Preview of Server List Changes in the Next Unturned Update
Very nice improvement! I think my only bits of feedback would be:
- make the default filter as inclusive as possible (i.e. show full servers as well as empty ones,
- make the map search filter present in the server browser aswell (it seems like a minor hassle to go into presets tab to search for different maps).
As for the future, two things that come to my mind from QoL / User experience department are:
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on first game launch, ask the player whether they want to enable voice/text chat. This is something Battlebit does very nicely and itâd help avoid stuff like that one time xqc played the game and closed the game couple minutes afterwards because someone said n word in the voice chat,
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find a way to manage downloaded mods better. Basically when you join a server with mods on it and you automatically download them, it becomes very fiddly to get rid of them, automatically downloaded mods do not appear as âsubscribedâ in your steam workshop, they cannot be managed through the âmagageâ button in game and if you remove their folders manually from your steam workshop install folder they will be redownloaded again. One time I joined a server with 10 mods and I had to remove them manually a couple times while also removing this file that I assume handles your automatic downloads:
it didnât work on the first try anyway and steam kept on redownloading the mods for like two more tries. I imagine Iâm not alone in a situation with âstubbornâ mods that refuse to be removed. I canât think of any good solution for this, currently only way to prevent this is to click the subscribe button on all the mods before joining the server and making it download everything, ideally the âauto downloadedâ mods would just behave same as the mods you subscribed to.
EDIT: I have tested this today and it seems the mods do appear in âmanageâ tab as long as you donât close the game, which is obviously, not ideal.
10 Likes
This should be top priority, with the current system people who download mods joining a server rather than subscribing to it on the workshop can have game breaking issues when mods are updated like being kicked when equipping modded items, but still being allowed to join. This issue is ONLY fixable by removing the .acf file manually.
1 Like
These are great changes, though I agree with others in saying that the search bar should be on the primary screen instead of in presets, not everyone is going to know to look there. Unfortunately while the preset button takes up a lot of space, itâs not super visible. It should certainly be labelled and the icon should maybe be swapped for gears or something more settings looking.
1 Like
After making some adjustments in accordance with feedback, these improvements and some gameplay changes are now on the Preview Branch: https://support.smartlydressedgames.com/hc/en-us/articles/12462494977172
4 Likes
Iâll be leaving some feedback about all the new server changes, hope others agree with me
Columns
This thing of the columns should be better to move instead only the server list and move all those options below instead of above, because is a bit annoying wanting to select some columns but the button of columns is always moved up/down when you click on it.
Also the column âMax playersâ is a bit no sense (Iâve thinking on it a lot and I donât see any use for it more than just âvisualâ than useful for something), instead it can be removed and reduce the space between each option, so it could be 6 options per row instead of 5, and reduce the space used when showing them so it will show only 2 rows instead of 3.
Hereâs an example of current/how it could look:
2 Likes
OK it took me like 2h doing this
Filters/Preset buttons (a re-do of the new UI)
Ok I need you to take in mind first this picture, which includes all the new default presets, a custom preset, filters showed and all columns enabled:
Donât you think it looks satured of A LOT of info/things? But also it have those little small buttons looking like a lot of things is just a small place
Well, hereâs my redo:
Everything on this image makes sense, keeps the concept of the old and new UI, and I will tell you why: the current way all the default presets, custom presets and filters are presented in the same place feels frustrating and even for me, that I have +6k hours of game, everything looks SO confusing for me, so I donât think how it will look for a new player
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Presets
- Since all the default preset are always used, there was no need to make them hiddeable, instead they should keep being shown but instead make the custom ones be hiddeable. As you can see at left, there are the well know default presets buttons, but now with the new button Custom Presets, which you can click to drop a new button called Create Custom Preset, and if you click on it it will show the new preset creation screen. Then when you finally add it, it will be shown above the Create New Preset button. You can click the Custom Presets buttons any time to show or hidde them. With this, the default presets wouldnât need anymore the word âDefaultâ which were added on this preview branch
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Server list
- As you can see at center/right with the server list, we all know that all of that space has been always a waste of space, now it isnât. With the preset buttons at left + all the new icons at right finally it feels like the space is not wasted anymore
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Filters
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As you can see at bottom, there you have all the filters which can also be shown/hidden by clicking on the Filters button at left. Now, since you can refresh the server list by just clicking on the preset name you want to refresh, you donât actually need always a Refresh button being show, instead when you want to refresh the server list is when you change something in the filters, so thats why the Refresh button is being shown at right bottom, so if you make a change in your filters youâll have the Refresh button close to what are you doing.
