Alternate NetBots Client UI pieces

Setting up the interface pieces the way you want them is a bit involved, but not very difficult. The first thing you need to know is what netbots clients are. MQ2Netbots is the plugin that shares all of your clients' information in a common channel...it's what allows you to send commands to your alts from a control toon. Netbots clients are visible to each other. Each client is assigned a number by MQ2 and this is done alphabetically.

Let's say you have 6 toons loaded up, and their names are Boon, Loon, Moon, Noon, Soon and Toon. If Loon is the control toon and you want it displayed in the first of the 6 slots on the UI piece, you have to specify that you want it displayed in the first slot for MQ2 to be able to do it. When starting up, I always order my toons the same way and I'd wager most people do as well. I want to display the toons in the following order:

Slot 1 -- Loon
Slot 2 -- Soon
Slot 3 -- Boon
Slot 4 -- Noon
Slot 5 -- Moon
Slot 6 -- Toon

By default, MQ2 assigns them numbers alphabetically as previously stated...so all I need to do is figure out how my characters are seen and assign them their respective numbers. Netbots sees :

Client 1 -- Boon
Client 2 -- Loon
Client 3 -- Moon
Client 4 -- Noon
Client 5 -- Soon
Client 6 -- Toon

So to get my ideal setup I need to re-assign what client is displayed on which slot. Boon [1], Loon [2], Moon [3], Noon [4], Soon [5], Toon [6] will be re-ordered to:

Slot 1 -- Loon <-- [2]
Slot 2 -- Soon <-- [5]
Slot 3 -- Boon <-- [1]
Slot 4 -- Noon <-- [4]
Slot 5 -- Moon <-- [3]
Slot 6 -- Toon <-- [6]

If you open the XML file with a text editor, all you have to do is find and replace the number you need to assign. The file is currently coded in numerical order, 1-6 for the first one, EQUI_ClaimWnd.xml. Looking at the code, you can see that the syntax for the first netbots client is

NetBots.Client.Arg[1

Note the open bracket after Arg[1 ...The reason for this is that some of the subsequent code requires other characters before closing the bracket. When replacing, just replace to the client's assigned number. First, CTRL+H to bring up the find and replace function. Find Arg[1 and replace it with Arg[2 for anything under the Netbots1 information headers. You can Find and Replace All for this first part since there only exists Arg[1 under the first Netbots headers. For the second replace, you need to replace Arg[2 with Arg[5, but since Netbots1 headers have been assigned Arg[2 to make the second client appear in the first slot you need to replace only the Arg[2's in the Netbots2 section and NOT everywhere the editor sees Arg[2. This is tedious and a lot of mouse clicking, but it isn't overly difficult. For the Netbots3 declares, you need to replace the Arg[3 to Arg[1. Again, since the only place that has Arg[3 is in the Netbots3 section you can Find and Replace All. Luckily for us the 4th spot is already displaying the character I want in that slot so no editing there. But Netbots5 is another case where we have to be careful using find and replace...we need to change Arg[5 in ONLY this section with Arg[3 and pay attention that you don't overwrite Netbots2's Arg[5 declares. The 6th slot corresponds to the 6th client so we don't need to edit that one either. You can see that you are able to order these clients any way you want, it's just a matter of laying it out the way you want it.

The only other thing that is required to customize for your personal use is to Find and Replace All the Dimurwar declares with the name of your control toon. Since Loon is my control toon in this setup, I'll Replace Dimurwar with Loon. This is required to make the Distance check work and comes in handy when running across large zones or through smaller zones with lots of geometry because looking at it tells you if any of the alts are lagging behind or caught up on a corner (I'm talking to you, MPG).

Voila, your custom file edits are done and ready to use. Go to your UI main folder in your EQ directory and create a new folder named whatever you want, drop the file(s) you want to use in there and ALT+O, Load UI Skin button and choose the folder you made. You ONLY need the custom XML files you want to use in this folder, EQ will pull everything else it needs from your default folder. There's bound to be questions and confusion and I've tried to be thorough, but please post questions on this thread or send a tell in game and I'll to my best to clarify.

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