EQII and Mods

BlueHawk · #1 11-28-2007, 04:24 PM

I was wondering if EQII has anything like WoW for developing mods such as scripting?

I believe the mods in WoW is one of the features that has really help that MMO take off, and I have looked around a bit to see if there are any forums to discuss this.

edit: I am aware of the UIBuilder, but from what I understand it only allows you to modify that which is already created, and that seems to be a bit limited. One thing that has annoyed me since I started playing this game was not being able to easily import my friends list across my alts. WoW does the same thing, but someone created a nice little mod that would sync up all the friend's list for each character.

Thanks.

ShadowProwler420 · #2 11-28-2007, 07:47 PM

Ahhh, the age old question surfaces again......

Can I do <BLAH> like I could do in WoW?

In short, SOE locked down the UI so that the only functionality that can be added is what SOE lets us.

BlueHawk · #3 11-28-2007, 09:57 PM

WoW is the same way. You are not able to add anything, only modify the visual (same as EQII); but has SOE enabled a scripting language like Blizzard did for WoW?

**Drumstix42** · #4 11-28-2007, 10:34 PM

You create custom windows in UIBuilder (or in your favorite text editor). It's in XML, and all code related to what deals with the UI is created through that. There's certain things you can show that aren't default, but mostly related to visual display (style) and data (that is given to us).

I think the most advanced thing really done so far are timers. Dunno what else. Nothing really close to the WoW script.

BlueHawk · #5 11-29-2007, 09:49 AM

Drumstix42, thanks and that is sad to hear. Hopefully SOE will implement a scripting language to help with modding.

It would be nice to send commands to the server to help automate a few tasks. e.g. being able to take your friends list, save it to a text file, and as you log on to each character it would sync the list by typing " /friend <name here> " and any notes you would have. Maybe in the future they will implement and allow scripting.

**lordebon** · #6 11-29-2007, 10:21 AM

Unlikely.

They are big opponents of automation for most things, and opening up a scripting language to us leaves them too exposed, I think. Thats why WoW has "Warden" -- to make sure that folk's aren't exploiting their openness. SOE avoids that problem by simply not being so open.

But that's not to say that they don't care. Far from it. They're just playing it cautious and maintaining an idea: you shouldn't have to use mods in order to play the game. And those mods shouldn't change the game either: while they may make it easier for you to get information or find things, they give you no real play advantage. Take click-to-cure: it's helpful and (in my opinion) makes curing easier since you don't have to change targets, but the restriction of the spell's cast time is still there. And you can just as easily use the function keys to cast a cure and then queue the next one up, and then hit a macro to take you back to your original target. Heck, you could make a macro so that you only hit two buttons: 1 to switch targets, and one to cast and previous_target all at once.

So there's no real "advantage" just a percieved one (or an ease-of-use one).

EQ2 is not WoW. It's a different philosophy, and I think thats one reason the folks that play EQ2 are here. I'm not against WoW or anything, but there is a fundamental difference between the two that has to be understood.

Now, I do think it would be helpful to move your friends lists. So /feedback it and maybe they'll add something like that. They're always adding nifty new things for us. And as I recall, due to /feedback they made a way to save and load your hotbars, so they could likely do the same with your friends list.

Whew, that was a long post.