Lua UI Plugins in LOTRO

[Digital_Utopia]

Who Me?

If your referring to my referring to LUA as being having a C language flavor, to me it looked a lot like the flow of C in a bash like shell scripting layout. For me one look and I could figure out the flow of the code, but I do not program addons I just occasionally feel need to fix something and it was easy to figure a lot of it out.

I was also simply answering the question about whether indentations were needed, in that sense I was showing just like C white space was not needed but was there to make code readable.


I have to laugh at being referred to as a script kiddie, I began programming back in 1981 with applesoft/commodore pet basic, the IBM PC did not exist for me yet. I got my start in C with Borland C 1.0 probably about mid 80's and at school no one was teaching anything but basic or pascal.

So I predate script kiddies by a long shot, predate certifications by a long shot but I guess that just makes me old by a long shot. hehe :-)

Like I said, I was merely curious - I'm not the type to make assumptions. At any rate, thanks for the clarification on what you meant - as I was having trouble figuring out how Lua could be like C.

[RingOfFire]

So, anyone have any ideas as to what plugins they will create, once we can start creating Lua scripts for LOTRO?

[FyreBrand]

So, anyone have any ideas as to what plugins they will create, once we can start creating Lua scripts for LOTRO?

I don't know about anyone else but I would be willing to learn Lua and the Turbine LotRO API if it means I can make a drop down menu for my hunter ports and a similar type of interface for my lore-master pets.

I like the idea of Lua being used for scripting since it's a publicly available language, but I'm not too stoked about learning another language, especially if it means I have to use Notepad++ to write code. I'm old and lazy and like to use Visual Studio or Netbeans for everything. Still the strong desire for a ports and pets menu far outweighs my laziness.

[Chazcon]

This is good stuff. There will be Lua add-ons in my future:

1) MailBlaster - Mail multiple items to the same recipient at once. Doesn't change the LOTRO mail functionality which limits one item per mail. But dragging 12 items into the MailBlaster window will automatically mail the 12 items in 12 separate mails to the recipient. All you have to do is compose one mail. It also keeps recent mail recipients in an easy to use and intuitive 'cloud' interface. click on a name, drag items or click to put them in the MailBlaster window, and send BOOM you're done.

2) Looter - Specify which items to loot by setting filters by name, or by level, or by value. Quickly auto loot corpses and Looter will only pick up what you want to pick up.

3) PackMan - Designate which pack an item goes into when you pick it up, or unequip it. Keep all your weapons in one pack. Keep potions in another. Keep part of a pack open so that you always have room. Lock items to a certain pack slot, so that no other items will be placed there and the slot is reserved for that one designated item.

[keifer]

an adaption for a ps2 controller or xbox controller -

hunting for which icon to hit now is a pain on the keyboard

would be nice to kick back on my couch and play on the big screen.

[findorin-gilrain]

So do we have an answer to the questions about API access to other peoples gear information (leading to gearscore type mods) or to other gameplay information such as accumulated threat (leading to group wide visibility of player's threat)? I would not like either of these but can't see the answer. Has it been slipped? Is it no, never OR yes, someday OR yes, for sure?

[RingOfFire]

So do we have an answer to the questions about API access to other peoples gear information (leading to gearscore type mods) or to other gameplay information such as accumulated threat (leading to group wide visibility of player's threat)? I would not like either of these but can't see the answer. Has it been slipped? Is it no, never OR yes, someday OR yes, for sure?

Narrel answered that in the first post of this thread. The list of APIs he posted is what Lua scripting is restricted to. Therefore, if the APIs you mention are not there, then the answer is no.

Also, I do not believe anything which gives a player an advantage over other players will be put in to the game.

- - - - -

I have some ideas of my own when it comes to Lua scripting.

Journal - Making the assumption that basic UI element creation means that external information can be fed to the UI itself, this would allow text files to be written from and displayed ingame (to that player only), along with some basic formatting and marks (to distinguish between where a page ends prematurely, for an example). This would allow some sort of "journaling" ingame, which could serve a variety of purposes, ranging from casual players to roleplayers to raiders, and likely many in between.

