Screw you man, I'm like FIVE WHOLE DUDES.
(Unfortunately, a 'dude' is only about a fifth of a person...)
:D

Leave Cargo there. There's a button (I think O?) that shortens that window to only show weapons and not cargo. Try that, you'll see what I mean.

Yeah, i know what ya mean about the cargo, I just know a few people, myself included would like away to see exactly what the cargo is as opposed to an icon, also, a way to ditch certain items of cargo would be nice to, hence i thought it would be better in a pop up window, bit I'll add it anyways. I'll also post some revamped icons as well soon :-)

I find it annoying that in mouse look there is a nice blue fire destination recticle. The joystick works the same as mouse look but is missing the recticle. Lets add that. Also, I think it would be almost necessary to add a joystick sensitivity setting. I find I'm using the mouse for combat and the joy for docking etc. because there is the "twist" on the sidewinder that allows roll. I'd like to be able to fine tune the joy so I can sucessfully use it for combat with the same sensitivities as the mouse.

Sparksvonrou

I think a way to determine your velocity in physics mode would be REALLY helpful. This is the only reason I use arcade mode---I have no idea which way I'm going when in physics mode.

Lol suri, there isn't a definite reason why your upgraded hud looks like EnB is there? :) :P
But I really really like your version of the hud.
One thing DireCoyote mentioned, I like the enemy's damage near the center reticle. Sort of like in Freespace/Freespace2, where they had the enemys hull strength surrounded by 4 shield "quadrant" bars, about where the "closest object" was in your first version Suri. I really like the closest object meter near the reticle though. Then this is a little off topic, but I'll vent it here anyways, when I get caught in the ion storms, the closest object meter shows 0 until I get to the exit point. Unfortunatly I use that meter to show me when I'm about to crash into a roid or station, in a storm, I can't tell how far I am away from the roid I'm heading towards.

Also there should be a way to see how much ammo you have left near the reticle, perhaps along an inside edge of one of the side bars or, the way I prefer, connected to the bottom of the targeting reticle. But there definatly needs to be an ammo indicator near/around the reticle, its a pain having to search for the ammo indicator while I'm fighting.

I REALLY like the radar in Freespace, its just one circle instead of a front radar and a back radar. Basically it has the front radar in the center, then the back radar surrounds the center, with an enemy directly behind you closest to the edge. um, kinda like looking through a fish-eye lens. With both the back and front radars in one spot I can quickly see which direction the enemy is as I'm turning, instead of having to flick between the two radar scopes. I don't really like the radar the way it is now, I almost died once cause I forgot to look at the rear radar. :P Unfortunatly to use the FS radar, it would require some recoding, not just moving elements around on the screen.

As for the cargo, I like the pop-up idea because I can see what I have, and see the icon. Its really annoying just seeing the icons outside the station, then only the words in the station, I don't know what the heck I have when I'm out in the field. And yes there needs to be a way to ditch certain cargo items, instead of the current "cargo hold purge" :)

Then for the damage indicators, sorry suri, but I think they are fine the way they are now. They show where there is damage and they show all the separate sections. While the 3d view is cool, its not necissary to see everything. Also, in the 3d view I know that I'm going to be getting confused in battle which way to turn to spread the damage, and confusion and battle DO NOT mix!

Now, I have to Strongly disagree with Dire, I LIKE MY XP BARS! I don't want to have to search for meaning in the numbers. I don't care if I'm not in combat, I don't want to have to pause to analyze what a bunch of numbers mean. And just because I have some time and I'm not in combat doesn't mean I want to spend more time than I have to assesing where I am xp-wise. Of course, VO's leveling style may make that more difficult, because you can have more xp than you need to level, then you have go take the license mission to officially level up. I'm not sure how you could show extra xp, perhaps start a second, different colored bar on top of the regular xp bar.

Then lastly, I really can't stand the current group damage indicators, I mean I REALLY HATE it! I want some sort of percent indicator on the group damage, I like the bar though, but the current bar could be bigger, easier to see just how much damage I have-taken/have-left. And there needs to be a total damage bar on the un-grouped damage section.

Ok, I'm done ranting for now... :) I agree there needs to be some changes, and that one particular style will never make everybody happy, but lets try for quick, easy, visual indicators/meters.

