nUI+ Development Version 5.03.12 released...

[spiel2001]

New Release
Announcement

There are several new features in this update which I discuss below. However, before I get to those, let me fill you in on some news related to nUI's releases and the fact that WoW Patch 3.2 is now on the test realms.

Let me start by stating that nUI+ 5.03.12 is a release candidate. If no significant issues turn up, I'll be making a release cut from it this coming week and will put out a new nUI+ Release as well as a new nUI Lite based on this version. If any problems are caught, I'll try to get fixes out immediately rather than wait until this weekend, so you may see a flurry of development release notices this week culminating in a notice on a new release version.

Where to from there? As soon as I cut the release, I am going to focus on the final three performance fixes... namely the re-write of the nUI_UnitAura, nUI_UnitRaidSort and nUI_UnitSpec modules. I've been working on the UnitAura for a couple of weeks now and still not satisfied with it. However, I expect next weekend's development update to contain that fix. In any event, I expect to spend the month of July finishing up the event engine rewrite to try and improve nUI's raid frame rates. I amalso going to try and finish the layout engine in July.

If that goes as planned, I will cut one more official "Release" version of nUI+ Release and nUI Lite at the end of July. I will also stop development on the "Release" and "Development" versions of nUI at that time and cut a PTR (Public Test Realm) version of nUI. WoW Patch 3.2 has started on the PTR with some key changes for Shammys as well as some other key API changes. In order to ensure nUI is ready on patch day, I'll be spending August onwards developing nUI for patch 3.2 and will only release the occasional bug fix for the public realm versions of nUI until patch day.

So, in summary, there will be a new nUI+ Release and nUI Lite version published sometime this week. The month of July will be devoted to improving nUI's raid performance and finishing the layout engine. A final nUI+ Release and nUI Lite release will be cut the end of July and development on nUI for WoW patch 3.2 on the test realm will start in August and continue through until patch day.

Now... on to this week's development update. First, in order to try an improve readability, I have changed nUI's default fonts and I have included several other optional fonts. These are all confirmed to be public domain fonts. If you would like to play with trying the different fonts, edit the appropriate localization file for your language in [ Interface > AddOns > nUI > Main ] and comment out the current font selection and uncomment one of the other selections, save the file, then do a '/nui rl' to see that font in game. I hope to have a screen in nUI you can use to do this included in nUI before the final release is cut the end of July.

Aside from the fonts, the primary focus this week has been following on last week's update with improving the functionality of nUI's action bars. The most significant change is the addition of "dimming" of action buttons that are currently on cooldown, are unuable or are active on the current target.The dimming function is enabled any time you enter into combat or have an active target.

In a nutshell, as a visual aid to knowing what actions are available to you or need to be cast, any button that you cannot use at any given time is shown in a high transparency while actions you can and possibly should take are shown at full brightness. At a glance, without considering timers, you can tell which actions you should be looking to take. This also has the added benefit of making the cooldown and expiration timers on the active spells easier to see.

For those who do not care for this feature, you can turn it on and off using the slash command '/nui bar dimming' -- You can also change the transparency level of the dimmed action buttons using the command '/nui bar dimalpha {n}' where {n} is the opaqueness of the button... 0 < {n} <= 1.0 where 0 is fully transparent and 1.0 is fully opaque. The default is '/nui bar dimalpha 0.30' which is 30%

Another new action bar command has been added, as well... '/nui bar mouseover' which is normally off by default. Turning this feature on will cause nUI's action bars to be hidden entirely unless and until you mouse over them. They "pop in" and "pop out" instantly rather than fade in and out so that they are immediately available when you need them and immediately out of the way when you do not.

