Hacking R4 GUI improvement?

[da_head]

I was just wondering, do you guys think they'll ever improve the r4 gui? its one of the worst compared to most flashcarts. its very simplistic and boring.

 

[retiredjerk]

One of the worst? you cant be serious right? What is so bad about it? You have Games/ Multimedia/Boot slot-2 on the bootup screen. What more could you want? Please dont say more icons.

 

[Cabbage]

One of the worst? I'll agree with simplistic, but .. C'mon. :/

 

[Arsic]

Cycling through games with just the d-pad can be a little inconvenient in comparison to other cards. It could have been better if you could cycle through on the touch screen.

 

[Somnambulist]

It's very inconvenient to have to touch the machine. /sarcasm

I like the setup. The last thing I'd be doing is scrolling through a list with the stylus, seeing as 80-90% of the games I play on the DS barely use the touch screen, if at all. Generally I'll only take it out if I HAVE to.

 

[da_head]

Cycling through games with just the d-pad can be a little inconvenient in comparison to other cards. It could have been better if you could cycle through on the touch screen.

ok perhaps i was a bit to harsh, but yeah its very plain. its just a bunch of words on a background picture. compared to other flashcarts that have semi transparent backgrounds, game pictures, and the game list being on the bottom screen, having the option of scrolling with a dpad or stylus.

 

[SavageWaffle]

Excuse me, the WORST? What more do you expect from your DS kid? What the hell do you want kid? What a freaken 3d stripper coming out from your touch screen? Kid, please stop flooding GBATemp with useless posts please.

 

[ZPE]

He obviously wants explosions and blood! I like it though.

 

[matriculated]

I like the R4 interface the most because all the other cards (aside from the Cyclos and Edge) only show 4 games at a time. Pretty inconvenient.

 

[Sephi]

I like the GUI, its simple, functional and easy to use, plus its skinnable. What more could you need?

 

[Urza]

It seems you've all forgotten what the word "worst" means. It doesn't necessarily mean that its "bad", it just means that all the others are better.

Frankly, I agree with this statement (although you could make a case for the M3R as well). The R4 interface is barebone, you have no options to tweak settings, you only have one view mode, hardly any touch screen support, very basic skinning. Its easily the most limited menu of any slot-1 cart.

all the other cards (aside from the Cyclos and Edge) only show 4 games at a time.

And the RPG, ak, ak2, EZV, SCDS1, DS-Xtreme, M3R, G6R...

In fact, the only slot-1 card I can think of where it is restricted to 4 is the DSTT, and only if you're using the official loader (which most people aren't).

 

[arsehat]

Its easily the most limited menu of any slot-1 cart.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Flexibility is great for some some people (I'm loving my AK2, for example) but one persons "feature" is another persons "WTF? Where'd that come from?" moment just waiting to happen. There's more to life than menu and skinning system features - if there wasn't, we'd probably all be using the DS-X.

 

[Urza]

Its easily the most limited menu of any slot-1 cart.That's not necessarily a bad thing. Flexibility is great for some some people (I'm loving my AK2, for example) but one persons "feature" is another persons "WTF? Where'd that come from?" moment just waiting to happen.
Hardly. Most slot-1 interface customizations can only be performed on the file level, and have no switches inside the GUI itself. The chances of someone accidentally changing something is slim to none.

QUOTE

There's more to life than menu and skinning system features - if there wasn't, we'd probably all be using the DS-X.

So we should ignore the obvious truth because you made a less-than-clever analogy?

Try harder next time, you're not making much sense.

 

[da_head]

thanks for all the replies guys. k i admit, i should have worded my statement better, i look like a real jackass o.o"

yeah i appreciate everything the r4 does for me, its simplicity, how easily skinnable it is, but i just wish it would be a little bit more customizable; to add some eye candy, or to tweak how things are set up and such.

 

[--JoCa--]

There're some harsh posts here (looking to Urza, 2 posts above)... What I really have to say (

) is that the R4 is exactly perfect for those who buy it knowing what they are buying: It's plain simple, just put the rom there and play it. Now, if you're looking for some fancy-pants interaction flashcard-user, there's a lot of propaganda from all the others flashcards around the world (as we can read plenty of reviews here, on GBAtemp)... It's like a friend of mine said once: Taste is like asses, everyone have yours (it was in portuguese, so it doesn't sounds right in english). For myself, I have 2 R4 and I am pretty comfortable with its interface

 

[arsehat]

Hardly. Most slot-1 interface customizations can only be performed on the file level, and have no switches inside the GUI itself. The chances of someone accidentally changing something is slim to none.
Actually, I was thinking of the different display modes - and in the hands of little kids or the dyslexic or otherwise impaired.

