Enhanced User Interface v1.30m

[bc1]

Don't give up though -- there *IS* an extremely cool response to that tricky problem. I'll create an example structural design in a picture later to reveal how it would show on screen. Let me give you some hints;

- Each individual (49x50) flips area can overlap the next to its left.
- A shadow layer (light or dark, that depends) obscures the entire row of F1 items (from right to left) when nothing is selected or mouse hovered on.
- Scan the row (mousing) and the F2(s) deploy above everything (again with some tricky shadowing process L&R) allowing us to select it to access the corresponding popup.
- The advantage to this system is that you can have a very tight row where we only "see" the IconFrame edges (4,6,10,16.. or even 22 wide) for anything that isn't selected.. yet.
- Another is that we keep the individual 45x45 files.
- Coding this stuff is just a matter of proper XML functions and values (Anchor, offset, size - etc).

Once the general (coding) principle is made clear by both of us, the easy part will be to create the necessary graphic assets.
Be patient, i'll have an example -- soon

try the attached beta (code should create buttons for mods too, untested) - I don't like it, too crowded

*PS2; Speaking of colors while i can have your busy attention on this specific subject.
The City-View and its leftside list_column of produceable items. When we select anything and it gets transfered in the Production box at the bottom... the code automatically inserts a "Queued" txt_comment underneath the items on that list. It would be easier to detect those if the "Queued" would be RED or somethin'.

What about the above? Any luck lurking our ways for this small detail... which makes detection vastly more easy?

city queue is still not done yet, this is only a 3rd intermediate state

Cheers

 

[bc1]

... forgot the attachment. Please note that it's a private beta version with other differences from the public version

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Alright then, i'll take a quick peek at the BETA format... if anything, it should give me a better understanding of what you're aiming to accomplish. It's quite a puzzle already to fit such a large row of flipping Icons anyway. We'll get there eventually - i'm sure.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Ahhhhh - NOW i get exactly how you will be tackling this tricky row.
Some quick thoughts below;

1) The usual four (now has a fifth with the old Vanilla ways to access Advisors) are certainly rendered well from the files i sent earlier. I guess they should be kept as is (maximized at 45 and nicely touching the Panel edges) in order to differentiate that area from what would deploy to the left in an alphabetic (R-L with A-Z parsing) sequence. Unless you get some kind of separator gimmick. Even the TopPanel Trim could somehow contribute indirectly. Something to think about.

2) Text-Tagged placeholders are a bit smaller than what you temporarily used (Info-Corner items) as Icons for the other slots. Incidently, the framework of these specific buttons was already choosen by me as the pretty much final template for our 12 DCs. All was needed is to add the edited (with 66%BiCubics as the filtered 45s and resized from the 80s you already saw in a surprise above!) F1-F4 (on 49x200) to the complete sets (BNW & GKV).

It looks like the spacing remained at the default 49. It also allocated the modular Mods, btw.

My suggestion above with some overlapping functions still is valid then, And, highly encouraged!
I'll have to provide you with a BNW_Gold-Framed (Triangle) Advisor45, won't i? Cuz, the new Counsel button has 4 tiny colored tags for overlay as you already know. Unless you want to "transfer" it to the left section. If it must stay right, the central "Silver Triangle" should be used instead?

So far, so good... my friend.

PS; I suppose the only way for us to exchange privacy stuff is to be mutual Friends from both our CFC profiles. Request sent. Dunno if these messages allow for attachments though. Guess i could give you some 4Share dispatch or even use the newest MS-(ONE)Skydrive (25 gigs to spare, IIRC) as a link provider to any further ZIPs with development content.

PS2; Germany won the World Cup with a single fantastic goal in Extra-Time at 113'. I'm rich.

PS3; Busy evening. The attached zip contains all DC45 Icons for BNW in the two essential DDS flip formats, _F1 & _F2. There's also a ZGeneric version for extra Mods place holders, You can visualize almost everything now while Beta testing the ROW.
I'll supply you with the GKV versions probably tomorrow.

PS4; Zip of the GKV versions has been added below. Have you decided if we'll be using a simpler two Flips framework instead of the default method (of 4) by CivPedia? The extra two seem useless to me.
I'll have the Narrower Row structure example(s) --- soon, for you!

