eXtremeUI

[heidrickla]

Oh the raid window we were talking about yesterday Toran... Well I've been pidling around with it and it seems to be working fine. First off set parent container absorbsinput to false and max/min window size to 1600x1200 or whatever the biggest anyone uses. im assuming 1600x1200 will work for smaller since we want it to fill the screen anyways. Then move the groups out of the volume container and set moveable to true. Set WC_Frame and WC_Background to 1600x1200 size. Change all the containers location to 0,0 or 1,1 something like that leave the group containers at whatever location they are. Delete the volume container after you get the group containers out. Pretty much all I did and worked fine. One slight bug... not a big deal but the parent container since you cant move it only the group windows within it... If it isn't in the right spot ie the window covering the entire screen.. the group windows wont be able to be moved to this location. Only thing i could think of to fix this was to leave parent container to absorbsinput set to true until I got it where I wanted in the ini then go back and set it to false. Shouldnt have to move this window anymore after the initial move.

[Landiin]

Hmm did you try absorbsinput=False Location=0,0 Size=1024,768 PackLoacation = nfn,nfn PackSize=a,a on the parent container? This should make it stay in the same location and resize to fit what ever res the user is using or changes to.

[Landiin]

Originally Posted by Franpan

im back , ok I got the power to show up, but now there is another issue with the player health/power window, in the concentration, there is no way to take concentration out, because that bar wont show, it only says Concentration: 5/5 and the only way o take them out is by deaths.... spo I would love if you help me with it....and I dont like the new exp bar, at least the Adventurer class, cause I cant really see too much in there :P

Ok after re-reveiwing your post;

Are you sure you are not using all 5 slots of concentration? If so it will show 5/5. If no concentration is being used it will show 0/5 or 0/0.

As far as the exp goes, thats why I added the bigger exp window. Just use the push button abouve the button that rotates the exp bars. It's an up arrow one. If you don't see this then you are not running the latest update.

[Landiin]

Next update will be small but wow, the image files will be quit a bit smaller. extreme_widgets.dds is groing from around 1.4M to around 500K same for the backround. This should free up tons of memory. I have a couple people testing it that is prone to this crashing error so we'll see.

Also I am thinking of going away from the fetish mod to a inhouse one. That way people that like to plug in other mods can do so better. What do you think?

[Landiin]

Update 1.12.9
===============
• Fixed the chat tab issue.
• Reworked extreme_wedgits.dds and the default background. They are now half the size they once where and shouldn’t take up so much memory.
• Added stats to the start button in the 1024/1280 res option.


Yes there is a new default background..

1024/1280 preople, I am still looking into ways to make every thing fit better. I just havn't had a lot of time to tweak on it.

[Landiin]

Oops didn't include the new graphics files. will up them in a bit after play.

[RonHiler]

Love the interface. Using the 1280 x 1024 setup, and after moving things around a bit, I think I have it all set up the way I want Couple of things, two small ones and one major one (this is with version 1.12.9, which I installed yesterday over a clean EQ2 folder).

1) the hotkey bars are not resizable, which forces me to leave a fair bit of dead space on the top of my screen. I realize you know this already, but just another vote for fixing it

2) The targeting window (the one that says "An exiled orc, weak, etc")disappears if you have something targeted and get out of range. This leaves an ugly hole in my interface setup. I don't mind if the text disappears (in fact, that's probably a good thing, hehe), but is there any way to have the background of the window stay up?

3) This is the major one. The map is borked. Perhaps this is only a problem with the Commonlands, since I've only been there with the new interface. But here are the issues:

a) I started in East Commonlands when I logged in today. At first the background texture didn't come up (the fog was fine, and all the UIDs and portals were there, but the background was blank white). After a while, the east commonlands finally came up, so all was good. Not sure what the deal was there.

b) I wandered over to the West Commonlands. Had the map open at the time, and it switched over fine. Closed the map to do some other stuff. When I reopened it later, it shows me in East Commonlands again. The Fog is correct for WC, but everything else shows as if I was in EC (background, UIDs, and portals). I am definitely in WC at this point!

c) The menus at the bottom don't work at all. If I switch manually to any other map, I get the correct UIDs and portals, but no background, everything is black. This is only for outlying areas of Freeport (e.g. Commonlands, Thieves way, Serpent Sewer, The Ruins, etc). The city itself seems to work fine (Beggars Court, Freeport West, Scale Yard, and so on). Perhaps this is just an unfinished area?

d) The mini-map is blank. It has never shown anything ever.

