Guide: Packaging up your UI to share with others.

Icecx · 05-03-10, 10:41 PM

Very nice guide, but I'm having trouble making my interface work after I have formatted everything. Am I supposed to delete files that are .exe? Also, your outline of what the UI should look like in the files doesn't follow what mine looks like at the end. Instead of having just SharedVariables.lua and such, there are many other files under my character and WTF sections. What do I do with these files?

Zyonin · 05-04-10, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by Icecx

Very nice guide, but I'm having trouble making my interface work after I have formatted everything. Am I supposed to delete files that are .exe? Also, your outline of what the UI should look like in the files doesn't follow what mine looks like at the end. Instead of having just SharedVariables.lua and such, there are many other files under my character and WTF sections. What do I do with these files?

OK, did you open up your WoW folder and copy both the Interface AND WTF folders? That is all you need unless you are also modifying the default fonts. Exe files do not belong in either Interface or WTF folder, only the root WoW folder (and only ones authored by Blizzard should be present).

Regarding you WTF folder, yes you need all of the files in that folder (.lua) as those files are your AddOn's settings. So Dominos will save its settings in the dominos.lua file located in your Character and main Account folder. .bak files are merely backups of the .lua files.

Icecx · 05-05-10, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by Zyonin

OK, did you open up your WoW folder and copy both the Interface AND WTF folders? That is all you need unless you are also modifying the default fonts. Exe files do not belong in either Interface or WTF folder, only the root WoW folder (and only ones authored by Blizzard should be present).

Regarding you WTF folder, yes you need all of the files in that folder (.lua) as those files are your AddOn's settings. So Dominos will save its settings in the dominos.lua file located in your Character and main Account folder. .bak files are merely backups of the .lua files.

Ok, thanks, I tried just copying those folders, but I'm not sure if it is working, as when I try and use them as my own Interface and WTF folders, the UI does not work at all. All of the addons are set to their default settings for the most part.

Zyonin · 05-06-10, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by Icecx

Ok, thanks, I tried just copying those folders, but I'm not sure if it is working, as when I try and use them as my own Interface and WTF folders, the UI does not work at all. All of the addons are set to their default settings for the most part.

Well, it does depend on the AddOn. Some AddOns will simply take whatever settings they are given (aka, a simple copy and paste of their saved variables files does the trick). Those are usually the smaller mods that don't really need to be changed for different classes/specs/playstyles.

However many Ace 3 based mods and other larger mods (such as cast bar, Buff/Debuff timers/trackers, raid mods, healing mods, damage meters, etc.) use "profiles" that the user must choose and set while in-game. If you open your AddOn's config menu, you may see a section called "Profiles". Select it. You will notice that the current profile you are using is highlighted. Here you can create new profiles with different settings. This is useful in that you can set up an AddOn to work one with a melee DPS (such as a Rogue) and differently with a Healer (such as a Holy Pally).

Usually, if you are packaging up a UI for others you want to create an easily selectable profile. Something named like "MyUI" (just an example) or "MyUI DPS". Then delete any of your character specific profiles (be sure to back up your WTF folder first!) before packaging up your UI.

If you want to further automate this, you can download an AddOn called Reflux. With this mod, you can set "master" profiles (again "MyUI", "MyUI DPS", "MyUI Healer", so and so forth. If I was using Reflux, I would be setting profiles such as "Zyoni Druid", "Zyoni DK", "Zyoni Retribution", "Zyon Warlock" as I play a Druid, Death Knight, Ret Pally, and Warlock. I can further add specific tanking and healing profiles to Reflux to allow for easy setup of my UI.

While setting up a Reflux profile may take a bit, it will be much faster for your users as they don't have to find each AddOn's profile settings and set the profile. Check it out.

Murdoc · 07-27-11, 12:16 AM

I have a question about the WTF folder. The main folder contains Account, Config.wtf and Launcher.wtf. Do I delete the .wtf files? Under account I have the folder for my account and in that is a folder SavedVariables, my realm folder and some .wtf, .lua and .old files. Do I delete everything in here except the realm folder? I'm not sure what I should and shouldn't delete. I don't want to share anything of mine account related but I would like to share my UI.

Nibelheim · 07-27-11, 12:40 AM

Originally Posted by Murdoc

I have a question about the WTF folder. The main folder contains Account, Config.wtf and Launcher.wtf. Do I delete the .wtf files? Under account I have the folder for my account and in that is a folder SavedVariables, my realm folder and some .wtf, .lua and .old files. Do I delete everything in here except the realm folder? I'm not sure what I should and shouldn't delete. I don't want to share anything of mine account related but I would like to share my UI.

You can delete Launcher.wtf. In fact, it's wise to do so, as it can cause a lot of compatibility issues.

Open up your Config.wtf file, and delete any lines containing personal information. WoW Account names, Email addresses, etc. I also find it wise to do a cleaning up of the Config.wtf file as well, as a lot of the information in there may not be the best choice for other users' PCs. There are also some lines that can cause issues with users using different locale WoW clients.

Generally, for the Config.wtf, look for lines which you know you should keep, and delete the rest.

Lines you should usually keep are:
SET readTOS "1"
SET readEULA "1"
SET playIntroMovie "4"
SET uiScale "xxx" -- If your UI uses a particular scale
SET UseUIScale = "1" -- If your UI needs UI Scale turned on

The only other place personal information is kept would be the name of the Realm and Character folders, which you should already be renaming to "REALMNAME" and "CHARACTERNAME" etc.

Some addons you're using may store their settings under the Realm/Character folders. So unless you know otherwise, don't delete them. It is a pain to have them though, because users will have to rename+copy/paste for each character they play.

Feel free to delete all ".old" and ".bak" files.

Try and also delete any "bindings-cache" and "macros-cache" files. This will allow your users to retrieve their personal bindings and macros from WoW's server.

Blacksad · 06-24-12, 02:48 AM

If the UI is above the 100mb upload limit, how does one properly divide the content into chunks for upload? I've attempted this using Winrar, however the end result didn't work out well for the recipient. Is there a way to upload multiple files, such as UI_1.rar and UI_2.rar, which the end user can download from WowI? Or are all UI packs on here simply relegated to the 100mb limit?