The Definitive AddOn and Macro FAQ, yet again
 

Top 5 Way-Too-Frequently Asked Questions: (Credit Gello):

Q: How do I use a trinket in a macro?
A: /script UseInventoryItem(13) or /script UseInventoryItem(14)
Q: What UI is this? *link of a 500mb video of someone else playing WoW*
A: Take a screenshot to post and ask again.
Q: I want an aggro meter!
A: It's brought up a lot. Short answer: no.
Q: How do I wait in a macro to cast a spell later?
A: You can't.
Q: How do I switch main hand to offhand weapon?
A: /script PickupInventoryItem(16) PickupInventoryItem(17)

Okay, in an attempt to update and clean up this thread again, I’m going to break it into two separate sections. The first section will deal with Mods. The second will deal with Macros & Scripts.

Here are some of the most common FAQs ... feel free to add the FAQ (with answer , of course) that most annoys you in your reply, and I'll edit this post to include it. ;) Corrections and suggestions (both informational and grammatical) also welcome. ;)

Thanks go out to everyone who has made suggestions and comments; those who have provided additional FAQs for this post; those who have tirelessly and patiently answered all the n00bs' questions; and yes, even the n00bs themselves, for without their endless questions, this FAQ wouldn't exist. ;)

NOTE TO ALL POSTERS: Replies to this thread should only contain comments or suggestions about this FAQ, or should contain a new frequently-asked question with answer included! Please, DO NOT clutter up this thread with questions that you need answers to. Start a new thread, that’s why we have this entire forum.

Table of Contents:
Mods:
1. What? (Definitions)
2. Where? (Where do I get AddOns?)
3. How? (How do I install AddOns?)
4. Patch Day (What to do and not do)
5. Legal?
6. Panic! (What to do and not do when posting a "please help" thread)
7. Why? (Why does Blizzard break my AddOns each patch? Why don’t they care about them?)
8. Other AddOns stuff I’ve got to figure out where to put and how to title it :p
Macros & Scripting:
9. What? (Definitions)
10. Where? (Where can I find macros to use?)
11. How?

Section 1: "What?" (Definitions)

Q: No, really. What the heck are UIs, Mods, and AddOns?

A: A "UI", "AddOn" or "Mod" (the terms tend to be used interchangeably) is anything that provides "Modifications" or "Adds On to" the original base User Interface as supplied by Blizzard. The changes may be purely cosmetic (change the colour of the bars from the standard grey to florescent pink), may make it so you can change where or how things are displayed on the screen, may provide additional information or functionality, etc.

Information on Macros and Scripts can be found further along in this FAQ.

Section 2 – “Where”?

Q: Where can I download some AddOns?

A: There are a number of Mod Hosting sites:

WoWInterface.com: http://www.wowinterface.com/
Curse Gaming: http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php
WorldofWar UI section: http://ui.worldofwar.net/
WoWGuru: http://www.wowguru.com/
ModWatcher: http://www.modwatcher.com/
WarCraftWars UI Database: http://ui.warcraftwars.com/
SwerveGaming: http://swervegaming.com/download.php

And, of course, the sticky thread at the top of this forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...tmp=1#post2626

Plus all of the AddOns that are self-hosted, most of which can be found by browsing through this forum.


Q: X AddOns hosting site is down, where can I get Y AddOn?

A: Try one of the other mod sites listed above, or do a web search for the name of the AddOn you are looking for.

Section 3 – “How?”

Q: I downloaded an AddOn but I'm not sure how to get it working in-game, help!
Q: I downloaded an AddOn but it's not showing up under the [AddOns] button in the character select screen, help!

A: The FAQ at WoW Interface has a nice step-by-step walk through on how to install AddOns. There are also a couple images of the right and wrong ways to install, along with a check list of the most common errors, in case you have any difficulties. View it here: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/f..._howto_install

Section 4: "Patch Day" (What to do and NOT do on patch days)

Q: Hey, a new patch is out! What should I do to ensure my AddOns keep working error-free?

A (condensed version): Many AddOns will still work after a patch, even though they are technically "out of date". You only *have* to update AddOns that are actually broken because of functionality changes made by Blizzard in a patch. If you aren't getting error messages and everything is still working okay, you can just run using the "Load Outdated AddOns" check box. It is a good idea, however, to update your AddOns as you get the opportunity to do so, because not only do the authors fix anything broken, but most authors are also constantly tweaking their mod to make them better.

A (expanded version): Well, there's no guarantee that your AddOns will work error-free after a patch, since it is Blizzard's prerogative to change any and all of the API used by various AddOns. When that happens, AddOns which call upon those API functions tend to either not work, work strangely, or throw up lots of nasty-looking error messages.

The absolute best advice I can give for patch-day AddOn maintenance is to follow these guidelines (credit to Trimble; edits by Syllani)

0) Remove ANYTHING in Interface/FrameXML and disable any AddOns which provided files that went in there.

If you use a FrameXML based AddOn, you almost always REQUIRE an updated version after a patch. Since FrameXML files actually *overwrite* the default Blizzard files, and because frequently several FrameXML files update, the author needs to re-integrate their changes with the updated Blizzard files before the mod will work as expected. Better to just remove them from the equation first-thing.

1) Download the new patch on a patch day.

2) Log in to the game and get to the character selection screen. (If prompted about some of your AddOns being out-of-date, choose "Disable".)

3) Go into the AddOns screen by clicking the AddOns button in the lower left corner of the screen.

At this point, you should observe that all AddOns are auto-disabled due to version mismatch. If not, then the patch didn't change the UI, and you don't have to do anything. If they are disabled, proceed with these steps.

4) UNCHECK the check box for every AddOn.
5) Turn off version checking. (Enable out-of-date AddOns)
6) Re-check the check box for any AddOns that you KNOW will work without changes.
7) Log in and test that everything works.
8) Log Out to the character selection screen and go back into AddOns
9) Re-check one AddOn. Log in and test that everything still works.
10) Repeat steps 8 and 9 for each AddOn you have. I recommend standing in an Inn to do this - it's faster.

