Smaller Hud-elements Please!

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by Purno, Aug 21, 2021.

  1. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    The whole HUD feels like it's designed exclusivly for console players who are sitting at a distance from their TV. As a PC user, I'm sitting behind a desk, pretty close to my 4K monitor, I really have no difficulties reading smaller texts. I like my HUD-elements to be small, and as far away in the corner of the screen as possible. Because I like to have the biggest possible section of my screen free of HUD elements to enjoy the virtual world and train cabs, something I'd like to call "Immersion".

    Before the update the HUD was already quite too large to my liking, but the new update made it even bigger. Although I realise that's nice for anyone sitting at a distance from their screen, or those who have problems reading smaller texts, it'd really be nice to have the option to scale down the HUD quite a bit. And it'd also be nice to be able to move HUD elements further into the corners.

    Currently I have the feeling PC players are ignored and the whole HUD is completely tailored towards console players. Give PC players some love too! Give options to customize the HUD and you can help PC players without console players needing to sacrifice anything.

    Please.

    20210819153940_1.jpg
     
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  2. mancunian#7861

    mancunian#7861 Active Member

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    Hi Purno. You can get rid of the lower right HUD already if you wish OR make it smaller. Check out the options/settings. Sorry if that sounds like trying to teach granny to suck eggs but I've seen that option and watched others playing without it. Personally I like a large HUD there. I don't know about the top left one though although I wouldn't be surprised if that couldn't be hidden too.
     
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  3. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    I don't want to get rid of it, as it includes some useful information I'd like to be able to see.

    This is the smaller version. It's still too large to my liking.

    That's why I'm asking for customization options, so the large HUD remains for those who like it.

    I don't want to hide it as it includes information I need. Distance to my next objective is quite a useful thing to know, and I don't want to use the marker that's right in the middle of my screen, since IMO that breaks immersion.
     
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  4. HeyYoPaulie!

    HeyYoPaulie! Well-Known Member

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    People with a visual impairment often require elements to be larger on screen, not smaller.

    An ideal solution would be a "UI Scaling" function, which allows the user to customise how much real estate the UI takes. Games with a UI scaling feature include Warhammer Total War and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Indeed, the latter has a dedicated "accessibility" section within the options menu (something I hope all game developers adopt as standard practice very soon).

    One of the defining qualities of high-quality software development is that it is mindful of, and commits to, best practice in relation to accessibility.

    A UI scaling feature would be a robust & scalable solution for all users.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2021
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  5. mancunian#7861

    mancunian#7861 Active Member

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    Yeah I get you now Purno. Apologies for misunderstanding. I see what you mean.
     
  6. Zigg

    Zigg Member

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    I think the top left part of the HUD looking bigger is just an illusion due to the bigger text. Ignore the hardware information on this screenshot, and just focus on the size of the grey box. It is exactly the same size, with the addition of the coloured stripes below it.


    Before update

    vlcsnap-2021-08-21-12h31m25s033.png

    After update

    vlcsnap-2021-08-21-12h31m39s687.png

    I agree the original one still takes up too much space though, just wanted to point out that the perceived increase in overall size is just due to the text taking up more space. I also thought it was bigger at first.

    Edit: It also seems like they increased the opacity of it? So it blends less with the environment.
     
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  7. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    The text has moved a tad more towards the right though, and they added the annoying yellow/red/blue "Rush Hour" stripes to ensure the HUD blends in even less...
     
  8. Zigg

    Zigg Member

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    And then we have the HUD in TSW 2020. Much more compact but less visually appealing in my opinion. The best would be if they could fit what they have now, in a box as small as this, at least for PC players who sit so much closer to the screen.

    vlcsnap-2021-08-21-12h44m56s148.png
     
  9. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    Why do HUDs need to be visually appealing? Their main purpose is to give you useful information, not to look fancy.
     
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  10. Zigg

    Zigg Member

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    They by no means need to be visually appealing for the overall experience to be good, but my point is you can have a HUD that looks good and provides useful information at the same time. Just as an example, I like that they use a digital font for the current time and the due time while using a regular font for the rest. It creates a division between the types of information, which to me looks a lot better. Would I want to sacrifice screen space to make it look nicer? Not at all. DTG just needs to make more efficient use of the space. The stripes, for example, as you mentioned, are completely pointless.

    While I wouldn't sacrifice information for a more fancy looking HUD, I do think a good looking HUD adds to the experience, at least for me.
     
  11. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

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    Ideally of course, there would be a choice of size. However, as there is only one option, it is better that it is larger than before for the simple reason that there are console users and the old one was hard to read without getting up and moving closer to the screen every time you want to see how far it is to the next station. Making it usable is better than making it pretty in my opinion.

    Purno - you talk a lot about your liking. However, my liking is for the larger display. It would be interesting to see what percentage of people prefer each, split into PC and console users. It may then need to be considered by DTG to take this into account in a future patch, perhaps offering a choice of size.
     
  12. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    Yes, that's what I'm asking for.

    There doesn't need to be 'only one option', besides, there's already two options for the speedometer; a large one and an ever larger one.

    Agreed, nowhere did I say the larger HUD were useless. I even specifically said I understand they were useful for those people sitting further away from their screen.

    You already have your preferred option, I'm posting this topic because I now want to have my preferred option. And considering the amount of likes my posts get, I know I'm not the only one preferring a smaller HUD.

    Not perhaps. We need a choice of size. There's clearly different preferences here, so the only good option would be offering a choice. That's the whole point of this topic.
     
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  13. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

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    OK. It looks like we agree but coming from different directions (PC and console).

    DTG - get cracking then.
     
  14. lcyrrjp

    lcyrrjp Well-Known Member

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    I particularly agree about the sections in the yellow boxes on the original post. They are absolutely maddening. They serve no purpose whatsoever. They just mess up the view, and there is absolutely no advantage to them being there - for anyone.
     
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  15. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    As a console user also sitting behind a desk with a 4K monitor, I too would like a smaller HUD. The ‘small’ option really isn’t that small.
     
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  16. ASRGT

    ASRGT Well-Known Member

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    simply put agreed, we have seen the hud grow in size for better viewing from TV distances but on PC in front of your monitor the thing is massive and ugly.
    Its nice that it was increased for those who struggled to read it before but for everyone else its an unwanted change why on earth you decided to go down a forced enlargement for everyone and not a scaler is beyond me. If it was due to using rasterized assets then all i can say is in 1999 a thing came out called SVG go google it.
     
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  17. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    As a person who playes on console and sits a fair bit back from the tv, I agree with the op. The clock and distance (mi, km, yd) to next objective/stop at location is way too big. This is why i've suggested quite a few times for dtg to give an option for players to customize what they want to see in a hud and how big or small they want it. DTG can't seem to find a balance that suits everyone so this would be a good solution. Alot of other games have that feature
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2021
  18. pugilist3

    pugilist3 Active Member

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    I also feel the HUD is too big! An option to customize the size of the HUD would be great.
     
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