368 replies to this topic

[lunarionsilver]

In response to post #11271822.

Which packages? The downloads? If you just want the quick and easy install take either nTex or nTex Colour and follow the directions. nTex colour gives the different classes different colours in regards to their abilities.

[octav1an]

No offence, but these icons are awful.

[Neonin]

Apologies and Explanations (Kind Of)

I'm sure many of you noticed I stopped updating this mod just before christmas. Unfortunately I had some personal issues crop up in the dreaded Real Life that meant I had to take an extended break, and to be honest I had more important things to worry about than the development of nTex. I won't bore you with the details because, well, they're personal.

With regret I must announce that nTex is on extended (probably indefinite) hiatus. I tried coming back to XCOM and I just didn't enjoy the game to be perfectly honest. EW didn't add or change enough to renew my love of it, and I have very little spare time right now anyway.

Because of this I have uploaded a new archive in the Files section containing all of the original files I used to create the images currently in nTex. The files are in .xcf format which is the one used by the free image editing program GIMP which can be downloaded here. It should be self-explanatory for those somewhat familiar with TexMod but basically you replace whatever file you want with one of yours and recompile the mod. As the background and icon images in each file are separate you can replace one, both, or neither as you wish.

I don't require any credit or anything like that if you re-use my work and post it up here as your own mod. To those who supported me during the mods development I would like to once again say a huge thank you for your efforts, bug reports, and suggestions.

Good luck Commanders.

[Zyxpsilon]

Sorry to hear about your "problems"... your stuff was a great inspiration for my own work on Perks recoloring project.

I've always been curious though how the Alpha channel modlet could alter the way Icons show up in the tactical screen. It's possibly the only option i'd like to figure out for actual integration into ReCLR - since, i do have a few changes still yet to adapt but i can't use yours as it isn't compatible with the latest patch.

Anyhow, if you can explain the process - please?

[ssskoopa]

In response to post #12356970.

Nobody cares about your opinion. Nothing nice to say? Don't say it.

Edited by ssskoopa, 29 March 2014 - 01:44 AM.

[Neonin]

In response to post #13009353.

If you mean change how my icons displayed on tactical missions, it was a simple code change to modify the alpha values. To get mine to show up without any of the default colour I set the alpha of active abilities to 100 (64 in hex) so that none of the background colour seeped through. I also lowered the alpha of abilities on cooldown to 14 in hex so it was more obvious what was inactive. To get rid of the default yellow colour of abilities I changed the bit that said "yellow" to six blank spaces (20 20 20 20 20 20 in hex) so that it defaulted to a grey/white colour instead.

All of these code pieces are changed in the file UICollection_Tactical. There's plenty of info on the forum and wiki on how to go about editing these, but even simple edits are more complicated than you might think so don't be surprised if it takes a while to get your head around!

[Neonin]

A Wild nTex Approaches...
I need to preface this message with a warning: I have no timescale for this update. My educational course is ending in the next 6 weeks so I'm going to be very busy with that, but afterwards... we'll see.

One of the things that irritated me the most with creating nTex was the Toolboks mod to make the icons display properly in the Barracks and on Tactical missions, because every time Firaxis released a patch it broke and I'd have to fix it again. Not really a huge deal but I tend to forget how to do it between patches and then have to re-learn the process. I've long thought about a way of creating better icons without needing the code changes, and despite the fact that I'm not actually playing XCOM I couldn't help but investigate the issue in my minuscule amounts of free time.

What I've come up with is something that could be called "Vanilla+". This is a take on how the vanilla icons work but with nTex style images rather than the default ones. You can see the difference below:



The advantage here is that no code changes will ever need to be made, so nTex will continue to be compatible with any patches released in the future (if any are) without me needing to release a new version. This was another aim because I'm painfully aware I left you all hanging for months when things got serious in Real Life, unavoidable but I still felt bad about it.

The warning about no active development will remain on the front page of the mod for now because as I mentioned I have no timescale for this release. However I am working on it and I haven't just abandoned you!

[Neonin]

In response to post #13862368.

Urgh, I can't leave well enough alone. Procrastination is a harsh mistress...

There is now a new file under the Updates section that is a beta test of the new style for anyone who is interested. This beta release features ONLY the ability icons for the base four classes and a little update to the Assault class icon (plus Psionic version) that shows where I plan on going with the rest of the class icons. Oh and the Fire, Overwatch, Frag Grenade, and Hunker Down icons I did for the original test, though Hunker Down will be changing. You may note that one or two of the icons got a bit of a rework as I took the opportunity to tweak the ones I was unhappy with, have fun spotting the differences! You do not need any mod installation tools for this version, only TexMod (included in the zip file).

I feel it's a good balance between better icons and a familiar vanilla scheme, but that's just me. If you do use this let me know what you think, whether it all works, things I've missed (on the completed icons) etc!

Edited by Neonin, 15 April 2014 - 10:27 PM.

[Neonin]

Version 3.0 Beta 2!
I have updated the beta file in the Files section to the second version. This includes all the four basic class ability icons in the new square Vanilla+ style, plus the new class and rank icons, and I've also updated the country flags to make them a bit more colourful and stand out a bit more compared to the old version. Screenshots of new icon style, class and rank images below!

If you use the beta version please let me know if anything has gone wrong (icons using the same image, basic classes missing icons etc) so I can keep track of anything that needs working on. Thanks!







Old VS New Flags:

Edited by Neonin, 26 April 2014 - 09:05 PM.

[PowerShot]

In the install instruction it tell that I have to install latest version of toolboks (link in description text point to wrong url). Is this the right url: http://www.nexusmods.../xcom/mods/79/?

I read at their page that this mod does not work anymore with latest ew patch, no update since christmas 2013. Should I still install it to get your ntex mods to work? Does your ntex mods also work with long war, or SweetFX 151 v4?