---

EDIT; Zips removed... final versions available in Post #857!

 

[Goumindong]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but the one feature that this UI doesn't have, which it can have (all the info is available) is accurate gold/hammer conversion ratios.

The reason that this is nice is because it allows efficient production even in the wake of bonuses which increase/decrease the necessary base hammers and allows players to make the proper decision at a glance and without pulling out a spreadsheet or calculator.

The method is simple, in the production screen, divide the total number of hammers by any applicable production bonuses and then divide the gold cost of the structure/unit by that and display it.

 

[StarlitSkies]

Thanks so much for this mod! It's amazing that you configured Enhanced User Interface in a multiplayer-compatible way.

I have a couple suggestions:

1. The purchase buttons seems like they should be ghosted (grey text) when you can't afford the gold, just like a unit/building is ghosted when it's unproducable. It took me a while to notice that the purchase button's background turns black when I can't afford a purchase, since the button background is already dark. Plus a consistent interface is always nice. I can perform basic image editing & modify the buttons to show you what I mean.

2. Is there any way to mark the maximum workable city limits when hovering over the city-bar and/or when in the city screen? Like in the City Limits mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=80071068searchtext=city+limits

Again, thanks for this awesome Civ improvement. I love how the production screen is condensed, that tiles show what the effects of each improvement would do, and that the culture and golden ages have turn countdown timers. Very nice!

 

[Zyxpsilon]

As previously offered, here's what a Condensed flips row structure would feel like...

Some comments about it;

-- The final total width has been drastically reduced when you compare my framework with the snapshot i took from the Beta test. That's very obvious! Even more so if my (dear!) 80s are replaced by your default 45s setup. Agreed?

PS; I kept the Pin to demonstrate proportional effects, only.

-- Technically, it's a stack that can "evolve" within some layer priorities that depend on location and distance from LR anchors. Right now the middle (Military Overview) is exposed as shown by the slider tag location (optional - in principle) and its custom width (75x45) given focus by a LR shadowing overlay. Notice how the Left and Right stacks differ. Above or below any neighboring items of the current state of the Focus.

-- These (15 of them, btw!) DC icons are stacked with a gap of only 15 pixels inbetween. 7 Icons "Pile Up & Down" on both the left and right sides.

-- The trick with that process will be to maintain any Focused button_s (currently moused over or attached to the triangular slider position if we get to use such an extra bottom function) glued to its formatting and proper location while the user juggles within the row itself. Since the focus should need a somewhat wider area to deploy (making it a LOT easier to detect), the stack might seem like it's constantly mutating when multiple selections are scanned in sequence. I believe this design is cool and a breeze to play with. Some experimentation steps will be needed by the code for accuracy.

-- To the extreme left is the "Deployed choice" row example. I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever need the old "Pad" design above our Green selections. Another opportunity to simplify things by providing it with an alternate Upside shadow, maybe.

-- Activation is easy too. Since the slider has just given focus to ONE Icon above... we just mouse *UP* a little and the Icon changes to its green version ready to be clicked on for quick access to the corresponding Popup!

Should you have any questions - feel free to share your thoughts!

PS; Sooooooo true... that 65336 seemed like a huge value for some simple CityView ID scanning. While SizeY or SizeX perform just as much as Width & Height call-names!

 

[StarlitSkies]

If I were pointed to which graphic files to change, I'd like to change the existing display (on the left) to the ghosted purchase buttons (on the right). Makes it much easier to quickly glance and see what can be bought.

( My earlier post: )

...
1. The purchase buttons seems like they should be ghosted (grey text) when you can't afford the gold, just like a unit/building is ghosted when it's unproducable. It took me a while to notice that the purchase button's background turns black when I can't afford a purchase, since the button background is already dark. Plus a consistent interface is always nice. I can perform basic image editing & modify the buttons to show you what I mean.
...

