Anyone heard if Freddie is bringing this back??
http://hotkeynet.com
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Anyone heard if Freddie is bringing this back??
http://hotkeynet.com
HotkeyNet can still be downloaded from the website, and people are welcome to use it.
www.hotkeynet.com
ive started useing it. i really like the possibilities. i havent fully gotten into it since im awaiting my ram before i start my 6th account so i dont want to have to rework macros.
i plan on it being a very integral part of how i play.
Glad to hear that, Mike. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about HotkeyNet after you've used it some more.
www.hotkeynet.com
i used the tool back in my daoc days and what freddie coded is awsome.
its a very powerfull tool for multiboxers !!
edit:
i used it for 6 toon boxing and never had problems with it
Glad to hear it, Yvette. Thanks for the kind words.
www.hotkeynet.com
I started using hotkeynet yesterday and really like it so far. Havent had time to really tweak everything out yet but looks like it has plenty of potential.
thats what i said :)
freddie did a good job on hkn
I've got Hotkeynet set for two PCs and it works fine if I use a key combination directly from the keyboard. It is not reading key combos sent by G15 or Ergodex macros. Should that be the case?
Glad to hear it works fine with your two keyboards.
As for G15 and Ergodex macros, I don't have a G15 or Ergodex here so I can't test to see exactly what is happening. But one possibility is that the G15 and Ergodex create macros by "injecting" keystrokes, same as HotkeyNet. If this is the case, then by design, HotkeyNet would not ouput a macro of its own in response to keystrokes in the G15 or Ergodex macros.
www.hotkeynet.com
i used the g15 in combination with hotkeynet and it worked perfect
maybe you are doing something wrong.
I just added a new feature to HotkeyNet that was requested by somebody who plays Dark Age of Camelot.
It's now possible to define hotkeys that execute hotbar commands in that game when the game is in the background. (Use the background_setfocus command in build 30.)
www.hotkeynet.com
I added another new feature today (in build 32) -- a rename command, so windows can be renamed with hotkeys. Makes it a lot easier to launch multiple copies of games and get set up.
2 very very nice features !
I have been testing this software last night but it gave me some errors on the config file I wrote to pass keys to multiple windows hosted on different computers. The syntax examples on your site are nice but I have some problems getting them to work correctly for my setup.
Is there a place where I can find more details on configuration and how to use it? Or should I start a topic on this forum for support?
I have looked at the forum for your software but it was really lacking the information I was looking for.
ps. This is my first post on this site. I have been dual / tripple boxing for a long time now. And after seeing some of the videos and the power behind 5 boxing I have started with that also. Mad respect for all multiboxers out there. Everytime people start moaning about me multiboxing I just refer them to this site. Most of the time they give positive feedback after seeing it has such a big community : )
I'd suggest making a new thread here. Please feel free to quote your hotkey definitions and explain exactly what you want to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by dRiN
If you prefer, you can ask instead in the HotkeyNet forum. I'll answer questions in either place. The reason why there's no info in the HotkeyNet forum is because it's new, and nobody has asked a question there yet.
www.hotkeynet.com
Hey! Thanks for making this available to us. The only problem I am having now is when I forget to check "Hotkeys are on". *blush*
I'm the one who should blush, not you. :) If you're having a problem, it's a sign that I need to design the program better to make things easier.
In this case, it sounds like the program needs to indicate more clearly whether hotkeys are off or on. For example, the tray icon should turn gray when hot keys are off. I just made that change in build 38. This will help a little. Please let me know if you can think of other changes to make it even clearer.
Thanks for the feedback.
Feature request: A button to clear the text in the windows that show keys sent/received.
You state on P3 of the instructions that However, if you change a hotkey file while HotkeyNet is running, you need to load the file manually so HotkeyNet sees the changes.
