nUI -- A full feature standalone UI replacement

[ValerianOddity]

FIrst off, WOW. You've done an amazing amount of work, and this is the first UI I have been impressed with since I first saw Mazzle. It's gorgeous.

I've read through this entire thread, and there are a couple of questions i have, regarding UI functionality, and one wee question regarding a "cosmetic" issue, before I make yet another major UI overhaul. (Configuring a new UI is always such a pain.)

First, the important stuff!! My main is a lvl 70 healing priest. I have grown to love (and rely on, in some situations) being able to click-cast heal. No, it's not necessary, and yes, I did play a healer back in "the good ol' days" when such a thing wasn't even possible. I have found, however, that it makes me more efficient, and better able to manage multiple heal targets in less than ideal raid situations. Currently I am using Clique, which I love. Will that add-on integrate with your unit frames, or is there something else in place that will allow me to click cast? Decursive is another mod I depend on. Can I use it with your UI, or has its functionality been replaced by something else?

Lastly, my "cosmetic" issue. I love using a dashboard configuration for my UI. However, I am an add-on junkie, and I dislike a cluttered screen. So! Can the opacity of the UI be changed? I find that being able to make my UI at least semi-translucent helps keep my screen from being overwhelmed by... stuff. I'm not afraid to mess with how files are written, so long as clear instruction is gives as to what needs to be changed. (I did this using Rabscuttle's skin with Mazzle.)

Apologies if any of these questions have been addressed elsewhere; I did read through, but I may have missed it. Overall, brilliant work, and I'll be watching this UI closely as it develops.

Edit: Found the answer to my click-casting question... in the most obvious possible place.. duh. No wonder I missed it.

[Seer]

Originally Posted by spiel2001 Here's what I came up with and I'd like some feedback before I invest the energy in doing it... What I came up with was to turn the entire center section of the dashboard into something similar to the information panel that's on the right side only this will be strictly for unit frame information. I can use the entire area of the player, pet, pet target, minimap and location, target, ToT and ToTT as one large panel that you can toggle into three states: (1) player/target mode (basically what we have now including the minimap), (2) party mode which would show the player, all four party members and everyone's pets and targets (not sure if I can fit the minimap in that one or not -- maybe a small version of it) and (3) raid mode which would fill the center section with all of the raid units and room to spare. I could provide both clickable buttons to select the mode and keybindings to change modes. So... what are everyone's thoughts on this idea?

Sounds good to me, allready wondering how you make it look. (Guess a mock up is a bit to much to ask for )

As for my request a few pages back, tho I'm still need to get used to it, the new "health race" bar seems like a good trade off for me.

So... Has blizz contacted you allready to either make nui WoW3 ready or even better, make nui the default interface for WoW4 ?

[Jungleanimal]

I think that is a great idea. I like the idea of making the center section a toggle bar. It works very well with the damage and threat meters but that box was just to small. Make that center box as large as possible and still fit stuff on both ends legibly. Good plan.

[iocontrol]

Originally Posted by spiel2001 Here's what I came up with and I'd like some feedback before I invest the energy in doing it... What I came up with was to turn the entire center section of the dashboard into something similar to the information panel that's on the right side only this will be strictly for unit frame information.

Actually that's a pretty nifty idea ... I don't really see myself needing the mini-map in a raid configuration -- save battlegrounds ... but the mini zone map can easily replace most of that functionality.

In party/raid configurations will you still allow for ToT clicking?

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by iocontrol Actually that's a pretty nifty idea ... I don't really see myself needing the mini-map in a raid configuration -- save battlegrounds ... but the mini zone map can easily replace most of that functionality. In party/raid configurations will you still allow for ToT clicking?

Absolutely, I've already worked out how to support Target, ToT and even ToTT in all three states -- player, party and raid.

And I've actually taken it a step further and am looking at offering more modes than the three... player (pretty much what you see on the dashboard today), party (which I hope to have all five party members and still keep the minimap -- jury's out on that still), and four raid modes: 10 man, 15 man, 25 man and 40 man -- in that way I can offer more information for the smaller raids.

[spiel2001]

Hey Noble -- sorry I missed your post...

Originally Posted by noble8 1) I noticed your (Spiel) zone map could have the hidden areas appear (in green), how can i do this. I tried in cartographer but it covered the zone map with unexplored.

It's a mod called "MozzFullWorldMap" and I love it. I doubt I'll ever code anything like that directly into nUI as Mozz does it will enough on its own.

2) On my rogue i get a cooldown for 'Shiv', where shiv has no cooldown and it appears on the nUI cooldown moniter. Secondly all cooldowns reset when joining a new arena, but this is not reflected in nUI always, e.g. 'premeditation' cooldown is 0min(after joining new arena) and the timer in the hud shows 1:30.

I would have to guess that there's a WoW event I'm missing. I've added it to my bug list and I'll look into it.

