[Feedback] Back quote character used in place of apostrophe.

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Angahran, Feb 13, 2020.

  1. Angahran Augur

    This may seem minor but it causes issues when trying to create audio triggers.

    The back quote character (on same key as ~) is used in place of the apostrophe ' character in a number of places.

    Item names, NPC names, NPC dialogue, etc.
  2. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    There is no issue with audio triggers with a ` in them. This isn't an issue at all...Works with Gina, works with in game audio triggers.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare and Duder like this.
  3. Gidono https://everquest.allakhazam.com

    Use a backslash in front of the apostrophe in order to escape it out so it ignores it.
  4. Angahran Augur

    The issue is that it can be difficult to tell if it is supposed to be a ' or a `.
    And, in english, using the apostrophe is correct and using the back quote is not.

    It's <-- is correct.
    It`s <-- is not.
  5. Prathun Developer

    The standard single quote doesn't display in NPC names. It's why familiars show up as Soandso`s familiar.
    This has caused us some headaches in the past. It's why Te`Anara in Surefall Glade and Vhal`Sera in Tower of Frozen Shadow were handled inconsistently for so many years.
    We try to be consistent between NPC names, item names, factions, etc. One additional problem is that the backtick ` character is used for carriage returns in note text, so we have to use the regular quote there. For example, the Tattered Note that is the Qeynos Druid Guild Summons says that you should deliver it to Te'Anara.
    Ah, EQ. :(
  6. Bigstomp Augur

    I'm waiting for emoji support in EQ text.
  7. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    It is fine as it is.

    As Prathun says there are reasons for it.
  8. Moege Augur

    Thanks for the explanation was always strange to me. Pity the devs that is new and run into those tricks.

    Really odd, any idea why this is so ?
  9. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh

    It's a programming thing from before the year 2000.

    Single quotes and double quotes are used extensively as special characters.

    They still are today, but modern languages provide the developer a cleaner way to deal with it.

    Seeing ` in game text is a dead giveaway to it`s age. ;)
    Prathun and Hellowhatsyourname like this.
  10. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    In my EverQuest Inventory Report program, it would crash if someone used a single quote in the All Items search box. I had to add code just to handle it.

    Programming is fun!
    Yinla and MasterMagnus like this.
  11. Hellowhatsyourname Augur


    That's pretty cool to know. Thanks!
    MasterMagnus likes this.
  12. Tanise Elder

    I always thought it was called a grave accent.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  13. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    Looked this up, as I was pretty sure you were right. And was pretty sure 'Backtick' is from programming, that is what we used to say.

    From wikipedia:
    Prathun likes this.
  14. Prathun Developer

    Yeah in the early days of EverQuest, designers had to use the @ symbol in NPC text to represent a single quote. (These are texts used in dialogues, death / aggro / victory text, quest completion text, etc.)
    Single quotes are fine now. We haven't had to use @ since at least early 2002, probably much earlier. But sometimes new designers would find examples of this in the DB or in old documentation and assume it was still necessary. And like, it works, but it's a bit harder to read in data... :confused:

    Found a handful of texts that are still using the @ symbols, like this one:
    This be as close as we could get without them scallywags seein@ us. Looks like Turek be wastin@ no time bringin@ on more hands. We won't be sneakin@ up ta @im all rogue-like with so many extra eyes. Best to poke @em out as we go. You@d not be [runnin@] away on me now, would ya matey?
  15. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I use GamParse to find the statement output by the game to the log file and then copy and paste that statement into gina using the appropriate regular expressions.

    I do also use the in game audio triggers as well (invis potion fading and mez breaks for example).
  16. Nniki Augur

    That's from a 16th anniversary quest (2015).
  17. Nniki Augur

    Btw, you can search for your log text in GINA too. There's a button to create a new trigger for the line directly from the search results:
    [IMG]
    Vumad likes this.
  18. Vumad Cape Wearer


    Thank you. I didn't know this.

    Have a good source of RegEx for Gina? Just started writing my triggers, and although I went to the GINA site, there's no list of RegEx and sample uses.
  19. Nniki Augur

    I can't say I typically use a tool or reference anything specific. Although, I don't usually need to get too complicated for EQ triggers. If I forget the syntax of something, I just do a quick Google search.

    I'm sure any of the various regex testing pages will suffice for helping you build your triggers:

    This page is useful if you're unfamiliar with the supported tags in GINA:
    http://eq.gimasoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23
  20. Vumad Cape Wearer


    Okay. Thanks. The one I have been using the most is the .* to skip things like spell rank tags and {s} for who casted glyph spray etc. So far that has taken care of everything I need to do. Most of the raid triggers are shared so I have only written a few of those.
    Nniki likes this.