New Main Menu and User Interface

I actually like the pictures more than the shields. But the animations break my PC.

I read the menu is modable now, so that’s should be fine right?

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I prefer the old main menu layout, but I can live with the new one. I would like if they would make it so that you can disable the animations while navigating the menu. And it would be even better if parties didn’t disappear after finishing a game, because now I have to re-invite everyone to the party after each match, I think the the party system loses part of its purpose because of this.

This is exactly how i feel and

*MP Replays are in a super weird place

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To be honest I really don’t know why everybody is taking this so roughly. It’s just a main menu UI change which I am quite sure will be able to be personalized, but if you look at it from a different perspective than nostalgia then you can’t say that it is ugly, just you guys simply don’t like it cause you are used to the “old” looks.
Also I can’t really believe that one extra click will destroy the feel of the game.

On the other handthough, I can give credit to those comments who said that the mods should be moved from the not quite visibly placed settings menu and also the slow animations should be adjusted too

Please don’t be rude to the developers, they made this game which we all play and love after all, they are not people who just want us to hate their game.

And lastly, come on guys we are not playing this game because of its main menu, not even for the graphics really, if it were like that then it would’ve never been able to survive the lust 20 years.

Because developers decided change something that was good to blocky boring menu. The old one remind of old main menu from 1999. Also, new main menu is bugged and makes game runs slower. It is harder to navigate for new players now.

Well, that is huge problem. For now, new main menu is not something that you can change in settings. New MM is forced.

We should look at it from a nostalgia perspective. The shields in main menu were so much iconic.

New thing should be improved, not step backwards. Also quickplay menu have bad design. It is partly transparent so it makes harder to read.

I’m sorry, but I hate that so much. This stinks like political correctness. Everyone here has own opinion and if we look at the poll there are by far more people who dislike it.
I’m really thankful that developers improving the game, but we shouldn’t agree with them when they are pushing game in wrong direction. The main goal of new main menu was to make everything easier. But it went so wrong. I had to explain to my friend that if he wants now to watch his multiplayer reply he has to go to Singleplayer tab…
The button of Historical Battle was removed. So how you can play them now ? Yes, ofcourse - you have to go to Africa Tab in Campaign menu - obviousness.
Also, developers are working for Microsoft. It’s not small new indie game studio. We should expect a quality.

Nobody reads a book for a good looking cover. But readers would not be pleased if the cover was ugly and would look bad on a shelf.

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I think the poll should have had another option: keep the new menu but let’s start evolving/fixing/tweaking it. There might be some who don’t mind the spirit of the new menu and see some potential with it.

It is odd, though – I don’t recall ever seeing threads asking for the Main Menu needed to be revamped in this way :slight_smile: I enjoy the enthusiasm by designers/devs to try new things, but I guess regarding UI, this was, personally, probably the least of my worries. I’m still bummed about all the tan and red, and every button being red.

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That said, the animated wipes where menus unfurl feel slow and lethargic – all over; not just main menu. I wish they’d be sped up 2x or 3x, if they must remain. It reminds me of when typing chats in-game and how chats feel laggy/lethargic between moment of hitting [RETURN] key and moment of chat sound/appearing.

  • When I click something, I like immediate responsiveness in UIs. Don’t like feeling as though my time is being unnecessarily wasted micro-seconds at a time.

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I admit, I didn’t know I had to go to the gear icon in upper-left now to get to Options until it was pointed out here. Thought they were completely removed from menu and I could only adjust them mid-match, which was odd. Now that I know, not a huge deal… but maybe a little strange to have them under a gear icon now.

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I think you might have been referring to my post as follows?..

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My thoughts exactly:

Foxsports and IGN have become websites that are a joke to visit. I don’t do it anymore because of the push to huge graphic tiles and a total word count per page of maybe 15-20. News flash: my 24" widescreen monitor can show more than 20 words per page and actually YEARNS to, lol. I have to [CTRL]+[Mousewheel] zoom out for 75% of web pages these days because their font and images are so huge.

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I’ll also do a shameless plug for my thread suggesting that we should be given options to choose our own theme to use. By giving us some options, it would help please more players → Allow us to choose our own menu theme

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Everyone has own preferences. I believe the new main menu should be optional. It is harder for new player to navigate and needs next effort to go where you want than previously ( even if we talk about one click more - it’s still step backwards ).
I’m huge fan of drawings in Definitive Edition. They looks more cartoonish but I love them so much. But using them in main menu badly was not a smart idea.

I agree with You about updating the current one. If someone likes it more than old one, there is no problem. But forcing new main menu is mistake.

Because you’re not running the game on a potato pc? I’m using an ultrabook with integrated graphics. For the most part the game is playable until the post imp game when things get a bit choppy but… it’s bearable…

But animations are extra slow for me, not sure how bad it is with someone’s discrete graphics but for me it’s like nails on a chalkboard (meaning it’s utterly painful if you don’t understand that expression).

Also another note about the UI. Anyone have the same problem when you’re leaving a lobby it asks you to confirm. But it blacks out the entire background? So when I see a lobby with a host that is seeming afk. And I’m about to leave how would I notice that he’s x’d in before I leave? Same thing with choosing a civ.

Yes! Thanks

The lag is insane in MP games. But not in SP games, even when it’s mass fights in 8P late game. So it should be a connection issue.