Backpack - This would turn all five bags into one single "backpack", which shows 25 slots at once (instead of 15 for each bag). A simple scrollbar on the side would allow all 75 slots to be scrolled through. Personally, I would also change the icon for this "backpack" to actually look like one.

[findorin-gilrain]

Narrel answered that in the first post of this thread. The list of APIs he posted is what Lua scripting is restricted to. Therefore, if the APIs you mention are not there, then the answer is no.

Also, I do not believe anything which gives a player an advantage over other players will be put in to the game.

Not sure he did really. Whatever the "current intention" I suppose I think it is always possible until categorically ruled out. I hope there is nothing more than nice UI improvements.

[FoxFire]

This is good stuff. There will be Lua add-ons in my future:

1) MailBlaster - Mail multiple items to the same recipient at once. Doesn't change the LOTRO mail functionality which limits one item per mail. But dragging 12 items into the MailBlaster window will automatically mail the 12 items in 12 separate mails to the recipient. All you have to do is compose one mail. It also keeps recent mail recipients in an easy to use and intuitive 'cloud' interface. click on a name, drag items or click to put them in the MailBlaster window, and send BOOM you're done.

2) Looter - Specify which items to loot by setting filters by name, or by level, or by value. Quickly auto loot corpses and Looter will only pick up what you want to pick up.

3) PackMan - Designate which pack an item goes into when you pick it up, or unequip it. Keep all your weapons in one pack. Keep potions in another. Keep part of a pack open so that you always have room. Lock items to a certain pack slot, so that no other items will be placed there and the slot is reserved for that one designated item.

AWESOME!!! I want all of these.

Hopefully they will be possible through Lua.

[Chazcon]

We will see. I guarantee you that the programmer cadre will stretch the envelope.

[Banaticus]

I think the only common known bot in existence for LOTRO now is the PvMP multiaccount botter.

Wait, what? I'm going to need more information.

[sirwillow]

Ok, now that NDA has been lifted, if this makes it into the release (and many of us are really hoping it does), some of the things that have been done so far:

A scrollable menu with all of your port locations (very nice for hunters)
A scrollable menu box with all of your mounts easily accessible
The One Bag- putting all 5 of your bags into one
A couple of different ways of changing the buffs/ debuff's icons to make their easier to see
Other new skinning options
Adding another quickbar for more slots that appear only in combat

There's a lot of things that players are doing with this that will address many of the players UI concerns. It won't do any macros, but it gives more flexibility. It's exciting to see what people are doing with it in the early stages.

[Riamus]

Now that the NDA is lifted, what kind of limitations besides no macros are we seeing with Lua? I know it's been said before that macros won't work and you can't trigger a skill/etc. What are the other limitations. If anyone has used Lua with WoW and tried it in beta here, maybe you can give some ideas of what is possible versus what isn't?

For example, can we add more information to tooltips and track stats such as number of kills to put into the tooltips for a mob?

Can we add other things to tooltips such as what drops certain items when viewing the item's tooltip, or average AH price for the item, or a list of your characters who have the item, or various other types of additional information? I'm sure a lot could be tracked, but can we make it visible in the game? Or maybe it can't be tracked with the current Lua implentation?

Is it possible with the current mount listing to have a random mount summoned from it, or does that fall into the no skill use limitation?

Can the world map have tooltips or other information added to it? For example, could a method to add custom notes to it be scripted? Or could someone put in tooltips on each stable on the map that tells you the location name?

What about tracking things like DPS? Is that possible even if only for yourself?

And, the difficult question considering how much work is involved... do you think it's possible to add games like they did in WoW (Peggle and Bejeweled for example) that could be played while waiting on your group to assemble or while on a long horse ride that isn't swift travel?

These are just quick examples that I can think of. Any other comments on how it works and what is or isn't possible would be greatly appreciated.