Perhaps there is something I'm doing wrong here, not sure. Is the map not your deal? Should I post this somewhere else, hehe?

Ron

[Landiin]

Originally Posted by RonHiler

Love the interface. Using the 1280 x 1024 setup, and after moving things around a bit, I think I have it all set up the way I want Couple of things, two small ones and one major one (this is with version 1.12.9, which I installed yesterday over a clean EQ2 folder).

1) the hotkey bars are not resizable, which forces me to leave a fair bit of dead space on the top of my screen. I realize you know this already, but just another vote for fixing it

2) The targeting window (the one that says "An exiled orc, weak, etc")disappears if you have something targeted and get out of range. This leaves an ugly hole in my interface setup. I don't mind if the text disappears (in fact, that's probably a good thing, hehe), but is there any way to have the background of the window stay up?

3) This is the major one. The map is borked. Perhaps this is only a problem with the Commonlands, since I've only been there with the new interface. But here are the issues:

a) I started in East Commonlands when I logged in today. At first the background texture didn't come up (the fog was fine, and all the UIDs and portals were there, but the background was blank white). After a while, the east commonlands finally came up, so all was good. Not sure what the deal was there.

b) I wandered over to the West Commonlands. Had the map open at the time, and it switched over fine. Closed the map to do some other stuff. When I reopened it later, it shows me in East Commonlands again. The Fog is correct for WC, but everything else shows as if I was in EC (background, UIDs, and portals). I am definitely in WC at this point!

c) The menus at the bottom don't work at all. If I switch manually to any other map, I get the correct UIDs and portals, but no background, everything is black. This is only for outlying areas of Freeport (e.g. Commonlands, Thieves way, Serpent Sewer, The Ruins, etc). The city itself seems to work fine (Beggars Court, Freeport West, Scale Yard, and so on). Perhaps this is just an unfinished area?

d) The mini-map is blank. It has never shown anything ever.

Perhaps there is something I'm doing wrong here, not sure. Is the map not your deal? Should I post this somewhere else, hehe?

Ron

1. What do you mean by not resizable?
a. They reside, but shrink to the smallest possible size around the keys?
b. I can not change their size at all. IE can't make them 1x1 or 2x6 or ect.

2. That is intended to do that, so when you do not have a target there is more viewable game window. If you have things set up correctly it all should flow together, except for the hotkeys. The ui was made for 1480 x XXXX + and the lower res option are still being tweaked as time permits

3. The map is not mine, its fetish's map. For issues with it you need to head over to his map posts.
a. Did you run EQ2Map Updater?
1. If so did you tell it not to over write eq2ui_mainhud_map.xml?
2. If you didn't, you need to, and make sure you do #1.

[RonHiler]

Originally Posted by Landiin

1. What do you mean by not resizable?
a. They reside, but shrink to the smallest possible size around the keys?
b. I can not change their size at all. IE can't make them 1x1 or 2x6 or ect.

After some further playing around with them, it seems the issue is they're already at max size (where the bar is 12 x 1). I can downsize them easily enough (so they becme 6 x 2 etc). I was trying to make them bigger to fill in the gaps on the right side of my screen with the intention of actually increasing the individual icon sizes. I don't suppose there's anything in the works to actually make the hotbar icons themselves resizable (with a diagonal drag) once the bar is at 12x1? I find the icons to be pretty small at a 1280x1024 resolution.

2. That is intended to do that, so when you do not have a target there is more viewable game window. If you have things set up correctly it all should flow together, except for the hotkeys. The ui was made for 1480 x XXXX + and the lower res option are still being tweaked as time permits

Sure, I get that My problem was that some of my hotbars are across the top of that part of the interface, so what ends up happening is I get a "hole" in the UI, which makes it ugly. I'll move some more things around and see if I can figure out something I like better. It's just an asthetics thing, no big deal.

