SL: Please fix WO2097/XL HUD in Fury update [Large Images]

In the interest of not raping users' bandwidth, I've compressed these as much as aesthetically possible while still retaining decent image quality. if mods feel it necessary that images be smaller, be removed, replaced with direct links, whatever then please let me know beforehand because this took forEVer to sit and do.

I understand there's a color scheme for powerups in HD:
Red - offensive
blue - defensive
green - passive
It doesn't translate well into the XL hud; after +ten years, those icons are burned into everyone's brain. The new colors and icon inaccuracies are so unfamiliar that i actually have to stop and think about what weapon I just picked up, at which point it interrupts my racing and I make a mistake or accidentally fire/absorb something I didn't mean to; for example, the quake and leech beam icons are almost indiscernible at a glance.

icon comparison; extra icons on bottom:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/162/iconsw.png
Aside from the colors to be changed, the little LCD-esq segments aren't correct on every icon either;

Shield - missing the horizontal segment of the icon

Bomb - bomb may operate differently between the two games but it makes no sense to change the icon

Cannon - XL had a machine gun; albeit you needed a code. It was also Feisar's special weapon in WO64

Homing Missile - Vertical segment is too long in HD.

Energy drain/leech beam - e-pak is a good idea, but it's not really accurate since the e-pak doesn't fire anything in XL. At least fix the horizontal part of the "e." You could use AG-System's special weapon from WO64, since it actually fired a weapon. Maybe the Electro-Bolt icon since leech-beam now hinders the victim ship.

Quake - the orange icon is from the Saturn version

The four bottom icons are the WO64 special weapons for Auricom, Qirex, and Piranha II, and the Electro-Bolt from XL. Special weapon icons have no icon border, all unused segments are darkened so the icon is markedly different when you're racing.

icon transparency in XL seems random... but that's not quite a big deal, one or the other doesn't matter. Whatever icon you have, though, always has a dull/transparent green border that is less saturated than the weapon icon itself. With no power-up, all segments are blank, except for a faint yellow/green outline of each segment.

I know it's almost petty to complain about, but I was so excited to see an XL/2097 HUD option and then immediately disappointed when used it :/ I did like that someone actually put a red accelerator bar behind the regular speed bar, even if HD's physics aren't anywhere near XL's. Those icons are really a big part of the style of the game, and changing them so much kills the nostalgia effect :( This can't be a complicated fix, and I think anyone who actually uses the XL HUD would actually welcome the change anyway...

XL hud in WOHD:
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7243/xlhd.jpg

XL on Playstation:
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5811/xlpsx.jpg

XL on Saturn:
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/852/xlsat.jpg

In no particular order, I will point out the differences which I think disrupt the feel of the hud enough that it detracts from its usefulness and appearance.


- "Position X of Y" Is too small in HD, too difficult to read peripherally when racing. Numbers seem apx the same size, but with the tiny "POS" and "OF," the numbers don't stand out like in the original HUD.

- "Lap X of Y" suffers the same problem as the position counter, but it's also placed differently. In the original HUD, a brief glance at one corner of the screen will tell you both your position and lap, in HD, you have to look two totally different places.

- Current lap counter is okay, but the display for previous laps 1 through 4 are way too small and crowded to even serve a purpose.

- In HD, the color of the yellow text is a solid yellow which gets lost in the speed/movement of the track behind it. In the original HUD, the text is textured/shaded with a highlight and shadow so it looks embossed and is easier to read on top of the background.

- the speed/shield graph wireframes in the HD version are a solid, highly-saturated yellow which drowns out the slider underneath them. In the original HUD, the wireframes of the graphs are "embossed" like the yellow text, but their color is duller in comparison and the shadows more pronounced so the slider of each graph stands out better at a quick glance.

- While the speed/shield graphs differ slightly between the PSX and Saturn versions, BOTH have 11 segments where the HD version only has 9.
--- The "ENERGY" and "THRUST" text in the original hud stands out better because the font is slightly larger.
--- In the original hud, the "KPH" label is outlined in the same wireframe style as the speed/shield graphs
--- In the original hud, the KPH label also pushes the speed counter to the left enough that your speed extends PAST the graph, and is easier to read.

original PSX XL graph parts:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9237/graphs.gif

- All large white numbers are "embossed" in the original HUD just like the original yellow text.

- the font in HD is radically different. I don't know if Designers Republic has a specific copyright on the original font used in the Playstation version or something, but even the Saturn version's modified font was still similar enough that it felt the same. Every number form in the HD version is completely wrong, and the text is awkward, too.

aside from the differences above, these are just some of my own personal suggestions

- Re-implement song and artist display at the beginning of each race. In the original game, the song info would raise up from the bottom of the screen for about 5 or 6 seconds and then lower back off-screen:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5716/xlsong.jpg

- Display damage and absorb amount for each weapon to the right of the weapon icon... a simple XX and XX would probably be fine.

