UI files are found in the .sc2layout format. Don't get scared! They're just .xml files like everything else!
There's one layout, though, they I'll call mommy. Which is the GameUI.sc2layout.
The mommy controls all the other layout files, thus, the nickname. The mommy also tells the other layouts where they can't go. For example, there's an entry for CommandPanel, which are the command buttons, the mommy tells them that the have to be on bottom right and even gives them a max height and width and the other layouts parented to that CommandPanel can't go away from that area.
This means that you can try editing CommandPanel.sc2layout changing the position of the buttons, offsetting them to absurd ammounts like -9001 but they won't be able to appear elsewhere in the screen. They'll disappear, though, from the little sector the mommy tells them not to go out of.
To REALLY change the position of buttons (or other elements like minimap or unit info) you usually have to do two steps.
1. Edit the GameUI.sc2layout and find what you're looking for, for example, if you wanna move the minimap search for anythign related to "minimap"
(That's actually my modified version, not the original minimap placement) So you have to edit the width, height, anchor sides or positions.
2. USUALLY the name="entryname" tells you the next file you wanna edit. In the button example, I changed the width to 76 (button size) and height to 1000 (almost the whole screen depending on resolution). So the buttons couldn't go out of that area (the mommy told them not to) then I went to CommandPanel (mommy said name="commandpanel") and the actual button's placement was listed there. The mommy usually only is about restricting the other layouts, and the name="entryname" is USUALLY the child layout name. (sometimes it's not).
Now, about parenting, parenting is weird. If you take away relative="$parent" you're bound to have a unique experience of crashing. Sometimes it doesn't finish loading, sometimes it just crashes, sometimes it actually doesn't matter. But the parenting is, indeed a "parent".
For example, I have my modified buttons UI here:
<!-- Normal Commands, Attack goes first on top --><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton04"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent"pos="Min"offset="75"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent"pos="Min"offset="75"/></Frame><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton00"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton04"pos="Min"offset="78"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton04"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton01"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton00"pos="Min"offset="78"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton00"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton02"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton01"pos="Min"offset="78"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton01"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton03"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton02"pos="Min"offset="78"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton02"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><!-- Abilities, Hold position, Snipe, Cloak --><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton07"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton03"pos="Min"offset="138"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton03"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton10"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton07"pos="Min"offset="78"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton07"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton12"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton10"pos="Min"offset="78"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton10"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><!-- Special Nuke? --><Frametype="CommandButton"name="CommandButton05"template="CommandButton/CommandButtonTemplate"><Anchorside="Top"relative="$parent/CommandButton12"pos="Min"offset="138"/><Anchorside="Left"relative="$parent/CommandButton12"pos="Min"offset="0"/></Frame><!-- Others -->
I changed the order of them so I didn't get confused, and when you have a big file it usually is a really good idea to comment them by using <!- commenthere ->
Now, what I did here was that I wanted attack to be the button on top, obviously attack is the FIFTH button in the normal console. and if you notice that there's commandbutton00, commandbutton01... and so on. So the fifth one is logically 04. (00, 01, 02, 03, 04 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The commandbutton00 used to have the $parent initially. and then commandbutton01 had $parent/commandbutton00, but I wanted the commandbutton04 to be the first one so I changed it to $parent. And then I wanted the 00. So I did $parent/commandbutton04. Think of a parent as a "reference" where the next object will start. parenting the commandbutton01 to the commandbutton12 (for examaple) will make the commandbutton01's position start at where the commandbutton12 one ends. Take a look at the <!- abilities -> the parent of that one is the 03 button while the first ability actually is the 07 button. parenting is easy when you understand how it works, you really won't get it just by reading this but by practicing and failing, but this will help get a general idea of what I did and how.
Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/?dbwmtwmz2uz
Inside it there should be stuff you need to put in the Base.SC2Data mpq (like the UI and GameData) and outside of those folders some map files. There should also be other garbage packed along, pay no attention to it :P
My Wife Cheated On Me So I'M Going On A "Kicking ass Rampage On Zerg" Suicide Mission
Or MWCOMSIMGOAKROZSM for short
Introduction:
Starcraft: Ghost was cancelled, and it's a shame cause it involved some nice concepts and game play. With the Starcraft II engine we are able to "replicate" how starcraft: ghost would've been like. The gameplay is simple, you control a ghost and go pew pew and pwn stuff.
MWCOMSIMGOAKROZSM is about a Terran Ghost that recently found out that his two daughters were bastard children and that in fact, his wife cheated on him so they aren't really his daughters. Knowing this Robert Macgruber wanted to end his life so he enlisted himself in a dangerous "suicide mission"
ZERG! have invaded one of the space platforms of the planet Theron. So, Bob's assignment will be clean up the platform, by himself!
The project is still in development so I can't give you a download, but I'll give you screenshots and features!
So Far:
- Ambience, Yes! Modified lights so it gets an space look (no atmospherical colored), fow and fog have also been modified as well as unit's vision sight to give it a more creepy look and increase the game's suspense.
