User Interface

From Ymirheim Wiki

A guide to interaction with the game using the graphical user interface.

Common UI Elements

The game UI consists of widgets and windows. When a window opens, screen reader will read its title and the first control within the window will become focused. You can move focus to the next control within the window by pressing Tab, and to the previous one with Shift+Tab. A window can usually be closed by pressing the close button in the upper right corner of the window, or by pressing the Escape key. A lot of controls react to the arrow keys, letting you to change the value in the control and the Enter key to activate the control (for example, to press a button) or to confirm the selection within the control.

Lobby

Lobby screens appear when the game client starts and allow you to log in, select game world, and manage your characters.

Every lobby screen also has the "Options" button located at the upper right corner of the screen that opens a small version of the Main Menu, that only has Video, Audio, and Game options in it.

World Selection

World selection appears right after you log in or exit to lobby from the in-game main menu and lets you choose the game world. Each world is a completely separate instance of the game. Characters created on one world are not available on another. Characters from different worlds cannot communicate with each other in any way.

World selection screen appears as a window in the center of the screen with a list of worlds. Each world can have one of the next statuses:

  • Good — The world server is ready to accept new players.
  • OK — The world server is experiencing high load and can be marked as "Full" soon.
  • Full — The world server is overloaded and cannot accept new players.
  • Offline — The world server is offline or in the process of updating.

You can select the world either by clicking it in the list, or by using the Up/Down keys on the keyboard. The first world on the list is always selected by default. There are two buttons at the bottom of the window: "Select" allows you to enter the selected world; "Exit" lets you exit the game. There's also a "Refresh" button in the upper right corner of the window, you can refresh the server statuses by pressing it.

After you've chosen the game world, you would be presented with the Character Selection screen, or the Character Creation screen if you don't have any characters created on the selected world yet.

Character Selection

On the character selection screen, there is a character list window in the top left corner of the screen that consist of a list of characters, and control buttons under it. You can change the selected character either by clicking on its name on the list, or by using the Up/Down keys on the keyboard. You can navigate between the control buttons with Tab and Shift+Tab. To activate the button, you can either click it or press Enter when the button is active (focused). Once a character is selected, it's 3D model appears in the middle of the screen. The character that you've logged in with last time will always be pre-selected.

"Enter the world" button lets you log into the game world with the selected character. "Create" button bring you to the character creation screen. "Delete" button lets you delete the character. Please note that once you character reaches level 20, you would have to wait 3 days before the character gets deleted permanently. During these three days you will be able to change your mind and restore the character (the "Delete" button gets replaced with the "Restore" button in this case). The "Change the world" button brings you back to the world selection screen, and "Exit" button closes the game.

Character Creation

When you create a character, you're able to set its name, gender, basic appearance options, and weapon name and title. These options can be set using a window in the upper left corner of the screen, which consists of the following (in order from top to bottom):

  1. Name — an input field (focused by default). The character name cannot be changed afterwards.
  2. Gender — a dropdown option that lets you switch between Male and Female options. The following appearance options change depending on the selected gender. Clicking the dropdown box opens the dropdown menu under it. Screen reader will read each option when you hover a mouse over it and/or when you click it to select. You can also use arrow keys on the keyboard to change to the next/previous option.
  3. Hair Color — when you press a color box, another small window will appear to the right of it with a color palette displayed as a 4x8 grid of color swatches. Clicking on a swatch will change the selected color and will also trigger the screen reader to read the color name. Similarly to the dropdowns, you can use the arrow keys to loop over the options with the keyboard.
  4. Hair Type — a dropdown option that changes the hair style of your character.
  5. Eyebrows — a dropdown option that changes the visual style of the eyebrows of your character, allowing you to also alter the default facial expression.
  6. Eye Type — a dropdown option that lets you choose the shape/pattern of the character's eyes.
  7. Eye Color — a color selection box similar to the Hair Color.
  8. "Randomize" button randomly changes the values of the options above (except Name and Gender).

Slightly below the appearance options window there is a weapon name selection button that brings up the Set Weapon Name Dialog (see below) in the middle of the screen. You have to set the name of your weapon (similar to the character name, it cannot be changed later), and the initial title (this one can be changed later). Weapon name input is focused by default when the window opens up. Press Tab to navigate to the title list. You can use the arrow keys to change the selected title.

Once you've set the weapon name, you can press the "Create" button below, or the "Back" button to cancel the character creation and go back to the character list screen.

Channel Selection

When you're entering the world that supports multiple channels, you'll be presented with the channel selection window that appears on the middle of the screen and is very similar to the world selection window (but smaller).

Basic In-Game Screen

Top Panel

Top panel is a widget that appears at the top of the in-game screen and spans the whole width of the screen. The left portion of the top panel contains shortcut buttons to open inventory, equipment, quest windows, etc. The leftmost button allows you to show/hide the top panel (you can also press Backspace to do it). In the center of the top panel you can find the amount of items in your inventory, inventory size, unread mail count, and the amount of money you have in your inventory. The right portion of the top panel displays the current in-game time, weather, and the day of week.