If something kills your system, Kill the wow process via task manager (or coldboot your system if you have to)

11) Watch for updates to your favorite AddOns.
12) When you see an update, download the update and replace the mod with the new version.
13) Repeat step 12 until all of your AddOns are updated.

There is no harm in leaving version checking turned off permanently.

These steps will ensure a clean and aggravation free mod using experience. They will ensure that you don't spend hours trying to figure out exactly what killed your system. When 1300 patch initially came out, the Standalone version of QuestMinion totally locked up everyone's machine, requiring a coldboot. It was a pain to figure out which mod did it.


Q: What's the new toc number? (Credit to Cairenn; edits by Syllani)

A: Unless you are a mod author, it doesn't matter. Don’t go in and manually edit your toc numbers; don’t use a toc auto-updater program! There is simply no need. Use the "Load Outdated AddOns" check box, located under the AddOns button on your Character Select screen instead. Check in at the location where you got your mod(s) from originally over a few days after a patch, to get the properly updated version from the actual mod author.

By going in and changing all the toc numbers yourself, you are completely defeating the entire purpose of them in the first place.

If you use the "Load Outdated AddOns", without making any changes to the toc numbers (i.e., the proper way to deal with patch days), then when something stops working, you've got some hope of figuring out which mod(s) aren't working right, since you can go back to the AddOn button on the Character Select screen and see which AddOns aren't updated yet.

If, however, you go in and manually change all the toc numbers, so far as WoW is concerned, they are all "current". Now what do you do when they stop working? When all of a sudden you've got error messages popping up all over the place? How do you know which ones are actually current and which ones are outdated and probably the problem? You've no way to tell any more. Leave your toc numbers alone.

Section 5: "Legal?

Q. Is <insert name of addon here> a cheat or hack?

A. Trimble's post and Slouken's reply to it sums it up pretty well:


Also this post, translated by Shouryuu from: http://forums-fr.wow-europe.com/thre...mp=1#post21783 (posted by Daghorn, a Blizzard Rep for the EU community)

(Not the best of translations, but I do believe I have not changed the meaning of the post. Please inform me if you believe so. )

Section 6 – Panic (What to do and not do when posting a "please help" thread)

Before you post:

1. Did you check the FAQ to verify the proper way to install your UI? http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/f...em#faq_install

2. Did you make sure that the files aren't in a sub-folder within your custom folder? See this graphical interpretation: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/f...all_doesntwork

3. Is there any chance that you have 2 WoW directories?

ie C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Blah blah blah and C:\World of Warcraft\Blah blah blah, or anything like that?

If so, that may be the problem. Try putting your AddOns in the other one.

As well, make use of the search button, as it is entirely possible that your problem has already been encountered and solved.

If after all of that, you are still having problems, please remember these things when posting your help request:

1. Be polite. Show respect for other people's time, when you ask them to help you. Don't beg or grovel or SHOUT IN CAPS or be similarly lame

2. Give a good subject to your thread. It’s easier for some one to help you if you have a good subject instead of something like “helperz me nowz!!!?!1.”;

3. What is the name of the mod? Provide a link for it;

4. What steps did you take to install the mod? Post your install path;

5. Be as descriptive as you can. Just posting you cant get xyz mod to work will result in no response to your help request. The more information you can provide the faster some one will be able to respond with a helpful answer. Describe what AddOns you have installed, what you did that caused the problem, exactly what happens;

6. List the things you've tried and what happened for each of them.

Also:

When having problems with your UI, it tends to help if you also post the contents of your log file. This is located at <WoWFolder>\Logs\FrameXML.log. (Credit Aoirean)

[u]Section 7 – Why? [i](Why does Blizzard break my AddOns each patch? Why don’t they care about them?)

(Credit Shouryuu)

First of all, it's important to clearly state that Blizzard does not officially support any add-ons. By support, I mean Blizzard is in no way responsible for their proper functioning, and does not guarantee their in-game stability. Blizzard guarantees that their default UI (User Interface) functions at all times, and it does, even though a large part of modders do believe it to be somewhat lacking in versatility.

There a two way of viewing this lack of versatility. The first one, the most popular one, believes that Blizzard left a job undone. That like a lot of things in World of Warcraft, the default UI is "lacking in content" (not my opinion). However most of the modding communities (those who code the add-ons) see the reasons for this "ineffective" UI as Blizzard's will to let the modding community grow, and offer plethora of AddOns to users which will allow them to have their very own unique UI, entirely fitted to their tastes and to the way they play the game.

This belief has been strongly reinforced with the possibility, since in patch 1.8, to disable some parts of the default UI. The modding community views this as an encouragement from Blizzard, to change, replace, reuse, rework, hash, cut, and destroy... their UI. We strongly believe that Blizzard's UI, intentionally, lays down the foundations of a UI (a foundation which does offer more than basic functions and does not prevent you from playing the game properly) to offer us infinite possibilities to tinker, customize, our UI. There is no way Blizzard can satisfy every players tastes with only one UI, and we believe they have done so by not imposing one type of UI.

This being said, why does every patch break my add-ons? Well technically speaking, not every patch breaks your add-ons, only the patches that apply changes to the API (in other words, the functions used by your add-ons) or the way add-ons work. The UI was very well compared to (by Cairenn or Iriel I believe) a black box, with plenty of little buttons and lights of different colors and in different places. Inside the box, is WoW, the lights tell you something about WoW, and the buttons allow you to do something in WoW.

For example, if the red light were to light up, it would mean that you would have been hit for X damage, and WoW let's you know that (via the combat log). If you were to push the cute little pink button, you would do the /hug emote. So there you are, in front of your black box, playing WoW. Everything is great but you only have 10 fingers and there are thousands of buttons to press, and you only have two eyes and there are thousands of lights to watch out for, so what to do?

