Help with knowledge about UI files/idea
 

Hi all,

I am a boxer, playing multiple accounts at the same time.

I would like to have almost identical UIs for my different toons, and for that I came up with an idea:

I would write a batch script (.bat file) that out of files that are fragments of the resulting UI file concatenates a UI file for each toon. By having some of the fragments being shared, and others unique, I would be able to have a number of things being the same for all toons, for example size and position of the target window, ditto the spell diamonds bar, etc et .

I could then make a change to all the toons by changing in a shared “UI fragment file”, run the batch script, and reload UI.

It would also make it easier to port to different computers, and to come back from breaks in the game, I would be able to store batch files and fragment files in some online repository.

Does this sounds feasible?

Is there a certain order that the text blocks in the UI files has to follow, or can I move that arround, to reduce need for having a lot of smaller fragments?

If I delete a UI file, can the system make a “minimal” file for me? (approach to remove clutter from UI file fragments without having to interpret each line of configuration when I start out).

Thanks in advance for any input.

First, you would need to decide on the UI that would work for all your characters 100%. Otherwise each would need a different UI if there are any slight changes for each character which would be a headache to maintain if you are not the author knowing what to change.

After you have the UI, the only thing you need to deal with is the
UI_Yourname_server.ini
Which is what handles the locations of the windows, size, placement, etc.

If you want to be in the game, move the actions window to the left, and have that move to all your toons, it is not possible to do this within game. You would need to move all your windows where you want, then exit EQ and copy those new location information from the UI INI file to all the others, then log back in.

The file that does NOT have "UI" in front of the file, is for your hotkeys and spell sets, etc. Again, you would have to do your changes in game, exit EQ, copy over the changes to the other INI files, then log back in again.

The only "on the fly" edits are to the character you are moving the windows on in-game, then saves once you zone (I believe). If you edit a INI file manually while in the game, and zone, you loose the edits since the game is not the client that edited it and needs to be.

Thanks, good info.

I am going to edit the fragment files in a text editor when I want to move a window, so edit —> batch script —> reload UI.

I will go with default UI first, and when that works, I will upgrade to a custom UI from the website.