Lua - Brainstorming a Completionist Plugin Idea

[KorenoGamer]

Hi guys.

I like to bite of more than I can chew sometimes. And this time is no different. I have an idea for a multi-part plugin built in Lua to help the completionists out there keep track of what they have done and what they still need to do.
For anyone who knows about a guide plugin for World of Warcraft called Zygor, this will sound familiar.

My idea goes as follows.
I know that a project of this scale would need to be done in phases. It will also need to be developed as separate optional add-ons to a master UI. These add-ons could be loaded and unloaded on the fly while still maintaining a log of completed steps.

In this first phase there would be no automation with the exception of using MQ2Nav to get around.

The UI would be very basic to start. Just to get the basic concept into a visual format.
The user would select the guide they want to follow from a dropdown. For this example we choose "Hero's Journey".
Upon selecting this guild the UI would show every step in a list format to complete the entire journey.
This list would start out very basic and could have more info added as I learn more about coding.
To start out, it would have a line for each step that would be hidden once completed.
A line would look like this. Step 22: Accept quest "Ways of Combat" from Champion Utenka. (on 2nd floor)
The quest givers name would be clickable and MQ2Nav would take you there.
As soon as the quest is added to your journal, the step would hide on the UI being marked as completed in the log.
Step 23: Kill 10 training dummies. (in the same room as quest giver)
When the stage is completed in the journal, it would be marked complete and hide.
The entire guide would be put in order of most efficiency.

This same concept could be used for all the different progression lines, leveling tradeskills, and more.

Once a guide is complete and working. Then the task of integrating automated combat and looting could be done.

Please let me know if I am out of my mind and this is not possible. Especially for a rookie.

 

[Knightly]

Anything is possible given enough resources. Start by getting your basic framework in place, mock up what you want the UI to look like and run through how you want it to function. This generally isn’t even done in code, it’s just a graphical representation so you can visualize what you want and see where things don’t match up.

The rest of your framework you bite off in small chunks. Movement and what to do when you get stuck, for example, is one bite.

And from there you just iterate. Iterations are key on something this large because they let you get something usable, get feedback, and build better methods. It also helps with the learning curve. It’s going to be really frustrating, because you’re going to be stuck on things you think should be simple for long periods of time. Iterations help stave off that feeling because at least you’ve got “something” to show for it.

If you really want to do it, it is within your skill set. Ask questions when you get stuck and, in the words of Dori, “Just keep swimming.”

 

[deathlock]

Hope you have a big mouth there Rookie. You are gonna need it to be chewing on all that.

 

[Knightly]

And, of course, don’t let other people discourage you. Fun fact: The most popular things on RG are often by first time authors who had no prior experience.

 

[Coldblooded]

This is a great idea! As Sic posted in the other thread, this really lends itself to having a UI to display steps and progress.

My 2 RedCents...
- Find a Quest that is well-documented on one of the EQ resources (steps, people to talk with, gotchas, etc). This will help to focus on the coding and not the figuring out how to do the quests.

 

[KorenoGamer]

Anything is possible given enough resources. Start by getting your basic framework in place, mock up what you want the UI to look like and run through how you want it to function. This generally isn’t even done in code, it’s just a graphical representation so you can visualize what you want and see where things don’t match up.

The rest of your framework you bite off in small chunks. Movement and what to do when you get stuck, for example, is one bite.

And from there you just iterate. Iterations are key on something this large because they let you get something usable, get feedback, and build better methods. It also helps with the learning curve. It’s going to be really frustrating, because you’re going to be stuck on things you think should be simple for long periods of time. Iterations help stave off that feeling because at least you’ve got “something” to show for it.

If you really want to do it, it is within your skill set. Ask questions when you get stuck and, in the words of Dori, “Just keep swimming.”

I understand completely. I drew out a basic UI concept on paper already. I also want to start with the level 1-5 part of The Hero's Journey since it is well documents online.
Chunk 1: Learn enough to make a blank UI that does nothing but switch tabs.
Chunk 2: Learn how to pull in data lists to the UI from other files.
Chunk 3: Populate a txt document with a list of just the Nav steps. This would mean the first iteration would be now more than a list of Nav points.
Chunk 4: Learn how to leverage MQ2Nav to make NPC names and Camp locations clickable to run there.

Once I get that done I am hoping there will be enough interest to garner a little coding help.
Also, once the concept is proven, and working for a couple quest lines, other people may offer to help in making guides to be used by this. If I am right, my plugin would just be the framework on which any author could write a guide for.

This is a great idea! As Sic posted in the other thread, this really lends itself to having a UI to display steps and progress.

My 2 RedCents...
- Find a Quest that is well-documented on one of the EQ resources (steps, people to talk with, gotchas, etc). This will help to focus on the coding and not the figuring out how to do the quests.

I was going to use Everquest Guide ← (paullynch.org) and Alla.
The Paul Lynch Guide is in the correct order for most efficiency.