[D.H1cks]

Now that the NDA is lifted, what kind of limitations besides no macros are we seeing with Lua? I know it's been said before that macros won't work and you can't trigger a skill/etc. What are the other limitations. If anyone has used Lua with WoW and tried it in beta here, maybe you can give some ideas of what is possible versus what isn't?

Well, I can't compare to WoW because I never played it. But I can say the LUA scripting is very limited. Here are some of the items we get access to:

1. Some basic character data, like morale, power and effects (buffs/debuffs)
2. Combat status
3. Over-ride the default vitals display with a custom one.
4. Can check what is in your character's inventory.
5. Create new quickslots

We don't have access to a lot of stuff, like no access to what skills your character has, no access to the chat window data.

Really, at the current status, LUA scripting in LOTRO is mostly about changing how the UI looks, and not much more than that.

[Gedachtnis]

Things are pretty limited right now, though they have slowly opened up stuff.

Currently we are seeing addons like HUDS, Bar Managers, Buff/Debuff Bars, etc. The scripters have no access to Target, Other Player etc.

There is a Proof of Concept DPS meter floating around off site, it originally came with an .exe and pretty much was asked to be removed, development is still going on though.

LotRO Interface is working on a module for Minion to facilitate updating.

There is a mod for Wardens and Gambits but I'm not familiar with it,

A hunter Travel Panel and an LM Pet Carousel neither of which I've tried but have been well recieved.

Some timers/clocks/ingame notepad type mods.

Tooltips just recently opened up so they are just starting work along those lines.

There is a RatingsBuster-but-not type of mod thet lets you see what the ratings on a piece of gear will translate into percentages, I havent tried it yet though.

No Auctioneer type mods.

I'm not a scripter but thats what I'm seeing and understanding from the discussions. The stuff that's being done is very nice.

[Digital_Utopia]

As others have said, the API itself is pretty uninspiring right now. It certainly has a ton of potential, which I've been working on improving what I can - but I obviously can't provide more "hooks" into the game itself than Turbine supplies. So, essentially I've been working on visual/utility things like Animation, Timer, and various standard UI elements.

I've also been working on a sort of Heads-up Display (HUD) (mentioned above), named Palantir. It's currently in the middle of a rewrite which will take it to the very edge of what's currently possible (that includes both standard and custom classes). So hopefully the latest version will be finished by the time everybody can check out the plugins for themselves.

The lifting of the NDA has admittedly taken me by surprise, and regrettably I don't have enough time today in order to do a big write-up about it, so that will have to wait until later.

[sirwillow]

The lifting of the NDA has admittedly taken me by surprise, and regrettably I don't have enough time today in order to do a big write-up about it, so that will have to wait until later.

I'm certainly looking forward to your write up. As deep as you've been in the process and as much as I've seen from you on the beta forums, I know you'll give a well rounded and balanced view of beta and what's coming.

[FoxFire]

No Auctioneer type mods.

*sniff*

[ScrappyTheGreat]

As others have said, the API itself is pretty uninspiring right now. It certainly has a ton of potential, ...

Quoted for truth. We don't have access to the Character Panel (think: gearscore), we don't have access to player's vaults (think: alt inventory manager), and we don't have access to item or skill tooltips (think: show %s instead of ratings). We don't have access to other players' vitals or buffs/debuffs.

We CAN access the 5 inventory backpacks. We can also create new tooltips and quickslot bars. So, we're working on ways to do as much as we can with the current API.


Things I am doing:
(1) I've created a really simple Mouse-Finder. Hold down ctrl+alt+shift and it makes your mouse more visible. (afaik, increasing mouse size is not possible)

(2) In-Game time to Real Life time converter. This one is almost complete, just need to make a few tweaks. It does what the name implies. It tells you, for example, Day-time: Dawn (ingame) will occur at 7:05pm EST

(3) Rating to Percentage converter. Don't let your imagination run wild, there's a lot of stuff I cannot do with the current API. But, it can help you make sense of what those ratings actually mean. I still have A LOT of work to do with this one.


