Severe UX issues (quickload shortcuts, menus, etc.)

[Joric]

I'm just wondering why someone who obviously spent a lot of time coding the engine couldn't do UI. It works but it's barely a good UX. My biggest issues are:

* No shortcut keys for QuickSave/QuickLoad. No global Quickload to continue mission.
* Cursor/Enter don't work in mission menu at all, kind of ironic because it mimics a computer.

Art Vandals UX is even worse. The cellphone is unreadable, doesn't react to keyboard (needs precision clicks) and beeps horrendously.

I love the game I played it though three times, but, I mean, when I'm playing a campaign. every time when I start the game I have to go to mission list, select a mission that I don't really remember by the name, then quickload. Why can't I just slam enter on a pre-selected "Continue" in the main menu and be there. Save/Load shortcuts are probably modable but not this (sometimes you quicksave instead of quickload because screen buttons are so similar, so that's an issue too).

P.S. Thank god there are no long unskippable cutscenes, I just delete those games.

[sq]s]

Originally posted by Joric:

...
* No shortcut keys for QuickSave/QuickLoad. No global Quickload to continue mission.
...

Unfortunately this is not moddable in any way since the function to quicksave and quickload, which are Command("game.quicksave") and Command("game.quickload") are coded to only work in the Teardown files, not the mods.
Well, turns out it IS possible so good news: I'm gonna implement that in my mod
My last comment hast a solution that may help
My quickload solution works but doesn't on campaign, gonna work on a fix for that if that is even possible.

Originally posted by Joric:

...
every time when I start the game I have to go to mission list, select a mission that I don't really remember by the name, then quickload. Why can't I just slam enter on a pre-selected "Continue" in the main menu and be there. Save/Load shortcuts are probably modable but not this...

It kind of works but you still need to open a mod options menu for example.
I still completely agree on adding a continue button without opening a map and quickloading manually.

No TL;DR because I have no idea how to make it

[Femboy Sarah]

Originally posted by LK0000:

Unfortunately this is not moddable in any way since the function to quicksave and quickload, which are Command("game.quicksave") and Command("game.quickload") are coded to only work in the Teardown files, not the mods.

no they aren't. i tested it

[sq]s]

Originally posted by Sarah:

Originally posted by LK0000:

Unfortunately this is not moddable in any way since the function to quicksave and quickload, which are Command("game.quicksave") and Command("game.quickload") are coded to only work in the Teardown files, not the mods.

no they aren't. i tested it

Could you please provide me an example file so I can test it too?

[Femboy Sarah]

Originally posted by LK0000:

Could you please provide me an example file so I can test it too?

function tick()
	if InputPressed("f5") then
		Command("game.quicksave")
	end
	if InputPressed("f9") then
		Command("game.quickload")
	end
end

[sq]s]

Originally posted by Sarah:

function tick()
	if InputPressed("f5") then
		Command("game.quicksave")
	end
	if InputPressed("f9") then
		Command("game.quickload")
	end
end

Oh damn you're right
Wait what if there are other commands that would work?

[Femboy Sarah]

Originally posted by LK0000:

Wait what if there are other commands that would work?

these commands should all work when run by any script:
game.quicksave
game.quickload
game.quit
game.startui
game.screenshot
game.screenrecord
game.pausemenu
game.path.record
game.path.stop
game.path.save
game.path.load
game.path.has
game.steam.showbindingpanel
options.input.keymap.resettodefault
hydra.eventToolUpgrade
hydra.eventSettings
hydra.eventTutorial
these commands should not work if run by unprivileged scripts:
game.applygraphics
game.applydisplay
game.openurl
game.openfolder
mods.browse
mods.refresh
mods.publishbegin
mods.publishupload
mods.publishcancel
mods.publishend
mods.updateselecttime
mods.activate
mods.deactivate
mods.makelocalcopy
mods.new
mods.delete
mods.browsesubscribed
mods.unsubscribe
mods.subscribe
mods.play
mods.options
mods.edit
mods.sanitycheck

[sq]s]

As a temporary solution:

1. Download this mod
2. Download this file[files.catbox.moe], rename it to "menu.lua" and replace it with "{path to teardown}/data/ui/menu.lua"
3. Done! Open the game and you'll see a "Quickload" button when pressing the play button

It is in fact modifying game files, but I do not see a risk in adding a fully working button without doing anything else.

[Joric]

Can you upload the mod somewhere? I can't download it from steam.

[sq]s]

Originally posted by Joric:

Can you upload the mod somewhere? I can't download it from steam.

This zip contains the files for the menu.lua file, the mod and the instructions on what to do.
https://files.catbox.moe/0intar.zip

I changed the quickload button in the menu.lua file to open a local mod instead of a workshop mod so it works properly.

[Joric]

Doesn't work for me for some reason. Clicking in the main menu doesn't load anything neither for main game nor for art vandals. Game version 1.3.0. I have the quickload mod in the list of mods but there's no yellow dot, not sure it's enabled.

Upd. I checked AppData\Local\Teardown\mods.xml, it was called "builtin-quickload" (probably because I put it under the game root) so I set it to "true" there and also edited the menu to match "builtin-quickload". Tried saving in main campaign and then clicking quick load in the main menu. But it still doesn't load proper quicksave, it loads an empty map which is all red.

[sq]s]

So what you did is you put the mod in the builtin mod directory not the local mod directory; The thing is that the modified menu.lua opens "local-quickload", not "builtin-quickload".

If you are using Windows the mod folder is at "Documents/Teardown/mods/<your mod folder here>"
It's still ok since, as I understand, you edited the menu to match "builtin-quickload".

About the campaign: It does indeed not load campaign which is weird for me. I will have a look into it when I have time today.

Edit: The quickload folder is a map, so you don't have to enable it for it to work.

[Joric]

OK. I've completed Art Vandals (was kind of super-short) so no rush, I won't be playing for a while. As for shortcuts I usually bind quicksave to Q and quickload to Z (e.g. in Portal 2) because I use them a lot.
https://youtu.be/hqGcp7wWpSQ

[sq]s]

Would it be fine if you open the campaign hub and then quickload/save using the shortcuts? Since the hub is a part of a campaign I assume it would work.

[Joric]

There are no shortcuts in the mod so I can't check it out. A continue button should be global, IMO, anything else is the same bad UX.

[sq]s]

Originally posted by Joric:

There are no shortcuts in the mod so I can't check it out. A continue button should be global, IMO, anything else is the same bad UX.

I didn't add those shortcuts yet, but there are available mods for it.
Question is: Why can't you add workshop mods? It's pretty weird.
Since I have time right now I'll try to find a way to make quickload work with campaigns