Couple questions from a noob

[Earthsuit]

Greets.

First, which version of Lua is appropriate for plugin scripting? Lua.org says the latest is v.5.3.2. Is the functionality there usable or should I use a previous version (5.1) as Garan points to in his most excellent noob tutorial?

Second, as a matter of etiquette, if I have a specific question regarding code in a particular plugin, is it better to contact the author directly via a private message or reply to a relevant thread the author has initiated?

Thanks in advance.

[Garan]

Turbine has implemented Lua 5.1 and they aren't likely to make any updates or changes since the devs that implemented it are no longer working on LotRO - the dll in the turbine program folder is still lua51.dll.

As to contacting specific authors, the first thing to be aware of is that many authors have moved on and are no longer updating their plugins and may not respond to PMs or posts. Your best bet is to look for plugins that have been upated/maintained recently or are authored by an author that has actively maintained another plugin recently. If you post your question in the download thread for the plugin at lotrointerface.com (assuming it is published there) the author will probably either answer in that thread or ask you to send them a PM. Note, the PM system on the Lotro forums doesn't always send email notifications and the "Private Messages" alert doesn't work well so authors that don't actually check their messages from time to time may not notice if you just send a PM here.

[Earthsuit]

Turbine has implemented Lua 5.1 and they aren't likely to make any updates or changes since the devs that implemented it are no longer working on LotRO - the dll in the turbine program folder is still lua51.dll.

As to contacting specific authors, the first thing to be aware of is that many authors have moved on and are no longer updating their plugins and may not respond to PMs or posts. Your best bet is to look for plugins that have been upated/maintained recently or are authored by an author that has actively maintained another plugin recently. If you post your question in the download thread for the plugin at lotrointerface.com (assuming it is published there) the author will probably either answer in that thread or ask you to send them a PM. Note, the PM system on the Lotro forums doesn't always send email notifications and the "Private Messages" alert doesn't work well so authors that don't actually check their messages from time to time may not notice if you just send a PM here.

Thank you for both these answers. I will take your advice.

[Totodu43]

What kind of information that I can extract ? and write on external database (MySQL, MariaDB) ?

For example, can I extract list of quest and details of quest ?
Character information ?
Name of all character around me ?

[Garan]

What kind of information that I can extract ? and write on external database (MySQL, MariaDB) ?

For example, can I extract list of quest and details of quest ?
Character information ?
Name of all character around me ?

There is very little game information exposed to Lua - the API was developed by a couple of devs in their spare time and was only partially implemented. Those devs are no longer working on LotRO so the API is not likely to ever be updated or expanded. For instance, no quest or deed information of any kind is exposed. For a detailed list of what IS available, see the latest (over two years old now but still "current") API Documentation provided by Turbine at http://www.lotrointerface.com/downlo...mentation.html.

You will not be able to directly export any data to an external database, as the API only allows saving files in their .plugindata format, with significant issues including internationalization issues as well as restrictions on real-time reading and writing data. It is fairly easy to write an external application to parse the .plugindata files but due to the limited data exposed and the internationalization issues it isn't really worth it.