Well you'd hire Santa’s little helpers, in other words add-ons. Add-ons just watch the lights, decode what they mean and yell it to you. They even help you press those hard to reach buttons. But what happens when Blizzard moves a button to another place because they've added one nearby, and don't want you mistaking one for the other? Well your great add-on is going to try press the designated button and hit the black box, oh noz! So it's going to hit it, and then it's going to tell you "ZOMG there's no button, ERROR ERROR!” Same goes for the lights. What if the light an add-on is piously gazing at changes color, or doesn't flash at the same frequency it used to so that players without add-ons (those who use the default UI) can see it more clearly? Well the add-on is going to tell you "Uh, what’s up with this light? I'm supposed to be seeing a thousand flashes a second, and I only see three flashes a second! ERROR ERROR!” So this is how patches break AddOns. They swap the lights around, move a button so that someone using the default UI can reach it easier, add lights that add-ons stare at saying "WTF is that?", even sometimes remove buttons (remember the Auto Travel soap opera...). Most (by most I mean 99.99%) changes in the lights and buttons are either a good thing for the default user, or a good thing for the add-on user.

An example of the good changes for add-ons that break them: (it's called Creative Destruction, it's actually an economic theory By Schumpeter and the very base of Capitalism, you Americans should understand that :D) Let us imagine their is a series of four lights at the faaaar back of that black box, those lights flash a different frequencies, are of different colors and say different things. The only problem, is that all look realllllly alike, and what they are trying to say isn't always clear (for eample, they flash differently but are trying to say the same things...). Sooo Blizzard sees this, hears a few suggestions left and right and decides to change them. So they rip those four lights out, and put 8 lights all very different and easily differentiable from one another. So add-ons that were looking at those lights are going "WTF?" and are broken =(. But after authors change the add-ons code, well all is better! The add-ons clearly understand what the lights are saying, it's easier for the coders, it's easier for the add-on, it uses less memory and most importantly it's easier for the user.

So Blizzard does care about AddOns. They seem to want customized UI to be as effective as possible, as versatile as possible, as stable as possible (test realms help a lot in pre-updating of AddOns) and they want AddOns to be out there in numbers. They don't support AddOns, but they all they can to make them possible, they deserve a big thank you from all of us.

Section 8 - Other Mod stuff I’ve got to figure out where to put and how to title it :p

Q: So, there's like, this AddOn, or something, that does this really cool thing, but I'm not going to give you a screenshot or better description... tell me what it is!

A: Um, no. We have better things to do than try to read your mind. Go browse some of the mod hosting sites listed below and you'll likely find what you're looking for (and much more besides!) Give us a detailed description and we might know what you are looking for.


Q: What is the best UI?
Q: What is the best UI for <insert your class here>?

A: Remember that when you are asking about "the best UI", while people can point you to the mod they prefer, it is just that, a personal preference.

Person A prefers Mod/Compilation X. Person B doesn't like Mod/Compilation X, they prefer Mod/Compilation Y. Person C uses stand-alones only, and mixes and matches to get their desired result, etc and so on ...

Examples of AddOns:

CTMod, GyspyMod, BloodEagle’s Recompilation, FlexBar, Insomniax Recompilation, Cosmos, SvartenUI, UltimateUI (UUI), BibMod, Telo’s Mods, MonkeyMods, MiniGroup, Woofiest’s Compilation, etc, etc, etc. (Please note, this is definitely not anywhere near a "complete" list, there are many many many others. A large number of the ones I've got listed there are suites/compilations, an example listing of stand-alones would be absolutely freaking huge. The ones I listed aren't in any particular order. This is just a very small sample listing to give you an idea of the fact that there are tons out there.)

You have to figure out which one gives you the options you want, or mix and match to get what you want. Check out different AddOns, find what works for you.


Q: Um. This zip file I downloaded doesn't have any folders... just a bunch of files. What should I do? (Credit Syllani)

A: One of the files in the zip should have the .toc extension (i.e., there should be a file with a name similar to NameOfTheMod.toc). Simply create a new folder under your Interface/AddOns/ directory with the same name (NameOfTheMod), and place all the zipped files into that new folder.


Q: I have a broken mod, how do I get it fixed? (Credit Bear)
A: First make sure you have the latest version, if you do then try to get feedback to the author. This can usually be done in a comment thread on the mod site where it's posted. Some authors have their own forums; if that's the case post it there. When you give this feedback there's a few key pieces of info needed: 1) what you were doing when the error occurred 2) most errors pop up a box with some wacky jibbajabba text, if you read it you should find a filename followed by a line number (ex: VisorBasics.lua:61) this is followed by a description (ex: attempt to call 'GetScale' a nil value) POST THIS INFO! If in doubt type out the whole message and post it.

Q: I have a broken mod but can't find the author, or I found where it was published but it seems the slacker's been MIA for 5 months, what do I do now? (Credit Bear)
A: Post it up here! Link to the mod and provide the info that the author would need to fix the error. There's a good chance one of the authors here will pick it up, repair it, and republish it. Keep an eye out for AddOns with the words "continued" "resurrected" or "(Rank 2)" as these are often abandoned-then-readopted AddOns.


Q: I'm having <insert vague problem here> with my UI, help! (Credit Itchyban)

A: Go to the character select screen. In the bottom left is a button labeled [AddOns]. Click that. You should see a list of all the AddOns that WoW thinks it might be able to load. You can enable and disable their loading from there.

Make a list of all that you have loaded.

Disable them all. Yep. All of them.

Enter the game and see if the problem still exists. If it does, you probably have an "old style" AddOn that put something in the path/to/WoW/Interface/FrameXML/ folder. Rename that folder to something like FrameXML.broken and try it again. If you still have a problem change the name of the path/to/WoW/Interface/AddOns/ folder to something like AddOns.broken and try again. If you still have a problem, something about your WoW installation is really broken and you may have to do the dreaded "WTF, WDB, Interface" dance. (i.e., follow the steps for completely resetting your UI in the Q/A below.)

