I tried it on my last playthrough and I LOVED it. I really like how it manages the missions, I like the fact that he unlocks mission at the tight time, meaning when the cluster is available, for instance. I used to use an Excel file to track that but now? Your mod takes care of that.
It's easy to understand, it cleans the journal; it sorts the mission and more. So yeah, I will endorse and recommend that mod.
Thanks a lot, congratulations and keep them coming!! Kudos.
I noticed that your mod is still a work in progress, so I would like to share some ideas. I'm something of a mod maker myself (not for Mass Effect though) so I understand how little other people's suggestions usually impact on outcome, but I'll try to paragon persuade you, please hear me out.
It's quite difficult for me to recommend this mod to other people if they never played ME3: because it requires to check the abbreviations on the mod webpage, or at least to be familiar with each quest. All in all I don't think it immersive. I humbly suggest a few changes to the current system summary. Please take a look at this example:
* Priority: Sur'Kesh Deliver: Cerberus Cyphers Investigate: Dr. Bryson Investigate: Blue Suns Investigate: Barla Von Recover*: Biotic Amp Interfaces Scan: Prototype Components (Ismar Frontier) Scan: Pillars of Strength (Kite's Nest) Pending: Book of Plenix * Priority: Eden Prime Deliver: Alien Medi-Gel Formula Failed: Resistance Movement
I suppose the list requires some explanation, so here we go: - The main idea is to keep categorizing missions by activity. - The second main idea is to keep all the useful information on front, and hide or move anything else to the end - Full names are better than abbreviations — it's more immersive and still functional in terms of sorting. I'm not sure if there are many lines that would be out of boundaries. Worth checking out though. - Current names are obviously not adamant, you are free to suggest other versions. Maybe "Secondary" instead of "Investigate" and "On Hold" or "Postponed" instead of "Pending". - Separate Scanning from Recovery missions — these are different aspects of the game. Change both to "Deliver" when picked though, as this activity is identical for both. - Move location names to the end of a line, or may be drop some of them if not all: specific location names aren't always necessary, especially since you added Shadow Broker Intel for the most of "Scan"/"Recover" quests (God bless you). Maybe retain names for some Scan missions only. As for Recovery missions, there as not too many of those — you can just double-check all the available ones before you run a mission. - In case of closed missions, the "Failed" prefix should be enough. No need to change prefixes for successful quests, as they grey out anyway. - Is there a need to sort missions by DLC ? Personally I'm not sure. - For N7 missions I'd suggest either "Dropzone" as the name of the type, or "Firebase", as they are called in multiplayer — these are mostly multiplayer maps anyway, looks like a good resemblance. - "zzz" in "Pending" missions will automatically place them below everything else. But what about changing font color to a middle yellow-grey for specific lines? If color coding is a thing in ME, there is a chance it could be used for sorting — I made something similar in Starbound, for example. Otherwise, "zzz" is fine too. - The color coding thing goes for Priority missions as well, it could help getting rid of the asterisk. Changing color by one digit could be sufficient to sort, a no one would see the difference in color.
- I also saw some menu lists with icons in ME -- could this work for Mission Summary as well? Could you add different icons for each line? If so, it would be nice to have icons for specific categories next to flashing "new" icons, like this: ⭐* Priority: ... 📦 Deliver: ... 🔍 Recover: ... 💬 Investigate: ... 🌌 Scan: ... 💤 Pending: ... ✅(Any finished) ❌ Failed: ... The "N7" icon for "Dropzones"/"Firebases" I mentioned above.
If you're interested, I could try to either look for, or maybe even draw some icons so you can add them.
In any case, your mod is currently one of the must haves for ME3 in my list, I can't even describe how useful it is for me. I just want to share my thoughts in hope to make it even better. Thank you for your contribution anyways👍 (Pardon my English, I'm not a native speaker)
Hey! Thanks for the feedback, and sorry for the delayed answer.