 

[Zyxpsilon]

StarlitSkies, i think this quote from bc1 (just some three posts above, btw!) makes it fairly clear that the City-View production panel and its list are still under development...

city queue is still not done yet, this is only a 3rd intermediate state

I'll certainly let him expand on the subject if he must but i thought you should realize the following also;

-- Anything is possible! But editing just a single "File" for a specific UI area is difficult since these "Buttons" use a general resource for everything (else) that needs it too. You change it there, you change it everywhere.

-- Secondly, plenty of custom alterations can be achieved through XML+LUA encodings. Thus... your suggestion is something possible as well.

 

[StarlitSkies]

Zyxpsilon, I spoke poorly. Meant that I would create new graphical buttons from copies of the originals, to be used as new resources.

Glad to know it's still being tweaked & that alternate methods exist as well. May poke around in EUI's files to see what I can figure out.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Oh - then, i'm fairly sure he's using the "SmallButton" style for these 70x22 Grid Buttons. IIRC, that style has the Grid9Frame27.dds attached. This file offers a column of four items; inactive, selected, active and hovered (Up/Down order may differ). Thus altering the shadow itself would probably have to be edited from the inactive slot. Yet again, i must insist -- other areas of the UI would be impacted by that change. Its effects are complex enough to predict to say the least.

But, if you're speaking only about the Numbers and the Gold symbol... well, it's different issue altogether. That's an extra layer to add to the UI via some XML function.

(With extensive Z-UI work behind my busy neck, trust me - i know exactly what i'm talking about.)

 

[bc1]

one feature that this UI doesn't have, is accurate gold/hammer conversion ratios

both the hammer and gold costs are displayed in EUI's tooltip, the ratio can easily be deduced

1. The purchase buttons seems like they should be ghosted (grey text) when you can't afford the gold, just like a unit/building is ghosted when it's unproducable

yes it should, check attached beta

is there any way to mark the maximum workable city limits when hovering over the city-bar and/or when in the city screen?

actually I was working on this, check out the attached beta

As previously offered, here's what a Condensed flips row structure would feel like...

looks gorgeous, but seems lile a lot of work to implement, and not too sure about the ergonomics

Cheers

 

[Royco]

Haven anyone tried this with the new "Super Power Modpack"

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=529951

Compatible

Thx

 

[Zyxpsilon]

looks gorgeous, but seems lile a lot of work to implement, and not too sure about the ergonomics...

Nobody here is claiming that such a new design for a condensed prototype DC row is EASY to realize. Or even that (any) code_work might require some minimal skills or ingenuity. EUI should deserve whatever needs to be done, AFAIC.
The basic "transfering" idea for the DC drop_down_list onto buttons is still worthy of your time IF (of course) it can be rationalize in both logical terms and (at least) necessary features. As a reminder; observation, experimentation, hypothesis, test, proof of either truth or failure ..=.. Theory OR Law. Then, some decision(s) that lead to a conceptual phase or another. Or, flush.

It would be serious tough luck nevertheless for me to have soooooooo patiently created all of these custom Icons for naaa'thin'!

Dunno what else to say, can YOU do it? Or rather - should you?

 

[bc1]

Haven anyone tried this with the new "Super Power Modpack"
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=529951
Compatible
Thx

Looks like the author is not too concerned about compatibility...

EUI should deserve whatever needs to be done, AFAIC.
The basic "transfering" idea for the DC drop_down_list onto buttons is still worthy of your time IF (of course) it can be rationalize in both logical terms and (at least) necessary features. As a reminder; observation, experimentation, hypothesis, test, proof of either truth or failure ..=.. Theory OR Law. Then, some decision(s) that lead to a conceptual phase or another. Or, flush.
It would be serious tough luck nevertheless for me to have soooooooo patiently created all of these custom Icons for naaa'thin'!
Dunno what else to say, can YOU do it? Or rather - should you?

