Changing Login Screen, Loading Screen, and Splashes

[Oxalic]

First off most files you will be editing a .tga files (targa files). These are simply image files, which can be edited with Photoshop or an image editing program of choice with support for targas.

First let's locate the files responsible for these items.

\EverQuest or EqEmu directory\uifiles\default

This contains files for the Login screen and Loading screen.

EverQuest or Eqemu directory\Resources

this is where the loading screen files are.

Heres some diagrams, i recolored it so you could tell each image is really a set of images.




Ok some nice self explantory diagrams. They show what you see, but with new color sets so you can see they're broken down into square, on each sqaure is the name of the file that is responsible for making it look as it does (i didnt include file extension in the text labels but they're all .tga).
So you should be able to open and edit any of those no problem.

The Login screen is a bit different. The tgas build a background not the buttons or the text in the bottum left. EQLS_window_pieces_01.tga make the buttons look as they do. Heres a diagram that shows what is responsible for what.

Should be easy for you to figure out. Just remember buttons are placed over a section in the bottum right (they effect 05 and 06). Also text is placed on 04.

Let's do the loading screen. Open loadscreen.jpg or .bmp. Edit one and copy the work on that one to the other file format, save so both are edited. I'm not sure why there are 2, and 2 different file formats, i haven't played around yet.

Here's a little bonus information. EQLS_window_pieces_01.tga has the button image set, and you can alter their appearance and shape. To alter the shape you need to edit alpha layers (if anyone is interested i'll write a tutorial on changing button shapes.) Also you can edit the server login screen by changing EQLS_window_pieces_01 to EQLS_window_pieces_06. They are arranged numerically left to right, top to bottum. It's like the Login screen, but this has alot more text and images placed over it.

That's all for now. If sometime isn't clear or you need help just reply .

Also to look at some results http://eqemulator.net/forums/showthread.php?t=18785

P.S. Files i didnt mention that have a similar name just make the backgrounds black. I think anything looks nice with a black background. If you don't edit the files