Source for Plugins?

[Cage9d9]

Hey Folks - I've started dabbling in C++ after spending a couple of years writing Macros for MQ2 but now I'm really interested in looking directly at the plugins source code and potentially making changes there.

I assume that the MQ2MMO* plugins are private which is fine, but it seems like all of the ones with MQ2 are open source (according to the wiki, which i guess could be out of date?).

Anyone have a decent idea how to track down some of the source for these plugins? If folks can point me in the right direction, I'd be happy to update the Wiki here with links to the source for anyone who may be interested in the future.

P.S. I did a brief scan over at macroquest2 and I found some rather old links to a couple of plugin sources but...honestly they look really old, but maybe they haven't changed in years?

Thanks!

 

[aspire2008]

macroquest2.com sources for various plugins are listed.

 

[Cage9d9]

Yes thanks for that, but I'm looking for a majority of the source listed here at MMOBugs. If I understand it correctly only the plugins that contain MQ2MMO are custom plugins here. I'm assuming that the other plugins should be listed as open source and the source to those being provided right?

Fry am I misunderstanding this?

Thanks,

 

[flatlined785]

macroquest2.com sources for various plugins are listed.

The wiki entries here tend not to list the source or url, and only sometimes say sources available.

Most all of the open source plugins were from macroquest VIP & public plugin forums. Sometimes the macroquest source posts are hard to find the latest code and maybe rarely the devs here kept those plugins up to date re modern client changes & the original posts are not quite so.

Very rarely a plugin source was elsewhere and bitrot made the original unavailable. That's just an issue with how the internet works and how people come and go from scenes.

 

[flatlined785]

I'm assuming that the other plugins should be listed as open source and the source to those being provided right?

Not necessarily. Plugins get called whatever the author wants. Mq2bot is not open, for eg.
If the dev team here dev'd something intending it to be part of this site's offering, the called it mq2mmo to help make it clear, as you said, and those tend to be private too.

 

[htw]

Yes thanks for that, but I'm looking for a majority of the source listed here at MMOBugs. If I understand it correctly only the plugins that contain MQ2MMO are custom plugins here. I'm assuming that the other plugins should be listed as open source and the source to those being provided right?

Fry am I misunderstanding this?

Thanks,

The sources available are at mq2 forums (VIP).

htw

 

[Cage9d9]

Ok cool, thanks for the replies folks. I'll end with one final question:

Does MMOBugs retain and maintain their own copy (version control and all) of these plugins for their distributions or are they identical from the MQ2 VIP forum sourcse?

 

[flatlined785]

They maintain their own vcs. We don't get access to it, only the builds built from it.
As for how those plugins are kept up to date I already said, they go off the mq2 forum as a baseline but they keep any orphaned plugins in their distro functional and up to date re: core changes.

It depends on the plugin, basically. Some of those plugins are really hard to track releases, those threads get long and aren't a good way of managing source updates.

If a plugin is orphaned but used a lot, they probably do "personal" updates to keep it working.
If a plugin is not used, it might still be compiled but not function or not have a purpose any longer due to being out-dated and suchlike.

Over the years a lot of plugins have come along, had a heyday and faded away. Even more so for macros.

 

[Cage9d9]

Yea I totally get this. I'm just curious if MMOBugs/Fry/whoever would be open to release the source for the plugins they currently have (Minus any specific ones they feel are too valuable to release such as Navigation for example).

Ultimately I'd like to develop on these things, but I also don't want to (as you pointed out) go off a code base from 2008 from MQ2 VIP forums.

I'm trying to think if there are any negative side effects release the source for the more common plugins MMOBugs has kept up to date.

I'll shoot Fry a PM and see if I'm just a one off person that wants to take a look at these =P

Thanks for the info Flat/htw

 

[William12]

You aint going to get the source unless its on macroquest2.com. All I will get into on that

 

[Fry]

We're been through many stages of sources being available over the years.

From everything, to everything but active hacks, to just what is released over at MQ2 VIP, to nothing which is been our current stance for the last 3 to 4 years.

In the end, someone normally just takes our customized sources/documentation, and releases it on there own MQ2 site where they can't even tie there shoe laces let alone customize plugins, and claim how awesome they are with this original idea on there front page (I'm sure a few of you know who I'm talking about). Worrying about that, just kills any motivation to stick in the time needed to fix up issues and improve.

I'd love for sources to be public, so people can help clean up source codes, but realistically we're shooting ourselves in the foot. EQMule, Htw and Brainiac have been putting insane amounts of time into MQ2 source code lately, which we try and financially support them to do so, as we want the most stable, and feature filled version of MQ2 as possible for as long as EQ is alive. If we opened the source codes up, we end up with more sites that have just as good version of MQ2 as us, and we lose membership revenue to support development.

VIP Plugins over at MacroQuest2.com are kept pretty up to date, it's just quite a bit of work to get them set up in the first place. MQ2 VIP plugins forum is a pretty good example of what happens when you open source everything. You get some pretty amazing work, but nobody has had any desire to keep plugins maintained long term. It is a very thankless and time consuming process to maintain.

If someone does show promise in being able to create/maintain plugins, we are always looking for people to added to the team, but it is a lengthy process. If you also have a question about a certain plugin, we are normally more than happy to walk you through how it works.

I wish I could be more help Cage9d9.

 

[William12]

Also some wikis needs to be updated.

The one plugin I wish I could get the source for is mq2g19

 

[PeteSampras]

FWIW, i wrote mq2bot from knowing absolutely no C/C++ via the VIP source code and back and forth in IRC channels. And I would occasionally update the base source code that didnt always get added to the base even when i posted to the main site. After enough pestering about code additions and demonstration that I could sometimes not totally fuck things up, i was added as a dev here.

 

[Fry]

Also some wikis needs to be updated.

The one plugin I wish I could get the source for is mq2g19

Hit up Brainiac about MQ2G19 code, he wrote it. I don't think hes touched it in about 4 to 5 years and would more than likely give it to you as I doubt he has a MQ2G19 keyboard any longer.

If certain wiki's need updating, let me know. I try and stay on top of it, though MQ2Nav needs some loving.

 

[Cage9d9]

Thanks for the response Fry, this is sort of along the lines I was expecting. I'll PM you with a follow question or two.

 

[brainiac]

I have some plugins available on github, and I'm slowly making more plugins available there: https://github.com/brainiac

Also, I still do have a G19, and that plugin is also on my list to improve and release on github

 

[dewey2461]

If you are just starting off with C/C++ ... writing plugins will be very challenging.

The macro language has a decent manual and reasonable up to date wiki with the TLO's so lots of examples and you can generally test things with out them crashing your EQ client.

The plugin API is not documented except in the source. Start by getting the source from MQ2 and compiling that. Then read through the vanilla plugins and core code. Start with something easy like MQ2FPS

Extending things like MQ2NetBots or MQ2Melee are going to be a whole lot harder.

I've written several plugins MQ2RaidUtils, MQ2CPU, MQ2WinPath, and MQ2Task. The source code for all of them are posted on the VIP forums and your welcome to ask questions. In fact the MQ2Task stuff was a nice work in progress that you could see how it went from just the TLO, to writing on HUD, or having a command line interface.

 

[Rooster]

There is a guide on the MQ2 forums/wiki somewhere about making a base plugin dll/source file also with the mkplugin command line .exe.

That gives you the basic setup and info for how and when different parts of plugins are called etc

That would be my first place to start, bare minimum and trial and error from there using other examples from other code etc.