Remove rendering method selector from main editor interface

[AdriaandeJongh]

Describe the project you are working on

What's relevant to this proposal is that I'm a professional game developer that works on game projects for more than 6 months.

Describe the problem or limitation you are having in your project

godotengine/godot#103016 triggered me to make this proposal. The rendering method selector is taking up valuable screen / top bar real estate that I personally rather use for custom tools around running my game. I never (and never will) use the selector to switch between rendering methods mid-project, because it's a project setting that – at least for larger projects – is determined once and then worked with.

Here's a screenshot of one (albeit small) custom editor plugin that is being 'pushed' away by the rendering method selector:

Describe the feature / enhancement and how it helps to overcome the problem or limitation

Remove the selector.

The rendering method selector is rightfully part of the 'create new project' dialog, and can later be changed through the project settings (under Rendering > Renderer). These two places to change the rendering method are more than sufficient.

If I understand the PR and the proposal to add this selector correctly (here: #5979) the main reason for adding this selector is debugging what renderer was used when looking at screenshots. This is an outdated argument because the Help > Copy System Info, which is a mandatory copy / paste for every issue report, already contains this information.

If you're not convinced of my above reasoning and still think it's useful to have the rendering method be somewhere in screenshots of the editor, then perhaps the rendering method and underlying driver can be added to the label at the right bottom corner of the Bottom Panel so that it says 4.3.stable mobile (vk) or something.

However, this would take up valuable real estate in the bottom panel, and so we're back at square one. I propose to simply remove it and leave it in project settings where it belongs.

Describe how your proposal will work, with code, pseudo-code, mock-ups, and/or diagrams

Remove the selector.

If this enhancement will not be used often, can it be worked around with a few lines of script?

I could add an editor plugin to every project I create and hide the selector myself.

Is there a reason why this should be core and not an add-on in the asset library?

As far as I know, there are no good reasons for any game developer to continuously switch between rendering methods. So if this applies to every game developer, then perhaps core should be adjusted.

[Zireael07]

This is an outdated argument because the Help > Copy System Info, which is a mandatory copy / paste for every issue report, already contains this information.

This is only helpful when you're making an issue report. Often issues are noticed in your own gameplay or looking at people's tutorials/videos.

The selector function going might be a good idea indeed, but the DISPLAY needs to stay, and stay somewhere prominent. Either where it is now, or down at the bottom next to Godot version string?

[Calinou]

I can confirm what @Zireael07 is saying here. It's quite common for me to help out users on the forum, Discord or even look at YouTube videos and notice something wrong. Knowing which rendering method (and driver) is used makes troubleshooting a lot faster, much like knowing the Godot version. Not having to ask users which rendering method/driver they are using saves round-trip time that can be spent figuring out the problem instead 🙂

I think a good middleground is to go for the solution proposed by bruvzg where the rendering method and driver is displayed as a small hint next to the version number (e.g. using small text or an icon). As a bonus, this ensures any screenshot with the version number visible also has the rendering method/driver visible. We still need to be careful as to not make it too wide, as width in the bottom panel is limited by the window width.

Edit: Pull request opened: godotengine/godot#103042

[Zireael07]

Yeah I wrote my comment before seeing bruvzg's comment in the other issue. The colorcoded dot is a good solution

[arkology]

The colorcoded dot is a good solution

Points against it:

1. Colourblindness
2. Abstract symbol will not be better then text (especially if someone decides to make a photo of screen, lol)
3. May (will) work bad with different themes

[Calinou]

@arkology Indeed, this is why I went for a middleground solution in godotengine/godot#103042 where text is used to denote the rendering driver. However, we can only fit so much information within a 16×16 icon, so we can't denote both the rendering driver and the rendering method within the icon (except by changing its color as I did).

[Zireael07]

It should be possible to pick colors that are not a colorblindness issue (or use a single color that varies in luminance instead)

[realkotob]

This would be a massive improvement. Changing the renderer is not done often enough to warrant being there and an icon with a hint is much better for reporting and debugging purposes.