brandson: FFXI UI Mods 0.07

brandson (

brandson) wrote,
@ 2006-05-14 01:34:00

FFXI UI Mods 0.07
I worked on my fonts and ui pack a bit today and here are the results. I made a new font (it's the same face as the other one I made, but cleaner and with a black outline), a new animated arrow pointer for menus and targets, cleaned up the linkpearl icon slightly, cleaned up a few of my window tiles, and made some new menu buttons. Note that my first font is still in this pack as ROM\119\51a.DAT. Rename it to 51.DAT if you prefer to use that one. Read the readme to see what else is included in the pack. I strongly recommend backing up ROM\119\51.DAT and any other DATs to be overwritten by this pack before installing it.

Get the pack here: ffxi-ui-0.07.zip

Please post any comments or suggestions. Here are some screenshots of all the mods in-game (click for bigger):

May 15, 2006 Update: I re-uploaded the zip with the readme file in it. You can also get the readme here: ffxi-ui-0.07-readme.txt.

(Post a new comment)

	kurokikaze01 2006-05-14 02:54 pm UTC (link)
	Linkpearl and Bazaar bag icons look nice. The menu is tight. My only prob is the font. Looks too robotic. Looks better in the equipment screen than over players/npcs/mobs/etc. =( (Reply to this) (Thread)

brandson
2006-05-14 03:20 pm UTC (link)

Thanks for the comments. I learned a lot making my first font, and then even more making this one. If nothing else, this font is a lot cleaner. It is actually the same font face as my first font, but I had to shrink each letter a little in order to get each one to fit in the fixed space SE provides. So the font comes out looking a little smaller, and ya a little robotic.

One of my main goals with this font was to improve the readability of targets that are far away. That's why I went with the black outline. It's sometimes hard to make out the names of distant mobs and players in my first font. I think this font is definitely more practical in that regard.

This is not my last try though! I'm continuing to tweak this, and work on my next font, which should be pretty cool when it's done.

I think I might just start posting all the individual components that make up the UI DAT so people can mix and match the ones they like.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	kurokikaze01 2006-05-14 05:22 pm UTC (link)
	Hehe. I gotta agree. The black outlining is awesome. I'm looking forward to your future UI updates! As I said in game, if ya need some help just lemme know. :P (Reply to this) (Parent)

	soletaru 2006-05-14 06:51 pm UTC (link)
	wow what's your background res? looks really sharp. UI looks really good too. I like the menu =o (Reply to this) (Thread)

	brandson 2006-05-14 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks. Dunno if I'm settled on the final colour for the menu buttons. Gonna keep tweaking that. I run FFXI at 1280x1024 with 2048x2048 background res. For all my other settings, check my post here: http://brandson.livejournal.com/9286.html?thread=45638#t45638 (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wiccaan 2006-05-14 10:25 pm UTC (link)
	You might want to include a small read me about what each file is :P Anyway, looks great :D Thanks for the update on the fonts too, my W looks normal now lol. 1 question, I dont like the new buttons =/ to blue for me lol. In this release is the new font on the old buttons in any of the files? (Reply to this)

	ganks 2006-05-15 04:13 am UTC (link)
	I love this, Brand. Thanks a lot! p.s. I think you left the readme out. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	brandson 2006-05-16 12:00 am UTC (link)
	Oops. Sorry about that. I've re-uploaded the pack with the readme in it now. You can also download the readme here: http://www.gmronline.com/mik/ffxi-ui-0.07-readme.txt Sorry! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	hiddenconvert 2006-05-15 09:09 am UTC (link)
	Hello I wandered onto this entry while reading other FFXI LJ's. I downloaded the pack you posted but was confused which .dat to change (the download doesnt seem to have a readme). Does this only apply to the japanese or english client? Sorry for the randomness but I would really to use this ^^; (Reply to this) (Thread)

	brandson 2006-05-16 12:01 am UTC (link)
	This may work on the Japanese client but it was designed for the NA client and tested on the NA client only. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	hiddenconvert 2006-05-16 01:16 am UTC (link)
	So do I just just change ROM\119\51.DAT? What are the other .DATs for? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Pointer (Anonymous) 2006-05-15 04:19 pm UTC (link)
	I really like how the font and UI look. Just one complaint, when I try to figure out where someone is on my screen, I can't tell with the new small blue pointer. Unfortunetly, there is no readme, so I can't tell which dat to change back to get the old style pointer back. (Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Pointer

brandson
2006-05-16 12:04 am UTC (link)

