Transform your Final Fantasy XIV gameplay experience with a fully customizable toolbar that unifies all your essential HUD elements into a single uniform interface. Effortlessly track quest objectives, gathering nodes, FATEs, and more with 3D world markers. Designed for complete modularity, Umbra lets you tailor every aspect of your toolbar and markers to match your unique playstyle, ensuring a seamless integration with your existing UI. Dive into a new level of convenience and customization with Umbra!
Visit Umbra's website for more information.
Since Umbra has support for "widgets" that can represent anything, it is very easy to let this plugin turn into an omni-plugin that can replace a lot of existing plugins out there. I want to emphasize that this is not the goal of Umbra but is instead meant to streamline and de-clutter the native user-interface of the game by providing a toolbar which you (the player) can customize and organize how you see fit.
It is a daunting and difficult task to find a good balance in deciding which features to implement and which not to, while keeping as many users happy as possible. Besides that, there is also the burden of maintaining the plugin and keeping it up-to-date with the game's patches. The more features that are added, the more work it is to maintain the plugin.
Having said that, I want to make it clear that I am open to feature requests, but I will be very selective in what I choose to implement. I've compiled the following list of guidelines to help you and myself in deciding what features are worth implementing and in which priority.
- Please check if it has already been reported on the github issues page. If not, please report it in the support-channel on the Dalamud Discord server first.
- If an issue is already reported on github, please read the comments to see if there is a workaround to your specific issue.
- If there is already an existing official Dalamud plugin that is specifically designed for the feature that you are requesting, it is likely that it is not going to be implemented.
- If there is a plugin that is not official (third-party) but is well-maintained and has a large user-base, it is also likely that it is not going to be implemented. These plugins typically do not adhere to the same guidelines as the official Dalamud plugins and Umbra does need to adhere to those.
- If the feature you are requesting would be "automating" a task that is typically done manually by the player, it is not going to be implemented. Dalamud has very strict policies regarding automation and is typically laid out as "one input, one output". This means that a single button press should not result in multiple actions being performed.
- Although Umbra is flexible in what it can represent, feature-requests must fit within the design (both visually and technically) of Umbra. This means that a widget should typically represent one or at most two pieces of information and may open a popup window or menu to display more information.
- Feature request to modify the layout or behavior of the toolbar are likely not going to be implemented if they introduce behavioral changes that affects existing configurations of users. Typical examples of this are requests to change the way how widgets are aligned or how the toolbar is dynamically resized based on the widgets that are shown.
- Feature requests that are significantly complex to implement or require refactoring of large portions of the codebase, such as additional toolbars or widget columns, are not implemented. Since Umbra is an officially supported Dalamud plugin, it also means that every change needs to be reviewed by the "plugin approval committee" (PAC). Since large changes are likely to stall the review process, it also inherently delays the implementation of more pressing bug-fixes and smaller features.
- Feature requests of Widgets or World Markers that do not fit within the current technical architecture of Umbra are likely not going to be implemented. A typical example of this would be a custom menu widget that allows the user to add an arbitrary number of menu items. The configuration system of widgets only allows for a static list of configuration options, which means that the number of menu items must be fixed. This in turn would require a complete overhaul of the configuration system of widgets, which is not feasible.
- As an addendum on (4), please familiarize yourself with Umbra and how it works before requesting a feature. Since Umbra is a very large plugin, there is a high chance that the feature you are requesting is already present in the plugin, but you are not aware of it.
- Umbra has support for custom button widgets that can be used to invoke a single chat-command. If the feature you are requesting can be made using these widgets and existing plugins, it is likely that it is not going to be implemented.
- To ensure Umbra does not completely turn into an omni-plugin, it is strongly encouraged to find creative ways to let Umbra work together with other plugins to achieve the desired functionality. A perfect example of this is creating custom menus using QoLBar and Umbra's Custom Button widget to toggle the visibility of your QoLBar menu.
- Please check the github issues page first to see if the feature you wish to request is already planned or being worked on. If there is an existing "issue" page for it, and it has a green "Feature Request"-label, it means that it has been "accepted" and is likely to be implemented in a future update.
- If you cannot find an existing issue, please check the "closed" issues as well to see if it has been requested before and has been rejected. If it has been rejected, it is very likely that it is not going to be implemented. Please do not create a new issue for it.
- If you are unsure if a feature is planned or being worked on, please ask in the support-channel on the Dalamud Discord server.