I basically took all the info I had and placed it in the corners, Yes, it is similar to EnB in someways, but its similar to other games as well :-)

I agrre with the ammo, I'd like that near the HuD, also had a brainstorm with another player earlier about hostiles attacking you. This would be displayed as a red dot (1 per ship) that has you targetted, they would flash when that hostle is attacking, would give you a good idea of your tactival situation at a glance :-)

Enemy damage would be cooler closer to the hud, maybe just a % can be added there, with the bars been left on the more detaled window :-)

In regards to the 3d images, I added them as you gat the front and back in 1 go mostly, also, it brings to look of the game a bit more to current graphics standards in games, maybe it could be a rotating isometric image to give you a better idea of where the damage is?

I'll get some more work done on the interface with a few more ideas later :-)

I know not everyone will like the latout, everyone has their gripes about some systems that others like, hopefully though this brainstorming seesion will get some good ideas out of the woodwork :-)

Acctually, for the enemy damage indicator in the reticle, I didn't mean % bars, I just meant blocks of color... :P Like a circle with gaps in it... Ohwell, thats what I get for not being clear.

Okay, here is version 3 :-)

http://img30.exs.cx/img30/7730/vendettadisplay3.jpg

I have switched the colours for shields and hull (it sounds like shiels will be made available in the game, but more so for higher factioned players, not everyone).

Re-added the weapons informaton bar, also added the keybind numbers to them so you can see what each weapon is binded to. I'd add the ammo to the reticle, but since the number can varie on how many weapons you have using ammo, I though it could clutter up the reticle to much.

Added targets hull and shield stregth to target interface.

Added indicators for how many hostiles have you targeted, each dot represents 1 hostile targetting you (the dots will flash when they are firing at you)

Altered the target lock from a bounding box (looked to old for my liking), added a more visually pleasing target lock, which also has the targets direction on it still.

Added a ship direction indicator, atm I have it as 2 circles, the outer cirle would represent the side of your ship, with the top of the circle been the top of your ship, the left been the front. The inner circle represents the top of your ship, with the top of the circle been forward. With these to guages you should be able to judge your ships direction of travel.

I agree on the radar Falcnerd, I prefer the freespace one where the front and back are intergrated :-)

No one has anymore feedback? :-/

Is it me or does this interface look pretty much like Earth and Beyond except for the radar picture. Don't know how the "Legal department" would look at this. But i like it being an EX Earth and Beyond veteran

I never played E&B so cannot comment about how it looks in compairison. However, I think it may be that it looks like other space flight sims because it works. I like what I see in the picture. It is intuitive and easy to read which is what is most important. If this is what E&B looked like then I doubt there would be a legal problem as it also looks somewhat like X-Wing from Lucas Arts. If it were a problem then I am sure Mr. Lucas would have made a fuss over E&B.

I don't like the exactitude of the information you're getting.
For example, the wireframe image of the ship you're targetting seems unnecessary. I know guild wants to put this in somehow but I'd rather they not. Not knowing what you're engaging is part of the fun in PvP battles.
"Ship incoming!"
"What is it?"
"BOOM!"
"It's a Valk! A VALK!! SCRAMBLE!!"

I dunno, I always enjoyed having to zoom to watch targets who were far away.

For one, I'd rather have the group tab and personal info tab be swappable instead of both on the screen at once. Takes up less space.
I also think bars are too wasteful and wish Vendetta would do away with it in favor of something that takes up less space.

The way I plan it is that you can select which windows you don't want and those that you don't want. I beieve that been able to select where you want each window would be an extremly good feature (like Eve's draggable windows).

In regards to seing the enemy ship, I don't see why this should not be possable, we do it in todays military with aircraft and ships over 25km away, I see no reason why a few thousand years from now the abilty to see a craft on 3km away should no longer exist :-) I can see where you are coming from with the fun aspect, but really I see no reason why the info shouldn't be how I've put it. I've delibratly gone for %'s rather than exact numbers to try and keep that excitement value when you attack new targets to you :-)

In regards to it looking similar to EnB's display, the only thing possably similar is the location of the enemy and group windows. and maybe where the chat is. I did not use the enb interface as a base for this, I used the existed VO display and tweaked it. It may be similar to other games because certain systems just work.

