December Waypoints

Q: Why was the snowman looking through the carrots?
A: He was picking his nose!

No doubt December at Darq Side HQ will be dedicated in part to the Renewal of Ro expansion that's due to be launched on November 30! We've got our eyes on several odds and ends over on the Beta server that won't necessarily require UI changes, but we'll be ready for anything when the expansion appears on Live servers.

As usual we have approximately eight bazillion requests, tweaks and fixes on the list this month (my favorite thing!) So this is certainly not everything. If your suggestion doesn't appear here yet, rest assured it hasn't been forgotten.

Fixer-Uppers

A couple of fixes that may already be on the server by the time you read this:  1: Custom macro buttons (Transmute, Salvage, etc.) on bags with disappearing titlebars will now reappear correctly after a successful transmute. (h/t chief)  2: The Guardian Bash combat art is no longer listed as a choice in the Arm rune category on the HO window setup page.

Warning Signs

I think this will be a welcome major update for players who use setpoint warnings with the Maintained Spell Monitor. Most classes will encounter Maintained spells with timers that aren't exactly good candidates for setpoint warnings. For example, a spell with a duration of one minute and twelve seconds will display "1" on the icon for the first 13 seconds until it crosses the one-minute threshold and starts counting down from 59. If your setpoint is configured for something like "Timer less than 10," you get an erroneous warning during that first 13 seconds.

A new setpoint choice for Timer Percent is being tested, and it's looking very good. Timer Percent lets you configure that 1 minute 12 second spell to warn you at, for example, the last 15 percent of its duration, which will correctly begin warning at around 10 seconds remaining. No more distracting early warnings due to incompatible raw timer displays. This feature update was inspired by a request from member redit0 who is also helping me test the feature. Watch for it!

Speaking of new choices...

New Darq Sider rogermortensson mentioned in Discord recently that text and other elements in the utility can appear slightly fuzzy on a high-resolution rig that's using a high-DPI video setting like 125% or 150% with Dark Mode. After some testing and discussion it turns out that making the dark backgrounds darker and the white text whiter makes everything appear crisper and more legible at higher DPI on huge monitors. So we're introducing a new High Contrast utility color scheme in addition to the other modes in the next utility version. If you prefer Dark Mode but it sometimes seems like it's not quite dark enough, you'll like this.

Drawing a blank

I'm embarrassed to say this upcoming utility feature finally appears after coaching several Darq Side members on how to correct it manually, including Kammelle who first requested a fix more than a year ago. You've likely had a situation where the map background goes blank, leaving many little mapping icons scattered around a blank window:

The temporary fix is to switch to a different map using the dropdown controls, then switch back to the current map. But a more permanent fix requires editing the character's uisettings file, which happens to be something the DarqUI utility excels at. On the EQ2MAP page in the next utility version is a new control that will fix the issue in 99.44% of cases. The utility will detect which of your characters is potentially afflicted with the blank map bug, and you'll be able to correct one specific character or all of them at once.

One of these things is not like the others

Duplicating DarqUI customizations instantly between characters is a helpful utility benefit, but when it comes to Group and Raid settings, maybe not so much. When you're copying Group and Raid settings like custom layouts, macro extensions and other configurations, up until now you've had to drag the source character's spell buttons along for the ride. If the receiving character is of the same adventure class as the donor character, well, that's not so bad. But in all other cases you have to go back and redo one set of spell buttons.

Now when you use Import, Export or Duplicate features and the Group or Raid window is involved, you'll get a choice to copy everything, copy only spells, or copy everything except spells. Much better!

Hidden HO

One of the cooler features in premium DarqUI is the relatively new Heroic Opportunity window and the even newer alternate HO window. Like anything else in the UI, the HO window has a rare chance to get lost or hidden off-screen. So we'll be adding it to the Locate list in Window Settings.

And speaking of the Locate list: if you're keeping track, you know we took a stab at adding the Chat window to the Locate list this past month. Progress report: not gonna happen. Trying to show/hide/move tabbed Chat windows and individual chat tabs produced some... very interesting screen gymnastics. It's something you really don't want to see.

Set a Spell

We can already organize spells and combat arts in the Knowledge book alphabetically and by level, but wouldn't it be nice to see at a glance, and without using a tooltip, the quality levels of your spells? Imagine a colored border around each icon -- green for grandmaster, pink for fabled, gold for legendary, etc.  Darq Side member Dakwaur posed this question, and I think it ought to be checked out!

This is similar to a previous request to put some kind of highlight around the icons of familiars that you own to better distinguish them from the ones you don't have yet. Both of these require some deep diving, and there's no guarantee of success. But we'll be making the attempt in December.

DarqUI 2K/4K

We've been working on another significant UI component that will be getting the L/XL treatment in December. In fact it was one of the very first windows I tried to tackle when we started the 2K/4K project many moons ago. But it has a couple of interesting quirks that caused it to be relegated to the back burner all this time while we forged ahead with other less eccentric components. Curious? All I'll say is that it's an advanced component.

Thank You

In the tradition of the season I want you to know that I am truly thankful for your interest and participation in the Darq Side, and your continued patronage. I'm convinced that this is the very best specialty gaming community on Patreon, built around one of the most venerable traditional MMOs ever produced. Your support enables us to do more for you and many other players around the world for just a few pennies per day. I hope you're enjoying all the members-only features and conveniences found throughout the UI, the utility and notifier apps, and this site.

Nearly everything we've done over the past two-plus years is inspired directly from your requests, suggestions and feedback. When we say our members are part of the project, we're not kidding! Please accept my best wishes for a safe and cheerful holiday season. I'll see you in RoR!