MTM2.com

Check this out Fila, used it before. http://www.resedit.net/

Thanks. I'll check it out.

I have always used reshacker to mod executables.
http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

So I tried using both resource programs and same behaviour. I can do whatever I want, disable, add stuff etc but when I try to move them around (they get moved inside the programs and the new button coordinates are correct) the game refuses to acknowledge the new placements. This can only mean that, somehow, it's hardcoded somewhere else and so far I've been having difficulties figuring out just where that might be.

Yes most likely the button coordinates are being set through code.

Good news. I found the hardcoded part. No wonder I wasn't able to quickly find it because the naming conventions are totally different. And yes, it is set up in such a way that it completely ignores the visual parameters given by the dialog editor.

The bad news... I can't figure out yet if this is brilliant coding design or an absolute pain in the ass. As in, I'm not sure yet how easy it is to get this to scale to the new resolutions setups. I believe I might have to redo parts of the UI coding but at least now I know what I'm looking at.

I'm back so I am going to finally resume working on this.

I have to say, it's funny when you spend 2 freakin full days on a problem, trying all sorts of solutions and none work satisfyingly and then when almost giving up you realize the solution is freakin 5min simple...

In other words, progress is on the way. Slow but steady.

With that being said, I also have to go back to the work I have already done and change some stuff but this should, hopefully, go a lot more smoother now.

I am finally done with Driver's Check-In screen. It has now been done for every resolution. I have to say, this is taking a bucket load of time as it is very tedious work and I have to do this for every other main screen (race,garage,multiplayer,start screen, hall of fame, results screen and instant replay) so sadly it will be a while until I am done.

I have looked into the possibility of trying to quicken things up and have the game automatically scale everything and it works to a certain extent but at the end of the day it just doesn't look very good so I decided to pass. The ideal way of approaching this is a complete overhaul of the menu system but that in itself is a big task with a lot of coding which I am not in command of. I can probably do it but it will take me just as long, if not longer, until I figure everything out step by step. I would rather do that at a later time after the game is in a presentable condition.

For the very same reason I have decided to switch the dashboard to a low priority. It will not be workable in the first full release as getting it to work for every resolution will be a trial in ultimate patience and I would rather get other things out of the way before I engage such a time consuming effort.

Garage screen done.

2 down, 7 more to go :/

What resolution are you making them? 1080?

I'm making one for each resolution that's in the game right now minus 2560x1440 because I'm OCD and I want it to look nice

Which is why it is taking so long to do it.

2560x1400 bitmaps lol, you should try adding JPEG or PNG support

Usually has to be converted to bitmap to be displayed.

Woot. Finally a bit of good fortune. I am right now working on the Races screen and it turns out that the track list size is dependent on a bitmap. Which will make it very easy for me to manipulate. Sweet. Even better is that the same process is applied for Network screen (don't ask my why) which ultimately might be to my benefit.

I was concerned about the file size, not how it is rendered

He would have to add some sort of JPG to BMP converter for that to work.
Lots of effort

I'm about half way with the UI. I have finished Start, Driver Check-In, Races and Garage. I still have Multiplayer, Results, Hall of Fame and Replay screens to go. (technically ABOUT screen as well but I'll do that at some other time).

Here's a sneak peak of how it looks overall.

http://i.imgur.com/OA8Yv5e.jpg

In regards to the jpeg conversion... I'm not touching that I know the size is going to be big and I would have liked to avoid it but the UI is deeply tangled with the bitmaps and the size information it receives from the bitmaps and palettes (directx5 legacy). It will have to do for now. I do hope that at some point in the future I will be able to figure it out and reduce the size.

haha that looks nice, the top looks good, looks like you've fixed the menu bar, but loool..at the pictures on the race screen, since now the UI is such a big resolution, and the old pictures taken from the game were what 640x480? it's like those old pictures from the game are just dwarfed by the UI now lol, the pictures look so tiny..are you going to replace that area with bigger pictures once we get the show on the road? maybe take some bigger pictures from inside the game with real 1920x1080 and use them to show bigger pictures of the tracks on the race screen? that little square is just so tiny lol, I'm not making fun of you, it just looks so funny and odd..

actually, those photos weren't even 640x480 because it was the UI that was 640x480, so those pictures had to be even smaller, but either way, do you plan on making that part bigger in the future? or is it gonna stay the same size?

it can be a low priority..or you don't have to do it..just wondering? (by the way, I'm not talking about the background, I'm talking about the square to the right of the track selection, where it shows the picture of the track selected); the background looks great

The pictures are something like 300x200 or something like that. I've been trying to figure out a way to use stretchblt to scale up the pictures but so far it ain't working. It's definitely low priority though. Can't actually replace them since every track has the pictures in their .pod file. The most I can do is try to scale them up.