3/19 ESO addon API gutted
 

http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrolls...ut_any_addons/

API Version Change: Version is now 100003. Update your addons with the "## APIVersion: " tag in the appropriate .txt file.

Main changes: - Removed a number of deprecated events and functions. - Locked down access to Unit information and ability cast functionality. - Locked down access to combat events so that only your own outgoing spells can be monitored with any level of detail. Incoming damage and healing from spells have been restricted to only showing the value and not the name of the spell, type of damage or healing, or who is casting it.

Global Variable Changes: - Removed CastBarType enumeration
Added MouseDestroyItemFailedReason to help inform the user why an item couldn't be destroyed
Removed TOOLTIP_GAME_DATA_SOCKET because much of the old item socketing API has been removed.
Removed a number of unused, irrelevant, or private ActionResults: ACTION_RESULT_BEGIN ACTION_RESULT_BEGIN_CHANNEL ACTION_RESULT_BUFF ACTION_RESULT_COMPLETE ACTION_RESULT_DEBUFF ACTION_RESULT_EFFECT_FADED ACTION_RESULT_EFFECT_GAINED ACTION_RESULT_EFFECT_GAINED_DURATION ACTION_RESULT_LINKED_CAST
Added ACTION_RESULT_MERCENARY_LIMIT (for errors from keep/siege messaging)
Added CampaignReassignmentErrorReason enumeration value for CAMPAIGN_REASSIGN_ERROR_CAMPAIGNS_DISABLED
Added QueueForCampaignResponseType enumeration values: QUEUE_FOR_CAMPAIGN_RESULT_CAMPAIGNS_DISABLED QUEUE_FOR_CAMPAIGN_RESULT_CAMPAIGN_FULL QUEUE_FOR_CAMPAIGN_RESULT_DESTINATION_NOT_UP QUEUE_FOR_CAMPAIGN_RESULT_GROUP_MEMBER_WITH_INSUFFICIENT_LEVEL QUEUE_FOR_CAMPAIGN_RESULT_INSUFFICIENT_LEVEL QUEUE_FOR_CAMPAIGN_RESULT_NOT_ONLINE
Game API Changes:
Removed deprecated functions: DoesUnitHaveTooltip GetUnitFinesseRankInfo GetUnitXPDebt GetUnitPrimaryPowerType GetUnitPrimaryPowerIndex GetMaxPowerPools DoesUnitUsePowerType GetUnitCastingInfo GetUnitBuffSlot GetBuffEffectType GetBuffAbilityType GetBuffStatusEffectType CheckUnitBuffsForAbilityType GetPoisonEffectColorIndex GetPlayerBuffPriorities GetSynergyInfo GetNumSynergies GetSlotAbilityRank CheckSlotAbilityStatusLine HasOtherAbilityOngoingFailure GetActionSlotType IsSlotActionInRange IsSlotActionTooClose GetJournalQuestIsPushed GetQuestDailyCount SetUseInteractionCamera GetItemNumSockets GetItemSocketType GetMaxTransformPlugs GetPlugItemInfo GetPlugItemLink StartSocketingItem StartSocketingUnit ResetSocketing StopSocketing ApplySocketing ClearSocket ApplyPlugToSocket IsCurrentlySocketingItem IsCurrentlySocketingUnit CanPlayerModifySockets AreSocketingChangesPending SocketingChangesWillDestroyUpgrades CanPlugGoInSocket GetClosestKeep GetClosestKeepOfType GetAvAKeepsHeld GetKeepPvPSystem GetParentKeepForKeep GetActiveKeepId DepositBattleTokens GetBattleTokensForKeepUpgradePathLevel GetKeepInCombat RequestKeepInfoForKeep GetBattleTokens IsMapPinFilterSet SetMapPinFilter GetNumMapPinFilters GetSiegeAmmoIcon GetNumGuildReputationRanks GetGuildReputationRankInfo GetNumUsedPlayerAuras GetPlayerAuraInfo GetPlayerMaxLevel GetStatIncreasePerLevel GetNumWeaponSets GetCurrentWeaponSet GetWeaponSetInfo GetWeaponSetXPInfo GetNumWeaponSetRanks GetWeaponSetAbilityInfo RespecAbilityProgression GetNumAbilityProgressions GetNumAbilityProgressionRanks GetNumAttributePassives GetAttributePassiveInfo GetNumAttributeDerivedStats GetAttributeDerivedStatInfo GetNumActiveCombatTips GetGameCameraMinCameraDistance GetGameCameraMaxCameraDistance IsGameCameraTargetInMeleeRange IsGameCameraTargetOutOfRange IsGameCameraUnitHighlightedValid IsGameCameraPreferredTargetHighlightedByReticle IsGameCameraFirstPerson GetKeepWallInfo GetNumHookPoints GetHookPointInfo GetNumHookPointStoreEntries GetHookPointStoreInfo AddHookPointPurchase CompleteHookPointPurchase GetNumKeepPieceHealItems RepairKeepPiece PlaceInSocket IsFriendlyForwardCampAvailable
