hud posible?
 

Is it posible to do a hud in eq2? (hud = heads up display) I've used one in the past 3 mmo's i've played, and i'm finding myself really missing it.

An example of a hud would be

http://uifiles.worldofwar.net/upload...1_20061026.jpg

just a modification of the hp/mp window for yourself and those of your target, put in a modifyable overlay that is easy to glance at yet not too obtrusive.

Obviously there is a lot more you could add to it like spell icons etc.

Something else i miss to the point where it drives me nuts is the Healers helper UI mod from derida from DAOC. I don't have a direct link to a picture for that unfortunatly. Was simply a group window with optional names and number or precentages for group members health. But instead of a health bar the entrie player window would alter color dependant on the health of the player in question. Something i grew verry used to, but can't seem to find in any other mmo.

On the HUD: Yes, that's certainly possible. The target's health/power would be percentages only rather than full numbers, but it's doable. The ProxyActor window (which controls the health/power bars above each actor's head) could be modified, or a window could be created that's fixed at the center of the screen with 30% opacity.

On the group window: Maybe... http://www.eq2interface.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=3908

Most of the groupmember dynamicdata tags never worked, not sure whether or not that one ever did. It might be that the gauge ones worked, just the text ones did not. I'll have to check that out.

Here's a (horribly ugly) proof of concept on the HUD. There's no way to turn it off or adjust it's size/position/opacity from in-game and it's permanently stuck on top of all other windows, but it's click-through and shows the basics. Just drop the files into your custom UI folder, delete them when you're done looking at it. (Trust me, delete it. :p)

It should be fairly easy to set up a hotkey to toggle it on/off by integrating it with another window (which will also fix most of the other issues, may even be able to get opacity control on it), once the design is finished.


Edit: Looks like the group color thing isn't going to work at all. :( Just checked and none of the dynamicdata is active, so there's no way to pull color.

Sucks that the group window won't work. That daoc mod was exactly what i have been missing.

The hud is great news though!

So, what changes would you like to the HUD there, and will the Clock window work as a binder? (In other words, do you currently not have a Clock window mod?)

Wanted to play with the hud going for a bit to see if i could get any ideas for modification.

Few things i noticed.

1. when no target is selected there is still a red and blue background tint there. Is it posible to make these not vissible if no target is selected?

2. A posible addition of an implied target bar might be nice. I wouldn't add mana along with this as it might make things a bit too cluttered.

3. lock and unlockable or move options for the bar's and % text? I personally always liked to play with the hud having my hp and mana on the left with targets hp and mana on the right side of the hud.

4. Posible options to remove some or all of the % texts?

5. An optional casting time bar included in the hud? Could suround player health with a gradually incrimenting glow up the bar or something that wouldn't add an entirely new bar, but is still noticeable?

6. I'm sitting on the fence as to weather i like the partioned form of the hp/mana bars or just a solid bar. I think i could go either way.

7. perhaps a option to add in buffs or debuffs for target? Similar to the way the target window works now.

8. If some of the previous were implimented it might be nice to have an option to outright remove the target window and posibly the implied target window. As it would be redundant to some people.

9. If number 9 was implimented there would be an absence of any name for target. This could be slightly problematic for some people =)

Hmmmm just a few ideas, and food for thought.

Have no mod that in any way alters my clock window. Forgot about that =)

1- Yup.
2- Yup.
3- Iirc we can't get custom windows to save their size and location, so it'll have to be fixed in the center. And we definately can't make individual elements save their locs, so it'll all have to be pre-arranged according to your spec. (This is assuming it's a shoved-in addition and not a replacement to the target window.)
4- Yes, depending on how it's set up.
5- Assuming /GameData.Spells.Casting works properly. :)
6- k
7- Not unless it completely replaces the target window.
8/9- Well sure then. :D But the TierIndicator and Info text would have to be there too, and I don't think it would be feasible to have it be switchable: You'd be stuck with the HUD as your target and implied windows. Also, you'd have to work in a place for both sets of buff icons.


Anyway, think about whether you want it as a replacement or an add-on, and whip up an image showing how you want everything laid out. If you decide you just want bars, just list the order you want them in (and be sure to tell me where to switch from left to right side :p).

