Macros (Rift)

Contents [hide]

Introduction
The Macro Window
Your First Macro
The Anatomy of a Macro
A Helpful Macro
Special Commands
Advanced Methodology

Fall Through
Advanced Targeting
Mouseover and Modifiers

Other Uses for Macros
Summary
See Also

Introduction

This guide will help introduce you to macros, a helpful way to use abilities and perform advanced commands. Macros will help make your life easier once you get to know and love them.

The Macro Window

The Macro Editor

There are two ways to open the macro window. Either you can open the Main Menu (default key is Esc) or you can enter the command /macro. The macro window consists of a list of macros on the left, and the macro editor on the right.

Your First Macro

Lets begin by writing a very simple macro.

Open the macro editor
Click on the ? icon, and choose any icon
Change New Macro to Hello
Under Commands go ahead and put: say Hello, World!
Click Save
Drag the icon from the left column to any open action bar button
Click it!

Your character should have just said, "Hello, World!"

The Anatomy of a Macro

Every macro consists of 3 things: Icon, Title, and Script.

The icon list includes 100 unique icons to choose from.

The title can be as long as you wish, however the macro list only displays the first 31 characters, and the ability bar can only display five. For this reason, I suggest descriptive five character or less names for macros.

The last piece, the script, can consist of 25 lines. The lines can be any length, however you can only perform a single command per line. The special thing to remember about macros, is the / is understood. You do not need to add a slash before commands.

A Helpful Macro

Now, a common type of macro that is helpful for the achievers.

Begin by creating a new macro, and lets call it Rares. Here is a script to copy and paste...

target gizzit target tormented wisp target sea scuttler target azagamara target augustor target crepit pokeit target gogrol

When you save, it should be seven lines.

Why is this helpful? While in Freemarch, you can press a single button and instantly attempt to target a rare npc. If they are within targeting range, you'll find them. Quite helpful for those pesky rare-killer achievements. Substituting for the names of rares in your zone of choice will help you there as well.

Now, you should have a grasp of selecting icons, naming, and using macros. For the rest of the guide, I will assume you can handle that portion yourself. All remaining teaching will simply deal with the Script of the macro.

Special Commands

The commands available at the command line have a few that are either macro-only, or only really useful from within a macro. Here is a list of commands and keywords that are special for macros.

Slash Command	Description
suppressmacrofailures	Only usable within a macro, prevents macro failure notices.
saveequip #	ie: /saveequip 1. Saves the currently equipped set of equipment to the specified index number.
loadequip #	ie: /loadequip 1. Loads the saved set of equipment from the specified index.
cast [@modifier] <ability name> [target]	casts the specified ability. You can specify a target for that ability using special targeting syntax (e.g. /cast @mouseover Commander's Order)
focus [@modifier] [target]	Sets your focus to the named player or NPC. If no target is specified, it uses current target.
target [@modifier]<name>	Selects the player or NPC.
use [@modifier] <item name>	This uses the item named.
wait #	Where # is a number of seconds. Causes the macro to wait the specified number of seconds before issuing the next command. Also /macrowait.
stopcasting	Causes the macro to stop the current action. A necessary intermediate step between chained macro commands.
use <item name>	This uses the item named.
equip <item name>	This equips the item named.
bindmacrofile <key> <filename>	Bind a macro saved as a text file in the same directory as rift.exe to a key.
%o	Returns the objective gender-specific pronoun for the target (Him, Her, It).
%p	Returns the possessive gender-specific pronoun for the target (His, Her, Its).
%s	Returns the subjective gender-specific pronoun for the target (He, She, It).
%t	Returns the name of your current target.
@self <spell name>	Cast a spell on yourself.
@focus <spell name>	Cast a spell the focused target.
@focustarget <spell name>	Cast a spell at a target of a focused target.
@lasttarget <spell name>	Cast a spell on the last target before your current target.
@targettarget <spell name>	Cast a spell on your target's target.
@pet <spell name>	Cast a spell on your primary pet.
@mark # <spell name>	Cast a spell on the creature or player marked with # (only usable in group/raid).
@gtae <spell name>	Cast an AOE spell at the location of the target. (gtae stands for ground target area of effect - I think)
#show "ability"	Causes the macro to inherit the icon and ability icon of the skill.

Advanced Methodology

Now, we've covered a simply say, a multi-line target, but what else can macros do?

There are some special rules to macros that make them quite helpful. The largest being fall-through.

