MQ2Data Phase 3 - MQ2DataVars active - early.

[Jerle69]

Ironically, I was just telling my wife last night about the genious of the Macroquest2 project (particularly about an object oriented scripting language -- brilliant). She said "Jesus, I bet that Lax guy could make some huge bucks--what talent--I wish I was that smart." True statement--not sucking up.

Further, the new MQDataVars is way cool:

So, ${MyString${MyVar}} first evaluates ${MyVar}. If MyVar's value is 1, this is then
${MyString1}. Then ${MyString1} is evaluated, giving the value of whatever MyString1 is.
${${MyString}} will get the value of a MQ2Data query stored in MyString.

Hell yes, variable named variables (I use the shit out of this in PHP for web stuff, I can only imagine what crazy scripting shit we can do now!)

Keep up the good work devs, there is a silent userbase within the community who appreciates it w/o posting oft-needed kudos (but we tend to whine less too ).

[spektralkat]

I'm Pretty much a nobody with little or no right to express an opinion here but I'm going to speak out anyway. I'm considered the enemy to most of you becuase frankly and simply, I'm a GM for EQ.. What am I doing here you ask? Simple,, Lax and the dev team have developed a tool that I enjoy not only for playing, god forbid my bosses knew i use it, but for work as well. Becuase I'm annon here and no one knows me i can say MQ is a tool far ahead and beyond anything SOE offers, the MQ team in my opion is superior to anyone SOE has employed at the moment, and my wildest fantacy is having Lax slip into the diego office and have at our servers for about a week to set things right.

MQ Violates EULA and users of it risk their acounts I risk my job becuase i beleive in it. It exists becuase their is a demand for it, and the demand goes beyond select players wanting to cheat. The demand is present becuase many of the tools should of been present in the original game code but they're not.

Lax I admire you not only for puting up the thankless job you do (welcome to my world on that one) but becuase i see absolute genius in your work. Keep it up and dont let the incoherant bable of those that dont comprehend a good thing when they see it get you down.

Ban me if ya like but this is something i just had to get out there

[Mckorr]

Nah, you're not the enemy. SOE is the enemy.

They are the enemy of everyone who wants to enjoy their game but can not because repetative button mashing has become intolerably painful.

They are the enemy of folks who want to be social in a social game, but can't because the EQ interface requires them to constantly tap keys to twist songs instead of chatting with their friends.

They are the enemy of people who want to enjoy playing, instead of fighting through a poorly conceived and implemented tradeskill system.

I used MQ during my Guide days, because it was far superior to the tools they (SOE) provided me. And that was back before mapping, target lines, etc. I can only imagine what I could do with it now to manage petition queues, file shift reports, etc.

Hell, for all the canned responses we get from GM's and Guides are you sure the other SOE folks aren't secretly using macro'd petition responses?

I'm not gonna ban ya spek. I'm glad someone at SOE sees some value in what we are doing, and I'm glad you found someplace you can flout the party line without having to worry about getting fired.

[Undies]

I am saying, there is a reason someone with his skill level has been out of work for 6 months.

That's true, there is a reason for everything... but don't begin to presume you know what it is without having even met him.

Even without using any macros, MQ is awesome. Look at what the MQ devs have done to the map alone.. amazing stuff! Yet SOE made such a big deal of putting their crappy little maps in with LDON. (yet they had to recruit a SEQ dev just for that too???? or is that just a rumour?).

I have to admit I didn't like the idea of the rework at first, but there is no contest. One or two orders of magnitude faster (YAY) is enough for me, let alone the consistent and logical framework behind it.

Frankly I am amazed MQ2 exists at all for me to use and that the devs put so much of their time into it to continually update and improve it... and Lax doesn't even play? WTF? I too would like to know what motivates him for such a thankless task. Hopefully it will help him get a job sometime (if that is what he wants).

I don't mind a bit of abuse... just reminds me of what I am getting for nothing... just lighten up you guys who are so offended by it all and just try not wearing your underwear so high tomorrow...

[spektralkat]

P.S. cute error code, I about fell out of my chair laughing my fool head off.

[ml2517]

The patch was a good time to ninja force this change on you. Macro depot will be cleaned up pretty soon.

That really sums it up. Commence whining about MQ2Data and MQ2DataVars, it's entertaining to see how many people absolutely hate the improvements for the simple fact that they have to update their fucking macros. Cry about it you stupid assholes, I have to update your fucking macroquest every patch. You have to update your damn macro once, ever. Cry me a river.

And you actually have to wonder why you don't have a job?

You go a great job. Your coding skills are excellent. Your dedication to MQ, EQIM, and EQPlayNice is admirable. Your people skills are on par with a rabid dog.