If replacement:
- If you want to move/resize in-game, you'll have to do so for both Target and Implied Target windows.
- Include target & implied target name locations in layout
- Include locations for both target & implied target buff icons in layout

If add-on:
- No icons
- No tier indicator, or Solo/Heroic/Epic text (But the relevant info is shown in the ProxyActor still, so no biggy)
- It won't be resizable in-game, so I'll need to know exactly how big you want it in pixels, both vertical and horizontal. (Current is 256x256)


Bed time then work time, so no rush.

that's what I've been missing for some time, a nice centered HUD...has a replacement, it would be nice and complete. thanks for the work you've put on that, and I hope it will continue to grow!

I honestly would prefer a replacement for the self, target, and implied target windows. Buf if we do this will we still have the buffs and mantained buff strips?

I did up a few very rough drafts to try and visualize what I'm thinking. I no longer have photoshop, so i had to use paint (shudders)

Option one ... thinking center might be too cluttered. Mabey if we spread the two halves furthur apart.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5303/hud2wk5.jpg

Two .... would make the bottom of the hud a little cluttered .. but the rest is a bit more clear.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2968/hud3hq5.jpg


The tier indicator could be placed above the target and implied target names. Or around them if you wanted to do a different type of graphic.

Many people might not actually like a total replacement of the target and implied target window. But personally for my old eyes a hud is just much easier to glance at, thus i would prefer a total replacement.

Not to mention a total replacement sounds like it would give us a lot more leeway in what we can do with the whole thing.

BTW haven't said it yet, but thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to help us non tech types out =)

Hmm. Basically, with the scale you've got there, the icons wouldn't be big enough to get any information off of by looking at them, and if they're set to allow tooltips then they will get in the way. So I'm thinking it would be best to make it an add-on, with an optional replacement target/implied window that only shows the information the HUD lacks, then you can position the icons where they'd be convienient. It'll be a bit easier to make and probably easier to manage too.

I'll alter what I've got to fit your specs there as far as the gauges and names.

sounds great to me, how was work btw =)

We got hit with that huge ice storm out here, power lines and trees down all over. Water mains breaking like candy canes, not pretty.

Work was exquisite.

Alrighty, here's the HUD piece. It should pop up automatically on login. If not, hit Alt-C (or whatever the Compass window is hotkeyed to) to show it.

The HUD's opacity is controlled by the Compass's Frame opacity. You can leave the frame off, just change the opacity sliders for the frame/titlebar to how opaque you want the HUD. Hover over the compass or hit Alt-C again to apply the change (don't worry, it will save on logout). Set opacity to 0 to hide the HUD completely.

Cool beans, i'll test it out asap.

Hmmm loaded it up and it was working fine, cast bar was there, didn't get to check implied target bar. I open the window settings for compass and turned down to opacity to see if it would work and the hud dissapeared completly. Can't seem to get it back now.

Hitting alt c gives me a message saying HUD can not be hidden. So that's a no go for getting it to come back.

reinstalled the hud and i'm trying to recreate the error that made it dissapear but it dosn't seem to want to do it again.

Moveing the compass window it's self dosn't alter anything, none of the sliders (window, frame, or backdrop) seems to change the hud what so ever.

Few screenshots of what i'm seeing so far.

Myself with random target
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/4...2000001wp4.jpg

Grouped, you can see implied target hp bar pretty well here
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/8...2000002nc7.jpg

Halfway through cast, looks nice.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1595/eq2000004wd0.jpg

*thoughts*
1. The target and implied target name might be a little too close together.
2. If we are replaceing the self window (hp, mana, concentration) this could create problems as you wouldn't be able to see if you had a poison, trauma etc on you. And you would loose the ability to see how much concentration you have left.
3. Not sure if we decided for or against replacing the target, and implied target windows completly or not. Kind of confused on this.

Looks nice =)

Interesting project; thanks for all the hard work. :)

Quick question:

The hud appears on the screen but a few inches off to the left and not focused around the character. Is there any way to manipulate where the hud sits on the screen?

Thanks,

Wow, that looks really cool. Great work so far!

It's only a supplement, and will probably stay that way. All the other data you mentioned needs to stay in the player/target/implied window. If you merged them all into one (not really, but made it look like it), the need to decide exactly where everything goes would cause issues if one was running a different resolution or had other windows they wanted to put there.