If I make changes to the text file while Hotkeynet is running then Windows won't let me save changes, stating the file is in use. So, I have been making the changes, shutting down Hotkeynet, return to text file and save changes, start Hotkeynet. Phew! I must be doing something wrong, eh? When I do that I frequently get the error below and have to restart Hotkeynet 2-3 times. Then it works flawlessly. :D
Feature request: Make it so my alt's pet never does that again.
Attachment 1
What's the reason for that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
This is a new bug that you just found, and I just fixed it (I hope) in build 39.Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
Edit: I think the bug described in the next two sentences has been fixed in build 40. [s]However there is a different bug which I haven't fixed yet that sometimes causes errors when HKN loads a hotkey file in place of another one which was already in its memory. Until I fix this second bug, you should close HKN after you load a changed hotkey file and then reopen HKN. [/s]
The need to restart HKN several times before it connects is a different bug. It's not related to hotkey files. I think you might be seeing it more often in that situation because it may occur more often when you quickly close and reopen the program.Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
At last, a tiny ray of sunshine in this dismal list of bugs. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
You can get some rest now because I just fixed the bug that caused problems when you loaded a new hotkey file. At least I think I fixed it. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Katharsis',index.php?page=Thread&postID=29513#pos t29513
It should be possible now to change the hotkey file and reload it without closing HotkeyNet.
But just in case I didn't really fix the bug, please keep an eye out for it. You'll know the bug is still there if, after you load a hotkey file manually, a hotkey doesn't perform the actions you assigned to it or performs different actions.
What's the reason for that? [/quote]Quote:
Originally Posted by Freddie',index.php?page=Thread&postID=29519#post29 519][quote='Katharsis
It was a casual request. While learning the program I would have the Hotkeynet window open on each computer. I would send the same command several times to see what was going on. I had the client respond with something like "Whee, it worked". After several lines got repeated it became hard to tell if a new entry had been made or not. So a button to clear the slate would be a convenience. It is certainly no problem to drag-select and delete.
I'm very pleased with the program and the well designed website with good tutorials. I'm two-boxing, using Hotkeynet with a Nostromo N52 and Multiplicity for mouse/ keyboard switching.
Thanks for explaining. I think you're right, that sounds like a good idea, so I just added a "clear" button in build 41. Let me know if it works okay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
I'm very glad to hear that. And I'm impressed that all three things are working together (N52, Multiplicity, HKN).Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
That's a great bug report, thank you very much. I just fixed that problem in the latest build, number 42. At least I think it's fixed. The program seems to connect now just about every time it starts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Katharsis
Unless I've lost track, that takes care of all the bugs you reported so far. Thanks a million for your help. If you find more bugs, or have any other suggestions, please let me know.
I've got a new computer arriving today and will put Hotkeynet to the test with Vista. I haven't installed the new build yet but I did think of a couple more things.
1. The last time I clicked "About" from the menu the dialog mentioned a thirty day expiration. ?(
2. I can see where I would end up with multiple text files for different uses. It would be nice to be able to see which text file is loaded. I assume that when I load a new file it flushes the old one, yes?
3. When I want to shut down Hotkeynet I get the Hide/Shutdown dialog. Could you place a "Do not show this again" checkbox there or offer a Shutdown button next to the Hide button on the main window?
