123 replies to this topic

[Elizander]

Hubis, on 09 March 2013 - 01:13 PM, said:

Yeah, the idea was that it would be pretty easy to just click "Tools/Strip All" if that's what you want to do. I'm going to add persistent preferences for things like Skills, though, so I can add a "load stock/empty by default" option.

I don't think I ever clicked on Tools until you mentioned it. Simple-minded user here.

[Peekaboom]

I really like the tool - and prefer the design and look over other one's. However, there are a few nagging issues that are maybe already on your radar, but I thought I'd mention regardless:

(1) The missile hardpoints need to indicate how many firing ports there are. For instance, the TBT-7M has 15 missile ports on the left torso and right arm spots, but only 1 missle port on the right torso. This is really critical info for people using the tool Putting an LRM-20 on the right side is going to be bad.

(2) Switching to artemis should automatically swap out your loaded missle weapons and change the ammo type to artemis. As it is now, it just purges all your weapons/ammo and then you need to re-load it all.

(3) Expand drag+drop functionality. It's cool that you can drag from the list, but you should be able to drag around already loaded stuff.

(4) Remove the "Remove" button and instead put an "X" on each item. Highlighting something, and then having to click remove adds un-needed clickery.

(5) Add a way to type in your armor values instead of having to click +/- 100's of times.

(6) The "Max Armor" tool appears to be broken. If you click max, nothing changes, and then when click to adjust a specific value, all the armor is stripped off. Then you really do need to click 100's of times to add it all back.

(7) Mobility information + weapon chart data often doesn't seem to update much of the time.

Anyway, that's a lot of points, but I think addressing those would make your lab the best. I love the interface and most of the functionality a lot - and I would love to see it improved. Cheers and thank you!

[MasterBLB]

Peekaboom, on 13 March 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

(1) The missile hardpoints need to indicate how many firing ports there are. For instance, the TBT-7M has 15 missile ports on the left torso and right arm spots, but only 1 missle port on the right torso. This is really critical info for people using the tool Putting an LRM-20 on the right side is going to be bad.

Already mentioned to Hubis,and pending to implement from what I know.

Peekaboom, on 13 March 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

(2) Switching to artemis should automatically swap out your loaded missle weapons and change the ammo type to artemis. As it is now, it just purges all your weapons/ammo and then you need to re-load it all.

Sounds easy,but it isn't.There are many situations to consider for that,the most important one is "what to do when there is not enough slots to add artemis?".Similar consideration is required for tonnage,but Hubis's tool is implemented well as it allows to exceed maximum tonnage but marks that in red - so it should not matter so much.
I think Hubis is well aware this feature would be nice,but it isn't easy to implement properly.

Peekaboom, on 13 March 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

(3) Expand drag+drop functionality. It's cool that you can drag from the list, but you should be able to drag around already loaded stuff.

Mentioned already.

Peekaboom, on 13 March 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

(4) Remove the "Remove" button and instead put an "X" on each item. Highlighting something, and then having to click remove adds un-needed clickery.

No.There is already better solution for that,just double click on a stuff to uneqip it.However,some manual where it is mentioned would be welcome

Peekaboom, on 13 March 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

(5) Add a way to type in your armor values instead of having to click +/- 100's of times.

And again,due to lack of the manual you don't know you can click on the armor value which will open excellent dialog for fast armor amount setting.

Peekaboom, on 13 March 2013 - 06:28 AM, said:

(6) The "Max Armor" tool appears to be broken. If you click max, nothing changes, and then when click to adjust a specific value, all the armor is stripped off. Then you really do need to click 100's of times to add it all back.

No manual as well If fact this feature tries to maximize armor without exceeding max tonnage - so sometimes it looks like the function didn't do anything.
@Hubis,please consider maxing armor without looking on the current tonnage.

[Peekaboom]

MasterBLB - thanks for the detailed follow up. I didn't know all that!