What do you think about this compromise solution:
- on main game screen, show buttons as prototyped in the early beta, but ONLY those which correspond to screens which do not already have shortcuts in top panel: so the number of buttons is reasonable (half a dozen)
- on each individual screen, show the ENTIRE set of screen buttons - so once a screen is up, easy to jump to another. These buttons could be the full glory 80x80, there is plenty of room.
Your thoughts ?
Also, if you want to have a look at v22beta2, hex highlighting has been modified: it's a good opportunity to suggest cosmetic / color changes to highlights.xml ("work" color needs to stay some kind of green to match the city view buttons, "citylimits" should stay grayscale, otherwise anything's up for change)

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Soooo weird... i had a similar "thought" early this morning after a good mighty night sleep (hard to come by overhere for reasons far beyond Civ stuff!!).
Plenty of various Ergonomic solutions are possible. The objectives are quite clear; easy to use, improved functionality, visually appealing, etc.

Code should have priority. And *BE* optimize to the bones. EUI shouldn't really carry some uncontrollable heavy burdens by design.

Here's another suggestion to limit code obstacles according to the above principles;

-- The LONELY slider! Imagine a single thin line (refer to the options menu during Audio setup with the diamond shape cursor -- or the CS status bar with the tiny Pip) that ticks freely by successive Cursor_Like movements. Our buttons simply deploy underneath that line (-Individually-) while a tooltip shows their names (as previously shown on the DC dropdown list).
Move mouse "below" the line ON the button in focus (some magic.. F1-to-F2!) and click to proceed. 80s or 45s as you wish... both can be still be used.
The relative context width can even be smaller than the "Condensed" demo previously discussed.

Dunno what to choose -- up to you. Your Mod - your decision.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Also, if you want to have a look at v22beta2, hex highlighting has been modified: it's a good opportunity to suggest cosmetic / color changes to highlights.xml ("work" color needs to stay some kind of green to match the city view buttons, "citylimits" should stay grayscale, otherwise anything's up for change)

I've already given it a quick test ride and i must say that i like the "new" method and components and how they improve the overall mechanics behind Tile inspection.

Fine-Tuning the colors is just some cosmetic variations for personal needs.
Remember my highlights? My Darks & Silvers were at least useful as to hint you for the newest & (frankly) cool City-Limits overlay. And, Fill & Outline get better prefixes for code clarity. I suspect optional (as recommended before) settings would be posssible with this processing of ID calls.
Tile growth is even now shown in City-Views.
Hex-Contour_* can still be fiddled with for accuracy, in fact.

My old CityView choices (DarkFill & altered GreenOutline) were edited and selected for a very simple reason, btw. IF the big Green-Citizen Icons aren't good enough to detect worked tiles, nothing else could somehow enhance the visual hints. The rationale here is that any other combos (as per my own Red/Blue for WorldView) are -again- a matter of personal preference.

 

[townkrier]

Been using EUI for awhile now and absolutely love it. Speeds up play and helps me make better decisions with the easy to view information -- favorite UI mod.

One feature I would love to have in the future is small icons of cities on the left side of the screen similar to the the amazing leader/city state ribbon on the right. I noticed ideas for the future listing as an info corner list for cities, but a ribbon like the right would be even less clicking / faster.

 

[bc1]

Been using EUI for awhile now and absolutely love it. Speeds up play and helps me make better decisions with the easy to view information -- favorite mod/UI.
One suggestion I would love to have is to have small icons of cities on the left side of the screen similar to the the amazing leader/city state ribbon on the right. I noticed ideas for the future listing as an info corner list for cities, but a ribbon like the right would be even less clicking / faster.

Thanks for your feedback.
And yes, the left side will also be a ribbon - with cities on top and units bottom just above the unit panel, both competing for space like leaders & notifications on the right. Units are almost done, cities next.
Cheers

 

[mbbcam]

A short observation from a grateful user regarding colour -- around 10% to 20% of males have some form of colour-blindness (estimates vary).

I'm one of them, and I know how difficult it can make life.

Now, I don't know if the original game designers took this into account when designing the game, but I've yet to come across a colour choice that I absolutely couldn't detect while playing. The borders for ranged fire (which I assume must be red, though I can't actually tell) are quite difficult for me to see, but I can still detect them. Anyway, I hope any colour choices don't make life harder for this unfortunate minority!

There are some programs available that simulate colour-blindness. Have a look -- you may find it quite surprising!

It's a strange world that I live in. I had a pair of brown trousers for years that turned out to be green, and a blue backpack that I later discovered was purple.