General feedback #3

[seblindfors]

Use this thread to post general feedback. What you should post here:

• Constructive general feedback
• Wanted changes
• Wanted additions
• Rants about terrible implementations

What you shouldn't post here:

• Bug reports
• Marketing concerns

[ghost]

Hi, great addon. I'm going to try and help out. My first task will be to get the controller working in pet battles, which should be pretty easy. This is my interface at the moment. Sexymap for the map, blizz actionbars, moveanything, titanbar, wa2 and archud.

[Unoriginal02]

Hello, just like to point that nowadays im playing with Input Mapper, from the people of DS4Windows, wich offers almost zero lag peaks when using the ps4 controller wirelesly.

I did a port of your basic key bindings, but i cant make the "*" button properly, if i het it working i can uploaf the profile

[Unoriginal02]

... Cant make the "*" button work properly, if i get it working... (Seems i cant edit in phone)

[seblindfors]

@OxydBCN Input Mapper is probably just another branch of the originally open source software. I don't have the problems with DS4Windows you describe, but it's always nice with extra profiles. You don't HAVE to use NUMMULTIPLY or whatever it's called. It was frankly just the first button that came to mind that isn't normally used and isn't one of the function keys.

@p0s1t Pet battle support is coming with the next patch (a pretty big revamp of the addon btw) which I will release today or tomorrow.

[seblindfors]

Going to sort out a few bugs before releasing an overhaul to how the addon handles the interface. This update will add support for almost every standard Blizzard frame and will remove about half of the old code since it has become redundant using this new approach. Having learned a few tricks along the way of meticulously devouring the API, it was time I updated the addon to reflect what I've learned thus far.

This update will add support for:

• Almost all frames (might have forgotten to add a few odd frames)
• Drop down menus
• Interface and system options
• Addon management
• Calendar
• Guild interface
• World map browsing
• Vendor and repairing
• PvP and PvE finder
• Pet battles
• Taint-free glyph, spec and talent picking
• Adventure guide and dungeon journal
• Collections (mounts, pets, toys, heirlooms)
• Garrison missions and garrison workorders
• Transmogrification
• Macro picking
• Professions
• Trainers
• Void storage
• Achievements
• Archaeology

A lot of things will be removed, and some things might be different to what you have gotten used to. Feedback on quirky stuff is highly appreciated. If there are any frames that lack support, please feel free to report their names or post screenshots and I'll fix the problem asap.

[Unoriginal02]

Cant wait!

Question: With DS4Windows, your mouse moves smooth over the screen usign the controller wirelesly? Maybe the problem is my Bluetooth.

About the lighting, maybe putting the light a bit far away to reduce the contrast between light and shadow will help getting a more balanced image while keeping the dramatic badass look (light beneath character)

[seblindfors]

Yes, my mouse is working perfect with wireless. I'm using a Trust Bluetooth dongle. I will try moving the light when I'm done with fixing bugs for the patch.

[seblindfors]

New patch is uploaded and relatively bug free. The new approach to handling the interface is a system that scans the interface for interactive buttons and then calculates the most appropriate action depending on which arrow you press on the controller. A fake cursor moves around and snaps to the interface buttons. This essentially allows the user to control any frame with ease, rather than trying to move the actual cursor around.

Pet battle example: Glyph frame example: Interface options example:

[Unoriginal02]

Awesome approach!

Here's my first feedback:

Overall: The user can realize pretty quick the behave of that new cursor. My concerns are two:

• If the user will have trouble understanding that the new cursor is operated by the arrows, while the old one (and aestethically similar) is operated with the right stick. There are even moments when both cursors appear at the same time
• There is a lack of priority: In very busy panels such as Character sheet, where there are many things to do, the behave of the new cursor is the expected, it starts at the top left and from there you take it where you want. But there are windows, like the "npc quest giver panel" where before opening the window itself the user knows what he wants to do, (accept or decline the quest, but most of the times accept) here the cursor appears over the cancel button, and takes at least 3 moves and 1 click to accept the quest. That's a lot. Before this patch you got controller shortcuts attached to the accept/decline buttons wich made the interaction with the panel lightning fast.

