I got lost and confused within seconds.
I really can't stand cluttered HuDs; more stuff is bad, not good.

athough I've added a few more items, I've also assumed that there will be clearer tutorials added to the game to make it clear what everything is. There actually isn't much new stuff there really other than stuff people have stated they would like to have access to, i've got most of suggestions for stuff via browsing the forums and reading past threads :-)

Looks great Suri.

IMO More == better, as long as I can hotkey it all and turn it off when I don't need it, and on when I do.

What is the '50' inside that circle supposed to represent? I don't understand your velocity indicator at all still. Adding more bars is just cluttering the screen. Take away all the shield indicators, you are building a HUD (and cluttering a screen) based on things that are not even in the game yet. Where is the enemy damage indicator in the center?

See, this is why I made labeled ones Dire :-P

The circle with the 50 represents yout targets shields and gull, the 50 is the targets hull. The reason the screen has 'alot' of info, is because I've made it with 'everything' turned on, you should have options for hiding certain windows. Atm, without shields ingame (although the devs have hinted they will be brought back) you could remove those bars, also, if you arn't grouped you could remove that window too. You asked for indicators for shield and hull, thats what I did between the engine and reactor, I actually reduced the size a little to so it wouldn't make a big difference :-)

The direction indicator is pretty straight forward, you have the static shere with the x axis on it, and the arrow pointing in the ships movement, the ships model inside the sphere will then rotate to the direction it is relative to the ships actual direction of movement :-)

You have to use you imagination a little, since this version afterall is the fully turned on mode with all the windows so you can see how they would all fit together (I've added the shield indicators as the devs have mentioned implenting them, its always good to design ahead :-)

Btw, when you say velocity indicator, you do mean 'direction' indicator right? Since the velocity indicator is unchanged from that in the game...

A hud needs to be simple...too much clutter and it's almost impossible to fight some of the very exp players. You can't tell if an energy weapon is coming at you if it's hidden by some kinda cluttered item.

I don't know why other people think its cluttered. I personally like version 4 very much, I could see myself using that hud with no problems.

I'm not sure about the targets box, if a bunch of red lights are flashing at me, I think that would distract me from the fight, while it is useful to know if someone is firing at me, I don't need a bunch of lights flashing at me.

Now yes the hud has lots of stuff in it but if you are going solo with only energy weapons (so you don't need the ammo/equipment box) then that cuts out a big chunk of stuff on the screen.

I really don't mind all the stuff on the screen because most of it is stuff that I need to help me fight effectively. If you don't like all the stuff, then turn it off.

But remember this, its better to be able to turn stuff off, then to NOT be able to turn something on because it isn't there. So lets stuff the screen with as much as we can, and then each player can pick and choose what elements they want.

I like it,especially if some of the icons are toggable a la Freespace. I am pleased to see that the one big thing which was missing is now present..... a direction indicator :) I also like the 2 radars, takes me back to the original X-wing, I never did like those 'Elite' style isometric displays.
As for further improvements any chance of the image of the targetted vessal being dynamic, more like a gun camera image ?, that way you can tell which way your target is moving relative to yourself.

This is definitely an improvement over the current hud. Some suggestions:

1) Group the bent bars together according to their relation to each other. For example, on the left of the crosshair we'd have: speed indicator (green), battery indicator (blue), and on the right side: shield strength (blue), and hull integrity (green). This would improve the organization and intuitiveness of that area of the hud.

2) To help keep your eyes on the prey, move the circular target damage indicator to the target recticle. For targets off the screen there are still the stationary bars on the lower right of the screen.

3) Change the direction indicator ship model to a simple 3d arrow. I think this would be clearer to new players as there are already two othe images of ships on the hud. Using an arrow would also put less strain on lower spec computers. Perhaps the model should be made selectable.
3b) Alternatively, combine the player's locational damage indicator with the direction indicator, reducing some of the clutter in the process. I also like the "gun-cam" idea, having both ship models dynamically rotating maintains the hud's symmetry.

A choice of radar layouts is a must, as is general customization of the hud. I think I would like a single radar screen over the curent dual radars, but a choice of either is definitely needed.

Everything else is looking great!

