Unkle Nuke

Translation to english for the rest of us... "PvP Trinket spell [which removes movement impairing effects and has no cd] should not trigger a cooldown for racial abilities like "Will of The Forsaken" and vice-versa." This also applies to the Gnome ability, Escape Artist? Thank you, Most_Mangos, and all the rest at Valhalla-Project for giving back to the community. You're a good example of how it ought to be done.

That one is a given I thought would be assumed, like breathing requires air. lol Vlad is so busy and has such a backlog of patches to inspect. I really feel for the guy when everyone complains why this or that isn't already in the core.

Yeah! Sharing is caring. How else would anyone learn if we kept our knowledge all to ourselves? He probably stumbled across the answer by using the Search button up top. lol

There's only three reasons I can think of that might be holding this from being accepted. 1. Needs more testing and bug fixes. 2. Missing features that haven't yet been implemented. 3. Core changes that will require a rewrite but the patch author must wait until such changes are final/stable.

There are other SD2 repos out there that are forked from rsa's good work. Some even go a step further with more boss scripts and support for Windows compiling. I wonder why they're not advertised in the SD2 forums section for custom repos or, better still, posting those scripts for review to make SD2 even better than it is? Oh well...that's a debate for another place, like their forums.

You can't rely on a third-party app like WoWModelviewer, which I have used quite a bit, to uncover the methods for rendering used by the client itself. It was not designed with for any purpose other than to make pretty renderings for you to admire outside the game. As such, anything you think you might learn from it for application to this patch would be dubious, at best. It's a useful tool for taking a look at the game's assets, but I don't believe it's the definitive answer to in-game model rendering. Take a look at the Create Character screen in the client. As you choose things like facial features, hair style, and facial hair or piercings, you'll notice only those parts change, not the entire model. That's because they are stored as separate parts that are applied to the main model. Even skin color and hair color are stored as textures that are applied individually. From a design standpoint, it would make little sense to have complete, full models for every possible variation. You'd then be stuck with hundreds of them that consume a great deal of storage capacity and require unnecessary code to swap out those models every time you can't make up your mind while making a character or paid a visit to the barbershop. Your answers are in the DBC files and APIs. WoWwiki has very good documentation on many of the client APIs.

I think you misunderstood me, gs94. I meant these different parts that make the druid forms racially different are like helms and shirts, not that they literally are such item types. This is what DaViper meant. You have a basic, plain model, no hair, face, markings...a blank dummy. Everything you choose to customize or equip your character is actually just a collection of parts that are applied to the model separately... facial features, hair style, and so forth. My thought was that the druid forms are the same way. Find all the parts and their IDs and then create code that puts all the right pieces together. Whether this needs a database method or hard-coding depends on greater experience than mine.

I just hate that so much good code has died due to lack of response/interest. It's as if people think you developers will keep cranking out code like machines, assuming they even think about it at all. There is an emotional investment in the work you do, and to feel it is ignored and unappreciated simply hurts. There's been plenty of potentially great contributors who just stopped and left because they could not bear their hard work being treated so callously. You've done good work and it deserves to be noticed and supported loudly, not just by lurkers grabbing the code and hiding it away in their repos with no feedback or comment. Did you happen to push this patch to a Github repository? If you do not have one, I highly recommend you do so to simplify updating your work and allowing testers to more easily grab those updates for merging into their cores. Github repositories are free of cost for public open source code projects.

Over in the UDB forums, there is a custom database mod that is designed to "jumpstart" DKs by auto-completing quests, awarding talent points, giving spells, and gear as if your DK toon had done everything needed in the starting area. It only works for UDB, so you will need to look around other DB groups' forums for an equivalent patch if your database is other than UDB.

You've got your first volunteer for further testing, once you feel the code is good enough to go public. It is indeed up to the MaNGOS devs as to what meets the established criteria for inclusion into the core. That's why we have the Core mods section. It is for patches that are either not considered to add a worthy retail-like feature or for works in progress that need further research and refinement. The Druid Forms Cosmetics patch most definitely falls into that latter category. So please do not hesitate to work upon this patch. The finer details will come in their due course as testing, feedback, research, and further coding is done. As for the models, I had a thought... What if the reason there are no corresponding Horde values stored in the DBC is you're looking for the wrong values? Perhaps the Horde druid forms use the same base models and only the parts that are different, such as the Tauren horns, are needed. So what you would look for instead, as an example, are the values that add Tauren horns rather than an entire Tauren model for that form. I remember a project some guy was working on for Phantasy Star Online. He was creating a model editor/viewer and got stuck until he realized the character models were stored in parts, using a two-dimensional array that referenced the coordinates where the splines were joined to make a whole model. This meant that the head, arms, torso with legs, and feet were matched together depending on what sort of gear the character was wearing. Fairly inefficient versus having basic models and then applying gear separately, but it did save quite a bit on CPU cycles and memory requirements. Perhaps the racial features of the druid forms are stored and applied just like any other gear would be... Tauren horns might be regarded as a helm, while fur markings would be some sort of shirt. All of this is pure guesswork on my part and I could be way off base. I work well with ideas, but the technical side of things I'll leave in your capable hands.

I honestly do not believe there is any relation linking the models together with shared values. After all, you'd think the Tauren models would have nothing to do with the Night Elf druid forms as they have no common base. I know it's preferred to have everything stored in the database, but most class spells and pets have to treated as special cases in the code. It seems only logical the druid forms would also have to be coded in such a manner.... unless the entire approach to spells is fundamentally flawed. If there's no corresponding DBC data to support the assertion that hard-coding values is wrong, then that assertion must then be placed in doubt and it is up to those making their case to defend it with hard data. Simply saying it is wrong does not make it true. I'd say go with what your eyes and brain tell you. Trust your instincts as a programmer. The code speaks for itself. If it is internally self-consistent, the elegance of simplicity is it's own justification. There is nothing to prevent this patch from using hard-coded values and remain in the Core Mods section until such time as the core devs either prove their argument and require a rewrite or it is discovered your approach is instead the correct one. So get to work! Druids need love, too.

You've got binary in your veins. Might be a "terminal" condition. Quickly, nurse! I need 200 CCs of Margarita, 4 oz of Coppertone, and 10 lbs of ice....STAT! Now we must hurry and move him to a beach so we can operate. I think I can save this poor soul.

My UDB is over two years old now. Patched it so much that it leaks like a sieve in stormy weather...uh...sorry. Had a Hemingway flashback there. I think I started my server somewhere back in the mid-5000 range of MaNGOS revisions, maybe a little earlier. Will the renaming of the function for scale (size) affect anything? I think it was changed from this: SetFloatValue(OBJECT_FIELD_SCALE_X, scale) to this: SetObjectScale(scale); UpdateModelData();

It's just two "neighbors" making friends, but it might have been best done via PM. Now, if they'd been discussing some code fixes... they'd have to be hanged!!

Could be worse. Imagine a world with ASCII-art icons! What am I saying?!? That would rock!!

You can just create the same icon at differing sizes with any graphics app, even Windows Paint, then use something like Resource Editor to package them into an existing EXE. At least that's how I've done it for some Windows stuff.

Your statement adequately describes the result, but what you need is to post more information if the cause is to be known. Using any other core mods or patches besides AHBot? Is your server a custom core or did you patch and compile it yourself from a clean, official core? Have you tried testing your server with only AHBot patched into your core? Did you get the same result? A copy of your crash log would also be useful. Please post it to Pastebin or other text/code hosting service and providing a link.

Don't you dare! Go have a sunburn and enjoy your time off! We'll still be here afterward.

LOL (and spew coffee). Better that than illustrating his point by going number one on your shoes!

Looks like you've found yourself a dev for the Warlock AI here, blueboy. Don't let him get away! Now if only there were devs for the other classes. Good work, kyle1!

Don't forget to give thanks and praise to BThallid for this one. It's his own genius that made it possible. ALL HAIL BThallid!

Might swell my head and make me start drinking imported french water.

Will do, but forgive me if I must sneak a peek at the shape-shifting cosmetics. lol Sometimes you have to use the hard-coded hacks just to make sure everything is working before you turn attention toward how it should interact with the database. I know the core devs hate hard-coding anything, but they've done it when they had to. So don't take any criticisms as a final judgement. Though it is preferred to be done a certain way before inclusion into the core, how you reach that point is entirely up to you as the developer. The retail devs should have made some epic quests for the barbershop. Depending on which one you choose, complete the chain and then be rewarded with unlocking the "Mr. T" or "Ozzy" styles for your character. Could even make achievements out of them... "I Pity Da Fool!" and "You Bit The Head Off Of What??"

I care very much, gs94. It's just that I haven't yet had the chance to test your latest offering due to two things: 1. Real life responsibilities have kept me very busy lately 2. I'm slower than a snail jogging in molasses when it comes to patching and compiling a server. But I'm working on patching up a new compile. Don't give up!

I completely understood the original design. Adding the command does not change that unless a server admin wishes to do so. To be honest, I prefer the idea of joining an enemy guild, especially because of the system messages informing everyone and his brother that a character has turned traitor. So much for the element of surprise. lol @DaViper: Thanks for feeling my small little bit of SQL was worthy of addition. That makes it officially my first code contribution! Whoo-hoo!