Here's a window by window review:

Game menu:

• I expected the mouse to switch columns if i kept pressing down at the bottom of the left column.
• With this new system, the feature of the on screen controller where you can hover each button to show you wich actionbars has assigned it almost disapears to the user knowledge as the new cursor doesnt move over the on screen controller buttons.

Suggestion: move the on screen controller under a tab in the "Controller" configuration panel. That way maybe it is possible to make the new cursor move through the controller buttons and higlight each actionbar buttons.

Warning: i dont think it is a good idea to be able to keep the controller on the menu screen and make it interactive for the new cursor. In that screen, and in order of importance i first expect a fluent navigation trough the menu buttons, and later a navigation through the controller buttons. So, pressing right should bring you to the right column, and not to any conroller button.

Controller configuration panel:

• The new cursor disappears, the old when joins appears.

Interface:

• Here i almost had an orgasm, very fluent navigation. The sliders are not interactive for the new cursor tho.

Macros:

• Lots of "false" possible buttons, the new cursor suggests positions where there are no buttons.

Addons: perfect

Charter info:

• Good navigation.
• I can pick objects and the old cursor appears to move the object wherever i want. If i cancel or complete the action, im left with two cursors on screen.

Suggestion: could it be possible to auto hide again the old cursor and make it enter in "view mode" as soon as you complete or cancel the action of moving an object?

That way i t would feel like the second cursor only appears when needed, and disappears when done.

Spellbook:

• Good navigation and same isseu as character info.

Achievements:

• Some false possible buttons

Bags

• Curious behave, while moving the cursor through objects. It gives me a live view of the object specification (expected) But when browsing through categories i have to click on each category to see what objects are inside. I expected it to have a live view also.
• When picking an object, i can move it but not drop it (erase it)
• In the grid view, when highlighting each bag slots, the very first slot gets higlighted

Quest givers:

• Here is the only thing i felt i didnt like it at all. Before this update there where those autobinded buttons that made the process very quick, accept or decline quests, also if im not wrong i was able to scroll using the arrows.

Now to accept a quest, it requires at least 3 mouse moves and one click to do a very common task when before only required one click.

Suggestion: Maybe you could do an hybrid of the two concepts, where the square and triangle buttons serve as super quick shortcuts for important actions such as "accept"-square button or "cancel/close window"-triangle button.

That way you will have a key that will close your current window or cancel the current interaction (not accepting quest), and another button to accept quests or actions.

[Unoriginal02]

i like to make a request. I'd like to see a lite version of the addon featuring only the movement/action bar interaction, basic bindings on important buttons and keep all the wow frames as default.

Why? over the time, i had to finally play with a keyboard near me because ppl thought i were too antisocial.

So it is not much of a problem to me to navigate through default panels with the mouse / trackpad, and use the controller for basic important interactions.

I personally (and i know this is just me) i don't connect too much with the new bag system for example.

[seblindfors]

Great feedback! I will start to work on implementing a few changes to how it all works. I already have a system in place to ignore certain nodes if I deem them uninteresting, such as the close button on quest frames, since you already have the decline button there. It's not too tricky to make certain elements prioritized over others. I also gave the cursor a memory, which means it will return to the same node if the same frame is reopened without repositioning the cursor.

Regarding the bag addon: it's buggy, incomplete and not really to my liking at all. I exclusively use the grid view atm, because it's more familiar. I'm going to move it out of the addon to a separate module, sort of like how DBM handles all its content modules. Creating a modular system also allows for other users to create plugins for the addon, to their own liking.

Using a modular approach, one can replace bits of the interface as they please or create more intuitively designed frames for things such as questing. This would also allow the user to disable the entire interface control, effectively creating a lite version of the addon.

[seblindfors]

Regarding the social bit, I was thinking of creating an optional virtual keyboard that pops up on the screen whenever an EditBox assumes keyboard focus. It might not even be too hard, using tables with locale translations for a ton of languages. It's on my bucket list, at least.

Regarding all the stuff you mentioned; I've been working on the UI navigation all day and made some changes to how it all works. The patch I just uploaded should be a lot more fluent and you won't have to press a button 4 times just to accept a quest anymore.

