I'm a n00b when it comes to looking at the XML code for ui's

I'm currently using the vert 2.2 cannabis skin with T.king's spell bar and book and gem icons.

however due to PoP everytime i zone i get the XML files are not compatiable with the default files blah blah.......

I would like to get rid of this msg ad stop my UI from braeking everytime VI nerf something, if anyone can offer assistance, that'll be gr8.

Close but not quite
 

First, the idea of using a Quartz.xml file is a good one, although it's still necessary sometimes to edit the Animations and Template files.

This new scheme is a better way to use Quartz.xml -- the EQUI.xml file is still self-updating. But there are still some things not fixed by use of Quartz.xml. There are two I can think of:

1) Some objects can't be replaced. Verant could probably fix this if they really wanted to.

For instance A_SpellBookSlot is used in the spell book but that word does not appear anywhere in the file EQUI_SpellBookWnd.xml. To make changes to A_SpellBookSlot I have to actually edit EQUI_Animations.xml. There is no way to make the spellbook use an object defined in Quartz.xml instead.

Another example is A_ClassAnim08/ A_ClassAnim09/ A_ClassAnim10. If you want to have a different custom animation loaded based on which character is being played you must edit the EQUI_Animations.xml file. There's no way to put a custom animation in Quartz.xml and have it used instead of A_ClassAnim08.

2) Sometimes windows are changed, not just new windows added. For example, the Stat column that was added. It just wouldn't work to include ..\default\BazaarSearchWnd.xml in your custom bazaar window. Someday they'll add a new required control to the player window, or the inventory window, and on that day every mod everywhere will break.

In general mods don't break per se when a modified window is patched- they just get that annoying error message.

It's true that certain things can't be modified without changing animations- cursor size and class animation frames are the most annoying ones. But most mods don't even change them anyway; why not make the effort to avoid modifying files that *will* break the UI?

I think the answer to that is, basically, because it's there.

What I mean is, if only modify the files that won't break, and only in ways that won't break, you're limiting your creativity. Now, there's nothing wrong with doing simple changes, just moving around the data that's already there - that's what I've done with my personal UI. But some folks want to do more... and SOE included the files for them to change, giving them the ability to stretch the boundaries a little. Look at all the amazing UI's that have been created, that require changes to "breakable" files. It may not be "high" art, but it IS art, in my opinion, made all the more attractive by it's practical usefulness.

I have yet to find a UI that can't be rearranged to make it as unbreakable as any custom UI can be. As I've said multiple times, the only things you can't change without modifying core shared files are cursor size and the number of frames in a class animation. Now you can do some gorgeous things if you do modify those- see t.king's class animations- but if you choose not to modify them, why on earth would you not make the effort, as I said above, to make your mod patch-resistant?

the only problem I had had with this method is not being ablew to use SIDLWIDL to preview the windows before I go in game. It just doesn't seem the mod the same way EQ does.

With SIDLWIDL, you should usually work from a backup directory anyway; you can just use the old-format EQUI (with all <include>s typed out) in that directory. You'll need to update that file for yourself when there's a patch, but if your play directory and the files you upload use the new method, you won't have to update them; you'll still be able to play and so will the others using your UI.

true enough :) I just mainly use it for a quick preview to make sure I have the pieces aligned. GUess it woulnd't hurt to do it that way.

Sorry to bump and 8 month old thread but hey, it's still a good thread.

I never have worried too much about "patch proofing" my UI since I just update it the morning of the patch and people can grab the new version without too much hassle. But obviously the less often it breaks, the better.

I already put my custom animations in a seperate file since it makes for cleaner code than defining essentially the same item in 3 or 4 different windows.

But I haven't been able to get away from modifying the animations and templates files. I use my own custom borders, as well as modifications to BlueIconBackground and RedIconBackground.

The borders wouldn't be a problem to move, though I'd have to change the method I use (I actually replace the WDT_Rounded and NoTitle borders with mine so that the UI is more compatible with taking pieces from and adding pieces to.

But I can't find a way to make another file behave like the BlueIconBackground and RedIconBackground, and I'm guessing there is no way to do so, since it decides which one to call based on the spell. But if anyone has found a way to do it, I'd love to hear it.

You can actually define your own template for a window without touching the template.xml file. Just write your own definition in your custom file. It will still grab it from there. If you need an example, download my forry ui and check out the EQUI_Forry.xml file. Its huge, but it works. My template definitions are near the bottom of that file.

I realize I can move the templates for my borders to any window if I change the name. Since I use the name WDT_RoundedNoTitle etc for my borders, I have to have a custom templates file, otherwise it would find 2 definitions for one template and spit out an error.

If I moved the template to EQUI_Elindel.xml and renamed it WDT_Elindel it would work fine. But then if you liked my player window and dropped in another skin, you'd need EQUI_Elindel.xml and an include for that file to make it work at all.

The chat window templates aren't the problem, I can rename and move those, but there's no point if I can't find a way to define BlueIconBackground somewhere other than the animations file, and I don't think there is.

If I change the way my borders work now all I do is eliminate having a custom templates file, while the UI still breaks every time they change the animations file, and it becomes less compatible with mixing and matching, which really isn't the direction I want to go :(

Removed
 

Bah, dunno what I did wrong the first time, but everything is working fine now....

Also any window using the new border needs it's xml moded to, a very simple change but still present, best to try to mod the TGA file for borders.

-Sokol

I managed to get around the problem I was having with the animations file, so I was able to remove that from my custom UI.

I ended up deciding against removing the templates file. It doesn't get changed often and when it does I can have a fix up before the servers are. To me that was less cumbersome than having to include every window in my UI to get the correct border.

It would be nice for us if SOE decided to correct this obvious shortcomming in custom ui mods by giving us a free blank slate file to use...

Basially they could just add two lines...

<Include>SIDL.xml</Include>
<Include>Custom_Animations.xml</Include>
<Include>Custom_Templates.xml</Include>
<Include>EQUI_Animations.xml</Include>
<Include>EQUI_Templates.xml</Include>

Then just have Custom_Animations.xml and Custom_Templates.xml be blank files in the default ui, while in our own mods we can edit them as much as we want. As long as we don't reuse the same definition names as ones used in the EQUI versions of those files, we are good. That would allow EQUI.xml and the animations / templates file to update as much as they want, without breaking any custom ui mods. I know this isn't the most fullproof method as there would still be some things that would not be changeable without modifying the stock default animations and templates, but this would at least get us closer than we already are...