3. The map is not mine, its fetish's map. For issues with it you need to head over to his map posts.

Ah, okay, I kind of gathered that from the previous posts and figured that might be the case.

a. Did you run EQ2Map Updater?
1. If so did you tell it not to over write eq2ui_mainhud_map.xml?
2. If you didn't, you need to, and make sure you do #1.

[/quote]
Just ran it. I don't install or use .net, so I did the manual update. I removed the "eq2ui_mainhud_map.xml" from the zip and overwrote everything else, and the map is behaving much better now. However, I think I've lost the Fetish interface, it looks exactly like the eq2maps interface (I can no longer select different maps like I could previously, and there's no mini-map). This is fine with me, I'm happy with it the way it is, but that may not have been the intent, hehe. I'm positive I did delete the file you said not to overwrite, so I'm not exactly sure why that happened, but whatever

If you may allow me to make a suggestion. Please don't read the following in a harsh tone of voice, it's meant to be constructive critisism, and I hope you take it the right way

I know all this stuff is second nature to you guys, but to most people it isn't. I tend to expect when I install something all the relevant instructions will be included, especially regarding installation. As a relevant example, nowhere in your install does it say anything about updating eq2maps and which files NOT to overwrite (unless I'm totally blind and didn't see it, hehe). Running through all the posts for ExtremeUI and Fetish (all 23 versions) and EQ2Maps is a royal PITA, hehe. Trying to figure out how everything fits together is not exactly obvious.

When you write installation instructions, you should assume the user knows nothing and explain it to them in excruciating detail, including all the steps they need to take to go from download to working product, and include examples where possible. This will dramatically reduce the number of emails and posts you get saying "I can't get your interface to work" Your installation instructions are written at an audience who is already very familiar with installing custom interfaces, and that's the incorrect audience (they aren't going to be reading it anyway, so all you're doing is confusing the hell out of novice users).

[just as another example, your installation docs say "Rename the eq2ui_settings file for the character you plan to use eXtreme UI for". While I realize you know exactly what that means, and any experienced interface installer will know how to deal with that, a first time user will see that and go "Huh?", especially since there is in fact no such file at all, they are all named things like "(1024 x XX)server_character_eq2_uisettings.ini", which brings up a whole other level of confusion (do you just mean rename the part in parenthises, or the server_character part, or the whole thing, do I leave the .ini part in? etc). A couple of small screenshots (before and after) with an example would have shown exactly what you meant, or if you can't (or won't) use screenshots, give an example in the text (e.g. "If you character is named "Mark", and you want to use the 1024 x XXX interface, change the "(1024 x XX)server_character_eq2_uisettings.ini" file to read "Mark.ini"].

Not a critisism, I'm just suggesting. You've done a wonderful job on the interface, but the documentation is kind of lacking, hehe. If you like, I can take a crack at it for you (I'm a professional software programmer and I write a lot of end-user documentation, and I've learned over the course of the years to always write documentation like you were talking to a 3 year old), although obviously I'm not exactly an expert on installing your particular program

Anyway, feel free to ignore me if you like, perhaps I'm way off base and everyone except me knows what they're doing, hehe.

Ron

[Landiin]

Just ran it. I don't install or use .net, so I did the manual update. I removed the "eq2ui_mainhud_map.xml" from the zip and overwrote everything else, and the map is behaving much better now. However, I think I've lost the Fetish interface, it looks exactly like the eq2maps interface (I can no longer select different maps like I could previously, and there's no mini-map). This is fine with me, I'm happy with it the way it is, but that may not have been the intent, hehe. I'm positive I did delete the file you said not to overwrite, so I'm not exactly sure why that happened, but whatever

You should use Simple map updater, its writen in delphi and does not need .net to run. I have been thinking of including it in the main download. Being it is easy to use and the option to not overwrite the main map file is on the front page.