Removed LogChatText entirely. The user can still create chat logs with the /chatlog command, however the logs are not flushed immediately. It's no longer possible to log arbitrary data to that file.
Added new Synergy API: GetSynergyInfo: returns information about the currently available synergy. Arguments: None Returns: synergyName, iconFilename
Added GetPendingItemPost for information about an item that is being posted to the Guild Store. Arguments: None Returns: bag, slot, quantity
Restricted information that GetUnitBuffInfo has access to. It can now only be used to discover long term buffs about the local player. As such, the final return value "isLongTermBuff" has been removed since the API only returns long-term buffs.
Restricted access to the following functions. They are now private functions and cannot be called by AddOns. SendChatMessage GameCameraInteractStart GameCameraMouseFreeLookStart GameCameraMouseFreeLookStop CycleGameCameraPreferredEnemyTarget ClearGameCameraPreferredTarget ReleaseGameCameraSiegeControlled
Changed Synergy ability API to use a new function ActivateSynergy instead of the old API functions (Activate Buff, UseSynergyEffect, and UseMostRecentSynergyEffect)
Renamed InventoryContainsEmptySoulGem to DoesInventoryContainEmptySoulGem
The Emote API has been changed so that it no longer allows emotes that didn't have slash commands to be used by the player.
Game Event Changes:
Removed events: EVENT_ABILITY_PROGRESSION_FULL_UPDATE EVENT_ABILITY_RANGE_CHANGED EVENT_ACTION_PAGE_UPDATED EVENT_BATTLE_TOKEN_UPDATE EVENT_BEGIN_CAST EVENT_CAMERA_DISTANCE_SETTING_CHANGED EVENT_CHAT_MESSAGE_COMBAT EVENT_CLOSE_HOOK_POINT_STORE EVENT_CONTROLLED_SIEGE_SOCKETS_CHANGED EVENT_CURRENT_WEAPON_SET_UPDATE EVENT_DELAY_CAST EVENT_DROWN_TIMER_UPDATE EVENT_END_CAST EVENT_GAME_SCORE EVENT_GAME_STATE_CHANGED EVENT_GAME_TIMER_PAUSED EVENT_GUILD_REPUTATION_ADDED EVENT_GUILD_REPUTATION_LOADED EVENT_GUILD_REPUTATION_POINTS_UPDATED EVENT_GUILD_REPUTATION_RANK_UPDATED EVENT_HOOK_POINTS_UPDATED EVENT_INTERACTION_TRANSITION_PENDING EVENT_KEEP_BATTLE_TOKENS_UPDATE EVENT_KEEP_CAPTURE_REWARDS EVENT_KEEP_COMBAT_STATE_CHANGED EVENT_KEEP_RESOURCE_LOCK_UPDATE EVENT_KILL_SPAM EVENT_LEVEL_UP_INFO_UPDATED EVENT_LOCAL_PLAYER_ABILITY_OCCURED EVENT_LOCAL_PLAYER_CHARGEUP_BEGIN EVENT_LOCAL_PLAYER_CHARGEUP_COMPLETE EVENT_LOCAL_PLAYER_KICKOFF_CAST EVENT_LOCAL_PLAYER_WEAPON_ABILITY_WAIT_BEGIN EVENT_LOCAL_PLAYER_WEAPON_ABILITY_WAIT_END EVENT_MINIMAP_FILTERS_INITIALIZED EVENT_MOUSEOVER_CHANGED EVENT_NEW_DISCOVERY_AREA EVENT_NEW_REVEAL EVENT_OPEN_HOOK_POINT_STORE EVENT_PLAYER_AURA_UPDATE EVENT_PREFERRED_TARGET_HIGHLIGHT_UPDATE EVENT_PVP_FLAG_CHANGED EVENT_QUEST_DAILY_COUNT_CHANGED EVENT_QUEST_INTERACT_DIALOG EVENT_REASSIGN_CAMPAIGN_FAILED EVENT_SET_CHEVRON EVENT_SHOW_LINKED_CAST EVENT_SHOW_SCOREBOARD EVENT_SHOW_SCOREBUTTON EVENT_SHOW_TIME EVENT_SOCKETING_ITEM_ALREADY_HAS_PROPERTY EVENT_SOCKETING_UNIT_DESTROYED EVENT_SOCKETING_UNIT_SOCKETS_CHANGED EVENT_UPDATE_GAME_STATE EVENT_WEAPON_SET_FULL_UPDATE EVENT_WEAPON_SET_RANK_UPDATE EVENT_WEAPON_SET_XP_UPDATE
Added Event: EVENT_MOUSE_REQUEST_DESTROY_ITEM_FAILED (bagId, slotIndex, itemCount, name, reason)
Changed Event EVENT_SKILL_POINTS_CHANGED to pass information about partial point gains: EVENT_SKILL_POINTS_CHANGED (pointsBefore, pointsNow, partialPointsBefore, partialPointsNow)
Changed Synergy Event API replacing existing events with a single EVENT_SYNERGY_ABILITY_CHANGED that should be used to know when to query the Synergy API about changes to the current Synergy that will be used.
UI Object API Changes:
Changed CompassDisplayControl API for GetCenterOveredPinInfo to return the draw level of the pin currently in the center of the compass. Returns: description, type, distance, drawLayer, (new field) drawLevel, suppressed
Removed TooltipControl API: SetAttributePassive SetHookPointStoreEntry SetPlugItem SetSiegeFire SetSocketingItem SetSynergyBuff SetUnit SetWeaponSetAbility

