I've always wished I could change fonts on the fly to suit mood or character. For example, I'd love to trade in all the calligraphy for something more script-like or block-like or gothic etc. sometimes, or change it right back, and I'd like it to be a uniform change throughout the UI. I have no idea how feasible this is, or if it means I should vote for fonts or themes. But you've got a great eye for what works at what size and in what relative position, so I figured you were the man to throw it at.

Edit: By "on the fly", I mean from within the omod installation script or somesuch, as I don't suspect that's a change you can apply while the game is loaded without funky stuff happening.

Wow, completely forgot about this thread. The themes still have it I see. Now's the time to vote if you need bigger fonts...


Trust me, that's exactly what I'll do next time.


Probably doable with OBSE backing.


The forum search is a joke. Why they haven't switched to a better forum is beyond me. There are far superior free packages out there. I use SMF, btw.


Lol, surely "crap" is not swearing?


Sure. In dialog_config.xml and hudsubtitlemenu_config.xml.


It doesn't scale "properly". I added a setting to control its width, but the frame and zoom level is static.


- Fonts will come...
- Inventory icons are scaled according to the item they reside in. Any bigger, and they bleed into each other. The inventory config file has some options you might wanna look at.
- The map scale can be set between 40 and 100%. What more do you want?


The fonts can be changed with a simple ini edit. The esp?


This could be achieved with a camera tweak maybe. Reducing the menu is kinda counter-productive, as the point here is more info available in the menu...


I have options for font 1 in the installer already. When I make the font release, I have plans for more alternaitives for the rest of them too.

I just wanted to let you know that I think the UI is great the way it is. I'd love more themes, but it's entirely up to the people doing the work IMO.

I'm running at 1600x1050 on an 18" widescreen, and the fonts look fine to me. That may be because my monitor is on an arm that I put over my laptop, I don't know.

Darn, as a sidenote, I got the thing worked out with the SoVvM map. For whatever reason, I wasn't able to move the map around to see the all of it, but it's somehow resolved itself.

Thanks for this great UI!

I voted for themes. What is wrong with the ones included in the current mod? I can read them that,s enough, am grateful.

Themes on the other hand... For the classic Darn - only lightwood UI replacer and... well, I like what is done for Dark UIDarn, why isn't more available for the classic?
Themes please?

Thanks DarN I'll take a look at them.

Themes have been a long time coming now. DarN infact had had the core mechanics completed since 1.3's release. Hope he can put out a release soon.

As for the themes themselves, I believe it's not about switching b'ween textures but adding a color overlay to the existing ones - or at least that's how it looked like when I saw it 1st.

Wow. An 18" widescreen for 1600x1050 actually sounds tiny to me.


I hate it when that happens. You never find out what was actually wrong that way.


I think Luchaire uses DarkUI'd DarN, so it's only natural that the darker version got preference there.


I had the way to do the actual switching ready then, but there's a lot more to be done to make it user friendly. The demo was made with hardcoded values (DarkUI).


There's two thing happening at swap time; the colors will change for the fonts, and the textures are swapped out. http://ui.darnified.net/wip/1.3.1/theme_switch1.avi. Very often these are just recolored versions of the originals, so it looks kinda like an overlay.

---

Seems the themes are solidifying their lead now...

Nope, it's not tiny at all. Actually when I was running DarkUI'd darn on my laptop monitor with its native resolution, I couldn't read the inventory items very well. As I said, it may be because it's over my lap and therefore closer to my eyes. At any rate, it's my favorite UI mod.

I hate when that happens, too! I didn't reinstall anything, so I have no idea what changed. I guess it was just some temporary glitch.

I would like themes more than fonts for the next release. I dont know what type but perhaps mage, rogue, fighter, and even different colors or perhaps wood grain and especially marble with green marble look. I think they used the green marble look in older TES games.

Great mod

:D

I think you misunderstand - the themes I'm talking about are the ones already created by Luchaire/Darkbirdy. The theme version planned would give you the ability to change theme in-game. I've long thought about making my own, as I have a pretty good idea of how I'd like my UI to look, but that would have to wait till I'm done with the coding part (which might never happen ).

There are both wood and green themes made already btw.

