Cogmind Phase 4 UI Complete?! (Patreon)

Hot on the tail of our X3 prerelease, it seems the majority of X4 is now also... done :)

X3 having been released a week late to give me a chance to stream it first, I did already have this past week as a head start on the remaining even more condensed 45-row UI layout option. This third layout is dubbed "Modal 45-row" since it comes with multiple modal windows right out of the box, and I've updated the Options menu with all three settings, each including a more specific description right there:

Modal 45-row wasn't as much work to implement as the initial jump to 45 rows, mainly just hiding the top-side UI consoles and making the necessary interaction and informational adjustments to compensate.

That restores the map height to 44, much closer to the original size it was designed for (50x50). The single row above the map is reserved for accessing the newly modal windows and usual buttons. Here you can see the top row in action:

And a fullscreen 1080p sample screenshot using the new layout:

Fullscreen 1440p sample (Tamsyn):

Messages!!!

The vast majority of the work revolved around messages. So, so many types of messages... message log messages, combat log messages, on-map automated full-detail combat log messages, recalled extended combat log messages, interface feedback messages, alert messages... sheesh.

Most important of all, of course, regular messages are temporarily mirrored in the normal area at the top-left of the map view; both the duration and number of messages are adjustable. Being in extended log mode gives you two columns at once, for twice as many messages:

Or the right column can be set to display the combat log:

The automated full-detail combat log messages (the ones that even in the 60-row layout could appear over the map as combat plays out) are hidden by default in 45-row layouts, even if the detail level is set to Full, since given the narrower map view they can easily obscure nearby action. As usual you can always scroll the combat log backward (even in its "hidden" modal form) to review the details of recent combat while it's your turn anyway.

And if you really still want the automated combat log on the left, there is a config setting to force it regardless of UI layout or detail level.

Smoke and Mirrors

To create this new modal UI layout, one might assume that existing windows are replaced with new interface elements offering similar or alternative functionality. Nope.

That single row above the top of the map view is actually just the bottom edge of the original windows up there, windows which still exist and are temporarily repositioned as necessary, partially out of view unless called upon. (I took the same approach for building POLYBOT-7's even more condensed UI, as described in that section of the post-mortem, with diagram.)

They're the same windows, still accepting input and updating as necessary, just not being drawn in their entirety because they're mostly off screen.

Or in the case of the inventory, which gets the same treatment, entirely off screen (unless currently open). This is why if you just picked up an item, for example, then quickly open your modal inventory, you'll still see it highlighted there, because the window is behaving no different from if it were in its original visible location--it doesn't know or care about the difference, for the most part.

X4...

Although Modal 45 seems complete, certainly enough to start playtesting it, there are a few optional features to consider, and X3 hasn't been out long so I'd like to wait for any more general issues that might pop up there to fix (especially since I'm sure more folks will have a chance to try it out come the weekend). If all goes well I'll be putting X4 out as soon as next week, this time without first streaming it myself (I'd probably do that the week after), and depending on how stable it is over the coming weeks, a public Beta 13 release will follow as soon as possible.

Update 240216a

Well, I didn't expect this, since if I had I probably would've simply waited a day before posting the above update, but... this new layout is now available to play, and there is no X4--I simply updated X3 :P (see the original X3 announcement for the changelog and info)