Aurora 4x

C# Aurora => C# Suggestions => Topic started by: Kyle on April 14, 2020, 02:41:48 PM

Title: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Kyle on April 14, 2020, 02:41:48 PM: I'm having a really hard time dealing with the transitions between dark blue background -> white border -> dark blue -> bright yellow text in the UI. If an option to revert all colors to completely default windows colors the way Aurora VB6 does it is out of the question, would it at least be possible to reduce the thickness of the borders on many of the controls? After a fair amount of experimentation, I feel that this is the best outcome possible that doesn't require any code changes:

(https://i.imgur.com/cRWmecN.png)

All that is required is to select all the relevant controls on a form, and change the FlatStyle from Standard to Flat. I did do my research and found it is quite a pain to change the border color altogether, requiring a fair chunk of windows programming.

It's possible you may have already tried this and noticed that this introduces an annoying flicker. That can be eliminated by adding this to all your forms (it's just a copy paste, no thinking required)

Code: [Select]
protected override CreateParams CreateParams { get { CreateParams cp = base.CreateParams; cp.ExStyle |= 0x02000000; // Turn on WS_EX_COMPOSITED return cp; } }
I do know you've got 6 thousand other things on your plate, and appreciate the insane amount of work you're undertaking :)
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Zincat on April 14, 2020, 02:54:15 PM: I would have to agree. The blue is hard on my eyes as well.

I hope that, someday in the future, we can have more than one color scheme.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Malorn on April 14, 2020, 03:45:31 PM: Honestly, yeah, it's tearing through my eyes a bit as well. The game is glorious, but I'm having to take breaks to recover my eyes.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Tyrell on April 14, 2020, 05:35:08 PM: Quote from: Zincat link=topic=10705. msg122705#msg122705 date=1586894055
more than one color scheme.

+1
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Nori on April 14, 2020, 06:22:04 PM: Here I thought I was the only one. Will add my +1 to this. Never had any issues with VB Aurora but this one does cause some strain.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: RougeNPS on April 14, 2020, 06:23:40 PM: I think its better now. I can actually play in the dark now w/out the screen being glaring.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Lamandier on April 14, 2020, 06:48:00 PM: Glad I'm not the only one having issues with the color scheme. The dark blue everything makes it really difficult to focus. Would *love* a return to the original Windows-default style interface colors, or at least an option for such.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Jorgen_CAB on April 14, 2020, 07:12:57 PM: I agree that the colour of the game is not ideal. You really need a more saturated colour or it will hurt your eyes and it is way harder to read the text and most importantly to find the thing you are looking for at a glance.

I'm fine with the tactical map having the blue background, but the menus really need a much better colour scheme, at least we should be able to choose between a few options as this actually is really important.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Marski on April 15, 2020, 12:11:26 AM: Yeah I have to squint my eyes quite a lot when playing this game, the color palette isn't easy on my eyes either.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Disguy on April 15, 2020, 12:33:06 AM: Love the game. Have trouble reading. End up using Black background and yellow text for event log reading. Would love for a more friendlier color palette.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Lobben on April 15, 2020, 01:08:17 AM: I came here to start the same thread.

I have astigmatism which makes light text on a dark background hard to read, I've had to quit the game every time due to headaches. A pretty large portion of the population has this problem it seems like after some googling.

From what I've seen this game is shaping up to be amazing, and I want to be able to enjoy the game you have created Steve. I 100% get that ironing out the bugs is priority number one at this stage, which you seem to be doing at an amazing pace. However, I hope that a lighter color theme closer to the original will be added in a not too distant future.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: GodEmperor on April 15, 2020, 02:15:18 AM: I agree. Hopefully we can return to classic Win98 style soon.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Varee on April 15, 2020, 02:30:24 AM: I think this blue background should only be for the map. The rest of the UI should return to the white back ground with dark text :(
Normally i enjoy using program in dark mode but it something about the blue and yellow contrast to the white and back button that really cause the problem for me.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: 5742k on April 15, 2020, 02:53:06 AM: I concur. The dark blue suits the tactical map, but being able to choose the color scheme for other menus would be great.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: TMaekler on April 15, 2020, 03:26:00 AM: Yes, a change in color palette would be much appreciated.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Bughunter on April 15, 2020, 04:26:34 AM: Agreed, one of the few things the VB version still has going for it is the colour scheme.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: lentik on April 15, 2020, 04:42:40 AM: Agreed too . . it hurts a little my eyes. Maybe a designer can give proposals - maybe a simple monochrome theme would be great. Thx alot for that great game and your hard work!
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Frick on April 15, 2020, 07:36:03 AM: Agree with everything.

