Odyssey - Optimisation/Performance and UI (Galaxy & System Map) Feedback

[LKx]

Specific Issues
- system map: the atmosphere overlay on planets where it's too dense to land just confuses things, clotting the interface without any useful purpose

Suggested Fixes for the Issues
- remove the atmosphere overlays on planets where you can't actually land on

 

[Ambient.Impact]

Overall thoughts
Some of it I like, but other parts I find baffling and requiring more steps than the previous UI.

Specific Issues

1. The inability to plot a route directly to a bookmarked location in a system from the galaxy map - unless I'm dumb and haven't figured it out yet, it seems to have been removed.
2. System map: the switch between map and orrery views feels weirdly out of place in that sidebar, as it feels like the rest of them are sub-menus that reveal more options, but this one jarringly switches the whole system map.
3. This one is pre-Odyssey, but I figured I'd include it just in case: at some point bookmarks went from blue icons to orange, and that's made the galaxy map harder to read because it's the same colour as several other icons, such as engineers and repairing starports.

Suggested Fixes for the Issues

1. Add back the ability to plot a route directly to a bookmark from the galaxy map. One suggestion I saw was to use the same hold to plot as other interactions, which I intuitively tried but didn't seem to work.
2. I would move the map and orrery mode changes to their own little panel somewhere along the top or bottom, so it's clear they have a distinct function, different from the various sub-menus.
3. Use a different colour that's not used by other icons; since blue seems to be taken now by missions, maybe some sort of purple?

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

I haven't run into major functionality issues with the maps yet. The first issue was first discovered on stars not showing, but that seems to be fixed.

One minor change that would make a huge difference imo is that selecting a body in the system map should automatically open the first right hand information panel like it does for selecting a system in the galaxy map. If you already have a right hand panel open on one body, it keeps that up switching to the next, which is how it should be. But the first time you select one in opening the map just brings up the right hand menu, and not the information with it.

 

[Nunorelvao]

Hey All,
If someone here has privilege's enough to post a new thread , i think this would make them think about performance..

AMD just announced yesterday FidelityFX Super Resolution , now that it seems they are willing to colaborate with Game developers to make this technology work into the main games.

https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-software-fidelityfx

As its announced its compatible with DX11 and almost all Graphics Cards oy there so should be workable for the ED engine. Now with just some effort and collaboration with AMD , they could do a much better performant engine! Even future proof for modern Consoles!

Dont tell me they cant dedicate a small team for this!

 

[Maolagin]

Fleet Carriers cannot jump to specific bodies as they do in Horizons.

If that one's not working for you, you might want to report it as a bug or open a ticket. Or try again later, as there's still occasional instability with carrier jumping. But generally speaking, jumping to specific bodies works as it always has if you select a body from the carrier navigation system map.

 

[VR Lucian Arkright]

1. The inability to plot a route directly to a bookmarked location in a system from the galaxy map - unless I'm dumb and haven't figured it out yet, it seems to have been removed.

I have found how to do this, by accident.

Apparently FDev think that the best place to put the option to plot a route to an in-system location is via 'manage bookmarks'.

Which I think highlights just how ridiculous the UI/UX is.

 

[Gully Foyle]

Greetings Commanders,

First of all, we’d like to thank all of you for supporting us throughout Odyssey’s development and at launch. For those of you who have access to the expansion and are able to play without issues, we hope you’re enjoying yourselves!

That said, we are aware of some commonly reported issues and will take this opportunity to address them. In this post, we’d like to specifically discuss optimisation and UI.

Optimisation and Performance

We’re aware that performance in Odyssey is varied according to PC builds and other factors. While many players are enjoying the game at the intended standard, unfortunately some are not.

If you are experiencing performance issues, here’s how to report them and include some especially useful information. Please send us as much information as possible to edoperformance@elitedangerous.com using the template below. To report any other issues, please go via the Issue Tracker as normal.

Please provide as much information as you can from a DXDiag report (see link for help)

Where were you in-game, and what were you doing? (Solo/Open, in Wing/group or not etc.)

Are you running Odyssey in borderless/fullscreen/windowed?

Are you running Odyssey in VR?

Do you have any other apps running at the same time?

Are you running any third-party shader suites?

In addition to the above, please send us your graphics configs. To do this:
1. Navigate to this file location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Graphics
2. Copy all folder contents to a ZIP file and attach it to your submission

We’d like to thank you in advance for submitting this information. Your reports will be invaluable in assisting our team and expediting performance fixes.

UI Feedback

We’re also keenly aware of feedback on several aspects of the updated User Interface in Odyssey. The comments on this topic have been followed closely since the beginning of the alpha phase and your feedback shared in our Alpha feedback forum has been gathered and collected. Your concerns over the ease-of-use and accessibility of these systems are being heard and passed to the development team.

While fundamental issues such as connection and performance remain a priority, we’d like to build a clear understanding of issues surrounding features such as UI to lay the groundwork for in-game improvements.

In this thread, we are looking specifically for feedback on the Galaxy and System Map UI. We have noted feedback on other UI elements, but would like to start with these in particular.

