How to Copy Your UI Layout Across Characters

[Grinkles]

This might be common knowledge to some players, but it's worth restating for newcomers or those less familiar with the technical aspects of the game.
To skip the mumbo jumbo and go straight to the directions, scroll to the GREEN TEXT below!

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“One size fits all” doesn’t apply to UIs. While some players make do with the barebones default 2.5 layout, others insist the game is unplayable without tell windows enabled, 17 filtered chat windows, and WoW spell icons. The current default layout is better now than in past clients, but it still leaves much to be desired for most players:

It can even become corrupted sometimes when using /loadskin, leaving the player with a totally unusable setup that could easily take 10+ minutes to fix:

Luckily, all you really have to do is perfect a single character's UI and then use one of two methods to copy that layout to your other characters.

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METHOD #1 — The Simple Way (For Alts or Characters You've Used Before)

Once you have your UI just the way you like it on your main, do the following:

1. Log in as an alt or other character.
2. Open the in-game Options menu (ALT + O).
3. Click on the “Copy Layout” button.
   • This feature didn't exist in earlier clients.
4. Select the name of your main and presto! The game does all the work for you.

You can even make this method faster if you go into your SoD directory, make a copy (ALT + C and ALT + V) of your main character’s UI_Name_sod.ini file, and rename that copy UI_Aaaa_sod.ini (or something similar) so that it always shows up as the first name in the list. No need to scroll through dozens of character names ever again!​

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METHOD #2 — The Permanent Way (For Future New Characters):

If you're sure you never want to see the default UI layout again on future characters you create (or borrow), you have the option of scrapping it altogether and replacing it with your main character’s setup by doing the following:

1. Within your install directory, rename defaults.ini to defaults old.ini.
   • This can act as a backup if needed.
2. Create a copy (CTRL + C and CTRL + V) of UI_Matbarrocks_sod.ini (or whoever your main is).
3. Rename that copy defaults.ini.
4. Create a new character, log in, and marvel at your perfect UI!

Once this is done, every new character you log into from now on will have the UI layout of your main without even having to use the “Copy Layout” feature. For instance, here’s what I see now when I log in as a new character for the first time without touching anything:​

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Fiddling with the UI can sometimes be tricky business, so if anyone comes across any problems using the above methods, let me know and we’ll figure it out.

 

[AngryCow]

How dare you make a character with that name?!