4. Here is a macro I use occasionally:
Rather than take up valuable macro space it seems Hotkeynet could handle this nicely like so?Code:
/console cameraBobbing 1
/console cameraBobbingFrequency 0.01
/console cameraBobbingSmoothSpeed 0.0028
/console cameraBobbingLRAmplitude 0
/console cameraBobbingUDAmplitude 10000
Just wondering if a succession of hard returns like that would be asking for trouble.Code:
<hotkey Ctrl Shift D>
<Sendpc local>
<ENTER>/console cameraBobbing 1<ENTER>
<ENTER>/console cameraBobbingFrequency 0.01<ENTER>
<ENTER>/console cameraBobbingSmoothSpeed 0.0028<ENTER>
<ENTER>/console cameraBobbingLRAmplitude 0<ENTER>
<ENTER>/console cameraBobbingUDAmplitude 10000<ENTER>
Nice. What did you get?Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
That only means that the particular build expires. When that happens, just go to the website and download the current build. This is a way of forcing people to run current builds, which is important for beta testing to find new bugs -- sort of a paleolithic version of an autoupdater.Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
That's a good idea. I'm planning to design a completely new interface for the program after the feature set is complete, and I'll include this idea. And yes, the old file gets flushed. (This is true today because one of your previous comments got me to fix a bug yesterday that prevented a complete flush.)Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
Yeah I'll do something about this. But I have to be careful not to do anything to confuse new users. Sometimes there's a tradeoff between ease of use for old users and avoiding confusion for new ones. Especially with this program, where there is so little visible interface, I want to be careful about that.Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
Why would it be trouble? It's no trouble for HKN -- it doesn't care which keystrokes or how many you ask it to inject. It may be trouble for the game but I don't play WoW so I can't comment on that. (I should probably restart my WoW account to get familiar with it -- I never got past level 12.)Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
In general, one fact that you always need to keep in mind is that HKN injects the entire macro at lightning speed, but the game can't always accept keystrokes that fast, and some of the keystrokes may get lost. If that happens you need to insert <wait ####> commands into the macro to give the game time to get ready for the next keystroke. Placing <wait ####> commands and adjusting the number in them is a matter of trial and error.
Is there a command or something I can put in the config file to tell Hotkeynet to pause?
I can right-click on the icon when it's in the system tray to pause, I'm looking for a way to arrange it so I can press a key to do the same thing. Thanks for the help!
A number of people have asked for this, and I'm going to try to add it to the program. Unfortunately, it's difficult because of the way the program is designed, and it may take me a while. Thanks for the suggestion.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Darm',index.php?page=Thread&postID=29786#post2978 6
I was thinking about this some more last night. Perhaps change it so that instead of shutting down the keyboard hook, but validates the hotkey against an active/inactive list before firing off the macro. As for incorporating that into the script, there could be a couple of ways.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Freddie',index.php?page=Thread&postID=29802#post2 9802
<Hotkey X Switchkey> could define a single toggled hotkey, while
<Hotkeygroup Name SwitchKey> ... </Name> could encompass a group of keys with a common toggle.
To toggle on/off actual windows or instances, the Switchkey could be set in the <rename> or <rename_from_path> commands.
Finally, would there be much demand for <HOTKEYDOWN>and <HOTKEYUP>definitions? My reason is that while WoW's /follow command is cancelled fairly easily, it isn't the case in EQ2 where you can still use left & right movement to circle around your /follow target. Having to repeatedly press an arrow key to have the scout inch around doesn't feel or look very cool ;)
Call it a wishlist ;)
And for the record, I've been testing this with 2 EQ2 instances on 1 box. The <sendwin> command will work ok, but only with a sufficient <wait> (as you mentioned above with the WoW console). Natively, the <sendwinM> does not work with EQ2 but does under Innerspace (I know, I caved ;( ) That being said, I've seen some very funky key translations happening. For example, a <numpad_minus> key that injects an <equals> to both instances comes though as a <0> on the background instance. Really not sure what is happening there ?(
Cheers :)
I added on/off commands to the program today, since several people asked for them. There are three new keywords that you can use in hotkey definitions:
turn_hotkeys_on
turn_hotkeys_off
toggle_hotkeys
Of course you don't need all three. If you like the idea of a toggle, you can use that one by itself. Otherwise make a pair of hotkeys with the other two. All of these new keywords can be used on the local machine like this:
or on a remote machine like this:Code:<hotkey F1>
<sendpc local>
<toggle_hotkeys>
In all cases, "on" and "off" refer to whether pressing keys on the "sendto" pc will generate a macro. They do not afffect whether that machine receives macros from some other machine. If you want a pc to stop receiving macros, you need to turn HotkeyNet off on that machine.Code:<hotkey F1>
<sendpc 192.168.1.102>
<toggle_hotkeys>
I didn't have time to test these new keywords carefully so I'd appreciate it if you'd knock them around a bit and look for problems. Thanks.