I also decided to temporarily remove the bag module. It needs a lot more polishing before releasing, and when I do release it, it will be as a standalone addon that you can plug in to the new UI management system. I'm going to add a system to include whichever addons you want in the UI navigation shortly, meaning you can still modify your interface as you please but retain the functionality of the controller with those addons.

Here's a list of changes with the last update:

• Added support for additional frames (e.g. AuctionFrame, ChatMenu, Barbershop)
• Added support for scroll frame sliders
• Added CheckBox object type to accepted nodes
• Added system for prioritizing nodes
• Improved overall UI navigation
• Increased dummy cursor speed when arrow button is held down
• Mouse look now stops when "Interact with mouseover" is triggered
• Cursor will now readjust itself or find another node if current node is obscured or lost
• Cursor will now properly update and check whether a node is enabled or not
• Bag module has been scrapped

[Unoriginal02]

You know, recently i decided to focus my work towards usability and interface. And if you tell me that you had a motivated day of work cause of this review, nothing makes me happier.

Gonna test the new patch right now!

PS: can you show me the model of your BT dongle? i'm tired of living in the 90's playing with a wired controller

[Unoriginal02]

Btw, the patch is not up?

[seblindfors]

Weird, seems the github app didn't sync properly. Download here instead: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/dl23536/ConsolePort-0.5.2.zip?144073362815

Here's the bluetooth dongle: http://trust.com/en/product/18187-bluetooth-4-0-adapter

[seblindfors]

The patch is up now. Weirdly enough, my github app said it was pushed 12 hours ago.

Anyway, I'd like to mention one thing that isn't super intuitive. If you focus a scroll bar, you'll notice that the cursor indicator turns to L1. This is supposed to be the shift modifier. When held down, you can scroll using the up and down arrows. This is a compromise between always letting up/down scroll on frames and giving the user full control of the frame, including the up/down buttons.

You can also use L1+down on gear slots to bring up the fly out menu, but this was an unintentional bug/feature.

[Unoriginal02]

Hello old bags!!

Regarding the L1 new feature and the chance of getting two cursors, i like to suggest something to see if it likes you. Is this a thing?

What do you think?

Btw, there is a kind of weird icon that appears when i press L1 (on scroll bars) or "O" in any other place.

Now im going to play a bit a check how fluent everything is.

[seblindfors]

Yeah, the weird icon was my rubbish scroll button texture. It looks horrible and I'm not afraid to say it. Made it in like 20 seconds because I needed a texture for it.

I kinda like what you have in mind there, but there is a problem. The yellow tint backdrop is not good. Some buttons are small and obscure enough as is, so no need to add extra stuff onto them.

The border is good, but there's another problem with that. Not all buttons are the same size as their visual boundaries. There is no rule that says the various textures on a button have to intersect with the edge of the frame perfectly. Sometimes the button may actually be bigger than what is visible, and sometimes it may be smaller. The current approach of the cursor is to put it in the very center of the focused object. Drawing a border around objects may look very strange and out of place in a handful of spots across the interface.

[Unoriginal02]

I see.

[seblindfors]

Using /framestack, you can clearly see the issue:

[seblindfors]

I took your advice and moved the controller out of the game menu. I will also be replacing the faux buttons on the game menu with textured buttons instead of text.

Here's what I'm working on now though:

Do you have any thoughts on how it should work?

[Unoriginal02]

I see the issue :(

On the second screen, and by the heriarchy order, it suggests that now the grid of buttons and combos is left, and you'll use the controller image instead, and be able to reconfigure the bindings from there?

[seblindfors]

Yes. Basically, you should be able to click on any of the buttons (doesn't matter if using fake cursor or real cursor) and then rebind from a flyout menu or something similar. I think this will add more clarity to the process of rebinding and managing the addon.

[Unoriginal02]

I agree, and also if you keep the flashing action bar buttons when hovering each controler button, will add some visual guidance on where actually your bindings fall and to decide if it pleases your likings.

[Unoriginal02]

Maybe i find some lack of help, like a small text telling a it the use of that screen, like "Hover over controller buttons to reveal its bindings, or rebind them pressing O"

[seblindfors]

Regarding the flashing buttons: I removed them for a very technical reason. They caused taint issues, because protected code runs through those functions every now and then. This meant that hovering the button on the game menu could create strange problems, like not being able to add a glyph or dismiss your pet. I'm going to copy the animations and textures soon and add it back in, but for now I've left them out because those functions are dangerous.