Bottom Panel

The bottom panel is located at the very bottom of the screen and spans the entire screen width. Unlike the top panel, it can't be hidden. On the left of the bottom panel, you can find a few buttons: the Amulet Of Promises shortcut (this button will be inactive until you save at the Kafra) and the button to hide other players on the screen. On the center, you can find your shortcut slots and equipment set icons. There are 12 shortcut slots, you can place skills, items, emotions there to be able to access them quickly by pressing the corresponding hotkey. To the left of the shortcut slots, you can find the shortcut page switcher. There are 10 pages available, making it possible to store 120 different shortcuts and switch between the pages quickly (by pressing the `[` and `]` keys, or by pressing `Ctrl` or `Alt` to access the shortcuts from the previous/next page. To the left of the shortcut page switcher, you can find your stance shortcut slot. When you acquire your stance skill, it will be automatically assigned there and you will be able to activate/deactivate it with the `~` key. You can find your equipment set switcher to the right of the shortcut slots. There are two sets, each consists of a weapon and a shield. You can swap between them by pressing `G`. At the very bottom of the panel you can find two experience bars, each taking half of the panel's width. The left bar is your base experience bar, the right one is your class experience. In the "Gears" skin those experience bars are located under the shortcut slots one on top of another.

Minimap Widget

Minimap widget appears in the upper right corner of the screen, right below the top panel. On the "Gears" skin, this widget is integrated into the right portion of the bottom panel. It displays a small portion of the zone map around your character's location along with direction indicators (North, East, South, West).

On top of the map (or right under it in the "Gears" skin) you can find the zone name and the channel number. If you hover your mouse cursor over the channel number, you can also see your current ping to the server.

You can zoom the minimap in and out with the "+" and "-" buttons on the widget or open the full zone map with the corresponding button.

Quest Widget

The quest widget is located at the lower right section of the screen and displays the objectives of currently active quests. It can display only a single quest at a time, you can switch between the quests with the "<" and ">" buttons on the widget (or by pressing `Ctrl`+`N`). Screen reader will read the contents of the widget each time you do that.

Chat Widget

Chat widget appears on the lower left section of the screen and consists of the general chat (bottom) and system chat (top) sections. There is a history button and the chat options button in between those section. You can also open the chat history window by pressing `Num+` and the chat options window by pressing `Ctrl`+`Num+`. Size of both sections can be adjusted in the chat options. You can also enable a dark semi-transparent background for the general chat there. You can scroll each section of the chat with the corresponding buttons. You can disable certain types of messages from appearing in the chat or enable sound and visual notifications for specific messages in the chat options window. Clicking a sender name in chat copies their name; right-clicking it opens up a context menu. Screen reader reads every message that appears in the chat.

Character Info Widget

Character info appears in the upper left corner of the screen, right below the top panel. It shows your character name, level, small icon, health/mana/rage bars, and a menu button (which brings up a context menu). Clicking the widget makes your character to be selected as the current target. To the right of the character info widget, various icons may appear indicating that some equipment pieces are damaged and need repairing. Right below the widget aura icons may appear, indicating positive or negative effects that apply to your character.

Target Info Widget

This widget appears in the center of the screen right below the top panel. It's only visible when you have a target selected. It displays the available information about your current target, such as name, level, health bar. The health bar is not available for boss monsters and enemy characters. Right below the widget aura icons may appear, indicating positive or negative effects that apply to your target.

Main Menu

Main menu can be opened by pressing `Esc` when there are no windows visible on the screen, or by clicking the cogwheel button in the top panel. It allows you to access the in-game help pages, graphics/audio/controls/game options, or exit to the lobby or exit from the game completely.

Video Settings

Audio Settings

Game Options

Controls

Help Screen

Inventory Window

Inventory window can be opened and closed by clicking the bag button on the top panel or by pressing the `I` key. It appears in the upper left corner of the screen, right below the character info widget. You can find a tile/grid view switch button to the left of the close button. Clicking it toggles between the grid and the list view modes for this window. Right below the window's title bar you can find the sort buttons that allow you to sort your inventory items based on their type. Below that, there is either 5x5 or 1x8 grid of item slots, depending on the selected view mode. Hovering mouse cursor over a slot bring up the item detail panel and makes screen reader read out the name of the item in the slot (or to state that the slot is empty). Single-clicking an item in the slot makes the screen reader read the contents on the item detail panel. Right under the slot grid, you can find the page navigation. You can also use you mouse scroll wheel to loop through the pages. At the bottom of the window, you can find the amount of money you currently have in your inventory.

Equipment Window

Character Stats Window

World Map Window

Skills Window

Emotions Window

Quests Window

Community Window

Party Tab

Party Options

Friendlist Tab

Blacklist Tab

Main Story History Window

Chat History Window

Chat Options Window

Special Screens

Death Screen Window

Quest Board Window

Quest Reward Selection Dialog

Mailbox Window

Auction Window

Enchant Weapon Dialog

Set Weapon Name Dialog

Change Weapon Title Dialog

Change Weapon Type Dialog

Repair Equipment Dialog

Transfer Skills Dialog

Change Class Dialog

Item Shop

Skillbook Shop

Kafra Storage

Trade Dialog

NPC Trade Dialog

Warp Dialog