Lots of pep have a lot of cool Plugins available and in-development. There are some very cool Effects displays (buffs/debuffs, your char only), and from personal experience, Palantir HUD is pretty cool. There's a hunter-port quickslot plugin. There's a Warden Gambit helper plugin (works very well). There's a Calendar, a Clock, a notepad (my raid leader is gonna love the notepad), FX plugin, personal Buff/Debuff monitors.... lots of cool stuff from a lot of talented programmers
.

[FoxFire]

Things I am doing:
(1) I've created a really simple Mouse-Finder. Hold down ctrl+alt+shift and it makes your mouse more visible. (afaik, increasing mouse size is not possible)

Sweet. I can't tell you how many times I've lost that thing in the midst of high-intensity battles. This sounds like it will help.

This new Lua capability is going to be awesome. And hopefully the best ideas/mods will be incorporated into the main game, as they often are in WoW.

[sirwillow]

Sweet. I can't tell you how many times I've lost that thing in the midst of high-intensity battles. This sounds like it will help.

This new Lua capability is going to be awesome. And hopefully the best ideas/mods will be incorporated into the main game, as they often are in WoW.

As they get more and more used to the LUA, I'm sure they'll open up some other options and abilities with it as well. But I think it's actually one area where they won't necessarily incorporate good add ons into the game, but rather see it as a way to let the players actually do the work of putting things in game that they would like to have, but may not have the time and resources to actually do (like the mounts and ports menus)

[Banaticus]

For example, can we add more information to tooltips and track stats such as number of kills to put into the tooltips for a mob?

No and no.

Can we add other things to tooltips such as what drops certain items when viewing the item's tooltip, or average AH price for the item, or a list of your characters who have the item, or various other types of additional information?

No, no, no, no.

Can the world map have tooltips or other information added to it? For example, could a method to add custom notes to it be scripted? Or could someone put in tooltips on each stable on the map that tells you the location name?

No. No. No -- although the ability to "skin the map" and put in some sort of tooltip to tell you the stable names, since that's really confusing when you go into a new area, was one of the first things that I suggested in the API plugin.

What about tracking things like DPS? Is that possible even if only for yourself?

No. No -- although CStats already does this. Search the forums to find a download link since the original creator got all pissy and not only left LotRO but deleted the Google Code repository.

do you think it's possible to add games like they did in WoW (Peggle and Bejeweled for example) that could be played while waiting on your group to assemble or while on a long horse ride that isn't swift travel?

No.

Ok, on a totally separate note, I really don't see why people are getting all hot and bothered about a gearscore plugin. Hello, by parsing my.lotro.com data we can already generate a gearscore for you! Sheesh. You'd think the people angrily disclaiming the possibility of a gearscore plugin had never heard of my.lotro.com and the fact that all characters are visible there and that we can parse the data and run figures with your armor that's depicted there. Come on, guys, stop getting all upset that the current limited API might some day allow duplication of something that can already be done (and in game to boot, with the in-game browser that can be redirected to any other site).

[elderlygamer]

The only thing I'm hoping for is a plugin or UI change that will allow me to get rid of the lotro store ad in the UI. I don't like ads in games I play, especially in games where I am a paying subscriber.

[Digital_Utopia]

The only thing I'm hoping for is a plugin or UI change that will allow me to get rid of the lotro store ad in the UI. I don't like ads in games I play, especially in games where I am a paying subscriber.

Well...I don't think Lua is going to be able to do anything for you in that case. I'm sure once the skin pack for the new UI hits, there will be a "classic" bar on sites like LotROInterface, but the store button on the main bar (right of the bags) will probably be the only thing that can be changed. "Unlock"/Visit Store buttons on the other hand, I doubt will ever be able to be removed - especially the big one on the character select screen.

That aside, I think your future enjoyment will depend on your state of mind - just like people who hate PvMP are likely to "ignore" the Ettenmoors stable location, or ignore the 3%/5% experience gain from it, so will it be with the store buttons, and TP awards.

[sirwillow]

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.