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On the filters, for example instead of saying âAny Cheatsâ or âPVPâ, would be better to state those as âCheats: Any | Cheats: No| Cheats: Yesâ or âCombat: PvP | Combat: PvE | Combat: Anyâ, with this way those all filter buttons wonât feel so empty but also will be more specific of what they do.
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Also, I didnât understood why there was a filter button with a Preset title, that seems so unnecesary so I deleted it and added the Refresh button instead, so if you want to show servers from a preset, just click on their preset name, but then if you want to change something on the filter, instead of creating a new preset just change it on the filters at bottom and click on Refresh button so it will show servers based on the preset you clicked but also with the specified filter you changed. Of course every time a preset is clicked, the filters at bottom will change based on the preset settings
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Hosting
- Also Hosting button stays close to the Back button since it is not important at all to be looking at it always
Average user look
Most average player will have their look like this: the map, ping, players, with a non-end space list to show all servers. You can show/hide the custom presets and filters anytime as you need
4 Likes
â* Food, water, and virus equivalents of health NPC reward type.â
could you add stamina and oxygen to? just to round it out fully?
and if possible temperature as well, though im not 100% sure how that system works
âCheatsâ needs a rename, desperately. It probably confuses/pisses newcomers off. Also, rows with servers themselves could be a bit bigger, in-line with everything else. Honestly, while weâre at it, even main menu buttons could be a bit bigger.
Also, hot take - we donât need filter presets altogether, they make it even more complicated for the inexperienced players, while old-timers will have little to no problem navigating the server browser without these anyway.
1 Like
Now Iâm thinking⌠Why do we need a cheat filter at all? Why does a player need to know whether commands are available on the server or not? In my opinion, this filter is even more useless than the Gold DLC filter.
I suggest saving only the following filters:
Perspective
Anti-Cheat (Only BE)
Password
Workshop
Combat
Players
Plugins
P.S.
Nelson, you can also add a filter such as a game mode. Server creators will be able to specify a string value in it. The idea is to create a kind of server folders, like in Garryâs Mod, where all the servers are divided by gamemode.
2 Likes
I agree with this part, but not the rest
I think the cheat filter has itâs place, just so people can only find servers with cheats disabled if they want to since (in theory) those are less likely to have admins abusing and cheating stuff in for themselves 
now that the changes have been out for a bit & iâve had a chance to try them, im not quite sure how i feel about the new server browser
the whole point of the original post was to:
1 - simplify the browser & make it more readable
-with the latest change that added back all the simple filters, the new browser is essentially the same as the old one, but with even more buttons for presets. this is even more confusing to new players, and goes against the whole point of simplifying the browser. one could argue that players need not use simple filters, but theyâre essentially forced to use them if they want to find something as simple as a specific map or server network.
-the additon of map icons defo improved readability of the server list, but i think itâd be nice if workshop maps got some sort of default icon. it just looks odd to have them be blank. perhaps a simple blue workshopy image as in animaticâs concept or a black and white screenshot, akin to that one minecraft image :
-the original concept made stuff a lot bigger to improve readability. this includes the different presets as well as the servers themselves. right now (even on small resolutions) thereâs a lot of empty horizontal space between the server icon/name on the left & map name on the right. why were the presets placed at the bottom, when the left edge of server list could be moved rightward, reducing the empty space, and allowing big preset buttons on the left? this screenshot was taken on 1280x720:
2-make it easier to find vanilla servers
-the original concept introduced a clear distinction between modded & vanilla servers, allowing new players to find servers that aren't modded to hell. out of anything, this'd be the easiest for nelson to add at the moment in the form of a preset. Internet could be divided into vanilla (edit: including curated) & modded. edit2: perhaps there could also be a new temporary preset added whenever a new map comes out?proposed solution:
if nelson really wants presets, they would nicely fit into the left-hand side of the original concept. the presets could have all the silly options while the most important stuff (server/map name, perhaps a few other options like perspective & combat) could be at the bottom right of the server list. thisâd simplify things a lot and make it easier for new players to find a server with a specific map/gamemode/etc, while still allowing the more experienced players to find something super specific with some preset.
