I'm not sure if one has been written before, but I thought I start a guide for add-ons.
Addon FAQs General Information
1. What is an add-on? It is simply a small file(s) that somehow alters the user interface in such a way that it enhances gameplay.
2. Are add-ons allowed by Blizzard? Yes, Add-ons are allowed by Blizzard as they are a lua addon. It's 3rd party software that is not allowed (i.e. botting programs etc.).
3. Is it hard to use an add-on? NO! You simply download the file, extract it and place it in the correct folder: usually open C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft then open "interface" folder and then "Addons" folder (make sure you only have one copy of WoW installed).
4. What do I do next? After placing the files in the "addons" folder, log on to the game. At the character selection window there will be a checkable button "Addons" in the lower left corner.
Complete Instructions
5. Please note that some addons may slow loading time and general performance, so I would limit yourself to a few of your most useful.
6. Some addons have dependencies- This means that they require another addon to function properly I will try to point these out.
7. Addons become "out of date" with each patch release. Some addons will continue to work fine whereas others will no longer function properly. Always check back with the site you downloaded from to look for updates after a patch (may take a week or two). To use an "out of date" addon, click on the load out of date addons box in the user inferface.
8. Many addons have multplie components (CT mods, cosmos) that the user can choose to turn on and off in the addons interface menu.
9. Addons may have conflict with other addons, most usually in spacing. For example, titan panel may partially cover the a stat counting addon that also sites at the top of the screen.
OK now for a list of some addon sites:
http://www.curse-gaming.com
http://ui.worldofwar.net/
http://www.wowinterface.com/
I will try to list some very basic ones that are applicable to all players and then, over time, add more class, profession, PvP, raid, etc specific addons. In general, I will try to keep the list more of a beginner's guide. Also please feel free to add your favorites too with a brief description. I will try to use the correct names, plus each name will be linked to the download site for a full description.
BASIC ADDONS- These are only the very basic, few addons that everyone might benefit from
Titan Panel Excellent addon, It provides general information on everything like bag status, money, location, PvP flag, group settings, regeneration rates (MP, HP), system performance, XP earned/time to next level, coords etc. The panel takes up minimal space and is very customizable.
Auctioneer This addon scans the AH and will, over time, provide suggested prices for items you want to sell and buy. Plus it tells you the vendor prices too. Can be a bit of a memory hog
Enchantrix This addon tells you what an item D/E's into. Very good for deciding whether to AH and item or get it D/E'd
CT Mailmod This streamlines your time at the mailbox. It allows you to send up to 21 items at once to a toon as well as open multiple mails in a row. Items can also be forwarded
Flexbar One of my favorites. This allows you to place scalable (can adjust size) buttons anywhere on your screen. So if you are a "clicker" like me I can keep all my important abilities/spells in a very accessible portion of my window. Initial set-up is a little time consuming
Drag Queen This allows you to drag windows (like open bag) around the screen. It's nice if you want a window open, but that window covers something you want to see. It can be a little buggy and sometimes the "window" drags, but not the contents.
CooldownCount Displays a visual number for abilities/spells cooldown -->Thx to Turicus
Atlas Atlas is a user interface addon for World of Warcraft that provides a number of additional maps as well as an in-game map browser. Also has Instance maps. -->Thx to Turicus
TRADESKILLS
----GENERAL
Profession Helper This addon allows you to quickly advertise your crafted items by listing what you can do, reagents required and your price.
Recipe Radar This addon identifies what recipes are available from vendors in your area on on the world map.
----ENCHANTING
Enchantrix This addon tells you what an item D/E's into. Very good for deciding whether to AH and item or get it D/E'd
Safe Enchanter This makes you confirm a disenchant by showing you the item by name and quality. No more accidental D/E's
EnchantingDB Provides the current market value of enchanting reagents so you can decide quickly how much to sell an enchantment for. Note: Auctioneer is a suggested addon (to get the prices, I think)
----MINING
Gatherer This addon tracks each node that you mine, so that after time, you build up a database of mining areas that show on your minimap. Also works for herbalism and treasure.
----HERBALISM
Gatherer This addon tracks each herb you gather, so that after time, you build up a database of herb locations that show on your minimap. Also works for mining and treasure.
----FISHING
Fishing Buddy This keeps track of where you've caught fish giving you a database that will tell you your best percentages for a particular fish. Plus it makes casting, changing gear, and adding lures easier. Also has preliminary info on tracking "cycle fish" like nightfin snapper or winter squid. Offers full titan panel support.
