ScrollingCombatText

Author: Grayhoof
Official Site: http://rjhaney.pair.com/sct/

Download it here! (v4.0.1, 114kb, zip format)

Reviewed 9.2.2006 (Version 4.0.1) by Messiah

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Comments:

This is a relatively simple appearing mod, however appearances can be deceiving. On the surface this mod does not appear to do a whole lot, however once you have played with it for a little while it's hard to part with.

Features:

What is it? - A fairly simple but very configurable mod that adds damage, heals, and events (dodge, parry, windfury, etc...) as scrolling text above you character model, much like what already happens above your target. This makes it so you do not have to watch (or use) your regular combat chat window and gives it a "Final Fantasy" feel.

Where did it come from? - The idea and base code came from the healthbar mod. I liked that mod a lot, but it really didn't do all that I wanted. So I decided to use it as a base to create my own mod purely as a learning experience. I've continued to work on it and think its now stands on its own merits, with almost none of the original code still intact.

What can it do?

- Damage messages

- Heals

- Spell Damage/Resists and Damage Type

- Dodges, Blocks, Parries, Absorbs, and Misses

- Custom Colors for all text events

- Config file to setup custom events (self and target), capture data, and display it.

- Debuff/Buff gain and loss Messages

- Low Health and Mana Warnings with values

- Rage/Mana/Energy Gains

- Enter and Leave Combat Messages

- Rogue Combo Points, 5 CP Alert Message

- Warrior Execute and Paladin Hammer of Wrath alerts

- Honor and Reputation Gain

- Four Animation Types (Verticle, Rainbow, Horizontal, Angled Down)

- Four Fonts to choose from

- Ability to flag all text with * to more easily seperate it from target damage

- Ability to show events as text messages at the top of the screen

- Ability to set the scroll direction to up or down

- Ability to flag any event as critical

- Sliders for text size, opacity, animation speed, movement speed, and on scren placement

- MyAddons, Cosmos, Cosmos2 support

- Settings saved per character

- Load/Delete settings from another character

How do I use it? - First unzip it into your interface\addons directory. It should be in its own folder called SCT. Now just run WoW and once logged in, type /sct to get the options screen.

SCT_EVENT_CONFIG.LUA is used to setup custom message events. Please open up the file (notepad, etc...) and read the opening section to understand how to use it all.

PLEASE NOTE - THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FILE IN SCT. IF YOU DON'T READ IT AND USE IT, THEN YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON A TON OF WHAT SCT HAS TO OFFER IN CUSTOMIZATION

/sctdisplay is used to create your own custom messages.

Useage:

/sctdisplay 'message' (for white text)

/sctdisplay 'message' red(0-10) green(0-10) blue(0-10)

Example: /sctdisplay 'Heal Me' 10 0 0 - This will display 'Heal Me' in bright red

FAQ

How do I get Healer ID's, My Crits, or My Hits to show? SCT_EVENT_CONFIG.LUA has all of these

as examples you can simply uncomment (remove the --).

My custom event doesn't work. What's wrong? - Make sure you have the text exactly right,

punctuation and capitalization matters. If you need help learning how to capture data, please see the

examples or try this site http://lua-users.org/wiki/PatternsTutorial. Its also possible you are trying

to search for an event SCT is not using (very few).

How do I change the text for parry, block, etc...? - open up the localiztions.lua file and look

for the event you want to change. Then change the text to whatever you like.

How do I get get text to scroll? I only see numbers! - Make sure the "Show Events as Message"

option is unchecked. This is only if you want events to appear as static text (not scrolling/animated)

How do I change the fonts? - You can now select from four fonts on the options page.

Version History

4.01 - Fixed rainbow text fade point, Fixed horizontal text Y offset, Improved Execute/Wrath messages, fixed custom events not occuring in index order, fixed resets when massive spam, made resets alpha based

4.0 - Added 3 new animations, 3 new fonts, text positioning, Execute/Wrath events, Reputation events, crit flag for all events, New Profile load/delete, better font sizing, font Outline options, font Direction options, removed troll berzerk message. Special Thanks to Dennie for his Chinese Version of SCT that provided the inspiration for most of these changes.

3.54 - Updated TOC. Added current Health/Mana values to the warning messages.

