[Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

[Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by eqsanctum » Sat Mar 05, 2016 2:29 am

Ai-Art

The need to post this up here was sparked by someone stating that Ai-Art alters game files. This would mean it's some type of bannable hack. Guess what, that's false. So I'm here to inform the community about what it actually is. That way people not knowing what they're talking about don't seed misinformation about something they know nothing about. So read below about this awesome addon.


Ai-Art is a texture replacement "addon". No scripting is involved, and no impact on your memory. Rather than write an addon and script replacement textures, these textures are already converted into .blps, which you drop into your interface folder. Instead of loading the default textures from the MPQ files, WoW reads these texture files from the folders you put in your interface folder.

While tedious to make textures and fix textures it has a very real benefit. No changes on a private server where the content is static, and they simply don't "break" your game. If a texture is bad, it just needs to be resized or renamed. If an addon is bad you have to find the code break. Addons use extra memory. Addons conflict with other addons. Textures don't do any of those.

You can download it here: Ai-Art for private servers


Why is it hosted outside of some place like curse or wowinterface? -
If you read below you'll see I have permission to alter/change/addon to/redistribute the files as I see fit. However, it is against Curse's and WoWI's ToS to host anything, talk about, or link out to private servers. So I host them myself.

Videos for the 1.12 version. Fixes should be very close to finished.
Videos for the 3.3.5a version. Fixes still very much needed and testers as well.

AI-Art replacement:

What is it? -
Started by Quokka on the Wowinterface website, Ai-Art is an in game art replacement. It uses file placement within the file tree to simply use different in game textures. What does this mean? The MPQ files within WoW are simply compressed files that uncompress as they are loaded and used. When uncompressed they make a "tree" of folders. All we are doing is populating where the texture files that would be uncompressed within the file tree would go. So instead of say..c:\wow\interface\GLUES being auto filled with the files from the MPQ files, we put them there ourselves with different textures. This allows us to change all of the in game textures without the need to load a script or an addon in game. It does not interfere with game play, does not overwrite anything, and does not conflict with other addons in game.

I worked on the project with Quokka for about a year. Having copies of the AI-ART repository, I simply grabbed the oldest one I had and uploaded everything to start working on it again. First and foremost it needs to be said: This project belongs to Quokka, whole or in part. Even though I will be making changes to make the textures compatible, the project is and always will be his. Any changes by community members would be awesome and I look forward to working with you :)

Can I donate to this? -
No.As stated before this was not my project. I simply worked on it with the author Quokka. His profile is listed on the wowinterface website. You can look him up and donate to him if you wish.
This iteration of AI-Art now officially belongs to me. I have received permission from Quokka to use and modify it for the private server(s) community.

"Re: Use of AI-Art
Originally Posted by eqsanctum
Just wanted to let you know I was reviving the use of AI-Art on a private server. It's for v1.12 of wow and I am taking full responsibility for it. At the same time I'm directing people to you. Giving you full credit and not taking anything for it.

I know this probably isn't something you wanted to do but I didn't want to do it without at least letting you know.

Thanks for the Information. It's all yours.
You have my blessing.

Quokka"



What's the benefit? -
  • No extra memory in game being used.
  • Because this is a private server, no chance of the texture files ever breaking.
  • The files are just textures, if something does "break" it will simply look off. Which means it wont crash your game or throw up the error frame.
  • Its 100% client side and visual only.
  • It does not alter game play in any form or fashion.
  • Because its a texture replacement, it is easily added to by the community.
  • No scripting required.
  • It is compatible with each and every addon in existence (People will say a texture not matching an addon, examples like wow instant messnger, are considered breaking. Well no it's not. It wont crash your game, use extra memory, or throw up addon errors. It will just look weird. While annoying, that is not breaking your game.)
What's the drawback? -
  • You can't just switch the textures around on the fly. You have to reload the entire client for changes to occur.
  • Testing can be tedious.
  • Any fixes may take up to a solid week or more to change for one texture and verify it on my end.
  • Some textures simply will not take in game. (Login screen is a good example. The "ini" xml files are not editable. It's possible to make them so, but that would require the admin to edit the executabe)
  • "Sets" of textures for a different look and feel are extremely hard to do without community participation.

