Screenshots: 6.5 vs. 2007 and Explanations

[RchW]

Re: Transaction Screen

Maybe now I understand what the problem is. Screen resolution. I get all of the same information in v2007 as you say is in v6.5. Plus the ratings.

I don't see any advantage for v6.5 at all.

[Jestor]

Originally Posted by JoeRockEHF

Great post Jestor! You're summing up pretty much the same way I feel about stuff. I've downloaded the v8 demo and it is a HUGE improvement over v2006 but man, the interface for v6.5 is so much better all the way.

Thanks I admit I haven't looked at v8 because 2K7's interface bothered me to the point where I stayed with 6.5. But I wanted to get another dialogue going on the interface and thought if people had direct comparisons, that a more fruitful discussion could emerge on both sides.

Edit -- While I'm thinking about it. I know other parts of v9 are more important to get done and get done right but exactly how hard would it to be to add a "Classic View" tab or something to switch interfaces around?

That I'm not sure of. I'm fairly certain a return to 6.5's interface isn't possible, given the nature of how the game has progressed, but if there's a way to get closer to it, that'd be a good thing.

[Jestor]

Originally Posted by RchW

I've never had a scroll bar in that view in v2007.

I do in mine, though I suspect your post about the screen resolution may be the reason why, now that I see that one on the second page

[Jestor]

Originally Posted by RchW

Re: Transaction Screen

Maybe now I understand what the problem is. Screen resolution. I get all of the same information in v2007 as you say is in v6.5. Plus the ratings.

I don't see any advantage for v6.5 at all.

What resolution are you using out of curiosity?

[silvam14]

On the transactions screen, in 2K7/8 , the higher the resolution you play at (not an option in 6.5 AFAIK) the more boxes you can fit on the screen.

As far as the standings screen goes, doesn't anyone else notice that the league homepage in 2K7/8 shows the standings, along with news stories, and league leaders, and the pitching matchups, and quicklinks to a whole host of things?

To me that is a HUGE improvement over anything 6.5 could offer.

[silvam14]

Originally Posted by RchW

Re: Transaction Screen

Maybe now I understand what the problem is. Screen resolution. I get all of the same information in v2007 as you say is in v6.5. Plus the ratings.

I don't see any advantage for v6.5 at all.

Maybe if 6.5 had the option to change your resolution, but it does not

Also the screen resolution makes a big difference in the number of stats/rating you can display on any given screen with customizable columns.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Jestor

What resolution are you using out of curiosity?

I'll have to check. Not home now. Got to be high 1600X 1080 or better.

In fairness you should also agree that v6.5 has very small fonts. Definitely not an advantage for the bifocal set to which I belong now.

[Jestor]

Originally Posted by silvam14

On the transactions screen, in 2K7/8 , the higher the resolution you play at (not an option in 6.5 AFAIK) the more boxes you can fit on the screen.

That I wasn't aware of until this thread

As far as the standings screen goes, doesn't anyone else notice that the league homepage in 2K7/8 shows the standings, along with news stories, and league leaders, and the pitching matchups, and quicklinks to a whole host of things?

The standings is wedged as a sidebar and not in prominence though, as in the case of the standings screen. Though I do like everything else, particularly the combined league leaders.

To me that is a HUGE improvement over anything 6.5 could offer.

Oh it's a great screen to have, I'm not questioning that. But the thing is, the standings screen right now in 2K7 is completely bare outside of the standings themselves.

I don't see a reason why the standings screen in 6.5 couldn't be replicated and it be the default, real-time updating screen as in 6.5. It'd be using a screen that's already there and wouldn't take away anything else on that screen.

[Jestor]

Originally Posted by RchW

I'll have to check. Not home now. Got to be high 1600X 1080 or better.

In fairness you should also agree that v6.5 has very small fonts. Definitely not an advantage for the bifocal set to which I belong now.

True, which is why I noted the cleaner, clearer fonts in the standings screen Which set of numbers can you see better, by the way? To me, the 6.5 numbers are better contrasted and easier to distinguish, but as I said, that could very well just be me.

