Advanced Binds (and Macros) - Tri-Form Warshade - Binds & Tray Swap

[Avernal]

This one is just a nice quality of life thing for Warshades who play tri-form, I use it on mine for fast form switching and keeping my teleport binds all working on my usual modifer+lbutton set-up.
 

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First up - the basics, and some things you'll benefit from knowing, in plain English:
 

• Binds have a hard limit of around 255 characters, so for more complex ones you need to split them in to chunks (files) that fit those restrictions. That's why binds like this use multiple text files.
   
• The 'bindloadfile' command will default to the 'root' game directory if you use relative paths ("bindloadfile file1.txt" would look for file1.txt in the root directory), this means you're cutting out however many characters you would waste on typing out the full HDD path, so you don't need to use "C:/Binds/whatever.txt" as a sloppy workaround for that - "binds/whatever.txt" is MUCH shorter than even that and lets you keep your binds subfolder in the game's directory. Win-win. Now this will differ from launcher to launcher - but essentially Tequila will look in the 'Tequila' directory if you don't use a full path, whereas Homecoming's launcher would look in "settings/live" (for the live servers). You may need to fiddle with this if you're using other launchers to find out where the game is looking by default, generally it'll be in the same location as the City of Heroes executable file, Homecoming have just sorted their versions to their own subfolders.
   
• Removing the underscores from slash commands makes them shorter and the game still understands them - you don't need "bind_load_file", because "bindloadfile" works too and is two characters shorter. I like "bindloadfilesilent" because whilst it's a little longer, it means my chat window isn't getting spammed with bind files loading in, and I can still split most of my long bind loops in to 2 or 4 files to avoid the hard limit of text characters.

 

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You'll need to set up your trays and macros (three copies of them to be exact). I use Tray 1 (Human), Tray 8 (Nova) and Tray 9 (Dwarf) here but you can edit the numbers to your preference. Custom icons for each - again my choices, something you can customise to your preference using the Google Sheet of all in-game icons.

Human Form Macro - paste in to game chat (you need two copies of this for Dwarf and Nova trays)

/macro_image "NewPraetorians_Pendragon_DefensiveSweep" "Human Form" "powexectoggleoff Dark Nova$$powexectoggleoff Black Dwarf$$bindloadfilesilent binds/Hmn.txt$$gototray 1"

Dwarf Form Macro - paste in to game chat (you need two copies of this for Human and Nova trays)

/macro_image "NewPraetorians_Pendragon_ShatterArmor" "Black Dwarf" "powexectoggleon Black Dwarf$$bindloadfilesilent binds/Dwf.txt$$gototray 9"

Nova Form Macro - paste in to game chat (you need two copies of this for Human and Dwarf trays)

/macro_image "NewPraetorians_Pendragon_TectonicAssault" "Dark Nova" "powexectoggleon Dark Nova$$gototray 8"

As I mentioned, you'll need duplicate copies of these for each of the three trays - leave out Human form for Tray 1, Nova form for Tray 8 and Dwarf form for Tray 9 (you don't need to turn in to the form you're already in), but otherwise try to put those macros in to the same slots for each tray so you build up an instinctive ability to tap the same key. (E.G. I might put the Human form macro in slot 10 for both the Dwarf and Nova form trays, Dwarf in slot 9 for Human and Nova form trays, Nova in slot 8 for Human and Dwarf trays - so I'm always tapping the same number for Dwarf/Human/Nova regardless of what form I'm in)
 

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...and next we'll need the binds that accompany the Dwarf and Human macros, this is what lets you keep using SHIFT+LBUTTON to teleport on click whether you're in Dwarf or Human form, without having to change your binds manually each time.

File 1 'Hmn.txt' - located in a '/binds' sub-folder of my Homecoming installation ('/settings/live/')
Here I'm setting the human form teleport to shift+left-click, my damage buff in human form to my top side-button of my mouse, my hp/end heal to the bottom side-button of my mouse and then my foe and teammate teleport powers to ALT and CTRL plus left-click respectively. I like to have ALT+bottom side-button on my mouse be for quickly toggling on Shadow Cloak and Super Speed - because the two of them together is full invisibility plus rapid movement, so is really good for ghosting missions. By having them on a quickly accessible bind like this I can quickly tap that mouse combination as soon as I swap to Human form.
 

shift+lbutton "powexecname Shadow Step"
button5 "powexecname Sunless Mire"
button4 "powexecname Stygian Circle"
ALT+BUTTON4 "powexectoggleon Shadow Cloak$$powexectoggleon Super Speed"
CTRL+LBUTTON "powexecname Shadow Recall"
SHIFT+LBUTTON "powexecname Shadow Step"
ALT+LBUTTON "powexecname Starless Step"

File 2 'Dwf.txt' - As above for storage location
Dead simple - only changes two binds for your damage buff and teleport powers since Dwarf form's have different names
 

shift+lbutton "powexecname Black Dwarf Step"
button5 "powexecname Black Dwarf Mire"

...and as a bonus bind for Kheldians, I like to have this:
Press Num0 to target the biggest pain in my arse first

/bind numpad0 "targetcustomnext quant enemy alive$$targetcustomnext void enemy alive$$targetcustomnext dwarf enemy alive$$targetcustomnext nova enemy alive$$targetcustomnext cyst enemy alive$$targetcustomnext sapp enemy alive"

That's all you need. The macros will load the appropriate binds in to the game for you, so you just push them like you would a normal power in your tray and they'll take care of the rest.

The beauty of this is you're always using the same buttons/key combinations to perform the same actions, regardless of the form you're in, so you'll build up muscle memory really quickly and it'll feel pretty smooth and intuitive. Because those form macros are going to sit in the same slots across the three trays - in the event you get mezzed and detoggled you just tap the Human number to switch your tray and binds back, then you're ready to get back to form-swapping as soon as the mez clears or carry on fighting in human form.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Avernal
Optimisation for paths based on feedback on other topic

[Avernal]

Found some of my old Peacebringer macros whilst tidying up my game folder too - no fancy looping binds for these as you don't really need them on the PB unless you're taking a Teleport power in your Human form. Follow the guide above for the Warshade trays for each form, but substitute with the macros below to have nice, fancy icons for each form and it's own seperate tray of abilities. I also use /bind shift+lbutton "powexecname White Dwarf Step" for White Dwarf's teleport.
 

/macro_image "LuminousAura_TeleportSelf" "Human Form" "powexectoggleoff Bright Nova$$powexectoggleoff White Dwarf$$gototray 1"
/macro_image "LuminousAura_WhiteDwarf" "White Dwarf" "powexectoggleon White Dwarf$$gototray 9"
/macro_image "LuminousBlast_BrightNova" "Bright Nova" "powexectoggleon Bright Nova$$gototray 8"