CLASS SPECIFIC
----Warrior
Warrior This addon lets you easily cycle through your stances as well as create key bindings for your abilities as the author states "Warrior is what I like to refer to as a smart keybinding mod. Meaning you can bind a single key to perform different actions based on a set of conditions or spell availablity"
OverPowerAlert This addon makes sure you never miss an overpower chance again.
----Mage
Fountain This addon gives conjured water to anyone that whispers you with the word "water". Good for groups/raids
Magex This addon adds several options, such as auto buff (arcane intellect etc.), reagent tracking, and portal management.
novawatch shows a bar of how long your frostnova should hold (with no damage to target). also shows frost novae by other nearby players. -->Thx to Turicus
sheepwatch same as novawatch for polymorph. -->Thx to Turicus
----Hunter: (Provided by Mazra-Thx!)
RangeHelp
Automatically switches actionbar pages depending on how far away from your target you are. Useful for saving space as you can put your ranged abilities on one page and your melee abilities on another and have it switch between them when you get within/out of range.
RangeRecolor
Changes the color of your actionbar buttons when out of range, out of mana etc. Also works with other classes.
Feed Pet Button
A movable button wherein you can put your pet food. When you pet turns unhappy, just click the button and it'll feed your pet.
Feed Pet Button Modified
Automatically feeds your pet when it turns unhappy.
Sorren's Hunter Timers
Shows timers for various spells and abilities like Hunter's Mark, Trap duration (before and after being triggered), Wing Clip etc. Also gives your Aimed Shot a cast bar.
----Warlock
necrosis LdC: Helps manage your summon, healthstone, shard etc. -->Thx to Turicus
More to come! please add suggestions!
Edited, Nov 18th 2006 at 7:28am PST by webbstock
Edited, Nov 22nd 2006 9:10am by webbstock
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A Guide for AddonsFollow
Suggestions:
In order for this to be a comprehensive guide, you will need to include allot more information for each of the numbered sections with which you start. Make sure you vet this information and do the research yourself. Some add-ons, for example increase loading time dramatically. List features that can be turned off, etc.
Lose the colour coding of words in the last part of your guide. They are very hard to see. Move your self-councious middle part "Obviously, no matter how hard I try..." to the beginning or end of your guide. I would probably delete it entirely.
This is a tough subject to tackle, but if handled well, could earn you major kudos.
Good luck to you.
In order for this to be a comprehensive guide, you will need to include allot more information for each of the numbered sections with which you start. Make sure you vet this information and do the research yourself. Some add-ons, for example increase loading time dramatically. List features that can be turned off, etc.
Lose the colour coding of words in the last part of your guide. They are very hard to see. Move your self-councious middle part "Obviously, no matter how hard I try..." to the beginning or end of your guide. I would probably delete it entirely.
This is a tough subject to tackle, but if handled well, could earn you major kudos.
Good luck to you.
TroaYui wrote:
thx ^^ i uploaded a few of the add-ons you were talking about ^^
You mean "downloaded".
Uploading means you're sending the file UP from your computer to the Internet.
Downloading means you're pulling the file DOWN from the Internet to your computer.
-T.
Thx for the replies so far..Keep them coming!
But can something ever be SIDEloaded???? :)
Quote:
TroaYui wrote:
thx ^^ i uploaded a few of the add-ons you were talking about ^^
You mean "downloaded".
Uploading means you're sending the file UP from your computer to the Internet.
Downloading means you're pulling the file DOWN from the Internet to your computer.
-T.
thx ^^ i uploaded a few of the add-ons you were talking about ^^
You mean "downloaded".
Uploading means you're sending the file UP from your computer to the Internet.
Downloading means you're pulling the file DOWN from the Internet to your computer.
-T.
But can something ever be SIDEloaded???? :)
42 posts
Elflorn,
No where did I read that this was a comprehnsive guide, just a guide. I am still amazed at the amount of "hats" on WoW that have to say something negative about everyones hard work. If you dont like how its done, do it your own GD self and save the rest of us time by not having to read your guys' crap.
No where did I read that this was a comprehnsive guide, just a guide. I am still amazed at the amount of "hats" on WoW that have to say something negative about everyones hard work. If you dont like how its done, do it your own GD self and save the rest of us time by not having to read your guys' crap.
42 posts
Webbstock,
Great work! Color code all you want!
Great work! Color code all you want!
Parts 3-7 of yours: This is based on a guide i was writing, feel free to use it in yours if you want.
How?
For arguments sake we we will assume WoW is installed in c:\wow.
For addons to work they need to be installed in the addons folder which is contained in the interface folder.
The first time you install addons you may need to create the addons folder.
The structure should look like this:
c:\WoW\interface\addons
From there addons each get installed to their own sub folder underneath the addons folder. (It is important to know how this works as zipfiles are not always in the proper directory structure format to allow extracting right to the addons folder.
