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Evercraft 5 Setup & Quick Start Guide
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Welcome to Evercraft 5!
The following guide will walk you through initial installation and setup of the
software so you can get started crafting right away.
It is HIGHLY recommended that you spend the
20-25 minutes to read through this entire guide and really try
to understand what I'm explaining to you. Trust me,
it will make your crafting experience much more enjoyable and frustration-free in
the long run.
What is Evercraft and how does it work?
While using Evercraft, there are some basic principles of operation that you should
know. These will help you to understand what you are seeing while Evercraft
is running, which will allow you to give more informative trouble reports should
you experience undesired results.
Evercraft is a program that basically equates to an extremely complex macro.
A macro is a mostly pre-defined list of commands or actions that a user can script
out and then execute. In the case of Evercraft, you give it a vast number
of parameters and in turn, it will execute a predefined list of actions based on
those parameters. All you do is give it the basics - we've done the hard part
for you.
In short, Evercraft emulates YOU. When you see a reaction pop up, your brain
identifies it and then tells your finger to press the correct skill to counter it.
Evercraft does the same thing. It watches colors on your screen and when it
sees them change, it identifies the change and then reacts accordingly. In
order for it to do this, it must be able to easily identify changes in color on
the screen. This brings me to the most important part of what you need to
understand about successful use of Evercraft: the custom UI.
The UI
To begin with, as you probably already know the user interface (UI) in the game
is highly customizable and can pretty much be modified to make it do or look however
you want. We have taken advantage of this and created a modified version of
the tradeskill window and tradeskill spell icons in the game.
It's very important for you to understand that this UI *must* be installed correctly
before anything else can happen. We get a lot of support tickets from people
claiming that Evercraft isn't working or is reporting errors, and many times it's
because the UI isn't installed properly. If Evercraft is looking for a blue
square and it doesn't see it, it's not going to work. Period.
It's also important for you to understand that it's pointless to have a modified
UI with special colors on it if Evercraft can't *see* the colors. What does
this mean? It means make sure you don't put
any other windows (in the game or out of the game, including the Evercraft program
itself) on top of the tradeskill window. You must make
sure your view of the ENTIRE tradeskill window is completely unobstructed.
What YOU see, Evercraft sees, and what YOU can't see, Evercraft can't see.
We'll get to the actual installation in a moment, but let me show you exactly what
to expect. A properly installed UI will result in the tradeskill window looking
like this:
NOTE: 1) White square top left, 2) White lines bottom left and top right,
3) Colored square top right (it will be red, green, or blue), 4) Red/Green squares
on the buttons, 5) Colored squares on the tradeskill reaction icons (also seen below
on the hotkey bar screenshot).
Here is a shot of the hotkey bar loaded with the modified tradeskill icons.
It's a dark shot because they only light up when you're actually crafting.
You should still be able to see the colored squares on each icon.
Ok, on with the show....
What if I have a custom UI already?
The Evercraft installer and auto-updater will automatically detect your UI during
installation and give you the option to install the Evercraft UI in the folder with
your existing UI so you can use the two together.
IMPORTANT: If your UI auto-updates, it could very likely write OVER the Evercraft
UI, which will cause Evercraft not to work properly. You should take the necessary
steps to disable auto updates of your custom UI to prevent this.
That's it for the UI. Now let's get this baby installed!
How do I download it and prepare
to install it?
Before we get to this, let me explain how it works. You will download a .zip
file. In the .zip file, there is a "Setup.exe" file. When you run Setup,
you are installing the launcher / updater for Evercraft. After you install
the launcher and run it, it will automatically download the latest files needed
to run Evercraft.
IMPORTANT UNINSTALL INFO: If you ever want to uninstall Evercraft,
DO NOT USE THE UNINSTALL FEATURE ON THE START MENU FIRST. You need to run
the launcher, then click Uninstall Evercraft from the Options menu. That will
remove the Evercraft files from your computer. THEN you can click the "Uninstall
Evercraft 5" link in your start menu to uninstall the launcher software.
You will also need to ensure that you have the .NET Framework v2.0 installed BEFORE
running Evercraft.
Download links:
.NET Framework v2.0
Evercraft Launcher
NOTE: I suggest saving the EvercraftLauncher.zip file to your DESKTOP.
To do so, RIGHT click the above link, then:
Internet Explorer users - click "Save Target As..."
FireFox users - click "Save Link As..."
When the "Save As" dialogue box comes up, select your Desktop by choosing it on
the left or from the drop down list on the top, as shown below:
Extraction
Again, make sure you have the .NET Framework v2.0 installed before continuing.
