UI change coming shortly

**DNeufeldSOE** · #1 10-11-2006, 09:12 PM

Heads up to all the mod developers that (hopefull) by the end of this week we're planning on having a revision to the UI on the public test server that addresses some performance issues. This is going to break all UI mods, but the fix should be relatively straighforward for you. Basically any place we use large numbers of icons is being replaced with a new icon grid control that will be able to render the icons much more efficiently.

***Dolby*** · #2 10-11-2006, 09:22 PM

Wow, this is great news! I'll be sure to keep my eye on the test server and post a compare of the xml asap for the authors.

**lordebon** · #3 10-11-2006, 10:46 PM

Thanks for the heads up! And nifty =)

**DNeufeldSOE** · #4 10-11-2006, 11:11 PM

After some thought I think I'm also going to add an IconAggregator control that has as children all the icons you'd like to aggregate. The rule being that none of them overlap each other or the rendering will be incorrect. This would be used by UIs that put all your bags on the HUD, and I'd use it in the inventory and knowledge book windows to make rendering those non gridded icons more efficient as well.

**gm9** · #5 10-12-2006, 01:37 AM

Sounds interesting, in particular that using the IconAggregator would make rendering icons more efficient (sounds like a volume page so far). Any other info on what's good and bad regarding rendering performance?

Anyway thanks for the info.

**DNeufeldSOE** · #6 10-12-2006, 01:35 PM

It's kind of hard for moders to tell where their UI performance issues are coming from, but there's two important things to keep in mind:

1. Lots of polys are expensive, so don't do things like tile a 2 pixel texture.
2. Texture changes are expensive, so try to keep things on the same texture where possible. Since rendering is done bottom up you can sometimes reduce the number of texture changes by reordering your controls. This is basically why rendering icons one after another is expensive right now.

Seggo · #7 10-12-2006, 04:57 PM

Will it be possible to use this to make the knowledge book have 12 / 15 icons per page on the tradeskill section? I would love to have them in rows of three so that I can re order them when I get a new level without having to add the gaps back in

The other option is to give us all four tradeskill abilities per 10 levels instead of three

Just wonderin'

Thanks for all you hard work!!

Seggo

Othesus · #8 10-13-2006, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNeufeldSOE

It's kind of hard for moders to tell where their UI performance issues are coming from, but there's two important things to keep in mind:

1. Lots of polys are expensive, so don't do things like tile a 2 pixel texture.

I read a post you made a long time ago about avoiding lots of polys here:
http://www.eq2interface.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=1153

I noticed there are some framestyles that do use 2 pixel wide textures, creating hundreds of polys. These are the default tracking window and the IME - VerticalIMEPage window. I wrote the explanation in this post here:
http://www.eq2interface.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=6572

Anyways, I think these look like mistakes in the default UI. I'm glad to hear that these new changes will improve the performance of the UI.

Othesus · #9 10-19-2006, 02:25 PM

Has anyone looked at the new xml files yet? I'm curious to see what's different.

It looks like the test server has new:
eq2ui_ButtonStyles.xml
eq2ui_inventory_bag.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_hotkey.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_impliedtarget.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_target.xml

using the new iconbank feature

**gm9** · #10 10-19-2006, 05:53 PM

Hmm, the contents of the IconBank are server pushed, haven't yet found whether there is still a way to access them directly. A positive aspect: you can move the IconBank anywhere in the file and it will still work.

I quickly looked at my broken windows and this is what I found:

Target/Implied target window: No problem, just replace the VolumePage with the IconBank.

Bags: Very interesting new possibilities that you can see especially in this window (that work for the other windows as well)!

Hotbars: The right-click function show/hide spinner is either new or I have never noticed. However, the way I had the shortcut key display controllable via the frame opacity sliders seems impossible right now, which is a shame.

All in all I think that we have gained a lot of flexibility. And there are ways to work around the key display problem...

***Dolby*** · #11 10-20-2006, 01:58 PM

I'll get a compair of the test server out today. Didnt noticed they patched the test server since there was never any post about it on the test announcement forum.

**gm9** · #12 10-20-2006, 02:09 PM

They are slacking on posting the update notes. Busy on EoF I suppose and also since Blackguard and now Moorgard have left, there's probably no one there at the moment who takes responsibility for these kinds of things. I'll send a PM your way should I notice another UI related test update.

***Dolby*** · #13 10-20-2006, 02:13 PM

Here is the compare: http://www.eq2interface.com/forums/s...ad.php?p=50157

**lordebon** · #14 10-20-2006, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gm9

They are slacking on posting the update notes. Busy on EoF I suppose and also since Blackguard and now Moorgard have left, there's probably no one there at the moment who takes responsibility for these kinds of things. I'll send a PM your way should I notice another UI related test update.

Moorgard left too? I knew BG had gone, but when did Moorgard leave?

I had noticed the lack of posts in the test updates forum, was wondering what was going on.

**gm9** · #15 10-20-2006, 09:23 PM

MG left this week for an opportunity too good to ignore or something like that. So I wonder what company grabbed him.

anfrey · #16 10-20-2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gm9

MG left this week for an opportunity too good to ignore or something like that. So I wonder what company grabbed him.

blizzard.

jk... but u never know

edragon71 · #17 10-21-2006, 08:29 AM

Any idea on when this will be pushed to the live servers?

**gm9** · #18 10-21-2006, 09:54 AM

I think GU29 i.e. EoF release.

Othesus · #19 10-21-2006, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolby

I'll get a compair of the test server out today. Didnt noticed they patched the test server since there was never any post about it on the test announcement forum.

I usually check the update notes that the launcher uses here:
http://patch.everquest2.com:7010/pat...ates_live.html
http://patch.everquest2.com:7010/pat...ates_test.html

These are usually updated sooner, and have the notes even if they aren't posted to the forums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gm9

I think GU29 i.e. EoF release.

Raijinn has been posting the notes and doing Blackguard's work recently, but that's on top of his normal job. It's likely that we will get a mini update before Halloween for the live event. This might contain these interface changes and the new Innoruk and Tunare prophet quests that are on test currently.

Othesus - Dirge - Lucan DLere
Vaspar - Fury - Lucan DLere

***Dolby*** · #20 10-21-2006, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Othesus

I usually check the update notes that the launcher uses here:
http://patch.everquest2.com:7010/pat...ates_live.html
http://patch.everquest2.com:7010/pat...ates_test.html

These are usually updated sooner, and have the notes even if they aren't posted to the forums.

I do, even have a cron that grabs them and puts them on my server because I cant access port 7010 at work. The forums have a nice rss feed which I have setup to email me. Guess I could write a script that when it downloads the patch notes it compairs the md5sum from the prevoius download and if its different emails me.

Othesus · #21 10-23-2006, 04:35 PM

Has anyone been able to successfully use the Iconbank? I tried making a new bag using it and probably got in over my head, but any change to the xml file causes the icons in the Iconbank to have white outlines. I posted what I came up with so far in the Pre-beta forum.