************************************************************************** Xylobot written by Ben Ziegler Copyright (c) 2000-2002, All Rights Reserved http://www.xylobot.com ************************************************************************** See history.txt file for latest updates. For more information, visit: http://www.xylobot.com/documentation.htm ************************************************************************** INTRODUCTION Xylobot is the first software tool that provides recording & playback of keystroke and mouse macros under DirectX games. Xylobot takes the grunt work out of playing your game, and makes it more fun. Xylobot now offers MANY features: - Macros (keyboard & mouse) - Triggers (macros that fire based on text in the log file) - On-screen Map - shows where you are in the zone!! - Waypoints - Compass - Night Vision Scope - Zoom Window - Web Browser (BETA) - Xylobot Screen Capture (captures Game screen + all Xylobot windows) - Timers ************************************************************************** SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS - Microsoft Windows Operating System (Win2000, 95, 98, 98SE, ME) - Microsoft DirectX v8.1+ - MS Internet Explorer 5.0+ FULL VERSION* (for Web viewing support) * FULL Version means you have downloaded the MSHTML ActiveX control, which is the default when you do a full install of IE - Direct access to the Internet - Xylobot's license server does not work behind a firewall or proxy. ************************************************************************** INSTALLATION Simply unzip the ZIP file into its own directory, usually a directory called "Xylobot" beneath the "Program Files" directory. You will need to create this directory if it does not already exist. Then run the Xylobot.exe program. After running Xylobot, you will see the following text displayed on the main page of the program: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When the status bar below displays "Xylobot is Running", simply run your game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ************************************************************************** XYLOBOT CONFIGURATION The first time you run Xylobot, you will want to select some configur- ation options. On the "Options" tab there are two choices: - Always show Xylobot mouse cursor - ON by default. This will show the game's cursor and Xylobot's cursor. This is nice because you will easily know when the two are out of synch and you need to calibrate. They are out of synch when you see TWO cursors. When the are in synch they overlap and you can only see one cursor. You may turn this feature off if the second cursor is annoying. There is one option on the "Maps" tab: - Map Directory. Make sure this points to the directory where all of your map files (*.map) are located. The map feature won't work if this isn't properly set. - Links to download maps. Click on the link to open up a browser for those map websites. You need to download the maps and copy them to your maps directory for the map feature to work. "About" tab: - Serial Number. (Registerd users only). Enter your Serial Numberhere. If you are using the trial version, this will say "TRIAL". Press the "Enter License Key" button to enter this information. - License Key. (Registered users only). Enter your License Key here. if you are using the trial version, this will say "TRIAL". - Version. This lets you know what version of Xylobot you are running. "Log File" tab: - Displays any errors that occurred the last time Xylobot ran. "Play Game" tab (the first tab): - Instructions for using Xylobot ************************************************************************** GENERAL FEATURE OVERVIEW All Xylobot general features are accessed by pressing the "]" key and then a letter key. GENERAL COMMANDS: ]E - Main Menu - Brings up window with list of other commands. Use this one if you forget the key command for another feature. ]M - Toggle Map - Brings up an on-screen transparent map of the current zone. ]S - Toggle Map Select screen ]Y - Toggle Waypoints ]L - Toggle Location - Brings up an on-screen display of location (X, Y, Z co-ordinates) and compass. ]N - Toggle Night Scope - Off / Small / Large. Brings up display that enhances brightness & contrast - helps see in the dark. ]Z - Toggle Zoom Window. Defaults to zooming the experience bar. ]W - Web Browser (BETA) ]H - Help Window ]I - Timer Window ]A - Macro Window ]O - Notepad - View/edit text files in your game ]R - Scripts See below for an in depth description of these features. ************************************************************************** MACRO FEATURES RECORD: Press the "[" key and a number key (0-9) to start recording, you should a wav file played saying "Recording". When finished recording, press the "[" key TWICE, you should hear a wave file saying that recording has stopped. PLAYBACK: Press the "]" and a number key (0-9) to start playback, press "]" key TWICE to stop looped playback. OTHER COMMANDS: ]C - Auto Calibrate. Calibrates the mouse so that Xylobot knows where it is. Do this if you see two mouse cursors, or Xylobot can't seem to locate the mouse. ]P - Pause/Unpause playback ]V - Toggle sound on/off [L - Next macro recorded will be a "Looped" macro [S - Next macro recorded will be a "Single-playback" macro [B - Next macro recorded will be a "Both Mouse & keyboard" macro [K - Next macro recorded will be a "Keyboard-only" macro [U - Undo last record (restores last overwritten macro) NOTES FOR MOUSE SUPPORT To get the best