No need for this site anymore, thanks Zenimax!

Is there anything that CAN be done anymore?

I was all in favour of cutting back some of the enemy info, but it seems like anything of any worth has just been rendered useless. Inventory, gatherer, minimap, item pickup. Does anything work anymore?

Well, there goes my preorder. Will now be looking forward to the Collector's Edition of Wildstar, instead.

Yes totally based off a headline. It wasn't gutted. Adjusted yes. Gutted no.

I don't have too much of a problem that you can't see any information about your enemy. But you also can't see your own buffs or debuff or that of your own party or raid. THIS is why I canceled.

I'll be back when ESO goes F2P by next year, though.

This is depressing news. I seriously hope that they roll back these changes or at least find some better solution.:mad:

Just remember that there is always the possibility for them to add things back in in the future.

Seriously? Adjusted?

Gutted was a pretty good description. What CAN you do now?

They also removed the emote api, so no more Emote Toy for the roleplayers. :(

No EVENT_KILL_SPAM anymore, I'm sad…really sad. :(

I didn't read the article in detail but besides of EmoteAPI and SendChatMessage those were all combat specific comands/event etc, weren't they?
I guess everything that wasn't a combat addon still works.

The change did not break my add-on ESOTheater for emotes. Basically, they did what I was doing for my custom emote table. I filtered out the emotes that did not have a name and/or were not active. There are still 176 emotes. It's still a large list to choose from for roleplaying and such.

The bad is I constructed my list in alphabetically order. This PST release is in a different order. The ID numbers are out of sync. I don't have time to fix before I go to work but I'll release an update today after work. :banana:

--halja

The ESO Live Survey 1.4.5-19 from them is broke in almost endless loop for PST right now. Do disable that one before you login until they send a patch. :( I had to kill the game process to get out.
-halja

Excellent news! This game looks awesome without numbers statistics overload :banana::banana:

They just block some npc-only emotes.

This makes game harder

not harder, just random. you have to guess instead to know.

Pretty sure the numbers will all still be there. You still have access to your own damage numbers, both in and out, plus full details on everything you do. You more-so lose out on the details pertaining to other players, such as how much health they have exactly and exactly what they're casting and where exactly that big hit you took came from.

Overall the reactions I've been reading are extremely over-exaggerated.

ZOS had 2 options here:

1. Keep the API the way it was and upgrade their own UI to display all the information that you could get through addons.

or

2. Scale back the API and only allow it to access the same information as the default UI.

They went with step 2 which is a very smart decision. Step 1 would take time they don't have right now, plain and simple. Step 2 allows them to start "bare bones" so to speak and then add features slowly based on user feedback.

In business it is ALWAYS better to start with less and add...then to start with more and remove.