Unfortunately, SE has put most of the UI gfx in one file, ROM\119\51.DAT. I was busy with r/l stuff so I opted to just release one build of it with all my new additions. For now if you like some of it but not other parts, you can take what you like from other versions of 51.DAT by extracting the appropriate dds you want with Changetex and injecting it into another version. In the next version I'm thinking about releasing one premade dat per font + including all of the individual dds files with instructions on how to mix and match the components you like to make your own. Super busy this week though so might not get to that til the weekend.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Pointer (Anonymous) 2006-05-16 03:07 am UTC (link)
	I tried to use graphics conversion 3 and changetext, but I can't seem to get the hang of it. All I would like is to have the original pointer for , and all the rest of this new UI Build. So I shall eagerly await your next build with instructions on how to do this (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Pointer wiccaan 2006-05-17 10:31 am UTC (link)
	Yea the pointer is a bit small. Maybe expansing it in size when you get the chance :D I like how it looks though. :) No rush on the fix for it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Pointer brandson 2006-05-17 10:55 pm UTC (link)
	Ya, I realize the pointer and buttons aren't perfect yet but I am super busy during the week. The font has a few minor problems that have been bugging me too. I'll work on all this stuff again on the weekend. (Reply to this) (Parent)

ithorien
2006-05-25 04:49 am UTC (link)

Hey Brandson- I'm the guy who made the FF7 mod back in the day, and after seeing yours at work, I'm impressed man!

Very sharp looking, you did a great job on the font especially the spacing between letters. The menu backgrounds look great as well.

I do have some suggestions however- I think the contrast between the buttons and some backgrounds is too much, I would almost suggest making a bit different theme for some backgrounds. I absolutely love background 8, and think that maybe a darker blue or even black button would work better on it.

On a side note, did you ever mess around with the FFXI Font tool? It would be interesting to see your font at work for everything else (type, item descriptions, etc).

Looking forward to your next projects :D

(Reply to this) (Thread)

brandson
2006-06-01 05:16 am UTC (link)

Thanks for the nice comments. Glad you like it. I'm kind of surprised at the great responses from people for my dats. I just made them cause I was thoroughly sick of looking at the default graphics after playing the game for such a long time. That other people like them is a bonus. :D

I'm working on all sorts of new buttons, windows, fonts, pointers, and other stuff. I have lots of ideas for making different elements work better together, but I've got no time to make them!

I did try to make a font with the font tool last year but it didn't turn out that well. I made a font based on Arial and while it was readable, it didn't look that good, and nowhere near as good as the default chat font. The main problem is you can't do anything great with opacity in that font so it's never going to look as good as the font for the other stuff. I might try again some time but it's not a high priority for me. I don't mind the chat window font too much. It certainly doesn't bother me like the other font does.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	I love your cursor and font mods (Anonymous) 2006-05-27 06:21 pm UTC (link)
	This is a great font, but I noticed something while trying to form parties, with your font on the color for ppl who aren't in a party and the color for ppl who are, is the same I can't tell the deference anymore... :( I'm also red green color blind though (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: I love your cursor and font mods brandson 2006-06-01 04:57 am UTC (link)
	There is a difference in the colours for party and non-party players but it is subtle. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much I can do to improve that for you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Some Suggestions
(Anonymous)
2006-05-31 07:00 pm UTC (link)

Hi, I love this mod, It's possibly one of the best style mods I've ever seen for the game. However, I think that maybe you should change a few things (specifically for style of course). I'd love to see some light grey icons for the menu, instead of the blue ones that stand out a little too much in my opinion.

