Better UI in multiplayer app

[LostOblivion]

I'm all for good lookin's, and the multiplayer app UI does need a facelift! :)

[chokko]

What i would like to see is: an additional info box when creating a server to specify server rules, teamspeak settings etc.

 

Then clients can see that info in a seperate box on their gui, when they highlight a server they are thinking about connecting to.

 

Adding server rules into every mission briefing gets tiring, it's hard to cram it into the server title, many wont bother checking a seperate website for rules, and whilst servman is great...it will only tell people the rules after they are already in the game and possibly about to get booted (for high ping for example) :)

[Cali]

If your gonna say something needs a facelift, at least give some pointers. Can't just say this is wrong or bad and leave it that way, say maybe try this to improve it. Put some of your thoughts on paper. What would you like to see.

[Cibit]

 

Adding server rules into every mission briefing gets tiring,

 

Copy and paste. And I manage to get quite a bit of info in server name box. What would be nice is a way to see who is in a game before joining:)

[Panzertard]

What is 'better'? :)

It would be nice if you could give some tangible samples.

Make us all a list - and tell us why this is 'better'. It'll help the devs understand what you're looking for.

 

PS, make it easy to understand - the easier it is to understand, the greater the chance is that someone will pick up on your idea. ;)

[Grimes]

What is 'better'? :)

It would be nice if you could give some tangible samples.

 

Prepare for a length post. :music_whistling:

[Boberro]

Overall IMHO all GUIs need relift. I don't like example in ME combos fields. You have to click on small arrow to make it "unwrap". In Windows it is enough to click on any part of combo box to make such behaviour. Similar things is more.

 

MP ServerList is not dynamic. You can't specify criteria of filtering list.

 

And many more, which I am sure as always Grimes will describe of :)

[Dimebag1]

IMO it would be nice to adjust your aircraft loadout in the GUI, like in FC1.12, except make it prettier and more user friendly.

[Grimes]

This is JUST commentary on the server browser. I could probably write up 2x more stuff on the interface for once a player joins the server, but lets just ignore that part for today. Disclaimer: I LOVED hyperlobby. Oddly I spent more time in HL than I probably did in multiplayer of LO. However at least half the time I spent in HL was spent with the mission editor open on the the other monitor working on a mission. This is why I loved HL. The discussions, the transfer of ideas, and meeting players I probably wouldn't have interacted with normally via the actual game or the forums.

 

Current Server Browser Issues

 

I see three major problems that are all directly linked to one another in preventing the server browser from taping its full potential. These issues are as follows:

 

A. Its locked inside the game.

 

B. Its not community driven. You can't see who else is logged in or who is in a server.

 

C. Its static. The user can't sort by server title, mission title, ping, or current player count.

 

Important Factors

1. We are a small community when compared to other games. As a result knowing who is online in game and who is online looking for a game are both important details.

 

 

2. This is a complex game. These forums are covered with threads of players asking for help or of players providing help. These threads cover everything from avionics, to how to fly, and mission editor help.

 

 

How would I change things?

 

Knowing what I dislike and what I think are important factors here is what I would do.

 

First we start off by making the server browser an external application from the flight sim. It could be a website or a exe, just as long as its not chained into the game engine.

 

Next add chat and a list of players online in the chatroom and a list of players online in a game. A chatroom is beneficial to the two important factors listed above. Primarily it allows users to join a community portal that serves multiple purposes. These purposes range from pre or post game discussion, gameplay help, mission editor help, and general purpose discussion. Chatroom also has private messaging capability and clicking on a players name who is in game allows you to display info for the server they are currently in. Furthermore players are more likely to ask if anyone is interested in creating or joining a server if there is someone else there to ask. In the current setup you could open up MP the same time as 20 other players, look at the list, and have no interest in joining a server. If you could chat with any of those 20 other people.... chances are at least one would be interested in joining a game with you.

 

Hypothetical: What IF we had chat, but in the current server browser?

Great, but it would limit the player pool in the chat room to just that, prospective players likely looking for a game. Much of what made hyperlobby great were the players who just hung out in the chat to help others, discuss the F-15 ad nauseam, or come up with trigger ideas.

