1. that’s not the best way to do it because your going to have some major troubles when LU16 rolls out and changes 49 default interface files. if you would post your ui.log when using it the normal way we could maybe see why the inventory windows weren’t loading.
2. its just the way soe designed the map window. if you want a smaller map window you can try this plug-in though, it splits the map into 4 sections.
http://www.eq2interface.com/download...fo.php?id=3584
3. the black fog of war can not be disabled as its controlled server side. SOE does this to promote exploration of the zone. Now zones like cities and such have a translucent fog of war and a checkbox should show up for that when you’re in those zones.
5. I'm not sure hopefully some one else can help you with that.