Help! How to make a targeting keybind?

[mrultimate]

I am trying to make a key bind for targeting mitochondria electrolyte during hami raids but can't get anything to work.

For example I have tried

 

/bind b target_ custom_ next enemy alive mitochondria electrolyte

 

Doesn't work.

 

I'm probably missing the simple answer but I'd appreciate any help.

[EmmySky]

targetcustomnext alive Mito

 

That should be all you need.

 

I use it for quants and sappers.  You don't need the whole name.

[SuperPlyx]

/bind b target_ custom_ next Mitochondria Electrolytes

 

or

/bind b target_name Mitochondria Electrolytes

[Shenanigunner]

Here's the great bind pair for that:

/bind CTRL+SUBTRACT "beginchat /bind SUBTRACT target_custom_next enemy alive "
/bind SUBTRACT "target_custom_next enemy alive Sorc"

When you hit CTRL plus the NumPad minus key (SUBTRACT), it gives you a bind-writing string in the chat box. Just type four or five distinguishing characters ("Mito" is good) and hit return. (Note the space at the end of the string; it makes it easier to just start typing.)

 

Now whack SUBTRACT to target only the named targets. Change up in seconds as often as you need to.

 

Targeting works ONLY on names, not groups, titles, foe types etc. The default there is "Sorc" for Sorcerer; you can't use "Tsoo" or any other ID string. Just names. But it can be just a few key characters, so you don't have to type in that whole long name.

 

target_name is not as flexible since it can't be limited to enemies. The target_custom commands are preferable for almost all work of this kind.

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Shenanigunner

[Doomguide2005]

Not sure I remember exactly how anymore but I often turned my binds into macros at least on my main(s).  I'd then move the 'macro' icons around based on the mission rather than having to edit the bind each time.  I could also know at a glance which specials I had written for instead of trying to remember which keys did what on a given character.  Granted that lead to a couple trays worth of macro icons.

[Vulpoid]

11 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

When you hit the NumPad minus key (SUBTRACT), it gives you a bind-writing string in the chat box.

Just SUBTRACT or CTRL+SUBTRACT?

[srmalloy]

14 hours ago, EmmySky said:

targetcustomnext alive Mito

That targets the nearest mob with 'Mito' in the name, so it could target any type. What you want is

 

targetcustomnext alive electro

 

For the second half, when you assist the green team, you'd also want

 

targetcustomnext alive mend

 

[Li_Sensei]

4 hours ago, Vulpoid said:

Just SUBTRACT or CTRL+SUBTRACT?

Going from the binds posted, CTRL+SUBTRACT pastes the partial bind for you to complete, then once you've added the identifier string and hit enter, hitting SUBTRACT will target the nearsest living enemy that matches the string you provided.

[SeraphimKensai]

Protip: if you make it a macro instead of a keybind, once it's made you can right click it and it edit and type any name you need for an on the fly targeting macro.

 

That's what I would do for team PvP, and have a whole tray of targeting macros with one for each of the enemy team so when a target was called for a spike, I was on target every time.

[Vulpoid]

2 hours ago, Li_Sensei said:

Going from the binds posted,

Understood.
If you read the post carefully, it is worded differently. Says just hit SUBTRACT.
It should read CTRL+Subtract.
I was trying to be subtle and polite in suggesting an edit.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Vulpoid

[Shenanigunner]

1 hour ago, Vulpoid said:

Understood.
If you read the post carefully, it is worded differently. Says just hit SUBTRACT.
It should read CTRL+Subtract.
I was trying to be subtle and polite in suggesting an edit.

 

No, the comments above are correct, as is the bind post.

• Hit Ctrl-SUBTRACT to update the search string and record it as the new bind.
• Hit SUBTRACT to actually search using the string bind.

Solves many problems, such as having to type out or find the update bind, update macros, keep a whole tray or two of macros around, etc. Update in seconds on the fly, search away. You're rarely searching for more than one foe at a time, and it tends to evolve across the spectrum of leveling.

[Vulpoid]

21 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

When you hit the NumPad minus key (SUBTRACT), it gives you a bind-writing string in the chat box.

Sorry.... is this the same as CTRL+Subtract?

