Follow and Assist from any window in EQ

[Finitematter]

I have been trying over and over and over to get this to work and I just cant. I dont know what im missing. When I click CTRL-F1 one of my 3 box team doesnt do anything. The other follow whoever they happen to have targetted at that time. Assist simply doesnt work, their targets never change. I dont get how this works.

Im very new, and I really dont understand how my first group of 3 toons has alt-f and alt-a for follow and assist and it works just fine, no matter what window im in. On the team im trying to setup, alt - f and alt - a do nothing.

Help! I need this functionaltiy or isboxer is completely useless to me.

Thanks!

I recently figured out my issue with these commands and why I was unable to get them to work properly. I wasn't setting up my variable keystrokes properly to target the different slots.

I'm sure to some novice/intermediate/advanced ISBoxer users it would seem as if my issue was something I should have noticed immediately, but I couldn't figure it out for a while. I also read a few quick start Everquest guides and didn't notice it (yes, I'm sure it's listed in plenty of them, I just didn't see it).

In any case, a simple walkthrough in a real life application:

If you're using 6 characters and have them properly slotted to 1-6, go ahead and log all 6 in. If you aren't using an invite/join script, which I'd guess you're not if you can't figure out the follow/assist scripts yet, then start with slot 1, and invite/join each of slots 2-6 in order. You will want to invite these slots in the same order each time you log in. This is very important because it will mess up your variable keystrokes otherwise.

Now, think of the next steps in terms of if you weren't playing ISBoxer at all, and you were playing EQ with multiple windows. When you are looking at "Slot 1 Character," which keys do you press to target the other characters? You probably see it as Slot2=F2, Slot3=F3, Slot4=F4, etc. When you switch to "Slot 2 Character," how do you target "Slot 1 Character"? With F2. So in ISBoxer, click your Character Set on the top section, and click Slot 2 in the bottom section. Click Variable Keystroke and make sure it shows F2 for targetting Slot 1. This is all easy so far, but what gets complicated is that the next few slots can get more tricky. Look at the window for "Slot 5 Character" and notice what Fkey has to be pressed to target "Slot 1 Character." In my case, I had to change it to F4 in the Variable Keystrokes section for Slot 5 because F4 is what targetted my "Slot 1 Character" when I was looking at the window of my "Slot 5 Character"..

Your Variable Keystrokes may also be important depending on how you set up your heal scripts, so make sure you get these right. And again, make sure you invite your characters into the group by the same person and in the same order each time.

Hope that helps you. It helped me once I realized my Variable Keystrokes were targetting the wrong Slot and it was screwing up my follows/assists.

Getting follow and assist to work mostly well. The only problem I have now is that I drive from my SK who has a pet, and sometimes the pet is getting targeted instead of my SK. Is there a simple fix for this?

Config:
http://privatepaste.com/8152e7a6cf

[bob]

It is generally because the game does not differentiate between the toon and the pet or rather, treats the pet as an extension of your toon. But it does usually order it, so when the others hit their social/macro/hotkey to Target your toon they will select your toon if they don't already have it selected. If they already have your toon selected, the selection will move to the pet.

This is true of most MMO's, unless you can setup your Target commands such that they specifically target the toon, then you will be stuck with the way it is.

You could get your toon to target something else first (themselves is usually the best bet), but this will usually result in at least a 3 step mapped key, and you will end up needing to double press the hot key to get Follow/Assist to work.
e.g.
Step 1 - Target Self
Step 2 - Target Leader
Step 3 - Assist
Step 4 - blank

The extra blank step is because Assist and Follow are usually "pressed OR released" mapped keys so they perform 2 steps at a time (one when you press the key down, and one when you release the key).

It is generally because the game does not differentiate between the toon and the pet or rather, treats the pet as an extension of your toon. But it does usually order it, so when the others hit their social/macro/hotkey to Target your toon they will select your toon if they don't already have it selected. If they already have your toon selected, the selection will move to the pet.

This is true of most MMO's, unless you can setup your Target commands such that they specifically target the toon, then you will be stuck with the way it is.

You could get your toon to target something else first (themselves is usually the best bet), but this will usually result in at least a 3 step mapped key, and you will end up needing to double press the hot key to get Follow/Assist to work.
e.g.
Step 1 - Target Self
Step 2 - Target Leader
Step 3 - Assist
Step 4 - blank

The extra blank step is because Assist and Follow are usually "pressed OR released" mapped keys so they perform 2 steps at a time (one when you press the key down, and one when you release the key).

Thanks!!

[firescue17]

Getting follow and assist to work mostly well. The only problem I have now is that I drive from my SK who has a pet, and sometimes the pet is getting targeted instead of my SK. Is there a simple fix for this?

I walk through my follow and assist in this video. It's not simple, but it's 100% accurate regardless of mercs, pets, which Character forms the group or which Characters join in which order (no, I haven't incorporated it into the EQ Template yet).

The extra blank step is because Assist and Follow are usually "pressed OR released" mapped keys so they perform 2 steps at a time (one when you press the key down, and one when you release the key).

