2.00 Vison not so good

[marcbarker]

Hello all, I really can't enjoy the game because the Icons are way too small. Mousing over the icon to get the function gets cumbersome at best. I have to have the large cursor and vision impaired settings on. This was not an issue prior to the update, will this function be fixed or can I change a option in the game to correct this?

Thanks
Marc

[LoneWulf63]

I am not sure, but I think the conversion to the smaller icons is due in fact that more functions might be on the horizon but don't quote me on that. Most of the function buttons also have a corresponding "Hot Key". Try that.

[marcbarker]

True, but with my vision I rely on icons more then menu pulldown. The graphics are great but they (icons) need to be larger or less icons. Not gigging the game just needing a fix to enjoy it. Waited what 8-10 years for this can wait a bit more.

Marc

[berto]

Quoting from here:

Not trying to be glib here, but you have at least three more options:

[*]Lower your screen res to 1280x1024. This will make the icons bigger, without them auto-wrapping onto two icon bar lines.
[*]Get a bigger monitor. (I did that for my wife, who has trouble seeing the small stuff. Easy for me to say, not everybody can afford a new monitor, sure.) [edit: better, run your old monitor, at lower res, alongside a newer monitor, at high res -- if your video card has dual monitor support -- and play the game in the old monitor]
[*]Although I have never used it, there is magnifying glass software that -- with a mouse click? -- magnifies the area under the cursor.

Not the ideal solutions, admittedly. But where there's a will, there's a way.

Maybe we can come up with a mid-term solution to make everybody happy. [;)]

[marcbarker]

Good suggestions but can't get a monitor all=in-one.....resolution may do it icons not much bigger....I will just have to muddle through it

[berto]

More thoughts about toolbar icon size here.

If you have a two-row toolbar, it's because your screen resolution is low, perhaps less than 1280x1024. In my tests, any screen resolution lower than that causes toolbar auto-wrap.

I can't control auto-wrap in such a way that, as screen resolution changes, the automatically redrawn toolbar is done in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. It is under Windows' control.

I am open to the idea of the game Status Bar always showing ammo, smoke, starshells (flares), etc., even if zero, and even if the scenario doesn't support (starshells/flares in a daytime scenario, for example).

One reason the toolbar icons are so small: We are anticipating new games in the series further down the road. Games with new weapons systems, games with new circumstances, and a game system evolving with new extensions and capabilities. This means even more icons added to the toolbar.

As you have witnessed, a two- (or even three-) row toolbar is unsightly. I researched the issue of the most popular screen resolutions. The vast majority of users have screen res of 1280x1024 and above. At 1280x1024, therefore visually larger icon size (even if no different in pixel width), the current toolbar nearly fills the horizontal toolbar space. At 1280x1024, there is no toolbar auto-wrap. If I had made the toolbar icons larger, at 1280x1024, there would be the unsightly toolbar auto-wrap. And the problem would get worse, as we release new games in the series requiring more and more toolbar icons.

Not speaking to you personally but everybody in general: There is a method to my madness. All of these matters were given much careful thought, this design is not arbitrary. There are many, many considerations that go beyond what you, in your particular situations, might perceive.

That said, we will in future releases be looking into offering players use of a toggle between the current toolbar icon size & number, and a new larger icon size toolbar, perhaps with fewer icons, but that is not likely -- the idea being to, in all cases, give three-way access to the most common game functions: toolbar, menu, hot key.

Sorry you have had issues with the toolbar. After a while, I expect that most players will adapt.

For those who can't adapt due to poor eyesight, where there's a will there's a way. Behind me just now is one of my test/debug systems, running Window 8.1. This being an older system (I bought a Windows 8 license and installed this system as dual boot Windows 7/Windows 8), it lacks Windows 8* compatible drivers. So, under Windows 8*, I am stuck with 1280x1024 resolution max. But you know what? In that mode, 2D mode is actually perfect, just the right size! And, the the toolbar icons are larger and quite legible. Because I like the idea of playing in 2D so much, I can actually anticipate playing for pleasure, in 2D, at 1280x1024 screen res, on this other system.

I know it's a hassle to switch your monitor to 1280x1024 each time you want to play the new JTCS 2.00. But you'll do it, if you can't bear the pain of the smallish icons. (Or you'll buy a larger monitor, if you can afford it. Or you'll return to playing 1.04. That is always an option, if a decreasingly good one for shared PBEM play. Or give up entirely, but we hope you won't do that.)