If you may allow me to make a suggestion. Please don't read the following in a harsh tone of voice, it's meant to be constructive critisism, and I hope you take it the right way

I know all this stuff is second nature to you guys, but to most people it isn't. I tend to expect when I install something all the relevant instructions will be included, especially regarding installation. As a relevant example, nowhere in your install does it say anything about updating eq2maps and which files NOT to overwrite (unless I'm totally blind and didn't see it, hehe). Running through all the posts for ExtremeUI and Fetish (all 23 versions) and EQ2Maps is a royal PITA, hehe. Trying to figure out how everything fits together is not exactly obvious.

When you write installation instructions, you should assume the user knows nothing and explain it to them in excruciating detail, including all the steps they need to take to go from download to working product, and include examples where possible. This will dramatically reduce the number of emails and posts you get saying "I can't get your interface to work" Your installation instructions are written at an audience who is already very familiar with installing custom interfaces, and that's the incorrect audience (they aren't going to be reading it anyway, so all you're doing is confusing the hell out of novice users).

[just as another example, your installation docs say "Rename the eq2ui_settings file for the character you plan to use eXtreme UI for". While I realize you know exactly what that means, and any experienced interface installer will know how to deal with that, a first time user will see that and go "Huh?", especially since there is in fact no such file at all, they are all named things like "(1024 x XX)server_character_eq2_uisettings.ini", which brings up a whole other level of confusion (do you just mean rename the part in parenthises, or the server_character part, or the whole thing, do I leave the .ini part in? etc). A couple of small screenshots (before and after) with an example would have shown exactly what you meant, or if you can't (or won't) use screenshots, give an example in the text (e.g. "If you character is named "Mark", and you want to use the 1024 x XXX interface, change the "(1024 x XX)server_character_eq2_uisettings.ini" file to read "Mark.ini"].

Not a critisism, I'm just suggesting. You've done a wonderful job on the interface, but the documentation is kind of lacking, hehe. If you like, I can take a crack at it for you (I'm a professional software programmer and I write a lot of end-user documentation, and I've learned over the course of the years to always write documentation like you were talking to a 3 year old), although obviously I'm not exactly an expert on installing your particular program

Anyway, feel free to ignore me if you like, perhaps I'm way off base and everyone except me knows what they're doing, hehe.

Ron

None taken at all, and you are verry correct. I will work on this. Its hard to write docs on somthing you know like the back of your hand because you forget the little things. Maybe I should get some one to right it or have my wife do it:P *now I gotta hope she don't read this* lol

[shaggineq2]

Ya im new to using a custom UI and well i cant figure out how to get it to even work... I extracted all the files to my
C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II\UI

then i copy and pasted the folder that said copy and paste to the main eq2 folder C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II

But it didnt work and with your instructions im not sure what you mean by this...

Copy the eq2ui_settings.ini and eq2ui.ini file that fits closes to the rez you use

Any help would be greatly appreaciated

Thanks,
Giger - Unrest

[dragon0241]

Hi,

then i copy and pasted the folder that said copy and paste to the main eq2 folder C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II

You dont copy and paste the whole folder. You select the 2 files that are for the res that you use. The rename them.

for example i use
(1200 x XXXX)eq2.ini
(1280 x XXXx )server_character_eq2_uisettings.ini

The first file is simple just rename to eq2.ini
As for the second file you put your server name and character name in like this.
unrest_giger_eq2_uisettings.ini

And paste them into the C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II folder

I hope this helps

Sylvanius - Lavastorm
<Dragon Knights>

[Franpan]

ok Landiin, but my point is that if you have conc 5/5, you cant take to 4/5 or 3.5 like you used to, and so as I keep leveling up, I keep getting better spells that uses conc, and the only way for me to ise them is by dieing....

[okalaned]

First like to say the UI is well made but I have one concern I dont see a power meter/bar anywhere on the UI besides in the Personal window, I dont knwo how much this affects others but as a Mystic knowing my curent power lvl's is a must. Maybe in the 1280/1024 instead of haveing the Hth under the Mit and next to the Weigh, that could be changed to the persons power?

Thanks for the UI through.

