@Archaic, is it possible to modify (and polish) the area icons on the world map? There are some distinctive icons for Friendly Arm, Candlekeep, High Hedge, but a lot of areas have only a bunch of trees or hills that look similar to each other. Any possibility to add road lines between the areas so it can be easy to tell which area is connected to which one? (and maybe other features like name of river chionthar, the cloud peaks, the wood of sharp teeth?)
@Jodien37 - I have not done any world map specific modding yet. These things are possible but I doubt this will be a project I take on. There are like 56ish locations total that need to be remade. I would prefer to do all of them or none of them. I agree that the map does need some work.
If someone else is interested in redesigning the map location icons I have no problem implementing them into the map.
The only things left to do are the Journal and some touch up work on the main GUI. I will then need a few days for some extensive testing, tweaking, and packaging the installer. If the fix for the Journal doesn't come soon then I will probably start the store/inn screens while we wait for the patch.
BETA 6 release is just around the corner - FINALLY!
BETA 6 STATUS: 82% Complete
They are releasing BG:EE for mac with their own client instead of mac app store in 2 and a half days(http://www.baldursgate.com/) so you can expect a patch by then or soon after. I think I remember reading in trent's twitter(found the link
It's funny that I just found out about and started using this GUI Mod last night and it already really changed the feel of the game for the better. I'm really looking forward to BETA 6.
ACI Item Description Screen for BETA 6: Concept 1 (VOTE LIKE): Concept 2 (VOTE AGREE): Which one do you like best? Note: Concept 2 has the most viewable area with less scrolling. Don't forget to VOTE LIKE or AGREE. Thanks.
I'm going to try to get the all the secondary screens for options, inventory and record complete for BETA 6. I've got the color picker screen and inventory description screen complete for the inventory so far. Now I'm finishing up the the sound, graphics, etc for the option screens.
Hello @Archaic! I was wondering if you have links too the older versions.
I'm asking this because the latest version does not work 100% for me and I want to see how the other ones work. I used the installer and every file went into the overdrive folder. On the current version I get issues such as crashing when clicking "load game". I tried making a new game instead which worked, but when I click the options menu I crash. I also crash using the quickload key in the new game. Several buttons in the menus are also strange (some flipped the wrong way, some missing half of the button).
Inside the game everything worked perfect, looked great and I managed to bypass the issue of not being able to get to the "load game" part by making a new game and dying. But I would prefer being able to using the options menu without crashing, the issue with the buttons don't bother me as much as the options/loading screen.
Another note is that a few hours ago I couldn't even enter the game because of crashing when starting the game, but playing baldur.exe as an administrator got me too the point described above.
Edit: I also found issues with the Journal, clicking on the buttons inside the journal made me crash and sometimes even by clicking on the journal icon. (I took the manual download this time instead of the installer with only the contents from "Archaic Beta 5.5" and "Start Screen Sets 1.0") I made a new discovery when I removed one of the files in the overdrive called startmbt.bam. By removing that file I am now able to start baldur.exe without being in administrator mode and I was also able to go into the load page and in the options ingame. The "Main menus" buttons fixed themselves but the "Start menu" buttons after the Main menu are still a bit strange (now only 15% of them are missing instead of half).
Edit2: I made another discovery just now. By removing a file called guijrnlc.bam in the overdrive folder you no longer get crashes from the Journal. This however makes the "Quests" and "Done Quests" buttons look like the original bgee Journal buttons which makes the journal look a bit weird. I have yet to find the file that causes the buttons in the "Start menu" to look strange but I think I'm getting closer. I hope that the information I've provided so far will help in any matter of way.
Edit3: I went back to the installer and this time I had all the contents from Archaic GUI. I removed "startmbt.bam" and "guijrnlc.bam" but I stumbled into a new trouble. I couldn't enter a new game or load a game. SO. I singled out another file that caused that issue (by removing each file one by one), the file "guipnl10.bam". With this file gone everything seems to work without crashing. There is just the annoyance of slightly weird buttons in the "Start menu" which I found out had something to do with the file that gave its look "startold.mos". And that by removing "guijrnlc.bam" two of the buttons in the journal returned to their orignal shape causing it to look a bit weird in the Journal.
