So judging by the latest newsletter ED is getting very close to release and overall i'm pretty happy with where its going in terms of VR, but I desperately feel that certain aspects of the game, most specifically the UI still need some love before then. So I figured i'd post my thoughts and suggestions here and see what others might think of them and if there are other aspects that need to be addressed. Based on the feedback I'll make a post in the suggestions forum.
This post is not about the stability or performance of ED using the Rift, those issues are assumed to be a given in terms of needed fixing and general upkeep. I'm more interested to ensure the experience isn't diminished.
1.0 UI - Left Hand Info panel - Galaxy / System / OutFitting
This is probably one of the most problematic UI elements that has yet to be addressed by frontier. Even moving ones head to get closer doesn't really help. There are two main issues here, firstly that the panel (like most others) is stuck facing forward, meaning that when you rotate your view to look at it, it gets foreshortened and filtered making it even harder to read. Secondly its way too far off to the left.
My proposal here for a simple fix is two-fold. Firstly move it in towards the center of the screen a little, secondly and more importantly it should be angled towards the origin of the viewpoint, that means instead of always facing forward, it is turned 30-45 degrees towards where you are looking from. This would mean if you turned your head to face it, the whole of the panel would be straight on towards your view, instead of always facing forward. Whilst its impossible to know for sure, I feel that both of these would greatly enhance its readability and leaning into it would improve it even more.
2.0 UI - Spaceport Services
The problem with this one is similar to above, except here its issue is that its so wide that the left and right extents are relatively speaking far away from the viewer. It also suffers from facing straight forward.
My proposal here would be to simply curve the display around the user, thereby ensuring the left and right extents curve round and are closer to the viewer. This means less foreshortening and filtering and again as you turn to look left/right the panel will appear to face the viewer instead of straight ahead.
3.0 UI - Side Panels - Contacts and Systems
Generally these are pretty good, but I find they are frequently just that bit too far away to read comfortably, even leaning in often doesn't help me in say trying to work out if a mission wants 6 or 8 tons of some cargo.
Proposal, provide a UI setting that allows us to move the panel in closer, along its normal, or alternatively provide a button which will bring the panel closer to the viewer, almost like a zoom or dolly.
4.0 UI - Hue Setting
I'm not sure if this would really have much of an effect, but as I understand it green text is meant to be more legible on the DK2 due to the screen panel. If this is true, then it would be nice if Frontier could provide a UI setting where we could change the Hue of all the holographic cockpit displays.
5.0 Galaxy Map - Trade Map - Toggle all
One annoyance I've got when using the trade map in the dk2 is that using buttons to enable/disable individual commodities is really time consuming. Perhaps i've missed this, but it would be great to have a button to toggle all the commodities on/off, both at the top level and per commodity type. It would be like in many applications that offer toggle check boxes, where you can ctrl-click or alt-click to enable/disable all in one go. With that it would make it much easier to reduce the trade map to show a single commodity that you are interested in.
So that's it for now, what do you think and does anyone have any other suggestions?
This post is not about the stability or performance of ED using the Rift, those issues are assumed to be a given in terms of needed fixing and general upkeep. I'm more interested to ensure the experience isn't diminished.
1.0 UI - Left Hand Info panel - Galaxy / System / OutFitting
This is probably one of the most problematic UI elements that has yet to be addressed by frontier. Even moving ones head to get closer doesn't really help. There are two main issues here, firstly that the panel (like most others) is stuck facing forward, meaning that when you rotate your view to look at it, it gets foreshortened and filtered making it even harder to read. Secondly its way too far off to the left.
My proposal here for a simple fix is two-fold. Firstly move it in towards the center of the screen a little, secondly and more importantly it should be angled towards the origin of the viewpoint, that means instead of always facing forward, it is turned 30-45 degrees towards where you are looking from. This would mean if you turned your head to face it, the whole of the panel would be straight on towards your view, instead of always facing forward. Whilst its impossible to know for sure, I feel that both of these would greatly enhance its readability and leaning into it would improve it even more.
2.0 UI - Spaceport Services
The problem with this one is similar to above, except here its issue is that its so wide that the left and right extents are relatively speaking far away from the viewer. It also suffers from facing straight forward.
My proposal here would be to simply curve the display around the user, thereby ensuring the left and right extents curve round and are closer to the viewer. This means less foreshortening and filtering and again as you turn to look left/right the panel will appear to face the viewer instead of straight ahead.
3.0 UI - Side Panels - Contacts and Systems
Generally these are pretty good, but I find they are frequently just that bit too far away to read comfortably, even leaning in often doesn't help me in say trying to work out if a mission wants 6 or 8 tons of some cargo.
Proposal, provide a UI setting that allows us to move the panel in closer, along its normal, or alternatively provide a button which will bring the panel closer to the viewer, almost like a zoom or dolly.
4.0 UI - Hue Setting
I'm not sure if this would really have much of an effect, but as I understand it green text is meant to be more legible on the DK2 due to the screen panel. If this is true, then it would be nice if Frontier could provide a UI setting where we could change the Hue of all the holographic cockpit displays.
5.0 Galaxy Map - Trade Map - Toggle all
One annoyance I've got when using the trade map in the dk2 is that using buttons to enable/disable individual commodities is really time consuming. Perhaps i've missed this, but it would be great to have a button to toggle all the commodities on/off, both at the top level and per commodity type. It would be like in many applications that offer toggle check boxes, where you can ctrl-click or alt-click to enable/disable all in one go. With that it would make it much easier to reduce the trade map to show a single commodity that you are interested in.
So that's it for now, what do you think and does anyone have any other suggestions?