[JoeRockEHF]

Originally Posted by RchW

In fairness you should also agree that v6.5 has very small fonts. Definitely not an advantage for the bifocal set to which I belong now.

If there is one thing I do dislike about the older series it has always been the font size. I'm a young guy and it's always been hard to read.

[Jestor]

Exhibit #6. Player Cards
They say you should end on a good note, so here's a good note for 2K7, in that there's just one small thing I like about 6.5, but it's a fairly big deal for me.

6.5


2K7


6.5 Advantages

Bars
This is a visual preference issue, but for me, bars + numbers is much easier to read and evaluate than strictly numbers.

2K7 Advantages

Everything Else
2K7 really does have superior player cards and pages. It's just that I really miss the bars.

And that concludes our 6.5 vs 2K7 interface Look: Jestor Edition.

If others who prefer 6.5 vs 2K7's interface have other screens they want to remark on, feel free to do so. These are just the ones that I have issues with.

[hefalumps]

That was a really interesting analysis. I loved OOTP 5 and 6 and stuck with them for a long time - it took me quite awhile to get into OOTP 2007 (I gave up on OOTP 2006 after a few weeks), but now that I've gotten the feel for OOTP 2007 and have learned to work around some of the interface clumsiness, I definitely think 2007/OOTP8 is the better game. That being said, I forgot until I saw the screenshots how much I still love OOTP 5/6. The new game is better, but I guess there's nothing like your first love, eh?

The "resolution" thing was news to me too - I'm going to have to try switching to max resolution and seeing how that goes. The transaction screen is indeed one of the bigger hangups for me too, so that's nice to know that more resolution means better transaction screen.

The highlights of things that I also really miss are the league leaders around the standings (I like the new league leaders screen in OOTP 8 as well, but since the standings screen is so empty, why not put the top three leaders back in there and have both the leaders on the standings and the separate leaders page?). I miss the bars on the player screen too. One thing you didn't mention that I also really miss the verbal scouting report. As stupid as that was in most cases, it at least gave you a starting point as to whether you should waste your time looking more closely at a guy or not. I always felt like OOTP 6 was just so much easier to read and interpret, but I couldn't put my finger on why until some of your examples. Of course, the fact that OOTP 6 was easier to read might be because there wasn't nearly as much information too.

Anyway, thanks for this! It was good fun and I really hope some of the OOTP9 designers see this and can incorporate some of those things that made sense in OOTP6 into OOTP9.

[Sweed]

The only screen you have shown from 6.5 that I would like to see duplicated in v9 is the standings. I think v9 could keep all the info 2k7\v8 currently shows and add the league leaders down the sides.

I understand your point about left to right compared to top to bottom and agree it is a little easier on the eye. But, to me, it's not enough of a difference to have to give up the additional width that 2k7 provides as Ktulu mentioned. With 2k7 I can look at stats, ratings, and combinations of both and get a ton of data on my screen. I don't have any views that I have to scroll side to side to see, all the info on one screen. Simply not possible with 6.5.

FWIW my resolution is 1280*1024. At that resolution I can show 36 players without having to scroll. On my lineup\depth chart view, that I created, I have 24 columns and could squeeze in a couple of more if I wanted to. My standard pitching view has 22 columns and the "bullpen" view I built has 28 columns. With this resolution I can show 6 boxes on my transaction screen. Yes, it's nice to see everything on one screen but I can compensate somewhat because I can right click on players and move them anywhere without having to switch to a different view. If a player is injured and I want him on the disabled list I can don't have to have the DL box on the screen I can just right click him and move him from the menu there. I can do this from any screen where he is listed roster, lineup-depth chart, pitching, not just the transaction screen. Hell, I can even right click on his name in a news article and do any transaction I want.

I can appreciate you not posting a lot more screens but if your not showing what you think 2k7 does better maybe you could at least list some of the screens you do like.

