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UI Modding Question

stardog765stardog765 Member Posts: 48
in General Modding
Ok if I am going to keep this game and not blow it up and off of my hard drive and go back to the original I must, MUST figure out how to mod the UI.
It has to be the worst UI I can remember seeing and must be fixed. I am no modder but I am pretty good with graphic design tools such as Photoshop.
So what I am asking is, is it possible to mod this UI to skin it and make it actually hi-res as it should be and is if you run the modded version of BG with the widescreen patch?

I cannot find any documentation here yet concerning how modding like this is done so I am asking here. Is this possible and if so can you point me to where I might find the info on how to go about doing it?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

BTW for the record for this to be called the enhanced edition of BG is quite a stretch and the only thing that is keeping me from feeling like I have been totally duped is the possiblity that I might be able to fix this issue. At least then I will feel better about the whole thing.

Comments

  • SFischSFisch Member Posts: 59
    Modding may be a little tricky right now. I've had trouble getting the requisite tools to work. NearInfinity is giving me a corrupt BAM message, and DLTCEP doesn't recognize the file structure that EE has. I'll break it down though, and someone correct me if I'm wrong about something.


    Tools needed: DLTCEP, latest version and BAM Workshop

    Files: Once you've downloaded DLTCEP and set it up by feeding it the chitin.key file that it needs on startup, you should browse for two files. The first is a ".MOS" file. These files are the backgrounds of the interfaces. You can export these as a .BMP and edit them in photoshop. Make sure the green background color stays in tact though, as that controls the alpha (transparency).

    The second type is a ".BAM" file, which is the format of the animated buttons on the interface. The list of BAMs is very long, and you'll find the buttons under the G's, specifically "GUI[xxxxx]" You'll need to either export these as BAMs, or you can just take note of their dimensions and make your own button clicked animation with the same number of frames, to be safe.

    Either way, you'll have to save this new animation as a BAM and name it over the old file.

    Finally, if you want to be really brave, you can attempt to shift the actual placement of buttons and elements by exploring with ".CHU" files. I have no idea how these work, so I won't be able to help you there, sadly.

    If you need any clarification on any of these points, let me know!
  • stardog765stardog765 Member Posts: 48
    Wow hey thank you kind sir!
    Where did you find this info if I might ask? Is it somewhere and I just didnt see it?
    Sorry if this is a rehash of info that I just missed.

  • SFischSFisch Member Posts: 59
    Mostly just years of tinkering. I don't think there is a UI guide out there. Or not yet! Maybe in your process of editing it, you could write one!
  • stardog765stardog765 Member Posts: 48
    edited November 2012
    Haha ya well lets see if I can even figure out how to open the files without breaking anything.

    Thanks again I appreciate your help.

    Update: Actually what I really would like to be able to do is replace the current UI graphics with the UI graphics from the modded BG with the widescreen patch. I dont really see a reason to recreate the wheel as that UI is nice and hi-res and looks good but I dont know if that would even be possible.
    Might be getting in over my head with that for sure.
  • SFischSFisch Member Posts: 59
    Well, the only issues I see is that the new buttons might be a different dimension and there are new additions, such as the new party select and AI buttons, as well as the ?, etc. You could try and extract the background/buttons from a BG2 install and try it though! If you mess something up, just reinstall the game! Or make a backup of your game folders now, just in case.
  • ParysParys Member Posts: 205
    @stardog765 you should redo the spellbook as well. I miss BG2 Spellbook :(
  • stardog765stardog765 Member Posts: 48
    Hah well we will see if i can even figure out the main GUI.
    My main concern is I would just like to figure out how to make what is there actually scale to hi-res. That would make me very happy alone.
  • SFischSFisch Member Posts: 59
    edited November 2012
    Also, Kwait is the master UI manipulator. You might want to ask him. He's already gotten a partial BG1 style interface out, anyway.

    http://www.shsforums.net/topic/55547-classic-gameplay-windows-for-bgee-10/page__fromsearch__1
  • stardog765stardog765 Member Posts: 48
    WOO! Sweet! Even that looks better. I will check that out and maybe ask him about scaling it. Thank you so much !
  • SFischSFisch Member Posts: 59
    Managed to find this for anyone who is truly interested in UI modification.

    http://www.teambg.org/tutorials/index1a861a86.html?page=opentut&tutID=12
  • stardog765stardog765 Member Posts: 48
    Thank you sir!
  • KerozevokKerozevok Member Posts: 695
    edited December 2012
    Currently NI don't recognize the new bam.
    NI corrupts all modified CHU files.
    DLTCEP can't read some CHU files.
    .....

    Search the files in these condition is a real nightmare.
  • AlequeAleque Member Posts: 149
    I hope someone can make the font bigger and the journal background darker
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