I agree with the targets ship model facing the direction relative to the actual target, the reason I went for a stationary isometric is so you can see exactly waht parts of it are damaged, however, if it rotates I'm sure this would still be possable (however, the direction the enemy ship faces doesn't usually mean the way they are flying, as they seem to use physics mode when in combat) :-)

I added the ship's model in the direction indicator more for eye candy value, althoug and option to have it as an arrow is a good idea :-)

I'd agree with the target reticle having speed/energy and hull/shield together, the only reason I left them either side is because I really like the effect the devs used with the numbers moving up and down with the bar, I'll toy around with a few ways of improving it :-)

In regards to pull up menu's, maybe if they were designed to only fill up a small area of the screen, opposed to all of it? Once a window is open your mouse curser will appear, to get back to flight you could simply click outside the window, this would allow looking at pull down menu's to be 'alot' more safer when in space :-)

Suricata, well done with this work. I like v3 to v4, mostly due to the direction indicator. I do not see the use of that. More than direction, you want to know where you are in reference to other objects; I do not think direction is much relevant. From a tactical point, if you know where the enemy/station/rock is, you just point your note to it and go.

Also, about the few complains regarding clutter: make all objects in the HUD selectable, ie. in Windows you have the View menu, which allows you to select whatever to be on the screen or not (like toolbars, popup windows, etc). the HUD could also have this feature where you can select what you want on the screen. A more sofisticated HUD would allow you to position each object where you want it.

To save on all the above, you could have selective HUD, say 5 selection, ranging from docking, tactical, fighting, mining and crusing, switchable via a keystroke, or automatic (this also could be customizable)

Continue on, I like this thread.

Leo

Way too busy. The only features I'd want to add are the showing which weapons are in which weapon grouping, which is a good idea, and the 2d target indicator. I think the target directional indicator, personal directional indicator, and flipped layout only serves to be confusing and overdone. The emphasis is on the game, not on the widgets in the HUD.

Oh man, this is like a blast from the past. It also gives me an excuse to do a project I've been thinking about for like, forever.

"The history of the Space Sim HUD"

From Elite to present.

I have 8/10ths of the games, and I know where to get shots from the rest. I'm gonna do this.

I thinks its amusing people say I've added to much, since almost every item I've added are from suggestions numerous people have asked for in other threads, damned if ya do, damned if ya don't I suppose. Has any one saying its too busy even read the numerous times I've said that this would be with 'everything' turned on and you would have the options to turn things off? :-)

Eh, that's by NO means a "busy" HUD.

Most HUDs these days are TOO minimalistic, and people make the displays VERY small.

I, personally, want a customizable, movable graphics block HUD.

If you've never played Ace of Angel's eternal alpha test, do it - just for the HUD. Best one I've EVER seen.

But, maybe that's just me.

A good comparison is Planetside. If you want to, you can literally cover your -entire screen- in data elements in Planetside. There's that much available stuff. Does everyone want it? No, not really. Almost every element can be disabled in Planetside's hud, and by default it's in a sort of medium state.

hiya suri..

I have noticed you trying to make the view of the game like EnB, you have added so much things in the screen that it is gonna be very hard to actually see your enemy that is coming from left or right....
weapon and battery screen I thnk you should remove it and only show a small screen with ammo amount, make a little screen with levels and ship hull %, targetscreen at right bottom is ok with dmg, and hull bar grp bar above it and thats about it.... don't make screen too full otherwise we have nothing to see anymore and just have to fly blind on radar.....

Important word to remember: configurable.

The ideal is having everything -available- but not -required-.

To clear this up for the umpteenth time, I have not designed this HUD to look like EnB, I've based it on the existing VO HUD, as stated a few times now, you would be able to configure what to look at, and what not to look at, this would be what the screen looks like with everything on, so of course it looks a little full. Also, 1 thing people seem to not of noticed is that I added alpha values to all the parts so they are semi-transparent, meaning you would still be able to see something behind the HUD. Here is an image of some of the pistures I've used for idea's....

http://img4.exs.cx/img4/3677/huds.jpg

Once again..I'm not trying to turn it into EnB......

I think that the idea is good if there are some shortcuts available for people to remove some of the items on screen
as one stated configurable, it does look good but IMO busy

so if I am able to remove some of items (lets say weapon stats) with W on my keyboard it would be a great improvement

sorry to get you angry suri .. no intention to do so