Kosmo's Tracking Window v2.0
 

Submitted for Release.
Kosmos Tracking Window v2.0

The purpose of this mod was to creata tracking window that was small as possible, yet was still easily read, and could be left open without disturbing game immersion.

All non-essential elements of the window now have been removed, or have been given the ability to be made transparent.

The Text names in the window resize between a 12 point font size,a and a 15 point font size when the mouse is over the window.

This leaves only the text:
- Names
- Con-filter Checkboxes
- Filter Dropdown Button
- Sort Bar
- Track Arrow Button

If the window is configured with the Title and Frames (Off) the window can be cancled with the 'ESC' key.

To track a mod, click the Track Arrow Button that points to the Right at on the top right corner of the window.

The filters work the same as they do on the starndad window. Just expaned the + Button to access the filter information.

3/20/2005
Updated: Added back in a feature to sort the list, also changed font to Arial14 and have an Add-On that can be used instead if you prefer the ArialBold15 Font. Made some costmetic adjustments.

3/23/2005
I did it. I created an Auto-Resize Tracking Window!!!
Switches from 12Point Font to 15Point Font on mouse over.

Thanks to SOEBobble for the resent post he made on the different type of fonts.

Next Project.. Kosmo's Chat for the Blind. A Chat Window that the text grows when you are typing in it, or mouse-over! Wish me luck. :nana:


The Tracking Wnidow can be dowloaded HERE

Your UI screen shots always make me smile Kosmos.

aWWW. sHUCKS!


I try to put some personality behind them, besides just the MOD.

Thanks!

Hello there Kosmo,

I have a couple of problems with your MOD or else I've completely messed up the install. Your Tracking mod is the first custom UI I've ever tried to use with EQ2, so I could have very well messed up.

Anyways, here it is,

1. I can't sort my tracking list with your UI.

2. After the install, I cannot see buffs others put on me, the food and drink Icon nor the Posion Icon. I DO see self buffs.

3. Debuffs that I apply to a target appears in MY buff window.

4. Since then I've deleted the INI file and CUSTOM folder, and still am having the same problems.

I downloaded and setup your mod right before Saturdays patch, so I'm not sure whats going on.

Any suggestions?

P.S.

The mod was great otherwise! And if we can figure out why MY debuffs on a target are appearing in my buff window, that might make a good mod too!

That's by-design. If you notice, the table header (Name sort clickie) has been removed.

Sounds like you're looking at your maintained window, not your effects window. Make sure both are open. (ALT-M and ALT-E to toggle their status)

Looking at maintained rather than effects would explain this as well.

The update now has a 2pixel underline bar that when clicked sorts the name list as it did before.

The other problems you were having, perhaps you have covered up or turned off another window on accident?

This particular UI is only one file eq2ui_mainhud_tracking.xml

so it shouldn't affect any other mods.

At least that I am aweare of, but PLEASE keep me posted if you get it sorted as it might indicate a bug.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

I'll definately check it out, it sounds like Ger hit the nail on the head. I did not know we had a "maintained" spell window. ]

Thanks for the info:D

Update Submited for Release :nana:

Old Version Around For Download ?
 

anywhere that i can download the old version ?
got my new pc today and loved your old version of the track window, but tbh I really do not like the different size fonts in the new version. you go to click on a name to track, and the resize makes the name move down the screen and you have to chase it :confused:

really liked the old version, sadly not a fan of the new version

Great thanks for the feedback!

What I think I'll do is post an Add-On tomorrow of the new window, with a font that doesn't change size. Probably the 14 point font. The 12 is too small to read for me I think.

It's all a matter of taste I suppose. I don't really have the problem of chassing the names though. I keep the window stretched along the left side of my screen. So when I move the mouse over there, that is when I go to click the name. I don't go for the name first. I go for the edge of the window, then the name. I thought some people might not like the auto-resize though, so I had planned on putting out the one that doesn't. I've not got around to it yet.

Ok, I've submitted one as an Add-On to replace the old version.
The Add-On stays the same size that you set it.
Hope that helps. I will probably be available sometime tomorrow. So just check back later.

