The AutoHotKey Thread - Page 2

Skyhoof · 05/22/08, 6:02 PM

That typo might explain some problems I've had modifying that code. Thanks for fixing it. I updated the first post.

With some help from Daidalos, I figured how to change it to mouse clicks instead of a key. It seems you need to use { } after "Send" with mouse buttons, although not number keys. I'm currently trying to see if I can use AHK for healing but I need to add a toggle to this code because the mouse clicks are used for too many other functions in the game.

#ifWinActive World of Warcraft
{
$RButton::
   Loop  
   {
    if not GetKeyState("RButton", "P")
      break
     Send {RButton} 
     sleep 1
    }
return
$LButton::
   Loop  
   {
    if not GetKeyState("LButton", "P")
      break
     Send {LButton} 
     sleep 1
    }
return
}

Larlar · 05/22/08, 10:39 PM

I'll post the script I used while elemental. It's not perfect but but I liked the idea of it (which I stole from the elemental thread).

#ifWinActive World of Warcraft
{
$3::
$!3::
$+3::
    Loop
    {
      if not GetKeyState("3", "P")
        break
      if GetKeyState("LAlt", "P")
        Send !3
      else if GetKeyState("LShift", "P")
        Send +3
      else
        Send 3
      Sleep 1
    }
return
}

I would bind LB to '3', CL to 'Alt+3', and my macro which tries to pop all CDs to 'Shift+3'. I just hold down '3' and LB spam starts, hold alt every 4th cast to CL then release as CL is casting, and hold shift whenever one of my CDs come up. The same sort of thing could be used for most casters I think, maybe even healers with different ranks.

Shuth · 05/23/08, 9:43 AM

Originally Posted by Octaviann

By the way, the Blizzard CMs and GMs aren't always the sole voice of authority. Sometimes they don't have access to all of the information and can give conflicting replies. If you ever really, truly want to find out Blizzard's stance on an issue like this, send them an email and see what they say.

I sent an email to Blizzard including a copy of the script as well as links to this thread and to the AutoHotKey website. I asked about their stance on this usage for holding a key to spam a spell, in my case Fireball, and the response I received was:

As long as it doesn’t try to get around our global cooldown rules it should be ok.

smoo86 · 05/23/08, 4:39 PM

I cant read the script properly, so what do I have to do, to get the Script spam my button 1 without me having spamming the button 1 or holding it down?

Tymir · 05/23/08, 9:42 PM

Originally Posted by smoo86

I cant read the script properly, so what do I have to do, to get the Script spam my button 1 without me having spamming the button 1 or holding it down?

Break the ToU. Seriously though, can I ask that people do not use AHK for these types of purposes, if AHK comes into widespread use for exploiting the party will be up even for those of us who use AHK for legitimate means.

smoo86 · 05/24/08, 6:25 AM

Sorry, I didnt know that this would break the ToU. Wouldnt want to do that. I just hoped I could get rid of spamming the Shadowbolt Key... but, yes I see that would be exploiting/botting. But with a ALT / Shift Use of Trinkets and CDs its still pretty nice.

mikex · 05/25/08, 3:23 PM

I spoke with a GM about the legality of this tool for the purpose of holding down a key and having that key then spammed over and over. He told me that as long as you are sitting at the computer performing the action then it's perfectly ok.

Noraj · 05/26/08, 7:01 PM

Is there any way to set a key to suspend the program? I know it's possible to suspend the script, but I don't know if it's possible or how to bind that to a key. I use a lot of letters for keybindings with my G15, and typing with Autohotkey on in-game is next to impossible.

All I'm looking for is a way to use, say my = key to toggle the rest of it on and off.

EDIT: Nevermind. I found it in the documentation:

^!s::Suspend  ; Assign the toggle-suspend function to a hotkey.

◊ arison · 05/26/08, 8:05 PM

Apparently they're getting more uptight about this. BRK (shudder) supposedly has some information straight from a Blue (Tchann):

The next step up from that contains the special keyboards and keypress software. The keyboards themselves are perfectly okay to use, as is the software that makes them work. What can get a user actioned is when they use the macro software to include delays, since that bypasses Blizzard’s .lua code in order to automatically perform an extra action. The same goes for the keypress software in which you constantly hold down one key to spam a single action. This is the level of automation that Blizzard begins banning at.

