» Tue May 08, 2012 6:15 pm Sure enough you recognize Trollf's Themed Loading Screens suited for the vanilla UI textures. I made a Dark UI conversion long ago the hard, manual way. Recently I finally got around to making a proper template (a.k.a. DevKit) with proper Dark UI frames and a custom overlay and writing a GIMP batch script to automate the conversion process, and so a new version of all three Dark UI Themed Loading Screens mods has been released, along with the Dark UI DevKit and the GIMP batch script.
Downloads
Loading Screens Themed Replacer for Dark UI @ http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16950
Loading Screens Themed Replacer SI for Dark UI @ http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16951
Loading Screens Themed AddOn for Dark UI @ http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=17231
Dark UI Themed Loading Screens - DevKit and Batch Processor @ http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=41288
Themed Loading Screens for Dark UI
Author: khalim19
Original author: Trollf
Version: 2.0
Description
Based on Trollf's Loading Screens Themed Replacer/AddOn which gives unique textures to each description for vanilla loading screens/in case of AddOn adds new loading screens with unique descriptions, this mod serves as a Dark UI adaptation of Trollf's themed loading screens.
Obviously it's assumed you have Dark UI or DarkUI'd DarN or other Dark-UI-like user interface installed to make these loading screens and Dark-UI-specific textures blend together seamlessly.
Version 2.0 overhauls the overall look of the loading screens, giving them proper Dark-UI-style frames, removing the "parchment effect" seen in Trollf's loading screens and applying a different overlay with different coloring, which, I think, blends in better with the background and the new frames.
If you don't like the new overlay and would like to preserve the parchment effect, you can generate your own set of Dark UI loading screens with my Batch Processor (see below) with appropriate options set.
Note
On the download pages, there are two archives to choose from - "standard" and "alternate" (pick only one, both contain the esps and other stuff that's necessary).
The alternate package contains textures with extra overlay applied on the background and with highlighted text area (the area where the loading screen description should appear), giving the loading screens a more unique appeal.
Themed Loading Screens for Dark UI - DevKit and Batch Processor
Author: khalim19
Version: 1.0
Requirements
http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16020 by Trollf
http://www.gimp.org/windows/ 2.6.9 or later from the 2.6.x series
http://code.google.com/p/gimp-dds/
(optional) http://www.getpaint.net/
(optional) http://pdnbulkupdater.codeplex.com/
Description
This is a resource primarily serving as a means of converting Trollf's Themed Loading Screens made for vanilla UI textures to Dark UI flavor.
To accomplish this, I created a DevKit (i.e. a template) for Dark UI loading screens with proper Dark UI textures (taken from Dark UI and modified) and wrote a GIMP batch script to process images en masse, which is extremely handy if you want to perform the same set of adjustments for lots of images. The batch script operates on a directory containing images to be processed. It can also handle subdirectories, albeit with certain limitations (see the notes labeled "IMPORTANT" in "Using the Batch Script" section in the readme).
With the DevKit, you could possibly create completely new Dark UI themed loading screens from screenshots (i.e. not just converting Trollf's loading screens). However, this is not feasible in the current version, because there are no appropriate filters applied to the images as I have yet to find the right filters and the right settings for them in GIMP to make the new loading screens look on par with the converted ones - the creation of Trollf-style loading screens with Trollf's DevKit requires Photoshop (which I don't own), which has its own set of filters.
The batch script comes with several options to customize the look of the resulting loading screens.
Refer to "Using the Batch Processor" section in the readme for their description and to the picture in the archive to see them in effect.
To achieve better compression results, I recommend leaving the "DXT1 Compression" option in the GIMP batch script unchecked to save files uncompressed and then process the files through the Paint.NET Bulk Image Processor to save them in better quality DXT1 compression. See "Using Paint.NET Bulk Image Processor" section in the readme for details.
Notes
1. Please do read the readme thoroughly, it contains all of the necessary information and pitfalls you should avoid.
2. As stated in the readme, the batch script modifies files in the input directory - if you want to preserve the original files, make a copy of the directory prior to running the batch script. I hold no responsibility for undesirably destroying your original images as a result of not reading and following the instructions in the readme.
3. Only batch conversion of loading screens made from Trollf's DevKit is feasible in the current version. I don't recommend creating new loading screens from my DevKit as the resulting loading screen(s) may look bland.
With the batch script, it is now possible to convert e.g. the loading screens from Natural Selection to Dark UI flavor en masse.
On a final note, I realize the release came a bit too late, what with me being lazy and all, though better late than never. Enjoy.