It's quite difficult for me to recommend this mod to other people if they never played ME3: because it requires to check the abbreviations on the mod webpage, or at least to be familiar with each quest.
I don't really understand nor agree with this. Anyone who installs a mod should anyway probably read the mod page first, even (especially?) if they've never played the game before. No need to be familiar with each quest. I don't think that the end result with my mod is perfect... but if it's difficult to recommend, it means that the vanilla journal is better... which idk.
For the rest, I'm not super satisfied with the [C], or zzz, etc either. Maybe having the full word like Deliver would be nicer, as you suggest. I'll keep that in mind and might have a look at the feasibility if/when I get back into updating this mod. But yeh, I did consider that kind of possibility at the time... and although I don't remember exactly what were the main reasons for my choice in the end, there were some reasons. If it means removing the planet name, some info is lost (even if it's the description, that requires more effort, some people would see it a plus others a minus). I also tried to keep mission names close to the vanilla ones, so it's easier to google.
As for the icons, it might be possible, not sure... but if it is, it would be a whole lot of other things to deal with. Here, I modified the quest definitions and the text lines, and it was already a lot of work. But I can't just add icons in the text lines. It would be necessary to go into the UI stuff in flash, which is possible to some extent but extremely messy, very few ME modders have even tried to do that kind of stuff. And then probably necessary to add new variables into the quest definitions so that the UI scripts can detect what kind of quest each one is, no idea how I would even go about that tbh.
For me, I see Scope40K's point about needing to consult the mod page for the symbol meaning if you forget. Though I do find the abbreviations more satisfying than full words, so I'm fine if it remains as is.
And while I initially didn't understand their "immersion" argument, I actually do think they have a point in regards to DLC missions. Especially in LE, I personally don't like being reminded the content is technically seperate from the main game, so I could do without the -DLC- symbols.
As for the icons, it might be possible, not sure... but if it is, it would be a whole lot of other things to deal with.
Does the game's font support utf-8 symbols? If yes, it could be possible to use, for example, ★ (U+2605) for priority missions, 🚚 (U+1F69A) for deliveries etc.
Just wanted to say thanks so much for this mod! I was beginning to despair that I'd never finish the side missions because they were just so hard to track, this is a literal game changer
This is how the journal should have shipped in my opinion. Lore friendly in places, and cuts down on a massive chunk of time running around in circles on the citadel between every single mission to ensure I don't actually miss anything. 10/10 will never play me3 without this again. Outstanding work.
103 comments
I tried it on my last playthrough and I LOVED it. I really like how it manages the missions, I like the fact that he unlocks mission at the tight time, meaning when the cluster is available, for instance. I used to use an Excel file to track that but now? Your mod takes care of that.
It's easy to understand, it cleans the journal; it sorts the mission and more. So yeah, I will endorse and recommend that mod.
Thanks a lot, congratulations and keep them coming!! Kudos.
Yeh it's one of these mods that I could not not use anymore... I thought it would be more popular, maybe people missed it or smth.
It's quite difficult for me to recommend this mod to other people if they never played ME3: because it requires to check the abbreviations on the mod webpage, or at least to be familiar with each quest. All in all I don't think it immersive. I humbly suggest a few changes to the current system summary. Please take a look at this example:
* Priority: Sur'Kesh
Deliver: Cerberus Cyphers
Investigate: Dr. Bryson
Investigate: Blue Suns
Investigate: Barla Von
Recover*: Biotic Amp Interfaces
Scan: Prototype Components (Ismar Frontier)
Scan: Pillars of Strength (Kite's Nest)
Pending: Book of Plenix
* Priority: Eden Prime
Deliver: Alien Medi-Gel Formula
Failed: Resistance Movement
I suppose the list requires some explanation, so here we go:
- The main idea is to keep categorizing missions by activity.
- The second main idea is to keep all the useful information on front, and hide or move anything else to the end
- Full names are better than abbreviations — it's more immersive and still functional in terms of sorting. I'm not sure if there are many lines that would be out of boundaries. Worth checking out though.
