Windzarko
Well-Known Member
EDIT : New updated version (14th January), please all download from www.umbrael.com/thn/mods/thnmodpack.zip
If the downloads start becoming very slow, please tell me so I can throw sponges and wellington boots at my hosting until they sort it!
This pack is insanely useful and I'd really recommend it. Raiders will NEED some elements of this pack to attend raids with us.
(Some mods may require you to play a bit to make them perfect. I will put add some advice on configuration to this thread soon)
Please note that there are new mods in pack to replace old ones; Cartographer instead of MetaMap and Gatherer, for example. I'd recommend disabling the old mods as they are inferior and would just be taking up extra memory.
Many people had been encountering various problems in-game that were being caused by mods, for example raid warnings not displaying properly on screen (if at all), or large number of UI errors, or Omen not being quite accurate. All mods in this pack have been updated since the last version, and compose a large element of my own interface. At the moment, I have almost zero !Swatter errors (Swatter being a tool that effeciently explains which mods are causing problems if a problem occurs), and the ones I do get are related to mods not in this pack.
Also, a little side note; if people are having serious problems with the mod-pack in any way, shape or form, please feel free to contact me in-game or PM me on these forums, or drop a reply on this thread, and I'll try help as soon as possible.
One final thing; the WoWAceUpdater. An invaluable tool that you can use to automatically update many of your mods with nigh-on zero hassle. It can be downloaded here, but READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST! Lots of people have issues 'cause they clicked the download link on the page and didn't bother to read the page first (whilst annoying, this did allow me to use make liberal use of the phrase "RTFM").
______________
List of mods currently in the pack:
!Swatter - this mod catches errors that would normally give rise to an irritatingly uninformative error-message in the game, and instead allows you to display the message in a manner that informs you as to which mod caused the problem. It can be configured to either automatically pop up a window when it catches an error, or it can be configured to only show a one-line error message in the chat log, with a link which, when clicked, will then show the error window as and when you are ready.
Atlas - this mod will place a button on the edge of your mini-map that has maps for all the dungeons in the game, including notes on where bosses and locations/items/NPCs of note are
AtlasDungeonLocs - to help with those unfamiliar with a given instance, this is an additional set of maps for Atlas which shows where the entrances to a given dungeon can be found in the world
AtlasEntrances - as if finding the entrance to a dungeon area wasn't bad enough, sometimes navigating through the pre-instance area of the dungeon can be a pain; hell, those of us who've been 70 for ages still get confused at Auchindoun once in a while. This additional set of Atlas maps shows the pre-instance areas of many major dungeons and marks where to go to get to the instance or to locations/items/NPCs of note
AtlasLoot (and all modules with "AtlasLoot_" at the start of their name) - this adds on to Atlas or can act seperately, and contains lists for all the loots any boss you care to think of (dungeon or otherwise) can drop, quite often including drop chances, and sometimes listing rewards for quest-starting items dropped from bosses. It also shows such things as rep rewards with all the game's factions, PvP rewards and their costs, and even things you can acquire from world events and seasonal events. Whilst it can inspire a certain problem with people loot-lusting a little too much, it also lets you rapidly locate things that you may require for your character without having to constantly drop to Thottbot/Wowhead/WoWWiki/whatever. Please note that if you wish to use AtlasLoot, ALL modules with "AtlasLoot_" in their name must be activated.
Cartographer, Cartographer_Cleanup, Cartographer_Data - This is a replacement for MetaMap that I have found to be superior to MetaMap in many ways. Firstly, it runs on the Ace2 framework, which makes it able to co-operate with a good number of other mods on a level that MetaMap can't. It also adds a lot of nice new features such as more precise co-ordinates, the ability to mouse-over any point on the map and see how far away you are from it, the ability to see where any guildies with the mod are, and so on. It also provided basic instance maps (good if you only want to check basic positioning, else Atlas is better). I have also included many modules (listed below) to help in tracking specific things you might need for professions
Cartographer_ExtractGas, Cartographer_Fishing, Cartographer_Herbalism, Cartographer_Icons, Cartographer_Mining - these mods collectively replace and exceed Gatherer by being able to display the majority of the game's various nodes on-demand without the need to have seen them first. Some might argue this is cheating a little, but I find this no worse than Gatherer in that sense, and it's somewhat less buggy and system-heavy. You might not need all these modules, depending on your professions. The modules are (in order listed above): for engineers using a ZapThrottle Mote Extracror, for Fishing, for Herbalists, (for icons, this HAS to be active), and for Mining nodes.
