The rf2 ui is bad because it has very poor usability and general lack of features. Most of the issues are missing features which is mostly caused by rf2's inheritance of rf1 engine which is essentially designed to be a platform for shipping full games and not a modding platform. One content can break other content, strict naming requirements for everything not explained anywhere, complex fire structure, complex and limited packaging of game content, extremely limited, confusing and annoying user editability. All of which is fine if you are studio making a game that ships as its own closed system where you can just document all the quirks and work around them when your programmer sits between your physics guy 3d modeller).
The ui lacks a lot of flexibity you'd want in a moddable game. Simply adding skins takes more steps that average newborn baby takes in their first 4 years. The server browser is another example which is worse than the one I used in 1998 to play quake online. Worse. How can it be that bad? Literally all the info that is even little bit useful is hidden away. The ui is really bad because it lacks functionality and replaces usability with complexity. Then you need to go notepadding into the text files, figure out multiple step workarounds for issues which should not be issues in this year anymore. Just look at the car selector for ai races. The ui just pukes a long list of all the cars on you and hopes you find what you want. The user is constatly expected to mess with mas files, create their own local mods and be a phd rf2 modder just to do a thing that take one click in any other game. And it has no strengths at all. There is nothing rf2 can do that others can't. Not one single thing. Sure the ui can show 3d models so you can view the broken shaders car models in a showroom.
The new ui could look exactly like the current ui does if it comes with tons of basic stuff that the ui is supposed to do. It is just sad how there are still people around for whom the words ui just means graphics on screen you can click. How it looks artistically is just one part of the bigger picture. And nobody complains about that.
Considering s397 had to rewrite the whole ui from ground up to even attempt to fix it paints it in elephant sized letters that the ui is horrible. And how long and complex that project has been highlights even further how deeply problematic the ui in rf2 is/was on the most basic level.
All of that is nice and all, and you seem like you know what you're talking about (from a modder's perspective at least), so if it's really difficult to mod, I understand...but read the comment I responded to, and read my response to that comment, in its entirety. The comment I responded to specifically talked about the looks of rF2's UI:
Wheres the bloody UI we've all been waiting for? I love the sim but christ the UI is 20 years old in looks.
So, are you saying 20 years ago you didn't play games because the UI
looked horrible?
Or, did you just get on with the show and enjoyed the game?
Asking for a friend.
(Oh, and they've already mentioned that the updated UI is coming by Q1 2019 in previous posts)
I did answer his question at the end, based on s397's most recent responses to the UI question at the time of my post. Maybe you could show me the lines where he spoke of ease of use to either drivers or modders or both...because I sure can't find it. Seems more like an assumption of his issues being your issues, and you know what they say about assuming something...and speaking of assuming:
The new ui could look exactly like the current ui does if it comes with tons of basic stuff that the ui is supposed to do. It is just sad how there are still people around for whom the words ui just means graphics on screen you can click. How it looks artistically is just one part of the bigger picture. And nobody complains about that.
Considering s397 had to rewrite the whole ui from ground up to even attempt to fix it paints it in elephant sized letters that the ui is horrible. And how long and complex that project has been highlights even further how deeply problematic the ui in rf2 is/was on the most basic level.
Way too many assumptions here:
- I can't speak for others, but I understand the scope of what a UI entails. I also understand that I use rF2's UI for strictly gaming, not modding...and after nearly 75 hours of gaming with it so far, I think it works just fine. Your mileage of course may vary.
- You shouldn't say nobody complains about rF2 UI's looks...or anything for that matter; nobody is omniscient. Besides, Mr. Bird just complained about its looks...so there's that.
- How long a company takes to implement something, whether it's s397 or not, has no obvious bearing on its complexity...maybe something took priority over it from a financial standpoint, or maybe it was always lower on the totem pole of issues to tackle...maybe it is in fact as complex as you say, or maybe they just don't care about it as much anymore...who knows?
For the record, I wouldn't mind having an improved UI as well (as a driver)...but it's not that important to me; It works well enough, and once the race has been setup and you're on the track, none of that matters anymore to me.
Lastly, based on my understanding of the complaints you made, it sounds like you're asking Studio 397 to completely redesign how the inner workings of rFactor 2 works, which is the engine ISI designed, not Studio 397...essentially asking them to build a new engine, not to make the sim any more realistic, but solely to make the creation of mods easier? Now I've played some pretty amazing mods (so that means it's not impossible), I'm certainly not into creating mods, and obviously this question doesn't apply to free mods, but when rF2 modders create something and ask to be paid for it...do they give a cut to ISI or Studio 397?
If they do give a cut to the developers : YES! You definitely should complain to S397 until the cows come home...oh wait, they'd still have to rewrite rfactor 2 entirely, so forget that.
If they don't give a cut:
Asking for a friend.
