CityBinder for Homecoming v0.1 is out!

[Tailcoat]

I've finally released an update to CityBinder v0.76 since it's been years since the original was updated. CB makes it easy to create all kinds of key binds, both simple and complex multi-file ones!

 

Updated features:

• ATs
• Powers
• emotes
• costume change emotes
• commands
• UI improvements
• a folder containing sample complex/simple binds you can import into your profile (teleport to/from target, activate travel powers with secondary abilities, taunt with insults, cycle through dance emotes, etc)

 

You can download the files here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/citybinder-for-homecoming/files/  Just put the folder where you want and double-click CityBinder.exe. I edited it using Windows 10, but I'm not sure if it works on other operating systems.

 

You can read about ideas for new features in Documents>TODO.txt. The Speed on Demand module needs more updating, but I want to find out what people are looking for in it.

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Tailcoat
Added screenshots

[Tailcoat]

I've made my first CityBind module! Camera settings will be available in the next update. Soon, I'll have to figure out how to fit all the modules I have planned since there isn't much space left for buttons if I were to continue stacking them vertically. Another problem is that I haven't figured out how to control the order in which they appear.

[xmenlegend]

I recently got into keybinds in this game, and I'm SO excited to play with this. Thank you!!!

[xmenlegend]

On 9/1/2021 at 9:33 PM, xmenlegend said:

I recently got into keybinds in this game, and I'm SO excited to play with this. Thank you!!!

So I've played around with this a bit and I quickly realized I have no idea how to actually use this. I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Is there somewhere I can read more about how to use this?

Edited September 4, 2021 by xmenlegend

[Tailcoat]

42 minutes ago, xmenlegend said:

So I've played around with this a bit and I quickly realized I have no idea how to actually use this. I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Is there somewhere I can read more about how to use this?

 

I've been working on creating a wiki to help explain some things, but it's still a WIP. You can check out the contents here: https://sourceforge.net/p/citybinder-for-homecoming/wiki/Home/

 

Of particular interest may be "Getting Started" and "FAQs" (which needs a different name since it's now mostly explaining features of the Profile window). "Modules" contains a page for each module-- I need to go thru each of those and fill them in, but "Typing Message", "Buffer Binds", "Ultra Binds", "Inspiration Popper" (particularly detailed), "Henchmen Bindings", and "Speed On Demand" have some info on their pages. 

 

This is the table of contents so far:

• [Introduction]
• [Getting Started]
• [FAQ]

• [Modules]

• [Change Log]

• [Known Issues]

• [Todo]

• [Info For Developing CB]

• [CityBinder API]
• [What Is This File?]
• [Useful Links]
• [Credits]

 

Was there anything you were having trouble with in particular? 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Tailcoat

[Tailcoat]

For previews on future updates and other news, you can follow the project blog here: https://sourceforge.net/p/citybinder-for-homecoming/blog/

Here's the latest info:

 

It was grueling, but I finally got my addition of camera commands to the Power Binder working. In order to avoid cluttering the command list with camera commands, I wanted to put the options under "Camera Settings." Since these commands have different ways of being written (ex. "mouselook" can be used via holding a key, toggled, set to on or off, while camera distance requires a number, while other commands just require their names), I had to think of a way of accommodating that. My solution was to divide them into sections that could be enabled by radio buttons labeled "Use This Command:" You can check that out in the attached screenshot. 

 

Now that I've got the radio buttons working, hopefully I can consolidate the window-control commands like Show/Hide Info, Toggle Menu and Show/Hide Windows into one settings window.

 

Did you know that hold, toggle, on, and off can be used for lookup, lookdown, zoomin, zoomout, first, and third? Some of those have some weird effects that probably aren't very useful, but I allowed it since you never know whether someone might find an interesting use for them. Using hold+first ("+first") will cause the camera to jump to first-person camera while the bind button is held, but when you let go, it snaps back into third-person. Using on+lookup ("lookup 1") pitches the camera back all the way so you're staring up at the sky and if you try to change the view, it'll snap back to that. Why anyone would want that, who knows. ~shrug~

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Tailcoat

[Shenanigunner]

Interesting approach. I've never found binds as difficult to write and manage as some good portion of the player base obviously does; maybe a background in both coding and scripting makes it easier to understand.

 

My thought here (from wide experience) is that it's going to be a bit like visual HTML designers: okay for simple approaches and "take what you get" results, but with some portion of optimal outcomes not reachable except by going into the code.

 

I can only admire the thinking and the effort, but wonder if the amount of time needed to master the tool matches or exceeds the time needed to just understand how bind strings work, and write them without assistance. (And keeping in mind that macros, which many players seem to prefer, are identical in every way except the first few elements, key assignment vs, macro naming.)

 

Kudos, though!