CT_RaidAssist - Nigh-on essential for raiding in the eyes of some, now that it has been upgraded and works properly again, it is once more the godsend it uses to be. It allows for better display of the party-frames during a raid, along with quick access to the buffs and debuffs on a given target. It allows for the easy allocation of "Main Tanks"; this will appear in a new frame so you can see what the main tanks are targetting (to make sure you aren't hitting the wrong thing...), and will give alerts when the main tanks die (handy to know when to start running, eh?). If you're going to attend a raid, I'd highly recommend having this. It is worth noting, however, that somepeople have recently been having problems with CT_RaidAssist, and I'm looking in to how to fix them.
DMB_ (all mods with this prefix) - These mods are the DeadlyBossMods, and aid massivley in Raids and PvP by giving alerts when important things are going to happen, and giving on-screen bars that show important timers (like when a boss might next use something, how long a nasty debuff will last for, or how long it is still that tower in AV is captured). Having these mods is of enormous benefit in any raid, new or old, and I'd also recommend them for those going into the Battlegrounds, especially Alterac Valley.
DrDamage - This little mod is basically a whole load of game mechanics theory packed into a usuable and understandable form; with this active, you can mouse-over and spell you have and see it's various mechanics in its current state, including chance to hit, chance to crit, mininum hit, maximum hit, minimum cirt, maximum crit, and so on. It takes into account all your gear, buffs, and talents. You can also have it display values on your action buttons to show such things as average damage (a nice one to have to work out which would be the best spell to use at a given time, and to quickly work out the overall effect of a new piece of gear or a buff). To avoid confusion; numbers in yellow are damage, white are direct damage (like shooting or melee), and numbers in green are heals.
EhnTooltip - This works with the mod Informant to allow enhanced and very configurable tooltips for any item you mouse over, including such things as the buy and sell value of the item, how many can be in a stack, it's uses (like if it is a trade good, quest item, spell reagent, etc), item level, and many more such things.
EquipCompare - Allows you compare any piece of gear to the one you are wearing by mousing over (or sometimes mousing over and holding the Shift key). Handy for rapid comparissons, since the standard in-game equivalent is just not enough a lot of the time.
GFW_AdSpace - This allows you to see if a given pattern/schematic/design/etc for learning new things to craft with tradeskills is sold by a vendor somewhere in the world. It is a common trick to go and buy some obscure but much-needed recipe from a vendor and sell it for a much higher price on the Auction House. This mod will allow you to avoid getting ripped off by seeing if a vendor sells it, and if so, where and how much for.
Informant - see EhnTooltip
Omen - A Threatmeter mod. If you only ever have one mod active, it would have to be this. It is the single most critical mod you can have in a party, and I for one rarely care to work with groups where the tank doesn't have one. KTM is another similar mod which will work alongside this one, but Omen is far superior. It essentially shows how much threat you have generated on the current target, and will similarly show the threat of everyone else in your group/raid who also has the mod. To be blunt, you won't get into many worthwhile raids or Heroics without one.
RatingBuster - This mod places notes on your gear to show how much you benefit from using that gear, taking into account your talents and your class. If you mouse over an equipped item, it shows what you gain from it, and if you mouse over a piece of gear that isn't already equipped, you'll see how much benefit/loss you gain compared to the currently equipped item. It can be configured to show all manner of things from health, mana and so on to spellhit, spelldamage, chance to crit, and even such specifics as fire spelldamage. Very highly recommended to help make faster and more accurate gear choices. It will most likely need configuring, and you can do this by typing "/rb", which will bring up a list of options in your chat-panel (sorry, no UI for this one yet). It may take a while to configure, but it is very much worth it.
Stubby - This mod is required for EhnTooltip and Informant to work. Don't disable it unless you disable them also. I believe it might also be required for !Swatter to run.
VanasKoS - this mod allows you to record players to kill when you see the, or to beware of. A player so recorded will cause your screen to flash and have a warning appear when they come within a certain range and are detected in any fashion (mousing over them, they target you, they perform an action nearby that the combat log can pick up, etc). You can enter people under such headings as "Kill on Sight", "Guild KoS" (where member of a listed guild will cause a warning), "Hatelist" (reserved for those such as Arun...), and a "Nicelist" for helpful and/or friendly opposing players you do not wish to harm. The mod will put Golden Dragons around the portrait of a KoS'd player, Silver Dragons around a guild KoS'd player, and Green Dragons around a Nicelist player. I believe the mod also records PvP stats so you can tell how many wins and losses you have against a player.