(source: BigRedKitty Her Pet Should Be Named, “Chico”)

This makes me skeptical that just repeating a key is okay... which is rather annoying as a hunter.

Chlor · 05/26/08, 8:36 PM

This is ridiculous - you can perform exactly the same function by mashing a key as what is proposed here. I spoke with a GM last night and the response was essentially that you are very unlikely to receive any sort of in-game action *IF* all you are doing is spamming a key with it. Obviously Blizzard won't come out and say the use of such tools is 'OK' since that opens the door to all sorts of exploits and workarounds that aren't intended with current game mechanics.

I hate to say it but this would be a non-issue if ability use latency was similar for all players no matter their geographic location. Since its not really reasonable to expect the same actual network latency across the board, they need to come up with an alternate method of managing this - like a spell queue that is one-deep.

In any event, I'm going to continue using AHK until such time as a better solution is implemented.

Gishava · 05/27/08, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by arison

Apparently they're getting more uptight about this. BRK (shudder) supposedly has some information straight from a Blue (Tchann):

Tchann isn't blue, but she does know that of which she speaks. FYI.

sag_ich_nicht · 05/27/08, 12:40 AM

Originally Posted by Chlor

#showtoolip <Spell>
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/run UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/cast <Spell>
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/run UIErrorsFrame:Show()
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1

(I'm sure this could be shortened to two or three lines but it works for me and I have the spare macro space)

This disables error message sounds, then hides the error frame, then (attempts to) cast the spell. Once done, it clears the error frame and un-hides it then turns error sounds back on.

This is unnecessary, the frame is only rendered after the macro is run, thus this:

#showtoolip <Spell>
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast <Spell>
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1

works just as well and improves FPS should you spam it.

◊ manly · 05/27/08, 3:53 PM

The real question is, what is the point to prevent players mashing furiously the same key repeatedly ? I can use my G15/N52/AHK to repeat the same keystroke because I need to pad up the fact that blizzard has no server-side spell queue. Should it really a bannable offense to automate pressing the same key repeatedly, considering I could bind fireball to mouse scroll, and buy a free-spin scroll mouse ?

If all of this doesn't work, then the new razer mouse support also scripts.

valeea · 05/28/08, 11:19 AM

I tested the macro for AHK and it indeed works, this should minimize, if not completely eliminate any lag issue.
but i have a rather cosmetic request. When i hold down my fireball button the cast of course is not yet finishet when the global cooldown ist. so after the GCD is finished (FB still casting) the next cast already wants to start. this causes all the buttons ingame to start the "GCD clock animation" (hope you know what i mean) which is immediately resettet due to the fact that no cast can bemade. this causes the buttons to flicker annoyingly...

perhaps you can solve this

DarthGreg · 05/28/08, 4:54 PM

Saw this thread and got pretty excited about how this could reduce the absurd number of keystrokes I make as a raiding Warrior, so I wrote a quick script that allowed all of my in-game abilities to be repeated by holding down the key. It worked beautifully doing dailies and farming up some raid consumables, but when we zoned into Hyjal I found that using any of my abilities ground my WoW to a halt - leaving my computer hanging until I released the key. Turning the script off fixed it immediately. Here is what I was using:

#ifWinActive World of Warcraft
{
+r::
   Send +r
   sleep 150
   Loop  
   {
    if not GetKeyState("r", "P")
      break
     Send +r 
     sleep 1
    }
return
...
}

... denotes about 30 other hotkeys using the same format.

Is there a way to make this work for me in raids, or am I SOL?

◊ arison · 05/28/08, 6:56 PM

Finally got blue confirmation... repeating is bannable. Quote Malkorix:

This is not okay. One hardware function = one action, according to standard macro rules. A hardware function is a keypress (including press/release) associated with movement and an ability/item. Obviously, our default macro rules enable you to use 'modifying' trinkets or abilities, such as nature's swiftness, plus a single spell all in a single press.

To clarify: No, you may not use hardware or software to auto-spam your shot rotations - period.

WoW Forums -> Seeking Blue clarification: key repeating

And that's that.

GoG · 05/28/08, 7:40 PM

Auto spamming shot rotations implies having a script perform multiple operations. I could program my g15 to cast a perfect CL to Lbolt rotation for my shaman (up until blood lust.) If you want perfect clarification, ask if you can use Auto hot key to press the 1 key over and over. That's all you need to know.

