I Need Some Help Updating this Code for WoD

Zireko · 11-20-14, 05:27 PM

I first off want to let you know this code doesn't belong to me. I just wanted to fix this addon so it can work with WoD. But I'm still very new to coding and WoW's API, I've done a few addons for Elder Scrolls Online. I seen this addon and really really wanted it and well the author is pretty much gone. They haven't updated the addon in a long time. Problem is I don't have a clue where to start working to get this addon working properly with WoD. It throws no errors when loaded up but yet the quest aren't being tracked.

I was hoping to update this and maybe make some changes to some of the sizes after it's working. It's supposed to track the quest with a visual representation of where you need to go so you don't really have to look at the map. For example in the picture below there is a quest to kill Captain Harris and it shows that his out ontop of a cliff. All you would have to do is walk to that location of where the addon is tracking the captain and slay him. This should also show if the quest is up high or down low.

http://media-curse.cursecdn.com/atta...f1c3f988fd.jpg

I've also attached the zip file of the addon so you can look at the code.

SDPhantom · 11-20-14, 07:55 PM

Blizzard deliberately broke this addon and others like it that make it look like they're rendering to the 3D world using complex 2D calculations. More specifically, they blocked any attempt to retrieve the camera's relative position and/or direction to the player.

Zireko · 11-20-14, 09:00 PM

Ok, thanks for the info. Any idea why exactly blizzard did this? I just notice at times it can be really hard to track a quest because it says it's in one place but yet it's at the top of the mountain or at the bottom. I just want a better way to track quest so I know if it's up high or down low.

**Seerah** · 11-20-14, 09:40 PM

I just follow the blue areas/markers on my map to know where to go if I'm stuck.

Phanx · 11-20-14, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by Zireko

Ok, thanks for the info. Any idea why exactly blizzard did this? I just notice at times it can be really hard to track a quest because it says it's in one place but yet it's at the top of the mountain or at the bottom. I just want a better way to track quest so I know if it's up high or down low.

This was broken way back in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and it was done to break an addon called AVR, which used this information to draw stuff "in the game world" to trivialize raid boss encounters by drawing arrows to show people where to move to, etc.

While I agree that the existing quest POI markers are occasionally useless -- eg. if the objective is in the back of a cave, it's not always obvious that it's not actually on top of a mountain, or where the entrance to the cave is located -- this doesn't really happen that often, and there are generally not many options. If you're on top of a mountain and there's nothing there for the quest, obviously it's in a cave below the mountain; if you're at the top of a cliff, then it must be at the bottom; and if you get really lost you can always *gasp* read the quest or if that fails (unfortunately Blizz often fails to include any useful info in quest descriptions nowadays since they assume everyone just looks at the map dot and doesn't read the description) you can tab out and check the comments on Wowhead.

Zireko · 11-20-14, 10:01 PM

LOL ooo I read the quest lol *gasp* I'm an old vanilla player. It's just the latest expansion gets you second guessing yourself over and over again because ya it says it in this part of the mount problem is that it doesn't say if that the bottom, top, or middle of the mountain. Yes it used to not be such a big deal but in this latest expansion it's using more levels than straight forward and wowhead now a days don't comment as much they used to. It might be hard to write a code on this because the person will have to go through the quest already and know if the quest is on lvl 1, 2, 3, or so on to even do an addon like this. You said the addon was kind of killed in expansion Wraith of the Lich King however this addon was far after Wraith since the last working update was March of 2014 I don't know about you but Wraith has been out far longer than that lol.

Phanx · 11-20-14, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by Zireko

You said the addon was kind of killed in expansion Wraith of the Lich King however this addon was far after Wraith since the last working update was March of 2014 I don't know about you but Wraith has been out far longer than that lol.

I said the API function to determine the angle of the player's camera (and the AVR addon that Blizzard didn't like) was killed in Wrath. I've never even heard of the addon you linked, but based on your description and SDPhantom's post I assumed that's what it was using.

Zireko · 11-20-14, 11:32 PM

Well I'm guessing it wasn't using it. It was updated in march 2014 and worked until blizzard released WoD. That's why I was trying to figure out what may have been cut off.

10leej · 11-21-14, 12:19 AM

I think I've seen this addon before but I thought it was just for name plates.

When you try the addon now do you get any lua errors?

Duugu · 11-21-14, 04:08 AM

http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/quest_2go/

As the project hasn't been officialy abandoned by the author and the license is all rights reserved ... did you tried to contact the author?

Phanx · 11-21-14, 04:50 AM

Regarding the API, it's actually using GetUnitPitch, so it will only work if you don't move the camera from the default "right behind the player, looking straight forward" position.

Also, the number of tables being repeatedly created and recreated in that addon... *shudder*

Zireko · 11-21-14, 06:21 AM

Yes I've already tried to contact the author and I've been trying to contact the author for months now. As for errors the addon throws no lua errors at all when you load into the game.

SDPhantom · 11-21-14, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Phanx

I said the API function to determine the angle of the player's camera (and the AVR addon that Blizzard didn't like) was killed in Wrath. I've never even heard of the addon you linked, but based on your description and SDPhantom's post I assumed that's what it was using.

My post was based off the image that looked to have precision of AVR.

Originally Posted by Zireko

Originally Posted by Phanx

Regarding the API, it's actually using GetUnitPitch, so it will only work if you don't move the camera from the default "right behind the player, looking straight forward" position.

To continue on the topic of precision and disregarding the fact GetUnitPitch() doesn't work in mouselook (left-dragging the mouse as opposed to right-dragging), the point at which GetUnitPitch() measures at is not on the camera itself, but from the character. This means when you don't have the camera directly pointing at an object or zoomed into first person view, any calculations deriving from it will be off in proportion to how close you are to the object.

Note: I'm not debating on whether or not GetUnitPitch() is used, just pointing out caveats of using it and the loss of precision when in close proximity.