Look at what you wrote in the original post. It is quoted above. I am not being a jerk, I am just confused. 
Is numpad subtract the same as CTRL+subtract?
I apologize if they are the same.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Vulpoid

[Shenanigunner]

Nope, you're write, I'm rong. I corrected the post to prevent future confusion, but it should have said Ctrl+SUBTRACT to update the bind and SUBTRACT to fire it. The binds themselves should have made it clear, but I sure didn't. 😛

[Shred Monkey]

That CTRL+Subtract bind is great.  I have it setup to alt+pagedown myself, but it's very easily swapped on the fly.  I highly recommend using it.  It's important to have that space at the end so you can begin typing immediately and have the format right.

 

One of my toons uses a bind that calls a macro that calls all 10 macros in tray 4.  Then I swap out the 10 marcos in tray 4 with various marcos I have saved for common targets.  Also it's pretty easy to edit a macro, by rightclick-edit so there's a few generic target binds I edit in that bar as well.  However, I don't like that this method takes up screen space by having extra trays on the screen screen full of macros.

[ninja surprise]

On 2/1/2021 at 8:36 PM, Doomguide2005 said:

Not sure I remember exactly how anymore but I often turned my binds into macros at least on my main(s).  I'd then move the 'macro' icons around based on the mission rather than having to edit the bind each time.  I could also know at a glance which specials I had written for instead of trying to remember which keys did what on a given character.  Granted that lead to a couple trays worth of macro icons.

It's the same, you just sub in "macro name" for "bind key"

/bind SUBTRACT "target_custom_next enemy alive Sorc"

becomes

/macro sorc "target_custom_next enemy alive Sorc"

[siolfir]

On 2/1/2021 at 8:47 PM, mrultimate said:

I am trying to make a key bind for targeting mitochondria electrolyte during hami raids but can't get anything to work.

For example I have tried

 

/bind b target_ custom_ next enemy alive mitochondria electrolyte

 

Doesn't work.

 

I'm probably missing the simple answer but I'd appreciate any help.

A lot of replies have already given you answers, but if I was picking out what was wrong with your current bind, I would suggest that - if this was a copy/paste - you have a space after each underscore, which breaks the command. I changed the font in the quote so that the spaces show up more easily.

 

Since the underscores are superfluous and the command works with or without them, I typically leave them out.

[Shenanigunner]

15 hours ago, ninja surprise said:

It's the same, you just sub in "macro name" for "bind key"

 

Well, yeah. There are almost no binds that can't be macros, and vice versa.

 

I'll just suggest that for targeting, a bind can be operated continuously WHILE you move and position and look around, and a macro can't.

 

So the macro is only usefui in a "stop and see what's in my field of vision" mode, whereas the bind can be used as you turn, fly, run, spin, generally look around. I guess if you're in a focused battle and want to target something already there, a macro is okay, but if you're using the general or name target bind to find hostages or glowies, it might be unnecessarily clumsy.

 

[siolfir]

3 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

I'll just suggest that for targeting, a bind can be operated continuously WHILE you move and position and look around, and a macro can't.

Wouldn't that depend on where in the tray your macro is? After all, anything in that first power tray is also just a single button press away...

 

And this is from someone who almost never makes macros and typically has no fewer than a dozen binds above and beyond the standard keymapping active at any point.

[Shenanigunner]

9 minutes ago, siolfir said:

Wouldn't that depend on where in the tray your macro is? After all, anything in that first power tray is also just a single button press away...

 

Yes. If you put the macro in slot 0-9, it's as simple as a bind.

 

I just remain confused as to why some players choose to write macros for anything but (fairly infrequent) click-use. They are harder to create, harder to edit, can't be saved, have (large but) limited count, have to be restored individually on each alt, can't be managed as a set, and have to be assigned to a tray slot to allow keyboard activation. They very much have their place... but, IMVVVVHO, so do binds. Why use a screwdriver to pound nails, as in this case? 🙂

 

(In all good, non-flaming, non-argumentive intent...)

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by Shenanigunner

[siolfir]

7 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

Yes. If you put the macro in slot 0-9, it's as simple as a bind.

 

I just remain confused as to why some players choose to write macros for anything but (fairly infrequent) click-use. They are harder to create, harder to edit, can't be saved, have (large but) limited count, have to be restored individually on each alt, can't be managed as a set, and have to be assigned to a tray slot to allow keyboard activation. They very much have their place... but, IMVVVVHO, so do binds. Why use a screwdriver to pound nails, as in this case? 🙂

 

(In all good, non-flaming, non-argumentive intent...)