 

I admit, chat can have its draw backs. Plenty of heated discussions on HL spilled over to these forums causing the warn and ban hammers to drop occasionally. However I feel the overall good that comes from live chat massively outweighs the bad.

 

So what do we change next? Server and mission info is a logical start. As per the discussion in the MP threads certain data pertaining to the mission type being played should be available to prospective players. To a degree I believe this should be defined in part by mission builders and in part by the specific server admin. For instance if a mission supports "Join in progress" this tag could be set by the mission maker.

 

Other details can display the contents of the mission and the current players in it. For instance all client aircraft are kept track of and displayed in a table in the server browser:

 

 

I know its ugly. But there is the basic idea. We see who is in a server, what they are flying, and what aircraft are still available. This information can provide some important details. In this example if you are wanting to fly a Ka-50 at this specific time frame it would probably be a bad idea to try as the majority of players are on blue and 2 fighters are in play. Likewise if you feel like taking on some Eagles you can jump in a red fighter. Furthermore if you wanted relive your memories of Top Gun and wanted to fly with the best, you could ask Sven to be his WSO.

 

 

So what else to change? One word: Filters.

The out of game server browser for steam is an excellent example:

 

First each of the categories are sortable and resizeable. Resizing is incredibly useful for those server or mission names that are long winded. The usefulness of being able to sort servers is pretty self explanatory. The drop down boxes allow for predefined categories to be displayed. For example latency has "All", "<50", "<100" ... and so on. Within DCS perhaps we can filter by aircraft or a gametype of "Pvp", "coop", or "training."

 

 

Other ideas

Global Stats Page

 

 

 

Practical Other Ideas:

Community Portal Page or window. ED uses this to post news items it feels that should be put in the spotlight. Could be anything from a community event such as LOCERF, to DCS is on sale at an online store, or a mission of the week, even a forum thread that ED likes.

 

The idea Chokko stated of giving a all encompassing description box to be applied to a server makes alot of sense. As it stands we have to modify the mission, which is something some mission builders dislike, in order to display relevant info to potential players.

 

 

Thats all I have for now.

[neoxman]

How about being able to change your payload and skin in multiplayer, why was it ever taken away?

[Panzertard]

This is JUST commentary on the server browser. I could probably write up 2x more stuff on the interface for once a player joins the server, but lets just ignore that part for today. Disclaimer: I LOVED hyperlobby.

 

............

 

Thats all I have for now.

 

 

Most excellent post, Grimes. Quality!

I just wish I could rep you again for that. Consider yourself repped again, mentally ;)

 

(note to self - gotta talk to someone about this new rep system)

[Boberro]

I LOVED hyperlobby. Oddly I spent more time in HL than I probably did in multiplayer of LO. However at least half the time I spent in HL was spent with the mission editor open on the the other monitor working on a mission. This is why I loved HL. The discussions, the transfer of ideas, and meeting players I probably wouldn't have interacted with normally via the actual game or the forums.

 

HL despite it allowed you to just pure talk, exchange ideas, and overall it was a place which linked many people big part of community it had flaws too. It was rather simple app, with not too friendly GUI.

Current server browser is also very simple, its significant upgrade would solve many problems but there is other one, quite important. What if you want to just talk without entering server? You have to run a game. External application would be IMHO the best project so far. I remember there were many ideas, talking about such application and nothing happened up today. Dunno maybe I am the only one who would be pleased for such solution

I am glad you mentioned about external application, maybe this will convince somebody with programming skills to make such program.

I've seen nice results of lobby in example The Spring game where you have there many features.

[LostOblivion]

When I made this thread, it was with the pure UI in mind, in contrast to functionality. Making it look more similar to the singleplayer executable does not need a detailed list of what I'd like to see changed. It's only a matter of seeing where the MP application GUI differs from the SP application GUI and making them more similar.

 

With this I mean simple stuff like aligning text properly inside their respective boxes, making generally better UI graphics like buttons and pop-down boxes arrows look like the singleplayer executable GUI; generally more raffined really--like the SP GUI is.