Launcher Options and ease of use in Game

First off, I'm not sure where this should go since I think it's more then a suggestion, for me this is an issue that hopefully gets recognized as such not only by me but other people too.

I really like the idea of having an html based launcher application, you don't like something, remove it, you want something, add it! But and there is a but sadly, while this is working great if you're out of the game the same ease of use is sorely missed as soon as you start acs.exe.

You forgot to map a button on your wheel? Quit the game. You want to go a little lower on some graphical setting? Quit the game! This is a small inconvenience while we're only able to hot lap but turns into a much bigger problem as soon as you will be able to join multi player sessions, you really don't want to quit for every little thing you want to change.

I guess up to some point this could be solved by python Apps made by the community, but should this be handled by the community? I do think it's a vital point of the experience. User friendliness is such an important factor when it comes to playing a game just a couple of times every year or a couple of times a day and was probably one of the reasons why the Netkar multi player never really took off, so this shouldn't be left to "fix" by outside sources.

A good example when it comes to ease of use and a user friendly interface is probably Live for Speed, you can change 95% of the options while you're driving, from button mapping to resolution or player name, that is how it should be. Yes it's outdated, yes the menu doesn't look as flashy and there has been no significant update in 5 years but still people play it on-line and leagues are being organized. I do think that has a lot to do with the sane way the multi player and UI is structured, it can be very frustrating if you need to quit your game or your server every time you want to change to a different car, track, amount of laps, session, *you name it*. There is a free demo available if you want to have a look, but just for the sake of it I made a short video, moving pictures say more than a thousand words: http://goo.gl/I1b20G

Of course I don't know what you guys have in store for us once multi player is out, but since the Assetto Launcher sadly does a lot of the same things that where wrong in Netkar (that is only in my opinion of course) I thought it's a good idea to get the discussion about user friendliness and ease of use started.

 

I agree, now it's not much of trouble, but once MP is out, this will be a nuisance.

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 5 mit Tapatalk

 

Not a deal breaker by any means. I already think AC has one of the best UI designs i've ever seen (with the exception of the setup menu which could use a little restructuring), but the ability to change controller settings on the fly would be extremely handy. Id also like to be able to access the apps bar when the game is paused and/or assign hotkeys for my favorite ones.

 

Mustn't... drop... into... rant... about... UI... design... in... paradigm-free... environments...

Apart from the options issue, and the car and track selector (which will make baby Jesus cry once we've got more to chose from), I'm pretty neutral on the UI. It looks okay, is relatively intuitive to use, and is pretty readable. Use of space is diabolical, but hey, it works, and given that most game UI design is somewhere between cow poo and several lorry loads of cow poo tempura, I'm not complaining.

Agreed entirely when it comes to options config. Having to drop out of a single player session to mess with controls and whatever is a bit irritating, but having drop from a multiplayer session would be proper annoying.

 

dropping out from a MP session because you need to change something like a key on your wheel, or the linearity of the brake pedal, or the force feedback, etc, is srsly bad.

 

Hopefully by the time MP gets here most of us will have our controls and things of that nature already sorted...At least it only takes 15 to 20 seconds to load up so going back and forth really isn't that big of a deal right now.

 

I totally agree.

 

Maybe it is not a deal breaker for some, but I think changing the options easily while in a session is very useful. It is really annoying and frustrating when I have to quit every single time when I want to change simplest configuration setting. It is such a pain to fine-tune the settings that way. Much easier to set up the game when the effects of the configuration changes can be seen instantly and not minutes later which I find very distractive and I certainly would not want to leave an online session just to adjust the volume for example.
When I first heard about Assetto Corsa, the new UI and the Apps, I really hoped that changing options on the fly would be implemented as a standard feature. I think this should be part of every modern program.
I could reconfigure my controller settings while driving down the Blackwood straight in Live for Speed 10 years ago. Troy's video shows this very well.

Things like that can cause a lot of unnecessary inconvenience which can hurt the otherwise great experience badly. Assetto Corsa would look more polished if changing options in a session would be possible and I think people usually appreciate if they can spend their gaming time playing and not reloading the track every time they want to change an option.

 

We are heading towards 0.8 and still not a single improvement on the (lack of) usability from inside the sim. This really is the most disappointing aspect of AC for me.

We still cant adjust FFB per car and on the fly.
Still cant use the D pads on our wheels.
Still cant bind half the functions to our wheels/button boxes.
Cant adjust anything on the fly from in sim. Quitting to the UI to make every little change is a right pain.
Cant sort/remove unwanted apps, and cant assign individual apps to be turned on/off with a button.