results, you should calibrate Xylobot before recording any mouse macros. This is very easy, simply move the mouse pointer to each of the 4 corners of the screen. Xylobot will detect this, and calibrate automatically. You can now safely record a mouse macro. For best results start a mouse macro with the mouse in the upper left corner of the screen. Some keystrokes will automatically pause a macro. This allows a player to type a quick message, reply to a tell, etc. while a macro is playing. The enter and slash ("/") keys will both pause and resume playing macros. The "R" and "T" keys will pause a macro, but not resume it. Note that Xylobot now supports up to 100 macros (0-99). However, only the first ten macros (0-9) are accessible through the keyboard. See the section on "Macro List" ("]A") for information on accessing the macros in the slots ten and above. ************************************************************************** DESCRIPTION OF GENERAL FEATURES ******************** - Main Window Press "]E" to open the Main Window. The main window has buttons to launch all the other Xylobot windows. If you can only remember one keystroke for Xylobot, remember "]E"! Also, using the Main Window is the only way to access the Xylobot Screen Capture tool, which doesn't have a keystroke defined. ******************** - Map Feature Press "]M" to open the Map window. The map is the coolest new feature to Xylobot. When you enter a new zone, Xylobot detects this from the log file and loads a new map. Note that you must have logging turned ON for this to work. Xylobot gets the map name (or zone) from the log file. It then scans all of the map files in your map directory. If it finds a matching map, it displays the map. If it can't find a map, it displays an error where the map would be. NOTE: FOR THE MAP WINDOW TO UPDATE YOUR POSITION, you must point Xylobot to your correct log file, turn logging on, and issue /loc commands. When the map appears, it displays transparently on top of your game window. The map is vector based, and usually shows the zone border. Sometimes the main paths are marked, as well as merchant huts, etc. At the bottom right corner of the map are some buttons: - Select - Displays Map Select window (see section below) - WayPt - Displays Waypoints window (see section below) - Size - Click & drag to resize the map window - Move - Click & drag to move the map window - Zoom Out - Click & hold to zoom out, until you can see the entire map if desired. - Zoom In - Click & hold to zoom in. Will zoom down until one map pixel on screen equals one loc unit (from the /loc command) - Pan - Click & drag to change the center of the map. When you release the map will snap back to center on your character. Also, while panning the pan marker /loc is displayed. This is useful to quickly find the /loc of points on the map. The map uses information from the Location window to determine your characters location. See the section on the Location window for info regarding accuracy. Maps are currently included with my distribution. Note that these maps were NOT developed by Xylobot. They were developed for an open-source project called ShowEQ. These folks have kindly released their maps and the map format to the public. The Xylobot team (me!) does not produce any map content. However, if you find some fixes or enhancements to make to a map file, you can email me the file and I will include it in my distribution. I also highly encourage you to upload the map file to one of the ShowEQ map sites. If you want to download the latest map files, go to these websites: http://www.k-r-g.com/mapfiend/ http://www.hackersquest.org/ ******************** Map Select Window To select a map press "]S". A window will pop up with a list of all maps in your map directory. Double click a map, or click on a map and then click "Select". ******************** Waypoints Press "]Y" to open the waypoints window. This window will display the points of interest and waypoints FOR THE CURRENT MAP. The following buttons are displayed for this window: - "Select" waypoint button - shows: distance, ETA, steering angle, & line to target on map - "None" button - turn off current waypoint - "Add" button - Set current /loc as a waypoint (autonamed "User_#") - "Delete" button - deletes user waypoints (can't delete map points) - "Rename" button - rename user waypoints (can't rename map points) - "Close" - close the window User waypoints stored in a file with the same name as the map file, but with an extension of ".USR". When a waypoint is selected, the map screen will display a dotted green line from your character (in the center of the map) to the waypoint. It will also display the distance (in loc units) and ETA (estimated time of arrival). The ETA is in seconds, and is calculated using the running speed. Note that the location window must be on for running speed to be calculated. Finally, an "Angle to Target" arrow is displayed. Simply turn until the angle to target is pointing straight up. You are then facing the right direction, and can move towards the waypoint. When you get very near your waypoint (50 loc units or less), the angle to target line will start to shrink, until you are directly on top of waypoint. ******************** Location Window - Location Window - press "]L". This window shows: - Current Position (x, y, z) in /loc coordinates - 360 degree Compass, with N, S, E, W markers - Current Time - Frames Per Second (FPS), calculated using last 30 frames - Running Speed (in loc units per second) - Transparent background to