Another thing I have a problem with is keeping focus when there are no lines (or different colours) in tables, or boxes seperating different things. It feels like my brain is interpreting pretty much every window as running text and there is even more strain because of it. VB6 Aurora was very easy on my eyes, and despite there being much data in windows it was easier because of the lines and boxes.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Father Tim on April 15, 2020, 07:43:02 AM: Quote from: Frick on April 15, 2020, 07:36:03 AM
Agree with everything.

Another thing I have a problem with is keeping focus when there are no lines (or different colours) in tables, or boxes seperating different things. It feels like my brain is interpreting pretty much every window as running text and there is even more strain because of it. VB6 Aurora was very easy on my eyes, and despite there being much data in windows it was easier because of the lines and boxes.

In most cases, you can (single!) click on the text and it will highlight the line for you. You can then move the highlighting up or down with the arrow keys. Not great, but it helps with long lists of ground forces or events.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: serger on April 15, 2020, 08:44:41 AM: Have to join.
Miopia + astigmatism + retina degradation, so I have some troubles with reading any way, but this color scheme is worsening things badly.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: JohnnyR on April 15, 2020, 09:00:50 AM: I also agree, the color scheme makes it really hard to play the game. Please let us have the default windows color scheme :(
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Frick on April 15, 2020, 09:31:28 AM: Quote from: Father Tim on April 15, 2020, 07:43:02 AM
Quote from: Frick on April 15, 2020, 07:36:03 AM
Agree with everything.

Another thing I have a problem with is keeping focus when there are no lines (or different colours) in tables, or boxes seperating different things. It feels like my brain is interpreting pretty much every window as running text and there is even more strain because of it. VB6 Aurora was very easy on my eyes, and despite there being much data in windows it was easier because of the lines and boxes.

In most cases, you can (single!) click on the text and it will highlight the line for you. You can then move the highlighting up or down with the arrow keys. Not great, but it helps with long lists of ground forces or events.

Yes, but in most cases you don't read every line, you look for the thing you're looking for. See the number of mass drivers in colony, see how much Galacite you have left, etc.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Ektor on April 15, 2020, 10:13:17 AM: I for one would like a darker theme. Black windows with orange text, or something like that. But I also think the lack of separation in the windows is very confusing.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: lentik on April 15, 2020, 06:29:38 PM: I personally find the window coloring in Quasar4x realy nice . . . looked at it and was impressed :). Maybe this would be also nice for Aurora?
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: spqrein on April 15, 2020, 08:58:22 PM: Another solution would be the size of the font or type. The difference like X vs X or normal size X vs X size 12 or size 12 bold X I found after some messing around my screen resolution was not much of an issue. It just seems like the words blend more into the colors than vb.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: surprise on April 15, 2020, 09:47:08 PM: I'll pile on, it's probably not an urgent issue but having the ability to customize the background/font colors and such via a settings menu or something would be fantastic. In the shorter term, the default windows coloration or taking a common dark theme palette would be an improvement in my opinion.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Naeva on April 16, 2020, 01:35:19 AM: I'd like to add my voice to this, as someone with astigmatism I can't play currently which is a shame.

Customisation would be great from an accessibility standpoint, failing that a hardcoded alternative that isn't white on dark (or is at least say 2x larger and bold on dark) would be good.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: theflame681 on April 16, 2020, 01:47:48 AM: I also agree that the color choice is a step down compared to VB Aurora. Hope that a possibility a different color scheme to be chosen will be considered in the future.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: TMaekler on April 16, 2020, 02:03:20 AM: Steve had said that it will come - question is just, when.
At the moment his task is squishing bugs. And he does a real MiB here. Impressive. UI and eye strain will hopefully be next so we can run real long term campaigns 😁.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: MarcAFK on April 16, 2020, 02:54:03 AM: I'm going to add my +1 for the simple suggestion here.
And while I have issues with the interface, its nothing compared to what this forum is doing to my eyes right now. :s
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: largotuek on April 16, 2020, 08:18:40 AM: Quote from: TMaekler link=topic=10705. msg123737#msg123737 date=1587020600
Steve had said that it will come - question is just, when.
At the moment his task is squishing bugs. And he does a real MiB here. Impressive. UI and eye strain will hopefully be next so we can run real long term campaigns 😁.