I have very little to complain about with AC..i love driving it and dont want to drive any other sim, so they'e sure getting that part right, but it's still as user unfriendly as netKar was. When you come from LFS and iRacing it's just a horribly unfriendly to use bit of software in comparison.

Once in the game you should never have to reach for anything other than the buttons on your wheel/button box, and you should be able to adjust all the essentials.

Really hoping to see some progress on this soon.

/moan

 

I can understand why Kunos took this road. It works like "traditional" pc games - you just have to accept/follow the procedure and tune it before launch. May save some braincell crunching from a developer's point of view. Now, LFS obviously spoiled us with a fantastic concept, dynamic in nearly every possible way. I've suggested AC should learn from LFS in many aspects previously, but this is a typical good example I think we didn't discuss. I agree with your suggestion.

 

In single player mode it is something we can live without (though it makes tweaking a very long process), but considering the high quality standards you have here I think it is important to have those on the fly settings. Also in MP mode it could cause troubles if ppls are disconnecting and reconnecting frequently whenever they need to make the smallest changes.


So yeah, I support Troy's request on this!

 

The GUI could be better, I don't find selecting cars, tracks opponents very intuitive.

 

I think the AC GUI is really beautiful, makes other sims look arcane and clunky but yes, I seriously agree with this point.
To be able to tweak the settings without quitting in any mode would be a major improvement. Example; setting up brake or steering gamma etc, how will that actually feel? The quit / tweak cycle is unnecessarily long winded and really does make it hard to perfect the feeling of immersion.

 

I would extend AC's Apps approach to the main menu too and have a graphics app, a sound app, a controls app etc. accessible in the menu system (we can place them in some of the dead space we currently have) and also in car, instead of having them tucked away as menu items.

It would give the UI a consistent look and feel and give you quicker access to things while you're finding your ideal settings, just mouse to the edge of the menu screen. Once you're happy with your settings you can close all the apps and have a clean, elegant menu system that is focused on getting you to the races with the minimum of clicks. It would also mean a mod could have a whole new track / car / race menu system (for example a retro 60s look for a historic mod for full immersion in the era) but the apps would always be accessible and wouldn't need changing by the modder.

I would also like to have the car setup screens overhauled, there are currently too many tabs and it's sometimes slow to respond resulting in wasted clicks. The sliders should be draggable, things like the car specific traction control and ABS should be accessible there and their settings saved as part of the setup (with Ctrl T and Ctrl A still available in car), the I/O screen could do with an overhaul to allow better management of setups.

Generally I'm very happy with AC's interface, the Apps are an inspired idea and I would love to see that extended. The menus look good and give the game character, I find them a little laggy which can be a bit annoying. The only thing which isn't good is the best laps screen, illegible zoomed out, incomprehensible zoomed in!

 

Style over substance, unfortunately. The customisable hud is a novelty, but the lack of basic game options from within the game is just totally crazy. It doesn't fill me with confidence that MP will be a slick, easy and efficient experience.

 

This could change massively when you factor in sending and receiving http packets around the globe, it could possibly blow out to a minute plus from clicking to being in a lobby/room, this could be the difference where by you drop out of a hot server to make some small wheel config change to better suit a situation and loose your spot as someone has already taken it by the time you have made your change and gone through the process of re-joining the server ... not really an ideal scenario but one that could arise just as an example.

 

I agree with all this really. I'd also like to add the ability to assign default car setups, and the car setup menu itself needs a bit of a rework, sequentially scrolling through the tabs when you click on the them is bizarre and the use of screen space could be improved a lot.

 

This is something I've been taking for granted and also doesn't seem to get mentioned on here, the load times for the tracks is excellent with a full grid of cars , even on my fairly old machine.

I keep going back to the rFactor 2 demo to try to like the game, loading times are excruciating and the interface generally is a mess.

A bit off topic, sorry!

 

This is so true. In our never ending quest to point out the things we want changed, it's easy to forget the things that are done well. The very fact we fail to recognize them is actually a compliment. Loading times are definitely one of these things, they are impressively quick.

 

Since in it's current form, the game keeps the launcher open while driving. Kunos could unlock it and allow modifications in it (limited to some options of course). Depending on how the game is coded it could work with minimal effort. And it will not need any new assets (except the "apply" button and new info about launcher limitation while driving).

Anyways LFS has done it right, and its a major issue that gets neglected in most games . Also it's funny (sad) that my "Favorite" combo is some random thing i made most setup changes on -_-'
(also i voted "Yes" but i'm like OffAgain on this, other games = poo, AC = ok-ish)