Issues with 1.11.7

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Some things I noticed with 1.11.7 using Windows 7.

1. Upon loading for the first time the game didn't automatically detect the correct screen resolution. I had to set it manually, changing it from 1024x768 to 1152x864.

2. There is a slight delay when a unit moves and reveals shroud. On large maps with lots of shroud this delay is very noticable, and makes units' movement slow and jerky.

3. When a unit reveals shroud, any labels previously under the shroud are not displayed until the side's following turn.

4. It's a great idea allowing players to define hotkeys for menu items. However, in the 'Hotkey Settings' panel, custom menu items are mixed in with the default ones, making them hard to find. Would it be possible to have an extra category on the left (beneath 'General', 'Game' and 'Editor') for 'Custom'? In addition, would it be possible for scenario designers to set default hotkeys for custom menu items? I am, of course, thinking of 'I' for inventory.

5. The new set-up for starting MP games is interesting. Now that we have a panel for map descriptions it makes me realise how much fluff they contain. The first two maps in the list, AEthermaw and Arcanclave Citadel, both have lengthy background stories which exceed the size of the panel. Imagine a player encountering this for the first time: the text gives no helpful info about the map and suggests it's some sort of involved RPG scenario. In addition, the lack of formatting makes it hard to read (make the text smaller? add line breaks?). Some of the maps, like King of the Hill, has useful info. Others have only one or two sentences of fluff. I'd suggest a mix of both: info first, line break, then short fluff. Also, the way the info is presented should be standardised as it's not very consistent at the moment.

6. Perhaps some distinctions should be made in the list of available scenarios between standard battle maps and scenarios with special features. They're all mixed up together right now. Again, think of the first-time user. Even I don't know what half of them entail.

7. Configure game screen: maybe all the sliders for the time limit should be hidden until the player clicks on the button? I might be wrong, but I don't think it's used all that often. It's currently in the primary position, as it were, and seems counter-intuitive.

8. The editor jumps around sometimes when you place a tile or ctrl-click on a tile. Sometimes it seems to zoom in as well. I noticed also this on 1.11.6, but I can't work out exactly what is happening.

(9. Since I mentioned the editor, and this might sound petty, but it's always irked me that the map editor continues scrolling downwards when it's not the active window. I often use the map editor to get coordinates for a cfg file, using tabs on the task bar to switch between the map editor and notepad. Thus after inputting a coordinate I return to the map and find I have to scroll all the way back to where I was to check the next coordinate. Of course, maybe it's my fault for always making such big maps. Not a bug, but I figured someone might know a solution.)

[Dugi]

(9. Since I mentioned the editor, and this might sound petty, but it's always irked me that the map editor continues scrolling downwards when it's not the active window.

I second this. I thought it is a problem with integration into Linux environment, but now learning that it isn't. The problem I have with it is very similar to Bob's.

And I can say that most, if not all, these problems happen also on Linux.

[Alarantalara]

I think 8 is likely related the slider in the right pane capturing the arrow keys when you use them to navigate the map. If you don't mind scrolling with only the mouse, you should be able to avoid that problem. The reason you don't notice it immediately is that the screen doesn't redraw until you click in it for some reason.

[fabi]

Some things I noticed with 1.11.7 using Windows 7.

1. Upon loading for the first time the game didn't automatically detect the correct screen resolution. I had to set it manually, changing it from 1024x768 to 1152x864.

That is right, we do not even try to do so.
1024x768 is the default resolution.

Not that I think we can't discuss about this.

2. There is a slight delay when a unit moves and reveals shroud. On large maps with lots of shroud this delay is very noticable, and makes units' movement slow and jerky.

This gets worse when you play on weak machines.
The shroud revealing is now done on the fly and not at the end of the unit's move.

I think we might need to make this feature an option.

3. When a unit reveals shroud, any labels previously under the shroud are not displayed until the side's following turn.

Okay, please fill a bug report.

4. It's a great idea allowing players to define hotkeys for menu items. However, in the 'Hotkey Settings' panel, custom menu items are mixed in with the default ones, making them hard to find. Would it be possible to have an extra category on the left (beneath 'General', 'Game' and 'Editor') for 'Custom'? In addition, would it be possible for scenario designers to set default hotkeys for custom menu items? I am, of course, thinking of 'I' for inventory.

The feature to set default Hotkeys is already in the codebase.
But I am not sure if 1.11.7 already contains it.

Introducing a new scope for the "Custom" hotkeys isn't that easy.
They are not only categories but also define regions where a hotkey is active.
Currently we only mix General into every other scope.
Messing with the system is tricky.
I have thought about an extra scope the moment the feature was introduced,
but I fear it is better to delay it until 1.13.

