Banned for Windower?

[Nala]

back on topic its the /macro set x command they added a few years back can allow for extended macros using the in game system, in order to utilize it however requires multiple input from the user still though you can set it up where its easy enough when used proper you can swap all 16 pieces without massive effort.

Example:

macro set 1 control 0:
/macro set 2
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"

macro set 2 control 0
/macro set 1
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"
/equip "whatever"

now by setting up your macros as such all you have to do is quickly double tap control 0 and it will swap up to 10 gear pieces and return you to your home row macro set, you can extend this out to swaping all 15/16 pieces of gear, its what i have been using since they introduced them, /macro has other interesting uses with some imagination.

problem is when servers start getting laggy, also sometimes i might over hit my macros which causes some trouble, but if your dead set on not using windower/stuck on console you can utilize this to optimize yourself a tad better than without.

if you intend to go this route, /macro set should be your first line as itll swap sets faster while still exicuting the whole macro, makes for less laggy extended in game macros.

[Byrth]

I find that "/macro set X" is much less laggy on PC than it was on PS2. PS2, it took almost a full second for my macros to swap. Also, it was my impression that "/macro set X" ends whatever macro you were in, so you'd have to set it up:
/equip ___
/equip ___
/equip ___
/equip ___
/equip ___
/macro set 2

Instead of the other way around.

I used to do this for RDM/NIN tanking, and I'd set a loop so it was like:
/equip x5
/macro set 2

/ma "Dispel" <t>
/equip x4
/macro set 3

/equip x5
/macro set 1

Then I could spam twice, wait for the spell to land, spam again and be bumped back to the starting set. The major problem was the PS2 lag.

[Nala]

/macro set does not end a macro exicution, if it did none of my macros would function right, and to clarify they do function proper with /macro set as the first line.

[geekgirl101]

While Windower does provide a few glossy features it is also doing things that the game doesn't normally allow. It is also a hook for bot scripts and other applications that do things that are not normally allowed, even Windower itself can be used to bot. It's why SE do not approve of it. If you use it then use it at your own discretion, but if you value your account I strongly advise not to use it.

[Byrth]

Actually, unless I misunderstand the theory, Windower itself isn't the hook necessarily. It uses another program to grab the game variables and controls which variables are available for plugin developers to use and manipulate. For instance, no Windower plugin can flee hack because Windower doesn't allow plugins to directly change position.

Basically, if you hear about something that sounds exploitive, it's probably not a windower plugin. They might interface with the program that actually grabs the variables (the same one windower uses), but they aren't actually windower plugins.

[Glamdring]

actually, they are not OFFICIAL plug-ins. despite the disclaimer on the windower site it is a successful platform for interfacing with FFXI. You can write your own code to give the illegal exploits that are the worry for SE and simply daisy-chain them onto windower as your interface. Any halfway decent programmer that wants to do so can write their own exploitaitive code with relative ease and be right back to the days when you could use it to port anywhere, raise your movement speed and change jobs without the benefit of a moogle among other things. And seriously? If it takes a programmer more than 30 minutes to break windower security then even "halfway decent" doesn't describe them.

Do they need to use windower? no, of course not. But why take the time to write your own interface when there's already one that works? It even gets constant support. SE chooses to turn a blind eye to windower for the most part unless there is a blatant cheat (like those I mentioned above), but simply using it at all is a technical violation of the TOS (which has no qualifiers on their forbiding the use of 3rd party programs) simply because it IS a 3rd party program, and thus prohibitted.

I choose not to use it, playing the game as designed, both because I'd rather not risk being banned AND because the challenges built into the game are there for a reason--to make me strive. If I can always see other pt members TP so I never miss an SC attempt, or a burst for that matter some of the challenge is gone for me. If I can target a ??? before it's up so my trade macro is already primed--again, no challenge. I get what I want done based on the skill I've accumulated over my time on XI, I don't need a hand.

[Greatguardian]

You sound like you don't know a darn thing about how Windower and bots work. That's really not surprising though, and I can't say I blame you. The sheer amount of misinformation and straight up falsehoods regarding the relationship between the two is astounding.

Can Windower be used for Botting? No.

Are people "Manipulating Windower" and "Breaking into Windower's security" to create bots? No.

Bots are completely independent applications that hook into running processes of FFXI. In fact, I do believe a vast majority of advanced Windower plugins were shut down or forced to be rewritten after the exploitable nature of FFACE.dll was made public. Because FFACE.dll (a file used in many advanced Windower plugins) could be used to facilitate botting and exploitable behavior, all plugins that used FFACE were required to be rewritten to function without it or simply were no longer allowed.

The Windower team is extremely anti-bot and anti-exploit. Nothing that even smells of bot gets into their approval section. If people want to run bots while they're running Windower, there's nothing they can do to stop them. But that damn sure doesn't mean people are using Windower to bot.

[Glamdring]

GG, I KNOW the current windower crew is anti-exploit, and I didn't say I blame them. What I said is that these type of exploits generally need an undetectable platform to be used (and I don't actually see them being used anymore by most), windower is proven (based on their being used/distributed off the windower site several years ago) to be functional for that purpose.

There are other platforms that can be used and for that matter if you can program a hack you SHOULD be able to make your own interface, but it's there. Just because it isn't done with the windower crew's efforts or support doesn't mean that it can't be used in ways that are not intended or sanctioned by the makers. For an exploit to work (on a sustained basis) it needs to get into the server without being detected so you do want to daisy-chain your exploit on to something that does get through without tripping an SE monitoring program, which windower apparently does.

But you also can't change the fact that simply using windower as-is is a technical violation of the 3rd-party prohibition and SE can use that to ban you just for that if they so choose. The grounds for banning isn't the exploit, it's the 3rd-party program use at all. SE simply chooses to turn a blind eye to it.

[Ilax]

I doubt SE will ever ban for windower, is FAIR to point how everyone is tire of "PS2 Limitation" and windower kinda make the game a bit more interesting to play, survey say like 80% PPL on PC use it. You can be sure of something, if SE start ban for using that program, they #1 will loose tons of income #2 tons of people will just leave the game and never come back.

P.S: Is again the ToS of this forum to talk about 3rd party program, don't you find it special Admin/Moderator did not delete/lock thread? Trust me they know about it and have no real choice to take no action, but don't expect any of SE staff come here and say is no bannable etc, that would for sure insult everyone on Xbox and PS2/PS3. And that would go again they own rule.

[Jerynh]

FFXI was dead until the release of Abyssea, though not because of the salvage bans.

False. Very false.