[shaggineq2]

Ah kk thanks...heh your directions not too noob-friendly

[RonHiler]

Originally Posted by okalaned

First like to say the UI is well made but I have one concern I dont see a power meter/bar anywhere on the UI besides in the Personal window, I dont knwo how much this affects others but as a Mystic knowing my curent power lvl's is a must. Maybe in the 1280/1024 instead of haveing the Hth under the Mit and next to the Weigh, that could be changed to the persons power?

Thanks for the UI through.

There's a power bar on the Name window (I wish there was a standard name for all these things, heh). It has your name and health bar on it, and in the 1280 interface, starts off near the lower right corner.

There's a sort of bug that prevents the power bar from showing up at this resolution. If you don't see the power bar and you cannot move that window, go into the options panel and click on the User Interface button, then open the Game Windows screen. Down a little ways is a setting that says "Hide window frames in letterbox area". Make sure this is unchecked.

This will both free up that window so that it can be moved around, and also display the power bar.

Hope that helps.

Ron

[Landiin]

Originally Posted by okalaned

First like to say the UI is well made but I have one concern I dont see a power meter/bar anywhere on the UI besides in the Personal window, I dont knwo how much this affects others but as a Mystic knowing my curent power lvl's is a must. Maybe in the 1280/1024 instead of haveing the Hth under the Mit and next to the Weigh, that could be changed to the persons power?

Thanks for the UI through.

If you turn off the frames on the player window( the window with your name and helth bar on it ) it will magicly show your power bar in ALL res options.

( Right click on the window -> Click on window settings -> Chose no frames -> press accept/Ok )

[Landiin]

Originally Posted by Franpan

ok Landiin, but my point is that if you have conc 5/5, you cant take to 4/5 or 3.5 like you used to, and so as I keep leveling up, I keep getting better spells that uses conc, and the only way for me to ise them is by dieing....

If you cancel the spell in the maintained or effects window that is using one or more of you con slots it will free up slots for you to use. This is the games programing not a ui function. I have no controle over the game, that number only reflect what the game tells it. It is the same as the bar was but its simply displaying numbers and not a bar.

Exp.
I start the day with 0/5 concentration.
I cast a def stance. ( requires 3 con slots )
The number now shows 3/5.
If i want to use another CA that needs 3 or more con slots, I have to cancel my def stance. Witch inturn makes the read out show 0/5, then I cast the CA I wanted and it back to 3/5.

[scygnus]

Yeah, I just downloaded the 1.12.9 today and my regular res is borked. Obviously you are working on it from the posts, so I switched to the 1600.

I really like the tabs version...please keep it in 1280x1024...but who knows, if I like 1600 (I have a 19" monitor), I might just keep it =)

Thanks everyone for keeping this the most eXtreme UI!!!!

Scygnus

[Landiin]

Take a look at the frames and title bar here, Do you all like? I'm working on getting away from the fetish styles and slowly working on my own.

Note: I shamlesly riped the frame form a desktop theme;P

[omegaslover]

Wow, that looks really nice, good job

[Rinolas]

It seems that in beta atm, this UI isnt being compatible. Whenever I try to switch to view my bag slots or drag an item, it crashes the game. Any plans to fix this or are there any solutions out there?

[Bigmo]

Guys I am getting a random crash when leaving game to go to character select or sometimes when just zoning.

I forgot to get the exact path filename error thing, but it appears to be something to do with framerate coding? in the C:/live/ . . . . folder.


Any ideas?

[Landiin]

Originally Posted by Rinolas

It seems that in beta atm, this UI isnt being compatible. Whenever I try to switch to view my bag slots or drag an item, it crashes the game. Any plans to fix this or are there any solutions out there?

Being I am not in beta, there is no way for me to get it ready.

As far as test server goes it works fine there and when LU13/expantion is live I'll release 1.13.

[Landiin]

Originally Posted by Bigmo

Guys I am getting a random crash when leaving game to go to character select or sometimes when just zoning.

I forgot to get the exact path filename error thing, but it appears to be something to do with framerate coding? in the C:/live/ . . . . folder.


Any ideas?

There is no frame rate coding, we are very limited to what script code we can use, so limited that we can really only set properties with it and that’s about it.

What version are you using? Have you been using this before and it started after you updated it? Finally what are your system specs?