New UI wishlist

Mitch9

Mitch9

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It´s official now :D
Here´s some of the common requests I´ve read plus some ideas of my own to see if any of these stick.



Bring back:

-Lap counter on replays

-Apparently, switching cars was possible on a server but not anymore.

-Previews for HUD selection. HUDs often have many variations and there´s no way we can remember which one we are selecting now.

-Highlight the selected car groups in the opponent selection [Kind of does it now]

-Custom ai parameters for track and class are not available atm.
custom.PNG


-Time left until next session starts (can you take a toilet break before the race or not?)

-Installing multiple packages at a time and sorting them by "installed".
-Refreshing the packages window doesn´t show any files that are added to the folder while the game is running; so you have to restart the game for it to show up.

-Car telemetry (pedal, wheel and gear inputs). Isn't this crucial for reviewing incidents?

-Dark mode: The old launcher already had a dark color scheme, the rest of the old UI had a pretty neutral color tone and was very easy on the eyes.

-Driver Labels

-Gear ratio graph on setup screen


Multiplayer:

-When joining a server that uses mods you don´t have, ask first if you want to download the mods you´re missing or at least add a "cancel" button in the content download window.

-When trying to join a server but a mod can't be downloaded (e.g. it's paid content) the game gives you two options: go back to MAIN MENU or EXIT THE GAME. Neither option makes sense; just let us get back to the servers list please.

-Server info: Which cars/track/mods are being used, what sessions, lenght, time left, etc

-Filters: add "s397 content only" and "favorites" filter. Also save filter selections.

After leaving a multiplayer or competition server, single player series should default back to "All cars & tracks"

-Chat needs to be more visible as well and a notification (pale yellow doesn´t count).


Layout

-Option to turn off animated transitions between screens.

-Info on the full weekend, not just current session, would be nice as well (i.e. what sessions + remaining time etc)

-Moving the per car ffb multiplier to the setup screen instead of the config menu would be handy.

-Plugins: Any chance we´ll be able to configure these in the plugin menu and/or session settings, instead of doing it through their json files?

-Full vs simple layout:
People complain about having too many screens, too many clicks to get somewhere on the new ui, particularly on the session settings and car setup screens.
The old dilema, i guess, but perhaps we could have the option to switch between the current fragmented layout and a more efficient and consistent, “full” layout, without all the animations between screens.

-List view should be the default view

-"Race" card: Multiplayer is the game´s main course, so why not give that and single player their own cards on the main menu?
-Shouldn´t the competition system be merged with the multiplayer tab? it´s a little hidden currently.
-Content button for the main top menu .
-Add an exit game button on the top right section of every screen (main menu, session settings, package list, everywhere); we shouldn´t have to go back to the main screen in order to quit the game.
(Which Cselt has already added in his better ui)

-Top menu for the race setup and content screens would make it easier to set up a race and navigate between the package manager and workshop.

-Session control options (Finish session/next session/etc) would be a lot easier to find if the windows defender man was replaced with the words "Session Control", or a chequered flag.


Cars & track sorting:

-User definable tags that don't break online compatibility. Naming is all over the place and it can be hard at first to know where to find what you´re looking for or even what, where and against what are you driving.
-If not, could it be possible to use categories from the packages (open wheeler, permanent, etc)?
sort.PNG


-Separate lists for the driver/skins of a car and the rest ot the car list; minor pet peeve but I´m glad Davecam mentioned it the other day.

-Favorites


Sessions Setup

-Option to choose the speed of the pace car here.

-Time of the day:
Showing approximate sunrise/sunset hours, as well as the estimated time of the day at the end of a session here would be really helpful.

-Weather:
1 Being able to add/remove weather slots for the session, acc/ams2 style.
2 Random (±) adjustment for all parameters.

-Opponent selection: Personally, i´d prefer to stop sorting opponents by the “classes” VEH line and instead use the same selection screen we have for cars, only with checkboxes and CTRL/SHIFT selection.
I know there are plans to change this already though, so who knows what it´ll actually be like.
-Favorites for the ai too.

-Save session, so we can replay a race or whatever without setting up the opponents, weather, etc all over again

-Show session time in hours not just minutes.


Forum

-Support for mouse back/forward buttons. Pressing the middle mouse button (muscle memory for opening a page in another tab) makes the new page show in fullscreen and there´s no visible way of going back (I had to kill rf2 with task manager)


Minor stuff

-Bug reporting could be easier by adding an option to enable trace files in the setup wizard and the options menu. -Since the forums are integrated to the new ui, it might make sense to add a quick bug report template that lets you upload your logs right within the new ui, without searching for them in the file browser.

-Since the official user guide is being made, it would be cool to integrate it to the UI with small explanations of what a setting does that pop-up when hovering over it with the mouse, or a "help" button on each screen that takes you to the relevant section of the guide.