Addons should look something like this:
c:\WoW\interface\addons\mySuperAddon
c:\WoW\interface\addons\mySuperDuperAddon
c:\WoW\interface\addons\ ... etc ...
Within each addon folder you will find a ".toc" file. This file contains the mods "compatability version" which will be related to the current version of WoW. It SHOULD match the version of WoW you are running. If the current version of WoW is 1.12 then the toc file would have the toc set to 1200, if WoW was 1.13 it would be 1300.
Now just because the TOC doesn't match the current version of WoW doesn't mean it won't run, it just means the author has not updated the addon since the last version update and things may or may not work as intended.
You can toggle whether the addon is loaded (despite being out of date) From the Character Select screen. When you are choosing your character if you look to the lower left of your screen you will see an "Addons" button.
Clicking this will bring you up a list of Addons you have and their status enabled/disabled. There will also be a checkbox to tell the system to load out of date addons anyway.
The other option on that screen is the amount of RAM to allocate towards addons. In general you can leave this as is, but If you use any massive data collection addons like Auctioneer you may want to bump it a little higher.
This will vary from system to system though from what I have been told you should never really need more than 128 megs allocated.
From this point on the Addon is on it's own, you will need to know the commands/buttons to click within the game to change the options/settings for the addon. This will all be documented in the readme file accompanying the addon download, or on the website itself.
Edited, Nov 16th 2006 at 12:50pm PST by TseTsuo
I wrote:
How?
For arguments sake we we will assume WoW is installed in c:\wow.
For addons to work they need to be installed in the addons folder which is contained in the interface folder.
The first time you install addons you may need to create the addons folder.
The structure should look like this:
c:\WoW\interface\addons
From there addons each get installed to their own sub folder underneath the addons folder. (It is important to know how this works as zipfiles are not always in the proper directory structure format to allow extracting right to the addons folder.
Addons should look something like this:
c:\WoW\interface\addons\mySuperAddon
c:\WoW\interface\addons\mySuperDuperAddon
c:\WoW\interface\addons\ ... etc ...
Within each addon folder you will find a ".toc" file. This file contains the mods "compatability version" which will be related to the current version of WoW. It SHOULD match the version of WoW you are running. If the current version of WoW is 1.12 then the toc file would have the toc set to 1200, if WoW was 1.13 it would be 1300.
Now just because the TOC doesn't match the current version of WoW doesn't mean it won't run, it just means the author has not updated the addon since the last version update and things may or may not work as intended.
You can toggle whether the addon is loaded (despite being out of date) From the Character Select screen. When you are choosing your character if you look to the lower left of your screen you will see an "Addons" button.
Clicking this will bring you up a list of Addons you have and their status enabled/disabled. There will also be a checkbox to tell the system to load out of date addons anyway.
The other option on that screen is the amount of RAM to allocate towards addons. In general you can leave this as is, but If you use any massive data collection addons like Auctioneer you may want to bump it a little higher.
This will vary from system to system though from what I have been told you should never really need more than 128 megs allocated.
From this point on the Addon is on it's own, you will need to know the commands/buttons to click within the game to change the options/settings for the addon. This will all be documented in the readme file accompanying the addon download, or on the website itself.
Edited, Nov 16th 2006 at 12:50pm PST by TseTsuo
Quote:
Elflorn,
No where did I read that this was a comprehnsive guide, just a guide. I am still amazed at the amount of "hats" on WoW that have to say something negative about everyones hard work. If you dont like how its done, do it your own GD self and save the rest of us time by not having to read your guys' crap.
No where did I read that this was a comprehnsive guide, just a guide. I am still amazed at the amount of "hats" on WoW that have to say something negative about everyones hard work. If you dont like how its done, do it your own GD self and save the rest of us time by not having to read your guys' crap.
I thought the suggestions were constructive and had a neutral tone. They weren't in any way derrogatory. When writing, it is common to remove oneself from the work, thus the "self-concious" reference. Perhaps this is the portion to which you took umbrage. I was not demenaing to the author.
Guides usually try to cover allot of ground. I'm not sure why anyone would want to wrtie a guide that didn't cover the material thoroughly.
In fact, your post was the first negative one in this thread. If the hat fits....
And to the OP, this is looking better already. Rate ups!
Suggestions:
You might mention that some downloads are compilations and contain several to many mods. Examples are CT_Mods, which contains a number of mods all by the same group of people, and Cosmos, which is a compilation of mods written by others.
Since some people (MOST PEOPLE) won't need to use all the mods in a compilation, you might also explain how to disable mods that aren't being used. At the same time, you might also want to explain what dependencies are.