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Another complaint about the civ pick screen (if devs have to keep it, and even if slow animation is fixed):

Please allow double click on a civ to confirm, rather than having to move cursor and click “Confirm”.

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The shields did, but not the other stuff tbh

Agreed, but only the shields were the good part about the old menu

The rest felt so simple

Now, the new one isn’t great and needs improvements. But it can be made to look better.

Wait what?

I mean, if you don’t know Historical Battles existed in the campaigns and not MP, that’s really on you

I completely agree with the MP stuff and the animations and mods etc, but SP stuff is just nitpicking

Okay I get where everybody is coming from, the new MM has its flaws, and there are a lot of them. To understand why they changed it however, you need to look at the old main menu UI.

Yes, the shields were iconic and I also was a little disappointed when I saw that they were changed, but the UI was stuffed with information and well, we are not really new players, we knew what we were looking for but a completely new player would not really know why some single player options, like Historical Battles and Campaings could be reached through a different path than just pressing the single player button.
I understand your points however, and I agree with a lot of them. Many choices for were to put certain features, gamemodes are simply not reasonable.

In my opinion they really should just make it optional or just make a mod to set the old main menu UI back. People who like the new main menu would be able to keep it and others who do not would be able to change it back. The new MM is not ugly. True it is really different adn made some unreasonable changes but it’s not completely bad.

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Well yeah, I mentioned it too, even though I have a fairly good machine and it does not get choppy for me, the animations really are too slow and should be changed.

That’s the point. The new main menu should be toggleable in settings and disabled by default. If someone likes new one, there is no problem. But forcing new MM with many flaws ( the performence are the biggest issue ) is mistake. Especially when main factor of updating Main Menu was easier navigation ( but it gone in wrong direction ). And it is worth mentioning it’s inconsistent ( like new Quickplay menu looks diffrent than Skirmish, Ranked, Multiplayer lobby etc. ).

I believe You meant that you had to select for example Singleplayer Shield to see Campaign Tabs without instantly moving to Campaign screen. I agree, but there everything pops out instantly and it did not affect performance badly. Also everything was visible, now important stuff is hidden in “gear” icon for no reason.

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Queued up five times for 1v1 today. Twice the game crashed when it found an opponent. Needless to say, this has never happened before the update to me. I am seriously considering just not playing aoe2 for two weeks after a new update, just so these unnerving bugs/issues have gotten taken care of.

The new UI is also a mess. These “effects” really have a bad delaying effect on loading a new page. The new civ selection screen is nice, but without effects would also be better

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They style is fine, at least that isnt my main complaint. The style is just a preference. But there are some issues that needs to be fixed. You can indeed see this as evolving / fixing / tweaking the new UI.

I see the following issues:

  1. The new UI seems laggy and slow. Everything takes much more time to load. I have no idea idea. I would prefer a much quicker respons.
  2. Things arent posted at weird locations. Things like settings and mods are hidden after another icon. Replays of your multiplayer games are hidden under single players. There are more of this kind of examples.
  3. The UI isnt consistent. For example: The main menu and Quick play are based on the new style, while SP settings, lobby, Ranked, … all are based on an old style. They need to make this consistent.

I dont say the previous main menu must be restored, but this issues need to be adressed by the devs in some way. How they adress this issues is up to the devs.

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Actually reminds me of Windows 10 with all of its old fashioned settings mixed together with these new “modern” apps…
Better use either the new or the old UI - just be consistent with it.

I partly wondered if the pages wiping/unfurling was to disguise some sort of page loading delays… kind’ve like in FPS games like Uncharted where as you’re squeezing through a narrow rock corridor, the next area is secretly loading into your PC’s buffers. A seamless way to load the next area without a “Please wait…” screen. In AoE’s case, the load time would be minuscule… and the alternative to a wipe might be a frozen page for a moment or similar… but I can’t really figure out any other reason to have such a slow wipe/unfurl; unless it was purely artistic and just a slight err in judgment to make it so slow. If it was to hide load times, I’d wonder why they’re so slow on medium or fast PCs.

I kind’ve get why Mods are in the gear icon now… since they are, essentially, extra settings for your game. But to many, the mods are such an integral part of the game, it’s nice to be able to not have to have multiple clicks to find them just so you can play with them and toggle them easily/quickly.

@chrizbee8167 - Thank goodness Win10 has legacy Win7- screens and interfaces still. Win10 tries to dumb down (or simplify/abbreviate) everything so much, you have so little control over anything. And the menus and navigation of Win10, in general, is pretty bad, to put it mildly… thanks to the hip ‘metro style’ interface/UI taking the world by storm :stuck_out_tongue: Without the old Win7- screens and such, you’d have even less control or ability to find anything you need. The reason why you see the dichotomy of styles in Win10 is due to the backlash of Win8 going entirely metro and tablet-minded. PC users using a mouse and keyboard were like, “Huh?? Why would you do this?” MS brought back some legacy interfaces and technical abilities as a result. I hope they never go full-on Win10 style… it’s poor UI design all over the place

How can you access the tech tree while queueing up? You can only see the specific bonus of a civ, not the full tech tree anymore?! Is the full tech tree hidden?

The fading scenes and animations have to go, to leave a game i have to click 2 times more, basically to do something i have to click it more times, the UI is less intuitive, it looks newer but it drags the performance on every computer.

It was a nice attempt to make the game looks fresher but the engine can’t handle it, you can’t change the civs in time because you have to wait for the UI to respond.

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