Permanent Thieving Button! Whaaat?

Dee

Cleric/Thieves are at a slight disadvantage when it comes to thieving, because the Thieving button is sitting in the Special Abilities menu.

But what if it wasn't?

Bear in mind, this is a hacky solution; I'm only sharing it to show the functionality. This isn't going to be pretty, but it's functional.

Here's the code you'll be copying:

button { area 766 1 52 52 bam GUIBTACT frame 26 tooltip "Thieving" action "Infinity_PressKeyboardButton('a')" }

Change the 'a' to whatever the Thieving button is mapped to on your own game. (by default it's not mapped to anything, so you'll need to configure that however you're most comfortable either from BGEE.lua or from within the game.)

Here's where you'll be copying the above code to (on my system it's somewhere around line 10403):

button { area 710 1 52 52 actionBar 11 enabled "buttonArray:GetButtonEnabled(11)" tooltip lua "actionBarTooltip[11]" action "buttonArray:OnLButtonPressed(11)" actionAlt "buttonArray:OnRButtonPressed(11)" } [[[[ COPY IT HERE ]]]] }

Launch the game, get to the gameplay screen, and voila:


I said it wasn't going to be pretty. But there you have it.

AncientCowboy

@Dee - Functional first, pretty in Rev 2! Good job!

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Dee

subtledoctor said:

2) Even though the iPad game does not support keyboards, do iPads have this latent hotkey functionality? (I know iPads are still limited to 1.3, just asking for future information.)

I would assume so, but I haven't tested it.

Mr2150

Regarding your point (1) @subtledoctor

I added this line to the new button that @Dee created...

enabled "string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Thief'))"

Basically this will only enable / show the button when the selected character has Thief in the class name - you can add it underneath the area line.

lefreut

***

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Mr2150

From opening the game, and selecting the character directly I took these screens - only my first character and imoen are thieves. I didn't go into the character/record screens once.

I went down the whole list and it worked fine.

Mr2150

@subtledoctor yup ... change 'Thief' to 'Cleric / Thief' in the enabled line...

You may need to play around with the spacing - eg is it 'Cleric/Thief' or 'Cleric /Thief' or 'Cleric/ Thief' or 'Cleric / Thief'...

Dee

The limitation there is that it wouldn't work for kits, would it?

EDIT: I updated the code in the first post to remove some crufty bits that were only there because I was copying the button from somewhere else. It should now only contain the pieces you need to get it working.

Mr2150

The enabled line looks for the word thief anywhere in the class name ... Thief kits would already have the button, no?

You could also add additional conditions with 'or' in between them if you want to make sure all thieves regardless of class/kits have the option.

enabled "string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Thief')) or string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Bounty Hunter')) or string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Shadowdancer')) .... ...."

smeagolheart

The cleric thief missing thieving button has been a sore spot for the class for years... and now it's solved?? Awesome.

Dee

Mr2150 said:

The enabled line looks for the word thief anywhere in the class name ... Thief kits would already have the button, no?

You could also add additional conditions with 'or' in between them if you want to make sure all thieves regardless of class/kits have the option.

enabled "string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Thief')) or string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Bounty Hunter')) or string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower('Shadowdancer')) .... ...."

I'm mainly thinking about dual-class characters, especially if you have mod-based kits installed as well.

It'd be great if you didn't have to hardcode each thief kit into UI.menu oh wait you could totally do that check with a .lua file never mind.

Mr2150

EDIT: Removed the code as, as mentioned by @lefreut , usage of characters[id].class in the worldscreen is still unpredictable....

smeagolheart

Mr2150 said:

You mean having a lua file with a table of all classes/kits that you want the button to appear for, with a function that checks that table, like this:

Saving this as M_xbutt.lua:
ExtraButton = { "Thief", "Bounty Hunter", "Assassin", "Swashbuckler", "Shadowdancer" } function ShowExtraButton() for i=1,#ExtraButton,1 do if string.find(string.lower(characters[id].class), string.lower(ExtraButton[i])) then return 1 else return nil end end end

Then changing the enabled line to:

enabled "ShowExtraButton()"

Then if the user has any additional kits that they want the button to appear for they just need to add it to the table...

So you could make a fighter kit (or sorceror or whatever) with thieving skills? There would be no skill selection so thieving skill point gains would have to be doled out automatically as part of level gain.

Mr2150

This doesn't give the class the thieving skills... all it does is make the button appear. If they aren't able to use that button then nothing will happen.

smeagolheart

That's why I mentioned granting the skill points on level up (like rangers get stealth points for example)

Mr2150

This is a UI mod only in that respect... so no, you cant add Sorcerer to the list and they will suddenly be able to start picking locks. The engine wouldn't let them.