Selecting both checkboxes in "[X] Do not advance to the next step [X] ... for at least .1 seconds" will block the Key release from prematurely wrapping odd steps in a Mapped Key using "Execute a Step when the Hotkey is Pressed OR Released."
This also works to block unwanted Key Presses or Releases when mixing "Do Mapped Keys" in which some steps have two Actions and other steps only have one Action.

Getting follow and assist to work mostly well. The only problem I have now is that I drive from my SK who has a pet, and sometimes the pet is getting targeted instead of my SK. Is there a simple fix for this?

I walk through my follow and assist in this video. It's not simple, but it's 100% accurate regardless of mercs, pets, which Character forms the group or which Characters join in which order (no, I haven't incorporated it into the EQ Template yet).

I downloaded the EQ Template and attempted setup from there, but I have a myriad of questions from there so I will address those when I have more time.

My question for now is with Alge's original post. I've set it up to where I think it should be according to the post and video, but i'm confused on one area. Under Variable Keystrokes in the top left pane, i've set the hotkeys for Follow Target and Assist Target to match the in-game keybinds for the socials I set up for /follow and /assist (in this case, Ctrl+1 = Follow, Ctrl+2 = Assist). Now here's my queston: under Key Maps in the Non-Combat section there are mapped keys for Follow Me and Assist Me, whose hotkeys are set to Alt+F and Alt+A respectively. Do these hotkeys need to be changed as well? Or is it redundant and/or problematic?

[Fippy]

If an SK has himself targetted, a command to target himself will select the pet.

My solution was to go to each place where targetting is used and add a Keystroke Action to send an ESC to whoever is doing the targetting. This clears the current target. I purposely did not modify the targetting key because I wanted to use it to intentionally target pets.

Gents,
I am new to the isboxer world and have spent the last 4 days trying to get "follow" working. I have watched the videos, been in discussion with Bob via chat (nice chap and very helpful) but think I am at the end of my rope of trying various approaches to get this to work.

My box crew is very simple, 3 x Mages, 1 x Cleric.

I wanted to start simple and thus my setup is currently using only the standard 1 to = keys calling macro scripts placed in those locations and they are working fine. I have a various social macros setup for the puller mage, the dps mages, and a very simple healer macro again only using only the 1 to = keys. All that works great and now I am ready to start to utilize the power of the tool and branch out using virtualization, but before I can do that I have to get this follow thing sorted out.

This is what has worked and not worked thus far. With the help of Bob I was able to get ALT F working as per the video, but only if I linked it to the 9 key in game (have my /follow social on that key), anytime I tried to use any other key it has failed. I have tried, Ctrl+ `, \, Ctrl+F1. I am going to try one last attempt at remapping F10 to eliminate the multi-part key to see if that is the problem but I suspect there is something else wrong. I wonder if my mage / pet is interfering somehow but if you can not follow a pet class I would be pretty much surprised at this.

I did the following as per the first page of this discussion:

Hit Ctrl+O to open the Socials Page of the Action Window.
On a page with some empty buttons make 2 Socials: One called Assist with the first line as /assist. The other called Follow with the first line as /follow.
Now drag those new Socials to a Hot Bar somewhere. You can right click on another bar and choose Open New Bar if you don't have enough space.
Finally, in Options (Alt+O) on the Keys tab, select the Hot Bar you added the Socials to from the Category dropdown and bind the appropriate Hot Buttons to some key binding not used by EQ. I used "\" for the Hot Button with Assist on it and Ctrl+` for the Hot Button with Follow on it.
In ISBoxer, set the Assist Target Variable Keystroke to ALT+A and the Follow Variable Keystroke to Alt+F. Did this under the main Variable Keystrokes part in ISBoxer. Did not set any Variable Keystrokes at the Character Set level.

I confirmed the setup for each person key targeting was working and F1 targets themselves, and the F2-F4 is all setup correctly. Bob did have me on the "assist me" maps put group with followers on each step.

Any initial thoughts? I am at work but will post the configuration after I try key binding in game to F10 as my last test before I scream. Love the product and the community and honestly it has renewed my interest in EQ as I love watching 3 fire bolts heading to the target as the pets ravage them.

Again you guys rock and I appreciate any suggestions.

Dian.

ok gents, I am complete with my adjustments and can not get it to work. Here is the config file:
http://privatepaste.com/f67241a38b

- I have confirmed that key map non combat is set to CTR+F10
- Variable Key strokes Follow Target is set to F10 * note I have cleared out any eq game other references to that key
- Social is created and contains only /follow and is put in hotbar 2 slot 1 mapped to F10 * I have confirmed this works by pressing in game with someone targeted and they follow, without anyone targeted is gives message you must target a group member to auto follow

Character is saved and exported.

WHen I press CTR+F10 in game, nothing happens, no message no nothing which leads me to believe it is not connecting isboxer CTR+F10 to F10 in game.

Anyone help a newb before I hang myself out of frustration?

Dian.