Lua UI Plugins in LOTRO

[Lichbane]

Quite frankly, if I can get a decent countdown timer bars for buffs and debuffs, a hud (like WoW's IceHud), clean unit frames and configurable button bars ... I'll be a very, very happy player!

One of Blizzard's keys to success was realising that a allowing players to fully configure their interface gives them a sense of ownership and creation; they can't create in the world, they can at least create how the look at the world ("This is my UI. Isn't it cool! See all the things it shows me!") If Turbine can mimic that, they are on a winner.

[elderlygamer]

And honestly, most of the time you won't even see it as "ads" for the lotro store. It's normally just a button, and if you're keeping your sub up then most of the places that there might be a button won't even show up for you. You're not going to have the quest packs to unlock, or traits, or things like that, so none of those are going to be showing you the "unlock" buttons.

The main places you will see the store button is on the login screen, and a button on your main ui taskbar that is easy to ignore. Otherwise if you're a VIP you will not see the buttons that often, and probably won't even notice it many times when you do.

Actually I will see that button a lot, more than the others, as it's right by the area where I've been keeping a bag open for the 3+ years I've been playing the game. I do see it as being an "ad". I realize others might not see it that way, and that's fine. But from my perspective it is an ad that points to the f2p store.

I have nothing against Turbine going f2p. IMO it's smart move. I just don't like anything in the UI that isn't needed, and imo a button (ad) that points to the store isn't needed. I'll just have to hope the UI modders can remove it.

[sirwillow]

Actually I will see that button a lot, more than the others, as it's right by the area where I've been keeping a bag open for the 3+ years I've been playing the game. <snip> I'll just have to hope the UI modders can remove it.

You may have it easy then. Just park the bag over the button and you won't see it anymore.

And I'm sure the UI skinners will have skins out pretty quickly that have the button hidden, moved, or redone. There is also an option in the UI panel, as I remember, to hide the button also.

[Gedachtnis]

Quite frankly, if I can get a decent countdown timer bars for buffs and debuffs, a hud (like WoW's IceHud), clean unit frames and configurable button bars ... I'll be a very, very happy player!

One of Blizzard's keys to success was realising that a allowing players to fully configure their interface gives them a sense of ownership and creation; they can't create in the world, they can at least create how the look at the world ("This is my UI. Isn't it cool! See all the things it shows me!") If Turbine can mimic that, they are on a winner.

Hey Lich,

D_U's Palantir is much like IceHud, well except the LotRO API doesn't allow alot of the functions yet.

It's a pretty basic HUD with standard Power/Morale Bars (Curved only) which have a Wide/Narrow space setting. There is no way currently to add pets/targets etc. But I will say if you miss using a HUD, Palantir is great. It can display numbers/percents/or both, with color changes as the bars empty, it also has a very nice Debuff Indicator Bar that comes in very handy.

There are 2 (I think only 2 right now) Buff Bars, FX and BuffBars. Both are very good.

FX is bit more basic currently whereas BuffBars is a bit more advanced. If you're familiar with Elkos Buff Bars ( I think thats what they're called), which uses a 3 column dynamic bar that grows up and down with Icon/Text Name/ Timer, they are both very similar.

Both currently only support one window, so no splitting buffs/debuffs across the screen. Both are worth checking out.

Not alot going on with unit frames yet, there is a default Turbine plugin that can change the Player Frame. Really not overly impressive but then I think it's more for the authors to be able to see what can be done.

There is a Quickslot manager, well several actually but one seems more like what you have in mind, TonicBars, which is very reminiscent of Bartender. It's still missing a few features, like scaling and locking the slots, but I belive these may be on the To Do list. It lets you create any number of bars with 1-50 slots each, all movable, Vert or Horiz. very sweet.

There is also a OneBag mod that will be very familiar if you used it in WoW.

[Thieradan]

I loved using an add-on for one bag in WoW, so that is awesome news. I'm more excited about the possibilities here than I am about any of the other changes, including the new area.

[Lichbane]

D_U's Palantir is much like IceHud, well except the LotRO API doesn't allow alot of the functions yet.

It's a pretty basic HUD with standard Power/Morale Bars (Curved only) which have a Wide/Narrow space setting. There is no way currently to add pets/targets etc. But I will say if you miss using a HUD, Palantir is great. It can display numbers/percents/or both, with color changes as the bars empty, it also has a very nice Debuff Indicator Bar that comes in very handy.

