GUI, Some dumb questions, and the art of Zen driving

Turook · Post by **Turook** » Sun 30 Oct, 2005 10:36 pm

I use a non standard UI.

THE PROBLEM (in 2 parts)
Part 1
I want to use part of the new UI, part of the old UI and part of my modified UI.
I'm fairly certain I can solve this bit myself. I want to use the new horizontal Hotkeys bar and the Size of the new Spell effects, but keep the old spell effects icons and the old general look of the old UI. The modified parts I have done before that I wish to keep are my Spell Gems and my Character info area.
Now that leads me into problem part 2.

Part2
In the past when the UI was modified by The Bastards errr Sony, all I would do is copy all the new defualt files to a folder called Turook and then recopy the modified bits I had changed over that. I wouldn't get the msg your XML files are not compatible, blah blah blah anymore.
Now keeping problem part 1 in mind, I can see future problems.
If a person used the standard old UI and Sony made more new changes to the new one, I'm fairly certain that the old defualt one wouldn't be included in automatically getting these changes made to it.

Umm I guess what I am trying to say is..........
If I keep using mostly the old UI, I am going to have to learn what every single file in there does so when they make a change in the new UI, (eg add a new button to the option menu etc) I can copy that part of the change over to the old UI. (what a fkn pain, specially for a non programer type person).

Does anyone have any idea on how I can simplify this?

When I first started hacking UI's apart to use just the bits I wanted it would take me days to figure exactly what files I needed to swap/modify and that was for basic stuff like Character window. Now before the new UI came in, it would be only a matter of seconds to DL the new default files copy them across and add my modified files.
If I have to start hacking the options menu or anything like that, so I can copy the new changes each time to the old UI, I don't see it happening too quick at all, if ever

I just got back from Brisbane, none of the above may have made sense, I'll lok at it again in the morning. All I can say is never never never travel with a woman, they turn 6 hr drives into 9 hr drives, sigh.
Zen driving. Follow someone that looks like the know where they are going.
You may not end up where you wanted to go, but you may show up where you needed to be.

curtis · Post by **curtis** » Sun 30 Oct, 2005 11:50 pm

First tip to make it easier is to stop making copies of the default UI.

EQ searches your CustomUI directory first, if it cannot locate a file, it takes it from the default directory.

So leave any non modified files in the default directory, and they will always be up to date.

Turook · Post by **Turook** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 9:59 am

So that essintially means I have to figure out which files I need to keep swapping into the default UI to keep the UI looking the way it used to.

MEEP

Does anyone have a list of files and what they are for?

IE for the player window I have to copy
EQUI_Playerwindow.xml
Playerinfo.jpg
(and 2 other files that give it it's shape)

Is there a support page somewhere that lists what files are used for what area's of the GUI. I presumed it would be easier to copy the new parts I wanted to keep into the old default and then load that, but now I'll need a complete list of all files from the old one that I'll need to copy into the default.

Hmm won't the DL manager detect that I am using the old files and just keep on trying to overwrite them with the new GUI anyway?

Mazia · Post by **Mazia** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 10:32 am

Curts just saying in your Custom_UI folder stick ONLY files that you have for the custom folder. Everything else is automatically grabbed from the Default folder.

The download manager doesnt give a rats ass about the customui folder only default and because your not doing ANYTHING INSIDE the default folder it wont replace anything.

Ro recap. Make new UI folder called "Turroksanerd" and put ONLY the custom files for your custom UI into this. Put them in one at a time and reload the UI in game till you find the actual files that have the problem.

Remember ONLY the MODIFIED CUSTOM files have to go into this custom folder NO COPY OF THE DEFAULT FOLDER CONTENTS AT ALL

Hope thats clearer

curtis · Post by **curtis** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 10:58 am

www.eqinterface.com

has lots of info in the forums.

Mostly though you will find the window names easy enough to work out.
ie. EQUI_HotButtonWindow.xml

There are a few other major files. EQUI_Animations.xml

Animations is where most of the extra files are declared. Ie window_pieces01.tga
It is also where the pieces of that file are declared. So the default cursor which is located at position x237 y74, it's size is x30 y34.

EQUI_templates.xml is where the window frame templates etc are declared. They can be used in most windows.

These 2 files are modified by "Most" custom UI's

Sianni · Post by **Sianni** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 11:06 am

You could, alternatively, use the custom ones you want and get used to the new default

That would simplify it.

Also, on www.eqgui.com there's a forum called "Compare & Patch Fixes" where some lovely lad posts a comparison between pre and post patch DEFAULT files. You can use this as a reference to make sure your custom files are up to date.

To keep it simple I would say try to work with the new default UI plus your custom bits instead of trying to integrated the old UI files. Otherwise, yes, you'll need to put the old default files into your custom folder so that it uses them first. You'll also need to keep these up to date. Essentially, the 'old default' files would become a part of your custom UI which you'd need to keep updating.

Refer to your UIErrors.txt to see what we mean about it accessing Custom and then Default. You'll see a whole bunch of messages about "cannot find blah blah blah, looking in default folder instead".

Turook · Post by **Turook** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 11:28 am

Thanks Maz, heh I never knew that about the default folder thing. I always copied everything into the folder I was loading.

Thanks for the link Curt too.

/sage nod at Sianni.
Nah the new GUI sucks balls in just about everyway.
The only 2 things I like about it is the horizontal hotkeys (which I can rip from a few different custom GUI's) and the smaller size of the Spell effects (not the icons for them at all)

Looks like I may be spending the next few weeks figuring out what bits do what

Mazia · Post by **Mazia** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 12:38 pm

Yeh well I was the same as you Turook untill last night when Curtis smacked me arround.

Turook · Post by **Turook** » Mon 31 Oct, 2005 2:05 pm

Having looked closely at that comparison list, not only am I still going to have to copy 90% of the old GUI over to the load folder, but I am going to have to edit some of the files themselves to incorporate some new changes into the old format.

Anyone bored and feel like doing some cut and paste?

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