maximize view area. You can still resize the location window to provide a background if its hard to read. Note: The location window displays statistics based on the camera, NOT the statistics of your character. When you are in 1st person view, then the camera matches your character's location. If you switch views though, you will see that the position & direction (and even running speed!) are those of the camera. For best use of the location view, press F9 until you are in 1st person view. NOTE: FOR THE LOCATION WINDOW TO UPDATE YOUR POSITION, you must point Xylobot to your correct log file, turn logging on, and issue /loc commands. ******************** Night Scope Window Open by pressing "]N". This will toggle Small window, Large window, and off. The night scope just enhances a portion of the screen by turning up the brightness and contrast values. It is useful to find your way around at night or deep in a dungeon. The night scope feature is highly CPU intensive and will reduce your framerate (especially the large window). Turn off the feature unless needed. ******************** Zoom Window When you turn on the zoom window, two windows appear. One is a small, transparent window that you can move around the screen and resize. The second window displays whatever is beneath the zoom window, but larger. If you resize the display window, you can zoom in as much as you want. Defaults to zooming the experience bar (if you are in Inventory mode). This way you can see how many *pixels* until the next level. ;) You can also zoom MOBs off in the distance, but they look very blocky. ******************** Xylobot Screen Capture This tool is accessed from the Main window (]E), then press the "Capture" button. This utility will capture the screen image and save it to your Xylobot directory in BMP format. The capture will include the game screen, and all Xylobot windows (except for the capture window itself). ******************** - Timers Press "]I" to bring up the timer window. This window shows the following buttons: - Start - Stop - Note you must still use "]]" to stop playing a mouse macro (since it will be impossible to move the mouse over the Stop button!). Also, it is highly recommended to use "[[" to stop recording a macro (unless it is a KeyboardOnly macro, then its OK to use the button). - Reset - sets the timer back to its starting point. This is some number of minutes for countdown timers, and back to zero for "normal" timers. - Alarm - pick the alarm for the timer. The choices are: - Overlay+Wav - Flash a text overlay on the screen, and play "Timer" WAV - None - do nothing - (Time) - No alarm, and timer type is "Normal" and not countdown. Note the time will look funny when selecting this alarm type, because the time is counted up. When you switch to the other alarm types the time will look normal again. - Window - show the timer window when the countdown reaches 0 - Overlay - flash a text message on the screen - Beep - do a system beep - WAV file - play the Timer.wav file - Overlay+beep - flash a text message, and play the system beep - Add - Press this button to add a new timer - After pressing add, it will ask you the name for this timer. - Next it will ask for the timer length in minutes. You can enter a decimal value (e.g. 3.5 = 3 minutes 30 seconds). - Delete - delete a timer Timers can be useful to time all sorts of events, including: - time a certain buff will last - time until a skill re-enables (e.g., 6 minutes for Mend) - time until a MOB will spawn ******************** - Notepad Press "]O" to open the Notepad window. This window lets you view and edit text files. The window shows the following buttons: - New - Create a new text file - Load - Load a new text file - Save - save your current changes - Edit - edit the current line in the file - Add - add a new line to the file - Delete - delete the selected line from the file. The notepad window remembers the last file you loaded or saved, and opens it again the next time you open the Notepad window. ******************** - Scripts Press "]R" to open the Scripts window. Go to the Xylobot website for the latest information on scripts: http://www.xylobot.com/documentation.htm ******************** - Macro List Press "]A" to bring up the macro list. If you haven't created any macros yet, this list will be empty. This window shows the following buttons: - Edit - Edit an existing macro. Displays the Edit Macro window (see below) - Play - Play a selected macro - Record - Record a new macro. You will be prompted for the macro number (0-99). This will overwrite the existing macro if there is one. - Stop - Stops playing or recording - Delete - deletes the selected macro - Copy - Copies a macro to a new location. Will prompt for the destination number (0-99). The Macro Edit window lets you modify any of the macro's properties. This window displays the following information in list form: - Description - a user description of the macro, e.g. "Practice Feign Death" - KeyboardOnly - True means the macro will playback keystrokes only. False means the macro will play mouse movements & clicks, as well as keyboard. - Looped - True means the macro will loop. False will play only once. - CanOverride - If True, then the macro can trigger even when another macro is currently playing. - Triggers - Text that, if found in the log file, will automatically play the macro - CancelText - Text that, if found in the log file, will automatically stop the macro if it is playing - RestartText - Text that, if found in the log file, will automatically restart