The lack of target and pet info could be a bit of a problem. The main use of the hud for me is to quickly compare my health (or pet's) deprication to that of my target, to give me an idea of it's fight or flight. Hopefully the target and pet info will open up as the API does.

There are 2 (I think only 2 right now) Buff Bars, FX and BuffBars. Both are very good.

FX is bit more basic currently whereas BuffBars is a bit more advanced. If you're familiar with Elkos Buff Bars ( I think thats what they're called), which uses a 3 column dynamic bar that grows up and down with Icon/Text Name/ Timer, they are both very similar.

Both currently only support one window, so no splitting buffs/debuffs across the screen. Both are worth checking out.

I'm a big fan of Elk's Buff Bars, so this sounds very hopeful.

Not alot going on with unit frames yet, there is a default Turbine plugin that can change the Player Frame. Really not overly impressive but then I think it's more for the authors to be able to see what can be done.

If it can get rid of portraits ... then that's a step in hte right direction for me. They are clunky and take up more space than they need to.

There is a Quickslot manager, well several actually but one seems more like what you have in mind, TonicBars, which is very reminiscent of Bartender. It's still missing a few features, like scaling and locking the slots, but I belive these may be on the To Do list. It lets you create any number of bars with 1-50 slots each, all movable, Vert or Horiz. very sweet.

WOOT!!!!!!! (*does a little happy dance!!*)

There is also a OneBag mod that will be very familiar if you used it in WoW.

I love the one bag concept. It's still early days, but have a look at ArkInventory. It puts certain categories of items in "virtual bags", like grouping together all junk, crafting mats, tools and so on. Very configurable and convenient.

I'm looking forward to what the community can produce. I'm a big fan of addons. I don't think that addons are the great evil that some people make them out to be. I do think that when people use them blindly and without intelligent consideration (like saying "You shall have a GS of 5.5k or YOU SHALL NOT PASS!") they are just being idiotic and I'd rather not be in that person's raid.

That said, things like DPS meters can be very useful to improve your output ... but you still need to know WHEN to DPS and when to let the tank have aggro.

[Digital_Utopia]

Hey Lich,

D_U's Palantir is much like IceHud, well except the LotRO API doesn't allow alot of the functions yet.

It's a pretty basic HUD with standard Power/Morale Bars (Curved only) which have a Wide/Narrow space setting. There is no way currently to add pets/targets etc. But I will say if you miss using a HUD, Palantir is great. It can display numbers/percents/or both, with color changes as the bars empty, it also has a very nice Debuff Indicator Bar that comes in very handy.

Well, to be completely honest - the color change thing is in the upcomming release. However, unless "fall" or open beta turns out to be the middle of August, I'll be just nitpicking for all intents and purposes.

However, I am happy that I can start posting photos and possibly videos of some of the things I've been blabbing about - a picture worth a thousand words and all lol

The lack of target and pet info could be a bit of a problem. The main use of the hud for me is to quickly compare my health (or pet's) deprication to that of my target, to give me an idea of it's fight or flight. Hopefully the target and pet info will open up as the API does.

You can feel assured that I plan on continuing to keep this updated so it takes advantage of every last available API feature - as soon as possible after it's been made available. All this stuff you mention (and a lot more than that) is all stuff I really want to add to it. Although I probably could make my own thread about it now on the live forums, here's a quick rundown of the features that will exist by live at the latest, if not before open beta:

• Morale/Power bars (duh.)
• Debuff indicator showing whether you have any of the 4 main curable debuffs
• An option to "stock" the indicator with pots/skills to allow you to click on the indicator to cure.
• Indicator will show how many pots you have, and keep track of (user supplied -at this time) cooldown times.
• Text will be able to be positioned at 8 different locations around each bar.
• Text has multiple display options, including cur/max, percentage, current, and percentage with cur/max
• Bars can be spaced freely (horizontally)
• The entire HUD can be positioned as you would any other UI element (complete with the traditional "box" and behaviors)
• Palantir will hide itself when the user hides their UI.
• Bars will support any color (standard green/blue by default) as well as two user-specified colors for specific percentages. For instance, you could set 50% as yellow, and 25% as red, and the bars will fade from one color to the next.
• Bars can also be set to that the colors don't "fade" between the points.
• Bars will also support two percentage-based animation effects, including type (pulse, flash, etc) and speed.

