New Squad Selection and Waepon Customization UI

(DB Genome editor) #1

EDIT: Updated for Patch v29926 (Sparks). Unless stated otherwise the issues described are still present in that latest patch (issues cleared in v28860 have been deleted)

The new UI for squad selection and merc customization is going in the right direction, but is currently filled with lots of little cosmetic bugs, in particular model issues like incorrect hand positions and clipping. I realize this is a work in progress, so this is not a list of complaints but rather improvement suggestions.

Going into more details:

[ul]
[li]There is an intermittent bug where the UI stops recognizing merc selections. If you try to switch a merc, the new one doesn’t register and the corresponding slot shows as “unselected” when you return to the squad page. Any selection after that will unselected the corresponding slot, you have to exit the game to fix it.
[/li]Not seen since v28860, appears to be fixed

[li]The portraits for Fragger and Rhino on the selection page still clash with the others due to the close-up framing. Also these portraits need to carry over to the in-game menu that is still using the old ones in some cases.
[/li]

[li]When selecting a weapon for customization, the top of the page always reads “UMP .45”, I assume the name of the weapon being customized should be there eventually.
[/li]Fixed in v29926

[li]Paint jobs need to have names that don’t look like the names of software variables. “GRID CAMO” feels much less awkward than “CAMO_GRID”. Also, what’s with the weird numbers under the pattern names? I’m guessing placeholders for the eventual cost for unlocking each pattern?
[/li]The numbers are gone in v29926, but the weird names remain. “CAMO_x” is especially inappropriate for the “corporate” skins (Edge, Mudflood, etc… but also SD, Nexon, etc…) as they clearly are not camouflage patterns. More on weapon skins issues later…

[li]There should be an “allied/enemy” toggle when viewing the merc skins to be able to preview both versions.
[/li]

[li]Skyhammer gun still feels too small. Foregrip grabs are still wrong for Fragger, Skyhammer, Arty and Bushwhacker (but only after he flexes his fingers, then in slowly closes up properly). Magazines still missing all around.
[/li]

[li]On the merc selection page, the merc overview text does not refresh properly when switching merc. If the new text is shorter than the previously-displayed one, the last few lines remain:
[/li]

Merc Text Rollover.jpg1280×720 247 KB

[li]Original weapon skin can not be reapplied to weapons once they have been customized and the merc customization page doesn’t show the selected weapon skin for the primary. More details and pictures below (http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/38767-New-Squad-Selection-and-Waepon-Customization-UI?p=489359&viewfull=1#post489359) since I could not add the pics to this post
[/li][/ul]

Ability and merc overview issues (all new):

[ul]
[li]No text for Third Eye Camera
[/li]

[li]Rhino’s minigun is shown as both an ability and his primary weapon
[/li]

[li]No text for Sawbonez health packs
[/li]

[li]No description for Sparks herself
[/li]

[li]Text for Sparks health packs is incorrect (would actually apply to Sawbonez’s)
[/li]

[li]No text for Ammo Station
[/li][/ul]

The rest are merc-specific issues (all updated):

[ul]
[li]Proxy: idle animation has shotgun clipping with shell bandolier on her hip (not too noticeable) and pouch on her chest (much more noticeable)
[/li]

[li]Skyhammer: clipping between ammo packs and legs, as well as between his arm and the antenna of his front radio when holding his headset
[/li]

[li]Sawbonez: clipping between apron and right leg (primary/default stance); left foot is moving around in both stances as if it wasn’t on the ground, makes him look like a dangling puppet. His stance is clearly impossible when viewed from the side.
[/li]

[li]Aimee: the baked-in shadow for her bag on her right hip doesn’t line up with the bag (she looks like there’s a dark patch on her pants). Also texture issues with her new longer undershirt as described here: http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/39280-Aimee-s-New-Shirts
[/li]

