PLEASE bring back the main menu from pre-15.0!

[Nasty Flytrap]

I just really dont like how the new one looks.

OpenTTD 15.0 02_01_2026 12_00_02.png

(601.42 KiB) Not downloaded yet

Versus my proposed concept art that is effectively just the old one:

Intro screen.png (26.85 KiB) Viewed 1392 times

[Heresy]

My biggest issue with the new menu is mostly the current visual aspect of it.
I think changing it will allow the menu to become more modern at some point, but the current implementation does feel less polished, and gives (at least me) the impression of being a proof of concept.

The separation between the different aspects of the menu is not as good as in the old version:

2026-01-03_211223.png

(988.09 KiB) Not downloaded yet

I tried to rearrange a bit on the menu as a variant of the new menu to increase the separation between the aspects:

openttd_2026-01-03_203251_10px_and_rearrange.png

(594.41 KiB) Not downloaded yet

I also added 10px to each side here, so it becomes a bit thicker than the current menu (attached here for ease of comparing):

openttd_2026-01-03_203251.png

(531.11 KiB) Not downloaded yet

Another aspect is Toyland title game. I don't really mind either way here, as that is easy to "fix" by just replacing the title screen game manually, but I think it would be a nice addition if they had kept the four climate icons, and made it so that choosing a climate would change the background.
It does mean 4x the work for future title competitions if you want to replace all four at the same time, or you could just pick from previous title winners.

Or have an "easter egg" where you can click the OpenTTD title and it changes the background to a random one of all previous title winners, or just random when you start the game/exit to title menu.

[Redirect Left]

I just really dont like how the new one looks.

Yeah, i've no idea why they made the main menu so much thinner, the old one was perfectly fine, and adaptable to the changes they wanted but hey. Changing needless things and ignoring bigger problems is what they do.

I don't mind the toyland background, it might give it some more love which lets be honest it kind of needs. I'm just upset I paid for monitors with excellent color reproduction, so I have literally paid for my eyes to be assaulted in such glorious technicolor. At least I can see the enemy in dark corners in Counter-Strike before they immediately clap me in every cardinal direction possible.

[andythenorth]

Changing needless things and ignoring bigger problems is what they do.

Did you hit your head on every branch when you fell out your tree, or just a few of them?

[Redirect Left]

Did you hit your head on every branch when you fell out your tree, or just a few of them?

I have never climbed a tree in my life. I am not a cat, easy mistake to make though.

[jfs]

The new menu has a very clear separation between the sections:

• Singleplayer (three ways to start a new game, one to load a game, one to view previous highscores)
• Multiplayer (one button)
• Options and content (changing and adding on to the game)

Your idea splits all the "start a new game" buttons up, the menu as released in 15.0 keeps all the buttons that start a new game together. The scenario editor is used to create content, it's not used to start playing singleplayer, so it makes no sense to place it together with the singleplayer buttons.


One thing I will fault it for is being narrow, yes. It actually looks better, I think, when you use a graphics set that's missing sprites, or a translation missing strings, because those warnings will make the entire menu wider.

[Redirect Left]

One thing I will fault it for is being narrow, yes.

If it was to make the game look better on mobiles, it'd have worked quite well at least. So maybe save it in the back pocket for if there's ever an official iPhone/Android port?

[loafdude]

I would also like to voice my disappointment with the new menu in v15

I feel there are a number of issues.

• The height of the buttons varies. There are at least 3 different sizes of buttons
  
  The text is not aligned vertically among the buttons
  
  The images inside the buttons are different sizes
  
  The padding between buttons is extremely narrow
  
  The white-space inside the buttons is very large around the text.

I'm sure someone has put a bunch of thought and work into this.
I don't want to discourage them but I don't think this quality is ready to be merged.

I thought the old menu was quite good.
Why the change?

[Heresy]

You are correct that it does have separation, I mostly rearranged and grouped them in that mockup in terms of (assumed) priority for players, and a slight modernisation as most games tend to have New Game/Load Game/Multiplayer next to eachother.
I removed the small gaps between each single button as that is visually jarring (though that will likely vary per person based on their eyesight etc.), and it helps with grouping.

I am certain it is possible to get very scientific about what is better or worse in terms of accessibility, just figured I'd throw something together in GIMP quickly that at least (for me) is more visually pleasing and not as eye straining.

All in all though, it is still just a menu

[peter1138]

The main menu might look a bit wonky with zBase or aBase. The toyland environment is also pretty broken with them.

Those basesets did not conform to established conventions like sprite sizes, are outdated and nobody is contributing to them any more.

Original TTD, OpenGFX2 and OpenGFX2 Hi Def basesets will give best results and are supported with active development. OpenGFX1 should also be fine but does have less attention, given OpenGFX2 exists.

[odisseus]

Changing needless things and ignoring bigger problems is what they do.

