[SIZE=18]Tired of trying to type in battle? Tired of repeating your introduction to the umpteenth person? I have the solution right here![/SIZE]
Those of you that have travelled with my PCs were probably thinking to yourself, "That fellow can type up a storm!" While I can do that, I've added to my repetoire by taking advantage of this nifty software: AutoHotkey - Free Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program with Hotkeys and AutoText (http://www.autohotkey.com).
This free bit of software allows you to write rather complicated hotkeys and macros. The nice thing is that it can intercept the keystrokes before they reach your game.
Take my paladin of Vorax, Wanark. He had a dozen or more short blessings that he'd say (some in dwarven) when just prior to casting bless or equipping his waraxe. Then he had longer blessings that even included him kneeling. Finally, he had the entire Vorax paladin credo he'd use when he visited the temple. All of these I had assigned to hotkeys outside the game. Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? Beautiful.
I'll give an example from my current PC that you can use to build your own set. (Careful of line wrapping if you cut&paste into your own file.)
[INDENT][SIZE=16]
;; ------------------------------------------
;; A utility routine to say something
;;
[/SIZE][SIZE=16]Say(s)
{
global prefix
SendInput {Enter}
Sleep 250
IfInString, s, /tp
SendInput {Raw}%s%
else
SendInput {Raw}%prefix%%s%
SendInput {Enter}
}
;; ------------------------------------------
;; This will send yourself a tell with some help
;;
::/o help::
SendInput {Raw}/tp "Pen N Popper" name, description, wearing, ^f
Send {Enter}
return
;; -------------------------------------------
;; Give your name
;;
::/o name::
SendInput {Raw}rolan tennesen... *bows* sellsword in the employ of the freelancers
Send {Enter}
return
;; ------------------------------------------
;; A random color emote of walking along
;;
^g::
Random, num, 1, 5
if ( num == 1 )
Say("*hurries along at an uneven pace, pausing now and then to catch breath*")
else if ( num == 2 )
Say("*moves along at a steady pace*")
else if ( num == 3 )
Say("*hurries along, gaze taking in his surroundings*")
else if ( num == 4 )
Say("*marches along with quick strides, sounding a bit out of breath*")
else if ( num == 5 )
Say("*moves at a deliberate pace*")
Sleep 100
SendInput {LControl}
return[/SIZE]
[/INDENT]I save this to a file called "rolan.ahk" and then run it. Ingame, when I hit Ctrl-g a random description of walking will be sent. When I type in /o description the verbose description of Rolan is output.
You can see that this can have as much flavor as you can think of. It is especially handy during battle when all I have to do is type Ctrl-f for a fight emote. (I even have it setup to fill in which weapon he is using to the emotes are correct.)
Good luck!