Another issue I found was that the game does not start in fullscreen and gave me a whitescreen with the music from BG playing in the background. By pressing alt + k I changed it to window mode and restarted it, thereafter I could see everything and could return it to fullscreen mode (I have to repeat this though).
This is as far as I reached on version 5.5, so if anyone else doesn't get it work try this at least. I hope it helps someone and that this hopefully pointed out where a few of the issues might lie for some people that can't get this to work.
P.s. Sorry for the wall of text and I would appreciate if I can try one of the older versions.
This how the edges of Start Menu buttons looked and the Journal buttons "Quests" and "Done Quests" looked in the end after all that text in my first post.
@Ondakakan - Make sure you start by doing a clean install. Remove all mods and files from the override folder then use the ezinstaller. You shouldn't be experiencing any crashes. I released a fix for the options menu here: http://www61.zippyshare.com/v/10842698/file.html
If that doesn't work then I would suggest waiting for BETA 6 release soon. I don't have any previous version besides 5.5. Thanks.
I got all of the secondary option screens redesigned including: Sound, Character Sounds, Graphics, Gameplay, Feedback, Auto-Pause, Language and Assign Keys. Now I'm moving on to the Record secondary screens. I want to get rid of all the vanilla blue screens so every screen is redesigned with Archaic GUI.
Option #1 is actually better for readability. Option #2 has too many characters per line. See http://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability for instance. Also, with descriptions being arbitrarily long, something almost absurdly so, this means the item drawing is pushed far down rather than always being right at the top.
@Balquo - Thanks that actually helps a lot. The max window size I can create with my designs is 1132x773 this allows for everything to fit on the screen even with scaled and non scaled settings. So this means that I can make slightly bigger screens. I would be interested in doing this for the record screen to try and make a design that will allow much less scrolling.
The vanilla window screen size is 972x768. I implemented a 1132x768 screen size for the start screen and main menu designs. I also included a super thin border compared to the thicker border seen in the inventory, record, etc. screens. This will give me approx 200 extra pixels of work space. I will have to see what I can do with the record screen.
Personally i much more prefer current record screen. The above one has too much unused background. Also the lack of vice border contrast it with rest main screens. BTW, are you going to redesign inn/store screens for BETA 6 too?
The current record screen is way better than this. It is a lot easier to see the ability scores and the level-up button is awesome there. But I prefer to see the race, class and level at the center stage with a slightly bigger font, instead of alignment and gender which can go to the right sidebar.
And maybe, you can make the left sidebar fonts lower case just like the right side instead of all caps? It can be more consistent.
Let me know what you think. Clearly it needs a lot of work but its more about the idea behind it.
Well, I really like that design, especially the part on the right handside. There is much more info on the screen at one time, which is easier to read through.
Just make the buttons slightly smaller. And make the Name/class/race info slightly more readible.
Maybe something like vanilla one: _______________ IMOEN thief _______________ | human neutral-good female _______________ |
PS I'm glad to see you are using avatar for Imoen that I cropped
I get a kick out of the hourglass shape for imoen. Not to fond of the new record screen though.. the stats aren't lined up for one.. the different sections could use some type of borders so they aren't all mashed together.
I appreciate everyone's feedback about the record screen concept. Please keep in mind I spent 2 whole minutes throwing together this design concept. I will offer two versions of the records screen the current one and a custom record screen (concept). I will put the same love and care into the concept as i did the current records screen. I will keep all of your suggestions in mind and keep you updated with screenshots. Thanks.
Comments
If someone else is interested in redesigning the map location icons I have no problem implementing them into the map.
Made a few adjustments to the border.
That said, they will probably wait for the app store for the ipad version so maybe starting with the store/inn is a good idea.
Btw, even if I don't post often I still love your work, I just don't have any useful criticism so I admire it from a distance.
