Hotbars

DarqUI Hotbars feature spell recast "cooldown" timers for hotkey slots that contain spells with timers. Activate the timers by choosing "Frame and Titlebar" from the Window Settings for each hotbar. You can get to Window Settings (different from Hotbar Settings) by right-clicking on the frame edge of the desired hotbar.

Saving and loading hotkey setsThe EverQuest II user interface provides ten hotbars with twelve hotkey slots each, with additional hotbars for certain specialty classes. This may seem like an abundance of hotkeys at first glance. But due to the complexity of the game and the wide variety of activities available, even 120 slots can begin to feel a bit pinched.

A solution is provided in the interface, with the ability to save and load entire sets of hotkeys with simple commands. DarqUI takes advantage of the commands by standardizing and simplifying the process. While logged in to the game, open the Window Manager and navigate to the Hotbars configuration page. (There is a blue gem button on the right-side grab bar of any hotbar that displays a "spinner" control. Alternatively, you can open the Window Manager from the Start button on the Experience bar, and use the dropdown to select the Hotbars configuration page.)

Click Save Hotkeys to open a window displaying your character's name and server. There is also a Purpose field with a dropdown list containing several categories that will allow you to fine-tune the name of the hotkey definition file. Later, you will be able to load and switch between hotkey sets by choosing from this same list of categories.

You can type a different category name in to the Purpose field if you like, but make sure the term is only one word with no spaces and no punctuation. Click Save and a listing of your currently loaded hotkeys will be stored in the file, in the main EverQuest II game folder.

Now you can choose different spells, abilities, macro commands and other functions for the hotkeys to suit a different category of activity -- tradeskills, a different AA spec or Ascension class, etc. Use the Save Hotkeys feature to record your preferences in separate files. Switching between hotkey sets only takes a few moments and greatly extends the usefulness of your hotbars.

Display colorsChoose a text color for normal countdown times and a warning color when a spell is about to be castable again. If you don't want to be warned of recasts, set both values to the same color.

Warning timeChoose how many seconds to warn before the spell is castable again.

Font size breakpointsAs you enlarge your hotbar icons, the text size also increases for improved visibility. If you don't like the text size relative to your hotbar size, you can adjust these values to increase or decrease the font size while keeping the hotbars at the selected size.

For example if you prefer the hotbar icons at 30 pixels, your cooldown font will default to medium. If you would rather use a large font, bring the large icon size down to a value less than 30. When adjusting the values, make sure the small, medium and large values do not overlap.

Using the profile editor

With the DarqUI Unified Utility you can view and rearrange your hotbars, and copy hotbar layouts between your characters.

ImportantThe profile editor makes changes directly to the UI Settings file for your character. This file is frequently updated while your character is logged in, which will usually overwrite any changes you make with the utility before you can reload the new settings. So for best results you should log your character out, at least to the Character Select screen, while making changes with the utility.

The profile editor shows a scaled-down view of your game window in full-screen mode. You can view and make some types of changes to your hotbars: