Aurora Electron: Feature Comparison

I scribbled this out when Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition was announced. Much of the following content has since been rewritten and formalized in NWN1 versus NWN2.

I think it's better to rework the UI from scratch and make it fully moddable as per Electron XML. This would include the ability to drag any window around the display space, and also resize any window.  Even Morrowind had that in 2002!

Electron Quickcast menu (F-key)

1. Removal of radial menu in favor of Electronesque right-click, context-sensitive dropdowns. Beamdog have already set a precedent for this with the removal of the portable pop-up in PST:EE. Off-hand, besides a certain tactility and charm, the only advantage I can think of in regard to the radial menu is that every single thing is contained within it, but it can be a hassle finding what you want as a result of that, so I still think context-sensitive dropdowns are superior, overall. So yeah, I don't think many people will get upset if the radial menu is replaced with context-sensitive dropdowns. It's best not to employ anything that decreases responsiveness and robustness of UI; f.e, don't employ the fade-in/fade-out and right-click-hold delay of context-sensitive dropdowns, as in Electron.

2. Employment of general Electronesque context-sensitivity, which halves the clicks it takes to perform a lot of actions (e.g, unlock a chest). For example, my character has the ability to pick locks. So, when I mouse-over a locked chest with that character selected, my cursor will automatically change to the "unlock cursor". Thus, in Electron, it's one left-click to unlock a chest as opposed to two clicks in Aurora (either two left-clicks using the quickbar or one right-click and one left-click using the radial - which also requires more mouse movement).

3. Ability to drag n drop skills, feats and spells directly from charsheet/spellbooks to the quickbar, as in Electron. I think that is clearly superior to right-clicking on a quickbar cell and searching a radial menu in order to find the ability to set in the cell.

4. Employment of Quickcast menu (F-key) complete with meta-magic switches and draggable to the quickbar, as in Electron.

Below pic: To illustrate the above two points (3 and 4), here is shown dragging feats from the charsheet to the quickbar, and spells from the Quickcast menu to the quickbar.
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5. Auto-sorting of inventory items, as in Electron. The NWN inventory is visually pleasing but it's just a mess once you start looting stuff, and it's slow to organize.

6. Allow for in-game resizing of applicable UI windows, including journal and examine item/NPC. This improves readability.

7. The inventory icons for items are a work of art in themselves. Thus, they should not be messed with or downsized to all be equal size like in Electron.

8. Transparency of UI modes should be configurable in-game.

9. Font-size for feedback window, journal and charsheet should all be separately configurable in-game.

10. Entire hypertexted D&D rulebook accessible in-game, at any time, a la The Temple of Elemental Evil. Possibly hypertexted from combat log, a la ToEE.

11. Map menu should be resizeable; not just a useless mini-map or a too-big-map like in Electron.

12. Should be able to copy-paste into console, not just the text entry field. Should be able to up arrow in console to call up last console command. Remove the capslock requirement like NWN2 did. It's ridiculous to have to type DebugMode=1 when you could just type debugmode=1. Why not even shorten it to d=1. I mean, why require words? The NWN console is obnoxious and picky, full stop. Even the old IE console is easier to use.

◦ In regard to any FPC UI:

1. Marquee selection is a must; it's second nature to PC gamers. Baldur's Gate, NWN2, Dragon Age: Origins; they all have it.

2. An equivalent to Strategy mode cam is a must for party-based tactics. You don't want to be wrestling with clumsy story-mode cams. Electron cam and control is the most powerful and flexible ever seen in an RPG. Take the following example from Harp & Chrysanthemum, a module that features complex undulating terrain. See where my character is positioned, having just exited a cave in the top-right? I can click where that blue asterisk is and have my character move there in a single click. The cam will smoothly auto-track and follow her the whole way; down the sloping path (pulling backwards as she moves towards it), across the river at bottom-left, and then all the way along the opposite shoreline of the river to the asterisk in the woods! You can't tell me that isn't impressive, and you can't do that in Aurora, Odyssey or Eclipse.

Also, clicking an NPC to enter dialogue mode should never forceably change your cam's perspective. Dumb idea by BioWare: in NWN, it tracks down to the blocky NPC and you have to wait for that. Player should always be in full control of cam, scripted cutscenes excepted.

3. Preset positional/movement formations are important. This is where Obsidian stuffed up: party moves around in a retarded clump. Not only that, but without formations your tank might get boxed in by backrowers after an area transition; ergo, he is unable to tank and the squishy party members get killed. Formations should not only be rotatable (a la Infinity Engine) but should also be entirely customizable by the player rather than just through default presets, to allow for "spreading"; f.e, you want the wizard in the backrow but you should be able to tailor her distance from the rest of the party (how far back she is). Basically, you set your preferred formation and spacing and then click STORE. The party then positions/moves itself in the stored formation, terrain/placeable-permitting. Surprisingly, only Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor allowed for this.

4. All party members should have their portraits stacked vertically on the right of screen. Just like in Infinity, Electron and Eclipse. Unlike NWN2, you should be able to drag portraits up and down to change party order. The portraits should be the same size and left-click-selectable (right-click for a drop-down that opens access to inventory, char-sheet and other oft-used modes). You should be able to shift-click portraits to group them for when the party is spread out and marquee select is not feasible. Status effects should appear on the left of the portrait, not over it.

◦ In regard to any world map/overland map: It would be best to allow modders a proper real-time OLM with stat checks and roaming monsters, as in Storm of Zehir (pic of OLM) and select modules such as Bedine (pic). But the Darkness Over Daggerford world map [pic] would be better than nothing; it's got waylays.

Time should pass (telling player how long it takes to get to their destination) and you should be able to mouse-over a destination to get info on it (maybe allow for skill checks like Lore and Survival). My Aurora UI mod write-up can be found here.

General game-play issues.

1. Pathfinding Routine. Aurora and Electron pathing routines can be glitchy. The worst part is: our character can get stuck on placeables or tileset geometry. Walkmeshes can be problematic in NWN2.

2. The bounce delay is awful in NWN1. When our character runs into a placeable, other NPC or monster, they just awkwardly bounce-stop before getting into the dance of death. This was mostly fixed in Electron.

3. Spawn stutter is immersion-breaking. What happens is, as we explore the area, the framerate drops to spawn a mob that we can't yet see. Aside from simply being annoying, it's a dead giveaway that something is around the corner. Electron does not suffer as severely from this issue (and it seems to be symptomatic of low-spec PCs rather than an engine shortcoming).

NWN:EE players are basically waiting for these four things:

• x64 rewrite
• Render rewrite
• UI refactor
• Pathfinding optimization
• Various unhardcodings

cf. Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition.

Return to Neverwinter Nights 1 Index.