EVE Online: Customization Guide

This guide is a brief walk-through for customizing EVE Online and Steam, published as a work in progress.

Introduction

I started this guide to focus on the customization aspects of EVE Online. This will include it's client, the hud, gearing up avatars, and painting your ships!

EVE Online is so full of information and misinformation that it is hard to sort out what is true and current. For this reason I will be adding a note to each section on this guide when it is last updated, so you can at least reference when changes were likely made.

EVE Online has been evolving for close to two decades and I don't foresee that cycle ending soon. Please consider this guide a Work in Progress.


Ratings are appreciated!

Referral Link

You can use my personal referral link at EVE Online[www.eveonline.com] to get some extras when signing up, possibly even some of the apparel and skin items mentioned below. the rest of the EVE Online links in this guide will point to the Steam store page, but you won't get extras for signing up without using a referral link. It is a win for both of us if you use it.

This is now also known as Retroactive Recruitment, because they are encouraging existing and older players to use the link to give them in game bonuses as well.

Customizing the Steam Client

So clicking through the Steam Client the other day, I landed on the EVE Online Library Home page. A huge fan of EVE, I went to right click download the cover image at the top of the page, only to find options I wasn't expecting in the context menu.


This is the cover image I mentioned, with the context menu shown on the right.

This is actually an option for any game's Library Home in the Steam Client. I just happened to find it on the EVE Online page and wanted to share it with that particular community. So... let's take a look at these weird context menu options!

Set Custom Background
The first option is setting a custom background. You can pretty much pick any screenshot and it will auto crop to the center of the image. If you use a screenshot that doesn't show the in game HUD, it'll look a lot better.


This cropped image shows an older Captain's Quarters screenshot that I used for a background.

Clear Custom Background
When you apply a background of your own, the context menu option changes to Clear Custom Background, so that you can reset the background if you don't like the results.

The next few options are all for editing the logo on this game's home page...

Set Custom Logo
This literally lets you set a custom image as the logo for this page. If your a hard core EVE player that has a long history in a particular corporation or alliance, changing this to one of those logos may be your go to. I'll add that the logos that work best here are the ones with no backgrounds or background colors. You'll want a transparent background or the logo will be a box blocking out a good portion of your screenshot.

For this, I used the corporate logo for the first corporation I ever created, Fear Clan. The logo itself is one made by the in game logo customization interface, that I add could use an overhaul. I downloaded the logo easily from a killboard that links to the EVE database, so that I'm actually using the in game image instead of an edited screenshot.

If your in charge of your own corp, you may already know that you can do any edits to your corporate logo, whenever you feel like it, for a pitiful 100 ISK from your corporate wallet. I'm mentioning it now so you can modify the background if needed for the transparency effect.


This screenshot shows the end result of selecting my own corporate image as a logo.

Adjust Logo Position
This allows you to use an interface to shrink or stretch your logo as much as it lets you, and gives you an option to align the logo by pinning it to top, center, bottom, or bottom left. Look for the lime green clickable objects in the cover area to adjust the position of the logo image.

Reset Logo Position
If you don't like the position or size that your logo ends up in, this is your option to reset it. If you like your eidts, click the blue Done button in the bottom right.

Clear Custom Logo
When you actually apply your own image for a logo, you'll notice a new context menu option called Clear Custom Logo. This let's you set the page back to the actual in game logo if you don't like your end results.

These modifications do not even require you to launch your EVE Client, unless you needed to change that logo. The next few sections will focus on in-game customization.

This section last updated October of 2020.

Steam Trading Card Items

As part of the Steam launch, items were made for the Steam Community Market for the client trading card system. You can acquire Steam trading cards, which can be turned in for badges and a few extras, including EVE Online emotes for chats, and backgrounds for your Steam profile. To see what is currently available for EVE Online on the Steam Community Market, simply click that link and run a search for EVE Online.

Still backgrounds randomly given out for completing EVE Online collectible card badge levels. Only 6 of the 10 backgrounds are available through the Steam trading cards.

Still emotes randomly given out for completing EVE Online collectible card badge levels.

NOTE: These backgrounds are now also available through the Steam Points Shop, see below. My advise is to save your points and get them through the steam market for a few cents if they are still available.

Steam Points Shop Items

EVE Online recently updated it's available branded items on the Steam Points Shop, and you can use these items to customize your Steam Profile and/or add some EVE Icons in your chat areas.

The non-animated backgrounds and the emoticons are also obtainable on Steam Community Market or through the Steam Cards Badges for EVE Online. (see Steam Trading Card Items section above)

The animated avatars and animated avatar frames are only obtainable through the new steam points system.



The animated backgrounds and mini profile backgrounds are only obtainable through the new steam points system. Only 4 of the 10 backgrounds are animated.

Getting Awesome Screenshots

There are times when all those windows and in game clutter should be taken off the screen to get a snap shot of the truly awesome graphics in game. To do this, you need to click CTRL+F9 (as default) to effectively minimize the entire in game HUD and get to those sexy pixels.



You can get your eye candy by pressing F12 on repeat (If you are playing through Steam), or you can press PrtSC to get a copy of the image to your windows clipboard and save it to your image editor.

After you have the results you want, you can press CTRL+F9 to bring the HUD back online. Don't take to long and get shot at while getting your awesome screenshots!

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any lost ships or implants in game, please send in a petition to EVE Online support.

Selecting the Windows Appearance

All of those outlines and highlights that make up the EVE Online's interface can be customized to a preset theme. The themes are few but typically match factions in EVE or custom lighting. To get to these settings, press ESC to get to the settings window shown below.

This is the settings menu found in EVE Online.

Once your in settings, click the tab for Display Settings, as shown below. You will notice the color selections on the right of this screen. There is also a checkbox to set the windows to your current ship.* Isn't that neat!?

