(N)EverQuest Scrolls

This is a programmable button pad with a D cursor control button, like a cross between a numeric keypad and a console gaming pad. It attaches using USB, and has support for MacOS X (and 9) as well as Windows. It is intended for use by the left hand. There are ten buttons as well as the cursor button and a wheel shaped throttle control. The ten buttons can be modified with three shift states – which need to be controlled from the buttons somehow.

You assign to each button press on the device either a key, a macro, or a shift state. When I say key, that means a single key press, which the key functions can be set to press and release, hold down, or repeat at various rates. This means that a combination keystroke, like Ctrl-S, or even Shift-S, needs to be assigned via a macro. The Windows version seems to accept long macros, but the MacOS X version of the software appears to limit macros to a relatively short sequence.

Manufacturer link: Belkin Nostromo

So far I have set it up to use the D pad for movement control, with a couple of common functions on the buttons; all works smoothly. I want to use it as a limited form of two boxing, so that I can control one character with it, while I actively play the other. This will clearly only work for certain classes; I wouldn’t want to try it with a melee class, for example, but would be fine with a buff class, especially cleric, and I can see it working with a mage.

My initial question for myself is: what macros do I need to create for this scenario? I can see it working with the basic ten buttons mapped to the hot keys, although more advanced controls are possible, and the cursor control mapped to movement keys is pure bonus. It might almost be feasible for controlling a melee character, now that I think about it, given that we have reasonable movement control beyond simple auto follow.

Basic controls…
Target character, stand, and…
cast buff (x n – what about self buffing?)
heal
follow (no sit after this, click jboots first)
Target character, assist and…
pet backoff/pet attack
nuke (stand/sit)
dot (stand/sit)
Others…
Toggle sit on/off
Gate
Evac (druid)

This all depends on spell order being maintained, and is highly variable between chars. Should include some /gsay to confirm targeting, etc. In a minimalist configuration, control of the sit function isn’t required, as any spell cast will leave you sitting; a raid would be different, but then it would be different for many other cases as well.

A second usage pattern would be as a supplementary control for your main character. I can see the movement control being preferred, perhaps. This is especially appealing for when running with a laptop keyboard, and being unable to access numeric keypad keys or function keys as easily as on a normal keyboard. In which case the usual hot keys would be required, plus auto attack toggle, sit toggle, and replacement for the f keys; could possibly use the throttle as a shift control between these two banks, or sacrifice the hot key that occupies my forward macro. In this configuration, I’m going to assume that the normal keyboard is accessible; so that Ctrl-S for sit toggle, Alt-3 (etc) for spell casting, etc, are accessible. So hot keys will map to buttons directly, for faster access, movement to the pad, and the throttle wheel will shift state for function keys when pushed up. The problem with this is that there are 10 buttons, but I’d want to map 10 hotkeys plus a shift function, and the throttle isn’t too reliable for this; it would be better if releasing it also recentred it. Strafing is also lost this way, unless you can use the keyboard simultaneously.

The simplest configuration is as described: map movement keys to the D pad, hot keys to the buttons, F keys to one of the shift states, and the throttle to shift. For a laptop user, the numeric keypad also covers autoattack (I shift it to numeric 0) and look up/down/centre view. I think I’d use the other shift (throttle down) to manage the view – D pad up for up, down for down, and left/right to centre. That leaves autoattack; the way to handle that is to assign it to the key that would control the hot key I use for forward movement (9 or 10), that does sense heading, foraging, tracking, and any other function I put into that macro – this hot key will be autotriggered by my D pad forward movement anyway, so reassigning the button shouldn’t be too confusing for me.

Next problem: I can do this with the Mac profile editor, but the PC profile editor doesn’t allow me to assign shift states to the throttle. I’ll check into this.

Back to 2boxing, time to work out the macros. I’m going to think of them as general purpose, but I’ll probably assign them to hot keys, rather than the E50 macros. The most immediate priority to me is controlling the mage to back up my enchanter. From the list above, I’m going to need: follow macro, send in the pet, nuke, dot, pet heal, pet buff, pet DS, and emergency (gate). Items in brackets can’t be done inside hot key social commands.

In an ideal world, I’d use something like the following, with a few recasts added in there against fizzles. However, the social macros are restricted to 5 lines, so most of these would have to be trimmed. All of the spell casting macros will also need a pause inserted after the casts, to allow time for the spell cast to complete; and remember that socials are not interruptable, you have to allow them to complete. One way to allow for this would be to remove the final ‘/sit on’, and use a separate key for this – and manually allow for the casting time, which also means that fizzles can be handled by a simple extra tap of the cast button.

Follow
/sit off
(click jboots)
/target X (or F2)
/follow

Pet Attack this will double as a pet backoff if I have myself targeted first
/target X (or F2)
/assist
/gsay targeted %t
/pet back off
/pet attack

Cast Pet Buff (can be adjusted according to the spell to cast)
/sit off
/pet target
/cast n
/sit on

Cast Attack (can be adjusted according to the spell to cast)
/sit off
/pet target
/assist
/gsay targeted %t
/cast n
/sit on

The best way to set this up will be in combination with EQWatcher, so that I can hear when buffs are wearing off; I’ll leave self buffs to direct keyboard control. Extending this to a cleric required a couple more functions: cleric buffs, different heals, nuke/stun and possibly spell swapping, which is definitely more advanced, and I think I’ll skip for now. Thinking about it, the general assist and cast technique should work for the cleric, only instead of assist pet, it should be self target and assist. So the new pattern is:

Cast Spell (can be adjusted according to the spell to cast)
/sit off
/target X (always my character name)
/assist
/gsay targeted %t
/cast n
/sit on

This pattern will work for any spell, attack or buff. Other spells can fit into the general pattern, such as gate or evac. All that is required is to adjust the gsay command to inform the group of actions. They will even work outside of a duo, when both characters are grouped with other people. If that is going to be the case, then we can’t use F2 for targeting group members, as that could be any group member in that slot.