[Concept Art] Nexus Mod Manager Overhaul

[RPG Bastler]

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/6219/nmmtitle.png

 

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

THIS IS ONLY A CONCEPT ART - NO DIRECT DOWNLOAD, BUT A SUGGESTION TO THE NEXUS MOD MANAGER

 

Some days ago I got a little bored and i was messing around with some mods on the manager when I had the idea of having another look to the NMM, so I opened up photoshop and this is what I came out with :)

The idea was to create a nice looking overhaul of the manager without getting to fancy and breaking its usage, so i stuck close to the original layout but spiced it up a little as well as "added" some small features.

 

 

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

 

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9538/nexusmodmanagerv2overha.png

This is a resized version, because the preview turned out to be very huge - please have a look at the fullsized image

 

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

 

 

NEW FEATURES

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

• 
  
   
  
  
• Nice overall skinchange
  
  
• Bigger, uniform buttons, especially the Launch-Button
  
  
• Button to switch between managing the plugins or mods
  
  
• ­Button to launch the Creation-Kit directly from the manager to have faster acess for modders
  
  
• Buttons, when hovered with the mouse, will have a colored overlay, based on wich game is currently managed with the NMM (for example: When Skyrim is managed, the buttons will turn slightly blue when hovered, in case of managing Fallout, they will turn green)
  
  
• Very left collum has been changed: Only 1 button to manually add a mod with dropdown
  
  
• "Select-Function" on mods: If you select a mod on the list, it will get highlighted and expanded to have acess to the regular functions of activating/deactivating/erasing the mod or to gather information on it, as well as more specif information on it, such as it's data-size or it's release date and a small thumbnail of the mod itself.
  
  
• Small button in the corner with a tooglefunction, to decide if the description box (the grey box that expands on the right-hand side when a mod is selected on the normal manager) to avoid conflict with the "Select-Function".
  
  

2. APRIL 2012

• Different categories to sort your mods
  (for more information look at
  this topic
  )
  
  
• Badges/Icons in front of your mods to label specific traits
  (please click the blue date for more info)
  
  
  • The '
    Final version
    '-badge would show, that the mod-author won't update a mod any further.
    
    
  • The '
    Non-Nexus
    ' badge would show, that the mod was implemented manually from another site.
    
    
  • The '
    Outdated
    ' badge can be used, when there is a newer version of a mod, but you would like to stick with an older version.
    
    
  • The '
    Paused
    ' badge can be used, when you would like to have an eye on an mod which hasn't been updated for a while.
    
    

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

 

As already mentioned, this is

only

a concept art, a way that i would like the manager to look like.

If you are interested in having the manager to have this kind of look, feel free to copy the title-graphic into your signature and link it to this thread, so it will gain popularity and Dark0ne might take a look at it.

Just copy the following (Resized image (450x300) with link to this topic):

[center][url="http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/635216-concept-art-nexus-mod-manager-overhaul/"][img=http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2407/nmmtitleresized.png][/url][/center]

 

Let me know what you think :)

If you have constructive criticism, feel free to post it as a comment, i really appreciate it :)

And also feel free to comment or send me a message if you have any questions.

 

Oh, and i can definitly recommed ALL mods listed on the picture, they are really worth it ;)

 

 

 

 

http://www.intrad.ch/bolinos/images/_b/contentFiles/small_de_flag.png Please forgive any spelling or gramatical mistakes, i'm from germany, so please be patient :P

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

Skyrim, the Skyrim-logo and the Creation-Kit as well as the Creation-Kit-Logo are property of Bethesda.

NexusModManager and the NexusModManager-Logo are property of Black Tree Gaming.

The Thumbnail wich is used, is from the Lush Grass Mod and is property of OpticShooter

Used some free icons from Iconfinder

Edited April 2, 2012 by RPG Bastler

[McclaudEagle]

It's an interesting concept, but many of the points aren't needed, or would only make things worse.

 

Nice overall skinchange - While it would look alright, the NMM takes long enough to load up as it is, why make it take longer just to load an image when it's only a utility designed to perform managing functions?

 

Bigger, uniform buttons, especially the Launch-Button - Most of the buttons are pretty big, I don't see why the 'Launch' button needs to be any bigger than it already is.

 

­Button to launch the Creation-Kit directly from the manager to have faster acess for modders - I can see this being alright if you are already in the NMM, but it would be a pretty pointless feature if you weren't in the NMM because it'd take you longer to load up the NMM then the CK rather than just load the CK from a desktop icon.