This screenshot shows the Display Settings.

Finally, select your theme on the left. As shown below for this guide, I selected the Carbon theme. Personally I am still waiting for some sort of black-light purple theme. Until then, I change it up whenever I need something different.

This image shows Carbon selected as the theme.

I cropped the background out of these screenshots so that you could actually read the settings menu.

* I wanted to clarify that the option to Match theme to current ship setting effectively means that it will match the theme to what faction your currently selected ship is, not what SKIN you have selected for your current ship.

On that note, a second checkbox that would match the theme to your currently selected ship SKIN would be an interesting client feature. The developers should really check out this guide!

This section last updated February of 2021.

Customizing your EVE Hud

So to the uninformed, the HUD in EVE Online, in it's original position, is in the front center of the screen while you are undocked in space. This section is meant to show you how to customize this aspect of the game interface to your liking.

The HUD in it's original position.

To move the HUD left and right, right click and drag the HUD from the left to the right, as shown above.

To modify aspects of the HUD, please note the icon on the lower right, highlighted in the image above.

To align the HUD to the top, select the highlighted line "HUD aligned to top" as shown above.

This image demonstrates what the HUD looks like when aligned to the top and dragged away from the left a bit.

NOTE: The Text that shows up while you are in warp, or aligned to, ect, will show up underneath the HUD instead of above the HUD when you have it aligned to the top.

Avatar Apparel

With a wide variety of apparel that they are continuing to develop, customization of avatars is getting very interesting. (Work in Progress!)


This cropped screenshot is just a sample of a container full of apparel in EVE Online.

With a recent update, you can actually see most of the apparel your avatar is wearing on your character sheet.

Ship SKIN's

Ship Skins are a way to make your gameplay more enjoyable in space, if your into customization at least. (Work in Progress!)

This screenshot shows one of my favorite in game skins, for the Abbadon.

There are various ways to acquire SKIN's for your ships.
- You can purchase them from the player market with ISK.
- You can purchase them from the NES Store with PLEX, even in bundled sets.
- You can log in during events.*

I used PLEX to purchase this skin through the NES Store because at the time it was cheaper then buying the skin directly on the market.

* Sometime in 2020, CCP made a change pertaining to any skins acquired through login events, making them account bound. This disgruntled me a bit because you literally have to log in during the event to get the skins, with no chance of acquiring them on the market after the event. For those of us that have busy lives, this change was a sour move.

The Captain's Quarters

Once in a while you may run into screenshots of avatars hanging out in stations. They called this the Captain's Quarters and initially they intended to further develop the ability to actually allow avatars to interact in stations. After a few years, they disabled the option altogether. The screenshots below are examples of what you could do with the option that is now completely removed from EVE Online.

Screenshot of my main avatar in an Amarrian station.

This is one of the things they really screwed the players on. This gave us the ability to show off our best ships and apparel acquired in game play and micro sales. Ultimately, I believe they removed it to save hard drive space for the final publish of the game.

Screenshot of my main avatar in a Caldari station, in front of an Onyx.

It would be nice if they brought the feature back as a seperate game entity that interacts with EVE Online servers for communications like chat and email, and market contract data, based on where your character is docked up at in the actual game. This would be ideal for station trader types that don't need the full game loaded into cache.

Screenshot of my main avatar in an Gallente station, in front of a Scorpion.

If the Captains Quarters was still a thing, I would be able to show more interesting screenshots, such as my avatar wearing an armored suit while standing in front of a capital ship.

Sources

As mentioned in the Steam Client Customization section, I used a killboard to download my own corporate logo. That killboard is zkillboard. You should be able to right click and save image as to download your own corporate logo after looking it up. Just try not to get too distracted by your corporation's combat activity!

zkillboard[www.zkillboard.com]

Images for the section Customizing the Steam Client are cropped screenshots of the Steam Client while editing it for this guide.

Images for the sections Getting Awesome Screenshots, Selecting the Window Appearance, Customizing your EVE HUD, Avatar Apparel, Ship SKIN's, and The Captain's Quarters are either screenshots or cropped screenshots of the EVE Online game throughout the years.

Images for the "Steam Trading Card Items" and "Steam Points Shop Items" sections are clipped screenshots of the Steam Points Shop Items for EVE Online.

Steam Awards

Thanks for the Steam Awards!

I have been creating guides for the Steam Community for a few years now, long before Steam Awards were a thing. I love creating content for the games I play. In 2020, Valve decided to reward players that create content with the points shop system.

The Steam points are very appreciated, and certainly encourages me to create more content for the gaming community. I even spent a few of the points to give more space for Steam guides on my profile. This lets me present up to seven of them on my profile at once. If you want to see what else I've created, you should check out the Other Published Steam Guides section of this guide!

EVE Online Guide Index

Previously, I listed the few EVE Online related guides I had created here. For simplicity, I have since opted to create what I call a EVE Online Guide Index. This is essentially another guide that points to the EVE Online guides I have created. If you like any of my other guides, please feel free to rate them up!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2594951406

Other Published Steam Guides

You can check out all of my Published Steam Guides here, the following guides I feel are related in one way or another.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=202362272

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3122987327

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

The section "Customizing your EVE HUD" finally has content.

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

"Steam Items" section renamed to "Steam Trading Card Items"

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

Updated "Steam Items" and "Steam Points Shop Items" with images and additional text.

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

Thanks!

[celticmetalsmith]

Nice!

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

Guide updated!

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

Guide updated!

[https://www.twitch.tv/ronjester]

I presume you mean the Captain's Quarters. Yeah, it's likely missed by a good chunk of the player base.

[dratliff226]

I really want this feature added back in the game as well one way or another.