If you have feedback on the Galaxy and System Map in Odyssey, please leave it below in a reply using the following format:

Overall thoughts – please keep this brief (one or two sentences)

Specific Issues – clear and concise (bullet points are ideal)

Suggested Fixes for the Issues – clear and concise, directly linked to the issues

Please keep all replies to this post in the format above. Any discussion that is off topic or replying to other posts may be removed to keep the thread as useful as possible.

Thank You

Odyssey represents a huge change to Elite Dangerous at multiple levels. All of the teams across Frontier, are working hard to deliver an experience that meets a standard the community deserves.

On that note, thank you again for your support and patience. As soon as we have any more information regarding the points above, we’ll make sure to share it with you.

o7

Edit: please use the edoperformance@elitedangerous.com mailbox to report optmisation issues in Odyssey rather than the Issue Tracker.

Thanks Cmdr Gambit!

 

[londonx]

Lack of consistency
one small example, to close the menu on the left hand panel you have to click in the dead space on the map view (not intuitive) on the right hand panel you just click on the icon again to close its menu (far more intuitive):

 

[Jikesaijo]

1. Overall thoughts – overall good new UI but please consider as well to optimize the trading system ....
2. Specific Issues –
- cannot find faction in galaxy map
- in system map no clear distance to body information
- cannot rename in bookmark without deleting the system name
3. Suggested Fixes for the Issues
- add option to filter by faction
- display distance when selecting a body in the system map
- allow to rename without deleting current system name when adding in bookmark

 

[Pinhel]

Hi everyone. I will focus on usability only, as to improve user experience on my perception. I am sorry that it ended as a long text:

1- The search tool is in a terrible position, on top middle, semi transparent. Took me a damn while to find it and even so I have bad timing eye finding it. Why not put the lupe (magnifying glass) as one of the icons on the right? click and open with the history listed below?

2- If I click on a station or landmark bookmark I expect these reactions: If I hold down, it opens the system map and plot a rout straight to it. IT is kind of annoying to click on it to appear the star and to move the mouse 24 inches do the right to open the system map so pan the damn thing to find the station and then click and hold. To simple click, select the referred system and open a menu, please refer the next item. I would say click to open system map but I believe there are those who wishes simply to see the distance to the referred system only. I myself on some occasions. Please see item 4 below.

3- About number 2 single click, to make the whole system menu, that lays at right, as one of the multiple submenus that already compounds the left menu. The left menu has enough place to 2 more buttons, a search atop and a system at the end. So the system menu opens when you click the button or picks a system, by search or click on the map. So all mouse movement is more smooth, you don't need to cross the mouse all the screen all the time. Makes me feel better already imagining that. (I have RSI on the wrist)

3- We use big screens. To need to make multiples clicks to actually be able to see the information is annoying too. waste of click, time, frustrating. I do not get why the new generation loves so many clicks... I see that the map interface has lots of practical things, but the old one all the information was under 3 main menus, map, power play and whatever. Now there is always 2 or 3 clicks too reach the same things that we used scroll wheel to find. IT does not feel comfortable. Possibly numbers 1 to 3 above being addressed my personal feeling changes.

Tks for listening to us

 

[Pinhel]

I'm sorry but galaxy map and system map should not be the UI priority here. Outfitting should be.

I totally agree with you, but I guess it is one step at a time, starting probably with the most practical to be implemented.

 

[Mafiageek]

Basically the UI has too many icons. Too many sub menus. Would be nice to see planet data in one context box. Having a dual plot route and target interface would be good. Maybe designing the galaxy map and system map UI context around objects would be a good start.

 

[Mafiageek]

Ether you go back to the classic ui or rebuild from the ground up.

 

[AgtPA]

• You should be able to directly plot from bookmarks from the dropdown, as opposed to having to go into the bookmark manager
• When selecting systems or objects away from the center of the screen, the selection marker is offset
• In the system map, the map view button should be greyed out while in map view and vice versa with the orrery view button
• IMO, the points of interest button should be higher up in the list
  • Let us plot from that dropdown too

 

[LoneTech]

(Removed quote from wrong section, not sure how that happened.)

In response to a post stating outfitting is a higher priority than map:

Outfitting should simply be reverted. Map needed changes, at least for booking Apex. Apex UI flow is bad, anyhow; if a player is mistaken about a trip being local, why do we need to exit map and select the other booking type, rather than just switch to galaxy map? Why is "book apex to here" not available in the map generally? Why can't we use bookmarks or mission targets directly rather than in three steps (system, planet, settlement)?

 

[FrogsFriend]

Overall thoughts – I like the style of the new maps UI but just so many mouse clicks and pop-up menus to navigate to get to see useful information about objects.

Specific Issues – This is a case of having to go into the system map and hunt around multiple pop-up windows to find information that should be in the cockpit Nav Panel. When selecting a station/outpost/settlement/Megaship/etc. in the Nav panel you added a popup information window (added some time back in a Horizons update) but forgot to populate it with any information for most objects. Odyssey has only made this more apparent with the dozens of new settlements in every system.