3) When entering and leaving arena's, debuffs i had from the last arena appear on my ToT in the hud when joining a new arena. Also my health upon leaving the previous arena doesn'y always update when i join a new one, i.e. if i leave x arena at 20%, i join y arena at 100%, but it appears in the hud to be on 20%.

I'm pretty certain that items 2 and 3 are the same bug.

[Kailef]

Sounds quite good. Brilliant, in fact - it perfectly handles the problem of wasted space by eliminating what isn't needed depending whether you are solo / partied / raiding. I think it'll work great.

Rather intelligent too, I think, is the adjustable raid frame idea. You might want to take a look a PRaid (PerfectRaid) for some ideas with regard to easily configurable raid frames. The layouts wouldn't be right, but those raid frames are effective with regard to how they handle displaying a large amount of information in a small area without looking "messy" like some raid frames such as Grid.

The loss or shrinkage of the minimap might be a bit of an issue, but, honestly - Have you considered ignoring the minimap and letting it live up in the top right corner? WAIT! Before you dismiss the idea - Here's why you might want to think about it. I am confident that others, like myself, do not look at the minimap when we are engaged in combat. It's not useful. It's like a tachometer on a car with an automatic transmission. You don't need to look at it. So - Why not get it out of the way, so you can have more space for your important, combat-centric information?

Think about it.

[Taggarrt]

This may be in place, and I'm just not realizing it: is there a way to lock the button bars? I've accidentally removed buttons from the bars in this interface twice this week.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Taggarrt This may be in place, and I'm just not realizing it: is there a way to lock the button bars? I've accidentally removed buttons from the bars in this interface twice this week.

Taggarrt -- yes, you can lock the action bars. Select the "interface" option from the WoW options menu, choose "action bars" and select the "lock action bars" option. That will make it so you can only move your buttons using shift-click.

[Fyro]

Amazing. Thank u so much for your work. I am in no need anymore for a huge list of addons. Your interface is what the orignal interface should be like.

My compliments !!!!!

[Coolit]

Hi,

I'm still loving your UI, its fantastic!

I've found a bug in the party frame (I think), if I right click on a group member in the party list and try to bring up the sub menu for trade etc.. I receive the following error, and subsequent debug info:-

Date: 2008-07-26 15:49:39 ID: 8 Error occured in: Global Count: 1 Message: ..\FrameXML\UnitPopup.lua line 567: Usage: UnitIsConnected("unit") Debug: [C]: ? [C]: UnitIsConnected() ..\FrameXML\UnitPopup.lua:567: ..\FrameXML\UnitPopup.lua:373 [C]: UnitPopup_HideButtons() ..\FrameXML\UnitPopup.lua:168: UnitPopup_ShowMenu() nUI\Units\nUI_Unit.lua:1610: updateUnitPopup() nUI\Units\nUI_Unit.lua:207: initFunction() ..\FrameXML\UIDropDownMenu.lua:54: UIDropDownMenu_Initialize() ..\FrameXML\UIDropDownMenu.lua:691: ..\FrameXML\UIDropDownMenu.lua:568 nUI\Units\nUI_Unit.lua:970: func() ..\FrameXML\SecureTemplates.lua:363: SecureActionButton_OnClick() ..\FrameXML\SecureTemplates.lua:401: SecureUnitButton_OnClick() [string "*:OnClick"]:1: [string "*:OnClick"]:1 AddOns: Atlas, v1.12.0 AtlasBattlegrounds, v1.12.0 AtlasDungeonLocs, v1.12.0 AtlasFlightPaths, v1.12.0 AtlasOutdoorRaids, v1.12.0 AtlasLoot, vAtlasLoot Enhanced v4.06.02 AtlasLootBCInstances, v4.05.00 AucAdvanced, v5.0.PRE.3262 AucFilterBasic, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) AucStatClassic, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) AucStatPurchased, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) AucStatSimple, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) AucStatStdDev, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) Auctioneer, v5.0.PRE.3262 BeanCounter, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) Cartographer, vr78027 ChatMOD, v118 Enchantrix, v5.0.PRE.3262 EnchantrixBarker, v5.0.PRE.3262 (BillyGoat) EnhTooltip, v5.0.PRE.3262 Informant, v5.0.PRE.3262 KLHThreatMeter, v21.14 MobInfo2, v3.61 nUI, v1.08.00 (beta) Omen, vOmen r74823 / Threat-2.0 r77728 OneBag, v2.0.55081 QuestHelper, v0.48 Recount, v78600 Stubby, v93 Swatter, v5.0.PRE.3262 WIM, v2.4.15

I noticed this problem in the previous version also but I was waiting to see if anyone else reported it as it seems pretty important I also seem to have the same problem brining up that menu if I highlight the user and right click on their name on the main UI to the near right of the central mini map.