the macro from the beginning if it was playing - TriggerSet - This is a new property that can toggle when triggers are activated. Macros can be grouped into one TriggerSet (by setting each macros TriggerSet property to the same value). Then, when one of the macros is played, only macros in the TriggerSet (and also macros with a TriggerSet value of "ALL") can trigger. This is a useful feature for bards that need to have multiple macros that trigger off of the same text, but need to fire under different circumstances. - NumLoop - The number of times the macro will loop on playback. Zero (0) means loop continuously. Enter a number (e.g. 20) to limit the number of loops. - (Length) - Read-only - The playback length of the macro in seconds - (Last Edit) - Read-only - The date/time the macro was last changed This window also displays two buttons: - Edit. This is a generic edit button for each property. Pressing the edit button behaves differently depending on the current selected property. - If the selected property is a boolean value (True/False), such as the CanOverride property, then its value will be toggled to the opposite value (False becomes True, True becomes False). - If the selected property is a string or number value, then an edit box will pop up, and you can enter the value there. - If the selected property contains multiple string lines (Triggers, CancelText, RestartText), then the edit button will pop up an edit window that allows editing multiple lines of text. Note that if you close this window by pressing the "X" in the upper right corner, your changes will NOT be saved. YOu must press the "Save" button for your changes to take affect. - Save. This button will save your changes immediately to the macroXX.txt file. Note that if instead of pressing "Save" you press the "X" in the upper right corner, your changes will NOT be saved. Note that the first ten macros (0-9) are special since they are the only macros that you have keyboard access to play and record (e.g., by pressing "]" and then "0" to "9"). The other macros can only be accessed by using the Macro list window and pressing the Play or Record button, or through triggers. ************************************************************************** EDITING MACRO FILES (Note - this section is now obsolete since macros can be editing in the game with the Macro List window. However, it is being left in the readme in case some users still wish to edit macro files outside the game.) After exiting the game, each of your macros is saved in your Xylobot directory in the format macroX.txt (where X = 0-9 depending on the macro number). These files are simple text files that you can edit with Notepad. Advanced users can edit the macro files for increased capability. Note that improperly editing a macro file can cause Xylobot to crash on start up (as it tries to load the invalid macro file). Use caution when editing these files. The files are saved using Delphi's internal component streaming. When entering string values that have a tick mark in them (ASCII 39), you must enter the tick mark twice in the file, since Delphi normally uses the tick mark to mark the begin and end of a string. Example: Triggers.Strings = ( 'JoeTwink says, ''Buff me Bro''') Note that there are no " (quotemarks - ASCII 34) in the line above. If it looks like a quotemark, its really TWO tick marks. Macro File Format: - "Triggers" property - used to trigger a macro from the log file. See "TRIGGERS" section below. - "Looped" property - If true, the macro will continually loop until stopped. Otherwise it will run just once. - "KeyboardOnly" property - If true, this macro will not playback any mouse movements. This is useful to have a "background" macro playing that doesn't interfere with using the mouse. - "CancelText" property - If you enter a value for this (by editing the MacroX.txt file), then the macro will automatically stop if it detects this text. - "CanOverride" property - If set to true, then the trigger text for this macro can trigger even if another macro is running. Normally a macro can't trigger if another macro is running. - "RestartText" property - Enter a value here to automatically restart the macro when certain text is found in the log file. This is useful for bards to twist songs. ************************************************************************** TRIGGERS Currently the only way to add a trigger is to edit the macro.txt file after exiting the game. You simply set the trigger to whatever trigger text you want (e.g., "Buff me"). Then restart Xylobot & the game, turn on your log file (with /LOG). The next time any lines in the trigger text are found in the log file, that macro will be played automatically (just once, not looped). Please check back to the Xylobot website for more info on triggers. http://www.uorobot.com/scripts/WebBoard.dll/ViewMessage?MessageID=599 ************************************************************************** TRIAL VERSION LIMITATIONS The trial version is limited to a total of FIVE minutes of total macro playback time. Playback will cease after five minutes worth of macros have been played. Other features are seperately timed for five minutes. So you can use the Web Browser for five minutes, then the map viewier, for five minutes, etc. ************************************************************************** WEB BROWSER LIMITATIONS The web browser does not support frames. Many other popular sites do not use frames though, and they work fine. Interaction with the web browser is limited to using