All of these mobs can be installed by dragging them from the archive and directly into your World of Warcraft/Interface/Addons directory, but this must be done while WoW isn't active. Upon entering the game, you choose which mods to have active by clicking on the button in the bottom-left corner of the screen on the character select page of any realm, and choosing which addons to have active. It's worth noting that you can set the mods per-character if you wish (I have hunter mods, mage mods, preist mods and pally mods, and don't want them active on characters that can't use them, obviously).
If you need help with any of these mods, just give a shout!
______________
Original post:
I've thought of putting together a pack of mods that are either essential or *really* useful for our guildies; this will help people play and raid, and it'll put all the best and most useful mods in one place for ease of download. It'll basically be a zip file or similar archive which you can extract straight into the interface folder and watch it go!
Before I put this pack together, I thought I'd just see what everyone feels shoudl really be in this mod pack, so I'll say a few ones I think should really be in there, and then take suggestions (although I will strategically ignore suggestions of full music replacement mods or nudey model packs...)
(Note: ones in bold are definite, ones in italics are ones that I'm not entirely sure about)
CT Raid Assist
CT Mod (still not sure; it has some handy features, but it can sometiems gum up the works)
Atlas
Atlas Loot
Metamap (partially for co-ords, partially for less clunky map)
KLH Threat Meter
Auctioneer (including EhnTooltip, Enchantrix, etc)
Vanaskos (KoS mod - since I'm encouraging everyone to gank the living daylights out of all members of the Cenarion Serpents, this mod is quite handy)
Stupid Mount (suggested by T-Bone, sounds like a great one to have)
MobInfo-2
Equip Compare
AdSpace
Gatherer and Gatherer Share (if they update gatherer share or something with similar functionality comes out, these go back in)
There's a basic off-the-top-of-my-head list; I've considered other mods like the GEM and suchlike, but I'm not sure how useful they still are, or if they still work now in TBC.
I'll add more mods to that list as people suggest/remind me of them.
I've also considered the possibility of class-specific mod packs (if people like this idea, please suggest really good class-specific mods, and I could create a general mod pack plus an extra, smaller, mod-pack for each class that has worthwhile mods).
Oh, and as a final note; I don't know about hosting stuff on the THN servers, but I can quite happily host these mod-packs on my own web server; I've got 20Gb of space and 500 Gb monthly bandwidth sitting there doing pretty much bugger all at the moment, so it'd be nothing to host them there.
Think that's all... now, discuss!
If the downloads start becoming very slow, please tell me so I can throw sponges and wellington boots at my hosting until they sort it!
This pack is insanely useful and I'd really recommend it. Raiders will NEED some elements of this pack to attend raids with us.
(Some mods may require you to play a bit to make them perfect. I will put add some advice on configuration to this thread soon)
Please note that there are new mods in pack to replace old ones; Cartographer instead of MetaMap and Gatherer, for example. I'd recommend disabling the old mods as they are inferior and would just be taking up extra memory.
Many people had been encountering various problems in-game that were being caused by mods, for example raid warnings not displaying properly on screen (if at all), or large number of UI errors, or Omen not being quite accurate. All mods in this pack have been updated since the last version, and compose a large element of my own interface. At the moment, I have almost zero !Swatter errors (Swatter being a tool that effeciently explains which mods are causing problems if a problem occurs), and the ones I do get are related to mods not in this pack.
Also, a little side note; if people are having serious problems with the mod-pack in any way, shape or form, please feel free to contact me in-game or PM me on these forums, or drop a reply on this thread, and I'll try help as soon as possible.
One final thing; the WoWAceUpdater. An invaluable tool that you can use to automatically update many of your mods with nigh-on zero hassle. It can be downloaded here, but READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST! Lots of people have issues 'cause they clicked the download link on the page and didn't bother to read the page first (whilst annoying, this did allow me to use make liberal use of the phrase "RTFM").
______________
List of mods currently in the pack:
!Swatter - this mod catches errors that would normally give rise to an irritatingly uninformative error-message in the game, and instead allows you to display the message in a manner that informs you as to which mod caused the problem. It can be configured to either automatically pop up a window when it catches an error, or it can be configured to only show a one-line error message in the chat log, with a link which, when clicked, will then show the error window as and when you are ready.