ALso, you'll need to inform others that mods will go out of date at every patch, and that they will either need to be re-downloaded with updated mods, or loaded through the use of the "Load out-of-date Addons" checkbox.
You might mention that some downloads are compilations and contain several to many mods. Examples are CT_Mods, which contains a number of mods all by the same group of people, and Cosmos, which is a compilation of mods written by others.
Since some people (MOST PEOPLE) won't need to use all the mods in a compilation, you might also explain how to disable mods that aren't being used. At the same time, you might also want to explain what dependencies are.
ALso, you'll need to inform others that mods will go out of date at every patch, and that they will either need to be re-downloaded with updated mods, or loaded through the use of the "Load out-of-date Addons" checkbox.
Thx for the rate up!
Also please feel free to suggest good addons that I may have overlooked as this list grows.
Good points Mike, I'll add those in
Also please feel free to suggest good addons that I may have overlooked as this list grows.
Good points Mike, I'll add those in
I always saw Gatherer as more of a General Tradeskill mod, since it works for everything (even some quest items). Might save you a little space, rather than breaking it into multiple sections. But it works either way, really.
Your link is broken for Fishing Buddy. (two L's in llink)
Edit: You might also check out the UI forum on the WoW boards, just to get an idea of more of the popular mods being used, updated links, etc:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114
Edited, Nov 16th 2006 at 1:34pm PST by Jantis
Your link is broken for Fishing Buddy. (two L's in llink)
Edit: You might also check out the UI forum on the WoW boards, just to get an idea of more of the popular mods being used, updated links, etc:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114
Edited, Nov 16th 2006 at 1:34pm PST by Jantis
I'm starting to add the class specific addons, please recommend any that you may use!
I will try to add all the suggestions I've gotten as I have time.
I will try to add all the suggestions I've gotten as I have time.
Hunter:
RangeHelp
Automatically switches actionbar pages depending on how far away from your target you are. Useful for saving space as you can put your ranged abilities on one page and your melee abilities on another and have it switch between them when you get within/out of range.
RangeRecolor
Changes the color of your actionbar buttons when out of range, out of mana etc. Also works with other classes.
Feed Pet Button
A movable button wherein you can put your pet food. When you pet turns unhappy, just click the button and it'll feed your pet.
Feed Pet Button Modified
Automatically feeds your pet when it turns unhappy.
Sorren's Hunter Timers
Shows timers for various spells and abilities like Hunter's Mark, Trap duration (before and after being triggered), Wing Clip etc. Also gives your Aimed Shot a cast bar.
Edited, Nov 18th 2006 at 7:58am PST by Mazra
RangeHelp
Automatically switches actionbar pages depending on how far away from your target you are. Useful for saving space as you can put your ranged abilities on one page and your melee abilities on another and have it switch between them when you get within/out of range.
RangeRecolor
Changes the color of your actionbar buttons when out of range, out of mana etc. Also works with other classes.
Feed Pet Button
A movable button wherein you can put your pet food. When you pet turns unhappy, just click the button and it'll feed your pet.
Feed Pet Button Modified
Automatically feeds your pet when it turns unhappy.
Sorren's Hunter Timers
Shows timers for various spells and abilities like Hunter's Mark, Trap duration (before and after being triggered), Wing Clip etc. Also gives your Aimed Shot a cast bar.
Edited, Nov 18th 2006 at 7:58am PST by Mazra
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
cooldowncount: shows cooldowns in numbers on all abilities.
altcast: press alt and click spell to cast on yourself.
for mages:
novawatch: shows a bar of how long your frostnova should hold (with no damage to target). also shows frost novae by other nearby players.
sheepwatch: same as novawatch for polymorph.
for warlocks:
necrosis: summon, healthstone, shard etc. helper
atlas: instance maps, can add atlas loot to see boss drops too.
altcast: press alt and click spell to cast on yourself.
for mages:
novawatch: shows a bar of how long your frostnova should hold (with no damage to target). also shows frost novae by other nearby players.
sheepwatch: same as novawatch for polymorph.
for warlocks:
necrosis: summon, healthstone, shard etc. helper
atlas: instance maps, can add atlas loot to see boss drops too.
Turicus, if you're a fan of Necrosis, I highly recommend Cryolysis for your Mage needs.
I've had lots of fun with the Polymorph messages it throws out.
I've had lots of fun with the Polymorph messages it throws out.
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Mazra the Meaningless wrote:
Turicus, if you're a fan of Necrosis, I highly recommend Cryolysis for your Mage needs.
I've had lots of fun with the Polymorph messages it throws out.