- the +/- times that tell you how far ahead/behind another racer are distracting being at the bottom of the screen; you can't read them because the font is too small plus they're out of your immediate line of sight. Make the font a little larger and maybe place them below the weapon icon area or perhaps keep a constant counter in the empty upper-left corner of the screen.

- the auto pilot timer in the HD version is way too small. It used to be much more obvious, and it would VISUALLY alert you when it was going to end as well as the audible "disengaging" voice:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2890/xlauto.jpg

EDIT:
WIPEOUT 3 HUD POST HERE

wow eric. nice work. how long did it take you to do that?

couldn't agree more. It's a retro HUD put in for the fans, so it should be accurate.

i use it whenever i play HD and agree it is confusing, me being used to 2097.

SL tend to do a good job with things like this, like putting them in to begin with due to the general opinion of the HD standard HUD...so hopefully they may consider fixing it.

great job on the comparisons. :)

Yeah great work mate. I would love to use the 2097 hud also, but as you say its not up to the task.

While I agree about the original XL icons - I've gotten used to the WOHD "XL-ish" icons.

I still frequently mistake a shield for a boost, or vice versa (just using peripheral vision at times) Different colors (like old-school XL icons) would fix that.

But most of all, I like the minimalist - yet visually identifiable HUD the XL variant offers. Been using that hud since.... Um. Sept of 08. :nod (by the by, I do believe the WO3 hud IS more minimalist - but it's TOO much so, I have to devote extra visual attention to check my stati - whereas the XL HUD I don't have to.

Only if XL HUD had a ticker or bar displaying current tunes - you know, just like it did back in XL.

Not all HUDs show the same information as well.
I have gone back to HD's HUD because of that.

If Wip3out's HUD would show song information, weapon damage and health restored, as well as a full proximity sensor, I would return to using that because it fits much better.

And XL's HUD of course is missing song info, weapon damage, health restored and proximity sensor.

Dark's right
I dislike the Wip3out hud because the important info of shield left is located in the bottom right corner where I rarly have time to focus. I like its look and the weapon pickup more but can't use it cause I either waste items on absorbing them not knowing my shield or use then and find out one rocket later that I needed absorb something.

I didn't realize there were so many inaccuracies in the icons, but never had a problem knowing which icon was which weapon so...

^Yeah, I didn't notice them aswell, but I don't know, some of the reasoning for fixing the icons escapes me. What is wrong with the bomb icon? Or why is the homing missile icon 'just doesn't seem right'?

I have no problems racing with this HUD, it is infact the HUD I use all the time, and I have no problems with it. Besides, it is a new game, so I can understand if some changes are made. I think you are just too used to the old XL HUD :) I can understand the need for naostalgia as these are, afterall, nostalgic HUDS.

I don't mine if they fix it or not though, I use it mainly because its big and colorful (gives the game the added 'electronic' effect, I love it :))

I realize some people are relatively indifferent, I don't expect it to be quite that big a deal to everyone else, but it's pretty frustrating to me. The HUD in every wipeout game has always been quickly recognizable, all the information was presented in a way that told you everything you needed to know in an instant while you were racing. HD's default HUD does this extremely well, i actually rather like it... The XL HUD used to be the same, but after the tweaks and changes, it just doesn't have the same effect in HD.

It's not just the icons... The yellow borders around the speed and health bars are so bright that it's hard to actually see how much of the bars are filled... not that people actually pay so much attention to their speed, but health is pretty important.

I like the idea of adding weapon energy attack and absorb points, and putting the song info back as well.

I've gotten used to the new icons as well (never played WOXL), but you're
right that the leech beem and quake look alike, sometimes I absord a quake
because of that...

However the missile, shield, bomb look fine in HD (I prefer them over WOXL).

Having extra colors instead of just green / red / blue, would be good indeed.

post consolidated to beginning of thread

To make sense HD's 2097 HUD needs 10 segments in the energy area, 1 segment for each 10%, since there is no number this would help more than just putting back 11 segments. ;)
And then speed/thrust to be consistent too.

I agree with the font being too small for the lap times and x of x.

Wipeout 3;

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/2883/iconsw.jpg

(icons without HD/wo3 counterparts on the right, original icons stretched a bit because the emulator I was using didn't render the proper aspect ratio)
You can see the differences... honestly, I don't mind the newer WOHD icons TOO much, but the original icons maintain a sense of continuity with the whole HUD at least. The abbreviations in WO3 helped make the icons a little more recognizable when racing.

