Chronwaas

Version 2.4 of Rightsided Quartz with Percentages

!!!!!Major Enhancement!!!!!

I have followed the lead of Statix as well as many others and converted my files over so that it will be very unlikely that Verant will break the skin again. I will be keeping track of the modifications that Verant make to make sure but this should keep it fairly clean from errors because Verant decides to update things.

!!!!!Major Enhancement!!!!!

This means that if you are using version 2.3 which until this morning was my latest version you will want to upgrade to this version. This will make you very unlikely to need an update when Verant makes changes to the UI.

What I have done is make it so that the animations and EQUI files are just add-ons to the original files (i.e. the original files are still used from the default directory as they should be and the files that are in the skin directory just call them and include the info that is in them). This way if Verant decides to make a change again to the original files I have already made it so that these changes will be included in the skin and will need no work by the user to make sure they work. In other words, even if Verant adds a new window to the system like they did with the raidwindow, the skin user will NOT need to do any additional work to make sure the skin works because the change will already have been taken care of by Verant (so to speak) when they changed the original files of their's.

I know Statix has info on his site about how he did it and this is where I got my start with this mod, but there are many others on here that have also begun doing the same thing and have been more than willing to help with info about how they did it.

I myself would love to see others who have worked on Complete Sets or even minor windows to start looking into doing the same thing with their own work. This way Verant can't break our things in trying to fix their own problems.

Let us know what you think about this and maybe we can continue to work towards the common goal of building our skins to work the best they cacn regardless of Verants changes.

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ChronWaas: 33 Bard, Saryrn
Chronania: 44 Necromancer, Saryrn

Chronwaas

Wow 150 reads and 75 downloads and not even a comment?

aeluin

I converted my EQUI.xml (kudos to Statix) but haven't figured out how to convert my Animations file to that format because some of the things in my custom Animations file are actual modifications to the default rather than just add-ons (changing the cursor, for instance). Any suggestions?

also, is it even possible to do windows that way? if so, how? is it explained on the Quartz site, or is this something you figured out yourself, and if you figured it out yourself, would you be so kind as to post a tutorial?

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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king." -Aragorn's Theme by J.R.R. Tolkien

Chronwaas

Not sure what you are asking me here? Some of what I have done in my mod I learned from Statix. Other parts were just things that I picked up from working with the XML code. If my skin can do it then it can be done by others. So let me know exactly what you are refering to and I will let you know.




Not sure how much you have modified things, but would it be possible other than the cursor to make your animations named something new and just redefine your windows so that they call the newly named animations rather than the original animations? This way you can set your files up similar to the way I have here and your new animations will not conflict with the existing animations by Verant. I know you cant have an object by the same name defined in more than one place so in order for this configuration to work for you, you would have to name your animations something different. Should not be too hard, just a lot of work going to all the places in the windows that use the animation to call the newly named one instead of the default one.

Then you would just include the original animation file in your EQUI.xml file so that it calls both the original EQUI.xml file and you new animations file and it should all work (as long as you have not made any duplicate named objects.

All of the animations that myskinand Statix's skin use are defined with in the new file along with the templates for the new animations. This way when an animation is needed the window calls the new animation rather than the original animation.

Not sure about the cursor part because that is not a part I have ever gotten in to. I will look into it and see if this same formatting can be used there as well.

I know that was a lot to take in in a short little message but if some of it does not make sense let me know and I will expand on the part that is confusing.

aeluin

okay that's actually pretty much how I have it set up right now- all my custom stuff except for my cursor definition and I think something having to do with the spellgem bar is in a separate file named EQUI_Aeluin. I was just hoping that there might be a way to do the cursor as well- I think I'm just going to have to resize it and paste it into my windowpieces file over the default cursor.

Chronwaas

I will continue to look into the cursor part and let you know. It would be nice if we could come up with a way to add it in as well. In fact if you could let me know what cursor mod you are useing it will help in finding a solution specific to your needs first and then work from there to make a generic replacement.

Chronwaas

Ok, after looking into things I believe it will not be possible to extract the cursor info from the animation file as we have done with the rest of the windows in the post. UNLESS, someone else has been able to come up with a method of pulling this info out of the animation file so as to place it in a new file to attempt to keep Verant from breaking things with every patch. I would love to see it if anyone has figured out a way around this limitation.

Haliken

Sorry Chron but cursor is locked into the animations file as is the background for spellbuffs =/

In MY opinion, the best way to deal with the cursor and spellbuffs is just to edit their original graphics files to make changes (windows_pieces01.tga for the cursor and CS_Buttons.bmp for spellbuff backgrounds). I'm pretty sure that those are the only two things that MUST stay in the animations file.

Also, I personally (and I've always done this mind you) put things like Templates and Animations in EVERY FILE OF MY MOD that uses them. I do not modify EQUI_Animations.xml OR EQUI.xml and therefore my mod has never broken. It seems tedious and wastes a tiny bit more memory than making your own EQUI_BlahBlah.xml file does, but that way each piece of my UI can stand alone (well with it's complementary graphics file if it has one) AND unless verant updates one of my modded windows AND manages to break it, mine won't break. If you're curious get Enoks UI v3 from the complete downloads section.

Enok