Assuming that it ran fine with at most moving your FrameXML folder aside, you now need to start re-enabling AddOns until you see the problem. If you don't want to do a lot of paperwork, and have a little time, re-enable them one at a time and see what happens. (This is the way I do it. It doesn't take too long even with a moderately-long list of AddOns.)

If you have a ton of AddOns, you may want to do a "binary search" which works like this:

1) Split your list of "possibly broken" AddOns in half, make note of the halves
2) Enable one half ("newly enabled") and see what happens.
3) Does it work?
• Broken: It is related to your "newly enabled" AddOns. Go to step 1 with your "possibly broken" AddOns replaced with the "newly enabled" addons and split those in half again (until you get down to one "candidate")
• Not Broken: It is not related to your "newly enabled" AddOns. Go to step 1 with your "possibly broken" AddOns replaced with the half that you didn't enable and split those in half again (until you get down to one "candidate")

Once you get down to one candidate, disable all AddOns except that one. If you still have the problem, that is your culprit. If you don't see the problem, then it is a likely conflict with some other AddOn(s) and you would need to use a similar search to find which pair (and hopefully not three or four involved) cause the problem.

Section 8 (continued)

Q: I really fudged up my interface! How can I reset everything to the defaults?

A: Delete the WDB and WTF folders from your World of Warcraft directory, and move the Interface folder to your desktop. Log back into the game and your UI, keybindings, and chat configurations should be reset to the default settings. Log out and move your Interface folder back into your WoW directory. Now you should be able to log back into the game and reconfigure all of your AddOns, etc.

NOTE: It is generally an excellent idea to maintain regular backups of the Interface folder (which contains the code for all your AddOns) and the WTF folder (which contains all your custom configurations and keybindings).

Q. Various graphics for my AddOns are showing up as green squares? What's wrong, how do I fix it?

A. If the graphics files are showing up as green squares, it is because WoW can't "find" them where it believes them to be. Most AddOns have their graphics files in a sub-folder within the mod folder. Make sure when you unzipped the download that you have "maintain directory structure" (or something like that, I don't recall what the exact wording is off the top of my head) enabled.


"Extremely popular AddOns" (main sites for AddOns that are asked about alll the time)

Many of these are available at the major hosting sites listed above, but not all, and those that are also have their own support forums, etc, listed here:

Descriptions courtesy Shoryuu:

IsBuffActive :http://www.wowinterface.com/list.php?skinnerid=14781
This mod simplifies buff checking in macros.
ie: /script if not IsBuffActive("Power Word: Fortitude","target") then CastSpellByName("Power Word: Fortitude(rank 3)") else SendChatMessage("%T is buffed with fortitude!","say"); end

CancelBuff:http://www.wowinterface.com/list.php?skinnerid=14781
This mod allows you to cancel buffs that can be canceled.
ie: /script if IsBuffActive("stoneform") then CancelBuff("Stoneform") else CastSpellByName("Stoneform{racial}"); end

Cosmos: http://www.cosmosui.org/ This is a very complete UI, which I would recommend to anyone who doesn't feel too comfy with add-ons.

FlexBar: http://www.savagevines.com/flexbar/ This add on allows you to fully customize every action button on your UI. You can move any action button anywhere on the screen, group buttons, make them appear on certain conditions. Might seem complicated at first, but the docs written by the author are extremely nice, and make this add-on understandable by anyone who reads them

Insomniax: http://www.insomniax.net/ This is another very complete UI, maybe a little bit more advanced than cosmos (more thinks you can tweak with) but still very nice for any "noob" and even more advanced modders :P

Telo's: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...p=1#post289449 A very nice compilation that adds a lot features to the game. The most popular being loot link, which will save every item you see, and allow you to look at it again any time you wish :P

Scrolling Combat Text: http://rjhaney.pair.com/sct/ SCT is one of the most popular add-ons. It's the infamous "World of RogueCraft" AddOn :P It will display the damage you take in above your char, and display whenever a special action occurs (ie a weapon proc)

Auctioneer: http://auctioneeraddon.com/ Auctioneer enhances the WoW interface by adding additional information to the tooltips in the game that allow you to see additional information on the value of items in the game.(taken from the auctioneer website)

Enchantrix: http://enchantrix.org/ Enchantrix displays on the item tooltip an estimate on the results of an item disenchant

Gatherer: http://gatherer.sf.net/ Allows you to easily track herbs and mines by marking each spot where you've found one. Very handy for farming herbs or mines :p

MiniGroup: http://wow.jaslaughter.com/ (sometimes requires a re-load of the page to get it to come up) For people who want everything as small as possible this is a must. Drastically reduces the size of your party, player and target frames while keeping them more than visible, and usable :P A very nice add-on on which you can built your personal compilation

CTMod: http://www.ctmod.net/news.ct (Main forums at WoWInterface.com) CTmod is another of those very complete add-ons. It customizes, amongst other things, your party frames, player frames. One of its main feature is CT_RaidAssist (CTRA) which simplifies MC and other 40 main raid organization. A must in my opinion for any serious instance running guild.

GypsyMod: http://gypsymod.the-mad.net/ Gypsy is one of my personal favorites. It's a great mod to start your own personal UI compilation because of its simplicity. It doesn't have as many features as Cosmos but that's why I like it. If anyone who doesn't really like tinkering with his UI is looking for a simple add on that changes your target frame, party frame and player frame, then this is the one.

UUI: http://www.wowguru.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=71 Ultimate User Interface is one of those major compilation. Very complete, a nice place to start off with add ons.

What are some of the other ones we see asked about allll the time, guys?