Suggested Fixes for the Issues - please add information to the info pop-up; such as Faction, Threat level, Landing pad size, Facilities, Economy, BGS States, Distance. There's plenty of blank space to fill.

 

[bookmite]

* Galaxy map UI

whilst I find it clunky and not intuitive, it’s still very refreshing to have sections separated out, IF ONLY THEY WERE USEFUL ! as in routes plotted from the same icon. Body information icon needs to be made easier to find and see.

* Ship and station services UI

Personally I’m not having any issues with this. It just needs time to get used to it. The shipyard UI is still clunky and long winded often quicker to actually change ship to check the load out than hunt for the icons. Too much memory muscle required.

solution. Reduce size of the ship image and add a load out image, or add it on a tab

* overall

Apart from feeling embarrassed that you guys released it whilst still being in alph, and not even at this stage declaring it officially a beta .

I love the new graphics, the lighting needs tweaking, we would dearly love to see the planet tech and objects you guys have created .

love the missions and gameplay. HATE the grind levels implemented. Honestly it’s an overkill.

I applaud fdev for a very brave attempt at bringing ED up a few gears. I have Faith that they will listen to the community and fix these issues.

thanks for the hot fixes so far , and please communicate more and more, it’s the key to keeping your customers happy.

 

[crossxfire007]

Overall thoughts
I like the look of the new UI, it looks fresh and modern, however a lot of work needs to go into it, as there are functionalities from Horizons that are missing, plus the UX is pretty poor. But, overall I think this UI has the potential to be a worthy successor. I'm not going to list out everything I can think off, but here are a couple of specific improvements that can be made with the new click-and-hold functionality.

Specific Issue1: Unlike in the Galaxy map, when you click-and-hold to target an object that is not focused, the focus function is triggered. This results in an awkward situation where you are chasing the object with your mouse and then have to click-and-hold again to target it once it has centered.

Suggested Fix1: Click-and-hold should target the object, without triggering the focus to center action, just like it does in the Galaxy map.

Specific Issue2: When you mouseover on a star or body in either Galaxy map or system map, you can click-and-hold to target. When you use the keyboard keys to center over a star or body, you can hold spacebar to target. However, if you mouseover, you cannot hold spacebar to target. If you use the keyboard keys, you cannot click-and-hold to target. Keyboard and mouse players use both, for instance the most intuitive way for me, is to use the mouse to mouseover a star/body and use the spacebar to target, however this isn't possible right now.

Suggested Fix2: Click-and-hold and hold spacebar should not be mutually exclusive, it should be possible to mouseover and hold spacebar to target, as well as using keyboard keys to center a body/star and using your mouse to click and hold to target.

Specific issue3: Two of the most used functions is Plot Route and Add/remove Bookmarks. With the context pop up from horizons gone, the new UI requires the mouse to travel quite a distance to the right for these functions.

Suggested Fix3: I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but give us two more hotkeys, one for Plot route, another for Add/remove bookmarks. Alternatively, give us one new hotkey for Add/remove bookmark and set the default mouse right click to plot route. Right click-and-hold can still be reserved for camera actions.

 

[Firedrax]

On the outfitting UI, when equipping a module from storage the default should be to store old module not sell.

 

[Flippimonkey]

Every time I go into the load out menu to change things around for more than a minute I get a "Black Adder" error. Did report it.

I find the ship load out and module purchasing menu to be daunting. There is a section of it where I can select the slot and then it shows me what I can equip in it. However, it doesn't start out that way.

It would be easier to just have the module points selectable on the left with a diagram or a list (graphic diagram blueprint paper doll outline would be cooler) and then when selecting that point it shows what can be placed in it. Especially for module point that are locked, like power plant, thrusters, etc. Basically a paper doll like in RPG's. Also if there was just a simple tab to go into the storage or the store would be nice.

There should just be a "character menu" we can access to change / edit load outs for our characters. It should be locked when we are planet side cuz air and stuff, but aside from that it shouldn't matter. For customizing skins, I would add a tab in that menu as well.

You can't beat the classic paper doll. You can have the information on stats, cool blue print or graphics, and create a learnable common sense scheme.

Once that gets locked down then adding the same scheme to the SRV and Suit so we can buy modules and have more choices and flexibility in function for them.

There are a ton of terminals in the Space Stations and Bases. As it pertains to UI it would be fine to have NPC's and more rooms / locations that give out these standard missions. Especially in bases. Instead of having a bunch of terminals, have base Commanders and Leaders give missions. It would leave terminals for information and hacking purposes thus minimizing them to areas where relevant.

Adding the ability to accept missions from our ship while traveling close to station, even in super cruise, would be nice. I would add that to the comms menu in the upper left corner as a tab. We could travel near a station and pick up missions without having to land or dock, and they should be for general requests. They could be listed under a "Jobs Broadcast" and there is a check mark to accept. The title could be descriptive enough to get an idea, and once accepted the full briefing could be in the transactions menu.

If / when I think of more I will post it.