 

As I said, it's a good concept, and some of them are good idea, but the ones I've responded to are not really necessary.

[RPG Bastler]

At first, thank you for your reply and criticism :)

Nice overall skinchange - While it would look alright, the NMM takes long enough to load up as it is, why make it take longer just to load an image when it's only a utility designed to perform managing functions?

You are right with this, it might be a bit slower, i thought of the same thing at first, but from my point of view the most time to load the manager is spend to scan the mods, etc. - Loading an image wouldn't slow it down a lot

Bigger, uniform buttons, especially the Launch-Button - Most of the buttons are pretty big, I don't see why the 'Launch' button needs to be any bigger than it already is.

This might be a matter of taste, for my part i prefer uniform buttons on an user-interface. Making the 'Launch' button bigger isn't necesary, but there is enough space in the header, so why not? :D

­Button to launch the Creation-Kit directly from the manager to have faster acess for modders - I can see this being alright if you are already in the NMM, but it would be a pretty pointless feature if you weren't in the NMM because it'd take you longer to load up the NMM then the CK rather than just load the CK from a desktop icon.

This would be just a shortcut, no demand to load the CK from the manager. For example you opened up the manager in full screen, but not the CK. With this little function it would be just one click to start it, other than navigating to your desctop and launch it from there.

[Werne]

Well, I'm not much for visual appearance, I'm more interested in the program's usability. Adding the ability to launch CK is a bit useful, but the fact remains that NMM is still only useful to install/uninstall mods, for everything else you need to use Wrye Bash/FOMM/OBMM or whatever. The things that would really improve it would be integrating BOSS (like FOMM), ability to export load order and/or use it to revert to an older list of mods (Wrye Bash) (especially useful it there are two persons playing the same game on the same comp with diferent mods), extracting BSA archives (FOMM again) and stuff like that.

 

The program still remains he same, it just looks visually different, which I personally couldn't care less about. Programs like NMM are made to do their job and make modding easier (being stabile is also preferable), how it looks is the least of concearns.

 

Though I'm looking it from the modder's perspective, regular users would probably be happy with just the looks but adding makeup on it just doesn't cut it for me.

[Korodic]

Actually... I like all of it...

[RPG Bastler]

At first, thank you too for your reply and criticism :)

 

Well, I'm not much for visual appearance, I'm more interested in the program's usability.

Well, i think thats the point. I get your message and i totally agree with you, the use of the program is the most important thing, thats why i did almost no changes to it's layout, neither discharged any functions. I just changed the visual appearance and added some ideas of mine.

On the other hand im somewhat a 'fan' of good looking interfaces etc. and i think changing it wouldnt cause significant problems. Thats why i uploaded it here, to discuss it. Furthermore its no "yes/no" situation. If Dark0ne would like to implement any of these things into the manager, he is, of course, allowed to and i would provide everything he needs from me.

 

[...] ability to export load order and/or use it to revert to an older list of mods (Wrye Bash) (especially useful it there are two persons playing the same game on the same comp with diferent mods), extracting BSA archives (FOMM again) and stuff like that.

And i really like this idea! Personally i never encountered it, because i am the only one using this pc, but i think i get the idea. Having the ability to manage different profiles with the NMM would be a great improvement for those who use different mods on the same pc.

If you wouldnt mind, i would like to add this to the list of features and link it to your post :)

 

Actually... I like all of it...

Thank you very much :)

[Izichial]

The only actual function I personally feel the NMM is missing currently is the ability to delete .esp files that are not associated with a mod. The only layout change I'd like to see is being able to toggle having one view for both plugins and mods since I usually keep the window large enough for them both to fit comfortably anyway. The only actual function that is missing that would be beneficial for the nexus would be to introduce an extra click to open the mod description in order to reduce page views on the nexus site (unless the description is downloaded with the mod and opened locally) since it's currently opened automatically when selecting a mod which is unnecessary 90% of the time.

 

I like the skin, though like you I like visually pleasing interface design in general. :) As for the creation kit shortcut, what's the harm? I'm sure I'm not the only one who always uses NMM to launch Skyrim and it's not a big stretch to open NMM, open CK, make some small edit and then closing the CK and launching the game straight away.

 

This thread should probably be in the NMM beta feedback forums, though.

