AlexBags is the first addon I developed for World of Warcraft. An extremely basic addon, it does three things:
- Creates a keybinding that allows you to open and close all bags except the backpack.
- Opens all bags on opening Vendor, Mailbox, Trade Window, Bank, Guild Bank, et cetera windows.
- Closes all bags except the backpack when closing the above windows.
- Allows you to quickly find specific items inside your bags via the Inventory Spotlight feature.
It often occurs that you have to use quest items over and over to complete quests, and we know how it can get really annoying trying to find the item you need to use at any given time. I've found it's easier to just put the quest items in your backpack, and never close your backpack. You can also put quest items for quests you are not on in your backpack to track your progress. (ie. precompleting a quest you know needs X amount of items, or getting X amount of currency for item Y). This complements the fact that looted items are put in your backpack as long as there is room. This is the idea behind AlexBags.
The keybinding works in the following way:
If no bags are open, it opens just the backpack. If the backpack is open, it behaves like the "Open/Close all bags" keybinding. In other words, if the bags are closed it opens all your bags including the keyring, if only some bags are open, it still opens the rest. If all the bags are open, it closes all bags except the backpack.
In the future I would like to add the following features:
- Auto-moving of non-quest items out of the backpack if possible in order to make room for quest items you're about to loot.
Assimilation into LiCe
This has been assimilated into my LiCe for World of Warcraft addon. This can still be used as a stand alone addon.
I have also moved Inventory Spotlight (one of the flagship features in LiCe) to this addon because it has to do with the bags and this addon is all about the bags.
For now, whenever I update the LiCe Bags portion of LiCe I will update this project.
I envision a future where there is a website that you go to and check which modules you want and create your own distribution of WoW LiCe, similar to the way the CT Mod website distributes CT Mod.
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)...
