Vanilla UI Plus version 9 is shipping a great feature for Fallout 3 & New Vegas paperdoll designers.
The paperdoll settings for the Pip-Boy and the HUD have been unified into a single paperdoll.xml declaration. Aside from the standard Vanilla UI Plus plugin, this doesn’t require menu patches or scripts, meaning that you no longer have to update your patches when VUI+ gets updated.
Creating a good paperdoll is not something everyone can do as it requires artistic talent. Editing bethXML (especially on the HUD) makes this even more difficult. For that reason, I have created a special Paperdoll Testbed addon which allows paperdoll authors to easily create the paperdoll.xml declaration. This works in a semi-What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get fashion.
The addon includes full instructions. Here is a screenshot of the testbed in action:
The whole process was refined through Vaanknight’s feedback and my own rebuilding of the old 2017 paperdoll patches. What took me days then, with trial-and-error edits, you can now do in minutes!
Finally, VUI+ is now using the separate icon files from the “Interface\Icons\Message Icons” folder instead of the monolithic interfaceshared0.dds atlas file. This means your mod will no longer need to include this file and as such it won’t be breaking HD mods. Thanks to LOC for coining the idea.
So, dear paperdoll artists, the ball is now on your side. Impress us with your great paperdoll drawings :)
