Changing NPC Outline Colour

[ebarstad]

I was trying out Heron's UI mod and one of the things I really like about it is that it outlines NPCs in Black (instead of blue, red, cyan, white, etc.) when you mouse over them. However, he did that by actually editing the white.tga texture, which affected other elements of the UI.

Is there a way to make all the outlines black without actually editing the white.tga file? Shaders/system.sdr has code related to outlines, but I'm not sure if that's what I want and, if so, how I'd override that file.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[ebarstad]

Ok, so that IS the file I want to override -- I edited it directly and got the black outlines I wanted. Now, how do I create a mod that overrides that file so that I don't have to change the file directly? I tried creating a mod_black_outlines.zip file which included a Shaders folder and a file called mod_black_outlines.sdr. In the file I put:

OutlineBlack overrides OutlineCyan
{
	cull Front
	deformVerts Offset 1.0
	highlightsSurface 1

	{
		texture Textures/white.tga
		colorGen OriginAndConstant Black
	}
}

OutlineBlack overrides OutlineGreen
{
	cull Front
	deformVerts Offset 1.0
	highlightsSurface 1

	{
		texture Textures/white.tga
		colorGen OriginAndConstant Black
	}
}

OutlineBlack overrides OutlineWhite
{
	cull Front
	deformVerts Offset 1.0
	highlightsSurface 1

	{
		texture Textures/white.tga
		colorGen OriginAndConstant Black
	}
}

OutlineBlack overrides OutlineOrange
{
	cull Front
	deformVerts Offset 1.0
	highlightsSurface 1

	{
		texture Textures/white.tga
		colorGen OriginAndConstant Black
	}
}

OutlineBlack overrides OutlineBlue
{
	cull Front
	deformVerts Offset 1.0
	highlightsSurface 1

	{
		texture Textures/white.tga
		colorGen OriginAndConstant Black
	}
}

OutlineBlack overrides OutlineRed
{
	cull Front
	deformVerts Offset 1.0
	highlightsSurface 1

	{
		texture Textures/white.tga
		colorGen OriginAndConstant Black
	}
}

However, this didn't work. Basically, I just copied this text from system.sdr and added "OutlineBlack overrides" to each function. Any tips would be welcome.

Also, is there a way to make it so the outlines are always on, not just when you mouse over an NPC?

[Shadow]

Right now I think you would have to replace the entire file and the overrides stuff only works with database stuff.

You can't directly add an outline to everyone. You could probably do it with some convoluted way with a status effect that was on everyone that had an effect that used the outline shader.

[ebarstad]

Sorry for being dense, but are you saying I'd have to overwrite the file in the assets003.zip or can I still change the outline via a mod and I'm just not doing it correctly?

[Bluddy]

Originally Posted by ebarstad

Sorry for being dense, but are you saying I'd have to overwrite the file in the assets003.zip or can I still change the outline via a mod and I'm just not doing it correctly?

You never want to change anything in assets003.zip. Just create another zip file with the same directory structure as assets003.zip and put the single, modified file there.

[Shadow]

Yeah, what Bluddy said. When there are multiple copies of a file with the same name, the game will first use the one that is a normal file (not in a zip) and then it will use which ever one is in the zip file highest alphabetically (z before a).

[ebarstad]

Thanks Bluddy and Shadow. One of the problems I was having was that my zip looked like this:

mod.zip / mod folder / Shaders / system.sdr

Once I realized that I had to remove the mod folder, the modified file worked just fine.

[Hannes-Erich]

Originally Posted by ebarstad

Thanks Bluddy and Shadow. One of the problems I was having was that my zip looked like this:

mod.zip / mod folder / Shaders / system.sdr

Once I realized that I had to remove the mod folder, the modified file worked just fine.

For the less-savvy among us, could you (or someone, anyone) make a mod file available for download that we can drop in our assets folder?

I just bought DC yesterday and am quite enjoying it, but I would prefer slightly less conspicuous outlines around creatures I'm fighting.

[ebarstad]

Sure, here it is. Goes here (Win 7):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Din's Curse\Assets

[Hannes-Erich]

Originally Posted by ebarstad

Sure, here it is. Goes here (Win 7):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Din's Curse\Assets

Thanks, that was fast!

Just hopped in-game and gave it a whirl. WOW! I wasn't expecting it to make that much difference, but it makes a WORLD of difference. The black outlines give the NPCs and creatures an impressively illustrated, faux cell-shaded look. It looks great. Combat feels much more immersive now that I have a more detailed look at what I'm fighting. (Found myself zooming in for a closer look, heh.) Thanks again!