Introduction
SimpleCombatLog is a mod which replaces the default combat logs with shorter, colored ones.
The reformatted message removes all unnecessary words so that it's faster to read what information you want rapidly when the combat log is scrolling very fast, in addition it colors the names differently when the name is you, raid, party, pet or whatever, colors the spell damage by element type etc
Even though it's supposed to be simple, the message replacements are complete, which means whatever you can read on that combat log chat frame, SimpleCombatLog should be able to catch it and displays a shorter one.
Despite the name, SimpleCombatLog is very customizable. SimpleCombatLog currently supports the following customizations:
- Filters: filter by event, message type and unitid.
- Colors: set the colors for each spell element, unitid, etc.
- Format: all the displayed combat logs can be customized.
- Watch list: watch for specific name / skill in the combat logs, which has higher priority than Filters.
How do the filters work?
There are 3 kinds of filter : event (Blizzard event), type (message category) and name (unitid).
First the events decide what messages will be received. If you disable an event, SimpleCombatLog won't receive messages belong to that event at all, which will improve performance. However, I suggest you do not touch these unless you're very sure what messages are fired from each event.
Second, when SimpleCombatLog receives a combat message, SimpleCombatLog checks what kinds of message it is, and checks the TYPE filter, if that type filter is not turned on, the message will be filtered. For example, turning off 'heal' filter will filter out all heals and HoTs.
"Gain" is something like "You gain 50 mana from Blessing of Wisdom" and "Your pet gains 50 happiness from Feed Pet effect".
"Drain" is "Someone's Viper Sting drains 50 mana from you." and "Your Mana Tap drains 50 mana from your pet, you gain 50 mana."
Hit, Heal, Miss, Cast should be obvious.
Finally, if the message have name(s), SimpleCombatLog tries to find out it's unitid, and only when the unitid match any of the NAME filter it'll be displayed. For example, to receive messages related to you and your pet, only turn on 'you' and 'pet' name filter, which in fact means the unitid 'player' and 'pet'.
Usage
Type '/scl' in game to show a list of slash commands.
Alt-RightClick a ChatFrameTab to show the configuration menu for that ChatFrame. The settings in SimpleCombatLog are saved per-char, per-ChatFrame.
If you customized a ChatFrame to the way you like, you will want to import those settings to another character, in this case you can use the Theme features in SimpleCombatLog.
Themes
A theme is the combination of all the settings for a ChatFrame. By default SimpleCombatLog loads the 'default' theme for ChatFrame2. You can set a ChatFrame to load another theme by the configuration menu.
If you did any modifications to the settings of a ChatFrame, you'll see the 'save theme' option in the configuration menu, which will save the current settings as a theme. Themes are global to all characters, so if you have a combatlog customization which wants to be used among multiple characters, you can save it as a theme, and have the characters to load that theme.
You may overwrite or delete predefined themes. But in the case of deleting a predefined theme, it'll be loaded back on the next time you log in your character. So if you have modified the predefined themes and want to have them change back to the default values, simply delete the theme and relog/reloadui.
Changed paths:
M /trunk/SimpleCombatLog/core.lua
Installation Guide
- Exit "World of Warcraft" completely
- Download the mod you want to install
- Make a folder on your desktop called "My Mods"
- Save the .zip/.rar files to this folder.
- If, when you try to download the file, it automatically "opens" it... you need to RIGHT click on the link and "save as..." or "Save Target As".
- Extract the file - commonly known as 'unzipping'
Do this ONE FILE AT A TIME!
- Windows
- Windows XP has a built in ZIP extractor. Double click on the file to open it, inside should be the file or folders needed. Copy these outside to the "My Mods" folder.
- WinRAR: Right click the file, select "Extract Here"
- WinZip: You MUST make sure the option to "Use Folder Names" is CHECKED or it will just extract the files and not make the proper folders how the Authors designed
- Mac Users
- StuffitExpander: Double click the archive to extract it to a folder in the current directory.
- Verify your WoW Installation Path
That is where you are running WoW from and THAT is where you need to install your mods.
- Move to the Addon folder
- Open your World of Warcraft folder. (default is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\)
- Go into the "Interface" folder.
- Go into the "AddOns" folder.
- In a new window, open the "My Mods" folder.
- The "My Mods" folder should have the "Addonname" folder in it.
- Move the "Addonname" folder into the "AddOns" folder
- Start World of Warcraft
- Make sure AddOns are installed
- Log in
- At the Character Select screen, look in lower left corner for the "addons" button.
- If button is there: make sure all the mods you installed are listed and make sure "load out of date addons" is checked.
- If the button is NOT there: means you did not install the addons properly. Look at the above screenshots. Try repeating the steps or getting someone who knows more about computers than you do to help.
Translations
When you download a mod, please be sure that the mod is compatible with your translation of wow. Some mods only work on the US versions, while some only work on some of the various European versions. These variations are called "Localizations".
TOC Numbers (Out of Date Mods)
When Blizzard patches WoW, they change the Interface number. This means that all mods will be "out of date" unless or until the author releases a new version for that interface. Some people go into the .toc files and update the numbers themselves, but this is STRONGLY advised against as it will cause problems locating possible incompatibilities addons. When you log into WoW after a patch, you DO NOT have to delete your interface directory. All you have to do is simply tell WoW to ignore the interface numbers and load all the mods anyway. All you have to do is, while at the "character select" screen, look in the lower left corner and click on the "addons" button. A window will pop up listing all your installed mods.
If you look in the upper left corner of that window there should be a box that says "Load Out of Date AddOns". You want to CHECK this box. Now simply go into WoW normally and all your mods should load. As of the 1.9 patch, you will have to do this after EVERY patch/update that Blizzard posts! If you encounter any problems with a mod after a patch, please be sure to let the author of the mod know so they can fix it.
See also: About "Out Of Date AddOns"
Mac Support
WoW addons are not platformed based. As such, they can be used on either Mac or PC. You can extract both .zip and .rar files on a Mac using StuffitExpander.
Directory Structure
World of Warcraft
|_ Interface
|_AddOns
|_*AddonName*
|_ *AddonName*.toc
|_ *AddonName*.xml
|_ *AddonName*.lua
|_ (possibly others as well)...