Take, for example, the R4, the EZ-V and the AK2.

With the R4, you've got one display mode (although you can select the kind of files you're looking at) - you get a list on the top screen that you move around with the D pad, and a few things that appear on the lower screen depending on what you're doing (game icon, stuff related to cheats, etc). On the EZ-V, you've got two - 4 items or about 12 items (from memory), with a large game icon or a reduced version of it depending on whether it's the 4 or more display mode - either of which are still usable by people who might have difficulties with written language. With the AK2 (and I assume, but can't say from personal experience) the RPG, you've got four items with icons or a list without.

I've had a small amount of experience over the years with various issues - dyslexics, people with acquired brain injuries of various types, people who just want a consumer-type product with minimal features to get in the way, people who are just too small to figure out why something's changed, etc - and frequently, simplicity is a strength. It's actually arguable that YSMenu - which in some ways is more limited than the R4 menu and in others less so - may be more appropriate for some of those people, but not for all - the April Fools joke in it means its useless for some of them once a year.

There's more to life than menu and skinning system features - if there wasn't, we'd probably all be using the DS-X.
So we should ignore the obvious truth because you made a less-than-clever analogy?

Hell, no... but glitz and bling and eye-candy and UI flexibility are just one part of the whole "what cart is best for [me | my brother | my grandma | my neighbour's child]" decision - maybe I should have tried harder on that point. Mind you, with the present price of the R4 and the poor quality of the clones, in most cases it certainly isn't going to be an R4 or similar without some pretty compelling reasons - and there are still a few for getting an R4 or even an EZ-V for particular users in particular situations.

QUOTE(Urza @ Apr 18 2008, 01:06 PM)

Try harder next time, you're not making much sense.

I generally try to refrain from ad hominem comments - but, if was to use them, I'd probably start by suggesting that I thought you were above them too.

Oh, and da_head, from the sound of things and from the carts I've played with, I suspect you'd really like the AK2 or RPG - some others too, I suspect, but I've only been fortunate enough to play with five kinds so far.

 

[Urza]

I suppose we can agree on that point.

The R4 is the best choice for the mentally challenged, or otherwise "slow" humans

 

[Doggy124]

I like the way R4 menu is.

very fast and easy to find the file you looking for.

btw,I'm planing on get CycloDS but...can it view more than 4 file at a time?
I mean, is there an option for show only text not icon?

 

[arsehat]

I suppose we can agree on that point.

The R4 is the best choice for the mentally challenged, or otherwise "slow" humans

Actually, leaving aside cost and lack of SDHC support for the moment, I can think of another situation in which the R4 is a very good workable solution - with three nice big buttons for the options at the first-level menu, and no need to ever remove the card for anything other than updates.

Replace moonshell with Yasu's BACK2FW, and you've got a really neat solution that boots straight up to a point where you can choose to run software on the card (what most people will want to do most of the time), boot the DS's own firmware without having to pop the card out (for occasional download play) or load up an old GBA cart in slot 2. Sure, you could do that with the Edge too, and it's got SDHC, but what extra menu features and benefits does it have over the R4 - that's a serious question, I don't have one but from what I've seen its two display mode choices don't appear quite as nice IMO as the R4s.

And, granted, if you turn off the start-in-last-folder setting on the AK/AK2 (I assume it's available in the official fw - I'm presently using the bliss one on my 2) you can get something approximating that if you set a shortcut for BACK2FW - at the first-level SD and Slot 2 and Shortcut menu. But, that shortcut isn't permanent - at least it can't be made that way through the GUI as far as I can tell and can be overwritten through choices made through the GUI, please correct me if I'm mistaken.

If it's possible to lock the shortcut on the AK2 so it can't be changed, and possible through the skinning engine to display game information and icons in the top screen (so you can display the icon somewhere when it's in the list mode), then I'd say that there were even fewer situations in which an R4 had an advantage... there aren't many of them any more, and they're all niche usability issues, but they do exist and not just for the mentally defective.

For most people, I can't recommend the R4 in good conscience any more because of the price. Trouble is, some of what it does and what it is stand head and shoulders above the others - just like, by other criteria, lots of other things leave the R4 for dead.

 

[Dunny]

The only thing I'd like is more customisability (is that a word? It is now!) for the skinning. I find that having to work around the button sizes, the position of various texts etc to be pain in the arse for some skins I'm making.

A UI (or skinning) improvement wouldn't be too hard, and wouldn't take a hardware upgrade to do.

I'd also love a ticking clock on the top screen, like the firmware has. I just like stuff like that

Skinnable, of course.

D.