Serious Suggestion for the Mouse Wheel (ZOOM) in the Tech Tree...

from GalCiv2 Forums
I have a suggestion for zooming in and out with the mouse wheel in the tech tree...

Basically I am a digital artist. I use many programs. Photoshop Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc...

For many years I have also used a program called Paint Shop Pro. I tend to use version 7.0 for a 'light' program that doesn't take up a lot of system resources to run. Well... (this DOES all apply to a point I am getting to)... In Paint Shop Pro version 7 (and latter versions too I believe), there is a function of the mouse wheel that is EXTREMELY organic and practical...

The mouse wheel is used by the program to zoom in and out. Scroll forward to zoom in, backwards to zoom out. Sounds simple… But what makes it phenomenal and indispensable is the specific nature of the zoom in function... Basically the program will take into account where the mouse pointer is located on the screen and use it as a center point for zooming in. So whenever you zoom in, wherever your mouse pointer is located, it will zoom into that direct area. If you zoom out, move the pointer over another area/location and zoom back in it will re-center the zoom area to where the pointer was located. The zoom always remains in the center of the cursor.

This would be EXTREMELY helpful in the GalCiv2 tech tree... You would be able to zoom in and out without needing to scroll around or drag the screen around. Just hover the mouse pointer over the spacific tech you want to see (or the branch) scroll the wheel inwards and viola! It will zoom right into what you are looking at. If anyone is not understanding what I mean get a copy of Paint Shop Pro and just open a large graphic and try zomming in and out with a mouse wheel... You will get what I mean right away. It astounds me that Adobe doesn’t implement this feature into Photoshop as it is such an absolutely natural way of moving around the screen…. In fact when I use Photoshop I want to toss my computer out the window because it does not have this feature.

If this (simple?) modification was made to the mouse wheel zoom, it would really make the tech tree an extension of the hand (even in it's split screen incarnation). Hell, it could even be applied to the general game map.

Just a thought.
5,053 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Cool idea. Would help me in the Overall game map.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Zooming in on the mousepointer is also what Supreme Commander does. Extremely helpful for quickly changing your focus. I'm all for incorporating this in GalCiv2.
Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes, please! Scrolling the tech tree could definitely be better.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes sounds very cool. It's true that the tech tree is a bit annoying when you zoom out : I always have to recenter the screen. This small tweak can be a huge improvement for the game.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, this is a great idea, Visio works this way as well.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I really like this idea. Not because of the tech tree but because of the main map potential.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Quite a few programs do this, I also agree it would work very well in Gal Civ II.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hell yes, I've wanted to see this ever since playing the supreme commander beta.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I really like this idea. Not because of the tech tree but because of the main map potential.
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Seconded, would be immensely useful on [snicker] immense maps.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes, definitely.

I have a sort of similar request. When I click "Find" the screen only centers on the ship if it's currently off-screen. If it's onscreen but not centered it does just highlights it, which isn't helpful since if I knew where the ship was I wouldn't be trying to freaking FIND it in the first place. Highlighting just isn't enough with a high res screen, zoomed out enough so there might be dozens of ships onscreen at once.

So I either have to scroll away or zoom in closer to get the bloody thing offscreen and click FIND again, or enable skip moves left from autopilot, neither of which is very acceptable.