Please fix SION Webcast, Broadcast views

[rasnell]

This is a plea from an old-timer who truly feels the reward for all the roster moves and learning curve of the interface is to actually enjoy the games in solo play.

The Webcast and Broadcast views truly are a chore and drain the fun out of the whole process.

I'm probably too old for these games, but I just can't read the tiny fonts and the clutter on the screen.

Here are some suggestions (which I regard as a bug fix, not just a feature request):

First the Webcast view (screenshot attached):

1. I can't see the catcher and his ratings. It doesn't fit the window and black type on black background is a pretty poor design idea.

2. For the incredible clutter of information, can you believe that there are no season stats displayed?

3. The upper middle box is a huge amount of wasted and valuable space in my opinion. Why not remove this pitch and rating information and use this much larger box for the play by play so I can see all lines of text and in a larger font.

4. By moving the PBP box and eliminating the pitcher/batting rating box, you would now have room to flow the pitcher and batter stat columns all the way to the bottom of the page and increase the stats and ratings that you're reporting for both players. Please show the actual season stats and ratings in that display.

5. The upper right display of the field should show defensive ratings and base runner details in far more visible fonts or with black type on a white background. I really struggle to see them. I have no way of seeing the catcher display, but I'm assuming you are showing their arm rating?

Regarding the SION Broadcast view:

1. This screen is not usable by me. I just can't see it. The color and style of the font is very difficult for me to see. Is there a way to change this myself?

2. Why not add the same filters at the top of the menu as you do in all other stat pages? This would allow us to filter the game lineup view to see the players' ratings, stats, expanded stats, career, season, etc. Even better, allow us to bookmark some views.

3. Show the pitch count in the pitcher display.

Others, please chime in if you agree, have other changes or think I should just give up on my lifelong passion of baseball text sims.

[Ambermonk]

While I can read most of the screens, I actually agree with most of these issues. I seldom use the SION webcast page because the "Diamond" is too small and the character font for the players & positions is too "dirty". I sometimes go here (perhaps once a game) for info that is missing on the broadcast page, but that is about it. The data is too small and too compressed to be used as a full-time PBP screen.

It might have been a better idea to have that page dedicated entirely to supplimentary information and not double as a play by play window. The space gained could then be put to better use (bigger fonts, season stats, etc.)

I also liked the idea of pull-down menus so we can display the info where we find it most useful. I would also like to see "sorting" boxes at the top of columns for some types of data.

Most of the information on this page is useful, and I applaud Markus for all the work he put into this page, but it would be more useful still if it was dedicated entirely to supplimentary information. At the least - give us the configuration tools to design it that way ourselves.

[rasnell]

Fellow OOTP'ers, please weigh in on this topic. We need to hear from you who play solo a lot and really want a better looking screen and play by play. This won't change since it's not a bug -- unless more folks speak up.

It's a nice start, so I hope Markus will think seriously to cleaning this up. I remember how fast he patched OOTP 5 when the pbp was too small, giving the option for two different kinds of displays and fonts.

[akw4572]

I'd agree with all the above suggestions.

[Cork55]

It is possible to replace the scoreboard and player font with one that is actually readable. To do this simply follow the following steps.

1. Find the font that you desire. These can be found by clicking on the font icon in the windows control panel.

2. Copy the desired font into the font subdirectory of the skin that you are using. The skins directories are listed in the data directory. C:\Sports Interactive\OOTP Baseball 2006\data\skins. I use the ootp blue skin so I copied my font to the fonts directory inside that skin directory.

3. Rename the current atomicclockradio font to something like atomicclock_old. This will allow you to revert to the original font if you have to.

4. Rename your desired font to atomicclockradio.

5. Restart the game and you will have a much better looking font that is readable and easier on the eyes.

Hope this helps.

-Cork55

[Ambermonk]

Wish I could vote twice!

[rasnell]

Thanks, Cork55. What a major fix. Now I can clearly see the rosters without any eye strain.

Any idea how to change the upper right ballfield and defensive rating screen in the Webcast? I found the file in the images folder of the skins for the small field. However, it appears that there is a grey layer used as a background. Any idea how to remove the grey layer, get rid of the ballfield, and simply have a blank, white field so the black type would show up?

Meanwhile, I really hope Marc, Markus or battisti see this and try to help us out with some quick fixes.

[jbsnadb]

Not to nitpick, but the only reason you don't see the season stats on the webcast screen that you posted was because you are in the playoffs. The spot for season stats has been replaced with playoff stats.

[rasnell]

Not true. Season stats do not appear in that particular view. They show season stats vs. that pitcher, vs a RH if the pitcher is right-handed, but not for the overall season.