In addition I plan on increasing the choices of bar shapes, and/or provide a method to add in custom bar shapes at some point in the near future (i.e. not next version). It is currently being rewritten to provide a more "modular" structure, to easily accommodate any API additions with a minimum of time/effort.

[Lichbane]

<wonderful stuff>

If you can do this, then you will have earned one massive fan! I love the sound of this.

[Adalas]

Now that the NDA is lifted could somebody official like Narrel post all the development guidelines etc. to everybody? Since we're not allowed to copy or link anything from NDA content you need to do it since nobody will write down the whole documentation again in his own words.

[Digital_Utopia]

Now that the NDA is lifted could somebody official like Narrel post all the development guidelines etc. to everybody? Since we're not allowed to copy or link anything from NDA content you need to do it since nobody will write down the whole documentation again in his own words.

Well, I'm not "official" but I tried to break it down here: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=348063

I can't obviously post the API documentation itself, but that thread should answer most questions, and I'll be happy to answer any others you might have.

[Tilps]

<Snip lots of saying no to a previous poster...>

This post was mostly right - but I did write a DPS tracker for the player (although I haven't tested if it still works - it is kind of a 'hack' - Update: kinda still works if every 15 seconds is good enough dps updates).

Also I think that writing a bejewelled or tic-tac-toe style single player mini-game is entirely feasible. It would require a bit more work than my timer plugin, but not that much.

[Adalas]

I can't obviously post the API documentation itself, but that thread should answer most questions, and I'll be happy to answer any others you might have.

I'm in the beta myself, I don't have any problems, thanks. But I'm sure there are people who want to develop LUA addons who aren't in the beta. And they need the API documentation, not a summary.
But by the way, great work, I really like your LUA posts.

[Fredelas]

I'm in the beta myself, I don't have any problems, thanks. But I'm sure there are people who want to develop LUA addons who aren't in the beta. And they need the API documentation, not a summary.
But by the way, great work, I really like your LUA posts.

The API has changed subtly with each new beta release so far. If someone attempted to author a plugin based on the "current" documentation, it wouldn't even work. (The documentation hasn't been updated since Beta 2 a month or so ago, despite several feature-breaking changes having been made.) Not to mention the author would be unable to test the plugin.

There are now ways to get a guaranteed beta invite (fileplanet, I believe) if authors are itching to contribute.

[Digital_Utopia]

I'm in the beta myself, I don't have any problems, thanks. But I'm sure there are people who want to develop LUA addons who aren't in the beta. And they need the API documentation, not a summary.
But by the way, great work, I really like your LUA posts.

Unfortunately, while the NDA has been lifted, that does not apply to the API documentation itself. It is still "Beta Only", and has the following at the bottom of the page:

This documentation is provided for Beta testing only.
Not for redistribution.

So, I'm not about to take any chances of sharing this documentation outside of beta until that part is removed.

[Adalas]

So, I'm not about to take any chances of sharing this documentation outside of beta until that part is removed.

I know the problems and I appreciate the work of all those working on the subject. That's why I was asking someone official to publish the documents since we are not allowed to do this. But with the release coming ahead (now with the NDA lifted I expect the PAX date) we will see what happens.

[azureal1977]

With folks as dedicated as DU and others at the helm of such LUA projects, things are looking really exciting.

Nice job guys!

[FoxFire]

I predict VERY good things for LotRO's future.

[Grampsaz]

Couple questions for those that know a hell alot more about this stuff then I do (Looks at Utopia)

-Threat meters
-DPS meters
-SKL/DKP add-ons
-Gear score
-Boss skill timers
-Player skill UI add-ons that show cooldowns on the icon vs hovering over

With the boss skill timers, as an example: Fellbeast flies in the air every 60s. He does do the same 'emote' in /say everytime. Fellbeast targets player with eye every 30s no name but scripted 'emote' in /say.
Any way to have all that /say stuff streamlined and on timer in a neat little box in the corner?

Player skill timers speaks for istelf really, but having a simple 10s, 9s, ect on the skill itself instead of me hovering over the skill looking at the tooltip display and looking for the cooldown.


Thx guys.

[D.H1cks]

Couple questions for those that know a hell alot more about this stuff then I do (Looks at Utopia)

-Threat meters
-DPS meters
-SKL/DKP add-ons
-Gear score
-Boss skill timers
-Player skill UI add-ons that show cooldowns on the icon vs hovering over

With the boss skill timers, as an example: Fellbeast flies in the air every 60s. He does do the same 'emote' in /say everytime. Fellbeast targets player with eye every 30s no name but scripted 'emote' in /say.
Any way to have all that /say stuff streamlined and on timer in a neat little box in the corner?