Q. I want to copy my settings over from one account/computer to another. What is saved where?

A. ../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/macros-cache.txt
and
../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/macros-local.txt

is where all your macros are saved

../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/savedvariables.lua

AddOns like Map Notes, Gatherer, Auctioneer, LootLink, etc, anything that saves data, save their data to this file

../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/<Character Name>/layout-cache.txt

is where the physical layout of all of the visible UI elements is saved

../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/<Character Name>/chat-cache.txt

is where your chat settings are saved

../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/bindings-cache.wtf

is where your key bindings are saved

Addendum (Credit Aoirean):

Mod-specific variables are no longer saved in SavedVariables.lua , using RegisterForSave(var) or whatever it was. Now you must specify variables to be saved in the .toc and they show up in <WowFolder>\WTF\Account\<AccountName>\SavedVariables\<ModName>.lua .

And more Section 8

Q. I got my UI set up the way I want, log out and back in, and nothing is saved, I have to do it all over again. Why?

A. Make sure that you don't have copies of any of the files listed above anywhere else in your WoW folders. Also, make sure that none of the above files are set to "read-only".

Q. I lost all my addon data! Is it possible to retrieve it somehow?

A. Unless you've made a backup of your SavedVariables.lua file, no, sorry, it's not. :(

If you *have* made a backup, you should be able to simply overwrite your current SavedVariables.lua file with the old (backup) version.

However, there's a tool that exists to make this process easier, AND it will allow you to MERGE (rather than overwrite) your new data with your old. That tool is called SVEdit, and it can be found here: http://www.wowinterface.com/download...fo.php?id=4047


Q. My UI is all messed up. My bag slots don't line up properly with the bag themselves, how do I fix it? I dragged X thing off the screen, how do I get it back?

A. Go to your:

../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/<Character Name>

folder and delete your:

layout-cache.txt

file. That will reset all visible UI elements to the default Blizzard locations. A bit of a pain, as you'll have to set your layout back up the way you want, but at least problem X will be fixed.


Q. I messed up my chat settings, I can't see X messages any more, my channels are all messed up. How do I fix it?

A. Go to your:

../World of Warcraft/WTF/Account/<Account Name>/<Character Name>

folder. Delete the:

chat-cache.txt

file. That will reset all chat windows, channels & chat options to the default Blizzard setup. You'll have to re-do any changes you made to layout and channels that you want to keep.


Q. How do I make it so I can see both my chat and my combat window at the same time? How do I make a new chat window?

A. Go to the main in-game menu (esc or the little computer icon). Go to Interface Options. Make sure "Lock Chat Settings" is turned off. Make sure "Simple Chat" is turned off. Go back to the main game window. Hover your mouse over your chat window. A tab will appear at the top of your window. Right click on it. At the top, choose "Unlock". Move it to the location you want it by dragging on the tab. Resize it to the size you want by dragging on the edges of the chat window. Re-lock when you get it to the location and size you want.

For additional Chat Information and Troubleshooting visit http://www.wowwiki.com/chat


Q. I'm getting an error message saying my AddOns are using more than 32 mg memory and it dumps me out of game. How do I fix it?

A. Log in as far as your character select screen. Use the AddOns button in the lower left hand corner to bring up the list. There is a spot in the top right hand corner to allocate UI memory. Try setting it to 64. If it still isn't enough (unlikely, but possible), set it to 0 (zero), that means "unlimited" (but it will still only use what it needs, it won't suck up all your computer's memory).


Q: How do I connect to our guild's website in an addon (to get DKP info/access guild rosters/Thottbot/etc)?

A: The user interface LUA environment is "sandboxed" and it is not possible to get data in or out of the game in realtime while the game is playing. The only method of getting data in or out is through the SavedVariables.lua file which is only updated/read on logout/login or when the interface is reloaded. The function call to load a URL (LaunchURL()) only works for web pages originating on Blizzard's web site and it switches to your default web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) anyways. There is no way to access web site information within the game.


Q How do I extract information from WoW to an outside source? (Credit Shouryuu)

A This can't be done directly. For example, let us say you want to make an AddOn that updates your guild rooster, and posts the name/lvl/class of each member on your web site. The only way to do this, is to write an AddOn that will save the name/lvl/class of each guild member in a SavedVariables.lua, close WoW and extract the info to your guild web site either manually, or a program which would do it for you.
You cannot extract information about anything in the WoW environment by "leeching" the information that passes between you and the server.

Section 9 – What? (Definitions)

Q: No, really. What the heck are macros and scripts? (Credit Legorol, as posted at http://www.WoWWiki.com)

A: Macros:
Macros are series of commands designed to be executed in series.

A macro can consist of any number of /<command>s or pure text to up 255 characters. Users wishing to use more advanced commands are recommended to see the Interface Customization and World of Warcraft API sections at wowwiki.com.

Scripts:
Usually, not just in WoW, the term Script refers to a short to medium length program, written in some kind of simple programming language (called a scripting language). The purpose of a script is usually to control another program.

World of Warcraft has a powerful programming language called Lua embedded inside it, which is used for scripting. What this means is that WoW is able to understand and execute little programs written in the Lua language. However, in WoW, a script is usually not something that you use by itself, i.e. you don't just type in a script and execute it (although this is also possible). Instead, there are several places in WoW where you have the option to enter scripts as part of something else.

The kind of places that you can use a script:

/script [command] : If you type the slash command "/script" in the chat box, you can follow it with one or more valid Lua language statements (i.e. a script), separated by semi-colons (;).

Macros: you can enter scripts as part of macros, by putting one or more "/script" commands in your macro.

So what can a script do? There are many resources on Lua scripts (the main one being http://www.wowwiki.com); However, the most important point is that scripts are able to perform many more game actions than slash commands. This is done via a set of functions (called API or Application Programming Interface) that WoW makes available for use in scripts. There is a quite extensive list of all the API functions available for use in scripts at http://www.wowwiki.com

Section 10 – Where?

Q: Where can I learn more about macros / scripting?

A: These forums, for one. Another great source of info is http://www.wowwiki.com

For Macros, some good sites to visit are http://www.wowmacros.com for pre-made macros. Visit http://www.geocities.com/jsalli39/wowmacros.html or http://www.rpgexpert.com/4118.html for help with macro commands and scripting in general.

Section 11 – How? (How do I use?)

