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    Packing Height changes clickable area
    Bug #: 5417
    File: Aloft
    Date: 01-25-09 09:03 PM
    By: Niightblade
    Status: Game Bug (Cant fix)
    Packing Height seems to change the mouse-clickable area (and also moves the nameplates vertically).

    If I set -5 Packing Height the clickable area shrinks.

    If I set -10, nameplates become unclickable.

    (The side-effect of shifting the nameplates vertically relative to the target is actually useful, so perhaps make a separate setting for this if possible?)

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    By: acapela - 09-25-09 06:06 PM
    should have added: what i am calling the "invisible" frame is an actual UI object, which Aloft can identify, and which has a height/width that Aloft can change. the nameplate health bar, the cast bar, and the various other parts of nameplates that Aloft creates or controls, are all "children" of this "invisible" frame.

    the height/width of this "invisible" frame is what Aloft uses to control "packing" height/width, and is what Blizzard uses to control tiling or packing of nameplates on the screen.

    what i am calling the "magic area" is exactly that: "magic", not an actual UI object that Aloft can locate and change. it seems to exist only in Blizzard's "imagination" (or in their mouse sensitivity control algorithm, or whatever ).
    By: acapela - 09-25-09 06:01 PM
    yeah, the invisible area seems to be outside addon control. i can go experiment with this again, to make sure.

    as described in earlier posts, there is an underlying "invisible" frame on each nameplate that is used for this tiling. the size/placement of this "invisible" frame doesn't seem to have any influence on mouse sensitivity.

    it appears that each nameplate has some sort of ADDITIONAL "magic area" (i.e. in addition to this "invisible" frame), which is not an explicit component of the nameplate itself, but that needs to overlap (or otherwise relates to the placement of) the nameplate health bar (i.e. specifically the health bar) in order to the nameplate to respond to the mouse.

    if you move the health bar too far out of this "magic area", whether by explicitly sizing/placing the health bar, or changing the "packing" height/width of the nameplate (such that the health bar ends up moving in order to stay in "alignment" with the "invisible" frame), the nameplate quits responding to the mouse.

    i suspect (but of course cannot prove) that Blizzard is doing some sort of simple screen placement arithmetic, to compare location of the health bar where it actually appears on the screen to the location of where it "should" appear on the screen (perhaps relative to the placement of the character model on the screen), and disabling the nameplate if it is too far "out of place".
    By: jtbalogh - 08-21-09 05:46 PM
    Forgot to add in previous post that my packing height is 8, width is zero. Was okay like that for the past year, but patches might be affecting its reliability now.
    By: jtbalogh - 08-21-09 05:44 PM
    Ya, FAQ mentioned it. I noticed something worse after the latest patches. The invisible area is not only vertically small, but now also horizontally. For testing, I can barely click on a critter on the ground especially when moving. Clicking most places on the name plate is not helping. Do you think that inivisible area is out of our control too ? Thanks
    By: acapela - 05-24-09 05:30 PM
    sorry for the delay responding to this.

    yes, packing height/width affect mouse sensitivity. this seems to be an artifact of something Blizzard has done, under the covers, unique to nameplates. i would need to go look, but i believe this is mentioned in the Aloft FAQ.

    packing height/width actually control how closely nameplates are "tiled" or "packed" when there are a lot of them visible. Blizzard moves nameplates around to make certain they all appear on the screen (at the expense of not placing them next to the corresponding unit). these packing dimensions control how much empty screen area Blizzard leaves in between nameplates when they are tiled together onto the screen.

    there is an underlying "invisible" frame on each nameplate that is used for this tiling. the visible parts of the nameplate are centered within this. as far as i can tell, if the size of this "invisible" frame changes, such that the center of it moves out of some magic area that Blizzard considers "appropriate", the nameplate stops being sensitive to the mouse.

    i have not found any sort of workaround yet.