New Frames & Inventory Console Features

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:20 pm

Sorry double post.

Also I think what Viper might be talking about for big wars - at least in my Imagination would go something like this.........

Your flying along minding you own business when off in the distance you see 10 capital ships and 50 - 100 fighters jump in and start duking it out with each other. Also the battles could be more than 2 AI factions. Ya know the good ole three-way dance of death!
Oh and reinforcements too!:)

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:22 pm

Hard to do in EM. But easy to do in AA.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:28 pm

Understood Marv. I'll have to count myself with Viper in saying that my heart lies with EM though.

Expanding on this idea in a game that's not a 'pure combat' simulator IMO would be awesome.

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:29 pm

From post: 123440, Topic: tid=7616, author=Rubber Chicken wrote:Sorry double post.

Also I think what Viper might be talking about for big wars - at least in my Imagination would go something like this.........

Your flying along minding you own business when off in the distance you see 10 capital ships and 50 - 100 fighters jump in and start duking it out with each other. Also the battles could be more than 2 AI factions. Ya know the good ole three-way dance of death!
Oh and reinforcements too!:)

That would be exactly what I meant.

Star King · Post by **Star King** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:03 pm

A deathmatch server!!!!!
First person reach 10 kills wins the death match!

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:13 pm

If the server population keeps growing like it has, this might come in handy when helping new players:

The ability to open a private channel to another player no matter where he is. As an example, you click on a player in the player list, after which anything you type can only be seen by that player.
Expanding on this (and with Freelancer in mind) another good idea could be to have the ability to invite other players to a group and be able to chat within that group only - a Group channel.

When there's a lot of (new) players online, there's usually a lot of chatter going around and it's really hard to keep track of your conversations.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 9:06 pm

Adding to that: the ability to block out Dingo's "hello" message after logging on and seeing it once.

Maledictus010 · Post by **Maledictus010** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:46 pm

Hi All, newb here. Just started playing EM and some interface things jumped out. Hope I'm not double posting here but a forum search didn't yield results.

- a hud light intensity/brightness switch would be nice
- the option to change the hud main color from blue to something else (is currently possible through modding?)
- a fix for the mouse jerking after using the mouse as UI device (this may be something that doesn't happen to everyone but here the ship jerks wildly after releasing the ALT key after having used the mouse, as if the mouse movements done during UI actions are also executed as steering actions after releasing the ALT key)

Greetings.

[Edited on 18-1-2012 by Maledictus010]

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:23 am

From post: 124087, Topic: tid=7616, author=Maledictus010 wrote:Hi All, newb here. Just started playing EM and some interface things jumped out. Hope I'm not double posting here but a forum search didn't yield results.

- a hud light intensity/brightness switch would be nice
- the option to change the hud main color from blue to something else (is currently possible through modding?)
- a fix for the mouse jerking after using the mouse as UI device (this may be something that doesn't happen to everyone but here the ship jerks wildly after releasing the ALT key after having used the mouse, as if the mouse movements done during UI actions are also executed as steering actions after releasing the ALT key)

Greetings.

[Edited on 18-1-2012 by Maledictus010]

Hi Maledictus and welcome to the game!
Regarding the HUD, there's a couple of mods for it. Probably the most popular is Max's, which you can find HERE. For more mods, check the Community mods forum.
About the mouse: evidently, you're using keyboard + mouse controls, like I do. As soon as you release the Alt key, the game returns to using the mouse for ship control. Usually you have the mouse off the center of your screen (out of the deadzone) when you are done using the menus and release the Alt key, so the ship will then turn in the direction the mouse is pointing in as soon as you release it.
You can prevent this by moving the mouse back to within the deadzone before releasing the Alt key, which is somewhere close to your aiming reticule. If you release the Alt key then, nothing will happen.

Since you don't actually control your ship with the mouse in Keyboard and Joystick control, this will not occur.

[Edited on 1-19-2012 by Viper]

Dr. Nemesis · Post by **Dr. Nemesis** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:38 am

This is my first post (yay). Been lurking a while. If this has been requested here time and time again, apologies.

One of my pet peeves about the game (and I'm really liking the game so far BTW) is that all commodities look the same when you view them at a station.

Why does it just show a crate for everything? This is something that breaks my immersion everytime because I see these and always think "must be 'cause this game is only made by one guy".
It may be tedious for you to make images for every commodity but can you make them moddable so that those of us who are unsatisfied with the crate shopping experience could change them ourselves?

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:44 am

From post: 124148, Topic: tid=7616, author=Dr. Nemesis wrote:This is my first post (yay). Been lurking a while. If this has been requested here time and time again, apologies.

One of my pet peeves about the game (and I'm really liking the game so far BTW) is that all commodities look the same when you view them at a station.