Kosmos, I love the expanding fonts in your version, but I find myself using Ger's most excellent version instead because I simply cannot live without two elements yours doesn't seem to have:

- a sort button (perhaps 's' for sort or 'n' for name)
- a close button (perhaps '-')

Would it be possible to add these so I can take advantage of the other features yours has to offer?

Hey! I dig expandie-fonts :D

I may have to swipe that idea. Corse now I gotta find a good reason to use it ;)

Edit: Might wanna add a link to the download page in your first post.

Lang!

The 'SORT' Featuer is the yellow line under the panel. That's a button to sort the names as the regular version.

The Close button is the 'ESC' key.

So they are already there!

Alternatively. you can turn the title on and make it transparent unless you mouse over the window and click the 'X' to close the window.

I did cover those things in the 'read me' LOL!

Thanks for the feedback!

Cool, thanks. I'll have to play with this some more tonight then. (sorry about ignoring the readme /blush - I did open it. I just saw the 'how to install a UI instructions' and figured that's all it was, closing it again. ;))

The mod really is great. I had to move my quest journal helper someplace else on my screen so that I can see everything, but 9 times out of 10 I was able to get the entire track list on my screen at once. :)

Yeah, I like it myself! I'm espeically happy with the way the control panel part came out. I wanted the same 'feel' across alll the buttons, and I think I accomplished what I set out to do. I totally dont' even notice when I have the thing up any longer, and there are VERY rare occasions when I can't see the entire list at one time and that is with all the colors on.

One thing to note. If you have not already figured it out. I removed the scroll bar, I use a mouse with a scroll wheel and that works fine. I seldom have to scroll though since the entire contents of the window are usually available.

Thanks, I added the link!
Yeah, I'm thinking a Chat Window mod that the input line expands the font, or all the fonts expand when mouse over would be kewl.

Not attempted it yet though. It might get trick since people tend to put those windows all over the place, and the way it expands would be hard.
I may just make the font change int he current window perhaps.

Chat is also difficult because the font is resizable, so you may end up "enlarging" the text to smaller than it is by default. ;)

That's a very good point I had not though of! I would have to have a way to detect what chat font the person is using already..

Hmm.. Thanks Ger! I hadn't though of that.

change font?
 

Great mod! Just what I was looking for!

How do you change the font? The default is a little hard to read.

Thanks

Which font would you like to change? The small font when the mouse is not over the window? Or do you want to change the font on the static window I posted as the Add-ON?

If you let me know what point size fornt you would like I can make the changes and attach them here, or I can just give you instructions on what code to change.

I use your interface where the text is static and does NOT change when you put the mouse over it. I would just want to use a font like Arial instead of the current one. If you just tell me what code to change, I can go into the .xml file and do it myself. Or if you prefer, you can change it and put a new .xml file here. Whichever you prefer is fine. :)

Thank you so much and I tell all my scout friends about this mod. It rocks :nana:

Change to This.
Those should be the only changes you need to make for the static window to make it Arial 15.

Just make sure the Point Size and the Cell Height are the same.
Ignore anything but the ones highlighted in red, as they are just names. The only thing that really matters is the stuff in red.

if you wanted Arial Bold 15 than you would change the this line.


to

If that doesn't help I'll make you one up special just tell me what fonts you want. I'm thinking about making one that the user can change the font if I can swing it, but not sure if that is possible. At the very least I think I could let the user change the point size.

Thank you Kosmos. I am out of town for the Easter holiday but will make the changes tomorrow night when I get back home and let you know how it works out. (I'm sure it will work out fine :) )

If anyone is following this thread, I would like to know if you would find it useful to have a set of small buttons that change to various fonts for the static window?

Perhaps 5 buttons and 5 different fonts?

Or perhaps work something into the window that would let you set the font for the 'normal' state but leave the mouse over size alone?

Is everyone happy with the font size when it's reduced, or do you want it smaller or larger?

Is the Auto-Resize feature nice? or do you prefer the static sized window?

From the amount of downloads it seems people prefer the resizing window?

Hi Kosmos.