Thanks for a great UI

Edit: OK I've tested further and it seems that the menu works as expected if the person is NOT in the party, as soon as they join the party the menu doesn't work.

[spiel2001]

Coolit --

This is actually a bug in Bliz's code which I have already filed a report on. I'm working on trying to find a workaround to it.

Originally Posted by Coolit Hi, I'm still loving your UI, its fantastic! I've found a bug in the party frame (I think), if I right click on a group member in the party list and try to bring up the sub menu for trade etc.. I receive the following error, and subsequent debug info:- I noticed this problem in the previous version also but I was waiting to see if anyone else reported it as it seems pretty important I also seem to have the same problem brining up that menu if I highlight the user and right click on their name on the main UI to the near right of the central mini map. Thanks for a great UI Edit: OK I've tested further and it seems that the menu works as expected if the person is NOT in the party, as soon as they join the party the menu doesn't work.

[spiel2001]

Thank you for the kind word Fyro

Originally Posted by Fyro Amazing. Thank u so much for your work. I am in no need anymore for a huge list of addons. Your interface is what the orignal interface should be like. My compliments !!!!!

[Coolit]

Originally Posted by spiel2001 Coolit -- This is actually a bug in Bliz's code which I have already filed a report on. I'm working on trying to find a workaround to it.

Ahh ok, thanks for letting me know

I realise that your putting most of your effort into Raid features atm, but I'd like to request that you integrate armor durability similar to the durability module that's available with Titan.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Coolit Ahh ok, thanks for letting me know I realise that your putting most of your effort into Raid features atm, but I'd like to request that you integrate armor durability similar to the durability module that's available with Titan.

A full function durability panel is already on the to-do list. We were just talking about it last week as I recall... so... your wish is my command ~smile~

[spiel2001]

First... the new units are about 50% complete and gaining speed as I sort out the kinks in the new design. Between the radical changes in the units and the plans for a new player/party/raid panel in the dashboard and some other layout tweaks, I've decided the next release (unless I make an interim emergency bug fix) will be nUI Beta 2

The good news is that this release will solve (I hope) most of the few complaints I have with nUI's design... including the ability to toggle the HUD off, raid unit sizes, health bars on the primary units, etc.

The bad news is that for those of you who have customized your WTF SavedVariables nUI.lua file... um.... well.... err.... yeah... it won't work with the new design. In preparation for supporting skinning nUI, I have completely re-written how I am handling layout configuration. Sorry for those who are going to get stepped on by this, but I had to do it.

The other good news is that Beta 2 will support localization. Yaay. I already have one person who has offered to help me translate to German, though having more than one person I can call on would be nice. I need people who can translate to French and Spanish, as well, in addition to any other languages nUI users might be playing under. If you would be interested in helping me translate nUI's messages into other languages, please leave me a private message here on WoWI or drop me an e-mail at [email protected]

Lastly... I wanted to take a moment to publicly thank those of you who have donated to nUI's ongoing development... you have no idea what it means to me. Seriously. To be honest, money is tight in my life right now and every dollar makes a huge difference. I won't ever name names in respect of everyone's privacy and I do thank each of you privately, but I did want to tell you publicly how much I appreciate your support. Thank you.

[Jungleanimal]

Awesome. I can't wait to see it.

Jungle

[Ratheri]

I wish I could contribute right now, but money is tight here as well... we're my fiance and I are pushing it to just be able to play WoW, and there's a baby on the way in january, sooo...

That being said, everything sounds awsome with the UI. I hope everyone that can donate does, and if there is anything not pecuniary that I can do to help (I took 1 year of french, but I think that only qualifies me to tell people that the dog is under the table, the cat is on the chair, and the monkey is in the tree) I would gladly try to help. Oh, i can't really code either... damn, I'm not much use, am I?

[Dornaa]

Happy to help out sir. I can honestly say I am giddy with anticipation over hearing what the 2.0 version will contain, particularly the multi-use party/raid/etc section.

Keep up the amazing work. I can't even remember now what the old UI looked like, and I've been playing for 3 years. Maybe that just says something about my memory...

[MeqTrader]

Ok,

after some time I have given this mod another try and must say although I still not use it on my main raid toon (beeing a keyboard guy and not a clicker I tend not to need all that many buttons on screen) I am now using it on my new multibox projects main and am falling in love again. Since I am controlling 5 toons at once I do have to have some additional screen clutter but mah, having the rest all integrated into 1 single UI element is a blessing.

BTW for those that want their durability to show all the time I have made a simple alteration by installing SLDataText and disabeled the nUI clock (also since I live in the timezone of the servers I did not need 2 clocks telling what time it is) to have the SLDT text appear right where the 2 clocks used to be.


Keep up the great work it is really awesome !!

Now if only someone would recode the auto button population feature from Mazzle to work with this I think we have a very nice replacement for new people to the game just trying to find their way around the 1000 of possibilities within WoW.