[RPG Bastler]

The only actual function I personally feel the NMM is missing currently is the ability to delete .esp files that are not associated with a mod.

Hm, another thing i haven't encountered yet, but while imagining it, it's sure worth discussing and mentioning it.

 

The only layout change I'd like to see is being able to toggle having one view for both plugins and mods since I usually keep the window large enough for them both to fit comfortably anyway.

I do so too :D The only problem that might occur is with fitting both 'left-collums' (where the up/down arrows are when managing the plugins and the puzzle-like buttons in case of the mod page) into one window. But i think there might be an easy solution for this.

 

The only actual function that is missing that would be beneficial for the nexus would be to introduce an extra click to open the mod description in order to reduce page views on the nexus site (unless the description is downloaded with the mod and opened locally) since it's currently opened automatically when selecting a mod which is unnecessary 90% of the time.

Either having to double-click a mod or using a toogle to decide if you want to have the description box to expand or not - That's what i aimed for with the red/green triangle in the lower right corner (i hope it's visible enough to see). At first this was ment to ovoid conflict with the "Select-Function" when clicking a mod, but your idea will bring a new purpose to it :)

 

This thread should probably be in the NMM beta feedback forums, though.

Oh yes, you're right, thank you for pointing that out :) - I was looking for a way to move it over, but i couldnt find anything. Are only Moderators allowed to do so?

And thank you for your post :)

 

 

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1759/trennstrich.png

 

While looking at the concept art today, i had two ideas which might be useful and while looking through the forum, i recognized one of it was already suggested. The first one would be ..

 

A LIST OF CATEGORIES

 

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/6651/nmmv2categories.png

AS MENTIONED, THIS I ALREADY A SUGGESTION SO IF YOU WANT TO DISCUSS IT, DO SO OVER HERE PLEASE

I won't explain this function any further, because, as already mentioned, it's already listet as a suggestion here. I just want to say, that i endorse this a lot and would be pleased if it could make its way into the manager. Please support this idea too! :)

 

The second one would be ...

 

'BADGES' FOR YOUR MOD-LIST

 

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/1769/nmmv2badges.png

 

I used to have little 'tags' in brackets in front of certain mods in my list (as you can see in the very first picture in the opening-post of this thread) to highlight them for their properties. I used the 'get missing info' function to do so by writing these things infront of the mods names.

The idea would be, to have tiny badges in front of the names to use this kind of sorting in a better way.

 

• http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/7878/badgefinal.png The 'Final version'-badge would show, that the mod-author won't update a mod any further. This might be used as well as an indicator for the manager, so it won't search for new versions of the mod on the start-up.
  
• http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4818/badgenonnexus.png The 'Non-Nexus' badge would show, that the mod was implemented manually from another site and shows, that the manager won't find any new versions, because it's not from the Nexus. So the user himself must check for updates.
  
• http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7739/badgeoutdated.png The 'Outdated' badge can be used, when there is a newer version of a mod, but you would like to stick with an older version, whatever reason you might have.
  
• http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/4856/badgepaused.png The 'Paused' badge can be used, when you would like to have an eye on an mod which hasn't been updated for a while, so you haven't activated it in your manager, but would still like to have an eye on it. (For example the Midas Magics Mod)
  

All of these can be applied by the user himself or automatically from the manager (for example the Non-Nexus) or the mod author (for example the Final-Version).

Furthermore, this might as well be combined with the feature of having a list of categories as these can be categorie too.

Edited April 2, 2012 by RPG Bastler

[ProjectVRD]

It's an interesting concept, but many of the points aren't needed, or would only make things worse.

 

Nice overall skinchange - While it would look alright, the NMM takes long enough to load up as it is, why make it take longer just to load an image when it's only a utility designed to perform managing functions?

 

­Button to launch the Creation-Kit directly from the manager to have faster acess for modders - I can see this being alright if you are already in the NMM, but it would be a pretty pointless feature if you weren't in the NMM because it'd take you longer to load up the NMM then the CK rather than just load the CK from a desktop icon.

 

Agree with most of what you say except the two points I have left here:

 

The skin will have next to no impact on the speed NMM loads up on even budget laptops. That skin will take no more the 2MB of graphical memory from the systems resources, and 2MB is giving the design a very generous amount of resource.

 

As you already said about the CK launch button, if they are in NMM then they can launch from there. If not, then they don't need to load NMM to launch CK, they will take the normal route. The important thing is giving choice, not restricting it.