HUD layouts for realistic RP

[Enzo]

I know for most people, RPing is not the only aspect of the game they do. So most keep their HUD layout dedicated for their class that works best for PVP/PVE/Crafting. But has anyone ever actually dabbled in a RP HUD layout? And what would a RP HUD layout look like? Well I am not entirely certain, But I imagine it to be less useful and more realistic in terms of what you character would actually see. Honestly the layout I dabbled with for RP would be absolutely useless for PvP/PvE or any dedicated fighting.

 

But I still find it interesting, and both of my characters I play are dedicated solely to RP as I have my main endgame character on Gilgamesh and do all the endgame stuff on him. So I do not normally have to worry about fighting in large amounts or keeping track of my health. And something about not seeing my health seems a bit exciting and dangerous as well (I am crazy) anywho I designed a layout that focuses more on what your character would see and I believe makes RP more interesting to an extent. Here is how it works. (You could use a few of these features or all of these features if you desire.)

 

I started with the first little bit that I always felt would be interesting to do, And that was making it where I could not see other peoples names. As it would force me to pay more attention to a persons features rather than the name floating above their head and it allows for interesting situations where you could even possibly mistake someone else for being the person you are looking for. Of course you encounter the problem where if you make them ENTIRELY invisible then you can't tell who is talking if you meet new people. So I set it to where you only see their name if targeted. It allows for a situation where I see a person I know over at a table with a stranger wearing the same clothing and hairstyle they normally have and I walk up in greet them! Then I glance to the stranger and ask who they are but when they respond I see it is a familiar name. I click them to see if that was the person who was really talking and I come to realize it was actually another friend of mine who is currently in disguise! 

 

Another thing is while it has always been fun to stalk people, a giant name floating over your head made it difficult to actually hide and people will notice you even if it is not IC. Sometimes I feel that some people unrightfully noticed me in my beautiful hiding spot just because my GIANT brightly colored name hovered over it. So I thought it would help me look around more and stay on my toes with the names turned off as well. Because now people stalking you all the sudden becomes MUCH harder to catch. And it becomes all the more realistic/exciting if you do actually catch someone stalking you. <3

 

 

The next thing I did after the hiding of names was turn off all the random clutter on my screen my character would not have available IC. Such as the minimap. I do not want to literally know everywhere like the back of my hand and if someone in my party runs away from me IC, I want to actually have to look around for them to find them not MAGICALLY know where they are at. It seems like a hassle, but it helps you keep more detail. Like you can actually get lost if you do not know an area well and then you get an excuse to ask a someone how to get somewhere or pull out a literal map. (M key ) I also removed my gil. If I feel the need to check my ACTUAL gil IC, then I can keep track of a rough estimate or open up my gil back and actually find out how much gil is in there. Neither of my characters I can imagine know the EXACT gil count they have on them at all times. I also hid my health and status effects. Just cause. (I am thinking about bringing them back) But it opens up my screen a bit more.

 

The last thing I really did was turn every ones names the same color, as I feel it awkward that I can INSTANTLY identify people I kind of know because they are on my friends list from a giant crowd. I would much rather like to naturally bump into them and some people on my friends list I do not even remember. It only furthers the realism here because they are the same color as everyone else, so I may not even think twice about walking up to them thinking they are a stranger, which could lead to some interesting RP. It kind of removes some of the instant bias towards friends and allows you to see other people more easily.

 

P.S. I also am going to start to keep in first person most of the time. Although I wish the first person for FFXIV was better Q_Q

 

P.S.S. I have been spending more time in first person and despite the annoying fact it is REALLY hard to look around while sitting and impossible to look straight up. It is actually kind of cool. Like you get an idea of the SCALE of things better sense it shows literally from the height you see from instead of the same distance above you as everyone else. That one tall dude is actually TALL. Also sprinting in the rain feels a lot more realistic, especially when you have sound on. <3 So First person is pretty cool.

 

This HUD layout is by no means for everyone, as it does make it much harder to do actual things OTHER than RP (If you have a specific layout, for the little bits of combat I do I can just hit the default butten on my HUD layout.) But for those looking to make things more interesting that spend most of their time Roleplaying. It may be interesting to give a try. Tell me what you think, if you have any suggestions or if you have your OWN RP based layout :3

[Kahnopy]

[...]

 

I started with the first little bit that I always felt would be interesting to do, And that was making it where I could not see other peoples names. As it would force me to pay more attention to a persons features rather than the name floating above their head and it allows for interesting situations where you could even possibly mistake someone else for being the person you are looking for. Of course you encounter the problem where if you make them ENTIRELY invisible then you can't tell who is talking if you meet new people. So I set it to where you only see their name if targeted. It allows for a situation where I see a person I know over at a table with a stranger wearing the same clothing and hairstyle they normally have and I walk up in greet them! Then I glance to the stranger and ask who they are but when they respond I see it is a familiar name. I click them to see if that was the person who was really talking and I come to realize it was actually another friend of mine who is currently in disguise! 

