HOWTO: Assist main tank in SWTOR

[lax]

Source: http://www.dual-boxing.com/showpost.php?p=352266&postcount=90

I noticed some folks had issues with targetting and attacking. the current information posted so far works, but to me it looks a bit cumbersome. I found this out last night

ALT + F is in the game and sets up a Focus target. Whats not LISTED in the game is an assist Focus. After mashing some buttons last night in ISBoxer and in the game, I found the Ctrl + F is actually the assist Focus built into the game. Not sure if I lost the follow (i dont think i did) part, but didnt really test that out.

So all you do is designate an initial focus on all your subordinate toons, then set up the ISBoxer to use Ctrl + F for the Assist in ISBoxer and yer done =)

SWTOR includes default hotkeys for what is called Focus-based targeting and assisting:
* Alt+F: Stores your current Target as the "Focus" target
* Ctrl+F: Assists your "Focus" target (Targets his Target; selects the same thing he has selected)

This makes it easy to set up an Assist button in ISBoxer to make all of your guys Assist you. In fact, I've made it for you below. Here's how to plug it in to your ISBoxer:
1. Click the "Select All" button in the upper right corner of the Code box below, then right click on the highlighted text and select Copy.
2. Then, in the top left pane in ISBoxer, under Key Maps, select Non-combat.
3. In the bottom left pane in ISBoxer, right click the "Mapped Keys" heading and select "Paste Mapped Key from Clipboard" -- if you do not see this option in the menu, you either missed Step 1 or are not right clicking on "Mapped Keys" in the bottom left pane
4. (optional) I set the Hotkey to Ctrl+F. If you want to change it, select this new Mapped Key (Assist Focus) in the bottom left pane, and then set the "Hotkey" option at the top right (the keys that gets sent to the game are separate from this Hotkey)
5. Export to Inner Space to activate your changes

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Box xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <ObjectType>ISBoxer_Toolkit.Configs.KeyMaps.MappedKey</ObjectType>
  <SerializedObject>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;MappedKey xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  &lt;Name&gt;Assist Focus&lt;/Name&gt;
  &lt;Description /&gt;
  &lt;Combo&gt;
    &lt;Combo&gt;Ctrl+F&lt;/Combo&gt;
    &lt;Modifiers&gt;Ctrl&lt;/Modifiers&gt;
    &lt;Key&gt;
      &lt;Key&gt;F&lt;/Key&gt;
      &lt;Code&gt;33&lt;/Code&gt;
    &lt;/Key&gt;
  &lt;/Combo&gt;
  &lt;Hold&gt;
    &lt;Value&gt;true&lt;/Value&gt;
  &lt;/Hold&gt;
  &lt;SendNextClickBlockLocal&gt;false&lt;/SendNextClickBlockLocal&gt;
  &lt;ManualLoad&gt;false&lt;/ManualLoad&gt;
  &lt;ResetTimer&gt;0.1&lt;/ResetTimer&gt;
  &lt;ResetType&gt;Never&lt;/ResetType&gt;
  &lt;Mode&gt;OnRelease&lt;/Mode&gt;
  &lt;Steps&gt;
    &lt;Step&gt;
      &lt;Stick&gt;0&lt;/Stick&gt;
      &lt;Stop&gt;false&lt;/Stop&gt;
      &lt;Stump&gt;false&lt;/Stump&gt;
      &lt;Actions&gt;
        &lt;MappedKeyAction xsi:type="Keystroke"&gt;
          &lt;Target&gt;all other&lt;/Target&gt;
          &lt;Combo&gt;
            &lt;Combo&gt;Ctrl+F&lt;/Combo&gt;
            &lt;Modifiers&gt;Ctrl&lt;/Modifiers&gt;
            &lt;Key&gt;
              &lt;Key&gt;F&lt;/Key&gt;
              &lt;Code&gt;33&lt;/Code&gt;
            &lt;/Key&gt;
          &lt;/Combo&gt;
          &lt;RoundRobin&gt;false&lt;/RoundRobin&gt;
        &lt;/MappedKeyAction&gt;
      &lt;/Actions&gt;
    &lt;/Step&gt;
  &lt;/Steps&gt;
&lt;/MappedKey&gt;</SerializedObject>
</Box>

So before you go fighting, each guy will need to Target the guy they will need to assist (your main) and press Alt+F. You can manually do that in each window, as this only needs to be done every so often (edit: after several people have tried it out, this may drop far too often to be really convenient). Then any time you switch targets and want your other guys to assist, just hit Ctrl+F! (Note: there may be a short but noticeable delay between the time you select a Target and the time your other guys can pick it up. Diagram)

Hey Lax, just found this out last night....

the focus setup that I posted works great, but everytime you zone in and out of an instance or area specific to one of your toons, you lose the focus on the main (im not sure, but i think it also removes focus after cut scenes, will have to check when i get home). so you probably want to set up another button that puts the focus back on after entering and leaving instanced areas

Every time you go into a "instance" or cross a major barrier in swtor you will loose your focus. This is just part of the game. I always regain my focus as part of my follow command.

Every time you go into a "instance" or cross a major barrier in swtor you will loose your focus. This is just part of the game. I always regain my focus as part of my follow command.

I used this system for many days and was not getting my focus back automatically.

Since then I switched to using Mercbeasts & others target player then target-target's-target methods...

The focus method, when focus is set, worked better for me but the resetting was painful so I am staying with the target, target-target's-target method for now...

I created a walk through on how I assist my Main tank here http://isboxer.com/wiki/SWTOR:HOWTO_Pla ... characters

it works really well.. whatever my tank does all of my toons target auto target then attack the same target.. I do not have to worry about all the lame keystrokes SWTOR requires..

[hephaestus]

Is there any way to alter the Ctrl+F binding? I can't figure out any way to do it, as the assist focus feature is more or less "undocumented." I am trying to figure out how to set up a variable targeting system with 4 click bars for simplifying healing. I also want to set up a targeting system with a minimum of fuss, but the focus drops so much, I think I need to use some version of the variable slot system to set focus with a button.

[lax]

Is there any way to alter the Ctrl+F binding? I can't figure out any way to do it, as the assist focus feature is more or less "undocumented." I am trying to figure out how to set up a variable targeting system with 4 click bars for simplifying healing. I also want to set up a targeting system with a minimum of fuss, but the focus drops so much, I think I need to use some version of the variable slot system to set focus with a button.

From what I can gather, there is no way to set it. Your key bindings are stored server-side in SWTOR and there is no way to import or export them, so the only known way to change them is with the in-game interface. I think that Ctrl+F being missing from the list is an accident; it can probably get added if someone manages to get it brought to the right person's attention. Reporting it missing from the list as a bug (in game, /bug) is probably a good start L)