Question about autoattack

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Blacksun, Dec 10, 2012.

  1. Blacksun Elder

    Ok, hopefully it's simple, but a 30 min search on Google and the forums didn't tell me what I need to know.

    Basically, I have two computers. On one computer, I run two instances of EQ, out of separate directories. On one account, I have a monk. On the other, I have an SK. On the monk, when I hit autoattack, the UI stays in attack mode as I switch targets - so I can run thru LGuk for example, tagging frogs as I go. On the other account and the SK, when I switch to a new mob (by clicking it, not /assist), the autoattack mode stops and I have to hit 'Q' again to attack.

    I've deleted the character.ini file, but have not deleted/rebuilt the eqclient.ini.

    Thoughts?

    TIA
  2. Ekordian New Member

    I believe it has to do with the life of the mob you have targeted. I assume that your monk still has live mobs as he's tagging them so it stays active. The sk is switching mobs after they die, and once the targeted mob dies Autoattack will stop iirc. I'm probably wrong, but do think it's more game mechanics than your computers being the issue.
  3. Blacksun Elder

    Thanks for thinking about it Ekordian. But the mobs weren't dead before switching targets on the SK. In fact, I was trying to gather up a small swarm for PL'ing, running around Kurns Tower and tagging skeletons. I only did 1-5 points of damage before moving to the next mob and trying to tag it. That's when I noticed that autoattack had turned itself off.

    I'll play around with it some more tonight and probably try deleting the eqgame.exe and any main dll's and see if it fixes it.
  4. Blacksun Elder

    Tested more tonight. Replaced all .exes and .dlls from one directory to other directory. Also replaced the default.ini file. It didn't help.

    Other characters on the 2nd account do continue to attack even when switching targets. These characters are level 14 and 91. My SK is level 10 atm. I tried on a level 5 bazaar mule and she stops attacking as well. Now I'm wondering if it's a built-in code to help newbies so they don't die accidentally.

    I'm going to level the SK up to 14 and continue testing.
  5. Blacksun Elder

    Level 11. The answer to this riddle is level 11. Once I dinged 11, I can switch targets with autoattack on and autoattack does not turn off. Very interesting.
  6. Sophia Lorekeeper

    Possibly some old piece of code intended to protect newbies from trying to hail Sergeant Slate while auto is running?
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  7. Xirtket Augur

    Isn't there a box to check now to turn off attack when you change targets? I could be wrong
  8. Blacksun Elder

    Not that I could find - and I looked everywhere. Also, there's nothing in the character's .ini file or the other configuration files (default.ini, eqclient.ini, UI_charactername.ini)
  9. Xianzu_Monk_Tunare Augur

    It is exactly what Sophia said. Since by default (or at least it used to be) autoattack triggered with the 'a' button; so lots of little Newbies would be typing what and having forgot to put it into the chat box first, and so they would attack the dark red quest givers and end up with a tombstone. In addition to this there were a lot of new players who would just go attacking anything without /con'ing it or be cycling thru and accidently target a red one and attack it.

    The solution to this was for characters level 10 and under will turn attack off automatically upon targetting a red con mob unless the auto attack is turned back on after it was turned off.
  10. Blacksun Elder

    Thanks for the details Xianzu. I don't recall that change coming about or any patch notes on it, but it makes sense. I know way back when, I did eat a few deaths by not hitting <enter> first before typing out a phrase to an NPC. On the other hand, it was a good lesson and I was more careful about it later.

    I guess the last time I started up a new character was about 2 years ago. She was a mage and just AoE'ed everything while having a DS on her. Ranger AoE root/snare kept everything on her so that they wouldn't run at low health. In any case, she never had to re-target mobs with autoattack on.
  11. Xianzu_Monk_Tunare Augur

    It's been at least 5-7 (maybe more) years since they made the change, and I think that it was just a footnote in the patch when it was changed; so that's proabably why you don't remember it.
  12. Silverpine New Member

    Holy cow, L11 it was. Was losing my mind comparing UI's...

    Even after all these years, so glad i stumbled upon this post. Would never have found this in some patches notes...