Entropia Universe Unreal - Preview of HUD UI

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Lets get this thread back on track
2024 User Interface Update -> interface update is February 13, 2024

From the initial user interface (UI) presented some time ago to the current one, it seems like they have considered and incorporated information from us users. Many of the points I mentioned in an older post have been integrated into this new design. Please read my previous summary from March 3, 2023. ->
Old Post down on the page

However, am I the only one who is still dissatisfied with the appearance?
Allow me to present some factual information, emphasizing the objective nature of the data rather than conveying any subjective meaning.

Please take a look at the new user interface (UI) and then compare it to the old one. Scroll down, and we can identify and discuss specific elements.

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MindArk states the following, and I will supplement it with my comments.
UI Fundamental Changes and Improvements
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


• Performance Optimization: A thorough review of all UI windows led to significant enhancements in UI responsiveness, ensuring a smoother Entropia experience.
- I cannot provide comments on this as it needs testing. However, with a more locked or fixed user interface (UI), minimizing the floating elements, I assume it will offer a smoother experience.


• Unified Design Philosophy: We aimed to create a consistent, visually appealing UI. We redesigned elements like fonts (choosing a Sci-Fi style), colors, and text sizes.
- The previous UI maintained consistency and presented a visually appealing effect. The new style appears decent, but there is a significant lack of colors. If any improvement were to be made, allowing users to customize text size would be ideal. For instance, individuals playing on 4K monitors may face challenges, as it seems there is still a lack of options to adjust text size for better readability.

• HUD Transformation: The Heads-Up Display (HUD) redesign reduces clutter, offers a more expansive view of the game world, and enhances the overall user experience.
- Was there ever an issue with the view of the world? This statement seems more like a sales pitch lacking substantial content. The prior system allowed users to manage screen clutter based on their preference, providing the freedom to make those choices ourselves. Tasks that used to require one click now demand four. How does this contribute to an enhanced user experience? I will come back to the design part.

• Optimized Functionality: We repositioned buttons, adjusted window sizes, and removed redundant elements for a more intuitive user experience.
- Transitioning from a stage where I could reposition buttons to the current state where it's done for me represents a downgrade in user experience. This cannot be viewed as an optimization. However, adjusting window size is highly beneficial, particularly when considering the challenges of running the game in 4K, where windows tend to become very small.


• Chat System Revisions: We enhanced the chat system with features like adjustable transparency and improved communication tools within the game.
- There may not be much visible in the photo, but having the ability to adjust anything is always an upgrade. I'm optimistic that text size in the chat can be modified.? Additionally, I hope the option to customize colors remains available. While they emphasize simplifying the user interface, there could be improvements made to the chat and channel system. Not everyone finds it easy to use commands.

• Action Bars & Icon Management: The new action bar management system simplifies customization. The update reduces on-screen icons and enhances visual clarity. Users can assign icons to a maximum of five bars, each with ten actions and three pages, allowing 150 assignable actions. Keybinds are now possible with modifiers (CTRL and SHIFT) and are not limited to the dashboard or action bar.

- This update reduces the number of on-screen icons. Previously, users had the autonomy to choose how many icons they wanted on the screen simultaneously, making the statement about it inaccurate as one player maybe have non on screen. The previous icons had background colors, but now they are transparent. How does this contribute to enhanced visual clarity? Despite the allowance for 150 actions in the form of bars, this setup is still a downgrade as I can currently have 150 actions ready with just one click.


UI_Health_Actionbar.webp


Here is where things become intriguing, as this is the crucial aspect of the user interface.
1# Action and Icones.
Judging by the appearance, it seems only 20 icons can be displayed at once. If you wish to access additional actions, you must use the buttons to scroll to the next set. I'm unsure about your playstyle, but for me, this will result in a considerable increase in clicks to reach my desired actions. The idea here is good and 10x better then the first shown UE UI. There is still some small steps to make this perfect.
  • Increase the number of slots to reduce the need for clicking to the next row. Currently, I have over 100 icons in-game ready at a single click.
    Ideally, have 20+20 icons per row.
  • The icons are transparent, and I hope we can customize the transparacy to make item icons as visible as desired. The old UI had background colors.
  • When hovering over an icon, I hope we still receive item information, etc.
2# Health bar info
The terms "design," "visual," and "colors" are frequently mentioned in this update, yet in some aspects, that's precisely what's lacking. The health bar is as basic as it can be. Does it alter colors as it decreases? Why doesn't it display your HP in numeric values as well, etc.? This feels like something I could create in 60 seconds. Where is the passion?