A couple of things you didn't post from 6.5 that I would like to see returned (and that I have suggested in the past) is on the ingame screen. Being able to watch games in progress while playing yours out. For those that either don't recall of never played before 2k6 there was a rotating game report in the upper left hand corner IIRC that showed a diamond with baserunners, the score, batter, pithcer etc in real time. The other thing is more complete stats for the current batter and pitcher matchup ingame. 2k7's is so limited (basically avg, hr,obp) where 6.5 and before gave you this year\ last year and more complete including 2b,3b,bb,k, etc. and the same for corresponding pitching stats.

[Anisoptera]

While I'm very much in the camp of don't waste your time updating the older version, I too prefer some of its interface aspects and feel that the newer could learn from the younger. Some comments:

Default Screen

-While you compare the default screen in 6.5 to 2k7's standings screen, I think enough people have asked long and hard enough now for the screen that pops up while you are simming to be the default screen in 2k7. It's also the closest to 6.5's default/sim screen and superior with its news updates.

Standings Screen

-I wouldn't be in favour of adding stuff to 2k7's standings screen as I think it should be a separate screen you go to just for that standings info and I imagine there might be space issues with large leagues. If anything, make it where you can add/edit the columns to change the listed stats.

Roster Screen

-While 6.5's does look better (I'm comparing it to 2k7's actual roster screen not the website like homepage), I really never spent that much time on the roster screen then or now. I do miss the hot and cold streak columns as well as the team leader rankings a bit, but if you're going to add those back somehow I'd prefer they be customizeable. While some may care about BA,RS,RBI,Wins,Saves, etc, I much more care about other stats. Like the pitching and batting screens you could devote the bottom half of the roster screen to small sections with customizeable leaderboards, hot/cold streaks, team rankings, and other important info that you should always check for after a sim like: newly injured/day-to-day players, players recovered from injuries, players who need to come off the DFA, etc.

Many, however, probably prefer how 2k7's roster screen fits many more players and more stats. What would probably be better is have a subscreen (like you know how the transactions screen has the disabled list subscreen), but with these subscreens you'd have screens that list what you had with the 6.5 roster screen (and the others I said above like the injured and DFAs), but with the added bonus of more room to show more and customizeable columns! Yeah, you could probably do some of that with views, but you have space there for subscreens, you might as well make the info one click away and already set up for the convenience of the user.

Font

-You bring up that the numbers are easier to read in 6.5. I wholeheartedly agree, but I think it's an issue with the font, not really the size. The size looks about the same, but in 2k7 it's either a different wider font or the old one but bolded. It would probably be wise to go back to a skinnier font or at least make the font customizeable by the user (font itself, size, bold or regular). RchW mentioned 2k7's is easier on his bifocal eyes so customizeable is probably the way to go as its definitely not easier on mine.

Pitching and Batting Screens

-I agree with you that the left-right nature of 6.5 is much easier on the headaches, but if going back to that way means not being able to have as many data columns visible at once I think I'd much rather have 2k7's up-down. That said, I think it would be awesome if, at least here, you had the option of going to classic left-right screens.

-I have to say I do miss the bigger font sizes of the rotations and lineups from 6.5. It is a matter of better readability (6.5) vs more info (2k7), though, and it's always difficult to side with less info.

-I do see a way of increasing the screen area by a bit, however. You see how the top pull-downs are taking less than half the width of the screen as are the bottom push-ups? Why not put them on the same line thereby allowing that much more screen space? Perhaps there is then a problem with narrow resolutions, but I'm not convinced those menus couldn't be re-organized and/or some moved elsewhere. There's a fair amount of wasted screen space in OOTP, working on that would help getting the number of mouse-clicks down.

Transactions Screens

-9 sections destroys 4 sections. It's more than 4 apparently if you go to some resolution that my wide screen laptop doesn't support as it only goes up to 1280x800, but really, do most OOTPers have a larger resolution? And what about the rest of us? Are we just supposed to suffer with a worse transactions screen, perhaps the screen that we use the most, or at least used the most in 6.5? Please don't suggest that I lug around a 17" screen laptop.