- Current names are obviously not adamant, you are free to suggest other versions. Maybe "Secondary" instead of "Investigate" and "On Hold" or "Postponed" instead of "Pending".
- Separate Scanning from Recovery missions — these are different aspects of the game. Change both to "Deliver" when picked though, as this activity is identical for both.
- Move location names to the end of a line, or may be drop some of them if not all: specific location names aren't always necessary, especially since you added Shadow Broker Intel for the most of "Scan"/"Recover" quests (God bless you). Maybe retain names for some Scan missions only. As for Recovery missions, there as not too many of those — you can just double-check all the available ones before you run a mission.
- In case of closed missions, the "Failed" prefix should be enough. No need to change prefixes for successful quests, as they grey out anyway.
- Is there a need to sort missions by DLC ? Personally I'm not sure.
- For N7 missions I'd suggest either "Dropzone" as the name of the type, or "Firebase", as they are called in multiplayer — these are mostly multiplayer maps anyway, looks like a good resemblance.
- "zzz" in "Pending" missions will automatically place them below everything else. But what about changing font color to a middle yellow-grey for specific lines? If color coding is a thing in ME, there is a chance it could be used for sorting — I made something similar in Starbound, for example. Otherwise, "zzz" is fine too.
- The color coding thing goes for Priority missions as well, it could help getting rid of the asterisk. Changing color by one digit could be sufficient to sort, a no one would see the difference in color.
- I also saw some menu lists with icons in ME -- could this work for Mission Summary as well? Could you add different icons for each line? If so, it would be nice to have icons for specific categories next to flashing "new" icons, like this:
⭐* Priority: ...
📦 Deliver: ...
🔍 Recover: ...
💬 Investigate: ...
🌌 Scan: ...
💤 Pending: ...
✅(Any finished)
❌ Failed: ...
The "N7" icon for "Dropzones"/"Firebases" I mentioned above.
If you're interested, I could try to either look for, or maybe even draw some icons so you can add them.
In any case, your mod is currently one of the must haves for ME3 in my list, I can't even describe how useful it is for me. I just want to share my thoughts in hope to make it even better. Thank you for your contribution anyways👍
(Pardon my English, I'm not a native speaker)
I don't really understand nor agree with this. Anyone who installs a mod should anyway probably read the mod page first, even (especially?) if they've never played the game before. No need to be familiar with each quest. I don't think that the end result with my mod is perfect... but if it's difficult to recommend, it means that the vanilla journal is better... which idk.
For the rest, I'm not super satisfied with the [C], or zzz, etc either. Maybe having the full word like Deliver would be nicer, as you suggest. I'll keep that in mind and might have a look at the feasibility if/when I get back into updating this mod. But yeh, I did consider that kind of possibility at the time... and although I don't remember exactly what were the main reasons for my choice in the end, there were some reasons. If it means removing the planet name, some info is lost (even if it's the description, that requires more effort, some people would see it a plus others a minus). I also tried to keep mission names close to the vanilla ones, so it's easier to google.
As for the icons, it might be possible, not sure... but if it is, it would be a whole lot of other things to deal with. Here, I modified the quest definitions and the text lines, and it was already a lot of work. But I can't just add icons in the text lines. It would be necessary to go into the UI stuff in flash, which is possible to some extent but extremely messy, very few ME modders have even tried to do that kind of stuff. And then probably necessary to add new variables into the quest definitions so that the UI scripts can detect what kind of quest each one is, no idea how I would even go about that tbh.
And while I initially didn't understand their "immersion" argument, I actually do think they have a point in regards to DLC missions. Especially in LE, I personally don't like being reminded the content is technically seperate from the main game, so I could do without the -DLC- symbols.
I love everything else about the mod though.
If yes, it could be possible to use, for example, ★ (U+2605) for priority missions, 🚚 (U+1F69A) for deliveries etc.