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Post by tommyg on Apr 1, 2023 15:09:34 GMT -6
So this is a bit random, but I’d always wanted to be able to see my champions' portrait while in combat, as it adds that extra layer of personality to them, and helps me distinguish which is which if I have multiple of the same champion type in battle.
So I did a little UI redesign in photoshop, fairly basic, but I think this looks a lot better. I’ve removed the surrender and pause button to the right, surrendering is useless in LOM and there's a huge pause button displayed on screen, so no one would miss these. But I'm guessing this would probably be impossible to mod, or at least extremely difficult...
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Post by Boaster on Apr 21, 2023 19:18:11 GMT -6
Pause Button and Surrender Button removed?
And, if it were me, I'd have HP next to mana. But whatever works, works.
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Post by tommyg on May 8, 2023 12:42:29 GMT -6
Pause Button and Surrender Button removed? And, if it were me, I'd have HP next to mana. But whatever works, works.
Yes the Pause button is in my opinion useless, as you can pause using the space bar and when the game is paused there's a huge gray text block to inform you, and the surrender option serves no purpose. I’ve never actually used it in game, but I would assume vs non faith aligned enemies it just kills all your units, so what's the point. Both these options just take up valuable UI space.
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Post by tommyg on May 8, 2023 12:49:06 GMT -6
my only gripes with the ui are that berzerk and defend have no graphic showing when theyre being used. also too many stat altering spells use the same graphic, the graphicsshould be color coded by faith and visually cycle thru each spell aplied to the unit so cursor hovering is unnecessary. it also makes no sense for remaining movement to be displayed during combat
Absolutely, there should be a way you can see what buffs or debuffs you have active on your units. Ideally, there should be some visual clue when a unit is in Berserk mode, like an animation (Something like the Footman's "Defend" animation from Warcaft 3). And yeah it really sucks how theres only one buff graphic, and it's shared by all the different faiths (I'm talking about the blue rings graphic of course), there should at least be one unique graphic for each faith.
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Post by Boaster on May 8, 2023 18:56:40 GMT -6
Pause Button and Surrender Button removed? And, if it were me, I'd have HP next to mana. But whatever works, works. Yes the Pause button is in my opinion useless, as you can pause using the space bar and when the game is paused there's a huge gray text block to inform you, and the surrender option serves no purpose. I’ve never actually used it in game, but I would assume vs non faith aligned enemies it just kills all your units, so what's the point. Both these options just take up valuable UI space. You don't know what surrender is actually good for? |
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Post by tommyg on May 28, 2023 8:50:20 GMT -6
You don't know what surrender is actually good for? I thought it makes your Champions prisoners of the Faith youre fighting and instakills all your other troops. I've never had reason to use it and can't imagine I'd want to unless there was absolutely no other way to keep a particularly valuable Champion alive.
So I just tested this in game, and it kills all your basic units and allows the enemy to capture your champions. This only works against enemy faiths not renegade neutral. I guess you're right, there are situations where this is useful maybe, if you're playing a multiplayer game or your roleplay an "Ironman" no save type game, and don't want to lose your best champions.
I have no idea how the enemy faiths would react to having POWs, your aim would be to save them of course, but they could just kill them on the next turn. Knowing what the AIs like I would expect it to be janky as hell.
In reality players would only use this option very rarely, so if I was to redesign the UI I'd include this option, but the button would be a lot smaller, perhaps.
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tloya
Member LVL 1
Posts: 11
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Post by tloya on Jun 30, 2023 23:53:18 GMT -6
As far as I understand the handful of graphics-related GS files I've looked at, the UI in Lords of Magic is basically constructed piece-by-piece in script files referencing various image files and screen positions to create each display icon. Boaster/Mantera's mods do include custom UI stuff for things like the options menu or the expanded unit stat panel. Something like your mock-up could very well be possible, although probably a pretty major undertaking and it may not come out looking as neat and clean as your mock-up depending on how the various doodad sprites have to be lined up. As far as I know they can't be skewed/resized in any way so you'd be limited to arranging them differently and adding/removing icons (although if you want to get real crazy could possibly create custom .lbm files to reshape icons as needed).
From a substance perspective it would definitely be nice to have a more comprehensive display of unit stats in battle - important fighting stats like combat speed, attack rate, and hit recovery rate are all invisible to the player during fights.
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Post by Boaster on Jul 1, 2023 9:07:11 GMT -6
As far as I understand the handful of graphics-related GS files I've looked at, the UI in Lords of Magic is basically constructed piece-by-piece in script files referencing various image files and screen positions to create each display icon. Boaster/Mantera's mods do include custom UI stuff for things like the options menu or the expanded unit stat panel. Something like your mock-up could very well be possible, although probably a pretty major undertaking and it may not come out looking as neat and clean as your mock-up depending on how the various doodad sprites have to be lined up. As far as I know they can't be skewed/resized in any way so you'd be limited to arranging them differently and adding/removing icons (although if you want to get real crazy could possibly create custom .lbm files to reshape icons as needed). From a substance perspective it would definitely be nice to have a more comprehensive display of unit stats in battle - important fighting stats like combat speed, attack rate, and hit recovery rate are all invisible to the player during fights.I disagree with this on the principle of fair play. Only the owner of the units should be privvy to all of the intimate details of their army. It's like with real life. You shouldn't be able to just see the enemy's army and intimately be able to just see what their army is capable of. If you have that ability in real life, and to a high degree of accuracy, then you're an intelligence asset and would have a unique skill and high calling: great worth. Thieves can "spy" on armies and get an intimate look at an enemy party. Maybe some stats, however, could be additionally seen in combat with a thief present in your army. That's an idea I can get behind, as I have already done this with thieves on the overland map, having a range of estimation of the party's total power and worth. |
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Post by Frodo Baggins on Aug 20, 2023 20:11:35 GMT -6
In heat of battle, very little about either side may be observed so less visible info would be more realistic (fog of war). Also, no pausing and giving orders in more general sense is closer to the mark than pinpoint micromanagement (similar to simulation in Majesty where you give bounties and such and ai chooses what to do). None of these suggestions sound unreasonable but we are already far from realistic it's just about degree.
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