Build Templates by developer of arcdps fully allowed by ANet

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/704oem/build_templates_actual_release/dn0eys7/https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/704oem/build_templates_actual_release/

:blush:

Hopefully this presents a way forward for Anet to do a legitimate client side one. Not that i want Arc to have more free time or anything, but this is a project that i would utilize if it was first party as it was in GW1.

This seems like a great stopgap measure; hopefully ANET can take some of the code/inspiration to apply to the game as a 1st party solution like WoW did with Outfitter

The developer refers to it as a stopgap measure himself. That said, I think this is great. While it would be better to have this implemented into the game itself, at least build templates now exist and are non-ToS breaking.This has also motivated me to install arcDPS just to test out the build templates

It's a good measure until something official comes out. Also seeing that devs want to work closely with tool developers is always a good thing :)

This is fantastic, huge thanks to ChrisClearly. Now we just need to get delta some legendary armor so he can experiment on stat swapping/rune swapping.

Example

Quote by Chris Cleary of ANet:

About 2-3 months ago I asked /u/deltaconnected to take down his previously created Build Templates addon to ArcDPS. At the time it was in violation of our rules to distribute it and it had key issues with it when it came to functionality and interaction with the game client.

This release is the result of a multi-month coordination to get his Build Templates addon into a place where I can green-light it for release. Unlike DPS meters, Build Templates is a much more passive user interface addon and thus it could be individually allowed to release outside of the DPS meter Terms of Service rules restriction. If future developers are interested in working with me to create addons, please reach out to me and we can chat.

I'm green-lighting this due to the developer's trustworthiness after months of interaction and willingness to add key restrictions and functionality changes to accommodate my push to keep addons away from becoming a "must have to win" situation (WvW restrictions were not outlined in his post, but they are there along with others).

In their current state, /u/DeltaConnected's build templates are green-lit and safe to use by users (in terms of violating the Terms of Service). I've asked him to run any functionality changes by me before releasing, so hopefully we don't need to worry about things changing in the future in terms of "safe to use".

This is officially unsupported, and ArenaNet will not be able to offer any support for this addon or issues that occur due to use of this addon.

Summarizing:

• Use of the current iteration of ArcDPS for build templates is safe to use in that it does not violate the Terms of Service
• ANet considers the developer of ArcDPS to be trustworthy and has worked directly with /u/deltaconnected to ensure the above
• The app is not supported — if something goes wrong, it's on you.
• Things can change; it's our responsibility to keep track.

@Nafets.1238 said:It's a good measure until something official comes out. Also seeing that devs want to work closely with tool developers is always a good thing :)

Agreed. deltaconnected.4058 has done a great thing with this new functionality. Thanks!

I'm getting all kinds of issues with this. Right now, I can't get the window to come up at all (shift+alt+D just does what D would do, ie move my character). In any case. as arcs has stated that this is SUPER cludgy, this is a stopgap but NOT a good replacement for a real first party integrated solution.

How does this app even work? Does it simply save your loadout to a file and thats it, or are there more features, or does it swap traits and skills for you?

At least I'm used to GW1 templtes that changed your loadout with just loading the templte.

The tool allows you to save your currently used gear, weapons, traits, utilities. You can then swap between your saved templates later by loading any of them. It does everything automatically.

NOTED this has the chance to eat your gear. So use at your own risk.

(might be fixed by now but i didnt find anything about that.)

I've mentioned this elsewhere but still see the gear being eaten warning being taken as something likely to happen:

I don't have GW2's source so I don't "know" where the equip-item function is. Have to find it by scanning for some markers specific to it. It's possible (with some astronomically terrible luck) that equip-item no longer has those markers after a game update and delete-item acquires them, so every time it tries using equip it instead uses delete. Or, because it uses internal client functions in a way that testers and QA never would, some other unforeseen effect due to it's usage.

@deltaconnected.4058 said:I've mentioned this elsewhere but still see the gear being eaten warning being taken as something likely to happen:

I don't have GW2's source so I don't "know" where the equip-item function is. Have to find it by scanning for some markers specific to it. It's possible (with some astronomically terrible luck) that equip-item no longer has those markers after a game update and delete-item acquires them, so every time it tries using equip it instead uses delete. Or, because it uses internal client functions in a way that testers and QA never would, some other unforeseen effect due to it's usage.

So basically if Anet sends their spaghetti code through a meat grinder, your script might suddenly start pointing to "delete item" instead of "equip item". I think I'll take the risk, even Anet doesn't usually mutilate their code that bad.

@Pyroatheist.9031 said:So basically if Anet sends their spaghetti code through a meat grinder, your script might suddenly start pointing to "delete item" instead of "equip item". I think I'll take the risk, even Anet doesn't usually mutilate their code that bad.

The assembly the code generates, not the code itself. Option A is to include 'offsets' in the pattern, which are much more likely to break across game updates, and option B is to rely on arithmetic and assignment, which are less "unique" but also less likely to change (more common to add a new member to a class and write new code than modify existing that works)

This is nice news. Will try it when I have the opportunity, though probably just the traits/skills part for the time being. Thanks a lot for your constant efforts, deltaconnected!

as software developer myself, the main problem i find thinking in build templates is deal with changes in inventory size. basically 2 situations a)user save a template, and when click to "load" it, the inventory is full. b)the user deleted, sold, moved a gear piece saved into template. btw, I have not the slightest idea how it's done in Gw2, I'm just theorizing.

and yeah, anything is better than alt+tab to navigator to search for a build.

a easy "trick" would be instead of a template save a "gear piece id", must work on "find match stats and equip", the template gear list, would memorize the stats of desired gear piece+runes instead of some "piece id", when loading the list, the "finder" will search for pieces that match the desired stats on inventory, and equip it. if didnt find it(cuz user moved or deleted) it will do nothing.

@deltaconnected.4058 said:I've mentioned this elsewhere but still see the gear being eaten warning being taken as something likely to happen:

I don't have GW2's source so I don't "know" where the equip-item function is. Have to find it by scanning for some markers specific to it. It's possible (with some astronomically terrible luck) that equip-item no longer has those markers after a game update and delete-item acquires them, so every time it tries using equip it instead uses delete. Or, because it uses internal client functions in a way that testers and QA never would, some other unforeseen effect due to it's usage.

Honestly I only took that warning as a sort of "look guys, I'm not ANet and if something I have no control over screws up I can't guarantee the support team will restore your items".