 

[covidgamer]

i see your looking at doing this in Lua form. havent messed with that yet (still getting decent with macros at the moment), but the principals should be the same.
1. i would take a look at eqmules MQ2Achievements (not sure if it will work in mqnext) plugin. that can filter thru your characters achievements and start generating your missing stuff.
2. you would need to have writeups on how to finish the quests, which your using some sites.
3. youll need actual step by step instructions to do the quests. i would recommend taking a look at tutorial.mac, and other resources by cannonballdex (he has quite a few quest completing macros).

this would be a truly amazingly huge undertaking. but totally doable honestly. i would break it down into various distinct steps however. pick an xpac at a time, then just go 1 zone at a time.

btw, i hope im not aiding a member of house corrino! i stay with House Atreides!

 

[KorenoGamer]

i see your looking at doing this in lua form. havent messed with that yet (still getting decent with macros at the moment), but the principals should be the same.
1. i would take a look at eqmules MQ2Achievements (not sure if it will work in mqnext) plugin. that can filter thru your characters achievements and start generating your missing stuff.
2. you would need to have writeups on how to finish the quests, which your using some sites.
3. youll need actual step by step instructions to do the quests. i would recommend taking a look at tutorial.mac, and other resources by cannonballdex (he has quite a few quest completing macros).

this would be a truly amazingly huge undertaking. but totally doable honestly. i would break it down into various distinct steps however. pick an xpac at a time, then just go 1 zone at a time.

btw, i hope im not aiding a member of house corrino! i stay with House Atreides!

Once I iron out a good UI design I will start on the the first xpac as you called them. I think I want to start with The Hero's Journey since thats what I have the most detailed information on.
After the navigation and logging works. I will move onto the next phase. This would be adding in the automatic "hailing" and talk to NPCs to take the quests. However, Since I dont know a whole lot about what is possible, I dont know if MQnext will be able to click the "Accept" button on the quest offer window.
If this works, then when I user clicks on a step to start it, their character/group will run to the NPC and Accept the quest/s automatically.
Phase 3 will be adding on the "go to camp" steps. My idea is when clicked, the group will run to the camp location, set a new camp, set characters modes, adds appropriate mobs in the area to ignore, and start the pulling.

 

[covidgamer]

Once I iron out a good UI design I will start on the the first xpac as you called them. I think I want to start with The Hero's Journey since thats what I have the most detailed information on.
After the navigation and logging works. I will move onto the next phase. This would be adding in the automatic "hailing" and talk to NPCs to take the quests. However, Since I dont know a whole lot about what is possible, I dont know if MQnext will be able to click the "Accept" button on the quest offer window.
If this works, then when I user clicks on a step to start it, their character/group will run to the NPC and Accept the quest/s automatically.
Phase 3 will be adding on the "go to camp" steps. My idea is when clicked, the group will run to the camp location, set a new camp, set characters modes, adds appropriate mobs in the area to ignore, and start the pulling.

so mq, can interact with everything insanely. the tutorial macro i mentioned was a big part in my getting into the writing of macros, it starts off and then runs the quests, accepts quests / rewards (maybe they have rewards working better now?). finds and kills mobs. you can make it totally do everything (pretty much). i read a lot of macros and get a lot of my knowledge that way.

not too sure how different the Lua stuff is from macros (i know structurally its different), but the idea behind the tutorial macro and others will get ya pointed in the right directions. i also remember hearing someone (in RG discord i think) mention that there is an Lua scripting program for wow that works in eq, he made it sound like the program itself helped less technically knowledgeable people get things done inside the Lua system.

 

[KorenoGamer]

so mq, can interact with everything insanely. the tutorial macro i mentioned was a big part in my getting into the writing of macros, it starts off and then runs the quests, accepts quests / rewards (maybe they have rewards working better now?). finds and kills mobs. you can make it totally do everything (pretty much). i read a lot of macros and get a lot of my knowledge that way.

not too sure how different the lua stuff is from macros (i know structurally its different), but the idea behind the tutorial macro and others will get ya pointed in the right directions. i also remember hearing someone (in RG discord i think) mention that there is an lua scripting program for wow that works in eq, he made it sound like the program itself helped less technically knowledgeable people get things done inside the lua system.

Thank you for the input. It all helps. After being suggested by Sic to do this in Lua I did some digging. It appears as though he is correct. It may be the best option. It will afford me the freedom to basically just write the plugin that would be a UI with an engine so to speak, and other authors can write quest addons that the plugin would read, execute, and log. The UI would have a log tab that would be show ones status towards completing something.

 

[Branson24]

Thank you for the input. It all helps. After being suggested by Sic to do this in LUA I did some digging. It appears as though he is correct. It may be the best option. It will afford me the freedom to basically just write the plugin that would be a UI with an engine so to speak, and other authors can write quest addons that the plugin would read, execute, and log. The UI would have a log tab that would be show ones status towards completing something.

@covidgamer has a great idea with the tutorial macro. Something you could consider, take that macro, and rewrite it into Lua. Hero’s Journey is going to be a pita with the Crescent Reach elevators. Take the tutorial mac, written by @cannonballdex and run it on a new toon. See how it manages the different hails,kills, turnins, etc. Now take it and rewrite it in Lua. Once you have done this you will have an excellent base knowledge of how a current macro works and converting it into Lua. There’s a lot more info on how to write non Lua Macros than there is Lua macros. I like your ambition and I wish you the best of luck on this. It’s doable but…those elevators…