Atlas - this mod will place a button on the edge of your mini-map that has maps for all the dungeons in the game, including notes on where bosses and locations/items/NPCs of note are
AtlasDungeonLocs - to help with those unfamiliar with a given instance, this is an additional set of maps for Atlas which shows where the entrances to a given dungeon can be found in the world
AtlasEntrances - as if finding the entrance to a dungeon area wasn't bad enough, sometimes navigating through the pre-instance area of the dungeon can be a pain; hell, those of us who've been 70 for ages still get confused at Auchindoun once in a while. This additional set of Atlas maps shows the pre-instance areas of many major dungeons and marks where to go to get to the instance or to locations/items/NPCs of note
AtlasLoot (and all modules with "AtlasLoot_" at the start of their name) - this adds on to Atlas or can act seperately, and contains lists for all the loots any boss you care to think of (dungeon or otherwise) can drop, quite often including drop chances, and sometimes listing rewards for quest-starting items dropped from bosses. It also shows such things as rep rewards with all the game's factions, PvP rewards and their costs, and even things you can acquire from world events and seasonal events. Whilst it can inspire a certain problem with people loot-lusting a little too much, it also lets you rapidly locate things that you may require for your character without having to constantly drop to Thottbot/Wowhead/WoWWiki/whatever. Please note that if you wish to use AtlasLoot, ALL modules with "AtlasLoot_" in their name must be activated.
Cartographer, Cartographer_Cleanup, Cartographer_Data - This is a replacement for MetaMap that I have found to be superior to MetaMap in many ways. Firstly, it runs on the Ace2 framework, which makes it able to co-operate with a good number of other mods on a level that MetaMap can't. It also adds a lot of nice new features such as more precise co-ordinates, the ability to mouse-over any point on the map and see how far away you are from it, the ability to see where any guildies with the mod are, and so on. It also provided basic instance maps (good if you only want to check basic positioning, else Atlas is better). I have also included many modules (listed below) to help in tracking specific things you might need for professions
Cartographer_ExtractGas, Cartographer_Fishing, Cartographer_Herbalism, Cartographer_Icons, Cartographer_Mining - these mods collectively replace and exceed Gatherer by being able to display the majority of the game's various nodes on-demand without the need to have seen them first. Some might argue this is cheating a little, but I find this no worse than Gatherer in that sense, and it's somewhat less buggy and system-heavy. You might not need all these modules, depending on your professions. The modules are (in order listed above): for engineers using a ZapThrottle Mote Extracror, for Fishing, for Herbalists, (for icons, this HAS to be active), and for Mining nodes.
CT_RaidAssist - Nigh-on essential for raiding in the eyes of some, now that it has been upgraded and works properly again, it is once more the godsend it uses to be. It allows for better display of the party-frames during a raid, along with quick access to the buffs and debuffs on a given target. It allows for the easy allocation of "Main Tanks"; this will appear in a new frame so you can see what the main tanks are targetting (to make sure you aren't hitting the wrong thing...), and will give alerts when the main tanks die (handy to know when to start running, eh?). If you're going to attend a raid, I'd highly recommend having this. It is worth noting, however, that somepeople have recently been having problems with CT_RaidAssist, and I'm looking in to how to fix them.
DMB_ (all mods with this prefix) - These mods are the DeadlyBossMods, and aid massivley in Raids and PvP by giving alerts when important things are going to happen, and giving on-screen bars that show important timers (like when a boss might next use something, how long a nasty debuff will last for, or how long it is still that tower in AV is captured). Having these mods is of enormous benefit in any raid, new or old, and I'd also recommend them for those going into the Battlegrounds, especially Alterac Valley.
DrDamage - This little mod is basically a whole load of game mechanics theory packed into a usuable and understandable form; with this active, you can mouse-over and spell you have and see it's various mechanics in its current state, including chance to hit, chance to crit, mininum hit, maximum hit, minimum cirt, maximum crit, and so on. It takes into account all your gear, buffs, and talents. You can also have it display values on your action buttons to show such things as average damage (a nice one to have to work out which would be the best spell to use at a given time, and to quickly work out the overall effect of a new piece of gear or a buff). To avoid confusion; numbers in yellow are damage, white are direct damage (like shooting or melee), and numbers in green are heals.
EhnTooltip - This works with the mod Informant to allow enhanced and very configurable tooltips for any item you mouse over, including such things as the buy and sell value of the item, how many can be in a stack, it's uses (like if it is a trade good, quest item, spell reagent, etc), item level, and many more such things.
EquipCompare - Allows you compare any piece of gear to the one you are wearing by mousing over (or sometimes mousing over and holding the Shift key). Handy for rapid comparissons, since the standard in-game equivalent is just not enough a lot of the time.
GFW_AdSpace - This allows you to see if a given pattern/schematic/design/etc for learning new things to craft with tradeskills is sold by a vendor somewhere in the world. It is a common trick to go and buy some obscure but much-needed recipe from a vendor and sell it for a much higher price on the Auction House. This mod will allow you to avoid getting ripped off by seeing if a vendor sells it, and if so, where and how much for.
