ui 1.71 New UI Scaling Improvement "Suggestion"

[Kim_Han_Sol 7]

     Seeing as there is not a real dedicated page on feedback of the new UI introduced in patch 1.71, I will be leaving my feedback and suggestions here. I was considering posting this on Reddit but it would merely be swallowed up by hype posts and memes.

 

     I'll try to keep this as short as possible. Compared to what people are saying on Reddit and on the official War Thunder page, I do think the design of the new UI was good. It's a pleasant way to keep the game fresh and be up to date in the latest graphic design trends of our year (which are clean & simple designs). But the main problem most people have had with the new UI and is simply not a case of "mob mentality", is the scaling of the UI. I am using a 1366x768 monitor to play this game and I certainly feel everything is cluttered and very "up-close". Furthermore, the fact I am unable to change the UI scale in the options myself (as it is greyed out) just further adds discomfort. I am unsure if this is just a limitation with my screen resolution or the option has been silently disabled for testing. Either way, with this "close-up" scaling, I am unable to appreciate the visuals and models of the tanks and environment in my hangar like the previous UI. This scaling with the UI adds too much of a feeling of enclosed tension and discomfort.

 

     As a graphic design student, I can certainly see simpler ways to levitate the problem if not, temporarily. Below is an image I have edited visualizing what can be done with the UI to fix this "close-up" scaling. Everything highlighted in orange are changes to remove from the UI, green representing simple reworks, and the *'s represent one combined, unique change that will be elaborated in the spoiler tag below.

 

Spoiler

 

1. There are a lot of areas that are just wasted space and I feel would substantially help remove the clutter and "close-up" scaling. The watermarks can be resized, especially the "Version 1.71.1.50" watermark, so they can fit with their new borders as these are generally unimportant visuals for players.

2. The Research tool bar is unnecessarily large. The Auto-Reload and Auto-Repair options can be resized down slightly as these are also generally unimportant visuals for players to take TOO much attention to. Furthermore, the Research button itself is sticking out on the top area which is inconsistent with everything else on the UI. Resizing the Research button down slightly and accommodating it with the newly resized tool bar would be better. 

3. These are the green and orange areas covered with the * on the vehicle stat-card. When I was studying the UI to search for any areas that could be improved, I noticed that the fading on the right border of the vehicle stat-card was somewhat inconsistent with that of the rest (i.e: "Battle Tasks" window, "Events & Tournaments" window, and "News" window). If the Vehicle Model Viewer and Modifications buttons, which I think are a bit too large and slightly "right-sided", were to be resized slightly down and to the left, the fading on the right border could be removed. 

 

     (Now that I look at the UI again while typing this, the BT, E&T, and News window are also inconsistent as well. These should be adjusted so their texts fit the fadings better.)

 

     This next image is regarding my inability to change the UI scale in the Game Options and to prove it. Is it a bug?

 

Spoiler

 

     Once more, I'm not trashing on the new UI. I think it's fantastic and keeps the game fresh. It's just the scaling of the UI with screen resolutions that presents a major problem. But that is why I created this post in order to suggest simple improvements. A lot of the players are very uncomfortable with the scaling of the new UI and we hope you do clean it up. Cheers for tier VI!

 

P.S. Sorry this was so long LOL. Definitely wasn't short.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Kim_Han_Sol
Removed Red Text.

[SAUBER_KH7 3,325]

Open for Discussion.

 

I changed the red text to orange text as Red Text is reserved for staff only.

 

Quote

DO NOT:

 

1.1.9. Use red text font in any respect. This is reserved for staff use to highlight problems or statements.

Also,

Quote

Sorry this was so long LOL. Definitely wasn't short.

Around here, it's the other way around: the more detailed the suggestion, the better.

 

Also as a note: For those who may ask: "If red text is against the rules for members to use, why is it an option?"
The simple conclusion is this: Not every function of the Forum Software (by Invision Community) can be toggled on and off for members. You can find more info here:

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by SAUBER_KH7

[Kim_Han_Sol 7]

     Thanks for the notification! I'll make adjustments according to the rules of red text.

[KB_Martinsen 582]

I also have som suggestions to this new ui so I am gonna post it in here also, hope its ok.

 

 

 I find that this new ui not scaling very well to a 4K monitor running a ress of 2560x1440 or maby its just me, but if we look at the old ui under as an exampel, here you can see all 12 presets and varius buttons are where theyr supposed to be, when we then look at the new ui further below using a 66% ui scale we can only see 10 out of the 12 presets and serval buttons flying out from the edges of the screen( after exiting battles they seams to at ramdom go in where they are suppose to be and then out again at later points). Also the new ui seam to be way to much big and "in your face".

 

 

So my suggestions is:

1. allow the new ui scaler to go from 100% - 0% and not jump at 100/83/66% so we can manuel set it what fit us the best.

2. Set an option button next to new ui scaler called " use old ui" I know that many of us prefer the old ui and button layout/look style, so by adding this we can make everybody happy.

 

Old ui

Spoiler

 

 

New ui

Spoiler

 

[Kim_Han_Sol 7]

53 minutes ago, KB_Martinsen said:

2. Set an option button next to new ui scaler called " use old ui" I know that many of us prefer the old ui and button layout/look style, so by adding this we can make everybody happy.

 

 

     Anton, the CEO of War Thunder, actually replied to a similar suggestion on Reddit stating a legacy UI feature is almost impossible to hold in the codes of the game. But your suggestions are definitely a good and simple idea!

Edited September 19, 2017 by Kim_Han_Sol

[Gen5_Tom 2]

Firstly, WT is a great and entertaining game, and it could be further improved by working on the graphics user interface. Since the 1.71 overhaul of the GUI the fonts and screens are better-looking, but still rather cluttered. 

The ONE thing I still miss, which has not been addressed is... the possibility to reduce the font size of the airplane markers, i.e. the text with the plane types and player names. So my proposal is to allow for a much smaller and thinner font in-game for the plane markers. I am playing on a resoultion of 2560*1440 and the text covers the entire screen. It's hard to even see the planes because of the oversized fonts. Please introduce the possibility to reduce the font to 1/2 of the current size, and a much thinner font (1/3). This would make the situation in flight easier to overview.

And yes, I have already deactivated the player names, markers' nick and markers' title already.

So I just see the plane types.

[Gen5_Tom 2]

Another idea to improve the user interface on the home screen, is to introduce a function to select among several presets, or airforce setups, which simplifies choosing the right airplanes for each battle. E.g. if you want to play at BR 1.0-2.0, you may have an appropriate line-up of planes, and at BR 3.0 you may have another line-up, and so on. This would speed up the selection process, and keep track of which crew is trained for which plane. Would be great to see this implemented. ;D

[Rudi Gauss 118]

100% all is too big, ingame-chat shows only up as a small one sentence big line. 

86% and the chat is alright, but i cant see my ammo, fire-extinguisher, arty and smoke squares ingame... the old gui was better.

[leroyonly 4,310]

As the UI has been previously changed in a similar way as was being suggested,

 

Moved to Implemented Suggestions.