This was a very good decision by ZOS. Any other reaction to this news is simply an emotional gamer over-reaction.

Wykkyd's Framework has macro-able emotes that still function fine.
Wykkyd's Full Immersion puts a click-able emote list on the chat window that still works fine.

Fret not.

Do one of your party members need a purge to remove a debuff that's eating them alive? No way to tell. No way for THEM to tell. Go ahead... blow 1/3 of your magicka guessing to find out.

^ that does not make the game better.

Ya, I don't see the game staying like this so hopefully they will re-enable that API or fix the default UI sooner rather than later. You really need to know what's affecting you and your party/raid group at the very least.

they cut "longterm buffs/debuffs"
Game hides buffs with duration less, then 30 seconds

They will? Link to where they made this statement?

Yes, you are probably right but u seems to think that this situation just happen to ZOS. Actually thats not right - they caused this situation. They could avoid it long time ago. Nothing is smart about your act if u neglect some important money generating things for ages. They are not heros and they are not saving a day. This is just another mistake in long chain of mistakes they did. So please dont try to show this example as good business practice - it is quite opposite.

I'm getting some serious SWTOR vibes from this game.

While I mostly agree with your overall assessment, those were not the only two options. They had the option to leave it as it was. They had the option to make those all protected, and not function in cyridil. There were lots of other options, too.

I do have to chuckle at the "there goes my preorder" comment from a non addon author. For all we know, they could've added that functionality into the base ui. He was obviously looking for a reason to drop the preorder. It could've been a 1 hour delay on launch and I'm sure that would've been plenty good enough to cancel for him.

In any case, it does help with one thing, and that was a fear that the best addons win in PvP. This helps level that playing field, but it makes little sense in pve to not be able to see your own and your group's buffs/debuffs.

Other than that, I see no meaningful issues.

All my point was is that it's better to remove all of it before launch and then start adding back functionality slowly based on user feedback.

For the way the game is now, none of these changes matter. Cyrodiil is not a competitive PvP platform. While I greatly respect Wykkyd, I disagree that it is important to know exactly what is or isn't killing you or your friend. In massive zerg fights none of that information matters. In smaller scale fights it does matter...but when there is no penalty or stake in winning or losing...again, it doesn't really matter.

If they add arena or some kind of competitive PvP scenario... then all of the information they removed from the API will need to be re-introduced and built into the default UI.

Until then, I feel that all of these changes are fine.

It was fine, until they drop highlevel content

this is just a horrible, horrible post.

3/19 ESO addon API minorly changed
 

It's just his opinion.

Probably for the first time in history, we can compare this to another game that allows addons and has elves and dwarves and stuff...

They released a pretty robust API, subsequently pared it down a little bit when too much functionality was being abused, added some protected code which prevented certain functions from working during combat, later added taint fields to it so that you couldn't muck with variables, and then pared it down a little bit more to prevent certain other functionality from working. That game was called world of warcraft... real niche game probably nobody has heard of.

So ZO could have easily released a more robust API and pared it down a bit if they found they didn't like how things were being used. I find the API a little lacking, but this change didn't make much difference overall.

The title of this thread is just a giant troll.

I like it better, actually when they add features rather than deprecating them. I think they adjusted the knob too far. But as long as they do what they say and re-evaluate as launched, I think it's a better direction.

My solution is to not waste skill points on cleanse and insist people bring their own cleanse potions. I'm not blowing 1/3 of my mana on a guessing game.

I'm with Wykkyd on this. The reddit AMA just had cheap marketing motherhood statements about the API. There is no guarantee they will bring back any of this information.

Or you can use any voice tool (Teamspeak, etc etc) and communicate when need.

I dont deny that some players are used to those addons and can not do without them, but i am not sur it will be so hard if people learn to communicate and then adjust their play.

For now, i can only see an ESO community just good to jump at the throat of the other side.... and just for that reason i would rather have no addons authorized until people get back to a little common sense

Uhhhh... Requiring 3rd party tools to communicate simple game mechanics in order to play at a minimally competent level is not appropriate.

I'm not up in arms about this, but the unit buff/debuff functionality should work for groupmembers, too. That's kind of messed up IMO.

See even with guild make having voice third party a must to use, you think that this is not good enough or normal ...

This is a debate that will never end, i want, you want, they want, and in finae we will all lost something

I am too old to argue or debate, i guess.

I'm just stating what I see based on the game, not guild policies or some such.

