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-   -   Trying to get info/category tabs on my hotbars. (https://www.eq2interface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19152)

pcgh 06-22-2019 06:45 AM

Trying to get info/category tabs on my hotbars.
 
I've been trying to figure out an easy way to basically have small text boxes above my hot bars to help me remember/sort my spells.

Since I can't figure out how to do anything with the uibuilder, I tried a bootleg way with just using the in game chat boxes like so: https://puu.sh/DJg5u/6bf118d3e4.png
But aside from it having ugly chat box frames everywhere, I couldn't squeeze the chat boxes close enough to each other because they merge into one another.

Another idea that seemed simple in theory is to just make the tabs I want in a paint program and load them as an extra ui addon and just drag them above my hotbars in game but I can't even figure out how to do that with uibuilder.

Before I give up, I figured I'd ask here as a last resort if anyone has any helpful steps on a simple way to do something like this.

Darqwood 06-22-2019 11:19 AM

This is an interesting idea and a very compelling image -- basically grouping hotbar icons into named categories. You could create an image of the tab areas and drop it into a custom window like you suggest, but every time your spell layout changes you'll have to make a new image. Hotbars can be edited to have a margin area above the icons, but the problem is that all of your hotbars would have to have them. It would be much tougher to pick just a couple of hotbars to add a "titlebar" area since they are all clones from just one definition file.

I guess a custom window could be written so you could add some text into boxes with variable widths to approximate what is shown in your image. The custom window would float above (or below) the hotbars in your example.


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Darqwood 06-23-2019 07:07 AM

2 Attachment(s)
Here is a simple custom window to get you started. There is no automation at all -- you can edit widths, colors, text etc. in the UIBuilder very easily.





1. Drop the unzipped file into your DarqUI_v3 folder

2. Use Notepad to add this line to eq2ui_custom.xml
<include>darqui_custom_categories.xml</include>
3. Log in and type
/show_window Custom.Categories
To create a second window, copy it and call it Categories2 for example.


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pcgh 06-23-2019 08:56 AM

That is just the start I needed. I was getting no where on my own but this I can work with. Thanks a lot!

bluja000 06-23-2019 09:07 PM

I wish I could figure out how to do anything in the UIbuilder. This idea sounds wonderful, a great way to extend out the hotbars even better. Unless, are you using the various hotbars, and they are being combined, like chat windows? Or are you able to put spells/combat arts in, under the various tabs, and still have full access to ten separate hotbars?

pcgh 06-24-2019 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluja000 (Post 109018)
Unless, are you using the various hotbars, and they are being combined, like chat windows?

The hot bars themselves are not being combined like chat windows. It might look like that in my first picture since I was actually just using the chat boxes. :o

The idea was simply to have text boxes above my normal hot bars to help me sort & remember what spells do without having to constantly examine them.
I played this game on and off for years and every time I return, I'm always annoyed with trying to remember my hotbars(which gets more confusing with alts). Plus I could use this to help my new player friends that tend to get confused & overwhelmed by all the spells since they're used to more recent mmo's which don't use many hot bars.

Here's what I got so far after messing with Darq's file:
https://puu.sh/DK052/2044c9365d.png
Hardly perfect but I'm happy. I'll tweak it more as I play.

If this is something you're still interested in, let me know and I'll try to show how to edit it. You don't even need uibuilder, you can edit it through notepad which is what I ended up doing after uibuilder stopped working for me(which I found out why afterwards).

Rosyposy 06-24-2019 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcgh (Post 109020)
Here's what I got so far after messing with Darq's file:
https://puu.sh/DK052/2044c9365d.png
Hardly perfect but I'm happy. I'll tweak it more as I play.

Looks nice!

bluja000 06-24-2019 09:33 PM

I love the idea. I wish that we were able to setup the hotbars like chat windows though, even if we were limited to using just the same exact hotbar spaces. I mean, I have every single space filled on a few hotbars, and it would be nice if I had tabs that would allow me to only show that specific type of spell/combat art. It would still use every space, but the tabs would allow me to see only those applicable spells under that category, if that makes sense.

Darq, is that an idea that can be implimented? I mean, I'm not trying to have extra hotbars created, I wouldn't have a problem with having the spaces all used overal (10 hotbars, 12 spaces each), just make it where you only see the spaces used that are for that category? I know that it'd probably become quite popular, since it would allow even new players to set up what they need.

Darqwood 06-25-2019 07:28 AM

1 Attachment(s)
There is already a fairly robust system for categorizing your hotbars, but it requires some setup that's not visible in the default UI. The basic idea is that you set up your hotkeys for certain purposes -- adventuring, tradeskills, Ascension classes, AA builds -- and take a "snapshot" of the hotbars in the various layouts. Later, you can call up any of the snapshots using a button or a macro. In your case, you could add or remove the hotkeys that you want to see in each of your categories, then save and load them as needed.

To try this out, go to the Hotbars page of the window manager and click Save Hotkeys. In the window you can choose a category ("purpose") for the layout from various presets (Ascension classes, soloing, tradeskilling, etc.) or create your own purpose. Set up your hotkeys in this way for as many different layouts as you like. Then you can call up a saved layout any time by clicking Load Hotkeys (or with a macro button).

If you want to set up hotkey sets manually without using DarqUI, I can also show you how to do that.





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bluja000 06-25-2019 10:43 AM

Huh, I didn't realize that was an option. I do remember that they had it set where you had to setup your hotbars every level, and save the layout. This was when spells and combat arts didn't stay when you mentored down. But I never actually used this once that was changed. So, I can set a macro to switch between layouts on the fly? Do persistant spells/combat arts have to stay on the hotbars in order to keep functioning (group buffs, single buffs, etc), I would assume so?

I'll have to read up on how that works, and see what I can do. It's very interesting, because that means that I can, hopefully, set up a ton of categories, and just have a bunch of macros for every situation. I'm hoping this can be done on the fly, while fighting, so that I can have hotbars dedicated to healing, but still switch to damage almost immediately, and vice versa.

Darqwood 06-27-2019 04:31 PM

Switching hotbar sets is not instant -- it takes a few seconds on my machine. Switching mid-combat may be too slow, but give it a try.

Macro for saving hotkeys: savehotkeys <layout_name>
Macro for loading hotkeys: loadhotkeys <layout_name>



Saving hotkey sets using the DarqUI window manager makes it possible to load them into the utility for transferring hotkeys to the Icon Bar. If you want to do this but also set up sets manually, use this naming format (no spaces -- use underscores instead):
savehotkeys <character_name>(<server_name>)<layout_name>.hotkeys
Example:
savehotkeys Baldaor(Halls_of_Fate)Geomancer.hotkeys

If you are putting hotkey macros on the DarqUI Icon Bar manually, put single quotes (apostrophes) around the whole thing.


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bluja000 06-28-2019 07:54 PM

Thank you very much for the guidance. I'm still doing maintenance on two large accounts, about 34 toons in all. It's taking me a while, since I can't do it daily, and tend to work slowly. But this will help, once I start actually doing something with these accounts. It will be nice to be able to better utilize the hotbars, ten of them never seem to be enough, with all the various spells/combat arts. Not to even mention the various items that can end up taking up hotbar space as well.


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