How to use Lua UI plugins

Howdy folks, just wanted to give you a quick rundown of how everyone can make use of Lua UI plugins within LOTRO. This is not a walk-through of how to create a plugin, this is just a walk-through of how to make use of existing plugins.

Step 1, Exposing the plugins to your client:
Navigate to your documents folder for The Lord of the Rings Online (for Windows XP users, this is usually " C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online" while for Windows Vista\7 Users, this is usually "C:\Users\<your user name>\Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online").

Create a folder named "Plugins" inside of this folder. Place all plugins inside of this new folder (most plugins are organized into their own folder meant to go inside of the main "Plugins" folder).

Step 2, Viewing the list of available plugins in game:
In your client (once you have dropped the plugins into your new plugins directory), type the following command in your chat window to make sure the client has an up-to-date list of your available plugins:

• /plugins refresh

Next, type the following command to dump the list of all currently available plugins to your chat window:

• /plugins list

The list will show you all plugins that your client is currently capable of loading as well as any plugins you already have loaded. If the plugins you want to use are not listed there, make sure the plugins are properly located in the "Plugins" folder created in step 1. If they are still not showing in the list, try restarting your LOTRO client.

Step 3, Loading your plugins:
*Please note: You will have to do this step EVERY time you log in your character if you want to run your plugins. For the "BETA" release of the Lua plugin system, plugins cannot be set to automatically load upon logging in*

Once the plugins you want to load are displaying in the list of available plugins seen in step 2, it is now time to load your plugin! To load a plugin, use the following command:

• /plugins load <Plugin Name>
  
  • replace <Plugin Name> with the desired plugin's name as listed in the available plugins list from step 2
  
  

If no errors are reported in your chat window, then you have successfully loaded the plugin and can now begin using/enjoying it! If script errors are reported in the chat window, then report them to the author of the plugin you tried to load.

To unload plugins:
Plugins are automatically unloaded when you log out but if for any reason you would like to manually unload a plugin you have running, you must use the unload command to unload all of your running plugins:

• /plugins unload

Please note, this command unloads ANY plugins you have running so at this stage of the system, once that command is used, you must then individually re-load any of the plugins you want to continue running.

When I got to load plugins in game is fails to load Turbine.Utils. I've heard this was a problem for other people and a download was necessary. Where can this download be located?

You need the example pack from here: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...Lua-UI-scripts

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Originally Posted by Shewtemup

When I got to load plugins in game is fails to load Turbine.Utils. I've heard this was a problem for other people and a download was necessary. Where can this download be located?

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Originally Posted by InternetStupid

You need the example pack from here: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...Lua-UI-scripts

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Like he said, you'll need to grab the example pack linked to in that post. Many plugin authors have made use of the example utilities we have made available so those plugins would require the example plugin pack before they can function. For the most part, authors should try to note if they are using our examples or the plugins of other authors just so everyone knows if there are any prerequisites.

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Originally Posted by Narrel

Like he said, you'll need to grab the example pack linked to in that post. Many plugin authors have made use of the example utilities we have made available so those plugins would require the example plugin pack before they can function. For the most part, authors should try to note if they are using our examples or the plugins of other authors just so everyone knows if there are any prerequisites.

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I'm a rank amateur at this kind of thing, so please bear with my n00b question. I went to the specified link to download the example pack and what I got was an html page with a bunch of code in it. How do I download this, do I copy it and put the file in my LotRO documents file or is my browser doing something weird? I'm using Firefox on a Windows 7 machine if that makes a difference. Thanks!

Right-click the link and choose Save Link As. You'll probably also need the 7zip program mentioned in the other thread to extract the file.

Thanks for the reply. I ended up getting help from a kin-member who gave me a link to a download with a bunch of lua script plugins and the example pack all together. Problem solved!

BTW, if the default location doesn't work for you because of other installs such as Bullroarer (which AFAIK is the only one that used that folder on my computer) look for where your installation puts its screenshots. Mine was my main LOTRO folder on my D drive. I made a plugins folder there and put the examples in and I was good to go.

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Originally Posted by luthien1121

Thanks for the reply. I ended up getting help from a kin-member who gave me a link to a download with a bunch of lua script plugins and the example pack all together. Problem solved!

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please provide the link or description of where to find? ... im having trouble as well

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Originally Posted by InternetStupid

Right-click the link and choose Save Link As. You'll probably also need the 7zip program mentioned in the other thread to extract the file.

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I tried this method and the 7zip program told me that it couldn't open the file.

Is there anything special we need to do with regards to Updating plug ins? Can they just be overwritten during extraction or do we need to delete them.

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Originally Posted by Orlor

I tried this method and the 7zip program told me that it couldn't open the file.

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When you use Save Link As...

Make sure to add .7z to the end of the file name and change the file type to All Files.

That should fix the issue.

Nope. Still doesn't like it.

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Originally Posted by Orlor

Nope. Still doesn't like it.

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I didn't see a mention of which browser you use but I'm guessing Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). IE has a bug that on some websites (this one is one) it corrupts compressed downloads.

Try Firefox or Google Chrome or get the support files from a site like http://www.lotrointerface.com/ and you should get much better results.

Regards,

Brad

P.S. The plugin Palantir at LotROInterface has both his plugin and the support files packaged in one file. Download and unzip to the Plugins directory and you should be good to go. The plugin Palantir will be an added bonus!