Q: How do I create a macro? (Credit Trimble)

A: In a chat box, start by typing /macro. then click NEW, give it a name and an icon, and then start entering some commands.


Q: What is the best way to know the exact spelling of a spell to cast? (Credit Trimble)

A: Open your spellbook along side your macro editor. Position the edit cursor in the macro window, and then hold down the SHIFT key while you LEFT click on a spell icon in your spellbook, and the game will type in the correct /cast spellname command for you. You can then cut/paste or edit it if needed.


Q: How can I make a conditional macro? (Credit Trimble)

A: To use conditionals, you'll need to invoke the LUA interpreter. To do that, you start a macro with "/script" Anything after /script will be run as lua code (or a 'chunk' as lua calls it). It is VERY important to keep all parts of a Lua chunk on ONE LINE in a macro, and make it fit within 255 characters.

You can then use the "if then end" codeblock to complete your macro. it should look similar to this when you're done:

/script if UnitName('target') == 'fred' then CastSpellByName('Healing Touch(Rank 1)') end

Note the use of "end" at the end. it's important to Lua.

Also, note that when using Lua code, you can't use /cast to cast a spell - you have to use the CastSpellByName() "function". Luckily, CastSpellByName accepts the exact spelling of the spellname given to you by the shift-click method I mentioned above (remember, you can cut and paste after using the shift-click trick). Additionally, there is another function called CastSpell(), but you must know the SPELL NUMBER to use it.

Also notice the part that says 'target'. this is a placeholder that WoW uses to represent whatever your target it. It's a kind of variable, but it isn't a Lua variable. Other placeholders are 'player', meaning yourself (no matter what your name is), 'party1' through 'party4' meaning your groupmates, and 'pet' which means your pet. MANY wow Lua functions accept these placeholders as arguments, but they are NOT Lua variables - they are more like literals to Lua. This means that while UnitName('player') is valid, UnitName(player) is not valid unless you created a Lua variable called player and did a statement like this player = 'player' to make it contain a valid placeholder value.


Q: When using Lua script code, do I need to end each line with a semicolon? (Credit Trimble)

A: Lua doesn't require this, but you may do so if you like. It does make it easier to read, but Lua does have strict enough syntax that it can understand commands without semicolons. Even something as ugly as this is legal: /script a =5 b =6 Message(a..b)c= a +b


Q: Can I make a conditional macro that does something if I have a certain buff? (Credit Trimble)

A: It's possible, but WoW's UI doesn't come with a simple function to check for a buff. There are ways to do it, but it's tricky. The best way is to use an addon that provides this function and then use it in your macros.

NOTE: Do a search on curse-gaming.com for the IsBuffActive AddOn; this will provide you with an extremely simple method of checking for buffs on yourself or others. :)


Q: How do I output text to the chat window?

A: use DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(msg,r,g,b)

This is easier if you alias it something like:

cprint = DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage

then you can use cprint("foo",1,0,0) or the like.

where msg is the text, r,g,b are red,green,blue (0-1) and a is alpha (0-1)


Q: Is it possible to use multiple abilities in one macro, such as cast Corruption, Curse of Agony, and then Shadowbolt? (Credit Skrag)

A: No. The reason is that it is not possible to wait in a macro, but to cast one spell after another, you would have to cast the first one, wait for it to finish, then cast the other. Even instant spells activate a global recast timer, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of one second, I believe, and you cannot cast another spell until this timer is done. So, without the ability to wait in a macro, it is impossible to cast multiple spells. Also, spells can only be cast when the player presses a key or clicks their mouse, not at any other time (which is why "do something, wait a bit, then cast XXX" is impossible).

It is, however, possible to do multiple things that don't require waiting. You could, for example, cast a spell and turn on attack. Or use two items (as long as they had independent refresh timers).

You just can't do anything that would require waiting between action A and action B.

NOTE: It is possible, however, to install an AddOn which automatically changes an action button to cast different spells in a user-specified list. So the first time you press the action button, you would cast Corruption; press it again, and you’d cast Curse of Agony; a third time would cast Shadowbolt. Danboo’s CastAway AddOn is a good example of an AddOn designed to do this very thing.


Q: How do I set up a macro or script to automatically cast XXX when... (Credit Skrag)

A: You don't. There is no way to automatically cast any spell or ability. You can ONLY use spells and abilities in response to a hardware event (mouse button or keyboard press), and furthermore, it appears that the hardware event must trigger a normal action button or the spell will fail to cast. You can attempt to call CastSpellByName after a certain amount of time, but the spell will not be cast.

NOTE: There are some AddOns that make self-rebuffing much easier to the point of being almost automated.

Section 11 again

Q: Is it possible to wait in a macro for a certain amount of time, then continue running the rest of the macro? (Credit Skrag)

A: No, it is not possible. See the question regarding multiple abilities in one macro for a more detailed explanation of the sorts of things not being able to wait prevents you from doing.

ADDENDUM:
It is possible, if you have Cosmos installed, to do something like:

/in 5 /say Hello,
/say Fred!

And in 5 seconds you will say "Hello,". But you will say "Fred!" right now. /in is not a macro pause command, it simply lets you queue up a single command to execute at a future time.

HOWEVER, you cannot use /in to cast a spell, use an ability, or run a macro, due to the hardware event restriction. So, its usefulness is very limited. You can use it to talk, or to use items, but that's about it. Which is one reason I didn't mention it in the first place. Because 99% of the time people want a pause, its so they can cast another spell in the same macro, or switch inventory items and then use an ability, neither of which is possible using /in.


Q: Can you help me write a macro that will automatically loot a corpse / automatically skin and loot a corpse / automatically pickpocket and loot?

A: No. There is no way to loot items except via mouse clicks.


Q: How do I make a macro that jumps and spins 180 degrees?

A: Movement related functions now require a hardware event to work so such a macro is no longer feasible. Even when it was, you could only turn at the same speed that the keyboard can turn you which is too slow to be usable in PvP. It is better to practice this maneuver using the mouse.