[li]Phantom: new idle animation only has slight clipping between the thighs and the rear flaps of his coat on the sides. Pistol not visible in paint customization menu.
[/li]

[li]Thunder: clipping with both grenades on his chest, left one with his arm, right one with his MG. Occasional texture corruption with his left arm patch (usually clears up by switching to another skin).
[/li]

[li]Rhino: hose clipping on left leg. Revolver not visible in paint customization menu.
[/li]

[li]Sparks: in idle animation, left hand looks weird (looks like she’s holding something that isn’t there) and it clips with her bag when her arm sways. Although there are skins shown for her revive gun, they do not have any effect.
[/li]

[li]Fragger: textures for the MG are often stuck on a low-rez version in the paint customization menu. Revolver not visible in paint customization menu.
[/li]

[li]Stoker: pistol not visible in paint customization menu
[/li]

[li]Fletcher: old TMP shown as secondary weapon icon and in paint customization menu instead of current MP
[/li][/ul]

(Any way to get rid of the obsolete pics below?)

(DB Genome editor) #2

One more bug I noticed today: when selecting Phantom from the page with all the mercs, you do not return to the squad page as happens when selecting any other merc. The selection still takes effect, but you have to use the Back button to return to the squad page to access the customization or change another slot.
Fixed in v29926

(Mustang) #3

To me the figures look very washed out and the textures low-res, also is it possible that we could have some anti-aliasing in the game, both in menu area and in-game.

(BomBaKlaK) #4

this with 60 FPS locked in the menu

(Mustang) #5

What are you talking about?

FPS has nothing to do with what I wrote… confused

(DB Genome editor) #6

[QUOTE=Mustang;484729]What are you talking about?

FPS has nothing to do with what I wrote… confused[/QUOTE]
I think Bomba wants what you said plus a cap on the menu FPS. Several people have complained about GFX cards whining while in the menu because of the unlimited FPS leading to ridiculously high frame rates.

(BomBaKlaK) #7

yep this is what I mean. sorry if you understand something else

(DB Genome editor) #8

EDIT: issues still relevant after patch v29926 have been added to the first post

I updated the first post to reflect the status as of patch V28860.

In addition, with respect to the features added in that patch:

[ul]
[li]Lots of error and interim info for the weapons and abilities in the mouse-over popups (same ones in the squad page or the merc selection page)
[/li]

[li]Data block is empty for many of the guns
[/li]

[li]When present, numerical info doesn’t line up correctly in the weapon data block on the weapon customization page, numbers are offset by one line up (Fire Type has Ammo Count data, Ammo Count has Damage, etc…). The data block lines up OK in the mouse-over version in the merc selection menu, but Fire Type is not present.
[/li]

[li]The textures for Fragger’s MG are sometimes stuck on a low-rez version in the paint customization menu
[/li]

[li]The following weapons are not visible in their paint customization menus: Fragger’s revolver, Phantom’s pistol, Nadder’s GL and MP, Stoker’s pistol and Fletcher’s MP
[/li][/ul]

Again, it’s understood that many of these are “work in progress” issues. :cool:

(DB Genome editor) #9

Original post has been updated to reflect the status as of patch v29926 (Sparks update). All outstanding and new issues are now rolled up into that first post: http://forums.warchest.com/showthread.php/38767-New-Squad-Selection-and-Waepon-Customization-UI?p=484583&viewfull=1#post484583

(DB Genome editor) #10

While in the previous patch the weapon skin list included “None” and “Default”, these two actually resulted in different color schemes on the weapons. In v29926, “None” is no longer an option and the first time you enter the customization menu for a weapon, it will show “Default” as selected, but that will differ from the weapon’s original skin and from that point on you will be unable to revert to the original. This is made even more obvious by the fact that in the merc outfit selection page, the model weapons are shown with their original skin, not the one currently selected. As seen in the pictures below, even with “Default” selected the GL changes color between menu pages:

