EQ2 Macros and ACT [from the SOE Live Panel]

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks, FAQs, and New Player Discussion' started by Katanallama, Aug 20, 2014.

  1. Enoibia Well-Known Member

    I've tried to read this, but to me I feel as though this assumes you already know what you're doing with regards to macros in the game. Sadly, I don't and I haven't found this make it any clearer to me. Hope some people get good use out of he info, though.
  2. Katz Well-Known Member

    Ask Luperza for the ability to edit your posts in this thread.
  3. Ibukia Member

    As a soon to be returning swash, the aa swap thing should be very useful. Looking forward to playing around with it.
  4. Katanallama Well-Known Member


    I do apologize, as the focus was indeed on people who were already familiar with the macro aspects to get more out of it, sectioning it off into some more advanced types of macros. That and I took several screenshots out to save it from being any more absurdly long lol. I did try to include some of the steps I go through while making my own macros, such as the /commands in chat + TAB and figuring out the commands, but it might have fallen flat (first time trying this, sorry).

    I'll write up a section tomorrow on the basics of EQ2 commands and how they relate to creating macros as a starting block. I do want to fix this.
    Prissetta likes this.
  5. Enoibia Well-Known Member

    That would be very much appreciated as I would really love to learn how to create and use macros. Thank you.
  6. Yajirushi62 Active Member

    Is the Alias command still functional? I've been having trouble making it work.
  7. Katanallama Well-Known Member

    Alias works, it's just a tedious two step process:
    1: enter an alias command, such as /alias banana:tell %T BANANAS!!!!!!!!!
    This creates the new command /banana, which in this case will save my target* and keep telling him about the bananas.
    *If %T is used, who ever I had targetted will be saved permanently in this new command - it replaces %T with the target's name when it saves the new command.
    2: So! Now I just type in /banana and hit enter to inform the masses about the bananas.

    The first word after /alias is our new user-generated command's name.
    The colon acts like the / does in the chat box, it's saying to treat what ever follows as a slash command
    Then when we type in our new command, it performs the action that was specified in the /alias command.

    Here's the color coded format with this example thrown in as a separate line:
    Command / Macro 1:
    /alias {custom name}:{command}
    /alias banana:tell %T BANANAS!!!!!!!!
    Command / Macro 2:
    /{custom name}
    /banana
    Macro 1 will save my current target, and when I use Macro 2 it will only tell that person about the bananas.
  8. Katanallama Well-Known Member

    Macros & EQ2 Commands: Where to start
    YEA!
    In EverQuest II we have something rather unique... Almost every menu option and some other commands
    use a slash command that we can access through our chat window. Have you ever typed /inv (player) instead of right clicking on a player to invite them to your group? or even typed in /gsay, /gu, /raidsay instead of clicking the button in the corner of the chat window? These commands aren't necessary to type, there is a UI button readily available for them, and yet we type these slash command anyways.

    In addition to this, many players already create basic macros now - when we right click an ability on the
    hotbar it wants us to easily create a new macro for that ability. Things as simple as adding a /gsay command line to let the group know T-Shell is in, or that your temp ability was just used. Or even other examples, such as setting that one person's name in our ROA macro that we're always grouped with in raid. Many players already use macros as is to make their lives easier, attaching text to their spells or even predefining a target.

    You are probably already using many of the core principles of macro design!



    Knowledge!
    So where do we actually start? Well, I would say the first step is knowledge: just knowing that almost every
    UI command has a slash command equivalent somewhere is powerful. It means that certain windows can be accessed directly, or settings changed without ever opening the options window. We can attach text to our abilities using macros, adding a command line to tell the group that we just cast an AE avoid or any sort of temp. We can even create a macro with our lfg message to save ourselves from typing it every time we log in. Any sort of text, ability or almost any UI option can be accessed by a slash command in the chat window, which means it can be macroed!

    Curiosity!
    Well that's all well and good, but how do I actually get these commands? How do I start to access these
    shortcuts? Well, apart from players telling others how to do it we actually have some great tools available to us. EQ2 Wikia has an amazing page on EQ2 slash commands with descriptions on how they work, and there are some nice chat write ups on Zam's slash command page. If you want a somewhat up to date list of commands, EQ2interface has a giant list up to like... 2010 or so? It doesn't have hardly any detail, but it's a nice list of commands.