I'd call this "UX testing in production". After all, this is a volunteer project with no budget for proper UX testing.

I hope the main menu (as well as the multiplayer join system) will be reverted in the next release.

[loafdude]

The main menu might look a bit wonky with zBase or aBase. The toyland environment is also pretty broken with them.

Thanks for your response.

I was running aBase and the menu is very poor with this gfx set.
zBase isn't so bad.

Perhaps main menu functionality should not rely on graphics pack selection?
I would consider it critical the menu works properly regardless of any user settings.

[andythenorth]

I hope the main menu ....will be reverted in the next release.

The main menu won't be reverted. It's significantly improved, although issues remain. Those may or may not get addressed.

[ebla71]

The main menu won't be reverted. It's significantly improved, although issues remain. Those may or may not get addressed.

The order of menu items is definitely better than before, but overall, it's really small and both width as well as spacing between the individual menu items could definitely be improved.

The current way, it's "useable" but nothing more - looks like somebody stitched this together without too much care about the overall look and feel on different devices.

Stubbornly insisting that this won't change does not really help much - in particular since it shouldn't be exactly rocket science to try a few different layouts.

Furthermore, as this feature is the first contact new players will make with this game and if it's not very clean in the design, there's a good chance to turn them away without ever trying all the interesting new features.

[peter1138]

Perhaps main menu functionality should not rely on graphics pack selection?
I would consider it critical the menu works properly regardless of any user settings.

The menu does work properly. Button sizes are dependent on the size of the icons shown in the buttons, therefore there is inherently a dependency on the selected graphics pack. This applies to all UI elements.

[andythenorth]

...The current way, it's "useable" but nothing more...

I agree with a lot of what you said

It's uncontroversial that the new main menu needs further improvements.

The old menu needed replaced, whereas the new one was the result of a long and noisy design process from multiple contributors (and non-dev community members), and at some point it just needed to be shipped.

Iterative improvements might be the next phase, and now there's lots of evidence (positive and negative) about how the new menu works for players....that can be used to set a direction for improvements. Super!

[Auge]

Hello

Normally I play with JGRPP where the menu ist still the old one. Because of curiousity about the current discussion I downloaded OpenTTD 15 and opened the game. IMHO the buttons in new menu are well organised even the menu itself looks really unadorned. The grouped buttons could have more than no margin between each other. For me as a single player the menu lacks nothing. All in all it it's nothing I would roll back.

Nothing more to say from my side.

Tschö, Auge

[uzurpator]

There is nothing particularly wrong with the new menu. Personally ( as a UX engineer ) the little problems I see are:

1. The margin of the label on the right side of the button label is not consistent with the margin on the left side of the icon. Most visible ( in English version ) with the "Highscore table".
2. The separation between the button icon and the button label is much wider than the margin.

Personally, I would make it so that the button _width_ would be equal to the width of the longest label + the width of the icon + 3x margin. The separation of icon and label was equal to the margin.

3. "Game Options" I'd change to just "Options", the word 'game' is used in a different context in the same menu twice, so it may be a little confusing.
4. _PERSONAL OPINION_ - I'd push "Play Scenario" and "Play heightmap" into the "New game" sub-menu, to unclutter the main one. Essentially, it would be:

New Game
Load Game
High Scores
[separator]
Multiplayer
[separator]
Scenario Editor
Online Content
[Separator]
Options
Help and Manuals
[Separator]
Exit

[robert357]

The old menu needed replaced[...]

No it didn't. Old menu was, in fact, superior in almost every way. It was distinctive, compact and functional. Current menu looks like in bootleg cheap game, its jarring, its a step backwards. Not to mention we have vertical menu i horizontal space - someone designed it on the phone or what?

The order of the buttons is worse than in old menu that was already mentioned. New game, Heighmap, Scenario... Load game? Loading a save is second most used option, unless you have a lot of time to finish one play at one sitting or don't want play one map longer than once.

Options for AI, Scripts and NewGRFs are now accessible only in new game? More clicks is more fun I guess? We have less buttons yet we got somewhat bigger menu window... That's also something!

Merging game options in one button is the only actually good change, which old menu could benefit the most, why? It creates new space for new button: quick play. It would use last used world options or default ones if none were made before. Editor could go in place of old option button and in place of Editor there could be "Quick play" option which would make redundant climate options actually make useful - select climate, click "quick play" and enjoy the game. This is the only thing old menu was truly lacking and this is what improvements should be done!

Also the background is the least problematic, because it can be changed if someone really dislike Toyland (shame but I don't judge).

[uzurpator]

No it didn't. Old menu was, in fact, superior in almost every way. It was distinctive, compact and functional.

The old menu was just nostalgic for the original TTD main menu. But it had quite a few usability quirks about it. The new menu system still has problems, but it is a step in the right direction.

Current menu looks like in bootleg cheap game,

It, in fact, is bootleg game that costs nothing