Mahgnillig

I really like the way the gauges work in these two UI mods... the only problem is that they don't fit into my UI. On one of the other forums, someone gave me some very helpful pointers on how to add borders to windows, and I've done this and am pleased with the result. I tried the same thing with the player window and it didn't work

I'd like to be able to have the information (I particularly like the mini cast bar below the mana bar), but I couldn't find anything similar just without the border.

These are the windows I like:

http://www.eqinterface.com/sdownloa....php?s=&id=2037

http://www.eqinterface.com/sdownloa....php?s=&id=2224

Is there a 'blank' version that I could add a border to (by adding the <drawtemplate> line) so that it will fit with the rest of my UI?

Thanks in advance for your help

Solonis

I use these 2 windows in my UI as well, however, the borders for these come from a fixed .tga file. You would need to change the .tga file using a good editing program like Paint Shop Pro to get the borders you want. If you will post a link to the UI you are using maybe I or someone else here could give you more information.

Mahgnillig

I'm using a collection of individual windows that I put the same border on rather than a specific complete UI. Basically I picked the ones that were designed like the default windows so I could add the border I wanted.

The border is the leafy design from this UI:

http://www.eqinterface.com/sdownloa....php?s=&id=2112

I tried looking for a default style player window (grey with rounded edges) that would do the same thing as Drakah's window, but couldn't find one that had all the same features and no additional things like pets included.

I did find this window:

http://www.eqinterface.com/sdownloa...e.php?s=&id=526

I added the border to this and it works fairly well. If I could somehow modify this so that it had the same information as Drakah's player window then that'd be perfect (rather than editing images in Photoshop and such). I posted in the XML help section asking how I would change it, but got no response. What I'd like to have is the player information to show HPs, Mana, the little casting bar right under the mana bar, and stamina. As you can see, the all-in-one window doesn't have a stamina bar, but has the cast bar there instead. I'd also like it to show HPs, AC and Atk, like Shiv's version of Drakah's window does, though showing the character name, class etc. is not really very important.

I tried editing it using comparisons between the two UI windows to try and work out what sections of the code were for what, and basically ended up confusing myself

So what I would like to know is, would it be easier to change the borders on Drakah's windows, or change the display on the all-in-one window?

Thanks again for any pointers

Solonis

My preference would be to try modifying the borders. Alternatively you could try removing the .tga file that is being used and return it to the default border, then proceed from there. That might be easier than reworking graphics or recoding the All-in-one. If you would like, I can look into this possibility and let you know what would be involved.

It turns out that this is very easy to do, go to the bottom of the xml file and look for the following line:

<Pieces>DrakPlayerwindow_Back1</Pieces>

Delete this line, then set the transparency to true and the border to true. The only other thing you will need to do is add some labels in front of the graph bars which were previously in the background graphics file. After that, just make the changes that adds the border that you want.

If there is anything else I can do to help, let me know.

Mahgnillig

I followed your instructions, and here is the result:



Being pretty much a complete newbie to XML, I have no idea how to make the border go all the way around the window, including the top. With the other windows I added borders to I had to change the size values at the bottom (I added 25 to make it fit), so that the bottom and right sides were not cut off. Unfortunately I couldn't work out how to change the top border to make it fit...

Also, the window now has no background. How would I add the background that all the other windows use, and how whereabouts do I add titles for the gauges?

Thanks for your advice so far, and patience! I'm learning a lot from all this

Solonis

In looking at my previous message, I should have said false for transparency. For the other try changing the following lines:

<Style_Transparent>true</Style_Transparent>
Change to false

<DrawTemplate>WDT_RoundedNoTitle</DrawTemplate>
Change to WDT_Rounded

<Style_Titlebar>false</Style_Titlebar>
Change to true

For the Labels, try the following:

<Label item ="Player_HPLabel">
<ScreenID>HPLabel</ScreenID>
<Font>3</Font>
<EQType>19</EQType>
<RelativePosition>true</RelativePosition>
<Location>
<X>3</X>
<Y>29</Y>
</Location>
<Size>
<CX>5</CX>
<CY>12</CY>
</Size>
<Text> HIT: END: POW: EXP: ALT:</Text>
<TextColor>
<R>255</R>
<G>255</G>
<B>255</B>
</TextColor>
<NoWrap>false</NoWrap>
<AlignCenter>false</AlignCenter>
<AlignRight>true</AlignRight>
</Label>

Change the numbers for Font, Location, and Size to position the label where you want it. Change the Text line if desired. This is the first time for me in working with this type of label. If you still have problems, attach the .xml file as a .txt and I'll work on it through the weekend.

Looks good so far, Great work. I would be interested in seeing the completed UI, after you get all of the changes made. I have a Druid Alt and what you are doing would be ideal for him.