In a corporate environment, forcing a change on a set of users will get you fired, whether that change greatly enhances their ability to do work or not. Might I recommend some change management methodology training, and some Paxil.

Ban me now, lock this thread, whatever. Sorry, but it had to be said.

You sir, are a dumb ass.

[ml2517]

Oh, and about that /varset thing: any way we can just change that to "${Variable} = Value"? I've never liked the /varset, /varcalc, whatever commands :) And I apologize now if you've already done that and I just missed it.[/i]

Don't you dare change it after I've went through and converted 2 of the largest programs (besides genbot) heh.

[Mckorr]

But it makes sooo much more sense without /varset etc.

[Lax]

I agree mckorr BUT the problem is that MQ2Data cannot comprehend that..
if Variable has the value 5678,
${Variable} = 1234
looks like
5678 = 1234

to the parser, nothing more

We *could* however, make it work like... ${Variable=1234}, with only minor changes to the parser.

I'll look into something like that, but the /varset /vardata /varcalc will still be available.

Anyway thanks for the bit of motivation I received from a couple people this morning via PayPal, I appreciate that :) This thread is quite a good read also.

One thing though, whoever expects me to behave professionally on the macroquest boards either a) needs to donate to the project or b) is out of their mind. I believe it was Plazmic who posted the other day in response to a similar comment that he regularly cusses out his superiors, and he works at Microsoft. Cussing out people who deserve it here has nothing to do with the way I carry myself in real life, and has nothing to do with me having or not having a job.

Secondly I dont believe the guy who says hes a GM, since he doesnt live in San Diego and doesn't have the best english skills. Then again I have no idea where besides San Diego the people working on EQ live, they may very well have offices in the middle of the country. You sure you didnt mean to say guide?

[mracer]

im a gm for Everquest and some reason i live in texas. I learned how to spell there. Bush taught me

[Jerle69]

Lax,

Not that I can't live with just /varset (it's fine by me), but you could use the old Pascal-type assignment symbol and the parser would probably be OK, no?

${Variable} := 1234
could be assignment, and not confused with
${Variable} = 1234
which is a boolean expression.

Just a thought.

[Mimatas]

To be honest.. I'm glad you ninj0red it on us... I had my shit together... but some of the people I was compiling for kept telling me my commands were wrong, etc... I explained MQ2Data and they didn't believe me... sure it wasn't terribly convenient to uncomment 2 lines of code.. but wtf.. it was ONLY 2 lines of code each compile to ensure my MQ2data vars would work ahead of time.

As for payment: you totally deserve it. I'm a broke-ass college student doing body piercing out of my dorm room, just trying to cover the cost of my damn EQ subscription, but if you're ever on the west coast and looking to get drunk, PM me and I'll get you my info... I'll get you smashed faster than SoE ninja patches after a new expansion.

thanks for the time/effort/bad language. It's entertaining.

[Lax]

Jerle, the problem is that the MQ2Data parser is ignorant. It only looks at whats inside the ${}. This ignorant parsing is done to commands that have the parse flag on. So, by the time it gets to the command, there is no ${Int[1234]}. It just looks like 1234. So your statement just looks like 1234 := 1234 or 1234 = 1234. In order for the MQ2Data parser to actually know what you're trying to do, it would have to be placed 100% within the ${}.

[Jerle69]

Ohh, that puts things in perspective. Tricky shit there... nothing you can do about it then (other than what you already suggested, putting the assignment inside the brackets and within reach of the parser)...

[spektralkat]

Gal sweety, gal not guy and no i dont live in Diego, coulndt pay me too and no only top level CS has to live in diego. {smile} and no not going to publish where I really live, that would be foolish, just like I wont use anything other than one ID, Email, Profile specialy set up for MQ2. Aditionaly I wont give out any more than a vauge job description of what i do. SOE does monitor these boards, and yes from time to time they Ninja your code Lax, can ya blame them? it's vastly superior to their own {smile} as far as English skills go, When I'm here I rarely worry about English skills cuz it be ok to be an iliterate moron amongst friends, and ya'all can get a kick outa watchin muh make muhself look st00pid. No dood speak at work so what i do and how i act on my own time is on me. I prefer to be laid back and have fun and the devs here on this project have contributed to that comfort significantly, once again my thanks to all of you for your efforts, keep up the good work and i'll continue to admire ya and help here and there where I can even tho my contributions are minor by way of comparison,

Flame me Fry Me burn me, tis ok all in a normal day's work I'll like ya anyway so take that /em Blows raspburries and saves spell check for On Duty.