I will be the first to admit that before I started this
article I knew
very little about Macros. I really just had the general I idea of
how to put maybe two spells together that I would always cast at the
beginning of a rotation. So I eagerly dove into the world of macros
for all of the loyal readers we have.

I have to tell you I was surprised at how in depth you really
can get
with macros. I have played quite a few MMOG's and never used them
before but it seems you can do just about anything with them. Also
not only did I find out about macros but also functions and addons. Now
addons are technically a separate thing from macros but I find
that both worlds seem to meet up quite frequently as you use macros
in your addons.

What
is a macro?

A macro by definition is - a
single computer instruction that results in a series of instructions
in machine language

This really does a person who is creating macros zero good as
it has
nothing to do with the actual composition of macros. It does at
least let one know what the end goal it of generating macros. Okay,
so basically we are making a [button] to do something that would
otherwise either take several buttons or typing out the actual
command every time we wanted to perform something. This got me to
thinking; all buttons are a form of macro. A very simple macro but a
macro still.

How does all of this info apply to Runes of Magic and
you? Well in a lot of ways really. Macros can be as complicated or as
simple as you
want them to be. They can do everything from changing on offhand
weapon to casting several spells in sequence. Macros are simple to
access with in the Runes UI. Simply hit escape until the games core
menu appears then select the macros option. Here is a fully laid out
view of what the Macro UI looks like for generating your own macros

One of the most important things of the macro world is knowing
that
everything is based off of slot numbers. An example would be knowing
that the 5th slot from the top on the third bag is slot number is
considered slot
number 85 for the bags.

Here is an example of a simple macro that will simply equip
items based on
their name

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">/use
Beclouding Hammer

/wait
.2

/use
Dreamer's Trousers

Here
is the exact same macro to equip two items but based on bag slot and
not on the name of the item so you don’t have to update your macros
every time you get a new item; all you have to do is put them in the
correct bag slot.

**note:
the # in the below code would be the bag # slot where the item is

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">/run
UseBagItem (GetBagItemInfo(#))

/wait
.2

/run
UseBagItem (GetBagItemInfo(#))

Macros
can get even more complicated but as you continue to add them you are
going to find yourself in the world of functions. Functions are
from what I can tell are just long macros. Also when functions are
set up in a library you can call upon them for other macros. So when
you take lots macros plus lots functions you get a library. Once you
have a library which is in effect a list of functions and macros that
you can call upon to create an addon.

The
world of macros is diverse and deep. There is so much you can do and
make the game easier to do certain things. I would not recommend
going into it too far unless you are wanting to start writing addons. I
still don't know everything there is to know about the land of
addons but I now have a much greater appreciation of them and what
they can do. I can promise you in all games that I play I will be
experimenting with them more and more.

Below
I have included a few macros that seem to be commonly used on the
official boards. These macros have been tested and should work when
properly applied. So please for your macroing enjoyment feel free to
use and or learn from the below examples.

Simple

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">To
Follow Target Player: style="font-style: italic;" face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> size="2"> do
not change "target" to players name. Keep as is. face="Tahoma, sans-serif">



/script
FollowUnit("target");

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">To
Target Nearest Enemy face="Tahoma, sans-serif">



/script
TargetNearestEnemy();



MANA
/ HEALTH POT MACRO face="Tahoma, sans-serif">: style="font-style: italic;" face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> size="2">where
# is where you have your pot located in your hot bar



/script
UseAction(#);



size="2">To
Macro a SPELL or several spells into one hotkey:

Spell
Name - Please make sure you it is correctly spelled and Case
Sensative

# = how many seconds
before reading the next macro
line.

it is wise to have /wait
1 for any instant spell due to
Global Cooldown and Lag face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> style="font-style: italic;">

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">/cast
size="2">SPELL
NAME face="Tahoma, sans-serif">

size="2">/wait
size="2"># face="Tahoma, sans-serif">

/cast
size="2">SPELL
NAME face="Tahoma, sans-serif">

Advanced

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">To
have one macro trigger another macro

This Command Line must
be
placed LAST on macro #1 in order to trigger macro #2
style="font-style: italic;">
Hot
Key #1 Macro - once that macro ends it will trigger Macro #2
style="font-style: italic;">
because
of UseAction(2) style="font-style: italic;" face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> size="2">

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">feel
free to change # to any # you wish face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> style="font-style: italic;">

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">/script
if (UnitHealth("target")>0) then UseAction(#);
end;



example:
/script if (UnitHealth("target")>0)
then UseAction(2); end;



To
Loop a Macro so it will repeat the same command infinite
times face="Tahoma, sans-serif">



/script
if (UnitHealth("target")>0) then UseAction(#);
end



size="2">example when macro is placed in Hot Bar #3 face="Tahoma, sans-serif">:

style="font-style: italic;" face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> size="2">the
UseAction(3) will continue to hit that macro over and over

face="Tahoma, sans-serif">/script
if (UnitHealth("target")>0) then UseAction(3); end

style="font-weight: bold;">

In conclusion macros are only what you make of them. So please
if you have any macros you might like to share feel free to add them to
the forms below. As my old friend Jenjamin Branklin used to say - "A
macro shared is a macro used". Also the macros shown in this thread
were found in
various places around the web with most of them coming from some place
on the official forms and not works of my own.