Behavior editor UI problems

[wih]

I want to draw attention to the behavior editor user interface. For me, the customizable AI is one of the most important features of the game. It turns out that the custom ai files are in a custom binary format so the only way to edit the AI is through the ingame editor.

And the behavior editor user interface is just
Less.
Than.
Perfect.

What do I mean?

There is incredible amount of wasted vertical space in the behavior editor window. The most important thing in this window are the conditions - but you can see only about three or four of them at a time. I have a tendency to set many conditions and it is tiring to have to scroll so much just to be able to read them.
Imagine working in an IDE where the editor window is so small that you can only see four lines of code. This would be simply cruel. There is no reason to force your players to scroll up and down all the time.

Those green 'plus' buttons that sit under each condition - look at them. Because of them there is so much empty space on the editor that goes unused. Why don't align them horizontally with the other buttons and reclaim that space?

A major pain point is when you need to insert a new condition at the top of the set. You have to scroll all the way down, click that plus button and then start moving the new condition up - for which you need to click the up button once for each condition in the list. But this is not all -  most of the time when I click that up button, the list scrolls up or down on its own and I need to scroll back to reposition it and find the condition I am trying to move up. This gets harder and harder with each new condition. This is incredibly inefficient - and it can be easily fixed. Just introduce an insert condition button (similar to the duplicate button) so that the players can create the condition and have it appear right where they need it.

Another thing that wastes vertical space are the column labels. There is no need to place the same column labels on each condition row. Just one label set at the top of the condition list would be enough. Or incorporate them in the tooltips that appear on hover.

 

Vertical space is also wasted by the 'and' labels. They can be placed on the same row before the condition. There is currently not enough horizontal space for that, but this can be fixed (I write about this below).

And while we are still talking about the wasted vertical space, I want to ask - why is the behavior editor window not maximized?

 

The behavior set selector is also badly placed. It steals from the horizontal space that should be given to the condition list. This behavior set selector should be placed on the top panel and this top panel should move up when we scroll the conditions list down. Also, that behavior set selector should probably be a combobox.

The game doesn't remember which condition set I am using. Every time I open the behavior editor, the top condition set is autoselected. This set is uneditable and undestructable. I never use it. I make my own condition sets and they are always below the default ones and I have to click and select them every single time when I open the behavior editor.
 

 

 

Please Obsidian, do something about this. Fixing these problems does not involve changing the game mechanics - it is just a presentation. And you will save your players from developing RSI.

[-dib-]

I think the best 'fix' would be to just make a compiler as an external tool or something. That would require 0 rework of the gui and also enable us to put any ability in our scripts, not just the ones that a character currently has, the biggest shortcoming of the editor imo.

[wih]

I think the best 'fix' would be to just make a compiler as an external tool or something. That would require 0 rework of the gui and also enable us to put any ability in our scripts, not just the ones that a character currently has, the biggest shortcoming of the editor imo.

Ah, external tool would be great. I would be happy if I could write custom AI scripts by typing on the keyboard instead of mousing.

 

Nice point about the abilities. I guess this limitation can be worked around somewhat. Save the game, level up a character, take an ability, script the ability, then reload the game. But it is a slow and unwieldy process.

[Zerggerberg]

totally agree and iv'e already pointed out this problem in my topic improvements for floating combat text