You may have seen a few mods released recently that remove the ugly grey borders around skills in game, and replacing them with clearer 'wiki-like' versions instead. For example, the original skill icons are shown on top, with the Quartz modded skills underneath:
The problem with these mods is they also remove the borders from the effects monitor, for example, the green indicating enchantments, the purple indicating hexes, the yellow indicating elite. This is a major disadvantage when trying to find out what's going on in the middle of battle. So, I decided to release my own mod, improving on the wiki'ed skill ideas.
The ClearSkills mod is now up to version 1.3, and includes the following:
-All skills have had the blurry grey border removed, and the clearer versions should be seen on the skillbar, damage monitor, and on damage icon floaters.
-Thin effect borders on enchantments, hexes, etc.
-Thin black border around non-elite skills.
-Bright yellow border around elite skills.
-Numbers on skillbar and enchant/hex arrow icons removed.
-Mod created with Photoshop using .dds files, to minimize memory use and file size.
Here's a preview of what this will look like in game:
You can download the version 1.3 .tpf from this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1wyiozhtcwg
And for those that have yet to download TexMod, or don't know what it is/how it works, you can find download links, instructions on how to use the program, and developer responses to modding from here:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...-game_graphics
Mod Release: Clear 'wiki-style' skill mod (including effects monitor borders)
Shawn The Divine
Lagg
I still wouldn't advise people to mod the game until it comes out of the "grey zone".
![[DE]](/static/static/../Img/avatar38220_14.gif){kind=avatar}
[DE]
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Originally Posted by Lagg
I still wouldn't advise people to mod the game until it comes out of the "grey zone".
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Shawn The Divine
Like The Phantom said, there are posts by Emily Diehl and Gaile Gray about modding on that wiki link. Not to mention this is all on their official wiki.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...-game_graphics
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...-game_graphics
Necrotic
Do you use the "Classic Windows" feature in XP? I'm just curious because that "ugly, grey, blurry border" is called the button border....it's designed to make it look three-dimensional. You might call it an orange border or brown, but to me...the gold border around the elites looks better. That's not to say I can't see why some people would want it....but there is no seperation between your skills....the green just kinda blends all together. I personally would want a border around them. But hey you did it for yourself...kudos.
Shawn The Divine
That's fine if they're just on the skillbar, but that same button-border is on the skills no matter where they pop up. Effects monitor, target display, damage log, and right in the middle of the screen if you have the floating damage icons on. And depending on how your interface is laid out, it looks even more out of place with the borders, imo.
That said, there is separation in the newest version, all the non elites have a 3px wide black border around them, unlike the Quartz mod (which I used for the comparison shot above.. I'll probably make a new one up soon.)
I'd rather have the clarity of what's being used and what's on me when I PvP rather than some pseudo-3d effect that looks out of place in the middle of your screen. YMMV.
Oh - and for what it's worth, I use a theme program for WinXp which makes it look like Mac OSX Tiger, while in Linux I use Clearlooks with Beryl for added useless eyecandy. But my OSes aren't games which I play competitively.
That said, there is separation in the newest version, all the non elites have a 3px wide black border around them, unlike the Quartz mod (which I used for the comparison shot above.. I'll probably make a new one up soon.)
I'd rather have the clarity of what's being used and what's on me when I PvP rather than some pseudo-3d effect that looks out of place in the middle of your screen. YMMV.
Oh - and for what it's worth, I use a theme program for WinXp which makes it look like Mac OSX Tiger, while in Linux I use Clearlooks with Beryl for added useless eyecandy. But my OSes aren't games which I play competitively.
Necrotic
Yeah I could see why competitive players would want a streamlined UI...and personally I don't understand why they didn't make the icons that pop up in effects seperate from the skillbar and skill menu icons. I guess they just wanted to cut the extra work out. :/
Str0b0
I think these mods are shakey at best. The mod community has obviously not been examining the game code long and probably don't have the nicest tool set available. I wouldn't add any mods right now until the coders get up to spec. Personally though as far as skill borders go I like the gold around elites. My monitor supports very high resolution and my graphics card is crisp and gorgeous so all the color nuances show up perfectly and I see no sense in making it uglier.
Sujoy
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Originally Posted by Shawn The Divine
Like The Phantom said, there are posts by Emily Diehl and Gaile Gray about modding on that wiki link. Not to mention this is all on their official wiki.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide...-game_graphics |
Shawn The Divine
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Originally Posted by Str0b0
The mod community has obviously not been examining the game code long and probably don't have the nicest tool set available.
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Originally Posted by Str0b0
I see no sense in making it uglier.
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Originally Posted by Sujoy
You are correct, yet many members have emailed Anet about it, and the answers they have gotten haven't a 100% seal of approval, so I still don't know which side to lean on...