The Evercraft Launcher installer is stored inside a .zip file. A .zip file
is used to compress other files and make them smaller - to save bandwidth and reduce
download times, of course! To start with, you'll need to extract ("unzip")
the EvercraftLauncher.zip file using any modern file compression utility.
Here are a couple of examples:
http://www.winzip.com
http://www.rarlab.com
http://www.picozip.com <--- What
I use to package it up! :)
Most compression software will have what's called a "shell tool" which allows you
to extract a .zip file simply by right clicking it. Once you ensure that you
have the necessary software installed, right click the EvercraftLauncher.zip file
and find the option to "Extract Here." I have several programs installed that
are capable of this - here is a shot with a few examples you might see:
Installation
BEFORE ANYTHING: Exit EQ2 during installation!
Once you have extracted the "Setup.exe" file, we're *almost* ready to install it.
Before proceeding - if you have any previous versions of Evercraft installed, take
a moment to uninstall them using the Uninstall shortcut in your start menu or by
opening your control panel and using the Add / Remove Programs feature.
Now we're ready to proceed! Double click the "Setup.exe" file. The installation
process couldn't be much simpler, so I won't include tons of screenshots.
Simply follow these steps:
1) Click Next.
2) Read the EULA, click "I accept...." if you agree, then click Next.
3) Choose where you want to install it (I recommend the default - for tech support
reasons), then click Next.
4) Click "Install" and wait for it to install.
5) Click "Finish" when it's done.
That's it! The launcher has been installed! Now for the good part.
Downloading and installing the latest Evercraft 5 files.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THIS SECTION THOROUGHLY
IF YOU USE A CUSTOM UI.
The first time you run the launcher, it's going to ask you to do 2 things before
it starts downloading files:
1) Select the folder where you have EverQuest II installed.
When the program is run the first time, a popup window will tell you to choose the
EverQuest II directory from the next window. Click OK and you will be presented
with a dialogue similar to the picture below. Navigate to the ROOT folder
of your EverQuest II installation. That is, the folder where the "eq2.exe"
file resides. By default, it is "C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II", which
you see selected in the illustration.
Once you have chosen your folder, click OK. The launcher will validate the
folder, and if all goes well, you should get a confirmation window that says "Everquest
II installation verified." Click OK. (If you do NOT get this message,
correct your selection and try again)
2) Select whether you have a custom UI already and if you want the Evercraft
UI combined with it or not.
The next window is going to ask you if you currently use a custom UI. If you
use a custom UI and want to combine the Evercraft UI with it, click YES. If
you don't use a custom UI or you do not want the Evercraft UI combined with your
existing UI, click NO.
If you clicked YES, the launcher will auto-detect your existing custom UI and then
ask you to confirm it. This is important....
The auto-detect feature works. Do not click "NO" and
manually select your UI folder unless instructed to do so by Macrocrafter.com tech
support staff.
If you don't heed the previous warning, I promise you that you will be in the support
forums asking for help on why you can't see the Evercraft UI. If you trust
me enough to craft items for you with my program, trust me enough to correctly detect
your UI and get mine installed in the right spot. ;)
After you click YES + YES, or NO if you didn't have a custom UI already, the launcher
should then begin downloading files. When it's done, you should see something
similar to this:
Congratulations! Evercraft 5 is now installed and ready for abuse...... errr.....
I mean "use." ;)
Configuration
You can go ahead and hit "Start Evercraft" now if you want. You'll need to
either enter your account info in the login screen or click "Trial" to begin a 5
day trial period. After you login, you'll want to select your server and the
character you plan to craft with from the drop down lists. This isn't necessary,
but if you skip it, you won't be able to use Ban Protection or Tell Notification.
Now would be a good time to crank up EQ2. Login and before you do anything
else, head to a crafting station so we can gather some info.
Verify that the Evercraft UI is properly installed
Double-click the crafting station to open your tradeskill window and check
for the following:
1) White square top left
2) White lines bottom left and top right
3) Colored square top right (it will be red, green, or blue)
4) Red/Green squares on the buttons
Open your spells window (default hotkey "K" I believe). Click the button for
the Tradeskills section at the top.
1) Verify that you see colored squares on the tradeskill reaction icons.
If all is well carry on. If it's not, just STOP
and come ask us for help in
the forums because Evercraft will NOT work until this step is complete.
Verify the hotkey used to select the crafting station
Now that you're in front of the crafting station, press F8. Did it select
the crafting station? If so, good. If not, you need to open your hotkey
bindings and find out what DOES select the crafting station.
1) Click the EQ2 "start" button.
2) Click Options.
3) On the left, click Controls.
4) Expand "Targeting Keys" near the bottom.
5) Find "Select Nearest NPC."
