Understanding the GUI Editor

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Contents

Introduction

This is an explanation of how the GUI editor works, as well as showing the process of creating new prefabs and modifying the basic look of World In Conflict.

With that, I'm going to assume that you already have installed WiC and the Modkit successfully on your computer. If you haven't, check out Phazon's beginner's tutorial here. In addition to linking you to the necessary files, it will acquaint you with the basics of WiC modding and juice files.


Necessary Programs

Beyond WiC and a working installation of the Modkit, you will need a text editor and an image manipulation program. I recommend that you get the following programs. Not only are they free, they are very powerful tools.


Q: Why can't I just use MS Paint?

A: Because MS Paint isn't capable of handling transparencies, layers, .tga or .dds images, and is generally incapable of more advanced image manipulation


Q: Why can't I just use plain old notepad? I love it's simplicity.

A: So do I, and you can use plain Notepad, but Notepad++ is a much more powerful tool. Check out the site's FAQ, but here are a few of it's features:

  • Syntax/language support for over 40 languages
  • Brace and indent guidelines
  • macro recording and playback
  • Multiple tabs (like Firefox)
  • ctrl + scrollwheel. NP++ will zoom in and out of the file, which is useful for quickly viewing a large portion of a document and scanning for a specific segment of code.


Basics of the GUI

The GUI and its associated files are split into two divisions. These are the files read by WiC, and the files read by the GUI Editor. It's important to understand this, because while you can manually edit the files read by WiC, changes made in the GUI Editor will later override those files.

Always make sure to backup your original files first. I will never stop telling people this!


Filepaths

You will find all of the necessary files to edit the gui in two locations.

  • C:\Program Files\Sierra Entertainment\World in Conflict ModKit\guis
  • C:\Program Files\Sierra Entertainment\World in Conflict ModKit\ui\skins


Filetypes

Filetypes read by the GUI Editor

  • .tga (image format)
  • .xml (database)


Filetypes read by WiC

  • .dds (image format)
  • .ice (database)


Files

+ World in Conflict ModKit
| + guis
| |   gui_frontend.xml        | Main menus, options, SP, MP, ingame options etc...
| |   gui_ingame_slim.xml     | Ingame menus seen while playing World In Conflict.
| |   gui_mos.xml             | Massgate menus, menu options, lots of WIP screens. 
| |   guiskins.xml            | Database of all prefabs. When you open any other gui xml, this is opened as well. Edited in the Prefab Editor.
| |   gui_frontend.juice      | 
| |   gui_ingame_slim.juice   | - Export Process - 
| |   gui_mos.juice           | When working in the GUI Editor, you are specifically working with xml files. When you make changes and save, these
| |   guiskins.juice          | changes wont be seen in World In Conflict. To see these changes, you need to use the file > export option. The
| |   gui_frontend.ice        | export process first creates a juice file, which it then compiles. You can make changes to these juice files, but
| |   gui_ingame_slim.ice     | keep in mind that the GUI Editor only reads xml files. If you were to re export the xml file these changes in the
| |   gui_mos.ice             | juice file would be overwritten. There is an import option, but it's broken. The only way to save any changes made
| |   guiskins.ice            | in the juice file is to manually copy the data to the associated xml file.
| + ui
| | + skins
| | |   ui_01.tga             | Every single button, icon, and gui item seen in WiC is held here. Just make sure that both images are exactly
| | |   ui_01.dds             | the same. (edit the .tga, file>save, file>save as .dds)

Prefabs and You

All of WiC's GUI image data is stored in the single file, ui_01.dds, so it's necessary for WiC to be able to distinguish where to and where not to grab image data. Prefabs do exactly this. They are a named collection of coordinates. A prefab consists of two sets of coordinates, the inner and outer coordinates. For all intensive purposes, these two sets of coordinates should generally be left identical. A set of coordinates consists of an upper left and lower right coordinate pair. The upper left coordinate is not part of the stored image data.


Creating Prefabs

This goes over the two methods of creating prefabs.

The Prefab Editor

  • To access the prefab editor, open any gui .xml file in the GUI Editor.
  • Under Window, select Prefab Editor. This will bring up a new window.
  • Click on Image:add.jpgto add a new entry, and enter a name for the prefab.
  • You can now resize and drag your prefab directly on your image map.

Editing the guiskins.xml File

GUI Screens

Widgets

Buttons

TextLabels

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