Player skill timers speaks for istelf really, but having a simple 10s, 9s, ect on the skill itself instead of me hovering over the skill looking at the tooltip display and looking for the cooldown.


Thx guys.

Pretty much not possible to all of these, with the exception of DKP. You would not be able to have an automated DKP type tool, for example something that would automatically know who attended an event, etc...

But, you could have a tool that someone could use in game to manually track that type of stuff.

The main reason these are not possible, is we have no access to any of the chat window data. We also do not have access to very much info about what a character is actually doing at any given time, like executing skills, etc...

Hope that helps.

Edit: We also do not have access to the items a character is wearing.

[Grampsaz]

Pretty much not possible to all of these, with the exception of DKP. You would not be able to have an automated DKP type tool, for example something that would automatically know who attended an event, etc...

But, you could have a tool that someone could use in game to manually track that type of stuff.

The main reason these are not possible, is we have no access to any of the chat window data. We also do not have access to very much info about what a character is actually doing at any given time, like executing skills, etc...

Hope that helps.

Edit: We also do not have access to the items a character is wearing.

That does help, thank you for the info!

So there is very little to get excited about then (For raiders)

Though the mouse finder would be nice, only if the color/size could be adjusted. That does me in more then anything.


With the ability to log chat, no way to incorporate the chat logs into a timer for skills ect?

[D.H1cks]

With the ability to log chat, no way to incorporate the chat logs into a timer for skills ect?

Not in real time. There is a deliberate delay between calling the only 'File Read' function we have, and when the data actually gets loaded.

[Digital_Utopia]

That does help, thank you for the info!

So there is very little to get excited about then (For raiders)

Though the mouse finder would be nice, only if the color/size could be adjusted. That does me in more then anything.


With the ability to log chat, no way to incorporate the chat logs into a timer for skills ect?

Scrappy created a rudimentary mouse finder, and I suggested someone create a plugin that does a single color repeating pulse whenever the mouse stays in the same position for so long. However, I haven't had a chance to do it, and to my knowledge nobody else has tried something like it (or better) yet. In that case both color and size could be adjusted easily enough.

[Grampsaz]

Scrappy created a rudimentary mouse finder, and I suggested someone create a plugin that does a single color repeating pulse whenever the mouse stays in the same position for so long. However, I haven't had a chance to do it, and to my knowledge nobody else has tried something like it (or better) yet. In that case both color and size could be adjusted easily enough.

Turbine wont do it, been asking for it since SoA beta. If someone ever found the time to do such a thing, I know several players would use it and be greatly appreciative of such work!

[Digital_Utopia]

Turbine wont do it, been asking for it since SoA beta. If someone ever found the time to do such a thing, I know several players would use it and be greatly appreciative of such work!

Well, if I don't see anybody jumping on it by the time I release the next version of the plugin I'm working on, I'll go ahead and do it. It shouldn't take very long to do.

[seafoodbasket]

Couple questions for those that know a hell alot more about this stuff then I do (Looks at Utopia)

-Threat meters
-DPS meters
-Gear score
-Boss skill timers
-Player skill UI add-ons that show cooldowns on the icon vs hovering over

With the boss skill timers, as an example: Fellbeast flies in the air every 60s. He does do the same 'emote' in /say everytime. Fellbeast targets player with eye every 30s no name but scripted 'emote' in /say.
Any way to have all that /say stuff streamlined and on timer in a neat little box in the corner?

Player skill timers speaks for istelf really, but having a simple 10s, 9s, ect on the skill itself instead of me hovering over the skill looking at the tooltip display and looking for the cooldown.


Thx guys.

Alot of this type of stuff would kill alot of the fun, its one of the main reasons i dont play wow, i got sic of having to keep up with mods just to raid. Gear score is the biggest joke anyway, things like threat meters would take away the risk of being in SS as a hunter, you would know when to ease up so the tank doesnt lose aggro etc. knowing exactly when the boss is going to do a special attack well in advance also kinda wrecks alot of the fun of playing, having thiings flash when there off cd etc takes away all the skill or having a good rotation and watching multiple buffs/debuffs. I do hope they keep all this scripting stuff to a minimun.