macros

[athy]

I would like to know how to crete and use macros. What kind do u guys use and how do u keep up with so many macros with so many different jobs?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: macros

13) What is a macro?

It is basically a shortcut to your job abilities, weapon skills, spells, etc. Sometimes you will combine an ability with a weapon skill so it will make it much easier and successful for you to do than to do it manually. You adjust your macros under your main menu and then go to the Macros tab. There are 10 sets of macros. There 20 individual macros to a set. So that gives you 200 macros to make if you need to!

Here is a macro that a Thief could use when he has the job ability Sneak Attack combined with a weapon skill:


First line: /ja “Sneak Attack” <me>
Second line: /wait1
Third line: /ws Shadowstitch <t>


Ok let’s look at each line. On the first line, you use /ja which means job ability. Notice that Sneak Attack is 2 words and you MUST put more than one word in quotation marks (“ “). Also note that both words are capitalized. And last on the line is the target you are using it on. Job abilitys are used on yourself so <me> is used.

The second line is a delay. When you use /wait you can put in up to 60 seconds. So this wait is 1 second. Waits are needed sometimes because of the length of time it takes to do a spell or sometimes because of lag.

In the third line, we use /ws which means weapon skill. In this case, we used a dagger weapon skill that is called Shadowstitch. Notice that it’s one word and we didn’t use the quotation marks around it. This is perfectly fine for single words. After the name of the ws, we put who is going to receive the damage from the ws. So <t> is used and means target. So whatever you have targeted will receive the damage. (No you can’t target your friend and Shadowstitch him….well you can in Ballista!! ^^ )


Now let’s do a mage’s macro:


First line: /ma Refresh <t>
Second line: /wait 16
Third line: /recast Refresh
Fourth line: /wait 6
Fifth line: /echo **Refresh is Ready!**


First line tells us /ma which means magic. The magic we are using is Refresh. And then we use the <t> for target again.

On the second line, we have wait of 16 seconds. It takes 16 seconds between the time you can recast Refresh again. Some spells have longer or shorter recasting times.

On the third line, we have a recast timer. That is what /recast means. After the timer, we put in the ability or spell that we want to recast. In this case, it is Refresh. The timer will post in your chat box how much time is left for Refesh to cast again. With this macro, it will look like this [Refresh] 5:00. The 5:00 is telling you 5 seconds to be able to cast Refresh again. So it we are waiting 16 seconds to have the recast timer tell us how much longer until we can cast.

On the fourth line, we have another wait timer of 6 seconds. That is because the recast timer for this macro will tell you 5 seconds until it can be cast. I add an extra second to compensate for any lag I might be having.

On the last line, we have an echo. What an echo does is tell you whatever you put after the /echo. It’s basically a reminder. In this case it will show in your chat box **Refresh is Ready!**. Echos are usually used with /waits to let you know when abilities or spells are ready. So this line is telling you that you can cast Refresh now.

Note: The drawback with /echo and /recast is if you use another job ability or spell during the /wait period of time, you will not see your /recast and/or your /echo in your chat. So the use of any other abilities or spells during the wait period cancels out your recast and echos for the previous macro.


Ok let’s cover a necessary melee macro. You need to be able to post your TP (Tactical Points) to the party so that you can do a SC (Skillchain). (TP and Skillchains are covered in other sections.)

Here is a basic TP macro:


/p Dark Knight >>> TP @ <tp>


Sometimes tanks will include their HP with their TP:


/p Paladin >>> HP @ <hp> - <hpp> >>> TP @ <tp>

And sometimes mages will use MP macros. Mages use macros to post their MP to party chat so people in the party are aware if they need to rest longer between fights:


/p White Mage >>> MP @ <mp> - <mpp>


Ok let’s cover all of these. In our basic TP macro we use /p which means party. This will post the information, given after it, into the party chat. This is exactly what you want in order to tell your party members what your TP is. After /p, you can choose to put your name, your job, or nothing at all. I prefer to use my current job. After that I tell what I’m posting so TP @ is used in this case. Then after that are the command lines. <tp> will post your TP percentage to the party. So for example they will see Dark Knight >>> TP @ 154%.