In regards to lag issues with your client. I advise against running a macro every 1 millisecond. I think you have to live with the error messages and ugly UI ramifications of using Auto hot key to spam.

whave · 05/29/08, 4:15 AM

The problem is, day by day, they confirm something.

"It's ok if you just spam one key"
"It's ok if you are sitting there, pressing the key, no automated actions"
"OMG go get carpel tunnel or I'll break your hand with my banhammer"

We have seen all so far. No news of anyone being banned for using AHK so far. As I'm one of the carpal tunnel 'losers' who can't perform good without physical pain OR 'turbobutton' help, I hope there won't be any...

Wodahs · 05/29/08, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by GoG

Auto spamming shot rotations implies having a script perform multiple operations. I could program my g15 to cast a perfect CL to Lbolt rotation for my shaman (up until blood lust.) If you want perfect clarification, ask if you can use Auto hot key to press the 1 key over and over. That's all you need to know.

In regards to lag issues with your client. I advise against running a macro every 1 millisecond. I think you have to live with the error messages and ugly UI ramifications of using Auto hot key to spam.

"The G15 may have the ability to continually activate an ability as long as you keep the key pressed but that is not a function that is permitted by our policies. "

Thats a pretty cut and dry, clear, concise answer. So that would make ahk illegal as well.

Kegsta · 05/29/08, 12:13 PM

Punkbuster will detect AHK and kick you from the server if you forget to close it before playing other games, BF2 for me.

Has anyone seen a noticable difference between using a macro with /use 13 in it and one just using the standard spell? my laginfo was giving me 5-20ms when just using the spell but around 30-50 when using a macro. might have been a coincidence tho, and im not to sure how reliable laginfo is.

◊ Praetorian · 05/29/08, 12:21 PM

It's one of those things that's hard for me to wrap my head around. I mean, I'm a healer. I have a G15 keyboard but I have zero macros for it -- I own the keyboard for the LCD display to see exactly who's talking on vent and when I get tells/queue while alt-tabbed, and my "G keys" do things like make WMP or Windows Calculator open. This rule doesn't affect me at all. And I generally follow Blizzard's rules/ToU fully, and I don't want to get into a position of advocating for something that Blizzard says is illegal, but it's hard for me to swallow such a thin distinction.

Spamming 2 really hard, many times a second: Legal
Spinning your mousewheel to generate lots of inputs per second: Legal
Holding down 2, sparing yourself carpal tunnel, to generate lots of inputs per second: Not legal?

Basically, I understand the reason for the policy. If they say you can use AHK or G15 or whatever to make holding down a key cause multiple keypresses, then they've just allowed scripted AFKing. Make your spacebar repeat, put a roll of coins on it, and walk away, to use the simplest example. And if they punished someone for it, that person could just say "wtf, you guys said it was legal to have repeater keys...." So I see why they have the policy.

I still feel like the reasonable thing to do is to follow the spirit of the rule. If they allow the software (and they have to, unless they want to ban people who have Logitech's keyboard drivers running, which would be a terrible idea) then I don't see how they could possibly ever detect someone who holds down 2 vs. someone who mashes 2 really quickly (assuming you have a Sleep interval built in and aren't generating thousands of events per second or something).

Macblade · 05/30/08, 1:09 AM

This might be unnecessary to point out, but I imagine there is a direct relationship between the number of people Bliz catches using the "roll of coins" trick and the extent to which they eventually crack down on this. So as long as people aren't abusing it, Blizz probably won't have to do anything heavy handed. Thus, while I'm sure the every reader of the EJ forums is a truely enlightened individual that has nothing but respect for fellow man and the rule of law, don't get lazy and start doing stuff that will ruin it for the rest of us.

whave · 05/30/08, 5:00 AM

Originally Posted by Wodahs

"The G15 may have the ability to continually activate an ability as long as you keep the key pressed but that is not a function that is permitted by our policies. "

Thats a pretty cut and dry, clear, concise answer. So that would make ahk illegal as well.

...and we have seen numerous answers just in the past week which clearly says it's legal if YOU are pressing the button, not a roll of coins.

I think it's pretty obvious that the only place where you can use buttonspamming as an exploit, are the battlegrounds to avoid AFK and leech points. And leeching points has been punished so far, no matter what the method was.

