Spork98765
New member
- Jul 3, 2015
- 363
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Despite what the newsletter says the only place to find/access the controller option is in the table options; which cannot be changed via a controller 
The Main Menu is the one you look at where manage tables etc is. If you have to load a table to access a particular option it's not a main menu, FYI.
IIRC, the original implementation of A/B mode, prior to it being yanked out, was so players could choose whether they wanted to use the digital or analogue shoulder buttons; Triggers/bumpers, or L1/2 R1/2 or Upper and Lower Shoulder buttons or IDk if there's any other terms really. This feels like we have gone backwards as B mode has all sorts of problems. Which is strange, seeing as TPA defaults to B mode.
Kinggo covered most of how the UI and controller interface works here, but there a few other specific issues i'll mention.
In both A/B mode, when in landscape, the options menu is split into 2 columns. Now only being able to move on 2 axis, up/down, is bad enough, but when you select something from the right column you have to exit options before you can select anything from the left column. Of course Instructions, Extras, Options, Goals, and Pro Menu all cannot be utilized with a controller.
When in game and you pause again 2 axis selection, this time only left/right, of the option items. Controls, and Camera option cannot be utilized via controller
The R analogue stick in Mode B is tied to the analogue shoulder buttons. So plunge and trigger the flippers, really any left/right motion of the stick will do it. This is where I am wondering what happened to the old A/B mode that worked before this new UI removed it and then "introduced" it, again?
Why the redundant 3 ways to change tabs/pages, but no way to change filters on the tables tab/page, or seasons on the store tab/page?
On the Home screen it is, again, 2 axis movement while selecting tiles. Why can I not simply press up to go from, for example, Tournaments to Table of the month. It seems poor design to have to press right/left 4 times to get to another choice that is one tile above it. There appears to be a dead spot where the cursor disappears when you press left once from Recently Played, or right once from Head to Head. This can give the impression that there is no way to select anything. Another reason 2 axis selection is a bad UX choice.
On the table select screen: If you are at the end of a row that is above an incomplete row and you press down it will skip the incomplete row and jump to the next full row; which opens another issue. (see below)
When sorted by goals: The cursor will remember its position in the row of the goal grouping and will return to that position from wherever it was in the row of the other goal set above/below it. This can cause the cursor to jump around a fair bit depending on the location of its former and new position; a complete left to right and it can skip as much as 2 whole rows. (see above)
Addendum musing about table select: Why wasn't the R Stick mapped to be a pseudo mouse like on the Steam version as a way to select filters, change season, press unmapped doo-dads etc.? Again I have to query about the Ouya/Razer Forge version and it's controller mapping being ported. How is it that a Nexus 7 in a box can have a fully mapped controller UX, but getting the same for a general Android release is like [analogy x metaphor]?
While you can move in 4 axis direction on the store tab/page you cannot actually select anything with a controller. If you do press the A button on one of the table tiles in the store it seems that it will cause more than one of them highlight. The first one I pressed was The Getaway and all of them were highlighted blue, except TX-Sector. This is repeatable.
Oh yeah, the manage tables thing still doesn't work right. I downloaded 3 updated tables: Dr Who, The Getaway and Last Action Hero. Yet, as soon as I opened The Getaway from the table select menu ... Surprise! You have to download a new version of this table, again!! This happened on all 3 of my Android devices.
Hmm, maybe I forgot something. It took me longer to write this out than it do to identify these things.
The Main Menu is the one you look at where manage tables etc is. If you have to load a table to access a particular option it's not a main menu, FYI.IIRC, the original implementation of A/B mode, prior to it being yanked out, was so players could choose whether they wanted to use the digital or analogue shoulder buttons; Triggers/bumpers, or L1/2 R1/2 or Upper and Lower Shoulder buttons or IDk if there's any other terms really. This feels like we have gone backwards as B mode has all sorts of problems. Which is strange, seeing as TPA defaults to B mode.
Kinggo covered most of how the UI and controller interface works here, but there a few other specific issues i'll mention.
In both A/B mode, when in landscape, the options menu is split into 2 columns. Now only being able to move on 2 axis, up/down, is bad enough, but when you select something from the right column you have to exit options before you can select anything from the left column. Of course Instructions, Extras, Options, Goals, and Pro Menu all cannot be utilized with a controller.
When in game and you pause again 2 axis selection, this time only left/right, of the option items. Controls, and Camera option cannot be utilized via controller
The R analogue stick in Mode B is tied to the analogue shoulder buttons. So plunge and trigger the flippers, really any left/right motion of the stick will do it. This is where I am wondering what happened to the old A/B mode that worked before this new UI removed it and then "introduced" it, again?
Why the redundant 3 ways to change tabs/pages, but no way to change filters on the tables tab/page, or seasons on the store tab/page?
On the Home screen it is, again, 2 axis movement while selecting tiles. Why can I not simply press up to go from, for example, Tournaments to Table of the month. It seems poor design to have to press right/left 4 times to get to another choice that is one tile above it. There appears to be a dead spot where the cursor disappears when you press left once from Recently Played, or right once from Head to Head. This can give the impression that there is no way to select anything. Another reason 2 axis selection is a bad UX choice.
On the table select screen: If you are at the end of a row that is above an incomplete row and you press down it will skip the incomplete row and jump to the next full row; which opens another issue. (see below)
When sorted by goals: The cursor will remember its position in the row of the goal grouping and will return to that position from wherever it was in the row of the other goal set above/below it. This can cause the cursor to jump around a fair bit depending on the location of its former and new position; a complete left to right and it can skip as much as 2 whole rows. (see above)
Addendum musing about table select: Why wasn't the R Stick mapped to be a pseudo mouse like on the Steam version as a way to select filters, change season, press unmapped doo-dads etc.? Again I have to query about the Ouya/Razer Forge version and it's controller mapping being ported. How is it that a Nexus 7 in a box can have a fully mapped controller UX, but getting the same for a general Android release is like [analogy x metaphor]?
While you can move in 4 axis direction on the store tab/page you cannot actually select anything with a controller. If you do press the A button on one of the table tiles in the store it seems that it will cause more than one of them highlight. The first one I pressed was The Getaway and all of them were highlighted blue, except TX-Sector. This is repeatable.
Oh yeah, the manage tables thing still doesn't work right. I downloaded 3 updated tables: Dr Who, The Getaway and Last Action Hero. Yet, as soon as I opened The Getaway from the table select menu ... Surprise! You have to download a new version of this table, again!! This happened on all 3 of my Android devices.
Hmm, maybe I forgot something. It took me longer to write this out than it do to identify these things.
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