HELP! Keybindings and macros being randomly reset since 3.0.2! Pls help me!

[Teejayv]

I've encountered a very very very very very (can it be that bad? Yes.) frustrating problem with WoW ever since the 3.0.2 patch.
i five box a team of many different toons, multiple teams, multiple classes. 3 computers, 3 screens,

2 toons ------ 1 toon ----- 2 toons <--- split between 3 computers. That gives me five working folders of WoW that I use to run the five different instances that I box.

I also use a laptop often for playing on the road, as well as heading over to friend's houses, icafes, etc to use their computers to play a toon or two once in a while.

Ok, so enough rambling and on to the frustrating part. Since the patch, i've noticed that some toons (and it's totally random btw) keep having their keybinding and macros reset. The account specific macros dont' get erased, but the character specific macros once in a while totally get wiped.

I'll just give a simple example(s) of what i mean:
My main 5 characters are named as follow:
Alpha
Beta
Gamma
Omega
Zeta

Alpha+Beta are grouped to Comp1 - Left Side Comp
Omega+Gamma are grouped to Comp3 - Right Side Comp
Zeta my tank is played on Comp2 - Middle Comp (main focus)

Sometimes when i log Gamma on his PROPER computer (comp3), i find that all my keybindings have been reset to default, all his specific macros have been ERASED completely, and my frustration level goes through the ROOF because i dont' know how to store my macros and keybindings to a .txt file so i can just quickly replace it in the WoW folder. Instead i end up wasting 10-15 minutes rebinding everything and re-copying and pasting my macros from another toon.

Sometimes when i log on Gamma, things are perfectly fine. No problems.

Ok, so with that said, sometimes when i log Gamma (when i play him solo in a BG or raid or laptop or something), on a computer that he is NOT native to (computer 2, computer 1, laptop, friend's house, icafe, etc), his keybindings and macros are FINE. They are all there and nothing is out of place. So of course as i go about doing my business i assume everything is peachy keen; i do what i have to do, call it a night and log off.

The next morning, when i log Gamma on his native computer (computer 3), i find that once again EVERYTHING is messed up. Keybindings have been erased/reset and same with the macros. I tell you, my blood pressure has gone through the roof more times than i can count ever since 3.0.2.

So far, all i've talked about is one of my MAIN characters having his keybindings and macros reset/erased.
i haven't even talked about what happens when i use one of my other toons (NON MAIN) on Gamma's account.

Does anyone have any insight as to what i can do to prevent this? Where do i look in my WoW folders to save a .txt file of the original file? I know there is a way to upload the current settings to the WoW servers, and i saw a thread on it that used a script to do so, but i've tried that method, and it didn't work for me, so i guess i did something wrong.

I am not really a big fan of keybindings and macros being stored and uploaded serverside. I really don't want to have to wait till 3.0.3 for Blizzard to fix this issue (i'm going to venture that i'm not the only one that is experiencing this). The big problem here for me is that it is making me apprehensive about what to expect to my toons everytime i log them on, whether it's the native comp or not.

Also, pre- 3.0.2 (2.4ish and before), i had no problems using Gamma as a slave and using Gamma as a main, with two sets of keybindings depending on whatever computer i played him on. Nowadays, i can't get this to work at all since it saves everything serverside.

Sorry for the long /rant, but i'm almost at the end of my rope here; makes me want to take a big break from WoW (even though i would HATE to do so, i love the game and especially where it's at right now), and go back to playing DOtA on ONE comp without these time consuming problems.
If anyone can help me with this i'd GREATLY appreciate it.

Sorry for the long read :(

[Tasty]

Continuous Resetting of Interface Settings, Macros, and Keybindings
Status: Active


We are presently investigating reported issues of one's general interface settings, macros, and keybindings being reset upon each logout. This appears to occur only should one not run World of Warcraft on Vista as an Administrator.

With that said, there is a way to both backup and upload saved macros from one's personal system as needed.

To backup your macros, log in and set up your desired variables. Then, into the chat window type:

/script BackupMacros()


This will cause your macro list to be saved locally within your **WTF\Account\<Account Name>\<Realm Name>\<Character Name> folder as "macros-cache.txt".


