This is a closer look at the macros I've toyed around with in Windower; I tend to look for new and creative ways to keep these macros organized. Personally, I find windowed macros much more efficient than the paltry six lines SE offers us. If you're smart enough to have multiple equipment macros, I think you know what I'm talking about. You set up a macro for WS gear, find out it ain't enough, so you end up setting two for WS gear, then another two to get back into your ATK setup. It's annoying as all hell to do because you have to wait for one macro to complete in order to do the other, then you can finally do the WS. Stupid, right?

If you use Windower and want to squeeze a bit more out of it than just being able to ALT-TAB without shutting down your game, then maybe this post will help. If you don't use it at all, then skip this post altogether. Don't worry, I won't talk about key binding or anything like that (because I don't use that stuff myself); this is just straight-up "here's how we take the pain out of your long-as-hell macros in plain and simple English" time.

Windower can be found at http://www.windower.net/; if you're going to use it, get it straight from the source, trojan-free.

An easy way to keep your windowed macros organized is to simply set them up in folders - I tend to organize mine by job, so that my sub folders within my scripts folder read along the lines of nin, pld, drg, and so forth.

So here's an example with illustrations...

1. Go to your Windower folder and look for the scripts sub folder. For every job, set up a sub-folder within scripts; SE has conveniently given us a standardized three-letter reference that we can use. For this example, let's start with drg.

2. Create a new .txt file with your text editor - Windows Notepad works just fine, though I prefer TextPad myself.
3. Create your macro in that text file just as you would in your in-game macros. However, every line needs "input" to proceed it and ";" to end it, so it should look something like this:

input /equip main "Mezraq";
input /equip ring1 "Ruby Ring";
input /equip ammo "Millefleurs Sachet";
input /equip head "Wyvern Helm";
input /equip neck "Harmonia's Torque";
input /equip ear1 "Minuet Earring";
input /equip ear2 "Fowling Earring";
input /equip body "Hecatomb Harness";
input /equip hands "Hecatomb Mittens";
input /equip back "Amemet Mantle +1";
input /equip waist "Warwolf Belt";
input /equip legs "Barone Cosciales";
input /equip feet "Hecatomb Leggings";
input /equip ring2 "Ruby Ring";
input /echo :::: DRG/WAR WS Gear equipped.

Flame Ring
Rajas Ring
Cerberus Mantle
Ruby Ring

Yeah, Rising Swell isn't much of a problem anymore when you can flick on every piece of equipment back on with a single macro.

You've probably noticed that one Ruby Ring is on the top of the list while the other is on the bottom. The game, it seems, has trouble putting both identical rings on properly if you put one immediately after the other, so this seemed the easiest way of doing things. An easier way of handling this, I suppose, would be to use another type of strength ring, like a Flame Ring or a Vigor Ring +1, or simply hitting the macro twice. It's a bit more annoying when dual wielding identical weapons, but I doubt you'd be changing those in the middle of battle.

Any lines without the input headings are ignored. Hence, I can write whatever I want underneath the macro and not worry...very handy when a situation calls for more accuracy or more enmity.

Additionally, semicolons are used to close lines only. Any macro lines with a semicolon that are used for any purpose except a close result an error.

4. Save the file within your scripts folder's sub-folder. For example, this file is named ws.txt within the drg sub-folder.

5. Now while using your game under Windower, make a macro (for example, ALT+8). To use this macro, the first line should say /console exec (insert sub-folder name)/(insert file name here).txt; for this example, my macro would be /console exec drg/ws.txt. If I wanted to use my DRG's TP gain macro, I'd use a macro with /console exec drg/tp.txt in it.

If need be, you can add as many folders as you want under the job's sub folder - for example, if I need to use my Dragoon in a particular 60-cap event, I'd put a folder marked 60 under drg, type up a macro as previously stated within that folder, then write out /console exec drg/60/ws.txt in the game.

And there you go, all done.

Another example of a useful windowed macro is this one, my /console exec nin/recast.txt:

I just thought I'd show that one because it's not an /equip macro, and someone might get some useful ideas out of it.

Aside from making things more organized, it also makes entire macro sets easier to send to friends via email or instant messenger: I store mine on a USB drive every so often. Simply change the folder name (usually by putting your name on it), then send it off to someone who'd like to copy your macros or is going to take control of your character for awhile. Compared to the PitA that is rewriting every single macro every time you have to reinstall the game or play it over at a friend's house, this is unbelievably convenient. (Does anyone even know where your macros are located within your FFXI folder? I know I don't, not for lack of trying.)

Two annoying things I've never quite figured out how to accurately put in a windowed macro, however, are the /wait # value and auto-translated text. The latter, I suppose, is unavoidable, as it must be hard-wired into the game. The former, though, just won't do what it's supposed to...there has to be some way around that. Usually what I do is do the auto-translated text as normal within the game and make the next line my windowed macro.