There seems to be a way to use custom loading screens without worrying about the patcher overwriting it (or the need to bypass the patcher).
Create a folder named "loadscreens" in your default UI folder. You'll have this:
c:\....\everquest\uifiles\default\loadscreens
and put your custom loadscreen.jpg file in there.
Edit: There seems to be several options for using different ones too. In eqclient.ini there's an entry "LoadScreenMode". Here's what they do.
LoadScreenMode=
0 - no load screen
1 - use load screen (loadscreen*.jpg)
2 - zone specific load screen (short zone name. eg: "qeynos2.jpg")
3 - class specific load screen (short class name. eg: "nec*.jpg")
4 - cycle load screens (cycle through different load screens in the folder - *.jpg)
An alternative to editing your eqclient.ini is to edit your EQUI_OptionsWindow.xml (thanks DKAA!) and add these lines marked with +'s:
Code:
<Combobox item="ODP_LoadScreenCombobox">
<ScreenID>ODP_LoadScreenCombobox</ScreenID>
<DrawTemplate>WDT_Inner</DrawTemplate>
<Location>
<X>272</X>
<Y>8</Y>
</Location>
<Size>
<CX>105</CX>
<CY>24</CY>
</Size>
<TextColor>
<R>255</R>
<G>255</G>
<B>255</B>
</TextColor>
<ListHeight>200</ListHeight>
<Button>BDT_Combo</Button>
<Style_Border>true</Style_Border>
<Choices>None</Choices>
<Choices>Loading Art</Choices>
+ <Choices>Zone Specific</Choices>
+ <Choices>Class Specific</Choices>
+ <Choices>Cycle</Choices>
</Combobox>
Save, reload UI and voila.