-Sliders, not just +/- buttons for all parameters that have more than 5 steps.
-A quick "restore to default" button for each parameter as well.

-All the scroll bars only work if the mouse is right on top of it. If you move the mouse to the left or right it doesn't scroll anymore. [Glad to know I´m not the only one annoyed by this]

-Any news on the car icon creator tool?
 
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I want to add to this a couple points I noticed

Multiplayer server list
1. When trying to join a server which uses a mod you don't have, there must be a "cancel" button in the content download window..
2. When you try to join a server but a mod can't be downloaded (e.g. it's paid content) the game gives you two options: go back to MAIN MENU or EXIT THE GAME. It should just let you in the servers list​

General UI things
3. All the scroll bars only work if the mouse is right on top of it. If you move the mouse to the left or right it doesn't scroll anymore.
4. Not so important, but the loading screen lacks a background
5. When in a single player event, the "go to next session" button and all that stuff, it is really hidden. The first time you really struggle to find one thing that should be much more visible.
6. The chat is also hidden. It's weird not being able to see it all the time​

Maybe some of this things have been said before, but I wanted to express them here.
 
updated the first post with some extra suggestions, images from the other thread and more badly edited images from me
 
"...we’ve also worked hard to ensure that anything you’ve become used to with the current UI has at the very least been transported to the new design..."

not the end of the world, but not quite everything
 
The new UI is aweful. Its not intuitive at all. It took me 5 minutes to find out how to change my car!!!
There are too many screens, into screens into screens. The car setup is terrible as i have to scroll the page to get to rear suspension settings. Scrolling sucks as the cursor leaves the bar it stops scrolling. Very frustrating to see devs have put soo much effort and resources into something as bad as this UI.
When the UI is implemented as a fixed item the game steps back three steps instead of going forward. No gamer will choose rF2 because of the UI.
 
Bkim said:
The new UI is aweful. Its not intuitive at all. It took me 5 minutes to find out how to change my car!!!
There are too many screens, into screens into screens. The car setup is terrible as i have to scroll the page to get to rear suspension settings. Scrolling sucks as the cursor leaves the bar it stops scrolling. Very frustrating to see devs have put soo much effort and resources into something as bad as this UI.
When the UI is implemented as a fixed item the game steps back three steps instead of going forward. No gamer will choose rF2 because of the UI.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I am frustrated at the amount of time spent on the UI change-over. But I have never, and will never, buy a driving/racing sim based upon static menu screens. I understand the need for a new UI to enable current and future improvements, but it is NOT a selling point for me. The driving experience is above all other considerations. If there are broken features in the UI, then yes, that is concerning, but again, never a reason against buying if the driving wins the day.
 
lol yeah, no one is going to choose a sim because of its ui, but a well made one definately adds to the experience (thinking of content manager for assetto corsa or AMS2).
Anyways, the new UI is now out of beta so this is when we can expect more surface level features to be slowly added to it, we´ll see...
 
Something about the whole navigation experience: I wish for an option for all menu animations and sliding effects to be disabled, for a faster and more esports navigating. Like you can do in the developer options menu in your android.

Car setup menu:
The horizontal boxes to select categories of settings could be compressed enough that you dont need a slider to navigate 8 of 10 cateogories at once.
See my crude drawing as example
upload_2020-12-22_23-52-11.png
 
I see many of them posted here already, but maybe it is not too bad to remind people of it:

Visual design:
- NEEDS a proper night mode.
- Most pages are way too empty, probably to make it look "modern" and "clean", which just leads to information being lost or spread across way too many pages. This goes for close to any page other than the initial "rfactor 2" start page.
- In a session, in the standings, the categories are split very badly. Too long class or driver names mess up the full list, as they don't get capped accordingly.
- The setup area involves way too many tabs, all of them too empty. Either bring some of them together, like in the old UI, or use the space for proper content such as graphs or explanations. There is no need to have 9 tabs, all with only very few options. Waste of time and space.
-> Also, some things are split very awkwardly (Radiator tape = Aero, but Ride Heights = Suspension).
- When you are in a race session, you can no longer see the race countdown.
- When spectating someone, no more pedal inputs can be seen, which feels like a step backwards from the previous UI.
- When spectating someone, you can only see if you are in "Replay" or not when you view the replay in Fullscreen, there is no other indication otherwise and even that one is difficult to spot.
- While you can see the temperature and rain % in "event info", you can't see the min. and max. wetness without going on track.
- It generally feels awkward that there is no consistency in fonts on elements. Some are in capital letters, some are not, some are mixed, without any obvious system behind it.
- It is close to impossible for a new user, even experienced users to find the "Voting" button in a session, as there is no logical hint to it.
- I do feel the chat as an extra window is not ideal, as you never will be able to see new messages without actively loading the chat up.
- When calibrating pedal inputs and setting a min. or max. input, you are no longer able to see how much of you actual input you now have set as minimum or maximum as the graph adjust to your new range instantly. The old UI did this much better.