Concept 1 (VOTE LIKE):
Concept 2 (VOTE AGREE):
Which one do you like best? Note: Concept 2 has the most viewable area with less scrolling.
Don't forget to VOTE LIKE or AGREE. Thanks.
I'm asking this because the latest version does not work 100% for me and I want to see how the other ones work. I used the installer and every file went into the overdrive folder. On the current version I get issues such as crashing when clicking "load game". I tried making a new game instead which worked, but when I click the options menu I crash. I also crash using the quickload key in the new game. Several buttons in the menus are also strange (some flipped the wrong way, some missing half of the button).
Inside the game everything worked perfect, looked great and I managed to bypass the issue of not being able to get to the "load game" part by making a new game and dying. But I would prefer being able to using the options menu without crashing, the issue with the buttons don't bother me as much as the options/loading screen.
Another note is that a few hours ago I couldn't even enter the game because of crashing when starting the game, but playing baldur.exe as an administrator got me too the point described above.
Edit: I also found issues with the Journal, clicking on the buttons inside the journal made me crash and sometimes even by clicking on the journal icon.
(I took the manual download this time instead of the installer with only the contents from "Archaic Beta 5.5" and "Start Screen Sets 1.0") I made a new discovery when I removed one of the files in the overdrive called startmbt.bam. By removing that file I am now able to start baldur.exe without being in administrator mode and I was also able to go into the load page and in the options ingame. The "Main menus" buttons fixed themselves but the "Start menu" buttons after the Main menu are still a bit strange (now only 15% of them are missing instead of half).
Edit2: I made another discovery just now. By removing a file called guijrnlc.bam in the overdrive folder you no longer get crashes from the Journal. This however makes the "Quests" and "Done Quests" buttons look like the original bgee Journal buttons which makes the journal look a bit weird.
I have yet to find the file that causes the buttons in the "Start menu" to look strange but I think I'm getting closer. I hope that the information I've provided so far will help in any matter of way.
Edit3: I went back to the installer and this time I had all the contents from Archaic GUI. I removed "startmbt.bam" and "guijrnlc.bam" but I stumbled into a new trouble. I couldn't enter a new game or load a game. SO. I singled out another file that caused that issue (by removing each file one by one), the file "guipnl10.bam". With this file gone everything seems to work without crashing. There is just the annoyance of slightly weird buttons in the "Start menu" which I found out had something to do with the file that gave its look "startold.mos". And that by removing "guijrnlc.bam" two of the buttons in the journal returned to their orignal shape causing it to look a bit weird in the Journal.
Another issue I found was that the game does not start in fullscreen and gave me a whitescreen with the music from BG playing in the background. By pressing alt + k I changed it to window mode and restarted it, thereafter I could see everything and could return it to fullscreen mode (I have to repeat this though).
This is as far as I reached on version 5.5, so if anyone else doesn't get it work try this at least. I hope it helps someone and that this hopefully pointed out where a few of the issues might lie for some people that can't get this to work.
P.s. Sorry for the wall of text and I would appreciate if I can try one of the older versions.
If that doesn't work then I would suggest waiting for BETA 6 release soon. I don't have any previous version besides 5.5. Thanks.
The vanilla window screen size is 972x768. I implemented a 1132x768 screen size for the start screen and main menu designs. I also included a super thin border compared to the thicker border seen in the inventory, record, etc. screens. This will give me approx 200 extra pixels of work space. I will have to see what I can do with the record screen.
Update: I put together a quick concept design for the record screen: http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6052/archaicrecordscreenbeta.jpg
Let me know what you think. Clearly it needs a lot of work but its more about the idea behind it.
BTW, are you going to redesign inn/store screens for BETA 6 too?
And maybe, you can make the left sidebar fonts lower case just like the right side instead of all caps? It can be more consistent.
Just make the buttons slightly smaller.
And make the Name/class/race info slightly more readible.
Maybe something like vanilla one:
_______________
IMOEN
thief
_______________ |
human
neutral-good
female
_______________ |
PS
I'm glad to see you are using avatar for Imoen that I cropped