EQII and Mods

[BlueHawk]

I was wondering if EQII has anything like WoW for developing mods such as scripting?

I believe the mods in WoW is one of the features that has really help that MMO take off, and I have looked around a bit to see if there are any forums to discuss this.

edit: I am aware of the UIBuilder, but from what I understand it only allows you to modify that which is already created, and that seems to be a bit limited. One thing that has annoyed me since I started playing this game was not being able to easily import my friends list across my alts. WoW does the same thing, but someone created a nice little mod that would sync up all the friend's list for each character.

Thanks.

[ShadowProwler420]

Ahhh, the age old question surfaces again......

Can I do <BLAH> like I could do in WoW?

In short, SOE locked down the UI so that the only functionality that can be added is what SOE lets us.

[BlueHawk]

WoW is the same way. You are not able to add anything, only modify the visual (same as EQII); but has SOE enabled a scripting language like Blizzard did for WoW?

[Drumstix42]

You create custom windows in UIBuilder (or in your favorite text editor). It's in XML, and all code related to what deals with the UI is created through that. There's certain things you can show that aren't default, but mostly related to visual display (style) and data (that is given to us).

I think the most advanced thing really done so far are timers. Dunno what else. Nothing really close to the WoW script.

[BlueHawk]

Drumstix42, thanks and that is sad to hear. Hopefully SOE will implement a scripting language to help with modding.

It would be nice to send commands to the server to help automate a few tasks. e.g. being able to take your friends list, save it to a text file, and as you log on to each character it would sync the list by typing " /friend <name here> " and any notes you would have. Maybe in the future they will implement and allow scripting.

[lordebon]

Unlikely.

They are big opponents of automation for most things, and opening up a scripting language to us leaves them too exposed, I think. Thats why WoW has "Warden" -- to make sure that folk's aren't exploiting their openness. SOE avoids that problem by simply not being so open.

But that's not to say that they don't care. Far from it. They're just playing it cautious and maintaining an idea: you shouldn't have to use mods in order to play the game. And those mods shouldn't change the game either: while they may make it easier for you to get information or find things, they give you no real play advantage. Take click-to-cure: it's helpful and (in my opinion) makes curing easier since you don't have to change targets, but the restriction of the spell's cast time is still there. And you can just as easily use the function keys to cast a cure and then queue the next one up, and then hit a macro to take you back to your original target. Heck, you could make a macro so that you only hit two buttons: 1 to switch targets, and one to cast and previous_target all at once.

So there's no real "advantage" just a percieved one (or an ease-of-use one).

EQ2 is not WoW. It's a different philosophy, and I think thats one reason the folks that play EQ2 are here. I'm not against WoW or anything, but there is a fundamental difference between the two that has to be understood.

Now, I do think it would be helpful to move your friends lists. So /feedback it and maybe they'll add something like that. They're always adding nifty new things for us. And as I recall, due to /feedback they made a way to save and load your hotbars, so they could likely do the same with your friends list.

Whew, that was a long post.

[Othesus]

The scripting available in EQ2 can do basic things but it's designed so that it won't play the game for you.

Copying friends lists is likely to be added to the Station Launcher since it manages friends also. You can already easily copy notes from one character to another if you open your server_character_eq2_notes.txt file.

[Drumstix42]

Yeah. EQ2 has added tons and tons of stuff since launch. Just glance over all the Live Updates. It's actually quite impressive. Given that some of the stuff seems like it should have been in the original release, they've still done quite a good job of adding new features.

(and I mean UI related, though they've added tons of content, too)

[BlueHawk]

Thank you all for the feedback. I also understand there is a difference between EQII and WoW, and I am not trying to make EQII into WoW. Heck if anything I would love to see EQII simulate their instances like that of DDO as well as the AI, and while I am at it increase the range of ranged weapons. EQII has changed a lot since when I first tried the game shortly after release, and the change has been very nice; especially the mentor system. Sadly I have to play the game at Extreme Performace, so I am unable to experience the great graphics.

I discovered the server_character_eq2_notes.txt and try to use it to copy my friends list to all my characters, but it did not do what I had hoped. It did put the notes in once I entered my friend's character into the list.

I think it would be nice if a company of a MMO allowed their subscribers to customize the UI to something the subscriber finds pleasing. I could be wrong, but the current system that SOE has for EQII seems to be very limited and cluncky. But I saw on the boards here where they are asking for input, and that is something nice to see.

[Drumstix42]

I definitely agree with customization for just about any game. It's a huge part of what makes a game great IMO. For a while I've wished that they would change the way all customizations are saved on the client's computer into easy, visual text files. If you've ever played EQ1 you could go in an manually change UI positions, sizes, character options, friends, ignore lists, and more from the INI files found in the EQ folder. This is a great method for player customization.

But, better than just talking about it would be to /feedback it, or post about in on the forums

[BlueHawk]

Yes, I played EQI. Good times. I barely remember making modifications to the ini file.

I will definitely do a /feedback.

[FloridaFringe]

To bring up a similar issue that's been discussed before, I was curious about saving text to a file from in-game. I know that it's been shown why this isn't possible but I was curious if anyone had considered the idea of something similar to the Broker Save Searches feature, where we can enter specific text and click a Save button to have it instantly saved for future reference to an xml file. Would something like this be at all possible with something like the InfoCenter or even a custom Notepad/Journal window?

Just curious is all.

[lordebon]

Hmm, not sure about that. I'd have to guess that the broker searches may be hardcoded.

As for an ingame notepad... I made something like that using a simple online system that uses cookies and the in-game browser. Worked well enough for me.

I don't have the bandwith on my site for everyone to use it, but since you ask I'll post it so anyone can host it:

PHP Code:

<?php
//BEGIN HEADER BLOCK
//Online Cookie-Based Notepad v1.2
//Created by "Lordebon"
//Copyright 2007
//This code may not be used or shared without the express written consent of the author
//If such consent is given, it may only be used if this "Header Block" is included without any alterations
//END HEADER BLOCK

$on = $_POST['turned'];
$text = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS['note']; //Get the default one
if($on == 2)
{
    $code = $_POST['code']; 
    $notename = "note" . $code;
    $text = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS[$notename];
} 
if($on == 5)
{
    $code = $_POST['code']; 
    $notename = "note" . $code;
    $text = $_POST['note'];
    setcookie($notename, $text, time()+60*60*24*30);
    echo "Note Saved! <br> \n\r";
}
?>

<form id="view" action="note.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" id="turned" name="turned" value="2"><b>Note to View:</b><input type="text" id="code" name="code" <? if( ($on==2)||($on==5) ){ echo "value='$code'"; } ?> ><br>
<input type="submit" id="gogo" name="gogo" value="View Saved Note"></form>
<hr>
<form id="notes" action="note.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" id="turned" name="turned" value="5">
<b>Note Name to Save:</b><input type="text" name="code" id="code" <? if( ($on==2)||($on==5) ){ echo "value='$code'"; } ?> ><input type="submit" id="go" name="go" value="Save Notes"><b>Currently Viewing: </b><? echo $code; ?><br>
<textarea id="note" name="note" cols="100" rows="30"><? echo $text; ?></textarea>