The 2022 UI Update for rFactor 2 - Coming Soon

Visually and perceived UX changes looks to be an improvement. Realistically, until it is in the users hands the performance benefits cannot be determined. One word stood out though...feedback. In regards to the UI, why has it taken this long to admit something was wrong and change it, especially when step 1 is essentially a (hate to use it) reskin. When was this decision made and why has there been radio silence? If you had mentioned that, with a plan forward earlier I think you would have found the negative feedback( even from users that are generally level) at usual levels. The more honest and transparent you are with your users, the better chance you keep them as users. Something to keep in mind with updates/roadmaps/feedback going forward.

With all due respect(and not at you directly), disrespectful was cancelling the developers blog on the day, when still asking for questions only 2 days before(like previous blogs). All because of negative feedback. Well negative feedback has led to this upcoming release. Transparency could have brought this about much sooner, considering the current UI has been seen as a negative since release. Now I understand some things like content have NDA, but going forward I hope we see more transparency. And in the case of modders, the information is passed on in a timely manner; whether graphical or physics.

Shared from Part 1 of Cars Blog and, I guess; the "tool" that was never released:
Let me show you a little trick in “dev mode”. First make sure in your player file you have enabled “Screenshot Depth Alpha”: true and selected PNG as the format “Screenshot Format”: 3 and load up your favourite car in the showroom. Now press the ‘1’ key on your normal (not numeric) keyboard. The background will go black. Make a screenshot! You’ll find that it has a nice alpha layer with soft, blended shadows. An and you can press ‘2’ to enable the rendering of the environment in the showroom again.
Considering this has been an item that has been asked by just about every modder and skinner, I would hope that this has been at least considered to be implemented in the new, new UI. Skin and pack creation is not dev mode job, at least it shouldn't be.

 

Being honest and transparent with communication doesn't help if there are no resources or plans to fix things. We got plenty of Q&A's and roadmaps over the last couple of years, but none of them can fix lack of development or resources, so I think we shouldn't blame the messenger so to speak. The UI didn't evolve much under Studio 397 since it was released to public in December of 2019. Functionally it was pretty much the same from day one until now with some loading time improvements and few buttons here and there added. When the biggest news is an AI filter button being added to server list and a message about "loading favorite servers" being fixed, you know the resources were limited on this project.

Now the development is running under a different company so let's wait and see what happens. I'm not going to be pessimistic by default as it makes little sense.

 

The forum always makes me smile. The UI has been one of the biggest criticisms so far, now a new one is coming tomorrow (that looks very great) that hasn't been released yet, but already there are a bunch of posts criticizing this or that and/or giving programming assessments without ever having done a click in the UI. The most pessimistic programmers in the world must gather here for whatever reason

 

I just surprised nobody has complained about the shade of black they used........

 

The shade of black is horrible. RIP RF2

 

I don't know how it is now, but before it was totally uncomfortable and most people just didn't want to deal with it.

Honestly - I tried online in RF2... It was an unpleasant experience. In general, stopped only on the single player.

 

This might very well be the only non-cancel culture community in existence. Perhaps we should all be proud of our progression!

All of the rf2 passion the last month actually encouraged me to take a couple of breaks from modding and playing. It’s been refreshing.

 

I have been thinking this for a while now. Let's hope PC culture and virtue signalling dosn't reach rF2 like it has everything else!

As far as actual racing and the other users I have encountered online my experience has been the opposite. Hard and clean racing, no need for a safety rating. Everyone has been positive and just there to have fun, no negativity or ego unlike certain other titles. But yeah, not great as far as usability and finding populated servers

 

I wouldn't even call it black. It's not black, it's a shame!

 

@Paul Jeffrey have you planned to launch a "white" version of the UI?
I know that a lot of people has asked for a "black" version, but i prefer one with light colors. Most of programs that i use have light colors (this forum, or a text processor, spreadsheet, programming languages, web browsers, file managers, Windows windows, even the image editors and 3d programs, etc).
Yes, i know that i'm the weird guy, but i almost only use the black backgrounds using the console.

 

Next video!
⚙️

 

Good improvement on the setups with changes and comparison, seems a neat solution.

Not my own gripe but I'll raise it here - current setup folder (the one defined for the track) used to be marked with a *, which wasn't great but was something. Kinda looks like the track folder could get very anonymous with a whole heap in there. A way to jump to the current one would be good.

 

perhaps a bit of visual ergonomics is missing, in the parameter lists a division of the lines, one lighter and one darker alternately to facilitate vision, it is something simple in terms of a design that is pleasing to the eye, for the rest it is a redesign of the interface, it is a good thing, but that should have been something taken into account from the beginning.

 

Buttons (+ and -) on keyboard to adjust the FFB per car on the fly would be a good addition.Most games have this like AMS2,Raceroom etc...missing it here a long time.

 

If I can move back and forth between pages with the dedicated mouse buttons, I'll be happy. If I can go back with escape, I'll be overwhelmed

 

This is very nice.

 

I think that we have to accept that the "new UI" was the first step away from the old menu system.
The "new new UI" is obviously the next step along that path and we'll now be looking at the UI evolving of the coming years after the complete redesign that gave us the "new UI".
Until very recently I worked for a software company, and changes to the UI always happened slowly. Partly because of the number of options that had to catered for, and partly to avoid upsetting existing users who wouldn't be happy with wholesale changes. And of course new features have to be added to keep the product alive and creating new income.
rF2 on Steam is under £26 and that is a one off purchase... if you only use free mods then S397 sell you nothing more.
And yet we expect them to correct bugs, enhance this, introduce that, create new DLC and not pay a penny extra.

 

What time wil it be temorrow ?

 

It has been a while since I released and did something that required icons. One that i do recall was the Panoz DP-01. I think that was a total of 45 skins. My "hack" was to get the model in 3dsimed. That has specific camera controls where you know exactly the position. I "green screened" the background, and then loaded in every skin and took a print screen. Pasted the print screen in Photoshop, removed the green, and cropped for every car (all layers). then just saved at each resolution. With that many cars, I think it took about 2 hours.

For attempting to create the icons for this (https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/indycar-series-2007-2011.64646/#post-1008880), would take about a week with the current setup. 468 total skins