+1 to this thread, and thank you for this info !
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Energyz on April 16, 2020, 08:28:38 AM: Legends say there's a night mode mod for aurora C on reddit. Be aware, Steve does not endorse it (he seems pretty pissed : http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=10775.0 (http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=10775.0)).
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: smoelf on April 16, 2020, 08:32:12 AM: Quote from: Energyz on April 16, 2020, 08:28:38 AM
Legends say there's a night mode mod for aurora C on reddit. Be aware, Steve does not endorse it (he seems pretty pissed : http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=10775.0 (http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=10775.0)).

At the moment that particular post has been banned from the subreddit once the moderator found out.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: JohnnyR on April 16, 2020, 08:50:21 AM: Not to sound ungrateful to Steve for everything he's done, but the color scheme makes the game borderline unplayable for me, and the fix is literally a single line of code. I just really hope he just puts this fix in soon.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: MarcAFK on April 16, 2020, 09:01:36 AM: Quote from: lentik on April 15, 2020, 06:29:38 PM
I personally find the window coloring in Quasar4x realy nice . . . looked at it and was impressed :). Maybe this would be also nice for Aurora?
Quasar's colour scheme is amazing. Even though the user interface looks at first glance to me exactly the same as the old aurora had, maybe I'm biased by nostalgia for the good old interface. But check this out.
Off-Topic: show

(https://i.imgur.com/QsmrV7c.png)

I really miss the other UI features, separation of elements, lines, boxes, etc. But the Unpolished interface needs to take a backseat to mechanical bugfixes .
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Doren on April 16, 2020, 09:12:41 AM: The scheme is quite nice though a bit grey. I do miss the input boxes as I've multiple times not realized I can edit a value. I kind of like that row lines are gone but that's just me
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: mergele on April 16, 2020, 09:21:13 AM: For me the colorsheme itself is mostly fine though a bit unusual. But I wish the text would be just one size bigger. I constantly find myself leaning forward as at my usual distance the writing blurs together to much for comfortable reading.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: MasonMac on April 16, 2020, 10:41:57 AM: Having a variation of Solarized (https://ethanschoonover.com/solarized/) would be awesome.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Zincat on April 16, 2020, 01:21:51 PM: After some more testing, I would have to confirm that one more color theme is the "most wanted" suggested feature for me.

I don't want to sound pushy or anything, it's just that my eyes are pretty bad and the blue is really hard on them, so I can't really play C#aurora for long periods of time.
I rather hope Steve makes it a priority once he moves from bug reports to implementing new things ;D
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Ri0Rdian on April 16, 2020, 01:29:22 PM: Quote from: Doren link=topic=10705. msg123903#msg123903 date=1587046361
The scheme is quite nice though a bit grey. I do miss the input boxes as I've multiple times not realized I can edit a value. I kind of like that row lines are gone but that's just me

I thought I was the only one. Maybe with (much) more time spent playing this will go away but for now I usually take number at their face value without even thinking I can actually edit them. Which is further complicated when some of them actually are NOT editable and it is impossible to tell them apart.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: IanD on April 16, 2020, 02:19:43 PM: I must agree the colour scheme changed to something like Quasar or the text size significantly increased for comfort in reading would be magical. Having said that I am sure I will grow to love C# Aurora as soon as I get a game running for more than a couple of hours before the next update! :D :D

But don't stop Steve!
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: mtm84 on April 16, 2020, 02:34:24 PM: Quote from: MasonMac on April 16, 2020, 10:41:57 AM
Having a variation of Solarized (https://ethanschoonover.com/solarized/) would be awesome.

Kind of reminds me of zenburn a little bit. Would love an option to change the colors, but I know its not high on Steve's priority list.
Title: Re: Reducing eye strain
Post by: Erik L on April 16, 2020, 02:44:53 PM: I'm locking this because I think Steve is aware that a lot of people want to be able to change the colors/fonts in Aurora.