NOTE: this topic has been updated. However, it will be no disadvantage to submit a skin made for the older version of this topic.

Hereby, I start a contest to make a new skin for the Nexuiz 2.4 menu. Skin, that is, just graphics files, font sizes and color definitions.



How to do it:

• Grab a current Nexuiz development build or make your own. You can get a development build from http://emptyset.endoftheinternet.org/~p ... ntrunk.zip
• Grab the example skin made by Morphed from http://emptyset.endoftheinternet.org/~p ... ple-v2.pk3
• Extract the example skin into your Nexuiz/data folder (so that it shows up as Nexuiz/data/gfx/menu/example)
• Rename the "example" folder to the name you want to give your skin
• Edit colors and font sizes in skinvalues.txt
• Replace ALL TGA images in the example skin
• Test it by running Nexuiz, opening the console, and executing:
  

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  menu_skin yourskinname
menu_restart

  
  or by running Nexuiz like
  

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  nexuiz-linux-glx.sh +menu_skin yourskinname

  
  or
  

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  nexuiz +menu_skin yourskinname

• When done, make a screenshot of it in action, and make a pk3 by compressing the gfx folder into a zip which you then rename to give it the extension pk3
• Post the screenshot and a download link to the PK3 you created in this thread. The link must be valid for at least 14 days after the deadline.

Rules:

• Skins are rated according to how well they are usable (unreadable text at 800x600 is a no-go, for example), how well they fit Nexuiz and - obviously - how good they look (which, of course, is highly subjective).
• The TGA files in your menu skin must have been entirely made by yourself from scratch, NOT using media you found somewhere on the internet. Especially, you are not allowed to use any skin posted in this thread as a base, including Morphed's (unless you are Morphed, of course). You may work as a team, but then you have to name all members of your team. As an exception, textures previously released under the GPL (NOT including stuff posted in this thread) may be used, e.g. those included with Nexuiz. An exception is charmap.tga, which you may leave as is.
• All image files except charmap.tga must have a power of two for width and height. Some graphics cards blur images that don't fulfill this requirement. Valid values for width and height therefore are 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024. Width and height may differ, as long as both are powers of two.
• You must allow Alientrap to use it under the terms of the General Public License version 2 (read it on http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html). You may license it under "2 or any later version"; if you do so, say so.
• Any "source files" for the menu images must be provided. Like if you write a C program to generate a texture for it, you have to provide that C program. If you created the image using an image editing application that supports layers or other advanced editing techniques, you have to provide the skin images also in the native format of your image editing application (e.g. PSD or XCF). Nobody knows for sure whether the GPL requires that or not, and the opinions on this vary widely - but to be safe, we require submissions to fulfill this policy.
• Menu skins may not contain content that's offensive to some people. No political views must be represented by them.
• Any discussion on this thread is forbidden and will get your posts deleted. Make a new thread for that purpose. You may ask questions here, which we may delete, answer via PM, or add to the FAQ or rules at our own discretion. Only submissions shall be replies to this thread.

The deadline is Feb 8, 2008, 23:59 UTC. Then, we, Alientrap, will decide which skin fits Nexuiz best (it will be made the default skin of Nexuiz), and which other skins are good enough for inclusion in Nexuiz. The winners get their name in the Nexuiz credits (which haven't been coded yet in the new menu, but I can already tell you it will be a window similarily aligned to the Quit one that contains a listbox that shows the file, or maybe become part of the quit window). A forum poll will be conducted to rate the skins. For one of your skin to become the default skin, it has to "beat" the current one made by Morphed. Any submission after the deadline will not be taken into account as a candidate for including with the next release.


Technical stuff / FAQ:

• Q: What are the weird _c, _d etc. stuff at the end of file names?
  A: Some menu items use multiple files for different states. Generally, _c is "clicked", _d is "disabled", _f is "focused" (mouse over) and _n = "normal" (no specific state). For checkboxes, an additional 0 is added if the box is unchecked, and an additional 1 is added if the box is checked. For scrollbars and sliders, there is an additional _s image - which contains the slider background, while the other images are for the slider knob.
• Q: What is this skinvalues.txt file?
  A: It defines all colors, margins, transparency values and font sizes the menu uses. Colors are specified in 'red green blue' form, where the color channel values are in the range from 0 to 1. You are allowed and encouraged to use the existing skinvalues.txt file as a base for your skin.
• Q: I get weird borders around transparent stuff. How to fix it?
  A: This is a bug in your image editing application. Try on the Nexuiz console:
  

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  r_fixtrans_auto 1
r_restart

  
  If the images then show up right, it means your image editing application has problems saving transparent images. However, we can repair the images for you if r_fixtrans_auto fixes them. In that case, make your screenshot with r_fixtrans_auto enabled and write so in your forum post with the new skin. Your skin won't be rated worse because of that.
• Q: Some images are mapped in a weird way. How?
  A: Buttons and dialog backgrounds aren't completely stretched. In case of buttons, the left quarter and the right quarter stays as is, and the middle part stretches. For example, if your button texture is 512 pixels wide, 0..127 and 384..511 stay as is, and 128..383 gets stretched to reach the full width. For dialog backgrounds, the same is done in both coordinate axes. That way, the same image can be used for differently sized buttons/dialogs, and they still look consistent when stretched.
• Q: I get weird sharp borders at image edges. / At image edges, I see part of the opposite edge.
  A: This can't be fixed. Just don't use the outer pixel rows and columns (make them fully alpha transparent instead), and you are safe.

What's new?

