Alternate Interface

Cerebro

It Wandered In From the Wastes
I'm not much of a modder, but I sometimes tinker around with minor stuff. I overall like the rusty look of the original FO1 interface, which also flows better with the other menus in the game, but I prefer the Skilldex button design of the FO2 interface. After looking through several mods, I found some nice alternatives and went on to create my own. As I'm also no artist, I copy-pasted stuff from all over the place and, well - this is what came out of it:

Upload.png


I like it enough to share it here. Credit goes to:

- The Fallout Sonora mod from where I copied the overall look of the interface as well as small parts of the art itself.
- The Mutants Rising mod (demo) from where I copied the rusty look of the Skilldex and Toggle Active Item buttons.
- The Fallout et tu mod from where I copied the fo1_interface stand-alone mini-mod with additional files to have a handy stand-alone package.

The file attached can be unzipped and dumped into the \mods folder. Adjust ddraw.ini to load the new folder and it should be working. The alternative screen versions at the bottom need high res patch to be working and files must be switched out manually - they are stored in a separate folder inside the mod. TIF files of all the variants are also included.
 

Attachments

Just dumping the folder into \mods won't do anything. You have to "tell" the game (or rather sfall) to load it. In ddraw.ini there should be a section like this:

[ExtraPatches]
;This section allows you to set multiple paths to folders containing mods or patches that will be loaded by the game
;The priority of read files will be higher than the files in patchXXX.dat
;If DataLoadOrderPatch is enabled, the data load order will be:
;master_patches > critter_patches > PatchFile99 - PatchFile0 > patchXXX.dat > ...
;Paths to folders and Fallout .dat files are supported. The available range for PatchFile option names is from 0 to 99
;The greater numbers take precedence over lesser numbers

Just add "PatchFile1=mods\new_interface" there (without the " " ) The 1 in PatchFile1 can be adjusted to a number you want. The number indicates the read order. If modded files overlap due to several mod folders, the higher number takes precedence.

(If you never installed a mod before and have a copy of Fallout from GOG or Steam, chances are that your ddraw.ini is missing some stuff. If so, then adding the part mentioned above should do the trick.)
 
Just dumping the folder into \mods won't do anything. You have to "tell" the game (or rather sfall) to load it.
You don't if you package the mod into .dat, or just name the folder *.dat

Extending PDA area is a nice idea, I always hated scrolling it to read long lines. But does it actually work in-game? I mean, do long lines use the full length of the area?
 
It's not longer than other versions that come with the high res patch. I just changed the look, not functionality. So yes - in combination with the high-res patch, the bigger display works.

As regarding the folders: I tend to fiddle around with modded files more often than not, so I prefer an open folder over a packaged one for easy access, but thanks for the reminder.
 
Extending PDA area is a nice idea, I always hated scrolling it to read long lines. But does it actually work in-game? I mean, do long lines use the full length of the area?
This is already used in the high-res patch via IFACE_BAR_WIDTH=800

You can make an even bigger window, but IMO then it starts looking shit again.
 
This is already used in the high-res patch via IFACE_BAR_WIDTH=800

You can make an even bigger window, but IMO then it starts looking shit again.
IFACE_BAR_WIDTH=1000 + you need to make a panel for this resolution and then nothing looks shit.
 
Even if you make a new panel for it, it starts to look shit because of odd design.
 
That's personal taste more than anything. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
beholder.png


(I never tried anything bigger than 800. Are there even interfaces specifically created for a bigger resolution?)
 
Yes, but I meant did someone ever create a .frm file for an interface that is bigger than 800? (One that is not simply stretched but instead looks like it's supposed to look.)
I never saw anything other than vanilla and 800, regardless of what is technically possible.
 
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