You could combine this with mods to the main windows that remove the redundant data, but replacing isn't feasible.



Not from in-game, you'll have to edit the xml file. It's currently set about 100 pixels below dead center, assuming a MainHUD size if 1024x768, which is the UI default. If you have any mod that changes the size (Fetish Nightfall, for example, and probably half of the other complete sets), it'll be off-center.

If you're feeling bold, open eq2ui_mainhud.xml in your custom folder. Check the Size of the first page element. Divide the X value by 2 and subtract 350. That should be the X value for the TestHUD's location. You'd have to edit eq2ui_mainhud_compass.xml and change it.

Despite feeling bold my working knowledge of anything computer related is pathetic at best.

I think i've attached my eq2ui_mainhud.xml file from the custom ui that I'm using to this post. Would it be possible for you to take a quick look at it and indicate the new value and where it needs to go in your hud file?

Apologies sir; my noob behaviour is a very real problem :nana:

Been playing with it for about an hour or so now. I like it very much. I went ahead and hid my default castbar, target, and implied target window. It is making my life pretty enjoyable.

Only two things i could wish for at this point would be a tier indicator for target. Perhaps some type of small graphic or something on the top of the hp bars. And a little more seperation between the target name and implied target name.

Not sure if the first is even posible. Over all I am loving the hud, I truely appreciate the effort you put in Death.

u16njs: Search for Location="337,324" and replace with Location="465,350"

lost45 (and u16njs too if you want to seperate the target names a bit):
Search for Location="56,260" and replace with Location="56,250"

awsome man, I've already got 5 of my guild members using the hud. I went ahead and refered them to this thread. They are pretty excited.

BTW I don't have an eq2ui_mainhud.xml in my custom folder. Can i just copy the one over from the default folder?

Thanks for the help deathbane, the hud is centered perfectly now. :)

One thing I've noticed is that lost45's hud seems to be significantly different to the one that I have.

lost45's:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/...q2000001wp4.jpg

versus

mine:
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5...2000084zu0.jpg

How would I go about trimming my hud down so that it is similar to lost45's version, which imo is slightly easier to view.

Thanks again for your hardwork.

Huh, now that's a bit strange. Have a lot of my guild mates using extreeme ui and no one has had that occur yet. Granted your not using extreeme but it looks similar.

Sorry, that edit for the name placement should occur in eq2ui_mainhud_clock.xml. :p Don't copy anything from the default folder, that just makes it not update when there's a patch.

Looks like the game didn't load the image correctly. TestHUD.dds actually goes in the same folder as the xmls, and not in the images subfolder like you're probably used to. (That'll change if/when I do a "normal" release.)

I thought up a helpful addition. :)

Search for Name="TestHUD" Opacity= and replace with Name="TestHUD" DynamicData="/GameData.Self.IsHated" Opacity=

Makes it so the whole thing shows and hides based on if something is in combat with you, so it's hidden when unnecessary and gives you a BIG notice you're under attack. It's a bit buggy, I'm having to turn it on manually for some reason on login, then it works fine after the first combat. I'll see if I can figure out where the dynamicdata and scripts are conflicting.

Hello there,

thank you very much for this handy ui-mod, deathbane27 ! It truely wasn't something I was craving for since i started playing, but when I stumbled over this thread and installed the HUD I immediately fell in love with it :)

You're stated that you're not yet done with work on it, I'm just wondering whether there are plans for making this baby fit into the regular UI. By saying this I mean golden borders around the bars, some tiny ornaments, etc. Right now it looks a bit plain to, the bars just don't seem to fit in.

Just wanted to ask you some things about the build-up of the .xml-file, as I don't have the slightest clue about EQ2-UI-Modding :(

A) How does the testhud.dds image work ? It seems to be a plain white image (in photoshop, dds-plugin installed), how does it define the curve of the bars ? I tried to paint some little strokes like a three-year old child would produce. Ingame, the bars were just like "columns" instead of smooth curves after the changes to testhud.dds.

aa) Other way round: do you use the image as a kind of masked image while letting the eq2ui_mainhud_clock.xml masking and shaping the curves ?

B) Is there any possibility to add a "skin" like mentioned above ? Maybe with an additional "layer" ?

