RABuffs makes buffing and raid status monitoring easy by displaying information that you are interested in in a compact window. Each watched aspect is represented with a status bar, capable of displaying three different segments - typically divided into buffed, fading soon and expired buffs.
RABuffs helps you buff. Clicking on a bar out of combat automatically picks the right rank of a spell (including group- and class-wide buffs) and casts it on needy group member(s), greatly simplifying the process of buffing the groups assigned to you. Segments of status bars also begin to flash as the buff you're watching is about to expire, warning you in advance of a needed rebuff.
RABuffs is customizable. You may also narrow down the group of people a status bar checks - anything from "everyone" to "groups 1-3" to "shamans, druids and warlocks" to "shamans in groups 1-3 and Alice but not Bob" is possible using the easy-to-use Layout configuration interface. You can even create custom queries to watch for buffs and debuffs not included by default.
RABuffs does more than track buffs. Queries are not limited to simply checking for buffs - you can also monitor the raid's health and mana, PvP tags, location, cooldowns on various spells, point out who isn't wearing their Onyxia Scale Cloak on a Nefarian raid, intelligently and automatically pick resurrection targets, and much, much more.
Use /rab to show/hide the RABuffs window while out of combat and /rab config to display the configuration dialog.
Advanced Features
- Holding down SHIFT while hovering over a bar inverts the information displayed in the tooltip; holding down ALT forces RABuffs to use a different kind of spell to buff (single vs group/class versions).
- Clicking the Alive bar out of combat will attempt to res a nearby dead group member (if they have not released).
- RABuffs generates text output for its queries. You can CTRL+Click on a bar to send a message to a customizable chat channel notifying people of the information the bar is displaying to you.
- You can view the results of queries not present in your RABuffs window by using the /rq slash command (typing /rq brings up short help for the command). It can also be used to send the query result message to a chat channel of your choice.
- RABuffs transforms queries typed in [square brackets] in chat to query links, allowing you to easily share assignments with your group. If you send a message containing [motw 123], RABuffs will transform it into a clickable link that'll let people add a Mark of the Wild status bar monitoring groups 1-3 to their RABuffs window.
- RABuffs shares spell cooldown data with your group. You may also use RALight to share the same information. RALight requires no configuration and uses little resources, making it ideal for group members who want to share their spell cooldowns but do not wish to run RABuffs.
- You can customize the appearance of the RABuffs interface using libSharedMedia (typically bundled with other addons; see also SharedMedia for additional textures). It is generally worthwhile checking RABuffs configuration to adjust the settings to match your preferences.
- You may choose to display a different set of bars when in combat (or select a shorter list of queries when you don't need to see everything you would in the "full" view) using the "Show" dropdown in the edit bar dialog.
Installation Guide
- Exit "World of Warcraft" completely
- Download the mod you want to install
- Make a folder on your desktop called "My Mods"
- Save the .zip/.rar files to this folder.
- If, when you try to download the file, it automatically "opens" it... you need to RIGHT click on the link and "save as..." or "Save Target As".
- Extract the file - commonly known as 'unzipping'
Do this ONE FILE AT A TIME!
- Windows
- Windows XP has a built in ZIP extractor. Double click on the file to open it, inside should be the file or folders needed. Copy these outside to the "My Mods" folder.
- WinRAR: Right click the file, select "Extract Here"
- WinZip: You MUST make sure the option to "Use Folder Names" is CHECKED or it will just extract the files and not make the proper folders how the Authors designed
- Mac Users
- StuffitExpander: Double click the archive to extract it to a folder in the current directory.
- Verify your WoW Installation Path
That is where you are running WoW from and THAT is where you need to install your mods.
- Move to the Addon folder
- Open your World of Warcraft folder. (default is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\)
- Go into the "Interface" folder.
- Go into the "AddOns" folder.
- In a new window, open the "My Mods" folder.
- The "My Mods" folder should have the "Addonname" folder in it.
- Move the "Addonname" folder into the "AddOns" folder
- Start World of Warcraft
- Make sure AddOns are installed
- Log in
- At the Character Select screen, look in lower left corner for the "addons" button.
- If button is there: make sure all the mods you installed are listed and make sure "load out of date addons" is checked.
- If the button is NOT there: means you did not install the addons properly. Look at the above screenshots. Try repeating the steps or getting someone who knows more about computers than you do to help.
Translations
When you download a mod, please be sure that the mod is compatible with your translation of wow. Some mods only work on the US versions, while some only work on some of the various European versions. These variations are called "Localizations".
TOC Numbers (Out of Date Mods)
When Blizzard patches WoW, they change the Interface number. This means that all mods will be "out of date" unless or until the author releases a new version for that interface. Some people go into the .toc files and update the numbers themselves, but this is STRONGLY advised against as it will cause problems locating possible incompatibilities addons. When you log into WoW after a patch, you DO NOT have to delete your interface directory. All you have to do is simply tell WoW to ignore the interface numbers and load all the mods anyway. All you have to do is, while at the "character select" screen, look in the lower left corner and click on the "addons" button. A window will pop up listing all your installed mods.
If you look in the upper left corner of that window there should be a box that says "Load Out of Date AddOns". You want to CHECK this box. Now simply go into WoW normally and all your mods should load. As of the 1.9 patch, you will have to do this after EVERY patch/update that Blizzard posts! If you encounter any problems with a mod after a patch, please be sure to let the author of the mod know so they can fix it.
See also: About "Out Of Date AddOns"
Mac Support
WoW addons are not platformed based. As such, they can be used on either Mac or PC. You can extract both .zip and .rar files on a Mac using StuffitExpander.
Directory Structure
World of Warcraft
|_ Interface
|_AddOns
|_*AddonName*
|_ *AddonName*.toc
|_ *AddonName*.xml
|_ *AddonName*.lua
|_ (possibly others as well)...