Off-topic, but I still yearn for the ability to click on a player and drag-drop their health bar. This way, I can monitor who needs healing without necessarily being on the same team. This thing we lost in a old update or like i name them downgrades.


More crucial notes, and once again, the update emphasizes visual and design aspects.
Brief notes on how our brains function: Colors, shapes, and the overall design play crucial roles in making information memorable and easy to track visually.

101 Essential Information for Game Developers on UI (User Interface).
A well-designed Game User Interface (UI) recognizes the pivotal role that colors and shapes play in enhancing the overall gaming experience. Colors serve as a powerful tool to convey information, evoke emotions, and distinguish various elements within the game. They aid in creating a visually cohesive and immersive environment, allowing players to quickly discern critical details

Now, let's see if this is the new window style across all windows. I do have some concerns.

A
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B
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Now, please consider these points for yourself.

- Which design do you believe received the most effort and soul – A or B?
- Which design evokes a warmer and more welcoming feeling for you? Which one brings you more pleasure to look at and read – A or B?
- MindArk refers to the update as an improvement. In your opinion, do you consider the window style 'A' to be an improvement?

Observe the lines around it, the design, the utilization of colors and shapes, and the visual impact.

For instance, I appreciate the progress bar. It features a pleasing design with colorful icons contrasting the skill name. The combination of text and visual elements makes it interesting to observe, providing both joy and substantial information.
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How will the new design look.
-> I dont know.
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Additional design considerations and challenges for the future.
The prospect of future updates and improvements in the Unreal Engine (UE) doesn't seem very promising based on the current outlook. I already experienced this negative effect during the testing phase of the new shapes for Storage and Trade terminals. The original ones had a unique appearance and distinct shapes, whereas the new ones appear to be more of a copy-paste job.

Ultimately, I'm curious about the design team and the effort they truly invest. Drawing a triangle and lines is a basic skill; however, the current designs lack variety in shapes and feature monotonous colors. This game isn't an FPS (first-person shooter) but rather an MMO (massive multiplayer online) game, meant to have numerous windows, icons, stats information, and a vibrant array of colors. Many people play games like World of Warcraft without needing design simplification to reduce clutter.

Stripping away the design, making it appear bland and rigid with fewer colors, is not an improvement. Removing the ability to adjust, change, and personalize is not an update; it's a downgrade. While the current appearance may be an improvement over the initial UE Mindark showcased some time back, the ultimate goal remains unclear.

Thanks
 
My memory says I've read quite a bit of this before, but possibly nothing has changed since an original post ages ago.
It is thus in keeping with what we have become used to - and the points are still probably just as valid as the first time round ...
 
Hi all!

I wanted to share the early work in progress for our Entropia Universe Unreal HUD UI. The important thing for us in this stage is to define a style, how easy it is to read and placement. You will also see some bonus elements in this image the Setesh Moon test environments early stages, a creature in action plus more ;).

Would love to hear what you think about this!

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Disclaimer: Pre-Alpha Development, Not final
I do wish we could get this kind of status updates weekly.

It is refreshing see this kind of communication between MA and community.

This gives me reason to trust your progress and have faith in this game and devs.

If this trend continues i belive me and others too are more then willing to invest in you!

Keep up with the good work! 👍🙏
 
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I do wish we could get this kind of status updates weekly.

It is refreshing see this kind of communication between MA and community.

This gives me reason to trust your progress and have faith in this game and devs.

If this trend continues i belive me and others too are more then willing to invest in you!

Keep up with the good work! 👍🙏

Can you pleas point out what is good work on that UI ? :D

But yes, updates are good to get.
 
I have 35 clickable Icons I use when hunting, mining, space flight etc. I don't want them on my health bar. I don't want my health bar on the bottom of my screen. I don't want tiny size changing buff Icons, I want the Lon/Lat on top of the Radar. I quit hunting when they made the retarded buff Icons on my health bar. It sucks so bad I cant stand to look at it. I began mining and crafting only, or hunting mobs that I didn't need rings or buffs or amps to kill trying to stay under 6 Icons so they didnt shrink. Then I figured out I could use my tracked mission window to just make the shit go away. I put it on top of my health bar to block the Icons and only checked under it to see if my skill pills were up. Its a good thing MA don't make comic books. They have no artistic ability left to improve a classic like they made when they made EU. A Square window is all they can make now. Can't imagine my silver age classics with square word balloons and fonts. Looking at the effort they put into all the windows previously with the shading, multiple layers, colors, curves and eye candy I find it unbelievable that anyone can get behind this crap. Its just a continuing escalation of the Ikea spread sheet generation. Even my fav casinos have lost the themes and figure gambling is just so much fun that a free crappy room will keep me coming back. Make all this stuff movable, size adjustable. pinable, and modular so I can make MY DESKTOP THE WAY I WANT!!
And make it so I can move and pin the damn YOU CANT DO THAT WHILE SUMMONING window!!!
 