How do I install it? -
  • Download It.
  • Extract the rar.
  • The files ahould be inside a folder named "Interface".
  • Delete the contents of your interface folder from me before installing a new version. ( not addons folder )
  • Copy that interface folder to your wow directory.
  • Done.


Watch the install video-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1JikXJ8V4s

Screenshot -

Link to screenshot, to see it full size: http://i.imgur.com/d2qEA0G.jpg



Image
Last edited by eqsanctum on Sun Apr 03, 2016 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by Humble Kagu » Sat Mar 05, 2016 5:28 am

Interesting, I had been using this for the longest time and the thought of it potentially being a hack never crossed my mind. Not sure why people thought that it would be ban-able. Anywho it is a great texture pack!
Looking to re-live Vanilla together with a friendly, welcoming and well-behaved bunch? Then we open our doors at http://sanctuaryguild.org where we look forward to hear from you! ☼
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by Kaiji » Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:54 am

Humble Kagu wrote:great texture pack!


+1.

Very slick UI overhaul. The best out there IMO.
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by shiwodadiao » Sat Mar 05, 2016 8:23 am

i cant get it . This addon is only make wow look a little nicer,but what more can it do?
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by Kaiji » Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:43 pm

shiwodadiao wrote:i cant get it . This addon is only make wow look a little nicer


That's what it's meant to do.

I mean it looks a lot nicer to me, but that's obviously subjective.
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by ceoddyn » Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:57 pm

This looks nice. The only thing I notice is on some tabs like with chat window tabs the blue box border outline is the wrong size and not positioned correctly. Seems to be worse with small tabs. I am on 1440p 2560x1440.

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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by eqsanctum » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:20 am

ceoddyn wrote:This looks nice. The only thing I notice is on some tabs like with chat window tabs the blue box border outline is the wrong size and not positioned correctly. Seems to be worse with small tabs. I am on 1440p 2560x1440.

Image


Thank you for that. I'll get to looking into it. It "should not" matter as the texture is resized internally. I'll try it out over this next weekend. Thank you for the input!
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by eqsanctum » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:27 am

Humble Kagu wrote:Interesting, I had been using this for the longest time and the thought of it potentially being a hack never crossed my mind. Not sure why people thought that it would be ban-able. Anywho it is a great texture pack!


I'm glad it's getting use. The whole reason for putting it out there for private servers was to be used. Just because Blizzard decided that a version of a game is not for them, does not mean the potential for artwork disappeared. I am very much still a subscribing wow player. I still tinker with it on live, no where near addon release quality, but because of that it makes it easier to edit and finish out something in previous versions.
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by eqsanctum » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:28 am

shiwodadiao wrote:i cant get it . This addon is only make wow look a little nicer,but what more can it do?


It changes the base textures included in the stripped down regular version of the UI. It's for people who wanted something clean, without using an addon to do it. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Re: [Addon] Ai-Art For 1.12 and beyond

by Firstdgr » Sat Mar 12, 2016 5:53 am

I tried this out today, did the correct install method, and I appreciate developing for the community but this needs further beta testing.. i made notes as i used it and even got into a BWL run which was very interesting due to this interface "adjustment" btw i deleted the config as soon as raid was over..anyway here's my notes i took, and yes I logged to two different characters with same addons/ same account.

sometimes cant move map..and map was moved to top right of my screen

sometimes cannot scroll through chat log at all, with mouse wheel, i can however use the up and down buttons to single line move the frame..


disabled xloot and shows any armor or weapon type as white..even if i have not trained it or simply cannot equip..for example im a druid and the mail armor was white text..
red text was underneath a weapon.but with armor its not working correctly



auto loot is off

buff duration at top of screen is off.. on top of killing my poweraura to track slice and dice i had the pleasure of having to hover over my buff on top right to watch when it would expire..this was just too much of a burden for me.

broke my powerauraclassic buff tracker i had made (only one buff)


cant use smart loot addon.. no loot rolls show up
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