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Question - What is a good zone/mobs to practice writing conditionals?

T

testtube

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I can do it in the Guild Hall, but I have to change some settings to do that and I can't get a good sample size of data because of the buffs not wearing off thing.

So yea, as title says, what is a good zone/mobs to practice writing conditionals?

Or, any other tips people have for me?

Thanks in advance ! =)
 
Thanks. Any other suggestions welcome. Keep'em comin and I'll test each one myself.
 
I work on them in the zones I'm xp'n. If you're just editing them one or two at a time and restarting KA, you shouldn't get into too much trouble if one doesn't work.

I also like the Hatching a Plan instance from PoK for stuff like running cskillup overnight on new pl toons. Otherwise I like the old PoP zones off Tranquility. Usually empty on my Live server and easy to get to from PoK.

Tip: use /echo to test your conditions quickly. Type if out with your condition and MQ2 window tells you right away if you have a typo or it's kicking back something besides the TRUE/FALSE/NULL/# you were expecting.

Code: 
/echo !${Me.Song[Merciful Elixir].ID}

/echo ${Me.PctHPs}>80

If you're writing a complex condition, especially one with OR || statement, use () to group things the way you want them checked:
Code: 
/echo ${Me.ItemReady[Miniature Horn of Unity]} && !${Me.Song[Blessing of Unity].ID} && (${Me.PctMana}<50 || ${Me.PctEndurance}<50) && !${Me.Buff[Reaver's Bargain].ID}
 
If you're just getting started with conditions, I always recommend eqmule's wizard ini too for examples of what all you can do with conditions. It has great examples of checking things like if I have a certain buff -> cast fast nukes or using crit boosts in sequence by checking to see if you have one or the other first.
 
Aye, I already know what I can do with conditions and I have an associate's degree in computer science / conditionals are object oriented so it's exactly that type of knowledge.

I just need zones / mobs I can go to, to test different conditionals for hours on end until I come up with the optimal one for infinite grinding.

Also, for truly accurate results, I need a very large sample (a ton of time on a mob) to be able to tell if what I've edited actually helped or if I just got lucky.
 
Entirely depends on what you want to accomplish, and with what.

A group of level 50's versus level 110 would obviously differ.

In an instance is best, but of course that generally gives you a limited pool of mobs, and you have to leave and come back (or deal with a lock out timer)

If you want a static zone... anything that your group can handle easily that is not overly populated. Preferably empty.

and of course, make yourself a "/mqpause" button so if things get too wonky, you can pause (or /end) and save the group
 
If you want realistic conditions with realistic data. Hop on the test server. The majority of live zones tend to be quite dead. Of course there is always the option to enter into area's where the expansion might be considered less than optimal. VoA zones tends to resemble that, yet have creatures that are still green/light blue at 110 depending on which one you select.

I find that the majority of the content that I create code for is done in live scenario's where I have a group running something that is known to do well, or well enough. Such as using KissAssist for the majority of the group, then building from that by taking one character out of the group and selecting that class/character as the candidate for running the new code to allow me to focus on it while not troubling myself with making sure the other characters are accurately involved in doing what they should be doing. But other times when I find myself just starting, I usually start somewhere I know I'll prosper, such as a zone significantly below my level. Then of course you can always create a new character and have one of the higher level characters following them around ensuring that they stay alive.

There's many ways to skin a cat, I'm certainly not the only one who has worked at things like automation, and I'm sure I won't be the last. But then again, I'm not completely clear on what your trying to accomplish with the conditionals. Such as, are you wanting to create conditions for KA INI's, or generate your own macros?
 
Take your group to wherever you plan to run them and test there. If you're grinding the group up, do it in your xp zone. If you're farming current content, do it there. Get your sample size of data in the actual usage that stresses the groups mana, healers ini or such. It will be more useful than running your group in some zone that happens to have the fastest respawn or such.

Is this your end goal - Automated group that needs no intervention? You can achieve that with KA & no conditions. So you can also edit your conditions on the fly and see how the group does.

Maybe it's not what you're looking for now, but kills-per-hour is a common measurement people optimize their conditions to meet. Check out mq2killtracker if so.
 
eqtrader74 said:
...If you're writing a complex condition, especially one with OR || statement, use () to group things the way you want them checked:...
Click to expand...

Off topic, but thank you so much! I have not seen this in any of the KA library ini files and did not know if parenthetical ordering was correct syntax in KA (I saw that in MQ2 it works).
 
conditions work the same in KA as they do in a macro. If you want to see some example of usage you can just start opening up macros and looking at the way they are done. the only difference being that the conditions for the INI's must be single line.
 
I'm so excited for this making defensive discs and wizard damage buff procs conditions more streamlined. Sorry for hijacking.

To OP; I have been using KA for quite a while, so I am always starting with at least a basic, working file. I have re-written INIs a couple times and when I do that I will focus on updating my basics without conditions, then start adding conditions, then long-CD DPS abilities + their conditions. That way, I am pretty much trouble shooting as I go, one line at a time rather than trying to unwind a huge mess in which I have no clue where my mistake lies.
 
Last edited:
testtube said:
I can do it in the Guild Hall, but I have to change some settings to do that and I can't get a good sample size of data because of the buffs not wearing off thing.

So yea, as title says, what is a good zone/mobs to practice writing conditionals?

Or, any other tips people have for me?

Thanks in advance ! =)
Click to expand...

One thing that I will do a lot to test things is /echo a condition and see what it returns ${Me.Height} - just in case i'm not 100% sure on a TLO

The other thing that I will frequently do, is use the /beep command to test conditionals. I'll just type this badboy out and test it in game. if my conditional is correct, then my computer will make a beep sound and I know the conditional is good, and I can replace the /beep with whatever I really want to do (for macro) or remove the if and the parentheticals and the beep if I'm using it for kiss

Code: 
/if ( some conditional) /beep
 
I use the beep as well, especially on those situations where it is rare it is going to fire. The last thing I want to do is to sit and stare at the EQ window scanning for a message. Once I hear the beep I can switch back and check out what is going on.
 
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