honestly, what was wrong with the original outfitting screen?
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performance wise it is running well on my system in either 2d @4k or in VR but odyssey just feels limp and lifeless and there is no inspiration to go scarabing over a planet to get to a high peak then get out on foot , sorry frontier it feels like you just cocked this one up after so many successes and im not interested in twitch shooters which unfortunately odyssey looks like where i can stick apex legends on the daughters pc and odyssey on mine and theres not a lot in it looks wise
the UI is terrible to me , outfitting in odyssey seems to be a non ending loop and also once you finish outfitting in VR and try to exit it you are left with no buttons and simply an outside view of the ship , i have to exit game to menu and then open the game again
the new star map is quite good but feels like a sidestep rather than an improvement , using it in VR means you have to press to exit it with about 10 downpresses on a hat switch if using a warthog ... why should we kill expensive hardware when the exit button should be located better for that screen ?
as the chap above mentions being over a star doesnt display details like it used to and needs additional presses which means more scrolling , and the fleet carriers all being parked all over means navigation is just a long boring scroll now but that applies to elite and horizons as well as odyssey in the nav panel ... but thats where you need fast intuitive scrolling when your fuel scooping and looking for the stations
go back to basics and get the basics right first ... then do the funky stuff
the UI is terrible to me , outfitting in odyssey seems to be a non ending loop and also once you finish outfitting in VR and try to exit it you are left with no buttons and simply an outside view of the ship , i have to exit game to menu and then open the game again
the new star map is quite good but feels like a sidestep rather than an improvement , using it in VR means you have to press to exit it with about 10 downpresses on a hat switch if using a warthog ... why should we kill expensive hardware when the exit button should be located better for that screen ?
as the chap above mentions being over a star doesnt display details like it used to and needs additional presses which means more scrolling , and the fleet carriers all being parked all over means navigation is just a long boring scroll now but that applies to elite and horizons as well as odyssey in the nav panel ... but thats where you need fast intuitive scrolling when your fuel scooping and looking for the stations
go back to basics and get the basics right first ... then do the funky stuff
One thing I'd love to have is the info panel to actually give me info about the selected target. Right now, I need to dive into the system map, search through "Points of Interest" and at the end, it won't even give me the location of the settlement.
This way I can look up if the target is of any interest to me >>
This way I can look up if the target is of any interest to me >>
My first post. Yay?
My thoughts come from a slightly different angle from the majority, as I'm less concerned with the performance, which I'm sure will be remedied in the future. I'm far more concerned with the UI -- which is perfect for this thread.
Overall thoughts
Depressing. After experiencing the Odyssey UI, I haven't even been able to play Horizons, knowing that these changes will be rolled into it at some point. This cloud of doom has affected my enjoyment of the game as a whole.
Specific Issues
I am primarily a trader. I don't do combat, I will probably never do the ground missions and I pretty much live in the navigation and mission UIs.
Others have given their thoughts on this, so won't repeat them here.
My only contribution would be for you to create a community testing server, so gameplay affecting changes can be dogfooded by the community before going live. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular, a 50 ly bubble with every ship/component set to 1CR and no normal user data so everyone logging in that week would have to recreate their account would suffice. This would go a massive way towards avoiding the current fiasco.
My thoughts come from a slightly different angle from the majority, as I'm less concerned with the performance, which I'm sure will be remedied in the future. I'm far more concerned with the UI -- which is perfect for this thread.
Overall thoughts
Depressing. After experiencing the Odyssey UI, I haven't even been able to play Horizons, knowing that these changes will be rolled into it at some point. This cloud of doom has affected my enjoyment of the game as a whole.
Specific Issues
I am primarily a trader. I don't do combat, I will probably never do the ground missions and I pretty much live in the navigation and mission UIs.
- I used to be able to set up my navigation while the ship was being raised from the lower dock. This is no-longer possible, meaning that it's wasted time i.e., effectively an unskippable cutscene watching your ship be raised, then the navigation screen appears, just when you don't want it to, as you're trying to leave the dock.
- Navigation to my destination used to be quick -- a few seconds to select my destination (see above). Now it's just a mess of clicks and confusion
- The mission UI is where I really spat the dummy, however. Unless I'm missing something, you can't complete a mission in the same place you hand the mission in, and every time you hand the mission in there's another useless screen, you have to escape out of. It honestly felt I was spending more time working with the mission screens than actually flying. It used to be so simple: Have goods -> hand goods in -> claim reward.
Now it's: Hand goods in (repeat for every mission you have active) exit screen, go into another screen, claim a reward then exit the 'hey you got X' screen (repeat for every mission you have active). I mean what?
Others have given their thoughts on this, so won't repeat them here.
My only contribution would be for you to create a community testing server, so gameplay affecting changes can be dogfooded by the community before going live. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular, a 50 ly bubble with every ship/component set to 1CR and no normal user data so everyone logging in that week would have to recreate their account would suffice. This would go a massive way towards avoiding the current fiasco.
Overall thoughts – There are some welcome additions, like partial name search and bookmark categories and editing, but overall it seems less efficient. It takes more clicks to get it to do what I want or get the information I want.
Specific Issues –
Specific Issues –
- You can no longer directly route to a bookmark if it's not on the map level you are currently viewing. Most commonly specific station on another system. Having to enter a system map, and perhaps as and additional step zoom to a planet, greatly reduces the convenience of using the bookmarks.
- In the system map, the information about the planets and stations felt more accessible before. Now it requires clicking around the right side buttons where the info is partitioned under various categories. This might be clearer, but feels much less efficient. galaxy map has similar issues, but less prominent. If I see a friend icon somewhere, I can't see which friend it is.
- Currently the time transitioning between system and galaxy maps is sometimes quite long. I have taken to using direct keybinds to exit the system map when I'm done with it.
- The jet cone boost routing is currently broken. This has been reported to the issue tracker, so no more about that.
- Making it so that you can click and hold the bookmarks to route to directly to the bookmark destination would greatly reduce the number of clicks required to route to bookmark destinations. Same functionality could be then added to the Points of Interest tab in the system map, making finding your way to the numerous Odyssey settlements faster.
- I can't really think a solution to the system map information accessibility problem besides reverting back to the old system map.
- Besides fixing the perfomace times, there should be a way through the interface to exit the system/galaxy map independent from the mode you originally entered. There should be also a way in the interface to move to the galaxy map even if you started with system map. Currently (and in the previous iteration too) there is only the 'Back' button. There should be 'Exit' instead and additionally 'Move to Galaxy Map' in system map.