Time for some plain, down-to-earth, useful OOC advice for our members.

Setting Up a Custom Message-Board Avatar

To get a picture to show up under your name when you post messages in the Guardian Keep, you first need to create a picture file for yourself. You can use any graphics editor you like, even Microsoft Paintbrush.

You need to create a picture file that is 60 pixels by 60 pixels. It's best to make the color depth to be 256 colors, and to save it in JPEG (.jpg) format. Some ideas for a picture file might be taking a screenshot of your character ingame, and using a graphics editor to crop the image down to just your character's face, or going to some fantasy art sites and doing the same thing to a pic that you like. Whatever you decide the content to be, the goal is to create a 60x60 image file, with 256-colors, and in JPEG (.jpg) format.

Once you have a 60x60 JPEG image, you'll need to get it on a Web site where it can be called up as an HTTP link. We have space on the Ancient Guardians web site to host your 60x60 image file, so you can email the JPEG file to Radyn and he'll place it in a directory on our website, with a Web URL similar to http://www.ancientguardians.com/images/YourSigPic.jpg, and email you back with the URL for your pic.

Then, go to the Guardian Keep and click on the link at the top of the page entitled My Control Center. This will take you to an EZBoard webpage that will let you edit your personal Profile and Preferences. Choose Edit Profile from the buttons shown at the top of the page, and you'll be brought to the My Home > My Profile page.

At the top of the center column on the My Profile page, there is a section entitled "Personal Photo URL". Enter the Web URL for your 60x60 image here, and check the box below marked "Use personal photo". Then, at the bottom of this page, click the button marked "Save Changes".

That's all there is to it! All your subsequent posts to the AG web board should display your 60x60 image under your name from then on.

Good luck, and if you have questions, please get hold of Radyn or Tangletwigs -- either of us can help!

Setting Up A Custom EQ User Interface

Custom UI's in EQ perform two functions, one is to be more forthcoming with information, such as representing experience and hp in percentage, names instead of icons for your current buffs list, or display your stats(str, dex, etc.) right on the interface, eliminating the need to open up the inventory to check it. Some interfaces even display your inventory on the screen at all times, smaller of course than the standard inventory.

Now you may be asking yourself, "What do these help?" I can say after setting mine up, they're indispensable. No more wondering which mobs are going to give you the best experience because now, instead of the bar, it's a simple number. "Ok, dwarf citizens give me 1%, wyverns give me 2%, so I guess I'm off to Velious." I also like having my buffs list have the name of spell printed right next to the icon. I've killed KEI more than once after accidentally single-clicking it when I meant to right-click and hold.

The other function is more aesthetic. Everyone wants a cool-looking interface. The designs are really only limited by the imaginations of those that know how to create them. You can have a Druid-styled design, complete with leaves on your spellbook pages, or a Wizard theme with purple flames behind your inventory, or even a space-aged complete redesign with digital displays for the numbers (but this isn't very EQ, is it?).

Now, not all interfaces are complete overhauls of what you see. If you want, you can change an individual window, say the spell book, but leave everything else the way it is. Personally, the only things different on are my personal info windows (which now has experience bars, AA bars, and my experience in numerical format), and my target window, which has the HP bar, plus their HP in numerical format (which is great for figuring out how much damage a spell does compared to another spell!).

The way this is achieved is simple. Inside your EQ directory there is a directory for your UI's. Inside that directory, if you haven't changed anything, is a folder entitled "default" and nothing else. This is where all the files for the standard UI exist. You NEVER put any of the custom UI files you download in this directory. If you ever overwrite a file in this directory, run Complete File Check on the EQ loader and it will fix things back the way they were.

Now, let's get started. For my first example, we're going to replace just the spell book. Go out on the net, and download one you want to use, some web pages are:

• www.eqgui.com
• www.eqinterface.com
• www.eq-skins.com

Some sites require you to register a username, but it's no big deal, they just don't want anonymous posting in their forums. Find your file, usually a ZIP, and download it. Now, go into the directory with the default directory and create another directory right beside it, and call it test1. Now, since you only downloaded a spellbook UI (for this example), you need to tell EQ to use the default UI's for every other window. To do this, open up the default UI directory, select every file inside, copy it (NOT CUT!), and then place these files inside the test1 directory. So essentially, you now have two copies of the exact same interface now. But you want to use your new spell book, right? Ok, find the file you downloaded and extract the contents of it to your new test1 folder. It will ask you to replace a file; in this case, it will be something along the lines of equi_spell or something similar. Select yes, you do want to replace it. What you're telling EQ at this point is "I want to create a new UI which is the old one + a new spell book". Every file inside a UI directory controls a specific window in the game. This is the most simple way to allow custom UI's because you change what you want, nothing more.

Now that you've made these changes, load the game. Once you're fully in, type the following in the console:

• /loadskin test1 1

This tells EQ to load the UI from the directory "test1", and the final "1" tells EQ that even if you change to another UI in the future, keep the way I've arranged the interface in this one the same. Now, when you bring up your spell book, it will be the new one you downloaded, and every other interface (inventory, buffs, party members etc.) will be the way they were. If you want to go back simply type:

• /loadskin default 1

And your old interface will load. If you want to completely change the look of your interface, the websites mentioned above will have those as well. The way to use these, and to prevent common errors, is simple.

The most common UI crashing errors result from people making total makeover UI's, but forgetting to include a certain window, like the Pet window, for example So you load this new UI, load up your Pet window, and EQ crashes. The best way to get around this make your custom UI directory, copy all the files over from the default directory, and then extract the new UI to that same folder. It will ask you a number of times "Do you want to overwrite this file?" Select yes, of course. This way, if your new custom UI doesn't have a certain window, it will load the default.

Remember, you can move any window you want around the screen by moving your mouse around its borders until it turns to a plus sign, then click-and-drag. If it won't drag, right click the window and make sure LOCK doesn't have an asterisk next to it. You cannot, however, move the chat window. You can cheat, however, and just drag the edges to wherever you want.

On the subject of chat windows, you can add more by right-clicking on the main and selecting the add window (or something similar) option. You can then turn filters on for the second chat window if you wish. Personally, I have 2, one for guild chat, one for everything else. The guild chat window has been set up so that ANYTHING I type in there, except for / commands, goes to my guild, as if I had type /guild in the first place. Not having to type /guild is so awesome I'm shocked people still do it the old way.

Anyway, this is my explanation of custom UI's in a nutshell. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me at unicron@thcnet.net

Setting Up an Ancient Guardians Mailbox

We offer our members unique e-mail addresses under their character names, in the format firstname@ancientguardians.com.

If you'd like to set up a mailbox, just follow these simple directions:

(Well... these directions aren't here yet either, but they'll be simple, really.)

Setting Up a Casters Realm Profile

We encourage everyone to set up a profile on Casters Realm – show off your gear and let people know what you're good at!

(Insert directions here.)

Browsing our Site

The site was designed with Internet Explorer 5 or better in mind – not because we're slaves of Microsoft, but because that's what most of you seem to be using. It reportedly looks decent in Opera, and it shouldn't blow chunks in Netscape. Things look best if you're running at least 800x600 resolution. If you want to get flashy, install the MagicMedieval font for the complete look.