I updated the Nexuiz build to be used. The following changes have been done regarding skinnability:

• By default, the titles in zoomed out state now are ABOVE the windows, and don't get scaled down with them. This should make them easier to read, and make the main screen more user friendly. You however can turn this off.
• Top margin no longer also defines bottom margin; left margin no longer also defines right margin. If you changed these values, the corresponding other value may need changes too.
• HEIGHT_ZOOMEDTITLE: defines where the title is displayed when a window is zoomed out. If set to 0, the old behaviour (let it stay on the window) is used. If it is negative, the text gets displayed above the window. If it is positive, it gets displayed inside the window. The number is measured in lines height of a box containing the title (like HEIGHT_TITLE).
• COLOR_DIALOG_CREDITS: color of the credits dialog
• POSITION_DIALOG_... can now be used to give the initial positions of the scaled down windows
• new credits dialog with its own skin settings
• added MARGIN_BOTTOM and MARGIN_RIGHT skin settings

Your submissions do not need to be for the new code. They will work with minor changes (duplicating MARGIN_LEFT to MARGIN_RIGHT, and MARGIN_TOP to MARGIN_BOTTOM, and adding HEIGHT_ZOOMEDTITLE 0) in the new version too without any change in appearance. Whether or not you make your skin for the new version has no influence on our opinion on your skin

:^(

I have a question.

Am I allowed to use the nexuiz font?

For example:
http://alientrap.org/nexuiz/logo.jpg

If I am could you tell me where I could get it from...

EDIT: Can I just copy the text?
I assume that the nexuiz logo is allowed to be used... We don't have to make our own...

No idea what that font is, but the current Nexuiz and Alientrap logos sure are allowed.

As for the Nexuiz logo, use gfx/loading.tga out of Nexuiz as a base if you want.

Personally, the Nexuiz 2.0 - 2.3 techno-industrial menu theme was mind-blowing during the transition from 1.5 - 2.0, simply because it just fitted well due to the textures used. [The menu used the same textures, thus was the same theme as most of Nexuiz' maps]

Updated FAQ to describe how the stretchable images work and added a rule to require power-of-two image sizes.

Too bad you can't use animated images, I'd make an augenkrebs one

Cool, when I have some time, I'll make one to match the current website mockup .

*opens up Photoshop*

Oh, and now that this is easy, I'm going to have to make a "Mac OS Leopard" skin.

Note: made a new build, with some new features. If you've already started, you don't need to adapt your skin to it.

My submission, Silver.
A bright style, opposite to the current skin.

Screenshots:



PK3:
http://morfar.planetnexuiz.de/SilverSki ... er-1.1.pk3

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menu_skin silver
menu_restart

PSD:
http://morfar.planetnexuiz.de/SilverSki ... er-1.1.zip

Many gradients...
And what are those heart-buttons about?
Would look better, if you'd make em more button-ish. Like that red windows-like X at the corner.
Besides that, nice skin.

I can only do gradients more or less. Hearts is fun

morfar wrote:

silver looks good..

is it possible , that u can see in the server list who plays on the server?

e.g. like in the Planetnexuiz Serverlist
edit: and if u filter for [BOT], that all server with BOTs appear? or just e.g. morfar n the server where morfar is appears..

just an idea

I want to make an animated intro (instead of just the logo). How can this be done?

Not possible, but you can supply one as extension for the menu if it is short. I'll then do the code to display it.

Basically, there is a video format "dpv" that can be used for this - look in DP svn, dpvideo.

I like the new menu but what i miss from the old one , is the demo browser

and some cool i figured out was gl_vbo first time i used it "yesterday " was with the new svn menu
dint now it exists never saw it in the old menu. Seems to give smooter movements of players , really smooth now. and more fps or is that illusie ? whatever it is it seems i can shoot bether with it , people move smooter so easy to target it now especialy with the nex


oh and mirio there is a java server browser that shows you who is playing

Demo browser simply isn't planned due to lack of time. However, you will be able to tab complete names of demo files on the console.

As for VBO... they're just supposed to increase fps. If it gets smoother for you, it is because you had bad fps without it.

However, on some drivers, they actually DECREASE fps...

I know the competition is now over, but will I be allowed to make a late entry? (if I get it done in time...)

Just today I started working on a "retro" style menu. No it's no rainbow menu , anyway, the point of the matter is, should I bother trying to finish it?

i would say (not beeing a developer), of course! if its not accepted in the competition, then it can always be a alternative community skin and then perhaps be added in the next version of nexuiz, so your work won't be lost

Well thats a start, though I would like it considered but it probably won't be as I'd guess all the devs would have tried the submitted ones out then talked about it on IRC... on the date of the close.

m0rfar was the only one who submitted one at all. Try making a late entry, but whether or not it will be considered is unclear (has to do with the time we still have)...

Maybe you can already post screenshots of what you've got?

As I said I just started it yesterday which isn't going to hep anyone , but I'll try to get it to screenshot stranded today ~ tomorrow

Ok, I've got 21 files completed, I still don't think that is enough to even test it... Out of 51... Maybe I should just upload what I have...

EDIT:
Are we allowed to use the cursor?

PROGRESS UPDATE:
I have now finished everything minus the Scroll and the sliders. Arhg! My buttons don't fit the menu (they look really bad!)

Yes, the cursor is unchanged from 2.3.

I like morfars menu,,,but how can I install it?? I downloaded the PSD version so where to put those files??

the PSD version is the "source code". To use it, install the pk3 file in your nexuiz data folder. Then, start Nexuiz. Once started, go to the console and enter "menu_skin silver" and "menu_restart". Then you will see the skin.

To go back, it is "menu_skin default" and "menu_restart", but why would you want to...

For this, you need a current build from http://emptyset.endoftheinternet.org/~p ... iz/builds/

oke ty diVVerent but whats a build?? on how can I install it? Srry for making a big problem

it's the nexuiz-NEWEST.zip on the URL I posted - and a prerelease of 2.4