Also, would it be possible to make a gradient of black, instead of grey? I think that would look very sexy :)

Awesome work though!
Thanks,
Blabj

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Some Suggestions

brandson
2006-06-01 05:08 am UTC (link)

I haven't released everything I've created. ;)

I already made a version of my menu buttons with a more "muted" blue that fits better with all of my windows. I'm planning on making some more variations as well, including a grey one. The only problem with menu buttons is that black shows up transparent because SE decided to make the buttons a DXT1 dds instead of DXT3.

I made several variations of my semi-transparent gradient window too. I tried one that was a deep black but I don't think it looks that great. I did make a slightly darker grey version though which is now my preferred window. I made a deep blue gradient too which looks kind of FF7-ish. All of these windows will be in my next release.

The next UI release, 0.08, won't be out until I'm completely satisfied with the font I first released in 0.07. I'm still tweaking it a bit to clean up little annoyances. I've also experimented with a few other font ideas, including a "classic" style font that is just pure white letters with black outlines but very minimal shading. My first working attempt at it still needs a lot of work so that won't be in 0.08.

Finally, for fun I tried inverting the colours of my 0.07 font (I really need to name these fonts soon) so that the letters were black with a white/coloured outline. It was definitely a new look for the game. I'm debating whether to include it in 0.08 or not because it does look rather strange.

Unfortunately I work full time (at something other than dat editing) so it takes me a while to finish this stuff. New content is definitely in the works though!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Some Suggestions (Anonymous) 2006-06-01 11:08 am UTC (link)
	Thanks, it's still awesome you're working on all of these dat mods and working full time.. I don't know how you can find the time! I look forward to seeing the new updates, no doubt they'll be even better than what you've already made ^^ Cheers! Blabj (Reply to this) (Parent)

	setheffxi 2006-06-04 06:21 pm UTC (link)
	Can someone host this file on a file distributor that isnt total utter crap? lol... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	brandson 2006-06-04 08:26 pm UTC (link)
	If you can recommend a better one, I'll use it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Alternate hosting (Anonymous) 2006-06-07 10:34 am UTC (link)
	http://www.savefile.com/index.php is one which i see a fair few people using nowadays, as an alternative to Rapidshare. I also have a problem with Rapidshare, so i figured i'd mention it since i really would like to get a copy of these .dats (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Alternate hosting brandson 2006-06-08 11:04 pm UTC (link)
	I just uploaded all the files to safefile and updated the links on my LJ. If that site sucks, I blame you anonymous poster! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Alternate hosting (Anonymous) 2006-06-09 12:14 am UTC (link)
	Awesome ^.^ thank you so much! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Alternate hosting wiccaan 2006-06-09 04:30 pm UTC (link)
	You should just multi-link to it. More then 1 host is better to have incase one dies. SaveFile also doesnt work a lot of the times, their servers go down offten. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nekofriction 2006-06-09 10:25 am UTC (link)
	wow..amazing work (Reply to this) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2006-06-10 10:13 pm UTC (link)
	When i try to see full chat log. it erases everything. Is it a way to fix it? It didn't start till i installed this (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	brandson 2006-06-10 10:54 pm UTC (link)
	I've never experienced that before. Are you using both my 51.DAT and one of my window dats? If you're using my 51.DAT, try restoring the old one and using the same window. If it's just a window dat, does it happen with each of my windows? What gfx card and drivers are you using? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2006-06-10 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	Using your map thing. font thing and icon thing. and it is a geoforc 400mx. 56.64 driver. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2006-06-11 12:04 am UTC (link)
	I restarted my computer now it isn't doing it. Nice job on all your programs. I like all 3. Name is Biblo btw. not sure houw to apply to this site. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2006-06-12 11:52 am UTC (link)
	Whats the name of that window style you have in your screenshots? I dont wanna replace all of them :p (Reply to this)

	hayachi 2006-06-13 12:51 am UTC (link)
	very clean font layout, and techy menu/cursor. just the type I prefer Thanks a ton. (Reply to this)

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