Fall Through

Lets create a focus-based multi-command pyromancer script. This is an example only, not necessarily the most 'uberdps script'.

suppressmacrofailures cast @focus Burn cast @focus Fulminate cast @focus Cinder Burst cast @focus Flame Bolt cast @focus Fulminate cast @focus Fireball

To use this macro, you first must set a target as your focus by either binding a key to set focus or by macro command to set focus. Now, as stated before, only a single spell will be cast, but there are several listed. What happens is the first command tells the game, if something doesn't work, we don't need to know about it. This prevents spam to us when using the macro. Next, it attempts to cast Burn. Burn has a 45 second cooldown, so it'll cast it, then it won't be able to cast it for 45 seconds. During that time, it'll go to the next line. Fulminate has a 45 second cooldown as well, so it'll cast once, then be skipped for 45 seconds. Cinder Burst has a 30 second cooldown... and so on. The final spell has no cooldown. So if you repeatedly press the button, it will cast them in order, and cause cooldowns. After the spells are on cooldown, it will cast spells as they become available. If none in the list are available, the very last spell is spam-able, so it will always be able to fall all the way back to it. Get it?

Advanced Targeting

Now, lets try a multi-target macro. This one is for a Shaman\Warden\Inquisitor. This macro is simply an example of specific situation involving cooldowns. It assumes the user needs to: keep their 'bubble' up; keep Friend A (focus) free of a damage over time; have to keep healing whichever friend is being hit by the target; the user wishes to keep a small heal going on everyone; and doesn't need to worry about a lot else so will add in a little dps as well.

suppressmacrofailures cast Glacial Shield cast @focus Curative Waters cast @targettarget Deluge cast Healing Showers cast @target Bolt of Depravity

Again, all but the last have cooldowns. The first command prevents spam when the macro fails to perform a cast because of a cooldown. The first keeps up the bubble, then it casts the damage over time remover on the focus, followed by a targeted heal on the target's target, then an area of effect heal on everyone, and lastly, a spam-able direct damage spell on the target.

Hint	Always have a spam-able spell or ability last so the button always does something, but don't put any more after it or they will never trigger in fall-through.

Mouseover and Modifiers

The following macro would be beneficial for a pure healer. Its an example of using a single key for many spells and targets, without fall through.

#show Healing Spray stopcasting cast [shift] Healing Flood cast [shift] @mouseover Healing Showers cast [ctrl] @mouseover Healing Current cast [ctrl] Healing Current cast [alt] @mouseover Deluge cast [alt] Deluge cast @mouseover Healing Spray cast Healing Spray

Now, there is no fall through on this one. State of the mouse and keys determine what is going to happen. If CTRL is held down, the mouse is over someone, and the button is pressed; the spell Healing Current is cast on the person the mouse is over. If the mouse isn't over someone, and ALT is held down, and the button is pressed; it will cast Deluge on your present target. If the button is simply pressed, it will cast Healing Spray on your current target. The first command with #show makes it simply appear like Healing Spray in your hotbar.

Other Uses for Macros

Lets take a look at other uses, such as for a merchant who crafts their wares. First, they will need to setup their UI for exploring, collecting, and fighting. The standard interface for most. Now, once they have everything setup they can /exportui collectui.dat followed by /exportkeybindings collectkb.dat. Next, they head to town, rearrange the UI so that the map is smaller, the chat is bigger, their hotkeys are set to open crafting windows, and so on. They then perform /exportui craftui.dat followed by /exportkeybindings craftkb.dat. Now, they create 2 files in their rift.exe folder, named collect.txt and craft.txt.

collect.txt:
importui collectui.dat importkeybindings collectkb.dat bindmacrofile / craft.txt

craft.txt:
importui craftui.dat importkeybindings craftkb.dat bindmacrofile / collect.txt

Next, in game, they perform the command bindmacrofile / collect.txt then press /.

The game will perform a quick loading screen, and arrange everything to be setup for fighting, exploring, and collecting. After they are back in town, they can again press / and the game will perform a short reload, and will then be setup for town, with presumably a larger chat window, smaller bags that fit on screen with the auction house and craft windows, and so on.

The uses for this expand far beyond a crafter. One could have a specific raid setup, with a certain row of keys that raid-specific that are all 'tweaked' for the encounter. Then it can be made for a single button press to load the very specific encounter UI and key bindings, and press again to reload the standard set. Also PvE and Warfront sets, and so forth.

Summary

Macros are your friends. They are powerful, but not all-powerful. They can mean squeezing the most out of some classes, saving time at the auction house, or having your interface setup for best possible raid encounter. Though you can only use one ability or one spell, it can be one of many. Macros can help you quickly cast specific spells on many different targets using @mouseover, or on a predetermined target using @focus. They are there to help make your in-game life easier, and were given to us for just that purpose. After reading this guide, you should have the knowledge to make the most of them.