This is the archived gamma forum thread, see here for a post-launch reposting
Hi,
I've made a web-based editor to edit HUD colour themes on the fly. Basically it shows a screenshot collage from the game and uses javascript to apply colour matrix transformations to that screenshot. These approximate the results in the game rather well, but not perfectly. The colour matrix can be edited with sliders and/or number input in realtime, and it generates the configuration snippet ready for copypasting into the configuration file. You can also copypaste the corresponding snippet (e.g., from the forum) into the editor for preview and editing, or manually type in the same values you would put in the configuration file to see the effects.
By the default the slider ranges are limited to 0-100% (corresponding to 0.0 - 1.0 in the configuration file), but there is an extended range -button in the lower right corner, and or you can just enter (or paste) a theme that has values outside this range and the sliders will adjust for greater range, including negative numbers. (Negative values can be useful for increasing differentiation of colours.)
Since it's a web-based tool it obviously won't edit the actual file for you, but copypasting back and forth between the file and editor is easy once you've found the file and the correct spot.
Thanks to Kirisute for posting the instructions for HUD colour modding!
The editor can be found at: arkku.com/elite/hud_editor/
Note that the game currently only supports a colour matrix for adjusting the HUD, so you cannot adjust specific elements, only specific colours, i.e., if you make one green thing red, you also end up making the friendly green radar blips red, so take note on the effects on gameplay. Also, the game does not fully support the colour scheme change, so the glow under the HUD elements on the dashboard will always be orange, and if you have GUI effects enabled you may see orange flashes in the animations (but disabling GUI effects from graphics settings removes the animations, which looks best now for non-orange themes).
(Tested on latest Chrome and Safari only, reported working on Firefox as well.)
The above screenshot is from the editor, the below from the actual game with the same theme:
As you can see they do not match perfectly, but it's very close, and fortunately the difference tends to be that it looks better in the game, with more easily distinguished colours.
Tip: if you see orange animations in the menus despite having changed the colours, disable “UI effects” from the graphics configuration – this removes the mismatched animations. Also, don't forget that there's the HUD brightness control in the ship's functions UI panel - different themes work better at different levels.
As for how to use the editor and install the themes, another forum member has made a video tutorial. For the logic behind the colour matrix (which is not up to me or the editor, but the way the game implements it), I try to explain it in this post.
+rep
(Source)
I'm going to try it.
