Let's Talk About The Tsw2 User Interface Again, Part 6: The Pause Screen

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by Rudolf, Jan 21, 2022.

  1. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2016
    Messages:
    2,488
    Likes Received:
    3,270
    We have already covered a lot about the UI in the previous parts of this series. In part 5 we discussed the timetable selection screen and now we are actually playing the game. For this part, I have some comments to the pause screen. TSW2 did a good effort to improve it and the recently added gradient map is really helpful.

    As with the other parts, i will stay away from expressing opinions on the question if the UI look beautiful or not. So no comment to the orange colour used. If you are on PC, you have some options to change that using mods.

    20220104074521_1.jpg
    The screen you when you press escape does not look really bad. At the top you see a menu, at the bottom some action buttons, I would have done it different, but it is OK. I miss information about what you are doing. Service/scenario name, start time and duration should be added here.. Sometimes you need this information, for instance if you want to report a bug and keep in mind if you play a journey there is no place to find it right now.

    From a functional point of view, I have three comments:

    - The Save function is weird. It should have a hotkey in the game and the need to press OK once the game is saved is obsolete. You cannot undo it it. You have to press three keys now to save the game: esc, S, esc. One key should be enough, especially if you play on an console. Instead of the need to press a key again, a pop-up could be shown in the corner, like in game you have button notifications for the controls.

    - The Gradient/speed limit graph does not show all locations along the route. It would be helpful if you can see where you are more easily here, like it used to be in the TSW202020 pause screen. You can find it, but it requieres some clicks.

    - The options menu is not needed at all. You can see it has four buttons, that is all. Why not place them at the bottom, using icons?

    20220104074529_1.jpg

    One of the weirdest things is that you can exit the game from here (this is OK, but when you finished the service, this option is not show, you then need to return to the main menu first. I do not see why?

    What is missing, is the ability to resume a saved game. I think it will be useful here, but there may be technical reasons not to do that.

    It saves one mouse click only but it makes the whole screen more intuitive and each mouse click is one mouse click contributing to your RSI.

    I will not discuss the HUD and Control guide. It is OK to have it in case of need.

    The schedule and message log are OK. I use the schedule, but the message log seldom. At the schedule page, you can see the service name but not the scheduled departure time. I think I would like to see that in the overview.

    20220104074548_1.jpg

    Finally, the map. I am more or less happy with it. Sometimes it is helpful.At leats you have some idea where you are.

    That's all for today. Only a few things but for me they are really annoying.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  2. Quentin

    Quentin Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2016
    Messages:
    438
    Likes Received:
    426
    The options change (slightly) depending on whether you've hit Esc mid-game or completed a journey/scenario. But that doesn't invalidate your point.
     
  3. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2016
    Messages:
    2,488
    Likes Received:
    3,270
    Yes, but this topic is only about the pause screen. Yes, I agree the options at the bottom change depending on the screen you see.
     
  4. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2016
    Messages:
    2,488
    Likes Received:
    3,270
    Not many comments on this topic. Does it mean you don't care or do you all agree or disagree? Let me know. If we want anything changed here, more support would be helpful, though I still think all points I mention are worth considering for DTG.
     
  5. davidh0501

    davidh0501 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2020
    Messages:
    1,134
    Likes Received:
    1,638
    You make very good points.
    I'm sure we do care but, but, but, there are so many other things that are more important.
    Like just getting save to work correctly.
    Matt did say a while ago that they needed a new interface designer.
    Let's hope his new position allows him to source one.
     
  6. orb

    orb Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2021
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    487
    The pause screen is definitely missing a "photo/screenshot mode" button (something like in ETS2). For example in TS classic you can focus on driving while time passes and focus on taking screenshots while paused to get your time to set the camera position and angles without worrying about the train (after switching to free camera and hiding UI right before pausing). Not being able to stop time to set the camera makes me take screenshots from the game rather rarely, or only when stopped on a station. Most of my screenshots taken while in movement miss the right timing or are not exactly what I wanted to achieve.

    I'd much more prefer the gradients & speed limits to have their own togglable popup window, like the (T) timetable, or a separate view, like (9) map, than being just a mostly static part of the pause screen. If not, then the view should be at least able to be scrolled back and forth to see more of your speed in the past and what awaits you farther away on the line, too. I rarely use these graphs to plan ahead, but more to analyze how I performed in the recent past, for example if I started braking too early, how fast I reached the line speed from the stop, etc. I'm more interested about it between stops or speed limit changes than after finishing the whole service.

    Additionally UI scaling should be taken into consideration while drawing the graph (just like for plenty of other UI elements in different parts of the game).
     

Share This Page