A suggestion to make entrances more visible

[Coaxl]

Some entrances really are very hard to see. Case in point:



It is not obvious at all that there are stairs leading up just behind my character. I actually wasn't sure how to get up for a long while because I thought that dark grey thing there was just a wall, not stairs. The other side of this area has a small blue patch so it's more visible there, but I was mostly looking at this part at first.



Again, it's hard to see that there is a transition area here - you can only realize this if you happen to mouse over by accident. It makes things more confusing that often, ostensibly open areas like these are actually just dead ends.

Now, I think that there should be a way to make entrances more obviously visible so you can see where you can enter or leave an area. I think that pressing Tab could fulfill this function too. There are two solutions I can think of: either name every single transition area or (the more elegant solution in my opinion) just have the red and blue colored squares that indicate the exits go to the top when you press Tab, displaying over everything else (perhaps in a translucent manner so it's not too ugly).

[Toast]

I agree this would be helpful.

[TΛPETRVE]

Agreed. This also goes especially for cave openings (that often don't have a visible red marker at all).

[Fenix]

I don't care, I ransacking every corner with mouse pointer. )

[phobos2077]

I agree. Maybe all exit grids should be rendered visible through walls?

[player1]

There is that area in Core City drop zone I would never find by manual exploring (gang hideout for Gorsky quest), if there was not a quest that got me teleported to the area automatically.

Area transition is just not visible.

[ShadowRun]

I agree. Maybe all exit grids should be rendered visible through walls?

What about if the exit grids were a translucent 3D block from floor to ceiling (like a warp field) instead of a translucent parallelogram on the floor (like a teleport tile)? Then even if the "exit grid" is a stairs escalating toward the camera, the top of the red block would still be visible.

By "block" I am talking about the effect produced by the Force Field psi ability: but probably only half or a third of the thickness even though it would remain full height.

[phobos2077]

I agree. Maybe all exit grids should be rendered visible through walls?

What about if the exit grids were a translucent 3D block from floor to ceiling (like a warp field) instead of a translucent parallelogram on the floor (like a teleport tile)? Then even if the "exit grid" is a stairs escalating toward the camera, the top of the red block would still be visible.

By "block" I am talking about the effect produced by the Force Field psi ability: but probably only half or a third of the thickness even though it would remain full height.

Good idea. I would've liked it as well.

[nerdz]

There's some doors on the west wing of the tchort institute that are completely invisible: dark green doors on a dark green wall on a very dark place. Perhaps doors should be highlighted as well.

[Toast]

There's some doors on the west wing of the tchort institute that are completely invisible: dark green doors on a dark green wall on a very dark place. Perhaps doors should be highlighted as well.

Agreed. It took me forever to figure out those doors were there! I had no idea how I was supposed to get around those blocked hallways for the longest time.

[ShadowRun]

If we're expanding this thread to talk about doors as well, then the Foundry Town Hall took me some hours and several levels to locate. I went through all the shops, did as much of Evelyn as I could without dobbing her in to a cop (couldn't find any that would talk about it), looked through all the mines, zapped Nicolas, etc., broke into every house, argued with the Mysterious Man. Eventually, only with the aid of the wiki saying there even was a town hall with a chief I needed to find, and with the aid of the map screenshots on the wiki I realised that what looked like a grey "the end of the map" wall at the NW corner of the SW map actually had a grey door in it behind a foreground tower made of corrugated iron and girders. This lead to a narrow room (actually on the edge of the map) where all the action was. A bullet-proof glass panel, or an open door, or a bubble help when Tab is held would have helped a lot.

Similarly, Estelle's pharmacy has a nigh invisible door in the SW corner that blends in with the corrugated iron panelling around it and it's on a surface hidden by a corner of the building. I had no idea it was there and only traded with her through the wall, by entering the building through the forbidden door in the NE corner. At the top of the slums stairs there's a house with two pairs of boots beneath the "broken pixel" artwork and this house has an obscured door too. Not getting into Pointless House doesn't matter. Not getting into Estelle's pharmacy except via a forbidden door watched by a sniper is more confusing. Not getting into the hidden Town Hall is a quest blocker for numerous quests.

Maybe all transition zones (red), teleport zones (blue) and doors should have bubble help that appears when you hold Tab? Stairs Up already do, so why not transition zones too? Trapdoors already do, so why not real doors too?

[Toast]

Maybe all transition zones (red), teleport zones (blue) and doors should have bubble help that appears when you hold Tab? Stairs Up already do, so why not transition zones too? Trapdoors already do, so why not real doors too?

Seems fair enough to me. Many other people have reported being confused by the Foundry doors, so this would probably be helpful there.

[player1]

Me too. Took me awhile to find Pharmacy and Mayor office.

[Sandnaut]

There's some doors on the west wing of the tchort institute that are completely invisible: dark green doors on a dark green wall on a very dark place. Perhaps doors should be highlighted as well.

True, I was almost posting here to ask where the eff was Pavel