DIY Guide - How to display all buffs (and increase buff size)
Many people, especially PvPers, say that you need to get yourself a modified UI for one reason: To see all buffs that your enemy currently has. This includes buffs that, by default, are invisible to you. Excellent Balance, Guardian Tactics, Evasive Action and Avatar of Death to name a few. This is something very important when making fast decisions in a PvP environment - however, is it worth getting a modified UI for? Most are no longer updated, many are made specifically for the user making them and are too big, too small, too clunky or too plain.
This guide is intended to show everyone how to modify their own Default UI to show all buffs, without the hassle of a new UI.
This will not change any settings in your UI. You do not need to redo your hotkeys or worry about having to deal with anything new - other than displaying all buffs on your target.
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Skill Level: Beginner
What you will need: Notepad or similar editing software.
What you need to know: Where your AoC directory is and how to navigate your file system.
1. Let's begin by finding your Age of Conan directory. Typically: C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\
2. Once there, find your way to C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\data\Gui\Default\Views\HUD
3. In this folder is a file called CharPortraitRight.xml. Open this file in notepad.
4. There is alot here that may not make sense to you. Don't worry about it for now. What you need to do is Save as... a copy of the file in C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\data\Gui\Customized\Views\HUD. You will need to make the appropriate folders here, as your Customized folder should be empty.
5. Once the file is saved in the appropriate folder, either look for the following code or use F3 to bring up the Find function. The code is not very far in:
Code:
<View view_layout="stacked" h_alignment="LEFT" v_alignment="BOTTOM">
<View view_layout="vertical" h_alignment="LEFT">
<BuffListView name = "BuffListView"
h_local_alignment = "LEFT"
layout_borders = "Rect(15,0,0,0)"
icon_size = "Point(31,31)"
icon_spacing = "Point(3,3)"
full_size_limit = "6"
max_columns = "10"
filter = "hostile"
6. See where it says 'filter = "hostile"'? You'll need to change that line to:
Code:
filter = "friendly | hostile"
7. Save the file and close notepad! That's it! You're done. If you did this with AoC running, type /reloadui. Otherwise, run AoC and enjoy!
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Extra!
This extra will teach you to modify buff icon sizes. It's in the same file, but this time we're after the line that looks like icon_size = "Point(31,31)" . (31,31) indicates the overall size. In this, I'll change the size to that of the Action Bars. However, feel free to experiment as you wish to see what sizes suit you!
Change the line to:
Code:
icon_size = "Point(47,47)"
More Extras!
Now, another parameter you can play with is full_size_limit. You'll notice when you have a number of buffs/debuffs on your target's screen, the size will shrink to be significantly smaller. And because the above tweaks make more (de)buffs appear, you'll see the shrinkage alot more. All you need to do is set the following line, using the same methods as before:
Code:
full_size_limit = "6"
This is the number of buffs you can see, before they shrink. How far you should increase this number totally depends on the size of your resolution. Larger resolutions can deal with more unshrunk (de)buffs. (Thanks to BudgieDeathSquad for this!)
Finale! Save the file and you're done! If you want to experiment with different sizes, you can do it while in game. I would recommend running in windowed mode for it (press Alt + Enter). Once you change the sizes, type /reloadui. This will delete all lines in your chat and refresh your UI with the changes you've just made.
Once you're done, enjoy!
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This will also increase the size of buffs, when they shrink due to large numbers. However, this is a more subtle change and not readily apparent.