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Shenanigunner

[Tailcoat]

2 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

Interesting approach. I've never found binds as difficult to write and manage as some good portion of the player base obviously does; maybe a background in both coding and scripting makes it easier to understand.

 

My thought here (from wide experience) is that it's going to be a bit like visual HTML designers: okay for simple approaches and "take what you get" results, but with some portion of optimal outcomes not reachable except by going into the code.

 

I can only admire the thinking and the effort, but wonder if the amount of time needed to master the tool matches or exceeds the time needed to just understand how bind strings work, and write them without assistance. (And keeping in mind that macros, which many players seem to prefer, are identical in every way except the first few elements, key assignment vs, macro naming.)

 

Kudos, though!

 

 

I've found CB very useful, even though I've manually made plenty of my own macros and pop menus too. It's so much faster to tick some boxes in order to set up a bunch of binds for stuff like controlling MM pets or consuming inspirations. I also want to use the app's Power Binder to add a feature for creating macros faster. I have a small prototype app that allows selecting from icon images to save time spent looking up the file names for image macros b/c I've personally found it to be a bit of a PITA to go looking when I make those for costume changes. It's also been an interesting challenge to learn about programming to fix this up.

[Shenanigunner]

Good points. However, isn't it just as easy to maintain bind-load files that can be copied, with or without a little editing, from alt to alt? One of the huge advantages of binds is that they can be saved and loaded, and even loaded in small chunks without disturbing a larger bind set. Treating them like macros, where you enter the bind string manually on each and every alt, emulates what to me is the biggest flaw with macros (no way to save and load, even for the same alt).

 

Not dissing the tool, at all. I've certainly spent my time creating and building support things that Do It My Own Rotten Way and all. I just lean towards seeing this as using a robotic, programmable sledgehammer to put in a thumbtack. 😄

 

In the end, what does this bring that an editable (copy-able, distribute-able) bind file doesn't? A customized editing mode, with a lookup database, for Notepad++ might be more productive and useful, and easier to maintain.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Shenanigunner

[_NOPE_]

7 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

In the end, what does this bring that an editable (copy-able, distribute-able) bind file doesn't? A customized editing mode, with a lookup database, for Notepad++ might be more productive and useful, and easier to maintain.

Because some people are more visual and less... "textual" creatures, and would rather look at a "prettier" UI than Notepad.

[Shenanigunner]

8 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

Because some people are more visual and less... "textual" creatures, and would rather look at a "prettier" UI than Notepad.

 

Fair enough.

 

'Nuf sed.

[Starhammer]

Could this be used, or be modified to be used, to simulate an "alias" command?

For those who may not understand, my experience of "alias" in games that use it is that it basically creates a new command that performs the functions of one or more commands. For instance:

/alias tgoff "powexectoggleoff"

to allow you, when writing keybinds/macros to use "tgoff" as being the same in the client as "powexectoggleoff" It may not seem like a big deal so far, aside from when you're butting up against that 255 character limit. Consider however
/alias moveoff "powexectoggleoff sprint$$powexectoggleoff prestige power slide$$powexectoggleoff ninja run$$powexectoggleoff beast run$$powexectoggleoff athletic run$$powexectoggleoff super jump"

where you could then use the command "moveoff" in a bind/macro to turn off any/all end-sucking movement powers, for instance, while in combat. Normally one character won't have more than a couple of these, but as an alias, it could then be used as a generic command across numerous alts without having to spell it out across numerous keybinds for each or write a macro for each alt (mine usually looks like /macro Toff "powexectoggleoff sprint$$powexectoggleoff athletic run$$powexectoggleoff super jump" and then placed in Tray nine, Slot 9, using the command "powexectray 9 9" in relevant binds, like attack sequences. I usually have another in "powexectray 10 9" that turns on all my armor toggles, usually when I jump.

With 400+ alts, it sure would be nice to have an application that allowed me to shorthand a lot of this without having to do it on each character. I can do some in the base keybind files, but they have to be customized after characters gain a few levels.

Of course, there's potential for terrible failure in doing that, if you create an alias that is already an existing command, so as an app, idiot-proofing should probably disallow existing commands from being used in that manner. For more advanced users, there might be some possibilities in it. As long as it could be cleared and returned to default, it could be really handy.

 

[Tailcoat]

That's a good question. I haven't touched the app in several months since I got a job that takes up more of my time, and I've been taking time off CoH to play a different game lately, but I keep thinking about wanting to at least finish that 4K revamp.

I want to say that it's not possible (unless anything has changed in the past few months), but if the issue is using the same commands over and over, you can use CB to save a profile of the default commands you like to use, set it to be the default profile when you make a new one, then if you need to make any character-specific changes, you can do that and save it as a separate profile. Multiple characters can use the same binds text file. Binds can also be made that will load up other bind files too.

[BlackSpectre]

On 7/30/2022 at 4:57 AM, Starhammer said:

With 400+ alts, 

 

400 alts????!!!! Holy doppelgängers, Batman!!!!

