The Classic Skin looks better with wood grain!

[Déjà Bru]

After extensively using the Dark Skin for the first time in my OOTPB career - it really is well-done this time around - I nevertheless have gravitated back to the Classic Skin because it is easier on the eyes over long periods of time.

The only thing about the Classic Skin that I did not like was the header. What is that, package wrapping paper? The header looks much better with a traditional wood grain IMO:



Here is how I did this, in case you are interested. First, find a suitable wood grain image on the internet. Not too light, or you will not be able to read the words in white font. Also, a fine grain looks better.

The image must be decently sized. The game will accommodate various sizes but YMMV, if course. Save it in PNG format.

Of course, you need to download and install the Classic Skin files (you need to open OOTPB as administrator to do this). I went to the folder named C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 21\data\skins\ootp classic\style_sets\upper_area and found the two files that comprise the header background. As you can see, I renamed both by appending "OLD" to their file names.




Note the new "top_smid" file taking the place of the old file. Also note that I did not make a new "top_right" file; I purposely left it out, hoping that the "top_smid" file would suffice for this purpose (remember, it has to be somewhat wide). It did. The reason for this is to not have a seam between the two files with mismatched grain.

Then I deleted the skin.bin file in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 21\data\skins\ootp classic folder and restarted the game. The game rebuilds the skin using the new images. The result is as you see above.

You may not get the same good result right away. (This was my third attempt, as a matter of fact) but you can get there with a bit of time and effort. If you like this look, here is the file that I used:

[Déjà Bru]

By the way, it appears that Windows does not allow you to directly edit files in Programs folders. It seems to do so, but then you find your changes were not saved. Best to work on files on your Desktop, then move them into the C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 21\data\skins\ootp classic\style_sets\upper_area folder.

[koohead]

Wow. this looks pretty good. I may have to take it for a spin and try it out. Thanks!

[zappa1]

Nice. Thank you very much. Worked beautifully. Do you know if Questdog's antique skin has been upgraded to work on OOTP 21? Just asking. Thanks.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by zappa1

Nice. Thank you very much. Worked beautifully. Do you know if Questdog's antique skin has been upgraded to work on OOTP 21? Just asking. Thanks.

Sorry, I don't know the answer to that. However, I see that Questdog himself has visited this thread and his lack of a response would be indicative of a "no" to that question. IIRC, and from what I can see just perusing the image and style folders in any of the skins, modding a skin is a tremendous undertaking and I would not blame the guy for being reluctant to go through that process again.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by zappa1

Nice. Thank you very much. Worked beautifully. Do you know if Questdog's antique skin has been upgraded to work on OOTP 21? Just asking. Thanks.

No, it has not.... I am hoping, but not promising, that I can steel myself to make an effort to do something for OOTP22....

OOTP21 changes the way the fonts were arranged and made it impossible to easily replicate the antique skin for it....

[rudel.dietrich]

I am more of a teak wood man myself, but that is nice looking!

[zappa1]

Originally Posted by Questdog

No, it has not.... I am hoping, but not promising, that I can steel myself to make an effort to do something for OOTP22....

OOTP21 changes the way the fonts were arranged and made it impossible to easily replicate the antique skin for it....

Thank you very much for the reply. Your antique skin is my all time favorite skin. My favorite as I love playing the old timers. I can understand it was a huge undertaking.

I've requested that OOTP make all fonts that we have in our folder usable. It would be good for making baseball card templates, also.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Questdog

No, it has not.... I am hoping, but not promising, that I can steel myself to make an effort to do something for OOTP22....

OOTP21 changes the way the fonts were arranged and made it impossible to easily replicate the antique skin for it....

Any chance you will eventually release that Clarice Starling Buffalo Bill skin you promised years back?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I am more of a teak wood man myself, but that is nice looking!

Thanks. In addition to replacing the folded paper bag look, a nice by-product, in my opinion*, is also losing this rigmarole on the right:



* I want to stress that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and therefore none of this is a criticism of the work done by the Classic Skin designer. It's just that, as the discussion of Qdog's Antique Skin mod attests, the Classic Skin should look, well, classic with wood grain backgrounds and without dynamic slashes. In my opinion.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Any chance you will eventually release that Clarice Starling Buffalo Bill skin you promised years back?

Okay, I do not get it....

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Okay, I do not get it....

Skins change appearance
Buffalo Bill changed their appearance by wearing actual skin

[Déjà Bru]

I put an immediate stop on understanding it. I'm getting good at that. "Say, what do you think these fellows are talking about? Let me peer down the road a bit . . . uh, no. No. I'm not going down that road. Now, what was the pleasant thing that I was thinking about previously? Oh yes, tra-la-la."

[Déjà Bru]

Meanwhile, a virtual cookie is offered as a reward to the person who can identify the file that could be edited or replaced to eliminate the shadows in this screen. So far, this is the only other thing that I would like to change about the Classic Skin.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Questdog

Okay, I do not get it....

Yeah, it was a total swing and a miss. I like the Tin Man.

[zappa1]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Meanwhile, a virtual cookie is offered as a reward to the person who can identify the file that could be edited or replaced to eliminate the shadows in this screen. So far, this is the only other thing that I would like to change about the Classic Skin.

Check OOTP Classic/images two files called away_player_color_overlay and home_player_color_overlay

They both look very possible.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by zappa1

Check OOTP Classic/images two files called away_player_color_overlay and home_player_color_overlay

They both look very possible.

The prize!



Those were the files, all right. All I had to do was remove (or rename with "OLD" affixed, to be tidy) the away_player_color_overlay and home_player_color_overlay files in the images folder. I was too wrapped up in searching the style_sets folders and overlooked the obvious.

Voilà!



zappa, please do me a favor. Please go get a real cookie of your favorite type and enjoy it in order to acknowledge my gratitude. Thanks!

[zappa1]

Thank you. Now I need a glass of milk. haha

[Déjà Bru]

Bon appétit!

[Déjà Bru]

I have played a few more games and I am happy to say that, with these two cosmetic changes, I am very happy with the Classic Skin. Other than the two things that I changed, the Classic Skin suits me fine as is. It is easy on the eyes, and on the melatonin, and it's aesthetically pleasing.