Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

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pango
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Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by pango »

Just had an interesting discussion on Twitter with somebody complaining that the launcher screens are very bare, and don't integrate well with Daggerfall game aesthetics.
I didn't seen anything in the roadmap about improving launcher look, or at least make it moddable, are there such plans?
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TheLacus
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by TheLacus »

You can still toggle mods at that point, so they can't do anything. We would need to allow mods to request to be launched immediately and mark these ones as un-toggable until a reload. Alternatively, provide a pattern for mods that can be enabled or disabled on the fly and refresh launcher UI as needed.

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King of Worms
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by King of Worms »

Mods or not, that screen is not really nice and should be upgraded to something more representative as its a 1st thing everybody see... to me it was more of a temporary solution..

I once effed the instalation and the background switched to some desert area with a city and even that looked much better than how it is now. That location is not really nice honestly.

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pango
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by pango »

Thank you both for your answers!
I'm not sure how I feel about the launcher being moddable that way, maybe that's too much rope to shoot oneself in the foot... or something ;)
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Interkarma
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by Interkarma »

I don't have any plans to change this, and disagree with the sentiment expressed in the tweet you linked. The poster seems to be under the misconception that "they will redo the graphics for the whole game and then just keep menu's (sic) like that". We aren't redoing the graphics for the whole game at all, that seems to be a common misunderstanding.

The launcher is functional and matches the Daggerfall Unity aesthetic, also seen in the save/load UI. This interface style is designed to be part of the game executable, minimal, cross-platform, and able to scale down to low resolutions like 320x200 if needed. That's a solid accomplishment rather than a limitation.

IMO the Skyrim launcher is less attractive and functional than Daggerfall Unity's. What exactly do they expect the launcher to look like?

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King of Worms
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by King of Worms »

Is it possible to make the background be randomly picked from multiple locations? Or maybe lets find some nicer background 😊

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Interkarma
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by Interkarma »

It's not a full location, just a single RMB block and sky. The purpose here is to test game data is compatible and content importers are working OK by loading a test block, and act as a 3D preview render for resolution and texture quality settings. It's intended to be a functional part of testing data and setting up game than something pretty to look at.

I'm not opposed to having a wider range of test blocks and camera angles if that improves the aesthetics while keeping the function above. But I'm not sure that's what Pango was referring to when starting the topic.

Pango, it might be helpful to provide examples of what you have in mind. I seem to have a different interpretation of that person's comments than you do.

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pango
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by pango »

My guess is that (s)he expected some bitmapped / skinned menu in the style of START/LOAD/EXIT and character creation screens, etc.
More parchment, stone and wood textures, less green/yellow/black minimalist style.

I don't mind myself (I mean, it never crossed my mind before in over 2 years), but I thought it would be interesting to have that debate, should DFU specific screens try to look more like classic UI?
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Ralzar
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by Ralzar »

If anything, it should look like the settings/controls menus ingame.

But personally I'm just after functionality for those menus. The important thing is layout, which could perhaps need a second pass. There are some options on the launch screen that could just as well be placed under the advanced settings. ANd perhaps some stuff under advanced settings that could be put on the luanch screen.


Alternatively: Have the launch screen be:

Start

Settings

Mods

This could be done in the Start/Load/Exit style of the DF main menu. Then Settings/Mods could use either the DF settings/controls design or the DFU save/load ui design. Personally I'm not a fan of the transparent window, as the windows are already a bit cluttered with settings. Having a semi-transparent picture behind it makes it feel even more cluttered.

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pango
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Re: Plans to make launcher screen less "bare"?

Post by pango »

Ralzar wrote: Sun Nov 08, 2020 11:39 am But personally I'm just after functionality for those menus. The important thing is layout, which could perhaps need a second pass.
That's yet another topic, I made a proposal for that some time ago here
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