New mechlab - Tuesday, June 2, 2015!

Nice.
Let's hope that would not delete our current config, or ban any config that we had, aka the ones without engines.

 

You should be fine for the latter Enileph. The only thing I'm wondering about is if they took the feedback and included a module searcher; I know that wasn't there when I first looked at the PTS, but didn't hear if they added it or not.

 

Phew! You know it would be hard having to redo all the 200+ mechs.

 

Was very excited when I saw this... hopefully will be able to see the whole mech layout a lot easier from now on.

 

Am I the only one asking for a scalable UI? Everyone has got to be running at least 1900x1050. I find myself using my reading glasses for such small print. Letting you pic resolution for the UI apart from game screen would be welcome. And the new screen for quirks should be a mouse over in the select mech screen.

 

Not happy that we lost the mouse over intel on the mechs we view in "mech select" window. If you are considering quirks within the same mech family, you now have to go inside the mechlab to see the quirks. Too deeply hidden in a popup mech details window, with a slider to see them all. Bad design there.

I do like that you see the applicable quirks by weapon type if you leftclick on them (why not mouse over?).

Overall, I think the new mechlab is a improvement by far but there is some way to go yet.

 

Overall I think it is a vast improvement. You guys know you can actually open mechs you don't own in the mech lab and see what builds you can come up with, if memory serves you do this via the store. A build before you buy if you will, if only they enabled it so you could actually buy what you built.

Biggest problem with the new mech lab? It dropped without any guides, videos or documentation to detail all the stuff it does, where other stuff has been moved to and what stuff has been removed.

 

Overall downgrade. All they had to do was keep the existing mech selection screen. Or make the new mech selection screen optional maybe?
As is, now it takes 4 clicks to find a mech that i own, whereas before it was just one. *Click* You will spend more time looking for a mech than before and mech selection is probably the screen you spend the most time on! So it should be easy!

And the mouse over info should be complete, they are missing the quirks which make up the mech.

The Expanded Mech Configuration (MECHLAB) function is much better. And modules finally show up when you mouse over! No longer do you have to hunt and search. And the Store is finally useful! you can now mouse over and see the quirks of multiple mechs at the same time!.


(Slight disclaimer, ok I get it, scaling can be an issue, and they have to make sure it works for the lowest graphics settings. That's one of the tricks of working on PC vs console games. But seriously, if they only included the Expanded Mechlab, and the modules showed up on mouse over, that's it, it would have been a win!)

 

Didn't have time enough to work with the new MechLab. And this WE also booked out for some Summer Action with friends. So will check it out next week.

But first impression is somehow "damn do i really have to do so many mouseclicks and switch tabs? Smurfy showed what is best Usability for mech building GUI. One Overview Sheet with all the Hardpoints in one glance. Also a Guide would have been nice.

Anyone interested in writing a Mechlab Guide? Would do it myself but would take time since im very busy recently.

 

It is easy to get used to though, relatively.
After an hour or so into it I am able to manage it. just that the clicking is a bit annoying. But then again, anything is better than the old.

 

Where is the number of empty mech bays shown? I can't find it.

 

@Crotch RockIt, I found it under Store and then mech lab.

 

Yeah, I had seen it there, too, but was hoping that it would also be shown elsewhere in a more obvious and sensible location.

 

Ok here is a short Howto for the new MechLab Version

First time when you open MechLab and selected a Mech you will see this screen:


This view is for smaller displays with lower resolutions up to 1600x900. To view the internal structure of the body components simply expand the respective body component bar like a dropdown element.

Tips:
- If you have at least 1600x900 resolution or higher, then next to "WAREHOUSE" you can open the Dropdown "Layout" and chose "Expanded" instead "Column" for a much better Overview!
- You can always switch back to this Layout, when you need to view your beautiful Mech or to check the overall (unused) Hardpoints in a compact List on the proper frame on the left side.

You will see this alternate screen when chosing "Expanded" Layout:


This is somehow very similar to smurfy's Mechlab. We know this view already from before, when we just wanted to look at the current Mech (Loadout) Detail. Now it is extended for Configuration, finally. The main working area is the equipment content frame on the right side.

Tab "WEAPONS":
The Weapons are differentiated by colors, though the colors are not the familiar ones in smurfy. Also people with visual impairement will have problems with the contrast.

Tips:
- For detailed view just expand the weapon type bars.
- You can also sort the weapon names alphabetically by clicking on the slightly visible arrow inside the column title bar, e.g. "NAME".

Tab "AMMO":
- The Checkbox "MOUNTED WEAPONS" is checked per default. To view all available Ammo Types just uncheck this.

Tab "MODULES":
This content frame is somehow irritating, since the mech sheet disappears and the right side of the screen is just unused, only letting you see your Mech (shadowed). Wasted. Very strange.


Tab "ENGINES":
This is also a bit irritating, because if you want to find a Engine, which can be loaded due to remaining free weight, you cannot see this visually in the list. The red-colored engines are NOT the ones that are exceeding the remaining weight in your loadout, BUT the ones, which you cannot afford with your available MCs/C-Bills currently. So if you want to check the engines which would fit, you have to try by error.

General Tips:
- Mounting Equipment is done by Drag&Drop. Note: You have to drag the items to the desired slot exactly to drop them successfully. It is not that intuitively like in smurfy by just dropping them into the respective body component. This is sometimes aweful, if you have to mount multiple small items, like Ammo Clips etc.
- You can filter the item lists by checkboxes like "OWNED ITEMS". They are positioned right below the tabs
- At the bottom (usually on the right side just below the Equipment content frame) in the content frame "MECH STATS" you can find the useful stats for remaining tonnage, slots etc. when mounting items.
- Also in the frame "MECH STATS" you can find the very practical "STRIP-MECH" and "RESET MECH" Buttons.
- Klick on blinkling icons for tooltips. Sometimes tooltips are also shown by simply moving the mouse pointer over the fields/tabs/icons.
- My best Tip is still to configure your Mechs in smurfy first and just redo it quickly in the ingame MechLab. At least this time it works out much faster due to the more userfriendly/intuitive views + options, very similar to smurfy.

p.s.
Also check up these other useful tips from Durandal (Mech Quirks & Build Previews/Experimental Configs):

 

Smurfy is still far superior. Which is sad and hopefully embarrasses PGI.

 

Note:
If cbills is not a problem for you, you don't really need to go to the engine button.
you can change the engine by directly increasing/decreasing the engine rating. Check/uncheck to toggle between STD/XL.
I find this one of the few things nice about the mechlab interface.

 

It won't auto-spend any cbills until you save the mech, so if you have the engine you select in inventory by doing that, it won't charge you.

 

While I appreciate the up/down change of engine for the ability to tweak, I'm in the process of equipping all my mechs with engines. After that lofty goal is achieved, modules. But that is very far down the line.

All the Hero or pack CBill prime variants now have engines at least, 50+ mechs done. Now I will spend all the money I earn above 20 mil on engines. My reasoning is that I have a comfortable bank account for any alterations or unforseen costs while slowly outfitting the rest. Damn me for creating builds based on larger or XL versions other then the engines they came with.

@Remarius, my brother collector, this is one helluva long path but oh so nice just to have ready mechs at hand!