I can just about survive in the other screen view now that I've been able to sub much cleaner fonts, per the suggestions in this thread.

Don't others have problems seeing the catcher rating? As you can see from my screenshot, it doesn't even fit the screen and I can't see it.

[akw4572]

Originally Posted by jbsnadb

Not to nitpick, but the only reason you don't see the season stats on the webcast screen that you posted was because you are in the playoffs. The spot for season stats has been replaced with playoff stats.

I've used that view, and have never seen season stats.

[jbsnadb]

Originally Posted by akw4572

I've used that view, and have never seen season stats.

You mean these season stats that you've never seen?

[akw4572]

Those would be the ones.

[rasnell]

Point well taken. I amend my gripe to ask why season stats aren't shown during post-season. Pretty critical to know how the opponent did. For all the info on the page, being able to see the catcher's arm and season stats seem important to me.

[jbsnadb]

I do agree that having the black letters on the near black background can be a pisser, especially if you play on a laptop, like I do, where if the monitor is at a bad angle, then you can forget all about it. And, I have mentioned in other threads and posts that there needs to be just a bit more info (such as bunting ratings) on the webcast screen, and a boatload of more info (what they used to have in previous versions would do fine) on the broadcast screen.

[thbroman]

Boy, am I glad someone posted some directions for chaing the fonts on the webcast, because I had almost completely given up on it!

Meanwhile, with respect to the "pitch-location" box, I agree that it is a bit of a waste, except possibly to identify when a pitcher is beginning to get his pitches up in the strike zone (does OOTP even model this?) However, I do not see how taking it out would be make things better without a pretty significant redesign of the entire page, plus it would remove the most distinctive thing that makes this resemble MLB's webcast page. I could live without it, but I am not sure that it would be a popular movce. Before Markus invested time in changing it, I would want to take a poll of the community and see how favorably it would be received.

[tysok]

I don't think getting rid of the pitch location would solve a large amount of the problems that are being expressed... but it might do something.

If you got rid of the box altogether you'd lose the pitcher ratings and batter ratings... If you got rid of the batter pitch location section, and put these side by side it opens up a little room.

But what would you use that room for?
You can't move any of the current boxes up there... it's too small for the play by play, and the batting stats won't fit in that area (and can't chop enough black space off around the diamond to make up that much room).

So you could move the pitching stats up... but that just moves the available room around the screen. The only thing would be to get rid of the diamond and make it more of a text box (just who's on what base, a list of who's at what position with ratings... not sure how much room that would create though, and totally destroys the point of a "webcast" feel.

I think you need to stick to working with the broadcast screen, get that tweaked with whatever more information you think you need, and use the webcast for supplemental information.
I don't know what is supposedly missing from the broadcast that wasn't there in previous versions though.

[rasnell]

Does anyone know how to edit the photo file that displays the defense and the diamond, as shown in my screen save at the beginning of this post? I know where the photo file is but wondered how you override the gray shadow that appears in the same window.

What I want to do is remove the graphic and try to get plain black text displayed on a white background. Edit: Guess that won't work since the pitch info and names of the players are displayed in white. Perhaps a plainer grey background so everything displays better. Or bigger fonts with the catcher rating info moved slightly higher so you can actually see it. Those sound like game design issues that we cannot fix ourselves. Any advice?

Regarding tysok's question, it really helps in both views to be able to see solo play game decisions like the catcher's arm, the pitch count, stats and ratings for both the batter and the pitcher. You can find a combination of this info but have to toggle between both views. I'm pleading to have this very fundamental info in both views.

I'm much happier with the Broadcast version now that I've replaced them with clean, readable fonts. Very helpful advice on this thread regarding that.

Now if we can figure out a fix for the defense box in the Webcast, that will help. Any ideas?

[thbroman]

BTW, what font did you replace it with? Might as well go with a winning choice.

[Geebob]

I actually like the SION Webcast screen, but it has taken some time to get used to it. It somehow makes life a little more bearable if I see my closer just threw a belt-high slider in the middle of the plate on 0-2...

It does need some tweaks, though. Bunting ratings are handy and an "available players" box or pop-up would be really cool. Personally, I don't think the ballpark box is of much use, but otherwise I'm happy with the screen.

I don't find the font to be too bad, although I will experiment tonight with some changes, as I'm a bit of a fan of georgia and garamond (sounds like a Longfellow poem).

JeffG

[rasnell]

Originally Posted by thbroman

BTW, what font did you replace it with? Might as well go with a winning choice.

I just grabbed one of the other fonts in the same folder, verabd, and copied it as the same file name as the atomicclock font, which is what is used by the broadcast.

Works like a charm. Much more readable.