Now, please consider these points for yourself.

- Which design do you believe received the most effort and soul – A or B?
- Which design evokes a warmer and more welcoming feeling for you? Which one brings you more pleasure to look at and read – A or B?
- MindArk refers to the update as an improvement. In your opinion, do you consider the window style 'A' to be an improvement?
- definitely the old one - it has a lot of work in it, over many years; but all panels are different, there are over 15 different styles of panels which is weird
- definitely the old one - because we're very used to it;
- definitely not an improvement from the design aspect; it is an improvement in the sense it's done with different newer technology and it's somewhat the first iteration and I would guess it will improve with small details.
I hope it gets improved. Right now it looks minimalistic which would not be a bad thing but it looks kinda cheap. What I hope we're gonna get out of it would be better performance. The change is needed and I'm assuming the UI will also be looking the same in UE5 and I'm guessing they're trying to make some changes so the engine change will still have some familiar elements and not feel like a completely different game.

What I really don't like are the arrows throughout the panels. Any different arrows would be better than those.
The change is needed and it's going to happen, the design will improve but I understand it's gonna be over time as the focus should be on UE5 implementation...
 
Can you pleas point out what is good work on that UI ? :D

But yes, updates are good to get.
I agree with you on many benefits that old UI system provides.

More options the better.

Also i did post my suggestion regarding radar scaleability and visibility when one is colorblind.

Aside from that only issues i have had with the current UI have been chat reseting to default position upong login.

Teleport map doing the same reset when using TP.

Good work is that they are working on it and communicating with the community.

I aknowledge the fact that i dont have control over how new system will be implemented and i will adjust myself to what ever they provide in the end.

Keep posting suggestions! 👍
 
- What I hope we're gonna get out of it would be better performance. .......


I observe that you discuss performance, and MindArk does as well. A decade ago, I operated this game with an expansive setup spanning 3 monitors at 5760x1080 resolution, with all graphics settings maximized. Presently, I run it on a 32-inch screen at 2560x1440 resolution, still maintaining maximum settings.

On my RTX4070ti, I consistently achieve over 130 FPS. (This is still low) The only performance issues I encounter involve occasional stuttering and FPS drops, particularly when entering or leaving a service center. Frame rates can plummet from 150 to 30. Could the UI be causing this problem? thats wierd.

I initially believed it was server-related, but regardless, it's something they should address. Typically, I cap the FPS at 165, in line with my monitor's refresh rate, even for other games, including those with graphics aspects five times more demanding than Entropia.
 
The only performance issues I encounter involve occasional stuttering and FPS drops, particularly when entering or leaving a service center. Frame rates can plummet from 150 to 30. Could the UI be causing this problem? thats wierd.

The service centre thing I think is related to something else. Service centres and buildings are usually designed in this game to block the outside I suspect its for technical reasons. Possibly to reduce load as system has to do less work e.g. when inside the outside can be perhaps "dropped" completely and hence only the inside needs to be loaded vice versa for outside. The sudden drop in FPS could be related to transitioning from one to the other and the point at which load increases.

The performance savings MA are talking about with the UI may help in allowing more avatars in an area and hence more users in game.
 
I also think those service centre performance drops are due to the separation of environments. But it does illustrate scales of improvements, where the UI may not be too responsible, even if it is almost always with us.
To illustrate, we (or at least I) get lag when just one avatar appears at the edge of radar range. I can't even see the person in most cases. If I, or they, move back and forth they get thrown out and back in to some 'background'. I also find it so fantastic (sarcasm) that tps and NPCs are among the last things in my environment to load.
On the other hand, I haven't experimented with minimalising my number of permanent icons, so I don't know the details of ms losses here and there either. Maybe I should before the vu, just to get an idea before this particular possibility of personal discovery is lost ...
 
I have 35 clickable Icons I use when hunting, mining, space flight etc


wtf

this shows why we need this ui upgrade/change so badly. lol

35 clickable icons for hunting, mining and space flight? i cant even comprehend how that is possible
 
wtf

this shows why we need this ui upgrade/change so badly. lol

35 clickable icons for hunting, mining and space flight? i cant even comprehend how that is possible


35 is nothing :D


3# icones for 3 armor set
3# icones for full item set
5# icones for pills
5# icones for weapons.. small mobs . medium, main gun. Then short and long range
5# More icones for mindforce.
8# Icones for gestures. lets make the game more alive. So need shortcuts for this.

