Author Topic: The Catgrrl Brigade Guide to Making PChat Macros  (Read 5557 times)

crashpositron

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The Catgrrl Brigade Guide to Making PChat Macros
« on: May 17, 2017, 10:27:08 PM »
THE CATGRRL BRIGADE GUIDE TO PCHAT MACROS


A macro is a way of creating a new button in your Power Tray that will then perform a set of actions. The command looks like this:
/macro NAME action                   for a single action

/macro NAME action1$$action2         for two actions
     
I use double quotes to create macros:
/macro NAME "action1$$action2"       The PChat system can mistake the second example above for a 'make macro' command followed by 'action2'.  The double quotes   make sure both actions appear in
                                     the finished macro.  I use the "  " form always because certain common actions (like cc) are often misinterpreted.   

Macros can contain Emotes, Slash (system) commands, and Messages (text). A list of emote names can be found at www.pchat.life and a list of Slash commands at https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/List_of_Slash_Commands

SAMPLES and DISCUSSION
For example, we want to do the multiple kick emote along with shouting a phrase:
/macro kickf "e shadowkick$$local In Your Face!"      Lets take that apart:

'/macro' tells the system you are making a macro.  It has to be followed by exactly one space. 
'kickf' is the name of the macro I am making. The name has to fit on a Power button, so it is limited to 4 CAPITAL letters or 5 lower case letters. It also is followed by exactly one space.
Double quote mark tells the system to keep the following stuff together in our macro. No space after the " mark.
'e' means the next thing is an emote. Also one space.
'shadowkick' is the emote name.  You can look on the emote list (www.pchat.life) to get the exact name. No space after the emote name.
'$$' tells the system that another command follows. No space after the $$.
'local' tells what Chat Channel to use. This can be local, broadcast, caperadio, Paragon Chat or any other legitimate PChat channel. (Most macros will use 'local' to avoid annoying others.) It is followed by one space.
'In Your Face!' is the text I want to be said in the channel I've indicated. I close the macro with another " .

If you go into your chat box and type (or paste in from above): /macro kickf "e shadowkick$$local In Your Face!" then press ENTER., you will see a new button appear in your Power Bar named 'kickf'.  If you click it, your toon will make a multiple kick while shouting 'In Your Face!' in the local channel.  You can right-click on the new button and choose 'Edit' to make any changes to it.

MULTIPLE ACTIONS IN ONE MACRO
You can put multiple actions in one macro with the following limitations:
You need to put '$$' between each action.

You can only put one Power Button-type action in a macro.  You can not Punch then Whirlwind. You cannot Fly then Flypose. Usually you will be limited to a Power Button, a system (Slash) command, an emote and a message at the most. (Example below. Slash commands are listed at  https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/List_of_Slash_Commands       )

The system will attempt to perform all the actions at once.  If the macro contains more than one Emote, for example, you will only see one (usually the last one). The order of the actions in the macro does not seem to matter. 

COSTUME CHANGE MACROS

For example, if you try to set up a costume change with a costume change effect, the costume change itself is fast and the costume change effect takes longer, so your toon will show the new suit, followed by the actual change. 
/macro CC4 "e ccshieldsalute$$cc 3"   for example will switch to the fourth suit (the first one is Suit 0) and then run the costume change effect shieldsalute.  Costume changes will have to be done in two steps: start the costume change action, then while it is running, click the costume you want. For timing sake, you would be better off to create a costume change effect with a message in one macro and then a second macro with the actual change in it.
/macro salute "local Transform!!$$e cclightning"  for the first and  /macro CC4 cc 3   for the second. You would click the first macro and then when the lightning appears, click the second macro.  (We think it worked in the original game because the server had some timing functions for costume changes.)

A SAMPLE COMPLEX MACRO
Here is an example of a complex macro that uses a Slash command:
/macro PB "e ccpeacebringer$$powexectray 1 2$$local Squid Away!$$forwardmouse 0$$e flypose3"
This demonstrates a few things.
a) You can run two Slash commands in one macro as long as they don't affect each other.
b) The system will perform the message and the Slash commands (powexectray 1 and forwardmouse 0) at once (because they are almost instant), then run the cc effect. 
c) The emote 'flypose3' is never run because the system will attempt to do the flypose3 at the same time that is moving the character forward and turning on Fly, but flypose3 requires that the toon be actually flying when the flypose emote is run. 

Lets take that complex macro apart:
'/macro PB'           <--- lets make a macro called PB
"                     <--- a complex set of commands follows
'e ccpeacebringer$$'  <---start the costume change effect called 'peacebringer' and more commands follow
'powexectray 1 2$$'   <------ A Slash command that says "Turn on power #1 in power tray 2" (on my toons, the first power in tray 2 is Fly). More commands follow
'local Squid Away!$$' <----- say something Kheldian in the local channel.  More commands follow
'forward mouse 0$$'   <--- Slash command that makes the toon start moving forward. More commands follow
'e flypose3'          <--- I was trying to get her to fly then do flypose3, but the limitations keep it from happening
"                     <-----This complex set of commands ends here.
I had to make a second button '/macro fp3 e flypose3' to click to set flypose3 after she is flying.

Try your hand at this fun feature!
« Last Edit: May 23, 2017, 04:55:51 PM by crashpositron »

Ron P

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Re: The Catgrrl Brigade Guide to Making PChat Macros
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2018, 07:05:03 PM »
When the game was live I use to use macros extensively and I am re-remembering things. I would use them early on for costume changes. My fire tank would come down with an area attack and change all at the same time, or a super speed spin power and change. Later that became more common place.

I would also make a complicated series of macros that that with certain slots would be a macro, it will same something local often to the selected $target, execute the power, change power trays with an identical set up that would have one macro set to do something similar just with some other thing it says then moves on to another tray of duplicate powers etc.

Other obvious uses was things like teleporting team members calling them out by $target name to teleport them letting them aware they are about to be teleported etc. So many uses. I can't think of a game even today that has such a thing.

Currently I am dabbling with the idea of using macros in Paragon Chat to make a more stream line in game role playing but more structured like a table top RPG but of course utilizing in game dice rolls and animations and the like for visual spiffyness.