1st.: Thanks a lot for this very nice feature, I love it :)

BUT.: Try yourself to read the text at 1600 x 1200 screen resolution - it is impossible - that counts for both the small and the mouseover enlarged text, I dont think it is the size that is the problem, I belive it could be solved by using another font - but, How to change that in the Auto-resize version ???

Sincerely yours
Naeiana
Woodelf Ranger on Spiltpaw

I do play in 1600x1200 resolution. I also have really good eyes and can read it just fine.

Couple of things that may help you. Keep a semi transparent or black background behind the text. those settings are all controlled by the normal windows background settings.

I appreciate the input. I may tweak this window in the future a bit.
I've got A LOT on my plate at work now, (and for 6weeks to come) so it doens't look like I'm going to get alot of mod time.
If you download the static window and search this tread there is a post by me that shows how to change the font size for it. to whatever you want.

In the future I'm try out some various versions with fonts that use shadowstyles if If I can. I want to try putting a black shadow on the font, so that its easy to read, but doesn require the entire background to be semi transparent.
I'll probably also try including a few new buttons that will allow you to adjust the font size larger or smaler, but I've yet to figure out how I'll do that.

Like I said just not enough time.

My emote window is calling to me badly for an overhaul!

Hey Kosmos,

I use your tracking window and it's just about perfect as far as I'm concerned. I did have an idea over the weekend though that might improve it slightly.

Currently, there is an issue when you go to actually track a mob that the selection highlite will move due to the font resizing and you'll end up tracking a different mob than you had intended.

Would it be possible to add a very short delay (I think 2 seconds would do it - maybe 3) before the font shrinks again? This would ensure that the selection you just made doesn't jump and you always get the mob you had intended.

That is really interesting, I have used this mod ALOT, and I have not encountered that problem. The Selection should stick and never move, the 'text' size has nothing to do with the selection. The cell size and text size re-size together, so as far as I know there is no way that once a selection is made, it would get er.. bumped to another selection.

If I can get the time tonight I'll try and get mine to do what you are saying so I can understand the problem better, and see if I can find a work around.

I wouldn't expect an update any time soon though my plate is REALLY full right now with 'real life' stuff. I've got a whole mess of projects I would like to work on with UI mods, not to mention things I want to complete in game.
Just not enough time.

Thanks for the feedback by they way.

NP. Thanks for making the thing :)

Actually, though, this happens pretty frequently for me.

Specifically - I dock the window on the left. I'll mouse over to the window to pop the larger version, click on a target and then start mousing up to the arrow to track. If I hover too long over one of the other names, it will highlite that mob instead. To get around this I've taken to clicking the mob I want, mousing to the right, off the window until the font size drops again and then carefully moving my mouse up and over so as to get my cursor right over the arrow icon before the size pops again.

I tried very hard to get my window to do this last night and I couldn't get it to do this at all. The only two things I could really think of was that perhaps it's scrolling on you. Arrow keys will make the window scroll as well as the middle mouse button. Thats the only thing I could think of.

I may have been moving when this occured, but WASD are my movement keys - no where near the arrow keys and I don't use the scroll wheel.

I'll try to play around with this and see if it's only occuring when I am moving. If so I'll move this to the request forums (I'd still love to have this working 'on-the-run' as it were) but, yeah, it's doing it on its own. I mean, the cursor IS over the incorrect mob but that's only because it is en-route for the tracking arrow. No mouse buttons, scroll bars or keys are pressed.

The only thing I can think of that it could be on my end is my wireless (radio) keyboard in conjunction, perhaps, with holding down one of the movement keys (W for example).

The oddity there, though, is that mousing off the window so it shrinks, then up and over seems to always work. Maybe because focus is shifted off the window so repeating the W doesn't matter?

Ahh, well. No biggie. Thanks for looking into it, Kos.

I am thinking this may be some sort of special driver issue with your mouse settings. I know some mouse driver software has a feature that 'toggles scroll' when you left click no a scroll bar.
For example in Internet Explorer you left click on the scroll bar and it puts you in 'scroll mod' meaning if you move the mouse up and down it moves the scroll bar up and down, it usually brings up a little icon to indicate you are locked in scroll mode. It's possible that when you click the name of the mob, your mouse is going into a 'scroll mode' so when you move it up, the selection follows (because basicallyt he whole window is a scroll bar), but if you move it to the right outside the window the selector box doesn't follow the mouse curser, then you sneak back in at the top to click the follow arrow..