Downloading Palantir didn't help, or put the needed files in the right place. Posting my experience in case it helps someone, since the instructions were very confusing and lacking (to me).

I had to use IE for the right-click-save-as option. At first I downloaded and installed the "documentation". That was the wrong link. I needed the example scripts: http://content.turbine.com/sites/lot..._LuaPlugins.7z Then, just extracting them into the Plugins folder didn't work, since they were then inside another plugins folder. I had to take them out, then BuffBars would finally load. My folders inside the Plugins folder ended up looking like this:

DigitalUtopia
PengorosPLugins
Turbine
TurbinePlugins
lotroplugin

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Originally Posted by Sporati

Is there anything special we need to do with regards to Updating plug ins? Can they just be overwritten during extraction or do we need to delete them.

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To update plugins, you should be able to just overwrite them during the extraction process.

I still don't see why Turbine can't develope these things on their own for our use, so we can just checkmark the ones we want to use and so they would update along with the game. A lot of us never go into directories and such and are hesitant in fear of messing things up.

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Originally Posted by coot

I still don't see why Turbine can't develope these things on their own for our use, so we can just checkmark the ones we want to use and so they would update along with the game. A lot of us never go into directories and such and are hesitant in fear of messing things up.

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Well, for one of many reasons:
1) It frees up development costs of the game.
2) It allows for creativity above and beyond the creative team at turbine (not that they are bad, but the larger the pool of ideas, it's like survival of the fittest, the best ideas rise to the top)
3) It creates a new dimension to the game, much like PvP, PvE, there is Plugins.
4) Many options to choose from!
5) You can't really mess anything up in this directory, it's not where the game is stored, it sits in your user profile and only handles game settings and stuff... so no worries.

I had Buffbars working once but now, when I try to load it thru"manager", it keeps giving me this error:
... Online\Plugins\OrendarPlugins\ BuffBars\Settings.lua:11: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)

Do you know how to fix this?

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Originally Posted by Dufferdave

I had Buffbars working once but now, when I try to load it thru"manager", it keeps giving me this error:
... Online\Plugins\OrendarPlugins\ BuffBars\Settings.lua:11: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)

Do you know how to fix this?

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Delete the OrendarPlugins folder, that was an old version left over from beta.

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Originally Posted by VPQRDE

Downloading Palantir didn't help, or put the needed files in the right place. Posting my experience in case it helps someone, since the instructions were very confusing and lacking (to me).

I had to use IE for the right-click-save-as option. At first I downloaded and installed the "documentation". That was the wrong link. I needed the example scripts: http://content.turbine.com/sites/lot..._LuaPlugins.7z Then, just extracting them into the Plugins folder didn't work, since they were then inside another plugins folder. I had to take them out, then BuffBars would finally load. My folders inside the Plugins folder ended up looking like this:

DigitalUtopia
PengorosPLugins
Turbine
TurbinePlugins
lotroplugin

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ok, so i have only two folders inside my plugins folder they are:
Turbine
Turbine Plugins

Did you add the other folders or was it supposed to extract all the ones you have listed?
Thanks in advance

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Originally Posted by mlahodik

ok, so i have only two folders inside my plugins folder they are:
Turbine
Turbine Plugins

Did you add the other folders or was it supposed to extract all the ones you have listed?
Thanks in advance

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The other folders mentioned are all different plugins - the only folders that come with the example plugins are the two folders you mentioned.

Note

I've noticed quite a few users running into a problem where they've put the "Plugins" folder in the wrong location. The Plugins folder should be in whatever folder your screenshots are saved to. By default this should be My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online, but there seems to be some players where this isn't the case. So to be 100% sure that the game will find and load any installed plugins - make sure you put that Plugins folder within the same folder that your screenshots are saved to.

I'm probably missing something, but I just tried the plugins for the first time. There has to be a better way to use plugins than this.

Its very annoying to have to type a command line to load a plugin. We aren't living in the DOS operating system days anymore. It would be better to have a master plugin button built into the game that we click on, then a popup list to load what we want.

Although I think I would rather prefer having customizable quickslots bars instead (letting us set how many quickslots per bar), and adding more quickslot bars than there currently are in the game.

Another problem when you use plugins like this is they tend to "break" when the game gets updated... at least thats my experience in the past with other games.

I am beyond frustration trying to properly install some plugins and have no idea what I'm doing wrong - I was able to successfully download - and pull up in game - the palantir plugin - but I cannot get tonicbar to work, nor songbook nor buffbar - I have read the instructions (most of which assume that everyone reading it KNOWS about computer stuff - I say this because it skips a lot of things that may be obvious to people who work with computers but are NOT obvious to those of us who don't - example - when you click on download do you press open or save?) - I have no idea how I got the palantir to work - I have downloaded all the extra things (unzip stuff like .7z or whatever it is) - so what do I do after that? I don't even know where to start but would really like to try some of these. Can someone please write a "how to install and then use plugins for Dummies"??? I know it makes me sound like a total idiot but the way instructions are written now assume the person ready it knows certain things - and I don't. If someone is willing to take the time to do this, I will be very grateful. thank you

Thank you for making this guide and for allowing plugins it has greatly improved my overall enjoyment and made the screen less cluttered and certain tasks less of a grind!