How do you abuse this while farming? How do you abuse this in an arena match? How do you abuse this in PvE environment? By not feeling the 'intended pain' in your wrist?

They should see (and judge) the difference if they browse through some back-office reports on how many players are using AHK.

Mightydre · 05/30/08, 11:28 AM

One problem I had was accidentally hitting the Windows Start key and having WoW minimize for the Start Menu. I did a search a while ago, and found this gem:

; This relies on the fact that a Control keystroke "disguises" your release of the LWin key,
; which prevents the OS from displaying the Start Menu.
~LWin up::Send {Blind}{Ctrl}

It'll block the Start key from minimizing you out, but it won't break other hotkeys that use it (such as Start+E for Explorer), which is the exact behavior I was looking for. Enjoy.

Skyhoof · 05/30/08, 2:59 PM

Here's the best blue response I've seen so far on the issue:

WoW Forums -> Seeking Blue clarification: key repeating

You cannot use AHK or the G15 keyboard to spam a single key -- even if you are sitting at the keyboard and just want to prevent your finger from falling off or keyboard breaking.

You can use a G15 keyboard but only to have more keys available to which you can bind macros, etc.

So, this leaves me wondering:

1) Will they ban the AHK? Or will they simply monitor for AHK-like activity to also catch G15 keyboard users? Or is this just too low of a priority for Blizzard? I would hope they would be more concerned about violations that actually impact the game, rather than some guy spamming his shot rotation. But perhaps someone with a technical background could give us more insight into what would be easy to catch and what would be difficult to detect. For example, the macro mentioned earlier in the thread to hide your UI and then take a screen shot. That would seem impossible to detect. However, my spam of Healing Wave to test the proc rate on a meta gem for hours would seem easy to detect. And spamming a shot rotation during a raid would seem to fall in the middle of the two extremes.

2) Does this mean that you also can't use AHK to multi-box? Can you multi-box without AHK?

Here's the pertinent sections of the Blizzard post. The Blue responses are from Malkorix.

Hello Blizzard,

After unsuccessfully attempting to get clarification via an in-game ticket, I would like to see if the rules can be clarified regarding key repeating software. In light of recent bans, it is unclear what is or isn't allowed, and bearing in mind the majority of players want to follow the rules, it would be of great help if a statement could be made regarding key repeating software.

Previously, the apparent community understanding had been: if it doesn't automate gameplay, and requires you to be present at the keyboard playing the game, then it is legal. It seems with recent bans, this may not actually be the case.

My specific question is: is it okay to use software (or hardware drivers, or external hardware devices) that continually repeat ("spam") a key bound in-game to a macro or ability while another key is held down and while a player is present at the keyboard playing the game? For Hunters, for instance, spamming our shot rotation macro. I'm sure other classes have similar needs, perhaps not 10-20 times per second like a Hunter, but the same idea. Many aspects of the game make key spamming desirable, but is it legitimate to use external drivers/software to achieve it?

I'd love to not have to break my keyboard, fingers, and wrist to achieve maximum DPS, but I would also hate to wake up one morning and find I was banned for using a repeater. Please help myself and other Hunters follow the rules

This is not okay. One hardware function = one action, according to standard macro rules. A hardware function is a keypress (including press/release) associated with movement and an ability/item. Obviously, our default macro rules enable you to use 'modifying' trinkets or abilities, such as nature's swiftness, plus a single spell all in a single press.

To clarify: No, you may not use hardware or software to auto-spam your shot rotations - period.

The G15 has been supported by Blizzard in the past, I must have missed it when they changed their minds.

I use a G15. Using the G15 macro functions to create macros which incorporate delays, or otherwise use multiple abilities that each have a global cooldown on a single keypress has never been supported. It is automation, and is against our policies listed here:

Terms of Use, Part 4, Section B
WoW -> Legal -> Terms of Use

How To Stay In The Game (Part 2 of 2)
http://us.blizzard.com/support/artic...rticleId=21507

This thread in our CS Forum Information Haven!, to which I've replied previously, may help illuminate the issue for you:

G15 Keyboard Legality
WoW Forums -> Need official response regarding Logitech G15
WoW Forums -> G15 keyboard and bans

The G15 may have the ability to continually activate an ability as long as you keep the key pressed but that is not a function that is permitted by our policies.