props to my best best best friend for the edited concept.
im curious as to how everyone else is finding the server browser too, since itâs been out for a little while now. is it an upgrade over the previous one? is there anything you would change about it? are my suggestions silly or reasonable?
6 Likes
I really liked the original concepts and peopleâs iterations on them. The one made by Animatic was about everything we could ask for. And instead we get this. The update that was supposed to simplify the server browser somehow managed to add yet another submenu and made it even more confusing. Presets are completely unnecessary to novices and not that useful to veterans anyway. If Nelson wants to have them, so be it. But for the love of god, the server browser needs to change in a proper way.
3 Likes
also some other stuff to help keep and make players probably:
before you read any of the below just remember the average unturned player has the intelligence of the animal ai of this game, and noobs are lucky to have half of that.
The wikis need to be properly kept up to date and kept more clean (heck the fandom wiki thereâs pages that have ex-curated maps info mixed with unturned classic info mixed with the current games info but out of date, this is NOT HELPFUL AT ALL TO NEW PLAYERS) info needs to be better conveyed to a confused player. (and maybe kill the fandom wiki idk, it existing is a bad thing if its not kept up to date as it shows up to most people in google before the main wiki)
I want to add to this that the tutorial really REALLY needs to be updated with relevant information for servers.
Wood items: I see big bases made on servers with all wood everything INCLUDING THE DOOR AND STORAGE and its always completely empty of items, and honestly thereâs a good chance once they see thatâs happened they will just never come back.
logging out and having every item just disappear entirely because the game did not convey that âoh wood items donât lockâ is not the players fault, its a flaw of the game. it NEEDS to be obvious and easy to understand.
but also info on:
âwhat items raid and how to raid bases and destroy armored vehiclesâ
âexpect to be raided and thats ok!â
âhow skills workâ
âhow to fix up an upside-down, locked, tireless, batterlyless, fuelless carâ
âhow to make bandages and stop bleedingâ
âwhy you need to keep rads above 50% and how to do soâ
again with everything above, assume the player has the intelligence of a slice of bread while thinking of a way of conveying this information
also just stick a thing on the tutorial that says âcomplete to unlock a free hatâ just to encourage noobs to actually click the damn button, no one plays tutorials ever in any game unless they are forced or bribed into it.
3 Likes
This is by far the most important imo, many people canât get past this because there is no way for new players to learn this without hearing it from someone else, and this is a critical thing to get past early on.
But yeah it needs to be conveyed wood doors arenât locked somehow.
Also please make freeform plates enabled by default on servers.
2 Likes
I agree that itâs worse but curated maps shouldnât be considered vanilla - if you have to download a workshop map it isnât vanilla.
Especially for people with slow internet, it would be frustrating to join a seemingly vanilla server and then wait for a 100 MB+ map file to download. Thatâs just misleading.
2 Likes
maybe have it set up so its like
vanilla
curated
vanilla + curated
modded
any
?
(I do fully agree that curated and vanilla should not be considered the same thing)
2 Likes
I think itâs best to just search the map you specifically want for the sake of simplicity but having curated as a separate option to vanilla and modded - like in the singleplayer map select - could be nice. Just donât make curated maps considered vanilla and servers with curated maps should be considered servers with mods.
2 Likes
Considering this wiki has been officially abandoned it shouldnât be kept up to date. If fandom wasnât so terrible ideally the site would be deleted.
3 Likes