iOS v1.2.2 Landscape-based everything.

[MadScience2006]

I don't know if some kind of poll was ever taken of who played portrait or landscape...

That being said, I am one who plays strictly in portrait mode on the iPad and the new menu system and tables are all geared towards landscape mode. I have to keep fiddling with the portrait/landscape mode switch to get the screen to stay in portrait mode. The main table selection screen is FIXED in landscape mode. OK fine, I can deal with that and look at everything sideways. But despite the portrait/landscape mode switch being *unlocked*, I still have to toggle the switch on, then off again for the screen to rotate to portrait. This is not going to be fun.

Is this a bug or a feature?

 

[Jeff Strong]

They're working on a portrait mode as well.

 

[MadScience2006]

*Thank God*...and thanks for the info Jeff!

 

[Fungi]

Anybody have a trick to fix this? I used to be able to change the orientation right after downloading TNG. Now it won't change at all. It won't even flip upsidedown from one landscape position to the other, much less portrait.

 

[MadScience2006]

Fungi,

Keep the orientation switch unlocked and rotating the iPad after a table is loaded should rotate the screen. Be sure and verify the switch is set to lock/unlock screen orientation rather than mute/unmute. The setting is under Setttings/General/Use side switch to: and set to Lock Rotation. As of now, the table selection menu is fixed in landscape mode and there's no getting around that (for now at least).

 

[Stormchild]

Yeah, the new UI sucks pretty bad. Really hoping those awful icons are just placeholders. So far it's much worse than what we had before, but I'm sure it will get sorted out eventually. Can't imagine why it was launched half-baked, but whatever; in the end, the tables are what matter.

 

[Fungi]

Fungi,

Keep the orientation switch unlocked and rotating the iPad after a table is loaded should rotate the screen. Be sure and verify the switch is set to lock/unlock screen orientation rather than mute/unmute. The setting is under Setttings/General/Use side switch to: and set to Lock Rotation. As of now, the table selection menu is fixed in landscape mode and there's no getting around that (for now at least).

So far so good. Thanks!

 

[haj]

Good to hear that they're working on portrait mode. But, have they ever even imagined how it'd be like when there're 50 tables? It'd be so uncomfortable to swipe and swipe and swipe to find a table to play. And I understand the menu's got new functions but now you have to click 3 times!! to just to start a table, that is so inefficient. Aside from so-so graphics, menu usability is in need of rethinking. Be it simple and clean please. Just make a table list with small icon along with name, place a "play" button and other one or two buttons, and let me play instant when I click the "play" button.

 

[Worf]

I hope they fix the orientation bug - I hold my iPad with the home button on the left - if you use a case with a cover, it means the hinge is on top and the end can be grasped by my hand and not flop around (like it does the other way around).

Sometimes it rotates to the other landscape oritentation, most of the time it doesn't. During gameplay it's not a problem, just at the menu screen.

 

[Soluzar]

I'm not a fan of the landscape layout either. I could live with just a grid of logos or backglass images just like you get on something like the recent Zen games.

 

[Björn Wessman]

Farsight, please hire a UI developer. This is one of the worst User interfaces I've ever experienced

 

[Sean]

I'm also hoping for portrait mode to return in the next update and whilst I can see the appeal of a full-body image of the table above a logo, I think we have too many tables for scrolling now, so I'd rather see a grid layout, or at least the option for one. Maybe a grid, tap once then you get the full body image along with options to set pre-game?

 

[Lucabery]

landscape mode is terrible!

 

[Kolchak357]

I only play in landscape. But I still don't like the menu system. Why can't it be simpler and cleaner? Why am I doing all this swiping and tapping?
On the bright side, really digging STTNG. Plays a lot like the real thing. Damn you outlanes!

 

[canuck]

Portrait mode player here, i'm regressing back to the older version. Portrait allows more of the table to be on the screen.

 

[Iain]

Landscape menu is terrible, also very annoying to have to keep turning around the iPad from landscape to portrait once I start the game.

The original menu was far better imo

 

[MadScience2006]

Landscape menu is terrible, also very annoying to have to keep turning around the iPad from landscape to portrait once I start the game.

It wouldn't be so annoying if it automatically rotated along with the screen. As it is now you either have to force the rotation by either:

A. Rotate the screen from portrait to landscape, then back to portrait again after the game starts
B. Use the side switch to force the rotation by unlocking, then locking it again (or something similar)

 

[Craig Grannell]

@MadScience2006: If that works. I couldn't get the new Star Trek table into portrait at all. With older tables, I could get them into portrait by starting the table, then twisting it back and forth a couple of times. The entire decision boggles the mind. The front-end interface was pretty poor anyway, and so I was glad when I read on this forum that it was being reworked. But this current effort is almost akin to a sick joke, turning something that was slow, buggy and inefficient into something that's borderline unusable, slow, buggy and inefficient.

To some extent, I think these guys are trying too hard to be clever. Animation (which stutters)! Music (which usually plays the wrong thing for whatever table you've selected)! Gestures (which become annoyingly tiresome when you've bought every single table and have to swipe swipe swipe swipe swipe swipe…)! I don't think they should necessarily be going for Google Maps-style simplicity, but there's got to be a better way for people to access their tables than this botched animated mess.

This kind of thing wouldn't usually bother me, but this isn't some 69p app that people have downloaded and can easily discard; it's an investment, and something many people have spent a reasonable sum of cash on and many hours playing.

 

[MadScience2006]

@MadScience2006: If that works. I couldn't get the new Star Trek table into portrait at all.

I believe I've found the trick. Rotate the screen to portrait (whichever way, side switch or physical rotation) *at the table's menu*. It won't rotate to portrait *if you've started a game* and it's in landscape. If you use the side switch, you may have to toggle it a couple of times to get it to rotate.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I believe I've found the trick. Rotate the screen to portrait (whichever way, side switch or physical rotation) *at the table's menu*. It won't rotate to portrait *if you've started a game* and it's in landscape. If you use the side switch, you may have to toggle it a couple of times to get it to rotate.

Also, for the tables with Pro Mode, if you have the operator's menu active, I've found it seems to work more consistently if you wait for the ROM to finish loading before trying to change orientation. Your mileage may vary.