the mouse. Keyboard input now works using popup windows to enter the text. Before running the web browser under Xylobot, its best to go into Internet Explorer options and turn off all scripting and JAVA support. Some web pages that have scripts (especially interactive scripts), may hang when being viewed, which will force you to quit and restart. You don't have access to your favorites menu (I may add that feature in the future, but its not there yet). So you must set your home page to a page that can get to all the links you need to get to. I created my own start page with my favorite links to jump to, this is probably the best way to start. So create your own start page, and then set that as your home page. The start page I use is: http://www.benziegler.com/BenLinks.htm ************************************************************************** TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE - If you are having major problmes, try reinstalling Xylobot. To do this properly, first delete any existing Xylobot files. - Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed. Currently 8.1 for Windows 98/ME/XP/2000. - Start Xylobot BEFORE running your game. - Remember to press the "Start" button. When the "Stop" button is enabled, then it is connected & running. - Do not try to use any recording or playback features until you are "in the game", i.e. until you've passed all login and character selection screens. Xylobot wasn't designed to work with the login screens, etc. - Be sure to calibrate the mouse (see documentation). - Start recording macros with the mouse in the far upper left corner of the screen. - Be sure to record & play macros in 640x480 screen resolutions. Higher resolutions will cause problems (support for higher resolutions is coming) - When recording use "[" + "#" (0-9) to start recording, and press twice to STOP recording. Pressing "]" to stop recording could cause unexpected results. - To playback macros use "]" + "#" (0-9) to start playing, and press twice to STOP playing. Example: Press "[1" to record macro #1, and press "]1" to play it back. - Xylobot has been tested & verified to work under Windows 98 and Windows 2000. It has not been tested under Windows Millennium. - If you can't hear the WAV files, it is a sound card issue, and your sound card doesn't support playback from multiple sources. You could delete or move the WAV files out of the Xylobot directory, then Xylobot will default to playing the system beep instead. Once again, depending on your sound card you may or may not hear the system beep. - You must use DirectX mode, you can't use Glide mode. - Web: Be sure to turn off scripting and JAVA support in Internet Explorer - Web: Set your home page to something simple (with no scripts). Prefer- ably just a normal page with a table of links. - Web: Test to see if you can use the browser in the simulator. Run EQGUISim.exe and then hit the "Browser" button. Another window should pop up (minimize it), and then you should see a browser window that works. If you still have trouble, check out the online FAQ at: http://www.xylobot.com/faq.htm ************************************************************************** KNOWN BUGS - Some macros that have tick marks (ASCII 39) in the CancelText property crash Xylobot on loading. For now remove the tick marks if it crashes on you. ************************************************************************** PRIVACY INFORMATION The program (Full Version) communicates with a license server, and only one copy of each license is allowed to run at a time. Information sent to the license server includes program version, OrderID, License Key, hard drive serial number, and network card serial number. ************************************************************************** PURCHASE Xylobot Xylobot is $20. Buying now ensures you free bug fixes and upgrades until the next major version. Your purchase helps ensure the continued developer support of the product. Go to the following URL to purchase Xylobot: http://www.xylobot.com/purchase.htm Guild & bulk discounts are also available. Send me an email for details. ************************************************************************** FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information, please visit the Xylobot website. This website features a news page, FAQ, Troubleshooting guide, and message board. Xylobot Official Home Page http://www.xylobot.com/ Latest news & updates on Xylobot, go to: http://www.xylobot.com/news.htm Xylobot message boards: http://www.uorobot.com/scripts/WebBoard5.dll/ ************************************************************************** PLEASE READ I love helping everyone use and understand Xylobot. However, my time is limited. Please fully read the instructions, FAQ, and troubleshooting guide before sending me any questions by email. Also, it is highly preferred to ask any questions using the Xylobot message board. Thank you for evaluating Xylobot. It was a true pleasure and labor of love developing Xylobot. Thank you to all current (and future) Xylobot users! I hope it makes your experience playing your game more enjoyable! If you have friends or guildmates who might like Xylobot, please tell them about it! ************************************************************************** COPYRIGHT Copyright(c) 2000-2002 by Ben Ziegler. All Rights Reserved. Please do not make any illegal copies of Xylobot (Full Version). Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Please report any known violations to me (bziegler@radix.net).