I've had lots of fun with the Polymorph messages it throws out.
thanks for the tip!
i can't go and check it out atm, because curse is down. i'll check it out when it's back up.
honestly, though, the most annoying thing in necrosis are those random messages when you mount and 3-4 lines of text for a summon. it gets old very fast imo. i like the soul-/healthstone functions and timers though.
You can disable the messages in Cryolysis. You can also change them to cleaner raid-friendly versions, as illustrated in the screenshot.
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Thanks for the new suggestions, I'll add them to the top of the post!
6 posts
I use cosmos. It has everything I need all in one package. The things i like the most about it is:
coords on map
all in one inventory
when scrolling over an trade item, it tells u what trade skill it is used for
also in the menu it has a UI menu which allows you to choose which of the add-ons you want to use and which ones you don't.
coords on map
all in one inventory
when scrolling over an trade item, it tells u what trade skill it is used for
also in the menu it has a UI menu which allows you to choose which of the add-ons you want to use and which ones you don't.
(sigh) Unfortunately, Necrosis Ldc ( a truly wonderful add-on for us 'locks) is broken in beta, and (I suspect) also at the next patch.
some additions:
sct scrolling combat text
this has been around longer than it was introduced into the blizz ui. imo, it's better. it shows incoming damage above your head, like it shows damage dealt above the mob's head. you can have different colours for types of damage (red for physical, green for nature), resists, crits etc. all display with colours, effects and sounds. it also pops overpower and execute warnings etc.
one of my faves.
ui mods
x-perl. this is one of the best target frame mods out there. i <3 it. i don't recommend it for new players because of the amount of information and customizing. it's great for raiding and experienced players. you can display loads of information and customize looks as well.
equipcompare. when you mouseover an item, the currently equipped item for that slot is shown next to it, so you can easily compare stats. if you mouseover a ring, both your rings are displayed. win.
fubar
like titan panel, but uses less system resources.
for rogues:
energywatch shows your energy recharge tick, so you know when your energy regenerates. x-perl already has this built in.
stunwatch. like sheepwatch. works for sap, gouge, cheap shot, kidney shot iirc.
raiding mods (if you want to add a raiding section):
ct raidassist - shows health/mana/debuffs of all raid members
ct raidtracker - logs who got what loot when, who left the raid when. notes can be added. data can be imported into eqdkp.
bigwigs - shows coloured bars for boss timers like eye spawn on c'thun, skeleton consume on gluth etc. all bosses in raid instances are in it.
i'm not at my game pc, so i may be back with more ;-)
thanks for layouting all this, webbstock.
sct scrolling combat text
this has been around longer than it was introduced into the blizz ui. imo, it's better. it shows incoming damage above your head, like it shows damage dealt above the mob's head. you can have different colours for types of damage (red for physical, green for nature), resists, crits etc. all display with colours, effects and sounds. it also pops overpower and execute warnings etc.
one of my faves.
ui mods
x-perl. this is one of the best target frame mods out there. i <3 it. i don't recommend it for new players because of the amount of information and customizing. it's great for raiding and experienced players. you can display loads of information and customize looks as well.
equipcompare. when you mouseover an item, the currently equipped item for that slot is shown next to it, so you can easily compare stats. if you mouseover a ring, both your rings are displayed. win.
fubar
like titan panel, but uses less system resources.
for rogues:
energywatch shows your energy recharge tick, so you know when your energy regenerates. x-perl already has this built in.
stunwatch. like sheepwatch. works for sap, gouge, cheap shot, kidney shot iirc.
raiding mods (if you want to add a raiding section):
ct raidassist - shows health/mana/debuffs of all raid members
ct raidtracker - logs who got what loot when, who left the raid when. notes can be added. data can be imported into eqdkp.
bigwigs - shows coloured bars for boss timers like eye spawn on c'thun, skeleton consume on gluth etc. all bosses in raid instances are in it.
i'm not at my game pc, so i may be back with more ;-)
thanks for layouting all this, webbstock.
Besides for more class specific addons, I would also include a section explaining that some addons are illegal and will get your account banned/suspended for using them.....possibly including some that you run across from forums and such
(Be careful about that though, because there is a lot of false information and I wouldn't post something in that section unless you KNOW it is illegal)
Btw great post, and I'm suprised someone hasn't made a guide like that yet. Lots of talk about Addons and UI's but no guide...good job!!
(Be careful about that though, because there is a lot of false information and I wouldn't post something in that section unless you KNOW it is illegal)
Btw great post, and I'm suprised someone hasn't made a guide like that yet. Lots of talk about Addons and UI's but no guide...good job!!
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