And elsewhere, this:

I'm not getting any younger myself. I had to get reading glasses ~five years ago. (Although I'm not so dependent yet that I couldn't do without them.)

But maybe it's just me. I'm okay with the smaller icons. Especially because when you mouse over a toolbar icon

[*]the Status Bar indicates in text what the icon is for
[*]if the mouse lingers long enough, a tooltip does the same, additionally indicating the hot key for that icon

There is a logic to the grouping and the ordering of the icons. Players will learn to adapt to it. There is now a nice symmetry between the width of the window Title Bar, the Toolbar, and the Status Bar. We have more map space! (An issue, because otherwise why did earlier versions allow one to reclaim map area by toggling off the main menu?)

A peeve of mine: Games, especially recent games, where the UI is too intrusive and takes up too much screen real estate! I like my UIs to be small, unobtrusive. I think the uncluttered, business-like UI of this game is fine and dandy. So shoot me!

I so much hope everybody commits to learning the hot keys! Not just because I'm a lefty, I really think the game plays much better if we can make use of the otherwise idle left hand. With three ways to access major game functions -- toolbar, menu, hot keys -- what's not to like?

You know what? I predict that, soon enough, players will get used to the new arrangement, and the whole controversy will blow over. Not to say we don't implement the new, larger toolbar -- when Mike has time for it -- and offer it in the next patch (also in Middle East etc.). But by then, I predict that the issue will largely be moot.

But I could be wrong. [8|]

[junk2drive]

1440x900 on a 21 inch 16:9 IIRC and I am use to the new buttons. I could never remember what they were before and usually forgot that some of them were there. Of course I don't play as much as some people and my memory is failing. As long as there are legible tool tips... not like this is a RTS.

[berto]

Players -- some of them, anyway -- complain about the "tiny" toolbar icons. Yes, the buttons are small(er), but tiny? It's some of the distinguishing details within some of the buttons that are tiny.

I will grant the critics this -- in some cases, a button's purpose could be made clearer.

Even if "tiny", it's not hard to spot the red D for Disrupted, the reverse image red F for fixed, the Bases On/Off toggle, the aircraft, etc. But, yes, the image on some of the other icons is so indistinct that their purpose, their function, is not instantly clear.

Other than resizing, there are at least two other fixes for this:

[*]more color contrast (wouldn't help color blind players much, though)
[*]simplified graphics (more like the easily distinguishable Spotted binoculars, Low Ammo empty shell, red letter D(isrupted), etc.)

The other fix, already agreed to, is that in future releases, and future games, we will offer as a toggle a new, larger, alternative toolbar with larger buttons. But note: If your screen res is low enough, a wider toolbar with larger buttons might cause unsightly toolbar auto-wrap. Your choice!

More thoughts about the toolbar controversy:

One reason to do the Coder Diaries is to give advance notice/warning about future changes, also directly or implicitly to invite user feedback. (Some of you might recall the informal poll we took of which toolbar buttons to add or remove. You know what? Every button was spoken for! There was no button that everybody agreed was useless, except perhaps for the A/I toggle. Which was removed, despite my having use for it.) If some people are now complaining about the toolbar, and toolbar button size, you can't say you weren't warned.

Having said that, we hear you, and will do our best to tweak the toolbar in future. More and more options (and more and more coding [:(]) -- everybody wins! (Except perhaps the poor coder. [8|])

[berto]

ORIGINAL: berto

I so much hope everybody commits to learning the hot keys! Not just because I'm a lefty, I really think the game plays much better if we can make use of the otherwise idle left hand. With three ways to access major game functions -- toolbar, menu, hot keys -- what's not to like?

After nearly 30 years in the IT industry, my right mouse finger is chronically tender (arthritic?), is "snappy" when I bend then try to extend it, and doesn't extend fully straight. I welcome every opportunity to use the keyboard, rather than mouse clicking all the time, and I especially welcome making use of my otherwise idle left hand.

(My finger troubles are one of the reasons I took up the sackbut (trombone) late in life. No fingering!)

I wasn't much of a hot key user before. Now I'm a fanatic.

Try the hot keys, commit them to memory. You just might come to like them!

[junk2drive]

Took me years to move the mouse to the left for my own use. I had to share for so long with rightys and I was afraid that my brain couldn't cope with game instructions of left click this and right click that. When I did move, I didn't switch buttons, using the middle finger for LC and index for RC. I finally tried switch buttons and got use to it quickly.

+1 for hot keys

[TheGrayMouser]

Any way to have the tool bar on the top of the screen instead of the bottom? That way at least it will be consistent with all of HPS Sims/JT games...