Truth betold I did the improvements for the graphics than the layout, the layout ideas just seem to of been caught up along the way :-)

Hopefully a Dev will notice this thread and get a few ideas on how to alter thier interface when the time comes from the feedback here :-)

I personally like the way Suricata has layed out his/her idea for the HUD. Wouldn't mind seeing it implemented sometime Soon™. I also don't see why *basic* information about your advisaries ship should not be displayed when it is targeted. By basic, I mean ship type and hull integrity. Not weapons type/loadout/cargo/date of manufacture/starsign of pilot or such.

I'm ambivalent on most of the changes, since largely the HUD 'works' for me, but the velocity vector thing is a big thing for me, and the dual-circle indicator there would be basically useless for me (others may like it, but I would have no value from it).

A floating reticle-like vector indicator would just be massively more useful for how I'm used to piloting in semi-newtonion physics engines.

(I will say, however, I like bars. Bars are fun. Percentage is less clutter, but bars are more interesting feedback.)

Velocity indicator needs work. I have no idea what your current one is supposed to represent, I was thinking more of a 3d arrow.
MY damage is currently still not displayed near the center of the screen. If you MUST have shields displayed, then display them over the top of enemy armor. So Enemy Shields/Armor on the right side, My shields/armor on the left side. I need to know how much damage I am taking.
Other then that, it looks good!

EDIT: Also, the 'how many enemies are targetting me' bubbles look ugly where they are. If they must be there, take them away from the center a bit. They are graphical and thus easily recognizable, so it won't hurt them much to be away from me. Put them above the picture of the enemy, perhaps. This way the radar can cycle through them easier?

Double EDIT: Tug the velocity indicator down a bit. It is interrupting the circle of the main view. Also, the damages could go down a hair.

Triple EDIT: Please include a version of your next update that does not have the descriptive words all over, so we can see what the actual view would look like.

I'd just like to note that customizable HUD elements were in fact planned at one time. I just don't know how much of a priority it is now. I'm guessing we'll see them somewhere between final release and the first expansion pack. If not then, eventually. Because they're in the process of squashing bugs and making the server stable, only bits and pieces of the current interface have been upgraded graphically. It'll be a while before everything gets a sharper look. Hang in there.

For now what you can do is at least scale the HUD elements up or down. Simply open the "wgaf.cfg" file and set the value of "rHUDxscale" to 800 and "rHUDyscale" to 600. In other words if you're playing at a resolution of 1024x768, the HUD will retain the proper proportions, but it will be scaled down to add better visibility. I tried 1024x768, but I found it to be too small for my tastes.

Anyway, feel free to experiment with it while making sure to keep it in proportion to your screen dimensions. While it may not add anything new to the HUD, it'll at least improve your visibility and remove any excess clutter.

Suricata, some very nice work! How long did you spend on this? Heh heh ;P j/k

My favorite thing about it is the multi-window chat at the top so you don't have to keep switching back and forth between "mission" and "general." THAT is AWESOME.

I've had a better idea for the direction indicator, bascially it will be a 3d model of your ship that will be encompassed in a spheare, its will then face the direction of travel, i'll make a mock up in a bit. i'm also going to alter the font size a little to make it more sleek, i've had a few idea's how to clean up the hud a bit, i'll get them done in a few :-)

Okay, here is version 4 :-)

http://img66.exs.cx/img66/5199/vendettadisplay4.jpg

I have added a ships direction itdicator at the bottom of the screem, this is basically a 3D model of the ship which rotates in a globe, the circle represents the x axis, there is also an away at the front to show ship direction in releation to the direction the ship is facing.

The circle in the teager reticle is now the targets info, with the shields on the upper hald and hull on the bottom, the number indicates the ships hull%

I've added 2 bars inbtween the reactor and speed indicators, these are for the ships hull and shields (with %'s underneith), I think once the hull gets down to say 20% the bar could start pulsating slightly so it grabs you attention to say *Watch your hull!* :-)

I've moved the hostiles bar above the target window, the way i'd intend it to work is that the bright dots are targets firing at you, the dark ones are targets that have you targeted, but are not yet firing, these would be laid out in distance order with your current target highlighted.

changed the little target lock that shows your ships direction in you target window to red, since this signifies where your weapons are pointing, red seemed a little more appropriate :-)

Other than that, no major changes to the prevoius verions other than pulling the nearest object distance u a bit and making the targeting reticle a little more transparent.