Once saved, you can then upload these settings from your local file to our server by using the following command (again, while logged in and typed into the chat window):

/script RestoreMacros()




Should you still be experiencing difficulty or uncertainty with this issue—that is, you're unsure how to Run as Administrator, you're not operating on Vista, etc—we encourage you to submit an in-game petition or contact our Technical Support department.



http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=11296624105&sid=1&pageNo=1#8

[Teejayv]

thanks for the fast reply. I think i've tried the method listed here though, but there was one thing that made it seem that nothing was saved to my computer.

When i logged on a toon, set all the binds and macros, and typed in:
/script BackupMacros()

i then searched my c:\programfile\wow\wtf blah blah, found the macros-cache.txt (also keybindings-cache.txt).. and proceeded to open it up with notepad. What i saw there made me think that nothing was saved, because the variables that were written in the .txt file were the original default bindings that WoW comes out of the box with.

WASD instead of ESDF, so on and so forth.

I'll try it again when i get home, as i am at work right now, i'm really really hoping that i'm able to back things up this way.

Oh, btw i saw the thread u mentioned as a reply to deleted macros and UI settings. Can i safely assume that /script BackupMacros() will also backup my keybindings? or should i use /script BackupKeyBindings() as a separate command? Once again, thank you.

[Khatovar]

i then searched my c:\programfile\wow\wtf blah blah, found the macros-cache.txt (also keybindings-cache.txt).. and proceeded to open it up with notepad. What i saw there made me think that nothing was saved, because the variables that were written in the .txt file were the original default bindings that WoW comes out of the box with.

Try looking for C:\WoW_Folder\WTF\Account\Accountname\Server\Toonn ame\macros-cache.OLD and bindings-cache.OLD

Open the .OLD files with Notepad or wordpad and save copies of the text in them in seperate files {so you have them if you lose them again}. These files have almost always held my proper macros once I got them to save correctly {first few times it held really, really old macros}.

Open C:\WoW_Folder\WTF\Account\Accountname\Server\Toonn ame\macros-cache.txt and bindings-cache.txt and paste the info from the .OLD files in there. Your macros should properly be in game now.

Unfortunatly, this does not fix the problem with them getting eaten. I currently have my team set up to WoW_Clone1 for my main and WoW_Clone on a seperate drive for my minions. Any time I run any of my normal boxing teams on anything other than my default 5-box setup {using a different account as the main, 2-boxing instead of 5-boxing, using my non-boxed config, you name it} they freak out and bye-bye macros and keybindings. I'm guessing this is because it's putting my macros and such in other WoW folders and never re-downloading the macros on login when I move to my "normal config". Ineveitably, it will write the correct macros to the .OLD file...just which ones is always up for specualtion. Either way, this will make things much less annoying when your macros poof.

Another thing you can try is going to your WoW folder, right click > Properties before you log in. UNCHECK "Read Only" and apply to all. This will reset every time, but will allow the server to write macros back down to you. Usually. I found just copy/pasting to be much less tedious as that way I know the macros I'm loading are going to be the right ones, not ones I deleted 8 months ago. Matter of fact, you might need to uncheck the Read Only box after creating your macros the first time and when you log in again the first time to be sure it writes the proper ones to the .OLD file. I'm not sure, I was too busy crying and throwing fits to pay much attention to everything I tried to get my macros to stay put.

Oh, and one more thing. WoW seems to sometimes reset blank keybinds to default. Example, I use Home to make my clones follow and End to make them stop and space out. These keys do nothing on my main, so I always simply unbound them so it wouldn't keep resetting my camera. This doesn't always seem to work anymore, as WoW is tending to rebind those keys to default. I've had to resort to binding them to blank action bar keys to make it stop.

[Chorizotarian]

I store all of my macros and config settings on a Google Code SVN (source control) to prevent this kind of thing. If anything gets stomped I can restore with a few clicks in Windows Explorer.

[moog]

When they made the switch to server-side macros and keybindings etc, a few months back, I suffered two weeks of losing various characters macros and keybindings numerous times before I bit the bullet and moved to Trinity (now Macaroon) for all my macros and keybindings.

I know they're saved in the Macaroon.lua file on a per-char basis and I back that up and can move it to a.n.other PC if required.

Blizzard really cocked up with that change, if you ask me... I mean, does anyone use a vanilla WoW so that they could sit at any PC and play WoW using their server-side saved macros/keybindings?
Who did the change help?

Anyway, in short, I heartily recommend Macaroon for all of you macros and keybindings :)