-Heck, 2k7's doesn't even really show more columns than 6.5's did even though it takes up way more space. So where is the benefit in 2k7's? You can't even customize the columns shown, which you should be able to. I'd much, much, rather have the more squeezed look of 6.5's. Even if you could only give us 6 sections instead of the 4 at regular resolutions, it would be an improvement.

-Another way to improve 2k7's transactions screen (perhaps simpler than the last) would be to add more subscreens (e.g. the disabled list). I understand you can get to some of these by the pull-down menus, but one click buttons are so much faster (that's a big difference between the two throughout: menus are good for lots of selections and little room, but if you've few selections and/or enough room then one-click buttons are so much better). You've got disabled and trade subscreens, add waiver, DFA, minor league subscreens, maybe even more.

Player Screens

-I also miss the coloured bars and feel that they did a much better judge of quickly allowing you to assess a player, but I'm not sure you can really help that while keeping all the info I'd like to keep on that screen. However, they could make space for bars by abbreviating words like use 1B instead of firstbase, IF instead of infield, make subheadings for current ability and potential talent instead of adding potential to the end of every rating label, etc. Again, there's a lot of wasted space in 2k7 whereas 6.5 really did do a pretty good job of optimizing it. Work on that enough and I think you just might be able to bring bars in at least some places.

-For pitchers, showing how many pitches over the last 5 days they've thrown really should be horizontal like in 6.5 as otherwise you need to scroll.

[DODO]

Just to add, not ony visually speaking, but load times is what makes me love 6.5 compard to later verions.

I play a lot of times on my laptop rather than my desktop, since I can play is essentially anywhere on my laptop. 2007 takes considerably longer to sim, load screens, ect. Trying the demo for both before deciding which one to buy...I had tried 6 first, and then changing to 2007 was killer on my patience, I just couldn't take how long things took.

I'm sure for most people it's not a problem, since I'm sure most people playing on a desktop. Still saying it anyway

[The Wolf]

Dodo, you aren't the only guy who plays on a laptop. A number of us play on laptops, mostly widescreen laptops (I'd guess that 1280 x 800 is the most common OOTP laptop resolution).

[The Wolf]

OOTP 9 Design Team:

Are you paying attention here?

[ctorg]

You know, I didn't realize how much I missed some of the screens from the older versions until I opened this thread. Even now, a couple of years later, it bothers me that the 6.5 screen in Exhibit 1 is not available in OOTP anymore. It took years of suggestions for that to come into being, and now it is gone, and it is sorely missed by many.

The overall compactness of the old version was great. Yes, there were smaller fonts, but I'm okay with that. I don't like having to scroll around a lot. That's one of the things that annoy me about OOTP now. I'm constantly scrolling around.

[AirmenSmith]

Originally Posted by DODO

Just to add, not ony visually speaking, but load times is what makes me love 6.5 compard to later verions.

I play a lot of times on my laptop rather than my desktop, since I can play is essentially anywhere on my laptop. 2007 takes considerably longer to sim, load screens, ect. Trying the demo for both before deciding which one to buy...I had tried 6 first, and then changing to 2007 was killer on my patience, I just couldn't take how long things took.

I'm sure for most people it's not a problem, since I'm sure most people playing on a desktop. Still saying it anyway

Oh how I hate the load times now. OOTP 6 was so much faster. I use a laptop to and I feel your pain. I loved OOTP 6 and thx to this thread it has made me miss it all over again. But i've grown to accept that overall OOTP 8 is a much deeper game and better. I miss the interface of ootp 6 but my biggest thing I miss is how much faster ootp 6 was. If there was a way to make OOTP 9 faster I would be all for it. I think what we need is more options to make the game faster such as getting rid of useless information, history ect.

[1998 Yankees]

Jestor, this is a great thread. I did not realize some of what you have pointed out until I saw the screenshots arranged together like this. I hope the folks in charge are paying attention because this, in my opinion, is the only reason people should be missing 6.5 these days.