Regarding the binding frame: Yes, such text strings could be added above the controller.

[seblindfors]

Here are some dumps of the new binding thingy:

[Unoriginal02]

Dat smells good! Is up now?

[seblindfors]

On GitHub, yes.

[seblindfors]

Alpha 0.6.2

• Increased opacity on faded frames to 75% (up from 50%)
• New binding manager added to interface options
• New modified game menu
• Removed controller texture from game menu
• Removed popup system in favor of UIControl
• Simplified frame checking system
• Resolved taint issue when rebinding action buttons
• Fixed a couple of unintentional globals
• Fixed bug where secure action buttons would get incorrect actionpage attribute on login
• Fixed bug preventing item destruction popup from appearing

[kilabyte]

Update looks awesome! Was wondering if in a future release if you could have the option for a mouse reset location? For example i would always like the mouse to reset to the top of my characters head every time the mouses goes out and in focus (right click).

[Unoriginal02]

:3

[seblindfors]

@kilabyte Can't do that within WoW, unfortunately.

[Unoriginal02]

@seblindfors Did the last patch screw up the addon?

Mine is not working, and i inly user consoleport and dominos

[seblindfors]

@OxydBCN Not to my knowledge. Did you get any lua errors?

[Unoriginal02]

Gonna check it again later, but the other day, right after the patch, the new virtual cursor was gone, and no bindingd at any actionbar button, plus the buttons to open game menu or map didnt work either.

All the weird stuff is always for me :)

[Unoriginal02]

But this is not gona chance the fact that thsnks to you i could still play while homdinh my baby :D

[seblindfors]

I uploaded a broken patch by mistake, but it was corrected shortly after. The one that is up now should work, but in case it doesn't I'm going to put up another one in a few minutes.

[Unoriginal02]

Maybe that was the thing. But in the first moment after downloading i could test the new controller remaping and all went fine. Gonna try to download this one

[seblindfors]

New patch is up, should work just fine.

[seblindfors]

@OxydBCN I was wondering if you might be interested in creating some hi-res button graphics for the addon? Having moved away from the old system of placing "guides" everywhere, using the flat graphics for large textures is no longer needed.

[seblindfors]

Latest update adds addon support to the virtual cursor: Also, binding to non-existing buttons should no longer cause a crash:

[Unoriginal02]

Sounds good! What's your idea? Any hint on the style? Size? Having two sizes,means i can do a set of small icons for the action bars a little more pixel art-ish, so they are more crisp and defined?

[seblindfors]

@OxydBCN Right now the size is fine. The buttons you originally made are 64x64 which could arguably provide a lot of detail. The small buttons, however, only need to be 16x16, since their current size is 14x14 in game. (remember they have to be a power of 2).

And yes; the small 16x16 icons can be really clean and crispy, while the large 64x64 buttons can have a lot of detail and nice finish. Feel free to be creative with designs and color choices. Just don't make them too extravagant, as they are supposed to fit with the overall look of the game. :smile:

[seblindfors]

Face lift!

[ddormer]

Support for ElvUI's party frames would be amazing. At the moment "Toggle raid cursor" doesn't work if ElvUI's unit frames are enabled.

[seblindfors]

Hm. It works with default frames, Grid and Zpearl. Curious as to why it doesn't work with ElvUI. WIll look into it.

[Unoriginal02]

Didn't had the time to test the new improvements until today, and oh my god, how it has grown!! Loving the new typing method. Love the new addon interface.

The only ting i like only a little less is that thing about mking the cursor bigger each time it changes a link.

Seb, i'm amazed of what you are doing!

[seblindfors]

Thanks man :wink: Sorry I phased out some of the graphics you put work into, but it was all in the name of progress. I know you've been busy as of late, but if you feel like putting your two cents in, your contributions are always welcome. :+1:

[seblindfors]

@ddormer ElvUI is doing something shady that messes up the frame caching in the secure environment. This is not a problem with ConsolePort, but rather with ElvUI. I suggest disabling the ElvUI raid frames and using Grid instead. This is out of my hands.