I did this today. It's in build 44. Thanks for the suggestion.Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
I figured out a workaround to be able to stop transmitting to an instance -Have the instance stop listening. I bound a hotkey to rename an instance from 'Box1' to 'Box1Off'. That way you prevent that instance from recieving any keys as well as having an on/off indicator via the window's titlebar.
Just thought I'd share this :)
That's a great idea. Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, whenever HotkeyNet fails to find a window, it cancels the rest of the macro on the receiving PC, so this could affect not only the renamed window but also other windows defined in the same hotkey.
I'll check the code and if I'm remembering correctly, I'll change the program so this idea works all the time.
Great job, Freddie! I've got Hotkeynet running fine on Vista Ultimate and XP. Thanks for the quick respone on requested changes.
Will there be skins? *snicker*Quote:
I'm planning to design a completely new interface for the program after the feature set is complete,
First of all, I really love the program. I've read through your website tutorial and it all seems to make sense, but on my first test macro I'm running into a problem. On my client computer I have EQ2 running titled just as EQ2. I have all of my spells that I need on my hotbar assigned to a number or combination of CTRL/ALT and a number. I plan on using my server computer to run one toon using regular macros from the in game hotbar, but to be able to press F1 through F12 to access spells and macros on the second computer. My first hotkey from my server computer looks like this (with my actual IP address instead of the words)...
<hotkey F1>
<sendpc ipaddress>
<sendwin EQ2>
<keydown>1<keyup>
I keep getting an error in HotKeynet on my client computer that says
"Unknown command or keyname:."
then after I hit OK it says the same thing again, but continues to cast the spell in EQ2. I wouldn't mind the error except I have to physically click OK twice before the spell gets cast, and by that time I'd probably be dead, lol. Am I making a silly syntax error or something like that? Thanks for your help, can't wait to use the program more!
Ha, nevermind. It didn't like my keydown and keyup commands. I just told it <1> instead and it worked just fine.
Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you got it figured out. I'm also glad you told me about the problem because it shows a weak area in the program that needs to be improved. What should have happened, when you put <keydown> in your file, is that the program should have told you:
If the program had told you that, the confusion could have been avoided. So I need to add stuff to the program that will check your hotkey files and tell you how to fix the mistakes. And in fact I worked on that today.Quote:
Originally Posted by The missing error message
By the way, these two commands together:
<keydown 1><keyup 1>
mean "press the 1 key down, then release it." Which is the same thing as simply typing 1. Which is what you did when you simply wrote <1>. In fact, since 1 is an ascii character (a printable character) you could have simply written 1 without brackets. But <keydown> by itself doesn't mean anything to the program.
Thanks a lot. Very glad to hear it.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Katharsis',index.php?page=Thread&postID=30497#pos t30497
Well... let's just say it's not close to the top of the to-do list. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Katharsis',index.php?page=Thread&postID=30497#pos t30497
I've been busy the last few days adding a big new ability to the program. (This feature isn't available yet in the current build... I need to test it a little bit more.) I've also expanded the documentation. There's now a reference section here:
HotkeyNet Reference
I've also spent time writing a new parsing system that will check hotkey files when you load them. It will point out mistakes to the user and give hints for correcting them. It may be a while before this new error detection is visible in a public build, because I have to rewrite all the existing commands so they make use of it.
