No popup boxes, please!
issueid=5037 09-18-2017 02:25 PM
Junior Member
Number of reported issues by BFBeast666: 17
No popup boxes, please!
Screen readers really don't like the new look, targeting and confirmation dialog boxes.

I know we blind ADOM players are the miniscule minority, but the "new and improved" look, targeting and info delivery system via floating text boxes makes ADOM basically unplayable for us. You see, since forever ADOM has delivered its information in the top two lines of the screen, a FIXED area where we can point our screenreader to read whenever it updates (which it does pretty much constantly). So, unless we needed to interact with the inventory, skill screen or XP table, we didn't have to mess around with manual line reading or the like. Now, whenever a basic action like looking somewhere or targeting an enemy at range is required, I need to painstakingly sweep the screen until I find that damn text box, read it out and then move back to the top two lines to access the result of that action... if reading this is already tiresome, then imagine me doing that a dozen times over in the course of a single dungeon floor.

Long story short: How can I turn all these pesky popup boxes off and have ADOM behave like before, like v69? This supposed update in usability is a massive headache for me and, again, makes one of the few games I can actually enjoy unplayable.

I have thankfully found out how to disable the quick hints (annoying as all hell too). Please, O Creator, make this window nonsense an option, not a required feature. Please!!!
Issue Details
Issue Number 5037
Issue Type Feature
Project ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Category All without NotEye
Status Implemented
Priority 1 - Highest
Suggested Version ADOM 2.3.1
Implemented Version ADOM 2.3.2
Milestone (none)
Votes for this feature 7
Votes against this feature 1
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




09-19-2017 08:03 AM
The Creator
You can use the 'Hide_Info_Boxes' configuration setting to get rid of the info boxes.

Sadly that's no longer true for the speech bubbles as hiding those caused many other problems I just don't intend to tackle in the foreseeable future :-/

09-19-2017 08:26 AM
The Creator
I have restored the 'Hide_Speech_Bubbles' setting for ADOM 2.3.2 in order to help blind players. It comes with a warning though as I do not intend to tackle bad formatting in the foreseeable future.

09-19-2017 10:25 AM
Junior Member
Thank you. I'll give it a whirl when it comes out and report back how it works.

"Hide_Info_Boxes = true" didn't seem to do much though. I still have the floating window whenever I use the look mode or try to target an enemy, with only the keystroke info in the top two lines of the screen. Haven't even gotten to Terinyo yet to see these speech bubbles for myself.

09-20-2017 04:53 PM
Ancient Member
Setting Hide_Speech_Bubbles=true doesn't seem to work in 2.3.2 (DOS version). And input prompts seem to still always come in a popup (which I don't personally care that much about compared to bubbles but probably does concern blind players). Was it the same setting that affected the quest popups?

09-20-2017 07:47 PM
Junior Member
To be honest, I have played only through a few levels of the Small Cave/Unremarkable Dungeon and then went to Terinyo to see what this speech bubble business was all about. A process that normally takes less than half an hour in v69 took me a good chunk of my afternoon this time. And - surprisingly - the speech bubble text DID show up in the top two lines, so that was the least of my troubles.

From a philosophical point of view though: Why spend this much effort on improving the newbie experience in the ASCII version when ASCII nowadays is only for the hardcore anyway? Which new roguelike player in an age of Binding of Isaac starts with ADOM (Ascii mode)? I've played ADOM since 0.9 gamma 6 or thereabouts and I'm used to the way things were. This whole window popup thing feels very forced and disrupts more than it helps. At least this particular player.

09-20-2017 08:53 PM
mtf mtf is offline
Junior Member
> Which new roguelike player in an age of Binding of Isaac starts with ADOM (Ascii mode)?

Well, I did for one (granted, I'm still getting used to ADOM ascii, but I have come to appreciate many RL's in their ascii form). Also, I think the speech bubbles look pretty good (other than a few kinks that need to be worked out). That said, it is unfortunate that they are affecting your gameplay experience, hopefully there is some kind of solution here somewhere =(.

09-21-2017 07:02 AM
The Creator
Quote Originally Posted by BFBeast666
To be honest, I have played only through a few levels of the Small Cave/Unremarkable Dungeon and then went to Terinyo to see what this speech bubble business was all about. A process that normally takes less than half an hour in v69 took me a good chunk of my afternoon this time. And - surprisingly - the speech bubble text DID show up in the top two lines, so that was the least of my troubles.
Would you mind explaining what it is that took you an afternoon? And are we talking about 2.3.0 or 2.3.1 or 2.3.2 (because in 2.3.2 things linke comments from shopkeepers, etc. no longer show up in speech bubbles). I just can't believe that statement as I'm playing ASCII all the time myself and don't find it that much slower (but a lot nicer in looks).

+ Reply