6) Choose one:
a. record the hotkey setting (write it down)
b. change the hotkey setting to "F8"
Verify the hotkey used to open the tradeskill window
Now that you've taken care of that, you need to verify which hotkey opens your tradeskill
window.
Press "n" and see if that does it. If so, great. If not, try pressing
"b" which is the old default. If that doesn't work, you'll need to repeat
the steps above for opening your options, only this time you expand the "Window
Keys" section and look for "Open Recipe Book" and see what it's set to. Again,
either set it to "n" or record (write it down) what it's set to.
Configure Evercraft to use the proper hotkeys for the 2 steps above
Alrighty then, moving on.... go back to the Evercraft window.
If your hotkeys above are NOT "F8" and "n", click the "Tweaks" tab. The first
2 settings are for these keys. Set them accordingly. If it's one of
the "F" keys, just type it out... like if it's F2, don't press the F2 key.... type
F... 2... in the box.
NOTE: Don't mess with any other settings on the Tweaks tab at this time -
there's plenty of info you still need to absorb before you start delving into technicalities.
:)
Configure your Recipes
Click the "Recipe Setup" tab in Evercraft. You should see something similar
to this:
1) Choose your Recipe Bar (bottom left).
You tell Evercraft which recipes you want to craft by dragging them from your Recipe
Book window in the game to a hotkey bar in the game. You start with hotkey
1, then 2, etc... from left to right. Set the "Recipe Bar" value to the hotkey
bar number you want to place your recipes on in the game.
2) Select the Number of Recipes you want
to create (bottom left). This can be any number from 1 to 12.
You must make sure to have a recipe on the hotkey bar you defined in step 1 above
in the game for each recipe
you configure in Evercraft.
3) Set the details for each recipe.
For now change only the Quantity and Technique (other options explained later).
Make sure you select the correct Technique for the recipe you put on your hotkey
bar in the game.
NOTE: It's worth pointing
out now the MANAGE TEMPLATES button. This button opens the window that allows
you to save your settings in a custom template file with a name you choose.
After you finish the next couple steps, I'd recommend coming back to this tab and
clicking that button and saving your template.
Coordinate Setup
One last thing we must do before you can begin your first crafting job!
Click the Coordinate Setup tab. The instructions are pretty clear, but I want
to cover some other basics here as well.
The #1 cause of problems and undesired results from Evercraft is coordinate issues.
Coordinates are the points on your screen where Evercraft looks for colors so it
knows what's going on. If it doesn't have the precise coordinates it needs, it can't look in the correct spot for color changes.
Now usually immediately following coordinate setup, Evercraft works fine.
However, people have a tendency to not leave their EQ2 window alone. They
move it around, resize it, maximize it.... DON'T
be that person. You need to do the following:
1) Change EQ2 from Full Screen to Windowed mode. This can be accomplished by holding ALT and pressing ENTER one time.
2) Once in windowed mode, DO NOT PRESS THE MAXIMIZE BUTTON!
3) As instructed in the graphic, size your EQ2 window by clicking and dragging each edge so that it's about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the edge of your desktop ALL THE WAY AROUND. Make sure the edges are NOT hanging off the desktop and that you can clearly see your desktop around all 4 sides of the EQ2 window.
4) Now that your EQ2 window is the right size and in the correct
position, open your tradeskill window in the game. Right click it, click Window
Properties, and make sure the window properties look like this:
You want all Opacities to be MAX (all the way to the right) - *NOT* Default, and
make sure "Locked" is checked.
Also, while this window is open, click "Default Location."
When you have done all this, click Ok.
5) Ok, we've got EQ2 in windowed mode, sized and positioned correctly.
We've got the crafting window positioned correctly and with proper opacities.
One last thing to do:
DON'T TOUCH A THING!
DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!!
Simply type "/exit" to exit EQ2 completely. When it has exited completely,
restart EQ2, log back in, and again, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.
Your EQ2 window should be just the way you left it. Seriously - if you want
consistent results from Evercraft, never move or resize your EQ2 window again for
as long as you use Evercraft. :)
6) We are finally ready to run the Coordinate Setup function in
Evercraft. Just follow the instructions there.
a. Open your tradeskill window in the game.
b. Click "Setup", click OK, and wait for the confirmation.
c. Wait until Evercraft says it's completed the setup.
DONE!
Crafting
Are you still awake? Good, you only have 1 thing left to do. Click the
Job Status tab, click Begin Job, and remove your hands from your mouse and keyboard
and watch.
I've covered just about everything I can think of that would possibly cause you
to NOT have a successful crafting job at this point. If you experience any
odd behavior or (heaven forbid) a crash, let us know in the forums and we'll be
happy to help.
Happy crafting!
Michael
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