I can keep going. I have 100 icons on screen. But I run the game in 2560x1440 resolution so I still have good eye sigth.
 
Why again are we changing how the screen works ?

Just leave it working the same as it does now , but make improvements on the backend.
Why am I forced every few years to learn new controls because someone that doesn't play wants to make their mark.
 
Why again are we changing how the screen works ?

Just leave it working the same as it does now , but make improvements on the backend.
Why am I forced every few years to learn new controls because someone that doesn't play wants to make their mark.
<- Nice one
 
Why again are we changing how the screen works ?

Just leave it working the same as it does now , but make improvements on the backend.
Why am I forced every few years to learn new controls because someone that doesn't play wants to make their mark.
Everything looks like its going to work the same, only things that are dramatically changing control-wise is modifiers if you turn them on and action bar (which literally every mmorpg has)
 
we have a mental process on HP that refers to GREEN ok, Yellow acceptable RED FAP or CHIP heal...
later an azureish greenigh bar pops..... why not respecting our mental color code?
 
  • Increase the number of slots to reduce the need for clicking to the next row. Currently, I have over 100 icons in-game ready at a single click.
    Ideally, have 20+20 icons per row.
You raise some good points, but I am curious... What are these 100 icons in game that you need?

Considering a full-size keyboard is 104 different keys... 100 icons seems a bit over the top. I thought the other post i quoted the other day with 35(!!!!!) icons during hunting, mining and crafting was over the top, but we seem to have found a new champion!


35 is nothing :D


3# icones for 3 armor set
3# icones for full item set
5# icones for pills
5# icones for weapons.. small mobs . medium, main gun. Then short and long range
5# More icones for mindforce.
8# Icones for gestures. lets make the game more alive. So need shortcuts for this.

I can keep going. I have 100 icons on screen. But I run the game in 2560x1440 resolution so I still have good eye sigth.
I would love you to keep going.

I said 35 was a lot,

you then mentioned 3+3+5+5+5+8 = 29 different things you are using, which to me seems like excessive as well.
Can you post a screenshot of your UI? =) I would love to see it!

Edit.... I can see 89(?) in your screenshot posted above.

Yeah, looks.... unique for sure. Reminds me a bit of this;


9RkyfMH.jpg




Edit:

It all makes more sense now. With clicking you mean clicking with your mouse. You don't keybind your actions, you simply move the mouse over and push the icon on the screen, am i right?

I am excited about the possibility to have shift and alt work as modifier for keys, as i already use that in many others games. Press 1 on keyboard for my main gun, shift+1 for my tagger, etc.
 
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Why again are we changing how the screen works ?

Just leave it working the same as it does now , but make improvements on the backend.
Why am I forced every few years to learn new controls because someone that doesn't play wants to make their mark.

The game is moving to UE5. Now should they recreate the current interface exactly as is even knowing that it has flaws which impact performance. Which in turn may mean less users. I think not any sensible person would try and do better. Having said that the current interface has some advantages and they would have been wise to keep those elements.
 
The game is moving to UE5. Now should they recreate the current interface exactly as is even knowing that it has flaws which impact performance. Which in turn may mean less users. I think not any sensible person would try and do better. Having said that the current interface has some advantages and they would have been wise to keep those elements.
So tell me then , have we not progressed far enough along to copy the skins and fonts used in the current system?
Or able to drop the shortcuts onto the desktop , is this now considered too complex ?
 
Since we already have a newer thread, I am locking this one to keep all information and discussion in one place.

@NOR_Ken @Rock Stone Several of the issues and questions you raise here have already been answered by me in that thread, so I'd suggest browsing the summary of official comments I just added over there :) I'll make sure to read through all the new comments here and pass on any feedback which hasn't already been addressed though.

New thread: https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forum/index.php?threads/2024-user-interface-update.298323/

Summary of all official comments in the new thread: https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...24-user-interface-update.298323/#post-3928863

we have a mental process on HP that refers to GREEN ok, Yellow acceptable RED FAP or CHIP heal...
later an azureish greenigh bar pops..... why not respecting our mental color code?

As mentioned in the other thread; the new health bar will change color as your health goes down. It starts out the greenish color shown in the preview screenshots, but turns yellow as your health goes down, and eventually red.
 
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