ZO included addon capability, which is a huge boon for THEM. It allows others to develop stuff to correct their own oversights, on a voluntary basis (both by users and programmers). When blizzard did theirs, many addons got incorporated into the basic UI over years, including things like raid frames (ctmod), outfitter (I believe originally from Wykkid, on these boards), and a robust buff/debuff system. They even added voice chat, to prevent having to deal with 3rd party programs for those guilds that forced it. I think any guild can be competitive in raids using only the basic wow UI at this point, although there are definitely some useful mods to help in the boss fights.

Thus, I think ZO is hurting themselves by being too strict with the API interface. If people cannot code up UI issues they find, ZO doesn't get any free programmers willing to code up solutions. In fact, they alienate people who had already started coding such stuff.

What's a shame is that we're getting threads like this. If they had never released the API until now, everyone would be overjoyed. But because they trimmed the API, now people are (rightfully or not) annoyed.

That's fine for you. Dont use the add-ons then but dont punish the rest of us. Add-ons are optional, so please sit down and shut up.

My post is horrible because you disagree with it? How 2014 of you.

I guess you missed the point WHERE YOU CAN NOT SEE YOU HAVE A DEBUFF... voice communication WILL NOT HELP THAT.

hey wyykyd, could you use the combat log and parse it for debuffs? hots and dots

(first sorry for my english, i will try to explain with good words)

Well i understand how you feel, you created something you thought would be part of the game, and something you could also be proud and suddenly this is removed, with no real warning, just because a part of the gamer community saw it all differently.
Regarding the community, you have all rights to be mad. But with the skills you have for the LUA, i am certain that with some more brainstorming you will find a way to do new *helpers* or *addons* to help the community proving to yourself and ZOS that you respect their choice but still manage to help the others to apprehend the game much better.

Regarding ZOS, do not loose sight that the fact you were part of the PTS, was a privilege given to you by the Company who created the game.
That privilege was given to you to help them to test something without promise of what will happen at the end. They are and stay at the end the only ones who can decide what they want for the game. They could even have decided to stop the game. And even if your ideas of the game are good, those are not the ones they envisionned for it.

------------------------
On the gaming part itself I understand your concern about informations and addons but i also remember :

The first time i attempted an heroic instance, discovering bosses, not knowing what will be their attacks, what to do to beat them, we had to guess, to search, and we had no addons to tell us how to act with attacks, what were the debuffs or who were targeted by those, or even if it would pop up adds.
That was all part of discovery, we died, we wiped, and we tried again and succeed. At first the combat was an all guess, then going further we understood the combat and the instance. And we had all rights to brag about it. To be the first to make it. It could take us weeks to succeed but it was great.

Then someone made an addon to alert on this part of the fight, or to help us watch this or that special attack with a huge dot, etc etc ... and the teams following had just to step in our feet and use the addons and they surely appreciate. But this was different. Another way to do the instance.

The discovering team made it no? it was long, not easy, sometimes very exhausting but we enjoyed it, as we also learned together to be a team or a raid. And we learned how to play together. No special informations, no addons.

Not that long ago i was on The secret world, and doing heroic instances, and one of the boss cast a huge dot on us, and i remember that the tactic was to count up to 7 and launch the cleanse skilll to be safe, and to rince and repeat, each time the boss would do his move and launch that particular attack.

and we had no addon no information either to help on that part, it was just a learning from fights, repeating the instance and learning again. We made it. Some others teams found even another way to do it. With no addons and no more information either.


So what is my reasonning you will say.

I think that a game can be handled differently, with addons or not, giving lots of information or not. And that not having addons or informations is not baring people to learn and discover all the ways to counter a boss. Because they analyse, imagine and succeed.

Of course, progress is part of everything and i understand that for some there is no obligation to play *the old way* when they can with LUA through API find more to go further in end game.

But above all, people should not have to fight over such matter, splitting a community as now, making people using terrible words, threatening each other.
One even suggested on FTC to put a mark near the name of those we were against the addons .... and to refuse them some access into the forums.

Dont you think it is going a bit too far?

One last thought : i wish though that ZOS will review its position and allow that little more information you are all requesting, just for the peace and pleasure of the game between all. I dont think that launching a game by splitting a whole community is good, and they have a way to please both parts, so lets hope

NO. There is no built-in native combat log. A combat log file can be create indirectly but only when you LOGOUT of the game. Yup, store the log in memory and write it out when you logout. That is how I currently generate a combat log for my ACT plugin.

You get no in game benefits, but you can look at things after the fact.