Oolite Bulletins

phkb wrote: ↑Mon Aug 21, 2023 10:22 am

Was a little tired of the blue MFD's, and the colour didn't really match the rest of the UI text elements (which are mostly in green).

What do you think?

• Take energy for example
  • the dial is smaller than the bars on a typical HUD
  • the spiral design means that the smallest segments are the ones that are most important as energy decreases

Redspear wrote: ↑Mon Aug 21, 2023 11:49 am

the dial is smaller than the bars on a typical HUD
the spiral design means that the smallest segments are the ones that are most important as energy decreases

phkb wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 8:17 am

to be fair, the default HUD operates in the same way, except as bars, rather than a circular gauge. So the issue is not about the method (ie some sort of image that is reducing in size), but more its size or prominence

phkb wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 8:17 am

And I suspect most of those concerns are minimised as you become familiar with the HUD, which is true for all the HUDs actually. I mean, in a plane, the altimeter is just a dial with hands. It doesn't flash or go red or do anything when you're too low. You just train yourself to look at it and respond to the information.

Redspear wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 9:02 pm

I think you've turned an already very good oxp into an even better one and further that your work in including so many wireframes borders on the heroic. With that said, I can't say that I fully agree with you here:

phkb wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 8:17 am

to be fair, the default HUD operates in the same way, except as bars, rather than a circular gauge. So the issue is not about the method (ie some sort of image that is reducing in size), but more its size or prominence

The bars in the default HUD do not taper at one end. Ths is important because if the last segment that you need to read is also the smallest then the most important part of the dial/bar/whatever is also the least readable. Consider that the smallest segment on the dial is less than half the size of the largest.

So yes, size and prominence are important (I personally plan for the energy dial to be larger for example) but tapering the gauge at the 'wrong end' (YMMV) is, IMHO, sub-optimal design.

phkb wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 8:17 am

And I suspect most of those concerns are minimised as you become familiar with the HUD, which is true for all the HUDs actually. I mean, in a plane, the altimeter is just a dial with hands. It doesn't flash or go red or do anything when you're too low. You just train yourself to look at it and respond to the information.

As for the altimeter comparison, I don't know how big your monitor is but a real life altimeter would a lot bigger in my field of view than any design I've ever seen on an oolite HUD (at least on my monitor anyway). TBH, I think the biggest issue is the energy gauge for the reason that it's most relevant when the player is most distracted, i.e. during combat, so visibilty really counts.

Much of this is largely a matter of personal preference of course, so I'm just presenting the case for the way I see it, I make no claim to be see it more clearly, rather to see another side that I think might be worth considering.

Meanwhile, congrats and thanks on another great contribution to oolite.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 10:22 pm

Don't you also get a numerical readout from your Vimana as you get within 10km or so of the planet surface?

Redspear wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 7:57 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2023 10:22 pm

Don't you also get a numerical readout from your Vimana as you get within 10km or so of the planet surface?

Whilst I appreciate that, we were discussing the dials themselves. The dials don't disappear at low altitude (do they???) and so if they are there then wouldn't it be nice if they were as readable as possible without compromising other important information?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:07 pm

But the number appears inside the dial -

and below 1km ALT (altitude) you get fractions to 3 decimal places...

Redspear wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:47 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:07 pm

But the number appears inside the dial -

and below 1km ALT (altitude) you get fractions to 3 decimal places...

But you're lauding the accuracy, whilst I'm my issue is with the readabilty.

A clear graph/bar/whatever is much more intuitivelty readable than a number.
Are the numbers a nice feature? Absolutely.
Do they solve my issue (however trivial/personal/annoying to anyone reading this it might be)? No.

And the Vimana-X brings your altitude to you. Directly onto your screen, through your eyeballs and into your brain.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:54 pm

Adapted from the Snoopers wiki page. I moved from your quote and found myself looking at the wiki page. Irresistible.

• Target info for escape pods now just shows speed and bounty.
• Fixed issue where not all cargo containers were getting an image in the target info.
• Made the background of MFD's a bit darker when in "dark" mode.
• Changed the color of the MFD's to green to match the rest of the UI.
• Switched to CombatMFD's target speed value, for consistency between that MFD and the target info displayed here.
• Switched to CombatMFD's altitude calculation, as there's no need to calculate the same number twice.
• Borrowed missile tracking system from XenonHUD for improved performance.
• Resized most of the image files to save Oolite time resizing them after starting.
• Made the HUD work properly without HUD Selector installed.
• Better integration with HUD Selector, particularly the number of MFD's shown as available.
• Added options to sell each of the mods.
• Witchspace destination and the travel mod now honour the concealment property on systems.
• Added more ship images.
• Code cleanup and refactoring.