Spellcast Help Thread (Link your XML using Pastebin.com for help!)

[Belgaer]

I really want to try this, but I can't access the site. :/ I sent you a PM about it, Aikar, if you have time to help.

[Aikar]

you're good to go now belgaer

[Khalil]

Man, thanks soo much for all the hardwork into this cool plugin, Aikar.

[Belgaer]

you're good to go now belgaer

Thank you so much. ^^ Going to try out the new Spellcast today. I'm sure I'll love it, but I'll let you know what I think.

[Aikar]

XML updater is fixed up alot now. Pretty Printing should be 100% now and not bug out.

Even if your XML is up to date, toss it in and let it clean it up and make it pretty for ya

SpellCast 2.x -> 2.30 Format Upgrader

I also commented the source a bit for developers
http://windower.net/plugins/spellcas...l.php?source=1

If you ever plan to do XML based operations with regex, i'm sure my code will offer you some tips and guidance.

[Xetzu]

XML updater is fixed up alot now. Pretty Printing should be 100% now and not bug out.

Even if your XML is up to date, toss it in and let it clean it up and make it pretty for ya

SpellCast 2.x -> 2.30 Format Upgrader

I also commented the source a bit for developers
http://windower.net/plugins/spellcas...l.php?source=1

If you ever plan to do XML based operations with regex, i'm sure my code will offer you some tips and guidance.

Hi cupcake! thnx for the new goodies <3

- buttercups

[Belgaer]

I'm not sure why, but this still just crashes on loading for me. :/

[Aikar]

then get a crashdump!

[Hogie]

Aikar you make me sad that i dont get to hear your sexy voice on vent anymore

Have you finished your XML For Dummies program or is that super top secret and i just let it out of the bag? Eiiither way, i want a program i can be like... BANG that gear in that slow for this spell and this spell and this spell.... Click here to make XML


Do it!

[Belgaer]

then get a crashdump!

How do I do that? :/

[Kryssan]

Here is one way:


Make the top of your XML file look like this.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<spellcast>
<config Debug="true" />
<variables clear=
...

It'll create a text file in the same folder as your XML that tells you everything Windower did or attempted to do.

[Belgaer]

Ah, yeah, I just put that into my current XML yesterday. I'll have to redownload the beta and make a 2.30 copy of it to test it.

[Aikar]

No, thats not how to do a crash dump.

If you have crash you can replicate, Please load this DLL instead (keep name as SpellCast.dll please)
http://windower.net/plugins/dev/dbg/SpellCast.dll

This is a debug binary with no optimizations - then please follow this guide:
Creating a Crashdump to help fix crashes. [Windower.net]

Obtaining a crash dump while your using the Debug Binary GREATLY helps me diagnose why you crashed.

[Talisien]

My apologies if this is a simplistic question presented in a complicated format, I'm rather new to Spellcast but I've done a fair bit of research on it.

Specifically for claiming (say, with Stun) I've found that my spells all fire about 1 second later, which makes claiming while Spellcast is active impossible (or much more unlikely). Is this a reality of spellcast and I should simply disable Spellcast while I'm attempting to claim (my current solution) or is there some code that will disable Spellcast to run while using a claim spell, so that I will not experience the 1 second delay?

This delay occurs even if there is no precast code for Stun of course (i'm using Aikar's template, which doesn't have any precast code for Stun as far as I can see)

<if Spell="Stun">
<!-- equip gear that helps stun, and nothing else -->
<action type="equip" set="DarkMagic|FastCast">
<main>$ThunderStaff</main>
</action>

Also this issue is seriously frustrating when I'm on stun duty for say, Fulmination, where I have to disable spellcast again to prevent us dying to it (this happened on Cerberus and GoH once, but shrug GoH), but then I lose the gear swaps and have to revert to my old windower macros.

So simply, is this a reality of Spellcast (the ~1s delay between activating the spell in game and it actually firing) or is there some sort of break style command that I can enable/disable during times like claiming and stun duty.

Thanks very, very much for this amazing addon, and I apologize if this question could've been answered via a search, but I was honestly unsure whether it was a reality of Spellcast (and thus assumed in all conversations) or an actual solvable issue.

Thanks again!

-Talisien
hades

[Stubwub]

You probably have a cast delay somewhere in your xml. With no cast delay everything fires instantly on my xml files.

[Plow]

so... is it just a fact of life with spellcast that spamming... well, anything... = instant crash?

or is it just me?

[Aikar]

you're posting on the 2.30 thread but using 2.22 >_>

@Tali:
Yes, Spellcast will delay your spells some depending on how much rules you have and what all they are checking.

For best effect, you can do as your VERY first rules

<if Spell="Stun">
.... do stuff for stun or nothing at all
<return />
</if>

This tells spellcast to not even parse any other rules, so cpu cycles will be saved.

If you check debug log, the #'s between < > is time between last debug line, so youll see a few 15 or so milliseconds every so often.
when you got alot of rules, those add up and can result in 300-500ms delays on spells..

Just check debug log if your noticing big delays and try to optimize XML.

Also, a slow PC will result in more delays too, so a faster PC will have less occurences of the 15ms waits (this is your CPU pausing SC so other stuff can try to use the CPU some)

[Talisien]

Aikar,

Thank you very much. Doing some independent research yesterday I also came to the conclusion that <return /> would be my best bet (though the note that putting this code near the top would be even better is very helpful), and I have noticed an improvement in my testing. I hope to put it to the HNM test this weekend (if we claim anything).

Once again, thanks for an amazing add-on.

-Talisien

[Deimos]

Am I misinterpreting, or are you saying that SpellCast reparses the entire XML file every time you cast any spell, use any JA, etc?

[Aikar]

yes, because of dynamic elements to be checked. the XML parsing phase itself is extremely fast, its the CHECKS its doing on all the data and modifying sets etc that uses up cpu.

TinyXML uses a Linked List approach on load, so its technically not parsed but once on load, but when calling stuff like currentElement = currentElement->NextSiblingElement(), its just iterating over linked list, so its very fast (lookup pointer to next node and return, done!)