"CoolDownCount"
 

Perhaps I haven't looked closely enough. However, I am a former WoW player coming to EQ2 for the new pvp server.

I am looking for a "CoolDownCount". Basically, it places a number over the skill that is cooling down so you have a clear view on how much time until you can use the ability again. There were several variants of this in WoW and I would like one for EQ2 if it is currently available. Thanks in advance, I realize that I am requesting something without attempting to create it myself (I am clueless when it comes to even simple scripting).

A visual example to what "CoolDownCount" is:

http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod_screens/5237.jpg

In EQ2 terms, this would be a "Recast Timer" and would require SOE to add Dynamic Data objects to the XML that don't already exist. The nearest thing to it are the "Duration Timers" recently added to the Maintained window.

It might be possible to enable a mouseover effect that displays the refresh progress as a percentage, but that wouldn't give you an actual time value, and it wouldn't update until you moused over the icon.

Ah well, I really appreciate the response nonetheless. On another note, is the xml/lua scripting in WoW completely different from EQ2's? If so, What are the main differences between them? I am simply curious and am not trying to say that either game is superior to the other. Thanks again.

I haven't messed with the WOW ui at all but imagine the two are very similar. The tag and param names may vary, but it should follow the usual XML conventions (which are VERY similar to HTML).

Likewise, script syntax may vary but its all very much like any other stripped down programming language. Allot of the functions found in real programming languages won't be available. For example EQ2 doesn't provide any loops, and almost no string operations like trunc(), split(), indexof(), etc.

As with any XML layer, what can be achieved is entirely dependant on what hooks have been provided to the client. If a particular piece of data hasn't been exposed to the XML layer, it usually isn't possible to extract dynamically.

Relative object positioning/sizing schemes can vary significantly. EQ2 is based (mostly) on total object size while other schemes allow for positioning based on edge distance.

EQ2's UIBuilder is quirky but once you get used to it, it makes large scale editing extreamly easy.

The recasst timer appears in the tooltip when you mose over an ability that is cooling down, would it not be possible to get this value in the tooltip to appear on the icon?

Nope, the data in the tool tip is provided by "hard code". As Zonx stated that information isn't suplied for ui mod use.

The only option we have with "hard code" data is to use a player driven event to grab the entire text of that object and shove it into another object. Once that's done, it requires another player driven event to update. Player driven events being stuff like Mouse Over, Button Press, etc.

Since you have to use the mouse for an update, you might as well just mouse over the icon and read the tooltip.

In contrast, "Dynamic Data" can be applied to an XML object, directly hooking into the client for an active data feed that doesn't require a user event.