Transfer MACROS Between Toons Effortlessly - A How To Guide

[BlackSpectre]

Hello everyone! Wow, it's great to be back in City of Heroes!

 

Way back on Live, I got into key binding in a big way. I loved researching and testing out the mechanics of the bind commands, and of course creating awesome binds. It was just fun figuring out ways to make the game do what I want it to do... all about customization, ya know?  I even wrote a big guide (http://barbariankeep.com/bs/bindguide.html).

 

That said, I was never really into Macros... I was all about pressing keys not mouse clicks. Macros are things that are like key binds but use buttons loaded into the power tray to click on. They use all the same slash commands and bind formatting as normal binds, with the addition of the /Macro command and the title of the button. For example: /Macro Name1 emote wave

 

Anyway, I recently started leading BAF trials (Behavioral Adjustment Facility), and decided to try out Macros to communicate with the team instead of key binds (thank you Tyranax!). I made a whole tray filled with chat macros... and then I changed toons. Ugh. I needed those macros to continue leading BAFs  with the new toon, and I was not looking forward to re-creating them. So of course, I started looking into the possibility of using bind commands to make things easier.

 

A bind command already existed to save key binds in a text file and then load those onto any toon, called /bind_load_file, and I've been using it for years and years to create really cool, complex binds. So I got to thinking... maybe there's a way to use that to save macros and load them onto toons too? After a little testing, I figured out a way to do it!   

 

 

HOW TO SAVE MACROS IN A TEXT FILE

 

There is no way that I know of to have the game save macros to a text file, so you'll have to do it manually. Open a text editor (Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac) and type in your macros. You're going to write one, long command line, and string the different macros together. The command string must always start with double dollar signs ($$). This tells the game there are other commands to execute. The double dollar signs ($$) also separate one macro from another. After that just type in your macro commands as you normally would in game and save the file. For example, let's say I have these 3 macros I want saved:

 

/macro Hi emote wave

/macro Yes emote thumbsup

/macro Dance emote dance

 

In the text file, string the commands together like this in one, long command line:

 

$$macro Hi emote wave$$macro Yes emote thumbsup$$macro Dance emote dance

 

Make sure the string starts with "$$", and each command is separated by "$$".  

Save the text file in your binds directory/folder. Mine are in the COH game folder z:\Applications\COH\binds\ 

 

 

 

HOW TO LOAD SAVED MACROS ONTO YOUR TOON

 

Super simple. Just use the /bind_load_file command to tell the game to import all of your macros. In the chat window, type:

 

/bind_load_file z:\Applications\COH\binds\Macros.txt (or whatever the name and path of your text file is) 

 

Your macros will instantly be added to the first available slots in your power trays! Yes, it's that fast! Now you can transfer macros from one toon to another with ease.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

 

NOTES:
There appears to be about a 254 character limit to how much text (including spaces) a single macro may contain. Also, the last macro in the batch of macros I imported was truncated even though it was less than 254 characters, so just make sure you check your macros after you import them.   

I run the game on a Mac, so my directory/folder paths will be different from anyone running on Windows, but it's basically the same process. Also this was tested on the Homecoming servers.

 

UPDATE: If you find that some of your commands/macros are being truncated, try enclosing the command(s) for that macro in quotation marks. It appears to prevent the problem, and might be a good practice to do anyway. For example, macro Hi "league Everyone Attack!"

 

POST CREDITS:  Although I independently figured out how to store macros in text files, I recently discovered this method was already documented by @Grumble in this 2009 post from the Old COH Forums.  Man, if I had known about this it could have saved me a lot of time! 

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by BlackSpectre
simplified the syntax by eliminating the first macro command to have each string start with $$

[BlackSpectre]

I thought someone might like the macros I use to lead BAFs, so I've attacked the text file to this post. Just load them onto your character as detailed above.

 

 

BAFmacros.txt

[VinicanMorbo]

Useful. Thx.

[BlackSpectre]

You know... it's the story of my life. I figure out something new, come up with a new creative solution, invent a new way of doing things, or create a novel storyline and do you know what happens? After patting myself on the back and feeling really good about myself and how innovative and creative I am, I discover someone else had already done it! Arrrrrgggghhhhh! 

 

Last night I discovered that @Grumble from the old COH forums had documented how to store macros in text files way back in 2009 in this post. 

 

I guess I can take a little credit for figuring it out on my own? Maybe? Ah, whatever. 

 

At least @Gruble didn't figure out how to use macros in text files to create rotating "text macros", but dang! He did come really, really close to it!  If I had stumbled on this post earlier, it could have saved me a ton of time. 

 

So kudos to @Grumble! Know that I appreciate the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking that went into developing this idea. You did great work, my friend. Great work. 🙂