One more key new feature in this week's development update is tick deltas in the health, power, XP and reputation bars. What this feature does is highlight how much the bar changed since the last tick. If your health increases from one tick to the next, the portion of the bar that is "new" or "increased" health will be highighted in a slighly brighter color. Likewise, if you lose health from one tick to the next, the portion of the bar lost will be shown in a transparent gray color. You can now see at a glance how much health and/or power you, your party/raid members and your target are gaining and losing each tick as well as how much experience and reputation you are gaining.

Please see the patch notes for a complete list of the fixes in this week's update.

If you have not yet gained access to the nUI+ download area, let me point out that everyone has been approved that has applied over the last couple of weeks right up until the time of this posting... if you have applied for access to the "nUI+ User Group" then you should be able to access the nUI+ download area at http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/index.php?cid=137

Note that you do have to be logged into WoWInterface before you can access that link even if you are approved... this is a member restricted area. If you are not logged in or you have not applied for access to the nUI+ user group, you will not be able to access this link. If you have not applied for access to the download area yet, please re-read the "Welcome to the nUI+ Newsletter" e-mail that you received when you signed up...it contains the instructions on how to access the nUI+ download area.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback, support and patience.

Scott.

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Version 5.03.12 (Development)
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• Updated Spanish localization file (thank you Jose)

• Added new font options to improve readability. Still need to add a GUI panel for the player to use to change fonts in-game. For now, see the appropriate localization file in [ Interface > Addons > nUI > Main ]

• Added a new feature to the action bars... when you have an active target, or you are in combat, any button on your action bar which is unusable, is on cooldown or is active on the target is dimmed to indicate that is cannot be cast at present, or does not need to be cast. Any spell which can be cast, is not in cooldown and is not active on the target (or yourself) is displayed at full brightness. This acts as a quick visual cue as to which actions you should/could be using at present.

• Added a new slash command '/nui bar dimming' to toggle the new action button dimming feature on and off.

• Added a new slash command '/nui bar dimalpha {n}' which allows the player to set a custom alpha level for action buttons that are currently dimmed. The default is 30% or '/nui bar dimalpha 0.30' -- valid values are 0 < {n} <= 1 where 0 is fully transparent and 1 is fully opaque (the same as turning off the dimming feature). Note that you cannot use an opacity of 0 as that does have special meaning to the action button logic.

• Fixed a logic error in nUI_StatusBar which threw an error when the bar was oriented to grow from the top down

• Added tick tracking to the health and power bars to visually indicate how much health and/or power was gained or lost since the last bar update.

• Added a new slash command '/nui bar mouseover' which when active causes nUI's action bars to be hidden unless and until you mouse over them.

• Tweaked nUI_Button module to correct an issue showing the Pally judgment spells on the action buttons correctly.

[Seer]

Seems to work nicely.. No time to raid today tho..

Great job once again

[Screid123]

OMG I love the font change! This is a huge QoL improvement!!! Thank you! The dimming feature is also very, very nice.

PS - I also like the new hud indicators of mana/health gains/losses. Nice!

[Raventiger]

I'm not too keen on the new fonts myself, so I was wondering how I could change them back to what they were in V5.03.11?

I've tried changing which lines are commented out for nUI_L["font1"] in the lua file and reloading the UI, but the font doesn't seem to change.

Thanks.

[spiel2001]

You have to both comment out the current font and uncomment the font you want to show, then save the file. Once you've done that, then a '/nui rl' will display the new font.

EDIT: Also make sure you are making your changes in the correct localization file. If you are playing in standard US English on a US server, you should be editing [ Interface > AddOns > nUI > Main > localization.lua ] otherwise, you should be editing the appropriate localization.{your language}.lua file

[worridor]

Just used the new version in a raid and it worked great. I love the new fonts. They seem so much easier to see at a quick glance.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the shaman changes are put into nUI.

[Anjalena]

Wewt! I love the sound of the new changes, hon. I can't wait to check them out. =)

[Raventiger]

Thanks for the information. I was editing the wrong file as I assumed the enGB file was the correct file for an English game client.

I'll try it again editing the localization.lua file.

Thanks!