For the tanks macro, you will use <hp> and <hpp>. What’s the difference? Well <hp> will post your HP to the party. It will look like this 78/100. Then <hpp> tells them the percentage of HP. So it would look like 75%. So for example that macro would post to party chat like this: Paladin >>> HP @ 78/100 – 75% >>> TP @ 137%

For the mages macro, it’s just about the same as the tanks. When you use <mp> it indicates the MP you have. When you use <mpp> it indicates the percentage of MP you have. So that macro would look like this in party chat: White Mage >>> MP @ 78/100 – 75%.

[fastcart]

Re: macros

There are ten different macro sets for each character. You can access the differen sets by holding ctrl-shift # or alt-shift # where # is a number. Ex: ctrl-shift 2 changes the macro set to the second set. alt-shift 0 changes to the 10th set.

Alternatively, using ctrl or alt + up or down arrows can change sets too. Third alternative would be to change sets in the macro editor under Config in FFXI itself.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: macros

Or if you use a controller, you just push the L2 or R2 buttons to display macros. Then you hold the button down and scroll with the Dpad to go to the different sets. You also use the Dpad to move to the one you would like to use and then press X. (Of course, settings may vary because you can configure the buttons to whatever you choose but these are the default settings.)

[silentsteel]

Re: macros

There are ten different macro sets for each job.

Not true!

you only get 10 macro sets period.

[athy]

Re: macros

thank you grandmom..helped me ou alot

[fastcart]

Re: macros

Not true!

you only get 10 macro sets period.

Thanks. I messed up. I meant each character. I'll correct that.

[athy]

Re: macros

so each job can have different macros

[Hori]

Re: macros

Also you can use the auto translator in the macros to make sure spelling or capitaliztion is correct.

I always used to make a mistake of

/ws "Fast Balde" <bt> hehe

so now I use the translator for spells,abilities,items and what have you in my macros

edit: I notice you are red mage like me. I use /equip switch macros in all my spells.
example:
/ma "Fire" <bt>
/equip L.ring "Eremites Ring"
/equip R.ring "Eremites Ring"
/equip Neck "Black Neckerchief"
/equip Back "Black Cape"

These are great to use for maximizing your INT or MND or MP for the certain spell or ability or for abilities or Weapon Skills that might use MND or DEX or what have you.

hope that helps you some

so each job can have different macros

Different jobs will have different macros because of different abilities but it all comes down to the some similiar commands and some specific commands for certain jobs abilities ( NIN, SMN, and BRD for example)




and like TheGrandMom pointed out about TP% you can do MP and HP%
<hp>shows how much HP you have and your total HP
example: /p My HP: <hp> will show in PT chat
My HP: 198/300
and you can also add %
example /p My HP: <hp> <hpp> will show in PT chat
My HP: 300/300 100%
Same for MP except you use <mp> & <mpp>

[Kildem]

Re: macros

About the macros position, would be really bothering having cure in the first macro set and fire on the 4, especially if you are in the middle of a fight, switching from 1 to 4 is a long thing. So you can try to put all the needed spells, the ones that you usually casts during a fight, all inside the 1 macro set, and dumb spells, the ones that you usually never care in a fight, well, don't even make a macro for them lol. I don't know if you already did, but you can surely delete all the macros of the set 1, like "thanks for letting me join your party" "i'm being chased by Bush" and stuff like this, since they are basically useless, you will learn (or you already did) that when 4 goblins are slaughtering you in kazham, you will even don't think about pressing an help macro.
I think every macro line has 10 spaces or so, so you can just make:
1)cure
2)cure 2
3) cure 3
4)protect
5) protect 2
6)shell
7)shell 2
8)dia
9)banish
10)regen
(i am not so sure the last 3, since i never been a rdm lol)
and in the second line of the first macro set, put all the offensive spells like stone, thunder, fire, poison, bio, water, slow, and since you are a red mage don't forget the en-thunder and company,
Also if you use more than red mage black mage, you can take to decisions:
Or, if you have still spaces, putting the ability of the other job near the spells,
Or just using, for new jobs, new macro set, like:
war macro set 2,
monk macro set 3, thief macro set 4 and continue this way.
Alas, square enix made the wise choice about not making as many macro sets as the jobs.
12 jobs-10 macro sets, they got confused for the last two lol.
As i said before, you can maintain free spaces by not putting in the sets things that you will never use, or that you will not easily use, like your two hours.
You can even create a macro for the ranged attack and a macro for locking the enemy pulled by your party, instead of trying to lock it with the mouse, which can be sometime difficult.