- Camera, locked camera to third person shooter mode. Camera doesn't follow unit, but you can rotate it 360°
- Custom terrain, or more like bunch of doodads added to give it a different look than the original map (Metalopolis)
Working on:
- Adding the ZERG! enemies
- Retextures, terrain ones, the ghost ones, probably more?
I hope so.
No changes today :(
My findings while messing arround.
UI files are found in the .sc2layout format. Don't get scared! They're just .xml files like everything else!
There's one layout, though, they I'll call mommy. Which is the GameUI.sc2layout.
The mommy controls all the other layout files, thus, the nickname. The mommy also tells the other layouts where they can't go. For example, there's an entry for CommandPanel, which are the command buttons, the mommy tells them that the have to be on bottom right and even gives them a max height and width and the other layouts parented to that CommandPanel can't go away from that area.
This means that you can try editing CommandPanel.sc2layout changing the position of the buttons, offsetting them to absurd ammounts like -9001 but they won't be able to appear elsewhere in the screen. They'll disappear, though, from the little sector the mommy tells them not to go out of.
To REALLY change the position of buttons (or other elements like minimap or unit info) you usually have to do two steps.
1. Edit the GameUI.sc2layout and find what you're looking for, for example, if you wanna move the minimap search for anythign related to "minimap"
I found this:
(That's actually my modified version, not the original minimap placement) So you have to edit the width, height, anchor sides or positions.
2. USUALLY the name="entryname" tells you the next file you wanna edit. In the button example, I changed the width to 76 (button size) and height to 1000 (almost the whole screen depending on resolution). So the buttons couldn't go out of that area (the mommy told them not to) then I went to CommandPanel (mommy said name="commandpanel") and the actual button's placement was listed there. The mommy usually only is about restricting the other layouts, and the name="entryname" is USUALLY the child layout name. (sometimes it's not).
Now, about parenting, parenting is weird. If you take away relative="$parent" you're bound to have a unique experience of crashing. Sometimes it doesn't finish loading, sometimes it just crashes, sometimes it actually doesn't matter. But the parenting is, indeed a "parent".
For example, I have my modified buttons UI here:
I changed the order of them so I didn't get confused, and when you have a big file it usually is a really good idea to comment them by using <!
-commenthere->Now, what I did here was that I wanted attack to be the button on top, obviously attack is the FIFTH button in the normal console. and if you notice that there's commandbutton00, commandbutton01... and so on. So the fifth one is logically 04. (00, 01, 02, 03, 04 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The commandbutton00 used to have the $parent initially. and then commandbutton01 had $parent/commandbutton00, but I wanted the commandbutton04 to be the first one so I changed it to $parent. And then I wanted the 00. So I did $parent/commandbutton04. Think of a parent as a "reference" where the next object will start. parenting the commandbutton01 to the commandbutton12 (for examaple) will make the commandbutton01's position start at where the commandbutton12 one ends. Take a look at the <!
-abilities-> the parent of that one is the 03 button while the first ability actually is the 07 button. parenting is easy when you understand how it works, you really won't get it just by reading this but by practicing and failing, but this will help get a general idea of what I did and how.Here's the project folder:
Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/?dbwmtwmz2uz
Inside it there should be stuff you need to put in the Base.SC2Data mpq (like the UI and GameData) and outside of those folders some map files. There should also be other garbage packed along, pay no attention to it :P
And here's the Base.SC2Data MPQ + the map
Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/?ztnnm24vzle
I worked almost the entire day getting this working:
Custom UI! HELL YEAH
Meanwhile I figure out how to make this show up as a video link I'll just leave you with the link itself:
Trailer
My Wife Cheated On Me So I'M Going On A "Kicking ass Rampage On Zerg" Suicide Mission
Or MWCOMSIMGOAKROZSM for short
Introduction:
Starcraft: Ghost was cancelled, and it's a shame cause it involved some nice concepts and game play. With the Starcraft II engine we are able to "replicate" how starcraft: ghost would've been like. The gameplay is simple, you control a ghost and go pew pew and pwn stuff.
MWCOMSIMGOAKROZSM is about a Terran Ghost that recently found out that his two daughters were bastard children and that in fact, his wife cheated on him so they aren't really his daughters. Knowing this Robert Macgruber wanted to end his life so he enlisted himself in a dangerous "suicide mission"
ZERG! have invaded one of the space platforms of the planet Theron. So, Bob's assignment will be clean up the platform, by himself!
The project is still in development so I can't give you a download, but I'll give you screenshots and features!
So Far:
- Ambience, Yes! Modified lights so it gets an space look (no atmospherical colored), fow and fog have also been modified as well as unit's vision sight to give it a more creepy look and increase the game's suspense.
- Camera, locked camera to third person shooter mode. Camera doesn't follow unit, but you can rotate it 360°
- Custom terrain, or more like bunch of doodads added to give it a different look than the original map (Metalopolis)
Working on:
- Adding the ZERG! enemies
- Retextures, terrain ones, the ghost ones, probably more?
Screenies: