MacrosFollow

I wanted to help out newer players with macros since the macro guides on this site are really just examples. I spent a bit of time on this and this is my first time trying to make a guide so please don't be too disappointed.

Making Macros

There are 10 palettes that you can use to make macros. Each palette can contain 20 macros, CTRL1-10 and ALT1-10. The first palette is already filled with default macros that you start out with.

There are many different types of macros. I will cover emote, ability, and battle macros.

Some basics before we start:

The /wait command

This is very useful in macros because it allows for several things to be put in a macro at once. This is because you can't do two things at once so you have to space them out. /wait 1 gives a 1 second interval, /wait 2 gives 2 seconds, etc. Currently /wait can go up to 60 seconds.

The targets

<t> - the most basic one. It simply uses the current action on the targeted PC or NPC.
<bt> - uses the current action on the battle target (the monster with the name in red). This doesn't work that well when you are fighting more than one monster.
<ht> - uses the action on a monster that has been called for help upon.
<st> - a purple arrow pops up that allows you to select a PC or NPC other that the currently selected target for the current action.
<stpc> - a purple arrow pops up that you can use to select a PC to target for the current action. You cannot select NPCs with this.
<stnpc> - a purple arrow pops up that you can use to select an NPC to target for the current action. You cannot select PCs with this.
<lastst> - use current action on the target that you last used <stpc> or <stnpc> on.
<me> - target yourself with the current action.
<p0> to <p5> - <p0> is yourself, <p1> is the party member 2nd on the member list, <p2> is the one that's 3rd, etc.
<a10> to <a15> - the members of the top alliance.
<a20> to <a25> - the members of the bottom alliance.
<pet> - targets your pet.
<scan> - targets the monster you are currently tracking on widescan.


Emote Macros:

You can put in whatever you would regularly type on the first line. Example:

/cheer

Just push the macro and your character would cheer. It'll also have "(Your name) cheers!" show up in the chat log. To avoid the text, add "motion" so that only the animation shows up.

You can make this more complicated by adding more emotes to your macro. Example:

/panic motion
/wait 2
/joy motion
/wait 2
/panic motion

This will make your character panic, wait 2 seconds, show your joy motion, wait 2 seconds, and panic again.

You can also do something like this:

/em pokes <t> in the ribs.
/wait 1
/poke motion

This will make "(Yourname) pokes (target's name) in the ribs." show up in your chat log and you will see your character do the /poke motion.


Ability Macros:

These macros are for your job abilities, songs, magic, etc.

Example:

/ja "Provoke" <t>

The first part is where you specify whether you are using a job ability, magic, etc. The second is the name of the ability, and the third is the target. If the ability is more than one word, you must have quotation marks around them. You do not need them if the ability is only one word, but it is still good practice to put them in. You must spell the ability exactly as it appears in your ability, magic, etc. list.

/ja - job ability
/ma - magic spell or ninjutsu
/nin - ninjutsu
/so - song
/ws - weapon skill
/pet - pet commands

Examples:

/ma Cure <p3> <--- this works

/ma Cure II <p3> <--- this doesn't work

/ja "Mijin Gakure" <stnpc> <--- this works


Battle Macros:

Battle macros are really just a lot of ability macros thrown together, occasionally with chat thrown in.

Some useful things not mentioned before are:

/say - talk in say mode
/sh - talk in shout mode
/p - talk to your party
<call1> to <call 20> - these make distinct (annoying) noises when used in party chat. Not recommended for frequent use.
/l - talk to your linkshell
/t - talk in /tell with a target
/assist - attack the monster that's attacking the targeted PC
/ra - ranged attack
/ta - target
/lockon - lock
/echo - message that only shows up on your chat log
/recast - see how long before you can use an ability, spell, song, etc.
/equip "Slot" "Item" - equips item onto the slot, "Item" and "Slot" can be put in any order.
/item "Item" <target> - uses the said item from inventory on the target.

All the following tags are to be used when in chat mode. These are important so that your pt can be as informed as possible. Also, all tags for targets can be used in chat mode as well (e.g. "I'm fighting <t>" gives "I'm fighting the Goblin Weaver").

<tp> - gives your tp
<mp> - gives (current mp)/(total mp)
<mpp> - gives percentage of mp left
<hp> - same as <mp> but for hp
<hpp> - same as <mpp> but for hp
<pos> - gives your position
<pettp> - gives your pet's tp
<pethpp> - gives your pet's current hp percentage
<petmpp> - gives your pet's current mp percentage

Examples:

/ta <bt>
/echo ***Targeting <bt>***

/ja Provoke <t>
/p Provoking <t>. TP: <tp>
/wait 15
/p Provoke ready in 15 seconds. TP: <tp>
/wait 15
/echo ***Provoke Ready***

NOTE: You need wait timers between chat, emote, and ability commands because you can't say, emote, or do two things at once.

Examples:

/em points at Leaping Lizzy.
/wait 1
/point motion
/say Look, it's Leaping Lizzy!
/say Just kidding!