3.53 - Added Text Movement Distance slider, this along with Animation speed slider should let you better tweak your SCT Speed. Changed startup to hopefully work better for all users. Changed animation system slightly. Update German localization.

3.52 - Fixed spell damage error from 1.8. Added class filter to custom events.

3.51 - Commented out all custom Events, changed load up events so options always load.

3.5 - Added Buff fading event, spell damage type flag, custom event data capture and formatting, added glancing and crushing blows, onUpdate code optimization, animation optimization, general code cleanup, fixed resists bug (changed event), fixed mana drain bug (warlocks).

3.1 - Added Buff event, mana drains, New German Translations, Cosmos 2 Button support. Please note there are some new messages in the combat log from the 1.6 patch that are causing anomolies in SCT right now.

3.01 - Added New localization files (from cosmos), added cosmos button, fixed multiple sticky crits, turned off some custom events by default.

3.0 - Added custom events for target, Honor gain as event, 5 CP message, flag events as crit, new option screen, load other character settings, Fixed bug when getting hit during load, Fixed bug with multiple crits on the screen at once.

2.82 - Added Rogue Combo Points, Updated Troll Berserk event, hopefully fixed disappearing sound/graphics issue

2.81 - hopefully fixed issue with lingering text and flashing opacity

2.8 - added opacity slider, Troll Berserk alert, Combat alerts, MyAddon Support, random bug fixes, general code optimizations.

2.71 - fixed parry bug.

2.7 - added new version friendly parsing system by Ayny, fixed major animation bug (much smoother now), fixed custom event bug with weapon procs, added french localization.

2.61 - fixed bug with new frame code and the color selector.

2.6 - added Sticky Crits, Critical Heals, Rage/Mana/Energy Gains. Partial Absorbs and Blocks changed. Debuffs and Drowning damage fixed. New Animation System.

2.5 - added Debuffs, Absorb, Custom Events, Misc Damage (fire, falling, etc...), localization file.

2.12 - fixed toc version

2.11 - fixed toc version, fixed druid low mana bug, fixed defaulting new settings

2.1 - fixed bug with blocks and PvP/Duel damage, added Low Health and Mana warning events

2.02 - fixed bugs with ReloadUI (hopefully), init of the system, and made resists off by default

2.01 - fixed a minor bug with scroll down and resist messages

2.0 - Major code re-write. Added Custom Colors, Direction Toggle, Per Character Settings, /sctdisplay ability

1.2 - Added PvP/Duel Damage and actual damage to blocks

1.1 - Added Clearcasting to list of events

1.01 - Fixed a minor option reference

1.0 - Initial Release

Dependability - Do this mod's creators keep pace with game patches?

From what I have seen an excellent job has been done keeping this mod working. There have been many updates over the course of its existence. I was introduced to this mod fairly recently so do not have a first hand account however can see from the update records that a serious amount of effort has gone into keeping it up to date and functioning.

Functionality - Does it work as intended?

It absolutely functions as intended. It is meant to remove the need to have a separate combat window chat log open, and after just 15 minutes of using and tuning it I closed mine and have not opened it since.

ScrollingCombatText Options Screen

Usability - Is it easy to install, or are there underlying dependencies? Is this mod easy to use, or do users climb a steep learning curve?

This mod is very easy to use and is also very configurable. My only issue with the usability is that as a new user it does not open by default on the first load. I had to switch out of WoW to go and read the included text file to see how to bring up the options. I would prefer to see it bring up a small window or the full option screen on first load so that you know it is there and functioning. A very small complaint though as once I knew how to open it everything went very smoothly.

Novelty - How cool / ambitious is this mod?

This mod defiantly gets points for novelty. He took a well established system from another game (Final Fantasy) and made it work in WoW to resolve the issue of having a large part of your screen tied up with a combat log to track information.

Overall - How do we rate the mod, overall?

This is an excellent mod and one that is highly recommended. After just a few days of using it I am hooked and would not go without it. Once you see it and play with it for a while you wonder why Blizzard did not include these options to begin with. I am torn between a 4 and a 5 for score though as it almost seems too seamless and you very quickly loose track that it is a mod at all. However in the end I came to the belief that not being able to distinguish it from the game is just one more thing that establishes its place as a a truly great mod,

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