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Miral
nice but... it also gets rid of the colored arrows on enchants and hexes.... >.<
Shawn The Divine
You liked those? I thought they were kind of unnecessary, especially if you'd been playing the game for a while. I took out the numbers on the skillbars too for the same reason, useless clutter. I figured most people would know their skills and their layout well enough to not need to look at those, but if I get enough people complaining about it I suppose I can put it back the way it was, or create new arrows.
Miral
ya i like the removal of the numbers.... just seems kinda... i dunno, soulless without those pretty little arrows, lol. i like the rest of what you did though, been usin it
Corpselooter
Awesome, thanks a lot for sharing. As a longtime GW player i know what're enchants and hexes =D
fenix
I was gonna remove the numbers and arrows too, they're just unnecessary. Nice work though, looks good ;D
Shadow Kurd
Please fill in the summary and "Creator" field next time. So annoying when i don't know what a mod does
Lord-UWR
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Originally Posted by Str0b0
I think these mods are shakey at best. The mod community has obviously not been examining the game code long and probably don't have the nicest tool set available. I wouldn't add any mods right now until the coders get up to spec. Personally though as far as skill borders go I like the gold around elites. My monitor supports very high resolution and my graphics card is crisp and gorgeous so all the color nuances show up perfectly and I see no sense in making it uglier.
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MisterB
Good work. Very nice mod; thank you. I am a long time player, and I appreciate the ability to remove those colored arrows for hex/enchants, as well as the numbers. Hurray for less clutter!
deadman_uk
As much as I hate to, I am finding myself using this mod all the time now. It does look better than the originals. I still really hate the fact that there are no numbering and no enchantment/hex signs. Please could you update your mod and add these features in? Or add a side release that has these?
Shawn The Divine
K, here's a quick fix then.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wmjndjlmnlj
Basically it just restores the defaults, but in order to work that file has to be placed at the top of the Package Mode list. So when you add them it'll look like:
notsoclearskills.tpf
clearskills.tpf
othermodshere.tpf
As I mentioned before I seem to have accidentally deleted the dds files for the mod some time ago, so in order to fix it properly I'm going to have to recreate the whole thing from scratch. Not that that's entirely a bad thing, as I can fix up a few of the problems like the elite skill outline, and putting some sort of thin border around the skills for some added finish. It's more a matter of getting the ambition to do it.. >_>
http://www.mediafire.com/?wmjndjlmnlj
Basically it just restores the defaults, but in order to work that file has to be placed at the top of the Package Mode list. So when you add them it'll look like:
notsoclearskills.tpf
clearskills.tpf
othermodshere.tpf
As I mentioned before I seem to have accidentally deleted the dds files for the mod some time ago, so in order to fix it properly I'm going to have to recreate the whole thing from scratch. Not that that's entirely a bad thing, as I can fix up a few of the problems like the elite skill outline, and putting some sort of thin border around the skills for some added finish. It's more a matter of getting the ambition to do it.. >_>
deadman_uk
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Originally Posted by Shawn The Divine
K, here's a quick fix then.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wmjndjlmnlj Basically it just restores the defaults, but in order to work that file has to be placed at the top of the Package Mode list. So when you add them it'll look like: notsoclearskills.tpf clearskills.tpf othermodshere.tpf As I mentioned before I seem to have accidentally deleted the dds files for the mod some time ago, so in order to fix it properly I'm going to have to recreate the whole thing from scratch. Not that that's entirely a bad thing, as I can fix up a few of the problems like the elite skill outline, and putting some sort of thin border around the skills for some added finish. It's more a matter of getting the ambition to do it.. >_> |
Tell me more about these elite borders. What needs to be fixed?
Shawn The Divine
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Originally Posted by deadman_uk
IMO this should of been in your original release.
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And speaking of elite border, maybe it's just my imagination, but it seemed for some of them when they're on your skill bar the left side is thinner than the right. ..Or maybe it was the right that was thinner than the left, I don't remember. But regardless, I'd look at the border sometimes and it would just seem uneven. I remember trying to fix it, but adding an extra pixel's thickness was still causing it to be uneven on one side, sometimes even worse than before..
deadman_uk
It's not your imagination, it is true that one side of the border is thinner than the other... see pictures below:
I zoomed into the icon and made a selection at the left border:
I then dragged the selection to the right hand side:
The right side has an extra column of yellow pixels.
About a new gold border, maybe you like one of these? (I understand the borders may be a little thin)
I zoomed into the icon and made a selection at the left border:
I then dragged the selection to the right hand side:
The right side has an extra column of yellow pixels.
About a new gold border, maybe you like one of these? (I understand the borders may be a little thin)
Shawn The Divine
I wonder what's up with the random line of brown pixels on the sides and corners, too. I'm definitely going to have to redo this damn thing.
Chthon
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Originally Posted by Shawn The Divine
I wonder what's up with the random line of brown pixels on the sides and corners, too.
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