I had my first glance at eq2-ui-modding today, I would you really appreciate if you brought light into the dark.

Here's a rough concept:


Regards,
Cajetan

A: It's all controlled via the Alpha Channel in the image. I don't recall how to access it in Photoshop, but there's some tuts out there.

B: Yeah, looks like a good visual change, and it's doable. *scribbles on paper*

The Alpha-Channel was a very good hint. You can access it directly via clicking the channel-tab and choosing the Alpha in the layer-window :) Drawing in the channel works as well.

I think your mod got really great potential. Maybe you could add some interfaceish stuff on it. Some other things which would enhance the whole mod:

- The "skin" mentioned above
- Thinner bars
- Smaller bars in general. My Resolution is 1280*800, they seem to occupie a good chunk of my screen when activated. Moreover I think it'd go with the style of most UIs featuring thin masterfully carved objects.
- Maybe a gradient is available ? But that'd be the least necessary change ;)

Thumbs up for your work !!

Regards,
Cajetan

Played around with it some more, here's the latest version.

-Bars re-arranged to my liking. Health on left, power on right, going from self on inside to implied target on outside.
-Added border per Cajetan's suggestion.
-Now shows and hides automatically when you are under attack!

Version D also has the bars shrunk to about 3/5 size, per Cajetan's request.

This looks really promising! Don't stop coding! :)

Hello there Deathbane27,

thank you very much for your efforts!

Just got one more question: You mentioned you're testing your mods with a trial version of EQ2. I've got one as well, but how did you enable it ? When I had my full version of the game installed I was able to see the HUD, now I don't. EQ2.ini is existent and contains the directory the hud is in. Any ideas ?

EDIT: Got rid of the problem. But I got a weird appearance of the whole bar:


EDIT2: Problem occurred when I try to use Testhud_c/d. Nothing is showing up. Testhud_b works fine.
Greetings,
Cajetan

I'm not using the trial version of the client.

The screenshot you're showing looks like you've got the B version of the xml with the C/D version of TestHUD.dds, which is what's causing that.

As it turns out, I still don't have the autoshow working quite right. Hover over or show/hide the compass to get it to show, it'll work fine after that.

wow this is looking pretty nice...im surprised something like this hasn't shown up before. nice job

Hello there, it is me again ;)

Sorry for being so unnerving about this topic, I just can't get it working.

Things i tried so far:

- Disabling/enabling/changing opacity of Compass/Clock during fight
- Disabling/enabling/changing opacity of Compass/Clock while not fighting
- Using /loadui and /load_uisettings
- Downloading TestHUD_c/d again + putting them into the EQ2MAP-Folder
- Deleting UI-Folder and getting a new one (via Patcher)
- Changed to all ingame-resolutions available
- Put eq2ui_mainhud_clock.xml and testhud.dds in a different directory than EQ2MAP (and changed eq2.ini to leading to this folder)

I really ran out of thoughts about this problem but want to use this HUD so badly :(

Maybe some info about my specifications might help ?

- ATI Mobility Radeon x1400 (256 MB)

As the DDS-Plugin has been invented by NVIDIA (I think) perhaps there is a compability-problem ?

Regards,
Cajetan

Justa quick question what if any modification would I have to make to this for it to look right, if I am running the game at 1920x1080 fullscreen res ?

Cajetan: I deleted my character's uisettings.ini file and re-downloaded to test. All you should have to do is:

1- Install
2- Right-click on the clock window and choose Window Settings.
3- Change the Frame Opacity to 30% or higher, both Normal and Mouseover.
4- Enter combat at least once, then logout (camp out, don't let the game crash or otherwise close it without camping).

After that it works perfectly for me.


MorpheusDead: Shouldn't be any modifications necessary, it'll just look small. If it's not centered correctly (due to running Fetish Nightfall or another complete set that modifies the size of _HUD), just search for Location="337,300" and replace with Location="465,350" and adjust again as needed.

Deathbane27,

thank you very much for being so kind and patient and helping me with my issues.
Your MOD is working ! And it looks really great, just wonder why it didn't make it into the game as something developed by SOE oO

Anyways, thumbs up !
Hope you don't mind that I'll spread this in my guild, giving you copyright of course.

Regards,
Cajetan