One more new bind command.. PAUSE

[BlackSpectre]

I’ve been thinking about about updating my Advanced Bind Guide, so binds and the binding system has been on my mind.  Going over in my mind how the whole binding system works, it occurred to me that one of the biggest problems is the tendency for commands to interrupt the next command in the bind string. I think the biggest impact a small change to binds could have would be the Introduction of a configurable /PAUSE slash command. 
 

The /pause command would stop the processing a bind command string in the middle of the string (wherever the /pause command was placed,, and then wait for the specified amount of time.  This would open up a HUGE amount of possibilities that have never before been possible in the game. 
 

I haven’t thought this through thoroughly, and haven’t considered any ways this command could be exploited, but initially it sees like a great idea. 
 

Whiteout knowing exactly how the binding system buffers commands and how it would handle a separate command issued right after a pause command in a different string, it’s hard to recommend a large pause. If it was no big deal, the a pause command could even act like a timer. 
 

However,  if there are cueing problems, then limiting the amount of time that could be pause might be a good idea. I’d propose 0.2 to 3.0 seconds… enough time to let animations process through. 
 

Anyway, thought I’d share…

[Akisan]

While this would be amazing (I'd love to have macros that chain emotes, turn all my toggles on, or activate fly then a flypose), it also feels like it'd be very exploitable for making entire attack chains fire with minimal input. 

 

As for running pauses, the big problem I could see happening (given the possible fragility of the codebase), is that a "pause" could have the unhappy side effect of locking out your chat and/or controls and/or powers while the command is being executed. (Synchronization is Fun!) Hopefully, that's not the case though.

[Rudra]

4 minutes ago, Akisan said:

While this would be amazing (I'd love to have macros that chain emotes, turn all my toggles on, or activate fly then a flypose), it also feels like it'd be very exploitable for making entire attack chains fire with minimal input. 

 

As for running pauses, the big problem I could see happening (given the possible fragility of the codebase), is that a "pause" could have the unhappy side effect of locking out your chat and/or controls and/or powers while the command is being executed. (Synchronization is Fun!) Hopefully, that's not the case though.

That's a good point. I used to use "/em none" as part of my costume change emote string to clear out whatever emote I may already have active. So it would go "em none$$cce # emote". Back on Live, it worked well, but on HC that just made the costume change emote not work at all. While a pause command would be interesting, now I'm wondering if the proposed pause would have the same effect.

[Captain Fabulous]

The command line system was designed specifically to not queue commands because they didn't want it used to execute multiple powers in one click. It's the same reason we can only put one power on auto.

[biostem]

How about:  /playgameforme

[Rudra]

5 minutes ago, biostem said:

How about:  /playgameforme

I'm inclined to believe that is not the intent of the OP. And as @Captain Fabulous said, I'm pretty sure the game wouldn't allow that even with a pause command anyway.

[BlackSpectre]

Those are all good points.  Yeah, probably not a good idea. Oh well. It was a thought. 
 

What brought this on was, I was attempting to make a “toggle text macro” bind. These are  binds with looping  sets of commands all preceded by a “+”. The “+” allows one bind string to be executed on key press, and a second bind string to be executed on key release.  I ran into a problem… although mouse events do have a mouseDOWN and mouseUP event (click and release), it doesn’t look like the game looks for mouse button releases; only clicks, double clicks, press and holds, and drags.. at least We definitely can’t bind anything to a mouseUP event. 
 

The problem was when I attempted to load in the second bind string, it instantly executed and ended up simply adding onto the previous bind string,  making one long string. This prevented me from executing 2 commands that would normally cancel each other out. 
 

With keyboard keys, you have the option to continue to hold down a key, giving the first command string time to execute before you activate the second string by releasing the key. Most of the time you don’t really need to do that, just don’t press and release too quickly. 
 

Anyway, what I needed for this to work was some sort of delay or stop so that the second macro string would not instantly execute. Adding a second /macroslot command forces another click for the second string to execute. Anyway, looks like “toggle text macros” aren’t possible. Maybe. 
 

The weird thing is we have mouse buttons bound to toggle commands using the + prefix. MOUSECHORD for example is bound to the +forward command. On mouse press you move, and on mouse release you stop. So the game has got to be noticing MouseUP events. And the + prefix seems to work. Oh I know what it is!

 

You can’t press and hold on macro buttons. When you do that, the game thinks you want to move the macro to a different power slot. 

Now that I think about it, I bet I could make a “toggle text bind” on a mouse button, like button4 or Mbutton. But that would be a key bind, not a macro. 
 

Anyway, I’m just poking around trying to see how much of what we know about binds can be applied to macros. So far only “toggle text binds” have not been possible. 🙂

[Mr. Apocalypse]

10 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

The command line system was designed specifically to not queue commands because they didn't want it used to execute multiple powers in one click. It's the same reason we can only put one power on auto.

I'm not saying adding a pause command will or will not break the game, but I really don't see the need for it myself. I will say that I have seen the power of a fairly unrestricted macro system where pauses and timers were allowed. The macro system in Star wars galaxies was so powerful you could completely automate characters have them walk about to different positions on the map, and even interact with, provide services and make sales/ trades with other players all while AFK.. it was a bad thing, and it was IMO one of the many reasons why that game failed. I even wrote a series of macros that allowed me to 3 box and control 3 characters simultaneously from one keyboard and mouse using the macro system to read chat logs and perform commands based on the character strings the macros output.

 

I am glad this macro system is not as powerfull as that one.

 

[srmalloy]

11 hours ago, biostem said:

How about:  /playgameforme

It's not built into the game per se, but that's "/lfg Sitter looking for farm"