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to this post. Thanks for the suggestion. As you know the feature has been implemented so this topic is moot, so I'll just say that in a general way, your suggestion describes what had to be done, but because of the way the program was written, implementing this required changing some things in a way that exposed one encapsulated part of the program to another part. Also an even bigger problem was that the way the program had been written, the commands weren't interpreted until execution time on the receiving pc. But in order to implement this feature, the commands needed to be parsed and understood on the sending pc when the macro file was loaded, prior to execution of the macros. So I had to either write code that duplicated the interpreter's function so the file-reading code could do that, or else I had to modify the interpreter so part of its capability was available at file-reading time. Because of the possibility of introducing bugs due to loss of encapsulation,and because of implementation details, I was reluctant to do these things. But anyway it's done now and seems to have turned out okay.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'HomersDonut',index.php?page=Thread&postID=29864#p ost29864
Toggle a single hotkey -- this makes me worry about user confusion and support problems. Let's look at things from the viewpoint of the average new user writing new hotkey definitions, trying to get them to work with their game, having difficulties -- and now on top of wondering if they've written the definition correctly, and wondering if they've understood the documentation, and wondering if hotkeynet is bugged, and wondering if this particular feature works with their particular game -- now there's the added complication that they might have turned the hotkey off without realizing it. I dont know if you've ever supported published software (been in the position of getting questions and complaints from customers) but from my position, anything that makes things more complicated and confusing for users can be a headache.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'HomersDonut',index.php?page=Thread&postID=29864#p ost29864
I suppose maybe I could handle that problem with a check box on HotkeyNet that forces everything on, no matter what.
Groups of keys -- At some point it will be a good idea to handle groups of keys. Not only for toggles but for such things as having them on when a particular window is in the foreground. So I think groups have to be dealt with in the same context as conditional execution depending on the foreground window. I think Autohotkey handles this with an "if window is in foreground" construct. HKN eventually needs that sort of thing, and however groups are implemented, their on/off state should be linkable to it. Also I'm planning to add clickable panels of buttons on the screen that will be changeable as different windows come to the foreground. That involves groups of keys too. WhatI'm trying to say is that all these things are tied together, and I can't implement one piece of them until the whole thing is planned.
the Switchkey could be set in the <rename> or <rename_from_path> commands -- I think you're right that eventually the program should have a feature like that, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea to implement it as an argument in those existing functions. The problem is that a user who is looking for a way to turn off keys for a window is going to look through the documentation for a function with a name like "turn off hotkeys for a window." Their eyes will bounce right over "rename" because renaming doesn't seem to have anything to do with turning off hotkeys.
Also, there's a general question about the design of software interfaces about whether functions in an API should do more than one thing. I'm pretty firmly in the camp that says no. My opinion is, a function should perform one action that is clearly indicated by its name. Why? Because for most people, this makes the API much easier to understand and use.
I'm not sure I understand this idea. Do you mean a command that would have the effect of holding the movement key down, and another command that would stop that? If so yes, that needs to be done. It's on the list.Quote:
Finally, would there be much demand for <HOTKEYDOWN>and <HOTKEYUP>definitions? My reason is that while WoW's /follow command is cancelled fairly easily, it isn't the case in EQ2 where you can still use left & right movement to circle around your /follow target. Having to repeatedly press an arrow key to have the scout inch around doesn't feel or look very cool ;)
Did you try <sendwinM> with <background_setfocus>?Quote:
Natively, the <sendwinM> does not work with EQ2 but does under Innerspace (I know, I caved ;( )
Can you give me a link for Innerspace? I don't know what it is.
I need to completely rewrite all the keystroke stuff -- it was written very hastily -- but the intention with HKN is that it always merely sends Windows's "official" virtual key codes. And whatever translations are done, are done by Windows, taking into account your keyboard device driver and locale settings and whatever else Windows takes into account. So any mistranslation is either a bug on my part or just Windows being Windows.Quote:
That being said, I've seen some very funky key translations happening. For example, a <numpad_minus> key that injects an <equals> to both instances comes though as a <0> on the background instance. Really not sure what is happening there ?
Maybe when I rewrite it, I'll include more diagnostic stuff so you can get a better idea what's happening, if possible
Cheers,
Freddie