Menu navigation:
- The selection of content takes way too long, when you are not on the old fashioned "drop down list". Too many steps not needed. You should not have to confirm any selection you did in a new window before you move onto the next one.
- You can't select a different rfmod in the designed areas when you are not in the "drop down list" either.
- It is not very intuitive not being able to exit the game when you are in the "main menu" but not the actual "rfactor 2" page, especially because they all look the same styling wise.
- When checking laptimes of other drivers, you again get send into a different pop-up, just being less intuitive. It would also be nice to have an option to switch between laptimes being sorted from first to last or last to first. There is enough space for such button in that pop-up at least.
- While in the main menu the centre area is the one you can scroll through, in the setup menu it is the bottom or top area that you scroll through. Again no intuitive consistency.
 
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Mitch9 said:
lol yeah, no one is going to choose a sim because of its ui, but a well made one definately adds to the experience (thinking of content manager for assetto corsa or AMS2).
Anyways, the new UI is now out of beta so this is when we can expect more surface level features to be slowly added to it, we´ll see...
Click to expand...
You are right, but I, for example, am keeping away from rF2 because of its UI (including ingame overlay). Because its so hard to use. Doing setup work for example is so unsatisfying. Sometimes I tune in rF2 and drive some laps because I enjoy driving it but I quickly quit again because UI is a pain. Although its fun to drive, its not fun to use. At this state I would say even the old UI was better than the new one. Sadly
 
Replays and sessions are saved as before. However the replays no longer show the current lap time of the selected driver. I used that information regularly. Is there another way to get that lap time, esp. for the session hotlap?
 
On the new UI the session settings like fuel consumption and tyre comsumption are not applied to the testing session. If you had fuel usage off you will be stuck on fuel usage off right now despite consumption should be on. Same for the tyres. Please check this.
 
@Mitch9
Great write up. Only additions/modifications:
- Add ability to directly select and type in number values (laps, opponents) on ALL options that have numbers instead of just sliders or +/- buttons
- For tool tips/instructions/info/details, right click on whatever option you want to view. It's more direct and faster than a hover over and avoids accidentally getting pop up info boxes when you're going through menus.
 
One other addition:
- Having a save button for the Material Editor so if you don't like the changes, you can just leave the edit menu. Maybe a Discard button so you remove all changes without having to leave the menu?
 
I apologise for the rant in advance but this UI is a major disappointment for me and makes life more difficult as an admin of a league.

I don't know whether the design meeting was held by only 1 person and everybody else was off sick, or these things were thought to be a good idea, but I don't understand how these thing got passed.

- removed event details from online events
- remove the vehicle select button to make it so people have to exit servers completely to change an upgrade
- remove the always visible chat make it a little icon in the corner that changes colour (could have at least made it flash) so people don't see admin or server messages unless they look for them. The worst part of this for me is that the space wasn't used for anything significant.

It is just ludicrous that those sort of changes that make the whole experience worse were allowed.

I also don't understand why they can't tell us what content is missing when joining the servers anymore, the first UI used to do it and they removed it in the 2nd one. Hell, their competition system tells you and then auto subscribes to the workshop content for you, but everyone elses servers just get a non-descript error. The content manager still doesn't tell you what is in a rfmod that is installed, you have to remember them by name and pray they are named to remind you. Simple stuff people.

Another thing is having to go into single player to change video settings as most are removed from multiplayer for no real identifiable reason. Content has such varied quality and being a VR user, I am changing them a lot to get a good looking or smooth experience.

A new request would be a simple one, for the new competition system pages, at a time zone reference to the time of the races. I hope those UI pages will have significant updates and improvements in the coming weeks, it is just hard to work out how to use it ATM.

This new UI was a chance to improve things significantly, there are some aspects of it that are good, but overall it is a major let down and a major missed opportunity. It is true in saying that if more people had tested it in beta and posted their problems that they would have fixed them, but they would still exist because nobody from S397 really reads the forum. There is a thread for issues with the new UI that was started yonks ago and has a butt load of posts, but problems that were put in there long ago were still ignored. This isn't a matter of S397 knowing about problems or not, it is about them caring about the problems and fixing them, which they are not doing.
 
@Carr for me the main issue is one you've touched on there - many of the current complaints everyone is now talking about (because they're forced onto the new UI) have been talked about by those using the new UI for the last year. Now S397 has made the CS live they will be trying to fix both...
 
More things after more time in the UI.

- The replay timer has been removed so you don't know if you are live or in replay.
- The voting options should be put somewhere more logical, maybe even another tab next to swap with the replay and map, or a button on the top left where the admin options show up

I am pretty sure there was something else, but I forgot. I really should wright stuff down.
 
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