    In addition to these pages, we can even use the TAB key in game to find commands. If you type a
    random command in game and hit your TAB key, it will generate a list of all commands using that word. I could try /aa, /mount, /set, /toggle -- whatever I type in the chat window, TAB will tell me all commands using each given word. It won't say how to use the command, but when we exhaust our online resources this will give us ideas on what to use.

    Trial and Error!
    So with this in mind, it's really just about trial and error! What are you trying to do, how would you
    normally do it without a macro? What keys / ui options do you use to perform this command? Are you hitting a hot barred ability, right clicking 'use' on an item? Once we know what we're trying to accomplish and the steps we'd take to do it normally, it's just up to figuring out the corresponding slash commands. We look online for the answers, and in rare cases are left to using the /word + TAB method to figure it out ourselves. Once we've figured the command(s) out we are ready to macro it!

    The Principles of the Create Macro Window

    There are 5 types of commands that we can use in EQ2 macros:
    1: Command: Like the chat box, we may enter slash / commands such as /hello.
    2: Player Target Ability Drag in an ability with the option to set its default target.
    3: Enemy / No Target ABility Simple cast ability, nothing special here!
    4: Equip Item: This macro step gives you options for left / right, primary / secondary, even appearance!
    5: Use Item: Use items from your bags or equipped gear such as charms.

    Using this, when we create macros we try to fit what we can into the type of input. Gear related macros are
    easier to drag and drop for the equip / use options, while abilities are 50/50: if we're just casting the ability it can usually be dragged, but anything /alias related has to be typed out in a command line.
    There really isn't a "magic formula" or anything of the sort, it's all just guidelines for coming up with macros:
    1: What are you trying to do?
    2: Break it down into a simple step-by-step process
    3: Figure out what command(s) are needed
    4: Translate that into a list of macro steps!
    More than anything, BE CURIOUS! There are a TON of slash commands in EQ2 that do almost anything
    imaginable. Macros are about making things more convenient for yourself, discovering certain slash commands and saving them to a list to call on time and time again. Once you know what you want to accomplish, it's just a matter of finding the right slash command, figuring out how to use it, and writing it into a macro.
    Enoibia likes this.
  9. Katanallama Well-Known Member

    Example: LFG
    So let's say I want to simplify my LFG texts into a macro, but sometimes I like to only LFG for certain zones or maybe I play different classes, can it be done? Well let's go through the process and find out!

    1: What am I trying to do?
    I want to macro my LFG message, but still be able to change it if possible.
    2: Break it down!
    (1) I know my LFG channel is /4, (2) I usually LFG as a Swashbuckler or a ChanChan (channeler), and (3)sometimes I only want to run Dominion or the weekly- I need chat box related commands!
    3: Command time!
    Nothing helpful on ZAM or EQ2wire, but EQ2interface delivers! /beginchatinput <text> looks like a winner, though I couldn't find anything that might be handy for handling zones / what classes to LFG on. Still though, it's is a win as I found a command to generate chat input text.
    4: Translate to Macro!
    So, I tested the new command and confirmed that it clears the chat input and adds whatever's specified in the command, I want to make my macro command say:
    Code:
    /beginchatinput /4 Swashbuckler / ChanChan LFG! 

    That will, in my main chat window, write in '/4 Swashbuckler / ChanChan LFG!' in the input field- I can now double click on ChanChan to easily delete it, or even add 'Dom / Weekly' to the end before I press enter to start my LFG adventure! A bunch of repetitive typing knocked down to one macro button and I can still customize it.

    In all honesty, I didn't even know /beginchatinput existed until writing this post, I mentioned LFG macros a few paragraphs ago and decided to take a shot at it. On its own this command seems pointless and irrelevant, but as a macro command it's quite nifty!


    Another obscure example: Google Player Inspect
    So I pug a lot, and part of pugging is knowing about the players in the group... sometimes they die a lot or just have issues, well I want to inspect them... but why stop there? I want to find their EQ2u profile online!