MI - Mines
RT - Rocket
PB - Plasma Bolt
MM - Multi Missile
QD - Quake Disruptor
ED - Energy Drain
AP - Auto Pilot
GS - Gravity Shield

FW - Force Wall
CL - Cloak
RF - Reflector

HD could have slightly altered abbreviations; HM - missile, SH - shield, CN - cannon, TU - turbo, BM - bomb... hahaha bm

Even the HD icon color scheme isn't bad for the WO3 hud... the original HUD had color-categorized power-ups, maroon for offensive and yellow for defensive.
-----------------------
the general differences between the HUDs' onscreen layout are what really interrupt things.

HD
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9503/wo3hdingame.jpg

original
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9263/wo3ingame.jpg

- While he font is considerably more accurate to the original compared to the XL HUD... All text, icons, counters, and graphs in the HD version are too small (my HUD settings are at 100%). The info at the bottom of the screen in the original HUD was basically a full bar, in the HD version it has been split up and shrunken to the point where you can't see it without deliberately taking some of your attention away from the race.

- Position "X of Y" in the HD version is in the wrong corner

- in the original hud, there is no "Lap X of Y" counter
--- the lower left counter would keep track of your total race time, its tab was blue
--- for each lap, there were five positions along the bottom of the screen (two slots for Vector, 3 for venom, 4 for rapier, 5 for phantom).
----the tab for the current lap counter would be blue, the tab for previous laps was grey.
----you didn't need a lap counter because each slot stood for whatever lap you were on. The only need for a lap counter would be if you chose more than 5 laps, at which point, the HUD could accommodate a lap counter in the upper right portion of the screen, since WOHD doesn't use checkpoints. But like the XL HUD, lap and position counters should be next to each other so both can be viewed in one glance.

- in the original HUD, the blue slider on your speed graph stood for how hard you were pushing on the accelerator and it had a darker blue/grey slider which represented your speed. In the HD version, these are switched.


http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5632/wo3autopilot.jpg

- in the original game, when auto pilot was engaged, the AP icon would appear on the left side of the screen

The Wip3out heads up display in WipEout HD annoys me a bit, I recognise it as the Wip3out HUD but you can always see the small errors that only people who like attention to detail will notice.

I've read through AG-Wolf's post and attempted to make a HD correct version of the Wip3out HUD. Stupidly, I took the photo of the HUD whilst in speed lap mode so I'll have to redo it in single race. Here is what I've come up with anyway: Wip3out HUD HD.

Far from perfect but you should get the gist. It has some of the missing assets showing, which is why rockets and auto pilot are both there ;).

Close so far :3 but the speed/shield graphs in the lower right and the timer in the lower left are still too far apart D:

I was actually gonna do what you did and try to make a high-res mockup of both XL and WO3 but I just wanted to get the initial notes down first.

I've tried again still a bit off, but much closer this time. The bottom of the HUD is closer, but the 16:9 aspect ratio of WipEout HD makes it a bit disproportionated. I've done a race HUD, complete with mock-up to see what it might look like.

New HUDs [Large image warning]: Racing HUD, HUD in race mock-up

thaaaats a bit nicer :D Damn, I have a lot to do this weekend but now I wanna sit at the computer and toy around with this stuff too hahaha

Also, remember, WO3 had a widescreen mode. THat shot of porto kora I posted is the proper aspect ratio

What I like about the WO3-HUD in WOHD is the use of the pit-arrow. It works pretty well as a contender indicator.

(If I'm wrong about the arrow, then I probably played the game far too long ago and I mixed things up)

EDIT:
Even though I'm not sure if I like the WO3-HD-HUD, I can understand the changes the team made to the original HUD. As most people play WOHD on a HDTV, there is no need to make letters big anymore, as there are a lot more DPI on HDTVs compared to SDTV, which makes even small letters readable. Because of that, you can easily make the HUD smaller in size without losing legibility and thus see more of the game as it's not covered by the HUD anymore.
I can also understand, that there's a "lap X of X" in the corner, as it adds to the design of the (original) HUD, because that way every corner is filled with something and the HUD doesn't look inconsistent without the checkpoint counter.

But I can imagine that even though HDTVs with high DPI counts cannot make up for what counts for game play: The ability to get the HUD's information as fast as you can (with one look most preferable) so you can focus on the actual race again. And because of that, big letters are probably still the best choice, especially with a fast moving sourrounding like in WO. I can't really review that as I played WOHD only for one or two times.

Concerning the weapon icons: I find the WOHD icons placed into the WO3 HUD design highly irritating and bad-looking.

And a fantastic option (and probably VERY very easy to implement) would be:
ability to hide/disable/kill the hud (pirhapac's idea btw).