Addendum: (Credit Masennus)

I just figured this out. This macro will spin you 180 degrees but it requires some set up:

/script SetView(1); SetView(1); TurnOrActionStart(); CameraOrSelectOrMoveStart(); TurnOrActionStop(); CameraOrSelectOrMoveStop(); SetView(4); SetView(4);

First turn the camera 180 degrees with the mouse and type /script SaveView(1); into the chat window. Now this macro will spin you around.

If you find it disorienting to have the camera whip instantly to your new view delete the last SetView(4); Now you'll spin 180 degrees and the camera will spin a moment later to catch up with you.


Q: How do I make a macro/addon that tells me the distance to my target?

A: The ability to obtain the exact distance between you and a non-friendly target was removed. At best, you can now only obtain a range (i.e.: Between 36 and 30 units) based on which abilities on your action bar are usable.


Q: Why won't this macro / addon work? I'm almost positive my code is correct! (Credit Gharr)

A: For macros: double- and even triple-check your syntax AND SPELLING. Remember that LUA is case-sensitive! Triple-check the names of any spells, as well. CastSpellByName("Curse of Shadows(Rank 2)") is NOT the same as CastSpellByName("Curse of Shadow(Rank 2)") ;)

For AddOns: Follow the advice given in the "For macros:" section above. Remember that both LUA *and* XML are case-sensitive! </OnLoad> is NOT the same as </onload>. If your AddOn is listed in the [AddOns] list at character select, but doesn't seem to be loading in-game, check your XML, you likely have an error there somewhere.

If you've tried the above and STILL can't get your script to work: Make a NEW post in this forum asking for help. Please DO NOT clutter up this thread asking for help with your broken macros!


Q Can I make a Macro that automatically picks up the WSG flag? (Credit Shouryuu)
A This is not possible. Any interaction with the 3d world (talking to NPCs, looting...) must be done via mouse click

More Section 11

Q: How do you link multiple spells together in a single macro? (Credit Guillotine)
A: Spells can be linked into one macro if the first one does not activate the global cooldown (such as Nature's Swiftness). To do so, simply put /script SpellStopCasting(); in between the two spells. E.g.
________________________________________
Q u o t e:

/cast Presence of Mind
/script SpellStopCasting();
/cast Pyroblast(Rank 1)


Addendum (Credit Astryl and Ungnoticed):

Despite the popular (and usually correct) notion that you can only cast a single spell or use a single item per button press, it is possible to do so. However, what spells you can chain together is extremely limited. If you read nothing else in this post, at least read the Limitations section before posting questions.

---Limitations---
You can only cast spells during a button press. You cannot have the macro wait for any period of time and then cast the spell. The limiting factor is cooldowns. Casting a spell (usually when you start to cast) usually activates a global cooldown. You can only chain together spells that could otherwise be cast together near-instantly. This means that the first spell must be instant, and it must not activate a cooldown that prevents the second spell from being used immediately.

---What You Can't Do---
All of you that are looking for a way to cast Frostbolt, followed by Arcane Missles, followed by Frost Nova, followed by Blink, can just give up now. The first spell must be instant, and the next spell must be able to cast immediately following the first. There's no waiting 1 second for the global cooldown to pass allowed.

---What You Can Do---
There are a few spells, usually a couple per class, that fit the rules for chaining spells. They're usually spells that affect the next casted spell, or abilities that affect the next used ability. This means things like Nature's Swiftness, Presence of Mind, Heroic Strike, Raptor Strike, etc. They have no casting time (instant) and they do not activate the global cooldown.

---How Do You Do It---
The script for doing it is relatively simple. Make a macro to cast the first spell that fits the above rules. After that, you need to call the script function SpellStopCasting(). This is the key. After that, you can cast whatever you want that isn't on cooldown. For example:
/cast Nature's Swiftness

/script SpellStopCasting();

/cast Healing Wave

That gives you a single button press to cast an instant Healing Wave. Another example:
/cast Presence of Mind

/script SpellStopCasting();

/cast Pyroblast

That gives you an instant Pyroblast. Here's a nice one for Rogues with First Aid:
/cast Gouge

/script SpellStopCasting()

/script UseContainerItem(0,1) --Bandage


There is an exception to this. Spell that are 'On next Attack', like Heroic Strike or Raptor Strike should not have the SpellStopCasting(), as it will cancel the spell from happening. Hunters should like this one:
/cast Raptor Strike

/cast Wing Clip

That's will do a Wing Clip immediately, and a Raptor Strike on the next attack (which might be immediately following the Wing Clip, if the weapon speed timer is up). Warriors could do the same thing with Heroic Strike and Hamstring, though that's quite alot of rage to burn through in their case.

---Items Can Be Used As Well---
Most items aren't hit by the global cooldown, which means that spells that activate the global cooldown, can still be chained with many items. Druids could make an emergency self heal that chained Rejuvenation with using a healing potion. I like to have my Lightning Shield up at all times, so I chain that before using my mount. Some trinkets can be used and immediately followed by casting spells (such as the fire trinket from the new lvl50 Mage quest).

---Tips for Effective Use---
This functionality is best used to enhance your existing play style, not totally change it. For example, a warrior (especially one who has the talents to reduce their bloodrage damage) could chain bloodrage before some/all attacks (Bloodrage+Execute would be useful), to make sure they're using it whenever possible. You could add logic so that it only uses the bloodrage if you have more than half health or something. You could make sure you're making the most of your Elemental Mastery/Presence of Mind by attempting to cast it with every Chain Lightning/Pyroblast you cast. Explore the many possabilities!

Many of these macros are best used in emergency situations, especially the NS+Heal ones. If you were to already have a spell casting when you hit the emergency heal button, it would begin casting the heal without NS. To get around this, if you have the room in the macro (macros can only be 255 characters long, remember), add another '/script SpellStopCasting()' line at the top of your macro. That will make it abort whatever spell you might already have been casting, and do the NS+Heal. Note that this doesn't just apply to NS+Heal; I use it for my EM+ChainLightning.

