For any guild ever struggling to explain who needs to stand where and do what in a boss encounter, this might help you out.
You can import a list of players from the current raid, add players/mobs/icons manually, select one of the many included 3D maps as a backdrop (covering Gruul/Mag/SSC and TK), and drag them around broadcasting the results in real time to the raid.
Any raid leader or person with assist can right click icons to cycle between healers and tanks, and healers automatically are joined with a line to the nearest tank. They can also spam the resulting healing list to the raid.
You can save any plans you have made (either in a raid or prior to it), and then load them later on. You can also fit a current raid to any saved one, so you can quickly adjust previously successful tactics to a new raid makeup.
Live updates are connection friendly, and people will receive them even if they haven't opened the window. And you only broadcast whilst your window is open (to prevent any additional unnecessary network traffic during a fight).
Type /minnaplan help for options!
Additional notes:
By editing MinnaMaps.lua and MinnaIcons.lua you can add your own custom icons and map packs (note everyone else on the raid will require the same icon/map packs if you add your own new graphics to the Textures directory)
Import Raid From List uses the format below, although the instance name is actually not important, but the number at the end must be 1:
ROLLCALL*Serpentshrine Cavern*1
Necromonger*Warrior*1
Cenodin*Paladin*1
Vampira*Mage*1
This is an addon map pack for the 25 man Sunwell Plateau instance. Install it over the top of a working MinnaPlan installation only. If you install it before, then you won't see the new maps!
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)...