The fifth line, "Just kidding!" will not show up. You need a /wait after the fourth line. Note that you can put one of the aforementioned 3 command types after another (in this case emote and chat) without using /wait.

/ja "Provoke" <t>
/ma "Flash" <t>

You will only provoke and not cast Flash.

/recast "Provoke"
/recast "Flash"
/recast "Shield Bash"
/recast "Sentinel"
/recast "Holy Circle"
/recast "Invincible"

This works because recast does not require wait times. Neither does /echo or /equip.

/ma "Paralyze" <t>
/wait 1
/ma "Slow" <t>

This doesn't work because you're still casting Paralyze. When using abilities that do not activate instantly, always make sure that you allow enough time to finish the first task.


Some Tips:

The use of <bt> might be convenient, but it is usually better to use <t>. This is because if there are links, you would not be using your spell/ability on the wrong mob.

It is suggested that use of <bt> be restricted to only

/ta <bt>

and the other macros that you would have used with <bt> be switched to <t>.


When you have a lot of emotes in a macro, try to use motion when possible to avoid spam. If the panic/joy/panic macro at the top did not have motion after the emotes, it would result in a lot of spam.

Edited, Fri Oct 8 16:08:32 2004 by RagnaClay

good job, this will help me explain how to set up a voke macro without bashing my head into the keyboard ^^


"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNES!

I don't think there's a way either. If there was, I would make this macro ;D

/p Using {Seraph Blade} in 3 seconds. <call9>
/ja "Berserk" <me>
/wait 2
/ws "Seraph Blade" <t>
/wait 1
/status "Berserk" off

<bt> is a straight-up liability to use for targeting spells and abilities in an EXP PT setup; all too often it will target the wrong mob in a link situation.

It generally appears that <bt> targets the most recently engaged of a pair of creatures - i.e. the one that your RDM, BLM or BRD is trying to sleep.

Personally my only <bt> macro does;

/target <bt>
/attack <t>
/wait 1
/ra <t>

This is handy for quickly selecting the incoming mob on a pull, engaging and loosing an arrow as it comes towards us. I recomend against using <bt> to actually target skills and abilities tho.

Use <t> for these, as it will always target your locked combat target, regardless of links.


Also, there are substitution tags <pet> <pettp> <pethp> <petmp> (I think those are the correct tags - I've never played a pet class myself)

Hurray for you! Thumbs up!
I never known about the "target alliance" marcros, thanks a million!

Oh, and please throw in this...........

For BST:

<pet> shows your current pet's name, so if you're having a Canyon Rarab as your pet, when you say in Party chat that
"<pet> is fighting" it will come out "Canyon Rarab is fighting"

Since I've tried <pethp> before and it didn't work, and I'm using <pethpp> .....

<pethpp> shows your pet's current hp in %. Works the same as <hpp>. This also works on Dragoon's Wyvern.

I haven't checked this on SMN's avatar yet so I don't know if <pethpp> will work on your Carbuncle.

Edited, Fri Oct 8 02:36:50 2004 by Aleczan

On the subject of <call>s - <call1>, <call2> and <call3> seem by default to be used by Mages. I don't know if this is just some freaky co-incidence, but every mage i ever PT with uses <call1> for their {No more MP!} macro.

Maybe it's just a Ramuh thing, but everyone I've spoken to about it agreed...

Personally I use <call8> (the big GONG! sound) for my {Ready to start Skillchain!} macro, and that's it. People who have <call>s on every macro are very annoying.


Edited, Fri Oct 8 02:54:09 2004 by Lithiani

Edited, Fri Oct 8 02:54:24 2004 by Lithiani

You didn't mention the plain <st>, it's uses might not be as many if you got <stpc> or <stnpc>, but there are a few spells that's possible to cast on both friendly and hostile targets, and i don't know if <stpc> allows you to target garrison guards, which might be needing healing at times.


When using multiple commands you can use the same macro without /wait in for multiple abilities as long as only 1 works on it, would cause some chat flooding of yourself if you fill too many different abilities in it though...^^

/ja "Third Eye" <me>
/ja "Boost" <me>

unless you're both jobs at once, you'll only activate the one available, and get a 2 line error message for the one that doesn't.

d'oh, that isn't on the list at the top either! <me> is very handy for any /ja that affects you alone, and for buffing with Enhancing Magic.

I actually made it wrong on purpose. A couple of the ones I put in the examples are wrong, just to show people what not to do. I added a bit of clarification to explain why it doesn't work though. I'll change the colors so that the correct macros and incorrect macros are different.


Actually, it is up there. It's kind of hard to see though since it is in the middle of the list. Maybe I should put them in alternating colors? I'm not sure how to make them stand out more.



I added it in. Thanks for the input. ^^

Thanks, I changed it like you said. Also added at the bottom that if they have a lot of emotes in a macro, use motion when possible.

This is very handy BUT!!! us old guys cant read the blue text... It blends in. can it be changed to a different color?

Nicely Done!

Cool, my thread got bumped from the dead! I'd rather just bump AbroseOdin's thread with all the guides though.