Mahgnillig

Well, it's getting there

So far I've got this:



I couldn't get the label thing to work... it either reverted to the default UI or nothing showed up... I'm not really sure what I was doing wrong there. The background and title thing worked like a charm though, and I figured out how to put my name as the title.

This is my aim for the UI (with the magic of Photoshop )



I decided I know my own name, level, class etc. so I'd like to remove that and just keep my name in the title bar, and move the AC and Atk stats up top. I figured if it was just a case of changing co-ordinates then it couldn't be too hard to do... just a case of removing the parts I didn't want. I tried just deleting labels with the name, surname, class, class title and level, but that made it revert to the default UI again, so I'm guessing there's something different I have to do to make them go away.

Here is the XML file as it is in the first picture:

Target window

I think if I can get to grips with the labels and find out how delete the information I don't want then I should just be able to play around with the x and y numbers to get everything looking right

Solonis

I think you attached the wrong file. The PlayerWindow is the one I need. Could you also include the .tga files that are being used in the xml code?

As you said the results are looking better and better and I agree that if we can get the labels thing solved the rest should be no problem.

Mahgnillig

Oops! You're abolutely right... not sure why I mixed up player and target

Here's the correct file:



Player window

Sorry about that

Solonis

OK, Here is what I have done. I deleted the following pieces:

PW_FirstName
PW_LastName
PW_TitleName
PW_ClassName
PW_LevelName and PW_LevelNumber

I added the following:

PW_Label1 - PW_Label5
PW_LabelHP

These last are generic labels that you can copy for use in other parts of the window. I have attached the modified .xml so that you can check it out. I was able to test all changes with my current ui and did not receive any errors. I left the other changes for you to complete, however, don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions.

I am including the original file in the zip so that you can recover any of the items that were removed if you want.

Good Luck with the remaining changes!

Attached Files

mahg_player.zip (36.0 KB, 12 views)

Mahgnillig

I've managed to get the player window looking pretty much how I want it... the labels worked perfectly, thankyou

Now I'm working on getting the group window just right, and I may play around with combining the two just to see if a combined window would work as well.

Once I've perfected everything I'll be sure to post up a screenshot of how it looks, and if you like it I'll zip everything up and post a link

Kuvasie

Nice job Glad you liked the chat borders.

Kuv

__________________
Kuvasie ~ Sherry

Solonis

Great work Mahg! I would love to see the finished work and I would also like to try the pieces out with my druid.

I'm glad I was able to help. Keep up the good work.

__________________
Solonis (31 Paladin)
Leohart (54 Druid)

Mahgnillig

I've been very busy this past week, so it's taken me a while to get back to working on my UI. Anyway, here's a screenshot of what it looks like now, along with a bit of a description:

Mahg's UI

What I wanted to do was build on the default UI because I like how customisable it is... the way you can move windows around, resize them etc. After spending days poring over all the different UI mods out there I still couldn't find one that did exactly what I wanted it to or showed the windows in the right places, so I just adapted the default. One thing I've noticed about playing EQ for 3 years is that change is hard to take, so mostly everything is pretty much where it would be on the default UI too, although it's super easy to move around

I used elements from lots of other UIs and put them all together. The thing I like best is the leafy border that goes round all of the windows... this was originally from a UI named Briar. The spell book, spellbar and icons are TKing's, and the player and group windows are modified from Drakah's.

My main is a 65 Ranger, so this is tailored really for rangers (the auto equip panel of the inventory window and the mouse pointer are ranger epics), but it's pretty easy to change out the rangerly bits and put in different mouse pointers or pictures. The hotbuttons and clickies window is great... especially for raids where there are dispelling mobs, there is now no need to set clickies up on hot buttons just for the raid. The clicky slots are easily adjustable too... the UI mod gives you all the info you need to change the slots if you open it up in Notepad. Another really cool thing that has been in my UI since about 2 weeks after the UI was changed is the container. It has slots for Primary, Secondary, Range and Ammo above each container when it is opened (though sadly I couldn't put the border around containers)... great for switching out arrows on resistant mobs

The group window shows F-numbers, player health, pet health and a percentage... all very useful stuff. The player window is the one I spent the most time on. It has a mini casting bar below the mana bar, and I also put in a breath gauge below the stamina bar to go along with the enormous breath gauge that I have in the middle of the screen (to remind me when to put my EB gear on ). At some point I may play around with it a little and see if I can put resists on here too... but it's okay for the moment. The target window is transparent until you have something targetted... very handy if you have nothing targetted and something attacks you, then you have a big red bar pop up in the middle of the screen and it's instantly obvious! Lastly, I found some tiny spell effects and songs displays. I find it easier to distinguish between spells by reading what they are rather than looking at the symbol, so this bar tells you exactly what the spell is and takes up only a small amount of space.

Anyway, I hope you like it If there's any interest, I'll zip up the whole thing and post it up here for anyone who wants to try it out.

Thanks again for the tips!

-- Mahgs.