The work is slow going on this - here's a screenshot of what I have so far.
EDIT: Looks like the thumbnail doesn't lead to a fullsize for some reason...here's a direct link:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7875/wipyb.jpg
While this looks like a simple re-skin, there's a lot going on under the hood:
- All needless scaling has been removed from the XML files. This means things in general will look more crisp and less blurry.
- One-use buttons or buttons that weren't used at all have been taken out of the templates and replaced with generic buttons.
- XML files are being "re-organized" - all buttons will be in a button template, all window elements will be in a window template, etc
- all DDS files are being re-mapped and re-made. This will make creating custom skins MUCH easier. Want to re-skin the buttons? Open up the buttons DDS. Want to re-skin the radar? Open up the radar's DDS. Separate items will now have their own separate DDS files to make things easier and more organized. Below are how some of the DDS files are currently laid out:
As you can see, everything is clearly laid out, with boundaries clearly established. Everything on the button template, for instance, is made using dimensions that are a factor of 11 - the smaller buttons are 11x11 pixels, the bigger buttons are 22x22 pixels. Everything on the menu bar template is 50x50 pixels. If you want to make a custom skin, you KNOW where the button belongs on the template. This wasn't the case with the default templates.
There's still a LOT more work to done, but I figured I would post this and get some feedback since it's starting to look like something.
Note: All of these changes are being done to the default UI. In it's current state, this doesn't support Pinco's UI - but, I do have plans of adding support. I just wanted to start with the default UI to get a feel for things.
EDIT: Looks like the thumbnail doesn't lead to a fullsize for some reason...here's a direct link:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7875/wipyb.jpg
While this looks like a simple re-skin, there's a lot going on under the hood:
- All needless scaling has been removed from the XML files. This means things in general will look more crisp and less blurry.
- One-use buttons or buttons that weren't used at all have been taken out of the templates and replaced with generic buttons.
- XML files are being "re-organized" - all buttons will be in a button template, all window elements will be in a window template, etc
- all DDS files are being re-mapped and re-made. This will make creating custom skins MUCH easier. Want to re-skin the buttons? Open up the buttons DDS. Want to re-skin the radar? Open up the radar's DDS. Separate items will now have their own separate DDS files to make things easier and more organized. Below are how some of the DDS files are currently laid out:
As you can see, everything is clearly laid out, with boundaries clearly established. Everything on the button template, for instance, is made using dimensions that are a factor of 11 - the smaller buttons are 11x11 pixels, the bigger buttons are 22x22 pixels. Everything on the menu bar template is 50x50 pixels. If you want to make a custom skin, you KNOW where the button belongs on the template. This wasn't the case with the default templates.
There's still a LOT more work to done, but I figured I would post this and get some feedback since it's starting to look like something.
Note: All of these changes are being done to the default UI. In it's current state, this doesn't support Pinco's UI - but, I do have plans of adding support. I just wanted to start with the default UI to get a feel for things.