Mr2150

Found a couple of things to iron out... which I think is what @lefreut was mentioning earlier... don't use that code yet as it can be unpredictable.

Mr2150

Unfortuantely I've had to remove that code as the usage of character references (characters[currentID] etc) in the worldscreen works maybe only 60% of the time...

Just to confirm - Dee's original post stands and works fine... my suggestion didn't work as the worldscreen doesn't know which character is currently selected.

smeagolheart

Mr2150 said:

This is a UI mod only in that respect... so no, you cant add Sorcerer to the list and they will suddenly be able to start picking locks. The engine wouldn't let them.

Yes by itself won't do anything I'm saying I felt that this (Dee's code / your adjustment) could be used to allow a thieving based kit in a mod that added a kit to Sorceror/Cleric/Fighter etc. Previously iirc it was possible to give kits for these classes thief skill points but there was no way for then to use their skills (no button).

Dee

smeagolheart said:

Mr2150 said:

This is a UI mod only in that respect... so no, you cant add Sorcerer to the list and they will suddenly be able to start picking locks. The engine wouldn't let them.

Yes by itself won't do anything I'm saying I felt that this (Dee's code / your adjustment) could be used to allow a thieving based kit in a mod that added a kit to Sorceror/Cleric/Fighter etc. Previously iirc it was possible to give kits for these classes thief skill points but there was no way for then to use their skills (no button).

The button uses the hotkey functionality, and the hotkey doesn't work with a class that can't use thieving (that limitation is hard-coded, so there's no way around it).

smeagolheart

Roger that, thank you for clarification

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Dee

@subtledoctor Very nearly. You would still have to manually update UI.menu to make use of the function from the Lua file (and in this case add the button that uses it).

But once that editing has been done, yes, you should be able to use WeiDU to modify the table in the Lua file.

AncientCowboy

I've posted a version of Dee's thieving button as part of EEUITweaks v1.7. It has a few enhancements:

1. It obtains the Hotkey setting dynamically from whatever you set 'Thieving' to in Gameplay options
   
2. Similarly, it dynamically generates the tooltip
   
3. It 'disappears' if you remove the Hotkey definition
   
4. It generates an 'Escape' key press if you right-click it. Handy when you change your mind
   

The code (SOD - change x,y as appropriate):

button
{
	name "PermanentThieving"
	area 742 2 52 54
	enabled "keybindings[2][7][6] ~= 0"
	bam GUIBTACT
	frame 26
	tooltip lua "string.format('%s : %s',string.upper(string.char(keybindings[2][7][6])),getHotkeyName(2,7))"
	action "Infinity_PressKeyboardButton(string.format('%c', keybindings[2][7][6]))"
	actionAlt "Infinity_PressKeyboardButton(string.format('%c', 27))"
}

Enjoy!

AncientCowboy

Version 2.1 of EEUITweaks features a new implementation of Dee's Permanent Thieving Button. It's fully integrated visually with the Action Bar; and when disabled (by not having a hotkey assigned to Thieving), it is displayed in a disabled state rather than disappearing. The pictures below show the button enabled and disabled, respectively

Enjoy!

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Bubb

@subtledoctor
I don't know about implementing it with hotkeys, but it would be possible to make the button automatically open the Special Abilities menu, search for the Thieving tooltip, and then press the corresponding button. Essentially it is a glorified macro, but it gets the job done. If you want I could mod that for you.

Gusinda

Hi @subtledoctor, I responded in a different post about the keyboard in Android, but I use an bluetooth keyboard and can access keyboard shortcuts etc.

I suspect the only problem to get this working would be to assign a keyboard short cut in the first place (and without the external keyboard for those who don't). I also have Hacker's Keyboard installed which can be access from within the game and keys are functional. I can't try the Button due to being still on version 1.3.x .

Having said that, once you set the keymap then it activates the button for use on screen. When you set the keymap, it writes this line to the baldur.lua:

SetPrivateProfileString('Keymap Action','Thieving','110')

I mapped to the N key just as a proof of concept (closest thing to my fingers at the time), which resulted in 110, but a better key could be mapped for something more permanent. If this line were to be added manually or as part of an install script, then I am sure the button would be usable.

Gus

Edit: Should have mentioned that as part of the proof, I then unassigned the key, exited the game, then added the line to the .lua and restarted. The button was active.

Mordekaie

Just for information :

Dee's Permanent Thieving Button doesn't work on my setup (BGEE v2.3.67.3b + SoD + modmerge + lefreut's Enhanced UI v3.3 + EEUITweaks UI Mods Collection v2.9.1)

The Thieving button is visible but stays inactive even with a cleric/thief character.