Why does it just show a crate for everything? This is something that breaks my immersion everytime because I see these and always think "must be 'cause this game is only made by one guy".
It may be tedious for you to make images for every commodity but can you make them moddable so that those of us who are unsatisfied with the crate shopping experience could change them ourselves?

One reason for things being the way they are is the effort to keep the game in as small a footprint as possible. That does not mean that changes won't be looked into and added. The more input Vice gets the more he can think about them.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:34 am

Hi Nemesis, welcome to the forum and the game.....

:P

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:53 am

From post: 124153, Topic: tid=7616, author=thetiebers wrote:
From post: 124148, Topic: tid=7616, author=Dr. Nemesis wrote:This is my first post (yay). Been lurking a while. If this has been requested here time and time again, apologies.

One of my pet peeves about the game (and I'm really liking the game so far BTW) is that all commodities look the same when you view them at a station.

Why does it just show a crate for everything? This is something that breaks my immersion everytime because I see these and always think "must be 'cause this game is only made by one guy".
It may be tedious for you to make images for every commodity but can you make them moddable so that those of us who are unsatisfied with the crate shopping experience could change them ourselves?
One reason for things being the way they are is the effort to keep the game in as small a footprint as possible. That does not mean that changes won't be looked into and added. The more input Vice gets the more he can think about them.

Another reason is because all commoditites are packaged into standard containers for automated loading into your cargo bays by the station control. That's why you can only load 25 units of materials etc or one piece of equipmentt per bay.

I agree though, it would be nice but Vice (rightly) wants to keep the game lean and mean - bloatware is OK(ish) if you have a stae of the art machine, but us mere mortals would suffer big performance hits if all the extra eye candy requested was added.

The eye candy quota is being "spent" on planets (and their water, rings etc) and background nebulae and so on - it makes the main part of the game look awesome.

Maledictus010 · Post by **Maledictus010** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:47 am

From post: 124094, Topic: tid=7616, author=Viper wrote:About the mouse: evidently, you're using keyboard + mouse controls, like I do. As soon as you release the Alt key, the game returns to using the mouse for ship control. Usually you have the mouse off the center of your screen (out of the deadzone) when you are done using the menus and release the Alt key, so the ship will then turn in the direction the mouse is pointing in as soon as you release it.
You can prevent this by moving the mouse back to within the deadzone before releasing the Alt key, which is somewhere close to your aiming reticule. If you release the Alt key then, nothing will happen.

Yeah, I figured as much, but I consider that sort of a bug. It's easy to fix and more user-friendly if the game takes care of all that. Unless there's a deeply thought out reason for it being the way it is.

That HUD you suggested is very nice but not what I'm looking for. Still, it's nice to see that this sort of thing is possible. I was thinking more along the lines of Alt-H cycling through 5 brightness levels of the HUD, nice and simple. I might have a go at that myself if possible, we'll see.

Thanks for the info.

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:16 am

From post: 124244, Topic: tid=7616, author=Maledictus010 wrote:
From post: 124094, Topic: tid=7616, author=Viper wrote:About the mouse: evidently, you're using keyboard + mouse controls, like I do. As soon as you release the Alt key, the game returns to using the mouse for ship control. Usually you have the mouse off the center of your screen (out of the deadzone) when you are done using the menus and release the Alt key, so the ship will then turn in the direction the mouse is pointing in as soon as you release it.
You can prevent this by moving the mouse back to within the deadzone before releasing the Alt key, which is somewhere close to your aiming reticule. If you release the Alt key then, nothing will happen.
Yeah, I figured as much, but I consider that sort of a bug. It's easy to fix and more user-friendly if the game takes care of all that. Unless there's a deeply thought out reason for it being the way it is.

That HUD you suggested is very nice but not what I'm looking for. Still, it's nice to see that this sort of thing is possible. I was thinking more along the lines of Alt-H cycling through 5 brightness levels of the HUD, nice and simple. I might have a go at that myself if possible, we'll see.

Thanks for the info.

No problem.
There is nothing (yet) that accommodates your request, however you are certainly not the first to ask for it and Vice usually develops the game according to player feedback, hence this thread. So you never know it might be part of a future update.
You can mod pretty much everything about the game though, so you could manually adjust the settings. In order to do so, download the EM CustomKit. It comes with very clear instructions as to how to go about it. Actually, if you're good with graphic work you could design your own HUD from scratch if you wanted to.

There is also another way around it, which involves moving folders around. I believe this can also be used for having different HUD/cockpits on different ships. I can't recall clearly where the relevant topic is, but if you have a look around in the Community Mods forum section, I'm sure you'll find it. If not, someone else will probably tell you where you can find it.

Hope this helps for now.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:32 pm

Hi Maledictus010, welcome to the game and forum. Hope to see you out there some time....

Dr. Nemesis · Post by **Dr. Nemesis** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:01 pm

From post: 124233, Topic: tid=7616, author=DaveK wrote:Another reason is because all commoditites are packaged into standard containers for automated loading into your cargo bays by the station control.

Honestly for me, that's a bit like a supermarket saying "Instead of showing you the serial boxes on the shelf we put everything in carrier bags since you end up putting the cereal in a bag on your way out anyway. It's fine though. On the shelf, below each carrier bag is the name of the cereal so you can easily see what you're buying."

From post: 124233, Topic: tid=7616, author=DaveK wrote:I agree though, it would be nice but Vice (rightly) wants to keep the game lean and mean - bloatware is OK(ish) if you have a stae of the art machine, but us mere mortals would suffer big performance hits if all the extra eye candy requested was added.

I don't disagree with that, however I think this is another reason in favour of making them moddable. Then both sides of the computing power coin can be happy.

Dr. Nemesis · Post by **Dr. Nemesis** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:41 pm

Thanks for the explanation though.
It's just kinda weird from my perspective during gameplay cause even bad games like DarkStar One manage to be a bit more fun when buying things.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:44 pm

From post: 124358, Topic: tid=7616, author=Dr. Nemesis wrote:
From post: 124233, Topic: tid=7616, author=DaveK wrote:Another reason is because all commoditites are packaged into standard containers for automated loading into your cargo bays by the station control.
Honestly for me, that's a bit like a supermarket saying "Instead of showing you the serial boxes on the shelf we put everything in carrier bags since you end up putting the cereal in a bag on your way out anyway. It's fine though. On the shelf, below each carrier bag is the name of the cereal so you can easily see what you're buying."

From post: 124233, Topic: tid=7616, author=DaveK wrote:I agree though, it would be nice but Vice (rightly) wants to keep the game lean and mean - bloatware is OK(ish) if you have a stae of the art machine, but us mere mortals would suffer big performance hits if all the extra eye candy requested was added.
I don't disagree with that, however I think this is another reason in favour of making them moddable. Then both sides of the computing power coin can be happy.

Making it possible to mod a lot or to many things by a one man game developer can make it hard to trouble shoot issues with players creating mods and the mods causing issues in the game on the variety of systems out there...also it opens the game up to possible get quick rich hacks.......

Dr. Nemesis · Post by **Dr. Nemesis** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:28 pm

So modding a cockpit with 3D and 2D elements interacting with eachother is fine, but replacing commodity pictures leaves the game more open to breaking and cheating?

I'm just being facetious. I'm sure you're speaking in a general sense.

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:10 pm

I guess it comes down to what eye candy you like. In this game you don't get a choice of different diamonds or different antimatter - you're not shopping, you're a trader - so I suppose part of the reasonong is you don't really need a picture of a diamond on the cannister (I wonder what antimatter would look like?)

A lot of poeple would like decals for their ships and different paint jobs (more distinctive than the subtle diffeence you can have on civ frames now.)

Vice is producing an add-on to the game which will improve lots of graphic stuff and allow you to fine tune your weapons, all in response to requests from players.

One great thing about this forum is hearing other peoples ideas and in this thread in particular their wish list. As many will already know I'd swap some tunability of the Excal missile pack for decals and fancy cannisters any day

If enough people ask then perhaps we'll both get our wishes!

Hope to see you on MP!

(well one of them, anyway)

Dr. Nemesis · Post by **Dr. Nemesis** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:28 pm

The problem there is that If I buy diamonds and antimatter, they both look the same so I don't feel like I've bought two different things. They feel like the same thing with a different price tag.

But you're right, the best I can do is hope. Thanks to everyone for your answers

.

FungusTrooper · Post by **FungusTrooper** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:39 pm

I haven't read other posts, so I am sorry if this has been posted already, but I'd just like to see something to the Chat Mod installed by default. The ability to just change text colour for certain things (like you can on IRC clients) would be super handy.

And maybe a black box behind the chat window with an editable alpha setting, so you can have it as black or as see-through as you want.

Marius · Post by **Marius** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:13 am

My only complaint and the only thing i think really needs to be added it the game does not keep mouses within the borders of the screen. So if you have 2 or more monitors it becomes impossible to steer in the direction of your other monitor. I have been popped many a time because i clicked out of the game while in a mission.

MrJake · Post by **MrJake** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:04 pm

groups would be awesome. Also the possibility to send a private message. and having more then 1 line per post in chat if possible.

Oh also when you introduce your terrain walkers, would be nice if they could go in water and explore the oceans. Maybe even add the possibility if players cities and housing and empires with private spaceports to park our carriers or motherships.

But groups would be an awesome start.

Thanks the game is very fun btw