 

[...]

You my good friend win the awesome prize of awesome! Since I got involved with the community in terms of RP, I wanted to craft as immersive an experience as I could... while helping my computer running the game a little better. The nameplate change came to me as a great ball was organized. I could already imagine the headache to see all those floating names without being able to look at the character properly! So... I just did it. And what a change that was! Kahn'a is on the more sneaky side of characters - he tries to anyway - and making this change was certainly the most immersive I've made... even though the people you do prey on are generally aware you're there, you said it yourself, heh.

 

A good suggestion I'll make is to make use of the command /hud. I've experimented with it recently, and it's a really good compromise! With it, you can hide/show HUDs elements without having to prompt a menu window to activate it. That means you can hide your entire HUD at the press of a macro... and that is what I did.

 

The following macro is called "RP Time!" because it litterally hides everything expect for the chat. And to add, though it's a manual process, I stretch my chat bar to the maximum width. Pictures are better than speeches, especially in this case, so there you go!

 

HUD On... It's already pretty bare because of the peaceful environnment, but you know for a fact it'll clutter up as soon as you get into dungeons with parties and all that good jazz.

And after "RP Time!"

 

Here the macro that achieves this:

/hud "Server Info"
/hud tbar
/hud "Duty List"
/hud "Party List"
/hotbar display 2
/hud "Status Effects"
/hud "Cross Hotbar"
/hud "Parameter Bar"

 

Another interesting thing to play with is the /e channel. The echo channel. I recently learnt about it as well, it's essentially a little notepad that will note everything you tell it do, to a channel that only you can see. I see you plan on reactivating your parameter bars, but still like the uncluttered feel of not having them around. Well, consider this:

/e HP:  | MP:  | TP: 

 

Essentially what that does is a little "health check" at the press of a button. Nothing as clear as casting a glance to the bars, but it's still something. And that's only a rough idea, I am sure there are tons and tons of application to the /e channel, especially for those who would rather play with a clear setup.

 

Anyway, there are areas that can be fiddled with, and I'm certain dedicated people have come up with really smart macros, allowing for more free space on the screen. I started clearing the HUD as a way to be able to see more clearly, and it ends up being something I do for immersion, it works wonder at that! Your post has given me quite some ideas and shown points I didn't consider, so I think I'll go have my little fun fiddling about, heheheh.

[Enzo]

Ahh that is really cool and I will definitely be trying out your Macro's to see how they work. I had kind of hoped there would be a button that would make the switching around job a bit easier but I have always been horrible with Macros. I am glad there are others who take interest in the idea because I thought it would be a really cool concept to share. I just thought it up a hour or so ago before I made the post. But it seems you have had this awesome idea for a while :3

 

UPDATE: I run on PC so it was a little different but overall had the same desirable effect. What I ended up doing is it leaves on 1# hotbar there, so I just shift click 10 on my mouse to hotbar 10 (I have a razer naga mouse with 12 keys on it) then I use that as my RP hotbar, I keep the basic emotes I use on there and the activation for RP mode and health check and it works great. the only question I have is for any extra hotbars past #2 would I just put /hotbar display (Whatever number) ? then it would remove/add that hot bar each time? If so it would allow me to have more than just my 2 hotbars. (Not that I really need them lol) and thanks for the emote, maybe others will get some use out of it too :3

[Hyakki]

OwO very nice macros!

 

I am off to see if I can fight and survive in first-person with nothing but a chatlog.

[Kahnopy]

I suspect that the fact the Hotbar command has a separate syntax from the Cross Hotbar is that each bar is movable. So yes, you make a correct assumption in saying that:

/hotbar display n

 

will show/hide n hotbar on your screen, depending on its current status. I have number 2 triggered because it's the one I use for my two little ARC icons: Bloodletter and Misery's End. But you can choose any. And even be more precise:

/hotbar display 2 off
/hotbar display 3 on

 

will force Hotbar 2 to hide, and Hotbar 3 to show up! That means you can with one macro have some elements hidden, and some showing up - for example if you want your PVE bars to go away and your emote bar to show up.

 

Also do note that I made this macro for my own setup, I'm very aware that elements like the compass or gils are missing from the lines, but that's something one can easily add. And for those who are worried about not getting the elements name to be able to make them disappear, please go to the HUD menu and you'll see the exact name you need to input. Fiddling is king in this field!