Please note that the examples here are just examples of how to chain spells together. In order to be very useful, some of them (ie the healing ones) will require some other addon or script to handle their targeting, so that your heal targets yourself if you don't have another friendly unit targeted, or automatically targets a certain party member, or whatever target you want.

---Chaining More Than 2 Spells---
Though even more rarely useful, it is possible to chain more than just 2 spells/items. For example, we could enhance that druid emergency heal even further:
/cast Nature's Swiftness

/script SpellStopCasting()

/cast Healing Touch

/script SpellStopCasting()

/script UseContainerItem(0,1) --Potion


---Exceptions---
One thing to note about this is that if you chain Nature's Swiftness or Presence of Mind together with a spell with a cast time, it won't work while moving, whereas it would if you casted them seperately.

The reason for this is because the client doesn't know that Nature's Swiftness or PoM is up so therefore denies the spell from being cast. This is due to the time required to communicate with the server - even latency of 1ms would cause this issue. Your latency would have to be effectively 0 (in actuality somewhere in the nanosecond range, the exact latency would depend on how fast your computer would be able to process the macro) which is not possible. This is a limitation of current technology and I suspect that it will always be the case.

This functionality also doesn't work with form or stance switches. I really wanted a 'switch-back-to-caster-form-and-start-healing' macro, but it doesn't look like that's possible. If anyone has any way to get it to work, I'd love to know.

A few more examples:
Vanish+(anything that requires Stealth) - this will never work unless you're in Stealth already when you vanish, since the client will deny use of abilities that require stealth until the server tells it you're in stealth.

Any Seal+Judgement - this will fail unless you have an active Seal. This doesn't have to be the same seal as the one you are trying to Judge, any seal will do for the purposes of validating the Judgement spell in the client. However, I know of no issues with Divine Favor+Holy Light macros.

---Is This An Exploit?---
Nope. Slouken has confirmed that this is an allowed practice. It doesn't get around cooldowns in any way. Have fun!

Section 12

Resources

Blizzard Customization Tools - http://www.Blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=aww01669p This is a blowout of the FrameXML in a zip file.

WoWInterface Development Network - http://wdn.wowinterface.com/

WoW UI Designer - http://wowuides.wowinterface.com/

WoWWiki - http://www.wowwiki.com - Documents almost all of the WoW API as well as in-game events that you are able to respond to.

LUA Manual - http://www.lua.org/manual/5.0/ - Official LUA Manual

LUA Wiki - http://lua-users.org/ - Wiki for LUA -- useful for more in depth descriptions of LUA syntax, etc.

WinMPQ - http://www.wowinterface.com/downloa...nfo.php?id=3990 - MPQ is Blizzard's compression format -- this program allows you to extract data from these MPQ files.

BLP2 Tools - : http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=180 - This allows you to open BLP files, which store the artwork for WoW.


LUA Editors:

EditPlus - http://editplus.com/ - Fairly decent editor w/ most of the options you'll need while scripting in LUA, there is a plugin for LUA syntax here. This is a trialware program -- eventually you will have to pay.

LUA Eclipse - http://www.ideais.com.br/luaeclipse/ - Another editor to use while scripting in LUA. I have not used it at all so I can't comment on it.

UltraEdit32 - http://www.ultraedit.com - My editor of choice. LUA syntax highlighting file available @ http://www.capnbry.net/wow/downloads/lua.txt courtesy of capnbry.

BLUA - http://blua.sourceforge.net/ - This is an editor being developed exclusively for Blizzard's flavor of LUA, and when complete hopes to THE complete IDE for Blizzard LUA. They are not quite finished yet but keep your eye on this one, it looks like a winner.

Dreamweaver Code Coloring for LUA - http://www.wowinterface.com/downloa...oad.php?id=3971 - Dreamweaver extension that adds syntax coloring for lua code, within both lua and xml files. World of Warcraft Global and Widget API are both included as native functions, up to version 1.5.0 of the game client (soon to be released).

WoW SciTe LUA - http://www.wowguru.com/ui/61/wow-scite-lua/ - This is a freely distributed copy of SciTe Editor with many modifications. The version of the scite editor is SciTe Version 1.63 (Modified for WoW + Lua) With the introduction of API, keywords and function calltips were made easy. I modified lua.properties to include the calltip references to the wow.api I created. What this allows you is the ability to call functions within a "saved" .lua script that you are working on to easily reference the functions, as well as help provide you help with proper syntax. WoW SciTe Lua contains full functional LUA script "inserting", "syntax checking", highlighting, and the latest 5.0 compiler. However, this is a project that is just in it's infancy, so expect a lot of great changes in the future.

XML Editors

XMLSpy - http://www.altova.com - This is probably the best XML editor out there, and there is a free version available. Unfortunatley many of the things that make it so great are not present in the free version. There is a 30 day trial of the good version. Over $1000 to purchase, so unless you want to warez it, probably not one to get too attached to.

XMLMarker - http://symbolclick.com/ - Completely free and pretty decent tree based XML Editor -- probably the best of no-cost editors out there.

Peter's XML Editor - http://www.iol.ie/~pxe/ - Another decent, completely free XML editor.

Tutorials

Nevir's Tutorials - http://wow.nevir.net/tutorial/ - Nevir has a pair of tutorials that I found very useful when starting my WoW UI modding adventure.

Phryer Tuck's Tutorials - http://vnboards.ign.com/WoW_UI_Cust...852/79108902/?8 - Phryer Tuck has an excellent tutorial here to get you started on WoW modding.

WoWWiki Tutorials - http://www.wowwiki.com/HOWTOs - WoWWiki has some basic howto's here to accomplish specific tasks.

Viewing & Converting Screenshots:

IrfanView: http://www.irfanview.de/

Okay folks, help me get this sucker cleaned up

What needs to be added yet? Stuff about the stupid G15. What else?