[berto]

ORIGINAL: The Gray Mouser

Any way to have the tool bar on the top of the screen instead of the bottom? That way at least it will be consistent with all of HPS Sims/JT games...

I considered that, then on second thought: no, surely people will complain. Put the d@mn toolbar back at the bottom where it's always been! [:@]

[;)]

I also thought of adding a toggle, where players would have a choice between at the top vs. at the bottom. But I rejected that, because

[*]You can already access every game function in the top menu. I thought it redundant to put the toolbar there, also at the top. Better I thought to default to having both a top (menu) and a bottom (toolbar) access point. On balance, less overall mouse movement that way.
[*]I'll drive myself crazy if I anticipate every wish and whim of every play to customize the game in a zillion different ways. Honestly, I could do nothing but program and tweak the UI endlessly, leaving no time for extending the game in other ways. Gotta draw the line -- and the toolbar! -- somewhere.

You can't win for losing. [:(]

[;)]

[TheGrayMouser]

Ha ha, I hear ya, I must be programmed to always look up to the top and swing the mouse pointer that way, likely just take some getting used to. Thanks for all the work you've done on this beauty of a game, cheers!

[MrRoadrunner]

ORIGINAL: berto

ORIGINAL: The Gray Mouser

Any way to have the tool bar on the top of the screen instead of the bottom? That way at least it will be consistent with all of HPS Sims/JT games...

I considered that, then on second thought: no, surely people will complain. Put the d@mn toolbar back at the bottom where it's always been! [:@]

[;)]

I also thought of adding a toggle, where players would have a choice between at the top vs. at the bottom. But I rejected that, because

[*]You can already access every game function in the top menu. I thought it redundant to put the toolbar there, also at the top. Better I thought to default to having both a top (menu) and a bottom (toolbar) access point. On balance, less overall mouse movement that way.
[*]I'll drive myself crazy if I anticipate every wish and whim of every play to customize the game in a zillion different ways. Honestly, I could do nothing but program and tweak the UI endlessly, leaving no time for extending the game in other ways. Gotta draw the line -- and the toolbar! -- somewhere.

You can't win for losing. [:(]

[;)]

You messed with it enough. Now friggin' fix it.
Doing what you can undo is easy.
I am sure I will be classified among those "pesky complainers"? SOBEIT.

Adding a dropdown from the "m" bar could get rid of half those buttons and unclutter the minimized icons.
We did not need more. We had enough. Why not develop to the customer's needs and not the team wants?
Do not use the customer as an excuse for doing something wrong and then not fixing it.

I love the new sounds. I love the new speed.
I love the new look on the map.

I can never like the bottom tool bar size and clutter.
Nor, do I like the PBEM "regular", "older", "oldest" campaign/PBEM name changes.

Instead of making something simple, you complicated the heck out of it.

Back to the drawing board and fix it.

RR

[Crossroads]

Backup save files can be toggled off from menu: Options > Backup Saves.

[MrRoadrunner]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

Backup save files can be toggled off from menu: Options > Backup Saves.

They should have not have been made default "on".

BTW, your work on the sounds is first rate!

RR

[MrRoadrunner]

ORIGINAL: resinslinger

I am not sure, but I think the conversion to the smaller icons is due in fact that more functions might be on the horizon but don't quote me on that. Most of the function buttons also have a corresponding "Hot Key". Try that.

You should have stopped at the first four words.
As part of the "team" you are making a comment not based on facts.

There should not have been corresponding buttons to hot key buttons which creates a mini world of clutter on the bottom tool bar. The tool bar was intended for quick acquisition of "needed" functions, not every hot key function.
Thus, a complication and eye numbing display.

RR

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: MrRoadrunner

They should have not have been made default "on".

After the fresh recommended install, you have to reset the preferred options. Which gives a good opportunity to see what's new in the menu's.

Jason Petho

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: MrRoadrunner

There should not have been corresponding buttons to hot key buttons which creates a mini world of clutter on the bottom tool bar. The tool bar was intended for quick acquisition of "needed" functions, not every hot key function.
Thus, a complication and eye numbing display.

The buttons are no smaller than the newest game from John Tiller. The difference is the clarity of the information on the buttons. Easier to read buttons, with more identifable/simple symbology, would nullify most issues. This is being worked on, as is the dual toolbar setup.

Jason Petho

[scottintacoma]

MrRoadrunner,

I for one like the new buttons. I never could get the hot key combo for smoke to work, now there is a button to toggle smoke for a praticular Arty unit.