Informant - see EhnTooltip
Omen - A Threatmeter mod. If you only ever have one mod active, it would have to be this. It is the single most critical mod you can have in a party, and I for one rarely care to work with groups where the tank doesn't have one. KTM is another similar mod which will work alongside this one, but Omen is far superior. It essentially shows how much threat you have generated on the current target, and will similarly show the threat of everyone else in your group/raid who also has the mod. To be blunt, you won't get into many worthwhile raids or Heroics without one.
RatingBuster - This mod places notes on your gear to show how much you benefit from using that gear, taking into account your talents and your class. If you mouse over an equipped item, it shows what you gain from it, and if you mouse over a piece of gear that isn't already equipped, you'll see how much benefit/loss you gain compared to the currently equipped item. It can be configured to show all manner of things from health, mana and so on to spellhit, spelldamage, chance to crit, and even such specifics as fire spelldamage. Very highly recommended to help make faster and more accurate gear choices. It will most likely need configuring, and you can do this by typing "/rb", which will bring up a list of options in your chat-panel (sorry, no UI for this one yet). It may take a while to configure, but it is very much worth it.
Stubby - This mod is required for EhnTooltip and Informant to work. Don't disable it unless you disable them also. I believe it might also be required for !Swatter to run.
VanasKoS - this mod allows you to record players to kill when you see the, or to beware of. A player so recorded will cause your screen to flash and have a warning appear when they come within a certain range and are detected in any fashion (mousing over them, they target you, they perform an action nearby that the combat log can pick up, etc). You can enter people under such headings as "Kill on Sight", "Guild KoS" (where member of a listed guild will cause a warning), "Hatelist" (reserved for those such as Arun...), and a "Nicelist" for helpful and/or friendly opposing players you do not wish to harm. The mod will put Golden Dragons around the portrait of a KoS'd player, Silver Dragons around a guild KoS'd player, and Green Dragons around a Nicelist player. I believe the mod also records PvP stats so you can tell how many wins and losses you have against a player.
All of these mobs can be installed by dragging them from the archive and directly into your World of Warcraft/Interface/Addons directory, but this must be done while WoW isn't active. Upon entering the game, you choose which mods to have active by clicking on the button in the bottom-left corner of the screen on the character select page of any realm, and choosing which addons to have active. It's worth noting that you can set the mods per-character if you wish (I have hunter mods, mage mods, preist mods and pally mods, and don't want them active on characters that can't use them, obviously).
If you need help with any of these mods, just give a shout!
______________
Original post:
I've thought of putting together a pack of mods that are either essential or *really* useful for our guildies; this will help people play and raid, and it'll put all the best and most useful mods in one place for ease of download. It'll basically be a zip file or similar archive which you can extract straight into the interface folder and watch it go!
Before I put this pack together, I thought I'd just see what everyone feels shoudl really be in this mod pack, so I'll say a few ones I think should really be in there, and then take suggestions (although I will strategically ignore suggestions of full music replacement mods or nudey model packs...)
(Note: ones in bold are definite, ones in italics are ones that I'm not entirely sure about)
CT Raid Assist
CT Mod (still not sure; it has some handy features, but it can sometiems gum up the works)
Atlas
Atlas Loot
Metamap (partially for co-ords, partially for less clunky map)
KLH Threat Meter
Auctioneer (including EhnTooltip, Enchantrix, etc)
Vanaskos (KoS mod - since I'm encouraging everyone to gank the living daylights out of all members of the Cenarion Serpents, this mod is quite handy)
Stupid Mount (suggested by T-Bone, sounds like a great one to have)
MobInfo-2
Equip Compare
AdSpace
Gatherer and Gatherer Share (if they update gatherer share or something with similar functionality comes out, these go back in)
There's a basic off-the-top-of-my-head list; I've considered other mods like the GEM and suchlike, but I'm not sure how useful they still are, or if they still work now in TBC.
I'll add more mods to that list as people suggest/remind me of them.
I've also considered the possibility of class-specific mod packs (if people like this idea, please suggest really good class-specific mods, and I could create a general mod pack plus an extra, smaller, mod-pack for each class that has worthwhile mods).
Oh, and as a final note; I don't know about hosting stuff on the THN servers, but I can quite happily host these mod-packs on my own web server; I've got 20Gb of space and 500 Gb monthly bandwidth sitting there doing pretty much bugger all at the moment, so it'd be nothing to host them there.
Think that's all... now, discuss!
