BlackBird - New Skin for DDO

[Pithrin]

First custom UI skin for me as well. Downloaded it this afternoon and giving it a try out in game. I like what I see.

Thanks for all the work!

[Autolycus]

BlackBird is a replacement skin for DDO by my good buddy Ualac. The main goal of the skin was to have something that melted into the background in dark quests, rather than constantly vying with the action on screen for your attention.

Thanks for the skin. I downloaded it a few days ago and, so far, it is my favorite of two skins I use.

As a nice little side bonus, lining up windows is also a lot easier.

I noticed it was a lot easier lining up windows than other skins. Why is that?

[transtemporal]

I noticed it was a lot easier lining up windows than other skins. Why is that?

In locked or unlocked mode, the frame for the bar is only one pixel wide, and its a clean squared edge. Whereas, the default DDO frame varies between 2 and 3 pixels wide (depending on whether its locked or unlocked) and it has a slight bevel.

I don't know if you've noticed with the default skin but you can actually have bars that look like they're lined up when unlocked but when you lock them, you can suddenly see misalignments and gaps between the bars. It's not a big deal for most people but luckily Ualac is as retentive as I am, lol.

Please don't forget to rep Ualac for the skin btw folks, its all his work. I'm just the PR guy.

[Autolycus]

I'm enjoying the skin, but I've run across a problem with the trade window. I can't read certain things, such as whom I'm trading with, because they seem to be the same color as the background.

Is there a way around this or does the skin have to be changed?

[transtemporal]

I'm enjoying the skin, but I've run across a problem with the trade window. I can't read certain things, such as whom I'm trading with, because they seem to be the same color as the background.

Is there a way around this or does the skin have to be changed?

You can see if if you squint and tilt your head to the side.

Yeah, there's a bunch of those instances in the interface. I believe this is because parts of the interface are actual text (as opposed to a graphic) and the colour of the text is controlled by the stylesheet, and unfortunately we don't have access to change the stylesheet. So not a lot we can do about it sorry (except petition Turbine to make the stylesheet available).

[thegrindre]

Can you tell us what's going to happen when upgrade #10 hits us between the eyes???

Thanks,

[TheRealest]

BlackBird is a replacement skin for DDO by my good buddy Ualac. The main goal of the skin was to have something that melted into the background in dark quests, rather than constantly vying with the action on screen for your attention. As a nice little side bonus, lining up windows is also a lot easier.

You can download BlackBird at: http://www.lotrointerface.com/downlo...BlackBird.html

To install follow these directions:

• Close DDO if you have it running
• Find your "Dungeons and Dragons Online" folder in your “My Documents” area under Windows
• Inside the "Dungeons and Dragons Online" folder, create a “ui” folder, with the name all lowercase
• Inside the "ui" folder, create a “skins” folder, again all lowercase
• Place the zip archive you downloaded into this folder
• Right-click the zip archive and choose something like “Extract Here” or whatever your zip unarchiving tool lets you do. Note: if you were lucky to already have a version of BlackBird installed, then delete the old one prior to extracting this new archive. You should end up with one folder called “BlackBird”. The path to your BlackBird folder should be "My documents/Dungeons and Dragons Online/ui/skins/BlackBird". If it isn't, the game won't be able to find the skin.
• Start DDO
• When loaded and logged in, go to the Options panel, go to UI Settings, and near the bottom of this panel is a dropdown menu called “Current User Skin”. Change it from “None” to “BlackBird”
• Play
• Go and provide feedback here!

Screenshots below.

Windows opaque, bars locked, with hireling window



Character sheet, options, default inventory, bars locked, windows transparent



Character sheet skills, quest hournal, inventory with details, bars locked, windows opaque



Adventure compendium, social panel, bars unlocked, windows transparent



MyDDO, social panel



Adventure window



Auction house, quest map



Logout



New hotness



Old and busted

Would like to offer my official thanks mate, have been using this for a few months and love it. The hotbars meld easily into each other and the black is easier on the eyes than the searing white of the standard ui skin.

Its also much easier to tell what you have equiped with the green on black highlight. Reminds me of the original x-box's colors, they go good together.

[transtemporal]

Can you tell us what's going to happen when upgrade #10 hits us between the eyes???

Thanks,

Should be fine. We do a smoke screen test when a new release comes out, just to see if anything in the interface has obviously changed. Not in this one though, thankfully. By chance, the last few releases have blended quite nicely.

I have noticed something that might be new though...

[thegrindre]

Well, I've DLed it and installed it and I love it just fine.
Great work!

[Warbler]

I have noticed something that might be new though...

I like spoilers and you have to tell us please =)

[laeris]

Love it, really good job making this and appreciate all the time you've put in.

Only thing I miss is my %'s/markings on the HP/SP bars... back to guesstimating ...

[wigthemaster]

this is amazing.

~Wig

[Bekki]

Love it.
This will probably be my 1st installed custom UI.

I think this says it all...

That is awesome, I will be downloading this....
Thank you!

+1 rep...

If I could give more I would.
That is sweet!

[Havran]

best skin ever... nice and clean...

[Nospheratus]

The skin is great and I'm using it for a while now (love the lastest update to it btw ). I would like to make a request.

A friend of mine is using this skin, but has a problem with directions
I believe i saw at some point someone posting an image in which the minimap had directions (N/E/S/W). Would it be possible to create such an image for this skin or direct me to it?


Thank you,
Nosph

[thegrindre]

Been using this mod for about 2 weeks or so, now. Can't really find anything wrong with it. It's virtually perfect!
Although, I would like the 'function' thingys a little more prominent. Like the minimize and close thingys in the upper right corners of a window. They are a little hard to distinguish and find.

[dakkon75]

I love the blackbird skin but I have some questions regarding the new UI in update 11



This is the new UI



This the new UI with the blackbird skin activated.

I personally don't like the new picture look due to the fact that now it doesn't line up with my bars the way i have them set up like this.

[Blank_Zero]

Some Stuff

I agree, this might need some recoding since the Static UI is getting some changes.


Edit: Draz, where were you in those SS's?

[junior_w]

Edit: Draz, where were you in those SS's?

I may be wrong, but it looks like the Catacombs entrance.

[Ualac]

hi all users of BlackBird.

i have to admit, i'm currently away from home/country on business, so haven't had a chance to notice that Update 11 was there, let alone see what is does/doesn't break in the skin.

and it appears to be quite significant in terms of what has changed (from the screen shots above) so I cannot estimate how long it will take to fixup any issues, plus my time is very limited over the next month, however, I will try to get it back in shape ASAP

ualac