March Waypoints

98% of Yugos are still on the road. The other 2% actually made it all the way home.

Just Browsing

The aging and not very useful in-game browser client disappeared when Visions of Vetrovia went live in December. In its place we found a superior mechanic that finally allowed us to send URL requests out to our own default web browsers. That change plus a borderless fullscreen mode made item, recipe, quest and character lookups almost tolerable.

But a recent game update saw the return of the Awesomium browser software, presumably to reenable the in-game help and tutorials which had become a train wreck for any player who actually tried to use the default Help window. Looking at datestamps on the base browser files I am not hopeful that any improvements were made during its absence, nor have I seen any during testing so far.

Long story short, it looks like we will need to crank up the URL Helper once again. It would be nice if the browser commands could be adjusted to provide the functionality described in the URL Helper tutorial, since that very change worked quite nicely for a couple of months. But since the developers only need the browser for Help and possibly some Marketplace transactions, we are on our own for any custom uses beyond that.

Utility Improvements

On the other hand, the next DarqUI utility continues to improve with several new premium and standard features that I think you'll find useful. Most are quality-of-life improvements; some are already in the works and being beta tested, others are scheduled into March.

• Restore specific files from a dated backup folder instead of everything.  The Backin' Up lady would be proud.
  
  

• Import chat windows, chat channels, or both when using the Profile Editor. Previously you could only exclude channels when importing chat definitions. Now if you want only another character's channels, and not the windows, you can do that too. (thanks Aidbringer)
  
  

• Start EQII (or any other program) directly from the Startup/Shutdown section.  This mirrors the function of Run links found in the notifier app. (thanks Lhaffinatu)
  
  

• Show Broker sales totals for all characters at once as a Summary. Ah, the benefits of wealth. (thanks Lhaffinatu)
  
  

• Clear custom <include> lines from eq2ui_custom.xml when deleting a custom file from the utility. Unnecessary <include> elements in the custom file are not harmful; this is more of a housekeeping change to keep UI internals nice and neat automatically.
  

• Add Kael Drakkel to the internal backup server list.  For those oh-so-rare times when Census is unavailable.
  

• When the utility can't find the font file for a DarqUI font option (Themes), it no longer shows that font in the dropdown list as a choice.  This is more aimed at our Linux players who don't always have all the usual TTF files in place initially.
  

• Deletion candidates no longer require an internal DarqUI version number. I'll bet you didn't even know this feature existed.  When the UI no longer needs a file, it can be flagged as a deletion candidate, so the next time you open the utility you get a dialog box offering to delete the unnecessary file.  I'll give you more details about all this extreme nerdiness after we publish.
  

As improvements and new features make their way into the UI, their corresponding utility pages have to be updated to include any new controls from the in-game Window Manager. Affected components include:

    Bag (disappearing titlebar modes)
    Heroic Opportunity (extra settings)
    Savagery (percentage display)
    Start Menu (new Achievements choice)
    Threat (Cure Next)
    Tradeskills (mount and gear presets)

DarqUI 2K/4K

While working on the most recent 2K/4K Group 19, I wavered between doing and not doing anything with the Advanced LFG window, since I haven't seen a single name show up in it for many moons. I've wondered if the window was actually broken, but am always too busy to experiment with it.

Well, while poking around Great Divide on the new server I decided to check it again, and lo and behold there were names in it! So it's not broken after all, just rarely used. Maybe given the special ruleset on Kael Drakkel, players will be more motivated to use the window. Either way the LFG window will be the fourth installment in 2K/4K Group 19.

Thank You

I want to welcome our new Darq Side members who joined us this month, and extend my sincere thanks to all of our members for your loyal support. As promised, I've been able to set aside more development time for the UI and the apps, and that is 100% due to your participation in our little community. There's plenty more on the to-do list, so enjoy the new expansion, the new server, and (hopefully) the great weather during one of my favorite months.