Regarding #2 (Artemis switching) - This shouldn't be too hard. Just put a check in whether you have enough tonnage / criticals. If you do, switch it out. If you don't, you just can't toggle artemis on until you free up tonnage. Would work the same as adding endo steel and ferrous armor.

[Kdogg788]

Gotta say this is easily my most preferred mech loadout tool for quick builds and weapon checks. The interface is first rate. Only downside is that it can be a little awkward on a mobile device but at least it works. Excellent. Keep up the good work guys!

-k

[Elizander]

Mechromancer is counter MG DPS as 0.04 instead of 0.40 and I think it's using some funky numbers for the LB10X. I tried fooling around with a nearly 0 heat, high DPS Jagermech and it tells me that the DPS is way lower than the expected 11.60.

[Hubis]

I've updated the data to reflect the new patch. There are some interesting things in there (such as an apparent flamer buff) along with the Jagermech. I've also fixed some bugs with Artemis breaking cost calculation and ammo counting.

Elizander, on 20 March 2013 - 04:28 AM, said:

Mechromancer is counter MG DPS as 0.04 instead of 0.40 and I think it's using some funky numbers for the LB10X. I tried fooling around with a nearly 0 heat, high DPS Jagermech and it tells me that the DPS is way lower than the expected 11.60.

Ugh yeah I keep putting that on my todo list but work has been busy. I'll fix MG/LB-10X soon.

[MasterBLB]

Few bugs detected:
-Now it is impossible to distinguish if endosteel/dhs etc are enabled or not
-Engine choose dialog does not close when 'Ok' is pressed
-New builds still appear with default crap loaded

[Hubis]

Ack, sorry for the radio silence here. Time to work on this has been bursty lately.

MasterBLB, on 09 April 2013 - 05:31 AM, said:

Few bugs detected:
-Now it is impossible to distinguish if endosteel/dhs etc are enabled or not
-Engine choose dialog does not close when 'Ok' is pressed
-New builds still appear with default crap loaded

Huh, those seem like very odd bugs -- I haven't seen them anywhere else. Can you get me a screenshot of the upgrade issue, at the least?

BTW, I've committed to adding a "preferences" panel that'll let you choose if you want Stock or Blank load-outs by default, as well as the default front/back armor ratio. Does anyone have any suggestions for anything else I could add there?

[MasterBLB]

Sure,below.
Also,a new bug visible at left arm - improper ending drag'n'drop operation,now an item image does not delete

[Hubis]

I changed the UI theme a little sho it should be easier to differentiate the toggle buttons like with Upgrades. I'll have to look into the drag/drop issue -- I assume it's some JS behavior difference between Opera and Chrome/FF, so I'll have to see if I can throw in some extra failsafes.

[MasterBLB]

Well,I suggest to change checked button color to something really different,ex unchecked yellow as you have now -> checked green.Now still it is practically unrecognizable.
Ah,and about default stock equipment - rollback that to the original version,when newly created mech design was empty with maxed armor,that was the most convienient option I saw among all available mechlabs.In the mentioned preferences put an option to create a mech with the default stock.

Btw,just a hint - check smurfy's mechlab and see 'weaponlab'.

[Hubis]

Yeah -- sorry, I don't think any of these changes have gotten rolled out yet, so it shouldn't look that different. These will all go up later today with the data update.

[Hubis]

OK -- updated for new data, with some aforementioned bugs and features. Main change: there's now a "preferences" panel which lets you change the default front/back armor split, and whether to load new builds with stick equipment, or empty.

[Imp Mcsmackens]

Overall this thing is fantastic and solid. Don't know how I did mechs before this. All I have are a few minor suggestions from UI standpoint. When you click an armor value to type in a new one if you could blank the value out that seems more streamlined to me. As is I have to backspace to clear out the old value which I obviously want to do since I clicked in the first place. If possible it would also be keen if hitting enter after that data entry closed the armor entry window. The tools menu could get individual buttons somewhere in the main interface maybe too? Not an issue for me but I can see new users missing the feature and I use the functions in there on most builds. The only other thing I could possibly suggest is a second set of armor +/- buttons to add armor in .5 ton chunks but that's getting nit picky and I'd only ever really use it on legs myself. Also digging the new damage chart tab, it's a nice improvement.