[Starhammer]

On 7/31/2022 at 7:35 PM, Tailcoat said:

 but if the issue is using the same commands over and over, you can use CB to save a profile of the default commands you like to use, set it to be the default profile when you make a new one, then if you need to make any character-specific changes, you can do that and save it as a separate profile. Multiple characters can use the same binds text file. Binds can also be made that will load up other bind files too.

 Unfortunately, that's really no different than what I do with keybind files already, with the added step of using the app to do so. Thanks for responding though 🙂

[kenlon]

FYI for Tailcoat: The SoD flight binds in this are broken after the travel pool changes where you can have both Hover and Fly active at the same time. 

I fixed my personal binds with a little bit of sed to replace the paired "$$powexecname Fly$$powexecname Fly" with "$$powexectoggleoff Hover$$powexectoggleon Fly", and the reverse for the double Hover bind upon stopping. If you're still maintaining this, I suspect it wouldn't be too complicated to fix. 

 

If you aren't, then I'll have to see if I have enough give-a-fucks lying around to fix it rather than just running a bit of bash script against my binds each time I generate them. 😄

 

[Tailcoat]

That is true. I hadn't touched the Speed on Demand module. I'm wondering if there's anyone that I could pass on this project to. Ever since I got full-time work, I haven't had the energy to do anything with this and I feel bad about that since I had a nicer interface thing going and a lot of ideas, but it's not cohesive enough for me to be able to upload that version in its current state. 

[oddrobin]

CityBinder for Homecoming told me to post this in the CityBinder thread:

Message: cannot open citybinder.lua: No such file or directory

[Tailcoat]

8 hours ago, oddrobin said:

CityBinder for Homecoming told me to post this in the CityBinder thread:

Message: cannot open citybinder.lua: No such file or directory

 

The citybinder.lua file should be in the same directory as the .exe file. 

If it still gives you trouble, I've since passed on my work to a more-experienced developer. I don't know how far the app has progressed, but the thread about the "BindControl" app is here: 

 

[oddrobin]

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[Area Man]

I wanted to THANK YOU for this update.  I used Citybinder on Live until shutdown and then on Homecoming, and was using my old version.  I have a 17-button MMO Mouse and a G13 gamepad, so I bind a bunch of powers to the buttons on the mouse and gamepad, and have a bunch of other binds I use with EVERY CHARACTER.  I have now been using this update for about 6 months, since I found out it existed.

So, I very much appreciate the update.  I had been setting up a series of Ultimate Binds for every new powerset, but this saves me some work.  I just wanted to post this since I recently started telling a few folks about how great it is to use Citybinder for my binds.

[GM Crumpet]

Why have I only just noticed this? I'm regularly asked about binds and macros and I'm pretty lost when it comes to making them!!

[Tailcoat]

On 11/12/2023 at 1:20 PM, Area Man said:

I wanted to THANK YOU for this update.  I used Citybinder on Live until shutdown and then on Homecoming, and was using my old version.  I have a 17-button MMO Mouse and a G13 gamepad, so I bind a bunch of powers to the buttons on the mouse and gamepad, and have a bunch of other binds I use with EVERY CHARACTER.  I have now been using this update for about 6 months, since I found out it existed.

So, I very much appreciate the update.  I had been setting up a series of Ultimate Binds for every new powerset, but this saves me some work.  I just wanted to post this since I recently started telling a few folks about how great it is to use Citybinder for my binds.

 

Thank you! I wish I could've gotten more done on updating this, but I started working full-time and couldn't keep up. The LUA language wasn't handling all the stuff that I wanted it to do, and as a hobbyist, I couldn't be as efficient and knowledgeable as a trained programmer. 

If it helps, another user has taken up the mantle and made a similar app with Python called "BindControl". I don't know what the status of it is (I've been away from COH for a while), but it works on other systems besides Win10 and I sent over my various notes and ideas for the project to continue. Here is a link to the thread for that: 

 

[rwright]

I just downloaded this software. When i launch it, i get a message to post this in the citybinder thread 
cannot open citybinder.lua: No such file or directory

did not get an install prompt

[Tailcoat]

On 11/17/2023 at 5:59 PM, rwright said:

I just downloaded this software. When i launch it, i get a message to post this in the citybinder thread 
cannot open citybinder.lua: No such file or directory

did not get an install prompt

 

Does your directory look like the image below?
There is no install prompt and I'm not sure if the original v0.76 app even had one. Installation is just unzipping the files to your desired folder and double-clicking on CityBinder.exe.

Also, there's a similar app also based on CityBinder v.0.76 called "BindControl". Since I don't have time to keep up with my version of CB, I gave my notes to that author. I don't know if it has the same functionality since I haven't played CoH in over a year, but here's a link to the thread about it in case you find it useful: