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

[Tricen]

So I haven't used spellcast in about 2 years. I looked over the templates people built and it looks super confusing. Is there a spellcast for dummies or anything?

[Yugl]

http://wiki.windower.net/plugins/spellcast

[Tricen]

Sick life, thanks.

[Tricen]

Alright, I am thoroughly confused. All of the templates and ones people have written out is gibberish to me. I have no idea what I'm doing. I just wanted to make something for Idling, TPing, WSing and casting Utsusemi. WhenI look at the templates people made there's all sorts of crazy stuff and I have 0 programming knowledge.

[gnat]

Could anyone help me add a rule to this to equip TH gear every time a step is used?
http://pastebin.com/CV465Lgn

[Yugl]

Alright, I am thoroughly confused. All of the templates and ones people have written out is gibberish to me. I have no idea what I'm doing. I just wanted to make something for Idling, TPing, WSing and casting Utsusemi. WhenI look at the templates people made there's all sorts of crazy stuff and I have 0 programming knowledge.

I had zero programming going into this as well. If you're looking for beginners work, that thread is not so friendly. That said, if you read through the link (And click on links for Rules and the link for Variables; they each have their own page), you'll begin to understand spellcast better. Here is one of the first XMLs I made: http://pastebin.com/gvPMnKHf. I recommend looking at the rules portion of that and seeing if you can understand that. If you have difficulty, check the rules page and see if you can understand then. Avoid any <advanced> stuff for now.

Rules Page:http://wiki.windower.net/plugins/spellcast/rules

[Tricen]

Ooh I found what I wanted to do. Windower macros is more like what I wanted. Thanks anyways

[noodles355]

Just wanted to check I can consolidate this part of code, would just test it in game but doing other stuff and not on the correct job.

These are my Thf WS rules. It's set up as it is because it originally had different sets for SAWS TAWS SATAWS and soloWS.

		<if spell="Exenterator">
			<if BuffActive="Sneak Attack">
				<if BuffActive="Trick Attack">
					<equip when="precast" set="SAExen" />
				</if>
				<elseif NotBuffActive="Trick Attack">
					<equip when="precast" set="SAExen" />
				</elseif>
			</if>
			<elseif BuffActive="Trick Attack">
				<if BuffActive="Sneak Attack">
					<equip when="precast" set="SAExen" />
				</if>
				<elseif NotBuffActive="Sneak Attack">
					<equip when="precast" set="TAExen" />
				</elseif>
			</elseif>
			<else>
				<equip when="precast" set="Exen" />
			</else>
		</if>

However SATAWS now uses the same gear as SAWS. Would I be able to condense it down to this?

		<if spell="Exenterator">
			<if BuffActive="Sneak Attack">
				<equip when="precast" set="SAExen" />
			</if>
			<elseif BuffActive="Trick Attack" NotBuffActive="Sneak Attack">
				<equip when="precast" set="TAExen" />
			</elseif>
			<else>
				<equip when="precast" set="Exen" />
			</else>
		</if>

And if so, could I go as far as removing the NotBuffActive="Sneak Attack" rule too?

[Himay]

Need a little help with my WHM xml. I'm using Mote's new WHM and include file. I'm sure there's a number of things wrong with how I've edited them, but only here to tackle two specific issues.

First, and this was a problem for me with the previous version, my apollo's staff doesn't appear to swap in for cures on WHM all the time, which is odd because it works for my BLM (mote's xml), also makes me wonder if anything else isn't being equipped.

Second, the xml doesn't seem to be able to choose a default idle "style" or switch to any alternate styles. Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about. This happens in all zones/areas.

Here's my WHM pastebin and here's the include pastebin. Also, the WHM debug file, I did a series of cures on myself in Jeuno. I tried sifting through this, but it's pretty much all gibberish to me.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm sure you can tell I'm still trying to wade through the advances in spellcast, as well as the game itself, I recently came back from a 3 year hiatus and it's all a bit daunting.

P.S. Random question about mote's include, there's a section called FastCastVars that looks like this:

<include name="FastCastVars">
        <!-- Override these with actual amounts available in gear for the given job.
            Include merits (eg: whm Cure Cast Time), but not Fast Cast traits (eg: rdm). -->
        <var name="CureFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="HealFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="EnhanceFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="ElementalFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="GeneralFastCast">0</var>

I don't understand what it's asking for here. What does it mean by "actual amounts available in gear"? I have prolix ring and loq. earring, does that equal two in the "generalfastcast" category because it's two pieces of equipment? Or is it 4 because the value for each is 2%? I just don't know! lol

Again, thanks in advance.

[grevenilvec75]

Why do people keep sending spellcast noobies to XMLs that are full of super crazy advanced stuff that they dont need and are just gonna mess up trying to edit, anyway?

[Byrthnoth]

I've tried to edit this one and make it easier/more generic again:
http://pastebin.com/EZ6C2mB4

[Motenten]

However SATAWS now uses the same gear as SAWS. Would I be able to condense it down to this?

		<if spell="Exenterator">
			<if BuffActive="Sneak Attack">
				<equip when="precast" set="SAExen" />
			</if>
			<elseif BuffActive="Trick Attack" NotBuffActive="Sneak Attack">
				<equip when="precast" set="TAExen" />
			</elseif>
			<else>
				<equip when="precast" set="Exen" />
			</else>
		</if>

And if so, could I go as far as removing the NotBuffActive="Sneak Attack" rule too?

Yes, and yes.

[Motenten]

Could anyone help me add a rule to this to equip TH gear every time a step is used?
http://pastebin.com/CV465Lgn

Somewhere around the Samba and Waltz rules, add this:

    <elseif type="Step">
        <equip when="precast" set="THGear" />
    </elseif>

[Motenten]

First, and this was a problem for me with the previous version, my apollo's staff doesn't appear to swap in for cures on WHM all the time, which is odd because it works for my BLM (mote's xml), also makes me wonder if anything else isn't being equipped.

I think I remember having an issue with that on sch after the rewrite, but don't remember what was wrong.. Haven't had a chance to do a shakedown run on the whm spellcast yet. Unfortunately I don't see anything offhand that looks wrong.

Second, the xml doesn't seem to be able to choose a default idle "style" or switch to any alternate styles. Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about. This happens in all zones/areas.

That's a bug due to changes in variable names during the rewrite. Replace all instances of $IdleStyle with $IdleMode. There should only be two lines that use that variable.

P.S. Random question about mote's include, there's a section called FastCastVars that looks like this:

<include name="FastCastVars">
        <!-- Override these with actual amounts available in gear for the given job.
            Include merits (eg: whm Cure Cast Time), but not Fast Cast traits (eg: rdm). -->
        <var name="CureFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="HealFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="EnhanceFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="ElementalFastCast">0</var>
        <var name="GeneralFastCast">0</var>

I don't understand what it's asking for here. What does it mean by "actual amounts available in gear"? I have prolix ring and loq. earring, does that equal two in the "generalfastcast" category because it's two pieces of equipment? Or is it 4 because the value for each is 2%? I just don't know! lol

Yes, you want the actual fast cast amount for each category. Prolix+Loquacious would be 4; Prolix+Loquacious+Orison Locket would be 9; etc.

[Skylark]

Been trying to look at this code for some time now and fooled around with it in game. It looks fine from my standpoint, but while it game it seems to only switch the main for enhancing and healing magic. For things such as nukes and enfeebles though it won't properly swap and the text displays(in game): "You must have a two handed weapon to equip a grip". I'm assuming that spellcast is trying to swap in the grip before the actual staff and it's just staying as my idle Owleyes/Genbu's shield. I don't understand why the swaps for healing/enhancing works fine though. Anyone mind just looking over the code rq? http://pastebin.com/J8Mws97y

[grevenilvec75]

is %SpellElement case sensitive? if so I noticed you have %Spellelement and %spellelement instead of %SpellElement.

If spellcast cant parse your variable then ffxi will try to equip a grip without a staff.

[Skylark]

Changed all of them so they're identical, still didn't work. Think what I'm going to end up doing is just making rules if SpellElement=(Element) and lock the staff that way

[Himay]

Thanks for the quick reply (and the XML's!), Mote. You da man.

I'll see if I can figure out the cure staff issue, not that I have much confidence in my ability to, but if I do I'll post what I found.

[Motenten]

Been trying to look at this code for some time now and fooled around with it in game. It looks fine from my standpoint, but while it game it seems to only switch the main for enhancing and healing magic. For things such as nukes and enfeebles though it won't properly swap and the text displays(in game): "You must have a two handed weapon to equip a grip". I'm assuming that spellcast is trying to swap in the grip before the actual staff and it's just staying as my idle Owleyes/Genbu's shield. I don't understand why the swaps for healing/enhancing works fine though. Anyone mind just looking over the code rq? http://pastebin.com/J8Mws97y

Lot of ugliness due to using old syntax (anything <action> based). Makes it difficult for me to reformat it for readability.

Doesn't handle any sort of group filtering (ie: <if type="Weaponskill"></if>) which would cut down on the number of checks needed.

Uses constant <if>'s instead of <if>, <elseif>, <else>, which means dozens of redundant checks every pass through the xml.

Overall, just needs a massive rewrite for basic structural reasons.


You have a number of uses of when="Postcast". That time slot does not exist. You want when="Aftercast" instead.

You use

<action type="Var" cmd="set SetStaff $%SpellElement" />

frequently. That variable command resolves:

SetStaff = $%SpellElement

~assume element = Fire

SetStaff = $Fire

The variable 'Fire' does not exist, so a proper value will never be assigned. Of course the variable SetStaff itself is never used in any equip statement, so it ends up just being wasted code.


The poor structural grouping means there's a ton of stuff that I don't want to even try to figure out, as it is undoubtedly riddled with logic bugs as well.

[Skylark]

Figured as much, received from a friend for Nyzul purposes but neither him nor I could figure out what the problems were. Thanks for the reply