I sandwiched all relevant UI mods into one BAIN archive: http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=957424&view=findpost&p=13828712

I can switch between loading screens, retextures, reskins, maps, icons, etc. within a minute or two - but yeah out of game and before you load game.

Wow, pretty cool!

My name is DarN btw.

I remember you saying MUST ... CONTROL ... GOD_COMPLEX somewhere ( or was it BOND complex ? )

Well, in this case it's the difference between cussing and a name.

Hehe, took me quite a few PMs before I got that right. And even after I got it right, I had to really think about it or I'd do it wrong again.

P.S. With the themes being developed, how will you handle the many font colors (and alpha)? Will there be (per theme perhaps) a set of text-types, lets say 5, and then in all the config files instead of selecting the color and alpha of a specific text, you select which text-type it should use. Seems like the easiest way cause different textures will often mean different text colors. :shrug:

Thanks - correction made darn it.

Also making basic ini tweaks for Wrye Bash is pretty easy. Worth mentioning.

Alpha isn't likely to change AFAIK. The textures and colors will be using an indexing system. I'll need to identify the colors used, and put them in order somehow. If I stick to light themes only, as was the original plan, the text colors won't change at all. This is pretty cool though, as you can just edit a color entry in the config, and that will be used throughout the UI. Either way, a color config will need to be created to get light and dark working properly. Right now, colors are collected from all over, and some are specified only in the main file for the menu in question. A lot of work to do here you see.


Thanks pal. It's an identity thing really. I could start calling shadeMe Doris, but that's not his name is it?

You joker

Anyways, your post made me ask this, so it's not my fault if it happens to hurt your feelings

Now that OBSE supports UI manipulation, how about making the config menu in-game work properly ? As in the changes you make to the UI in-game using that menu, get saved directly. That will be a huge boon.

I know... SirFrederik was working on doing a POC OBSE script for me, but ran into an OBSE bug IIRC, and then he vanished. That script would've really helped me understand the process, as I'm totally blank when it comes to scripting. I haven't forgotten though, and it will be done eventually.

I see ... Good to know !

The bug you mention is with changing a trait by script. The actual trait is updated but any other thing in the XML that uses that trait to calculate stuff will consider it 0. Short example: lets say you want to change the _currentzoom trait in HUDMainMenu, you need to calculate and change all traits that use it by script.

I've been using it for a while now and it really is annoying. So far I used cleaver workarounds (like using a parent rect with tags and child elements) to take away a bit of the work needed to change the position of an element. But that's only possible to a certain extent. :shrug:

[edit]
After changing a trait by script, it stays that way until the associated menu (and thus XML) is reloaded. For things like books and containers that is each time they are opened but things like the main HUD, it's only when the game is restarted.
[/edit]

-kyoma

Has this bug been reported to the OBSE team ?


You could use the Reload console function in conjunction with the RunScriptLine function to reload the menu in question. Think that might work ?

Yeah, that rings a bell. Is there any way to get a script to edit the xml file directly? That way, the changing of properties is handled by the UI, and simply read and saved by the script. Ie. no need to actually set any values from script.

Btw, you can reload a menu manually; "reload hudmainmenu" will reload the HUD, I'm sure you know.

Yup, but they haven't decoded enough of the XML to be able to fix this.

Unfortunately changing the files themselves is not possible (yet). I suppose it could be done with OBSE (by that I mean, such functions could be made) but it then becomes a dilemma cause it will allow modders to access and change those files. Ok, maybe not that bad in this instance but it is a tricky subject. :shrug:

Still worth mentioning in the OBSE thread as they are also at the point of (possible) adding I/O functions.


Yea you can use the Reload function (although might not work the same when using it with RunScriptLine), but you'd still need to change all the values. All it would give you is a simple way to 'reset' all the changes made by scripts. Still very useful

Yea, I've used it a thousand times while working on a (secret) project of mine. Combined with a windowed Oblivion and the Notepad++ for the XML files it really makes UI modding easy.

-kyoma

Secret ... ? That sounds ominous Anyway, windowed Oblivion happens to be a pain in the neck on Vista - Somehow, the application loses it focus and ends up minimizing itself at odd times.