 

Someone else would have to answer why they would use a macro over a bind, but I think one instance would be for popmenus and also a macro has a visible indicator while you can easily forget a bind since there isn't a UI indication that, for example, pressing numpad0 activates whichever Destiny power I have slotted.

[Shenanigunner]

1 minute ago, siolfir said:

Someone else would have to answer why they would use a macro over a bind...

 

Don't read my comments as being anti-macro; I use them all the time and delight in finding just the right icon image for each. But they're two different tools and I find it odd that so many otherwise advanced users will spend so much time trying to make macros do certain jobs and all but shun keybinds as some... dumb, complicated, game-breaking option. (I've had all three said to me.)

 

 

1 minute ago, siolfir said:

...one instance would be for popmenus and also a macro has a visible indicator while you can easily forget a bind since there isn't a UI indication that, for example, pressing numpad0 activates whichever Destiny power I have slotted.

 

Welllll, maybe that calls for yet another tool that works very well, such as this one:

I know. How retro and inconvenient.... 🙂

[Doomguide2005]

Well I can't speak for other macro users but for me I used them instead of binds (or more accurately in addition to) because: 

 

1) danged if I remember it was 9+ years ago 😜 haven't got back to that point on HC.

2) as, I think @siolfir was suggesting, when you have 100+ characters across 5+ servers and were learning as you went remembering which key was bound to what was more challenging than looking for the macro icon.  At first I don't know if I knew, for example, i could even save my binds to a file to load onto another character.

3) only really did this on my main characters where what keys might already be in use (and therefore not readily bound) varied quite a bit.  Relatively easy to move the macro icon around vs change the key around (and remember what you've done).

4) just as a usage note I'd often use the first spot for the most used macro in the '1' slot.  You know that one where if you were mouse clicking your powers you'd occasionally shift the tray and suddenly find yourself on tray 8 instead of tray 1 ... woopsie.  Normally I'd tap on the macro since I'd be clicking on the power elsewhere on the tray(s).

 

Mostly it was as much what I became used to as anything and even what might be less efficient would in effect be more efficient as that's how my own personal spaghetti code got written and I was familiar with its use.

[Zepp]

One thing to remember is that the target needs to be in your visual field and perception range.

[Shenanigunner]

14 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

2) as, I think @siolfir was suggesting, when you have 100+ characters across 5+ servers and were learning as you went remembering which key was bound to what was more challenging than looking for the macro icon.

 

If you use more or less random keybinds, yes. If you use a consistent set, not so much. I have about six alts in regular rotation, each of different archetype, and by using consistent "type" assignments it never takes me more than a few minutes to remember the basic controls.

 

I do maintain a cheat sheet for all my alts, just to refresh my memory on the obscure stuff, but simple stuff such as:

• H for whatever the main self-heal is.
• I for whichever invisibility you have.
• U for defense/buff toggles. Keep tapping until they're all up.
• P to fire the big gun - Zapp, Assassin Strike, etc.
• CTRL+P to fire the big damage booster - Aim, Concentration, whatever. Ctrl-P to prep; P to fire.
• Y to execute emergency move GettaHellOuttaHere (vertical TP, flight or jump).
• J to activate jump power (often just Jump Pack, since travel jumps are bound to my mouse).
• B for AoE powers: Ball Lightning, Boggle, Burn. (Just happens to be three B powers.)

...and so on. I'm not saying this is the wizard set of assignments, but it's easy to map powers generically so that you're using the same keys whether it's Healing Flames or Aid Self or whichever. The vast number will be per-alt and in your main power tray anyway.

 

And it's not an argument against macros if you prefer them. I just find a lot of the arguments against binds somewhere between thin and silly. (It reminds me of car guys I know, who will reach through the fan belt of a running engine to adjust something, but sweat bullets at the thought of rewiring a taillight.)

 

12 hours ago, Zepp said:

One thing to remember is that the target needs to be in your visual field and perception range.

 

For certain values of "perception range." On maps like the cemetery or islands, popping to a high location will often target things many hundreds of feet away, invisible even with high visscale settings. Hostages etc. often just pop up as a tiny reticule.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by Shenanigunner

[Zepp]

1 hour ago, Shenanigunner said:

For certain values of "perception range." On maps like the cemetery or islands, popping to a high location will often target things many hundreds of feet away, invisible even with high visscale settings. Hostages etc. often just pop up as a tiny reticule.

To clarify, perception range is the distance that your character can see (-target stealth) . Rendering is a separate issue. You have to be in perception range however, the target does not need to be rendered.