Old Binds

[Tankshock]

Hi, haven't logged in since the new issue.  I see that a lot of my binds are gone, but not all.  Is there a simple way to get them back, or do I have to remember the arcane magics when I made them?  😉 

[Tankshock]

And what the feck is gravity in my Combat Attriubutes?  I know I never used to track that.  What is it, and did it replace something?

[Uun]

Not sure why your binds are gone. I save all my binds in text files on my computer. 

 

Gravity is a new attribute used in the advanced mode LGTF. It seems to have borked the combat attribute tracking and I've had to redo it on all my characters.

[Shenanigunner]

There were some fundamental changes to how binds are managed, and a few trivial changes to default binds, but nothing should have removed any custom binds. It's possible; despite assurances that the internal changes to the bind feature were minor, there are cascading issues with things such as not being able to export default binds to a bindfile. It's possible your binds got 'caught in the gears' of those changes.

 

Always keep your binds in a loadable file, so that they can be restored if necessary, shared among alts and edited easily. However, save binds from the game with extreme caution, as the changes mean your existing bindfiles could be overwritten with less-useful variations, with no way to recover the originals unless you have them archived.

[Greycat]

I've only heard one person mention losing anything, and they were using profiles (apparently, something I'd never touched.)

 

I've got a file of binds I've used since live that I copy over, so I'll double what Shenanigunner mentioned. /bindsave and /bindload are helpful.

[Marshal_General]

7 hours ago, Tankshock said:

And what the feck is gravity in my Combat Attriubutes?  I know I never used to track that.  What is it, and did it replace something?

I think gravity in the system replaced Endurance Consumption as that is where it showed up in my window. End Con still exists, but you have to remove gravity and put it back in.

[Shenanigunner]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

I've got a file of binds I've used since live that I copy over, so I'll double what Shenanigunner mentioned. /bindsave and /bindload are helpful.

 

/bindsave should essentially never be used any more. It has far less purpose and functionality and could lose binds you don't have adequately archived. Work from an edited custom bind file and upload it as needed, only.

 

If you must "extract" custom binds from an alt, be sure to save it to a unique filename, as saved files now do not include the detaults and there may be other anomalies caused by the changes to the bind system. That is, treat the file save as a potentially dangerous operation in which you could overwrite an existing bindfile with incomplete or damaged information.

 

For myself, I can't see using it ever again; it won't bring me any useful information. I'd rather just write/edit/upload than try to complete the cycle by ever DLing/saving existing binds.

[Greycat]

Just now, Shenanigunner said:

 

/bindsave should essentially never be used any more. It has far less purpose and functionality and could lose binds you don't have adequately archived. Work from an edited custom bind file and upload it as needed, only.

 

If you must "extract" custom binds from an alt, be sure to save it to a unique filename, as saved files now do not include the detaults and there may be other anomalies caused by the changes to the bind system. That is, treat the file save as a potentially dangerous operation in which you could overwrite an existing bindfile with incomplete or damaged information.

 

For myself, I can't see using it ever again; it won't bring me any useful information. I'd rather just write/edit/upload than try to complete the cycle by ever DLing/saving existing binds.

 

That's exactly how I use bindsave. /bindsave somefilethatsusuallycharacternamerelated.txt. Have since live. Much rather do that than try to hand edit any more. Don't have time for that.

[Shenanigunner]

3 minutes ago, Greycat said:

That's exactly how I use bindsave. /bindsave somefilethatsusuallycharacternamerelated.txt. Have since live. Much rather do that than try to hand edit any more. Don't have time for that.

 

Okay. I just have a bug to make sure both newcomers and old binderoos know that the system has fundamentally changed and not to rely on old habits or practices. What was a safe, useful closed loop now... has a drainpipe attached to one side down which valuables can be lost.

 

By "hand edit" I assume you mean in chat strings? Muchly. If you have your bindfiles organized and a decent editor at hand, it's often faster to go out, open the file, edit and verify, then go back and load it. It's nice to be able to enter the odd bind directly — I do it all the time for testing while I'm playing — but the notion of typing in bind strings on each alt gives me a fatigue attack.

[Number Six]

33 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

bindsave should essentially never be used any more.

 

I know you're campaigning against something you don't like, but this is bad advice. Bindsave works perfectly fine for what the command says it does - saving the binds on one character (regardless of how they came to be), and reproducing them exactly on another. The generated files are as functional for that purpose as they always have been.

 

ANY customized binds that are loaded on the character will be saved when you use the command. The only thing you "lose" when saving is the list of defaults if you had them, which is only relevant if you plan to hand edit the file outside the game, and can simply be copied and pasted from here instead.

 

If someone can find a way to reproduce behavior where any existing binds on a character are lost after a save/load cycle, please report it so we can fix it!

[Shenanigunner]

1 minute ago, Number Six said:

 

I know you're campaigning against something you don't like, but this is bad advice. Bindsave works perfectly fine for what the command says it does - saving the binds on one character (regardless of how they came to be), and reproducing them exactly on another. The generated files are as functional for that purpose as they always have been.

 

It has little to do with "what I don't like" except in the sense that I don't like changes that bring pointless opacity, and potential loss of user data without any warning or ability to recover the losses.

 

So, no news here, I disagree on several important points, based on some nineteen years of focusing on this particular technical area of the game and trying to give users as much useful information and support for UI customization as I can. There have been many changes in that time, mostly for the good and at worst meaning a formerly working approach needed to be modified. This case is different.

 

However, between the rigid arguments you maintain and my overall respect for the Dev team, I can't see any meaningful way to effect change, but I will continue to warn users, in appropriate discussions, that there are key changes to the bindfile system that have brought some pitfalls they really, really want to avoid. Sorry if that's annoying to either you individually or the team.

[Number Six]

It's not annoying, and I've been trying to stay out of it because you're entitled to your opinion.

 

Just want to make sure players have accurate information about what exactly happens when they save files rather than uncertainty that they "might lose something", so they can make an informed choice.

[Number Six]

And fwiw I 100% agree that anyone doing any kind of non-trivial key binding should be using /bindsavefile very intentionally.

 

But that's always been the case, because /bindsave has always blindly overwritten a single file and destroyed anything you have set there in favor of the currently logged on character.

[WanderingAries]

5 hours ago, Number Six said:

And fwiw I 100% agree that anyone doing any kind of non-trivial key binding should be using /bindsavefile very intentionally.

 

But that's always been the case, because /bindsave has always blindly overwritten a single file and destroyed anything you have set there in favor of the currently logged on character.

 

I think this was originally done with the idea that the average player would have a common set of binds, but most of us (way back then) learned to do things like create folders for characters / ATs / etc so that when you inadvertently reversed the process (guilty) you didn't lose all that work. Same for the UI files (custom arrangement / colors).

[ZemX]

As someone who uses the same keybinds on all my characters, I've never used anything but the default /bindsave and /bindload.   And it's been quite some time since I've bothered to do a /bindsave since I'm pretty happy with my binds.  

 

But if I did do a /bindsave on one character, and a /bindload on another.  What would be different for me in game as compared to before this change?  I'm not understanding this at all from these posts of doom and gloom about the new way binds are being handled.   Am I okay as long as I do not bother with these profile settings?

[Number Six]

@ZemX If you're not doing manual editing out-of-game, you should see no difference at all (and if you do please report it as a bug!).