5. The new set-up for starting MP games is interesting. Now that we have a panel for map descriptions it makes me realise how much fluff they contain. The first two maps in the list, AEthermaw and Arcanclave Citadel, both have lengthy background stories which exceed the size of the panel. Imagine a player encountering this for the first time: the text gives no helpful info about the map and suggests it's some sort of involved RPG scenario. In addition, the lack of formatting makes it hard to read (make the text smaller? add line breaks?). Some of the maps, like King of the Hill, has useful info. Others have only one or two sentences of fluff. I'd suggest a mix of both: info first, line break, then short fluff. Also, the way the info is presented should be standardised as it's not very consistent at the moment.

Oh yes. Please fill a bug report.
Something like "misleading mp map descriptions".

6. Perhaps some distinctions should be made in the list of available scenarios between standard battle maps and scenarios with special features. They're all mixed up together right now. Again, think of the first-time user. Even I don't know what half of them entail.

Yes, I think that is something to start a discussion about. Maybe even some categories like "RPGish" make sense.

7. Configure game screen: maybe all the sliders for the time limit should be hidden until the player clicks on the button? I might be wrong, but I don't think it's used all that often. It's currently in the primary position, as it were, and seems counter-intuitive.

Hmmm, they are not hidden but grayed out, aren't they?

8. The editor jumps around sometimes when you place a tile or ctrl-click on a tile. Sometimes it seems to zoom in as well. I noticed also this on 1.11.6, but I can't work out exactly what is happening.

Fixed now. Hopefully.

(9. Since I mentioned the editor, and this might sound petty, but it's always irked me that the map editor continues scrolling downwards when it's not the active window. I often use the map editor to get coordinates for a cfg file, using tabs on the task bar to switch between the map editor and notepad. Thus after inputting a coordinate I return to the map and find I have to scroll all the way back to where I was to check the next coordinate. Of course, maybe it's my fault for always making such big maps. Not a bug, but I figured someone might know a solution.)

There is an option in advanced preferences to turn the scrolling off when the mouse leaves the window.

Another solution would be to use the new "area" feature of the editor.
This way you can define areas which can later be addressed in event coding by usage in SLF.
You do not need to handle coordinates anymore but just ids you assign to the area.
Changing the location(s) can then be done by manipulating the area in the editor without any need to modify the event coding.
This should work from the next 1.11.8 release on.

[Turuk]

5. The new set-up for starting MP games is interesting. Now that we have a panel for map descriptions it makes me realise how much fluff they contain. The first two maps in the list, AEthermaw and Arcanclave Citadel, both have lengthy background stories which exceed the size of the panel. Imagine a player encountering this for the first time: the text gives no helpful info about the map and suggests it's some sort of involved RPG scenario. In addition, the lack of formatting makes it hard to read (make the text smaller? add line breaks?). Some of the maps, like King of the Hill, has useful info. Others have only one or two sentences of fluff. I'd suggest a mix of both: info first, line break, then short fluff. Also, the way the info is presented should be standardised as it's not very consistent at the moment.

6. Perhaps some distinctions should be made in the list of available scenarios between standard battle maps and scenarios with special features. They're all mixed up together right now. Again, think of the first-time user. Even I don't know what half of them entail.

I am running with both of these at the moment, with focus on standardizing the descriptions and keeping it all readable. Any other suggestions you have as ways to handle it are appreciated, I am going to try to rework them to info than fluff and play around with size/length.

[Paulomat4]

In addition, would it be possible for scenario designers to set default hotkeys for custom menu items?

Yes it is already possible

[Turuk]

The first two maps in the list, AEthermaw and Arcanclave Citadel, both have lengthy background stories which exceed the size of the panel.

This seems to be tied to how the slider appears on the box at smaller screen resolutions. Instead of text stopping at the slider, the slider is just superimposed over the text box and cuts off the words. It seems to be a bug/issue with how the scrolling in the panel is handled.

800x600

Screen Shot 2013-12-23 at 4.11.11 PM.png (73.84 KiB) Viewed 2750 times

1024x768

Screen Shot 2013-12-23 at 4.12.02 PM.png (100.92 KiB) Viewed 2750 times

1280X1024

Screen Shot 2013-12-23 at 4.11.42 PM.png (183.32 KiB) Viewed 2750 times

[Coffee]

I'm going to take a look at fixing the MP description box scrollbar bug.

EDIT: Should be fixed for 1.11.8