Weapon Skins 1.jpg1280×720 124 KB

Weapon Skins 2.jpg1280×720 141 KB

Weapon Skins 3.jpg1280×720 203 KB

So effectively there are two problems here:

[ul]
[li]You can’t revert to the weapon’s original skin (it’s true default) once you have accessed the paint customization menu for it.
[/li]

[li]The merc outfit selection page is not showing the skin currently selected for the primary weapon (but the squad page does).
[/li][/ul]

(DB Genome editor) #11

I recently cranked up my video setting to max all around to check if it made a difference on some of the skins that look weird on low (like Gold), and it does. But I also noticed some issues with the customization UI that are not present using lower settings:

[ul]
[li]All the models (mercs and guns) appear much darker. There is also some sort of self-shadowing going on that seems to cause this or make it worst. The self-shadowing also creates some annoying flicker effects on the models.
[/li]

[li]There is a lot more aliasing visible on various models (see highlighted area on Aimee below). Could be due to screen resolution though (I’m running at 1280x720).
[/li]

[li]The teary / stary eyes are back on the female models. Also, Aura’s face is very shinny, like it’s made of plastic (either that or she needs to switch to a new make-up brand…).
[/li]

Stary Eyes & Shinny Skin.jpg1421×426 156 KB

[li]There is a glitch in the idle animation for Fletcher: at what looks like the looping point of the animation, both hands jerk up and down once.
[/li][/ul]

(DB Genome editor) #12

Three new problems have appeared in the merc selection / customization UI with release v30598:

[ul]
[li]Some of the clothing textures for Fragger are extremely low-rez when the model is seen from the normal view point and still look fairly poor when zoomed all the way in. This used to be seen only on his MG but is now more generalized. This is present regardless of the video settings for the models.[/li]

Fragger Low-Rez Textures.jpg1280×720 99.1 KB

[li]Somebody went wild adding jiggle-bone elements to the Fragger and Skyhammer models and the result is really bad: [/li]

  • Fragger: The cylindrical pouch under his backpack keeps clipping with his butt and its movement makes the baked-in shadow look like a black smudge on the top of the pouch. But the worst part are the grenades and ammo pouch on the front of his vest that bounce around like bobble-heads on speeds and make his belly look like it’s made of Jello…

    [li]Skyhammer: I’m nor sure which is worst on that one, the hip ammo pouches bouncing in and out of his thighs, the groin flap that keeps nut-slapping the poor guy, or the twirling antennas on his radios…[/li][/ul]
    I didn’t get a chance to confirm if these are also present on the in-game Skyhammer model, but they don’t seem to be on the Fragger one. I don’t know how far the character art team was hopping to go with this sort of things, but for now I would say this effort has added nothing but problems on these models. Personally, I would put the effort on fixing animation and clipping issues before investing in gimmicks that are likely to create more headaches than value…


  • I’m not sure if this last issue is new with the latest patch or if somehow I failed to notice it before, but in the merc selection page, when you click on the portrait of a merc, the preview models will sometimes show a different skin than the one currently selected for that merc. There are 3 variants of this:
    [ul]
  • The preview model initially shown switches to the skin that is currently selected on the newly-selected merc before switching models. This is intermittent and can occur with most mercs. For instance:
    Initial merc is Aura wearing Edge, select Bushwhacker who has Decon as his selected skin, Aura model switches to Decon skin before being replaced by Bushwhacker model (wearing Decon as expected)

  • Any merc selected after Rhino will come up wearing the “default” skin.

    [li]When selecting a merc wearing the CoreSec skin (only Fragger, Sparks and Phantom at the moment) the preview model always wear the same skin as the previously-shown merc. This does not affect the actual skin he/she will wear in game or in the squad page. [/li][/ul]
    The last two issues are possibly related to incorrect management of the skin indexes since they involve mercs that either don’t have the complete skin set (Rhino) or use a skin that is not available to most other mercs (CoreSec)