[DONE] [Suggestion] Ufopaedia/Research QoL improvements

[Arthanor]

Watching Meridian play Piratez, I got thinking: The ufopaedia is great for vanilla, but once you pack it full of articles like Dioxine did, it becomes a bit cumbersome. I thought about two things that might make it nicer:

1 - Fix the "research completed" popup so that it always displays what was completed. Currently, if you research a, say, sectoid medic twice, the second time the name of the research topic is not displayed, so you have to guess what just completed from what extra ufopaedia article you got.

2 - Allow all the ufopaedia articles that have been unlocked by the latest article to be displayed, not just one + one for getOneFree.

3 - Color red the names of articles in the ufopaedia which have never been accessed. If #2 is implemented, this becomes sort of redundant, but as things are currently, you can unlock multiple articles and it might take a while before you realize since they don't show up.

[ivandogovich]

I heartilly concur with these suggestions!  This would be amazing!! <3

[hellrazor]

Those are thing we need to have since yesterday

[Solarius Scorch]

Marking unread articles seems like a bit of a hassle to add (would probably require another line in the save, saying read: true or something), but would be very nice to have. And the rest is practically obligatory!

[Dioxine]

I concur with Arthanor on 1 & 2, 3 seems like too much of a hassle, but maybe?

[7Saturn]

Well, one thing that might make it a little more useful in regard of points 2 & 3.: The automatic display of research shouldn't be always-on. I for one don't want to read the Sectoid article the millionth time. I'd rather decide either in general, if I want that option automatically popping up the ufopadedia entries or an extra button within the research completed notification to look into the new results. That way, you could decide, whether you want to read them (e. g. testing/using a new mod) or not (e. g. the Sectoid entry, probably no veteran wants to read again and again).

As for point 1: Love that one!

[Arthanor]

There's already the option of "view report" in the "we have completed: X" popup, just don't click on it? It would make sense that if you don't click on it, you don't see any wiki page, and if you do click, the "report" would include all the discoveries, not just one or two.

[Meridian]

Watching Meridian play Piratez, I got thinking: The ufopaedia is great for vanilla, but once you pack it full of articles like Dioxine did, it becomes a bit cumbersome. I thought about two things that might make it nicer:

1 - Fix the "research completed" popup so that it always displays what was completed. Currently, if you research a, say, sectoid medic twice, the second time the name of the research topic is not displayed, so you have to guess what just completed from what extra ufopaedia article you got.

2 - Allow all the ufopaedia articles that have been unlocked by the latest article to be displayed, not just one + one for getOneFree.

I wanted to implement this today, but the code is rather complicated/confusing... I gave up for now... maybe next Xmas.

3 - Color red the names of articles in the ufopaedia which have never been accessed. If #2 is implemented, this becomes sort of redundant, but as things are currently, you can unlock multiple articles and it might take a while before you realize since they don't show up.

This is easy to implement, but it would require adding more data to save file (list of already opened articles)... which I somehow don't want to do... I'll think about it.

[Solarius Scorch]

This is easy to implement, but it would require adding more data to save file (list of already opened articles)... which I somehow don't want to do... I'll think about it.

Well, it's not like it would break old saves, so I don't think it's a big problem.

[Meridian]

Well, it's not like it would break old saves, so I don't think it's a big problem.

I can't decide which color to use?
What would you prefer?

I like red+yellow (10) and yellow+green (89)... 83 and 90 are also not bad.

[Bloax]

89. It fits the UI colors better than 10, which would otherwise be a good choice.

[ivandogovich]

I prefer 90, myself, though 89 would be acceptable.

[Dioxine]

Would it show all the articles at the beginning of the game as 'unread'? Won't it be a bit... annoying? Coercing the player to click through everything just to get rid of these extra colors? Also this is IMO a minor issue, there were only a few instances of 'stealthy' research in Piratez but these were, I believe, eradicated (for the most part at least). If not article, you at least always should get 'we can now manufacture' message. This upgrade should definitely be optional.
Also I like color #90 the best. Or 83? 83 seems more logical if more contrasting. I guess 82 would bomb out? These inventory colors are sooo tricky

[Meridian]

Yes, all of them would be unread.
But, if there will be at least one unread... there will be also [Mark All As Read] button, which will serve both as indicator there is something new and as means of ignoring it.

I agree that with UFOpedia articles it is getting better... and features such as this will definitely be optional in time.

I will add the same to New Research list and to New Manufacture list... because I never remember what the "You can now manufacture" window was saying... I literally forget it after 5 seconds. Especially if it is something new I have never heard before, then it takes only 3 seconds to forget.
See attached example.

PS: the mark all as seen button disappears if there are no unseen items, and OK button takes the entire space on the bottom of the window

[Meridian]

After 3 hours of deliberation, I took color 90