[Hubis]

Imp Mcsmackens, on 17 April 2013 - 11:10 AM, said:

Overall this thing is fantastic and solid. Don't know how I did mechs before this. All I have are a few minor suggestions from UI standpoint. When you click an armor value to type in a new one if you could blank the value out that seems more streamlined to me. As is I have to backspace to clear out the old value which I obviously want to do since I clicked in the first place. If possible it would also be keen if hitting enter after that data entry closed the armor entry window. The tools menu could get individual buttons somewhere in the main interface maybe too? Not an issue for me but I can see new users missing the feature and I use the functions in there on most builds. The only other thing I could possibly suggest is a second set of armor +/- buttons to add armor in .5 ton chunks but that's getting nit picky and I'd only ever really use it on legs myself. Also digging the new damage chart tab, it's a nice improvement.

Thanks. These sort of "polish" suggestions are exactly what I'd like to hear to round out the rough edges on otherwise stable features.

The weapon charts are going to see a LOT of improvements, as soon as I have the time to finish the features. Suggestions for information you'd like to see there is welcome as well.

[MasterBLB]

Sadly,engine set dialog bug still appears - pressing OK does not close it.Opera 11.64
Visibility if anything has been set has increased,but still there are situations where it is hard to determine - I made Jenner F with 6 mediums,went to 'weapons' tab and tried to set/unset a laser for calculations.It was hard to see if one is set or not,it looked like the focus messed up the visibility.Seriously Hubis,consider strongly to change palette for set/unset GUI elements so they could differ majorly.Like ex unset like you have now,set RGB(12,190,119).Another way is to use radio buttons,but this would ruin your layout I suppose.
Anyway,it is a great improvement,and weapon tab rework is almost a masterpiece.Good work Hubis

[Hubis]

The bug with Jump-Jet placement has now been fixed.

@MasterBLB: The buttons actually ARE radio buttons, but they're re-skinned by the UI library. I'm experimenting with some different color schemes right now, trying to unify and simplify things some. I'm running into some limitations from the library (all kinds of elements use the same colors, which isn't always desirable) but I think I can work around with that by hand-writing overrides. I'll keep working on that, along with other polish stuff.

Beyond that, my main focus is going to be:
- Adding more visualizations to the weapons pane
- The ability to compare two builds in the stats view
- More stats for things like modules, sensors, etc, as well as fixing things like the jump-jets
- Mechronomicon facelift (lots of changes here -- this is going to be totally revised to hopefully make it a LOT more useful)

edit: Oh, and I'm also going to looking over your suggestions, Peekaboom.

Edited by Hubis, 19 April 2013 - 06:05 AM.

[MasterBLB]

Hubis, on 19 April 2013 - 06:03 AM, said:

@MasterBLB: The buttons actually ARE radio buttons, but they're re-skinned by the UI library. I'm experimenting with some different color schemes right now, trying to unify and simplify things some. I'm running into some limitations from the library (all kinds of elements use the same colors, which isn't always desirable) but I think I can work around with that by hand-writing overrides.

Hmmmm,that a bad news...but I have an idea,would be possible with the library you use to set different text when a button is checked and unchecked?I'd look like:

Structure
Standard (when unchecked)
 
Structure
Endo-steel (when checked)

This change would require to replace both radio buttons with one checkable push button.

Btw,a bug - prefferences about initial loadout are not stored properlyl if I disable browser it'll set to 'stock'

Edited by MasterBLB, 19 April 2013 - 10:55 AM.

[Warskull]

You really need to introduce some sort of color coding. Smurfy builds are far easier to read... really almost everything on smurfy is easier to read. The only thing I like better on Mechromancer is how you lay out equipment to be selected.