I tried runnind around, using different keys, hell I tried everything to get the selection box to swtich to another name, without me actually clicking on the other name, and I just couldn't get it to do it.

Im' totally clueless on this one.

Click to Wisp.
 

Kosmos,

Love the mod, I keep my tracking up all the time and I am finding all sorts of interesting things that I know I would have missed.

One suggestion:
Would it be possible to initiate the tracking when I simply click the name in your window? If I have taken the time to zip over to the track window, expand the size and confirm the name, and click on the name to highligh its pretty certain I am giong to then click on the track button (or arrow in your UI's case). Why not take out the last step? Once I click that name in the track window have it immediatly start up my wisp trail.

This is my second time through EQ2, your mod makes playing my swashbucker even more enjoyable! :D

Thanks for the great work!

Arismath / Nimblefoot

This is all from memory so I'm not totally sure. I think the Tracking Display uses a 'table' rather than a list box, and I do not believe it has an 'OnSelect' event.
You would need a script that set the 'Track Button' on the window to 'Pressed' when you selected a Mob Name in the list.

Some way or another I think what you are asking is possible.
But, I'm not playing EQ2 any longer, and do not have an account, so I have no way to test any mods.

One other thing I had planned to change on the mod was to add a shadow style to the text. This puts a black outline around the text, which makes it MUCH MUCH easier to read, and would allow people to do away with the semi-transparent background, and still be able to read the text fine.


Its funny, i miss doing the mods, but i don't miss the game at all.
Waiting for Vanguard: Saga of Heros and Star Wars Empire at War,
nothing else out right now looks remotely interesting.
Out of about 15 people that I know in real life, only 2 are still playing EQ2 and many, many of the people I only knew online have gone back to EQ1 or other games.

Anyway thanks for the great feedback! I'm glad you like it, and All of my mods are open for add-ons etc.. so anyone who wants to change them or tweak them is more than welcome, and I will help out as much as I can.

I like that idea too.

Also, maybe this is still on test, but I thought it went live.. They have added the ability to go back and forth between name sort and distance sort! I haven't been able to get the window to do that, though.

I'm not sure how they implimented / will impliment this but I suspect it's two buttons so as not to remove the ability to do decending alpha/distance sorts.. If that's the case, perhaps you could split your sort bar into two distinct bars: one that switches between distance and name and one that switches between ascending and descending..?

Heh. Your post just went up while I was writing that.

Would an overlay button that tracks the highlite work? The window might have to be made static with a toggle large/small fonts for that and I'm not sure how the highliting would work. I think if we got lucky, the button would do nothing without a highlite and could be setup to click-through. Once something is highlited, though, perhaps that would be enough to initiate the track. That would make it behave like a double click... If we are so lucky and it behaves that way, that is.

At any rate, thanks for making this mod Kosmo. I will take a look at updating it but I'm afraid I'm not very good with this stuff - perhaps, ger, if you are still interested in the tracking mods you could take a stab at it..?

I did get some buttons to work in the xp bar mod I made but I couldn't get on-hover vitality to work so I'm pretty sure resizing and all this stuff is way above my head.

Its a little more complicated than that for this particular window.
I would only be guessing. Every piece of the UI, each window has it's own little 'issues' so it woulf require some testing.
You logic might be a little off. a transparent overlay button that is made 'click-through' won't get the OnPress Event since it's click through

Oh yeah and by the way Thanks Lange, I'm pretty sure you were the one that sparked the whole 'smallest track possible' thread that led to this mod.

Kosmos 4 ever!
 

I vote we all chip in and buy Kosmos an eq2 subscription so he can test his mods, even if he doesn't play anymore.
:nana:
Oh, and can I have yer stuff? :cool:

~Penstar of Qeynos
Swashbuckler, Lucan D'Lere