    1: What am I trying to do?
    I want to open an internet browser, and search for my current target's EQ2u profile - I already know about %T, this should be doable.
    2: Break it down!
    I want to (1) open the browser, and (2) begin a google search of my current target's EQ2u profile - i can take it from there.
    3: Command time!
    So my first instinct was the EQ2 in-game browser, but I love Google Chrome... And I found the most bonkers command yet in game while perusing random commands on EQ2interface's list! /shell_open <application> <parameters>... After some testing in game and trial & error, I found out that it tells your operating system to startup a specific application, and you can even type in startup parameters such as a default url for a browser. They probably have this to load the voice chat application and what ever awesomium is, but it works for my needs!
    4: Translate to Macro!
    So! the first thing I do is figure out my proper google search url.... Which ends up being:
    Code:
     https://www.google.com/search?q=u.eq2wire+character_detail+%T
    This forces the EQ2u results to only show the main character page - no alts / aa pages should show.
    I know the google url now, and I added in the %T to use my target in it, time to tell EQ2 to open Chrome!
    Code:
    /shell_open chrome https://www.google.com/search?q=u.eq2wire+character_detail+%T
    I save my macro, hotbar it, and now who ever I target I can instantly open up Google Chrome to a google search of their EQ2u profile. If their profile is public it will show up, otherwise I won't get any results.

    This also wasn't a scripted example at all, I was just continuing off of the previous example. I didn't know
    these commands at all when I started writing, I just asked 'what if' and scoured countless, random commands praying one of them would fit my needs. If I had to estimate my time, it's maybe 10% "What do I want to do?", 60% "What the <potato> are the commands to do this?!", 20% "WHY WON'T THIS COMMAND WORK?!?!?!", and 10% "Oh yea okay, **write macro command**".






    The short answer
    The short answer is: be curious! If you know what you want to accomplish, it's really just a matter of trying
    to find the appropriate commands and breaking down how they work. EQ2 Wire has a list, ZAM has a list,EQ2interface has a list, we can even type in random slash commands in the EQ2 chat window and press TAB to find commands while in game.

    Ask yourself the usual questions, what do you want to do? What commands would help you do it? How do
    these commands work? Macro it! Try following along with other people's macros: What problem were they solving? how does it work? What is each line doing? At the very least, maybe you can get use out of their macro - the best case scenario being that it inspires your own macro ideas.

    Every macro I write I ask myself these types of questions, I usually end up on at least EQ2 Wire's slash command website, and a whole lot of trial and error.
    Prissetta and Enoibia like this.
  10. Enoibia Well-Known Member

    Thank you for taking the time to write this, Katanallama, I will try and find time to play around and practice and see if I can get it.
  11. Kinya Active Member

    Thank you so much for this great info.
    I have a n00b question regarding attached screenshots which are so small I can't read anything. When I try to check them/ open in photobucket - they don't open for me. What am I doing wrong? :(
  12. Duffy Active Member

    Thanks for the helpful post! I'll definitely will try some of this out.
    Even though this made me somehow cringe and I'm still trying to un-cringe :eek:
  13. Fixmore New Member

  14. Fixmore New Member

    Thank you all for the detailed info. I want to do one thing on the mount macro that I cant figure out. I want to equip or not equip an appearance mount instead of the summoned mount. Any ideas?
  15. Katanallama Well-Known Member


    Hmmm, that's an interesting one! If you're just clicking on them, all of the shrunken down images are full size on photobucket - have you tried it in another browser? If it works in one browser but not another, it could be some security setting for clicking links or... Beyond that, Photobucket might be a drunken dwarf - sorry for not having many other decent ideas on this one. Alternately, if you'd having any issue on a specific image feel free to PM me and I'll transcribe it for you!

    Do you play a chanchan? You should if not, they're a fun class to play!

    That is a great mystery for me, actually! One day I shall solve this riddle :( Although I fear this might be one of those super hidden items or something, as the summon mount button from the same window isn't even macroable currently. Eventually I'll break down and pm maevianiu for a lifeline.
  16. Luperza Community Manager

    Shared this thread on official social channels yesterday around 5PM PDT! :D

    Thanks for putting this together Katanallama (dat name).
    Prissetta, Kinya and Feldon like this.
  17. konofo Active Member

    (dat misspelled name)

    kono
  18. Rotherian Well-Known Member

    Good catch, konofo. Instead of being Katana llama, it becomes Kat ____ llama when you put three Ls in the name. :eek:

    Anyway, this is a pretty useful thread. I'll probably use it as a reference when I feel like updating my macros.
  19. Moonpanther Well-Known Member

    What a AWESOME post and wish it could be stickied somehow! Love seeing updated tips and tricks for this game. :D
  20. FriggaWitch Well-Known Member

    Greetings,
    Pure unadulteratred Awesomeness. Sticky for sure.and I must say you have a lot more patience than I. I have a hard enuff time just thinking about Macro's let alone writing such an outstanding presentation,
    Cudo's Katanallama