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These questions are mainly aimed at players who use either the Default UI or one largely based on it rather than a highly customised UI.

1. Do you use the default spell/buff icons or a modified set?

2. Do you use the default compass or a modified compass?

3. Do you use the default spell book or a modified spell book?

4. Is your buff bar the default icon-only one? Vertical with buff names? Horizontal with buff names?

5. Does your list of memorised spells have just the default icons only? Icons plus spell names?

6. Do you tint your UI for different classes when boxing and if so, which colours?

7. Would you be distraught if the Class Animation on the default Inventory screen was static rather than animated? Was missing altogether?

The reason behind all these questions is that I am trying to work out where to spend my effort designing optional components for my re-worked default UI. If you do use something different from the default UI, please tell me which modification it is (for example "I use the t.king celtic spell book").


@Whinywizard - I have managed to resample all spell and inventory icons down to 32x32. It looks good!

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iMac (mid-2007), c2d 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram, ATI HD2600Pro 256Mb, 10.6.4, Wacom Intuos4

I use a modified version of Kyth's Low-Lag UI.

1. Modified set of spell icons.

2. Default compass

3. Modified spell book (I think).

4. Horizontal icon only buff bar.

5. Memorized list of spells is custom, square (two rows of 4), icon only.

6. I do not tint my UI, and just use basic black for all.

7. I do not care about the useless class animation. It's a complete waste of space.

Most of my custom elements are Kyth's small, or j4e-mod-5 (I think, it's been so long).

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Duchess Lana Mercyhand
Lord Protector of Destiny
Grandmaster Baker/Brewer
Tanks for the memories
~moejoe chamois, 65 shaman~|~cambria silverfir, 65 druid~|~magella summner, 55 mage~

Being rather new to EQMac and Everquest in general I've only used the default interface. Perhaps when I gain in levels, experience playing this game, and begin to play in groups I'll find some need to enhance the options modified or customized UI's offer, but frankly right now the default UI is working fine for me.

And then there is the fact that I'm not very computer savy. Just downloading the "stuffit" expander thingy made me break out in a cold sweat and gave me the shivering-fits. I'm a great believer in "If it ain't broke ... don't fix it."

John ... the clueless

I'm also using a modified Kyth, or a modified default with the prominent Kyth changes.

1. Default spell icons.

2. Modified Compass ( + - 0 notations and a 1 hour timer)

3. Modified spell book (modified infinity)

4. Modified buff bar (have done both hor and vert, I use vert, fixed size - no background)

5. Modified spell bar - 1 x 8 - icon only (option key brings up names) - no background)

6. No tints (changed many textures, solid black to infinity style buttons)

7. Haven't gotten around to deleting the animations, should




Cool, have at it. I've got a set of window defs that I'm just finishing (merging textures and defs to get to original number of files/etc.) I'll shoot them your way when done.

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Don't send me the xml files - one way for me to learn how the screens fit together is to trawl through them myself (plus I have modded ALL the texture files, conforming *every* texture to a power of two except for the compass strip). I would still have to work through changing dimensions and shifting stuff around. I tell you - making all your buttons a power of two and making sure they are not scaled in the xml is a real pain but rewarding when it is done.

From the consensus above, I will definitely get rid of the class animation all together. It sounds like black (or at least plain dark grey) textures are the way to go. With a viewport, it makes sense. Thank goodness for Photoshop - going back and editing these is a breeze!

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iMac (mid-2007), c2d 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram, ATI HD2600Pro 256Mb, 10.6.4, Wacom Intuos4

OK, the Class Animations are history as of now. LOTS of space to reclaim in the inventory screen.

Next question... in your memorised spells window do you use the default spell gems (24x24px with the corners nibbled off) or do you use a larger, square icon (with some sort of border or decal to show the red/yellow/blue spell type)?

And speaking of those tiny 24x24px spell gems... do any of you actually play Gems or can I get rid of that too? It is the reason the memorised spells icons are so small.

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iMac (mid-2007), c2d 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram, ATI HD2600Pro 256Mb, 10.6.4, Wacom Intuos4

Default spell gems window for me.

As for gems, you can get rid of that for me!

If i am ever on a long camp and need something, then i will load another UI.

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Decision time - having had a look at the code, the GEMS game is out of this UI.

This is because of hard-coding behind the UI layer that cannot be altered. While the GEMS game works well enough for spell gems that are 24x24 plus a border, when the spell gems are scaled to 32x32 plus the mandatory border, they make the GEMS game window far too wide to be practical.

If you are on a long camp and need something GEMS-like, my apologies but it won't be in this UI. Perhaps get something from PopCap Games on your iPod Touch or smartphone?

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iMac (mid-2007), c2d 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram, ATI HD2600Pro 256Mb, 10.6.4, Wacom Intuos4

Progress report on the work I am doing - first pass through all the graphics is complete and about half the screens are done. Although I have got past the Character Create screen which is the second biggest, I still have the Options screen ahead of me.

Fingers crossed but if all goes well the only graphic that will not be a power-of-two is the compass. Nothing stretched from its defined dimensions, nothing with opacity outside its window borders, no windows overlapping and very easy to use with a viewport. Subjectively, PoK seems less laggy with this than the sars4mac UI on a decent iMac.

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iMac (mid-2007), c2d 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram, ATI HD2600Pro 256Mb, 10.6.4, Wacom Intuos4