Thread: Article: Quick AutoHotKey Guide to Background Prospecting and Milling Legitimately

AutoHotKey has been around for ages now but I've always been so hesitant to get involved with it since it is so very well known for it's automation ability which is against Blizzard's ToS or EULA, but over the last year or two it has become extremely popular via the huge multi-boxing community.

I know the Wind Traders and some others have discussed the use of AutoHotKey several times now, some touching on the slightly more illegitimate uses, which has again caused me to shy away from it slightly. The other day a discussion popped up on the forums about using AHK legitimately for milling/prospecting and Jenzali posted a neat little simple script that can be used.

I gave it a try and it works wonderfully, so I'm writing a quick guide to help anyone else interested focus on the purely legitimate uses of AHK.

[Note:] @Pliaksi has written a very nice program called the Consortium Key Sender (CKS) which effectively is putting this script into a nice program and adding a bunch of handy features to it. If you find you are looking for something more after trying my version then be sure to check out his too! http://consortium.stormspire.net/con...ender-cks.html

This tutorial will help you setup AutoHotKey to send the keypress "=" into World of Warcraft every time there is movement on your mouse, even if you are busy browsing the internet with wow in the background.

Alright well head over to the AHK Download Page and download the appropriate version for you. You can choose between the .exe file or a zip file as well.

Start up the installation wizard, accept the ToS and select Main Program and Script Compiler as components to install. Continue through the basic installation and skip showing the help file unless you really want to.

When you start it up the first time it will give you a message saying "To help you get started, would you like to create a sample script in the My Documents folder?". Click Yes.

It will now open a notepad file which is the script, it has some basic instructions to help you understand it. Delete it all and replace it with this script:

Code:

#persistent
coordmode, mouse, screen


mousegetpos, sx, sy


settimer, check, 4000
return

;*** Pause Script ***
~=::Pause

check:
mousegetpos, cx, cy
if (cx != sx or cy != sy)
{
  ; mouse has moved, calculate by how much
  if (cx > (sx+2) or cx < (sx-2) or cy > (sy+2) or cy < (sy-2))
  {
    ControlSend,,1,World of Warcraft
    mousegetpos, sx, sy ; get new mouse position
  }  
}      
return

Credits go to Jenzali for the script - I only added a pause script keybind and modified it to send the keypress every 4 seconds rather than 1 second since it takes about 2.5-3 seconds on average to prospect and loot. Added 1 extra second because I don't want to spam the command too quickly. You can change the line "settimer, check, 4000' down to 3000 if you want it quicker.

The red = is what pauses and unpauses the script. Replace it with what ever you want.
The red 1 is the keypress it sends to wow. Replace it with what ever you want.

Once you have the script pasted in there save the file and close it. You will now need to start AHK again (the first time was it just set it all up etc). Every time you modify the script you need to restart AHK or select "reload this script" from it's menu that you will see in a second.

When you start it up again now, it should start automatically running and you will see a green and white "H" icon in the bottom left hand corner of your screen. Right click it and you will see the following options:

The only ones you need to know are:

• Reload This Script - reloads the script currently chosen, must use it if you make any edits while the script is loaded.
• Edit This Script - opens up that text file again allows you to make quick changes.
• Pause Script - pauses the script (will show a tick next to the option) and prevents it from running. I do this when I run out of ore/herbs and need to fetch more or have to clear bag spaces etc. It's pointless to have the script running when you have nothing to process. Click the option again to start it again.
• Exit - yeah use your imagination.

What we are doing here IS perfectly legitimate and allowed. It has been confirmed over and over again. HOWEVER Blizzard DOES use their own form of Automation (ironic isn't it?) in order to detect cheaters. As far as I can find there has been no case where a player has been banned/suspended for using AHK (because wow can't detect it and it's also legitemate).

But if you are seen sitting in the middle of SW for 10 hours only prospecting at exactly even times, then it's possible that someone might report you or Blizzard will pick up the precise prospect every 4 seconds for 10 hours EVERY TIME - which is impossible by human hands for that kind of precision. Hence they may think you are fully automating it and send you a temporary or permanent ban. A quick email explaining what you were doing will get you unbanned within no time.

In order to prevent something like this though, I would recommend opening up a ticket with something along the lines of:

Hello there, I would like to use a macro that sends a keystroke to WoW whenever I move my mouse, but wish to check whether it is ok first.

It requires me to be at the computer, and each keystroke is the direct and immediate result of a human action, me moving my mouse (one-to-one). If I am not at the computer, nothing is sent.

I am wondering if this is legal or if it will get me banned?

Thanks for your time and for such a great game.

So that you can get a personal GM response saved on your account chat logs. If you do get banned simply tell Blizzard that you DID check with GM staff and the conversation is in your chat logs with them. You could maybe record the day/time/gm name etc when the GM does contact you in a txt file somewhere on your computer so you can tell them to go look at the chat logs on the 9th of September at 22:35PM server time between you and GM Zaveloolipop.

Funnily enough, my first thought to try and reduce the change of an accidental ban was to add some kind of "cooldown" or random timer between key presses. @Stede helped me with some of that code causing it to a slight random delay but have since taken it out because there is some rather cloudy information that adding automatic delays to this legitimate process can turn it into a bannable action. Stede and I both think that the example which refers to this delay being bannable is used a bit out of context and that it probably isn't so, but just to be safe rather don't add anything like that.

Another feature that I wish to add but haven't bothered to look into yet is getting AHK to send the keypress to only ONE of my multiple wow clients open. It is possible but I can't be bothered to figure out how to do it just yet.

Originally Posted by Parog

Going for a few meetings in 5 minutes so I can't help all that much, but here's what you'll need.

AutoHotkey Guide - Dual-Boxing.com

^ To get a list of your process ID running by the name of World of Warcraft.

To assign a variable to each process id so you can send the keys to a specific client.

idMain and idClone are variable names you can change.

^ from your original script. Instead of specifying a window name, use the variable name for whatever window you'd like instead of World of Warcraft.

It's all in the Wiki page.

Again thank you to:
@Jenzali for triggering the discussion and providing the script.
@Stede for his insight, expertise and patience in our discussion on IRC.
Parog from MMOwned for pointing me in the right direction for when I do eventually want to get AHK to only send to specific wow windows.

Nice to see this being openly discussed and safety being a primary topic.

*ting*

That's the sound of this gem hitting the forums. Very cool how you guys focus on legitimacy. +rep for all.

*ding*

That's the sound of Sinshroud's 100+ rep milestone.

Edit: Mandatory grammar police comment about spelling of "legitimate" in the graphic!

Ohh haha sweet, past 100 rep
Glad you like it and fixed the typo thanks!

There's another typo in your GM quote too - "I would like to using..."

+rep though I'll be using this now.

Originally Posted by Sapu94

There's another typo in your GM quote too - "I would like to using..."

+rep though I'll be using this now.

*Races to login to quickly edit that GM ticket!* rofl.

Well spotted, I originally pasted the GM quote given by Jenzali and then changed it to my own a bit.

Edit: crap GM already responded... quite a fail response too.

Originally Posted by GM Prynovarr

Hey there,Unholyshield!

I am very sorry that I was unable to speak with you while you were online, and for the time it has taken to respond to your ticket.

Unfortunately this isn't a ruling that the Game Master team can make without further information. Your best bet is to use our Interface and Macros forum for this, as our Community team can give a better ruling, and a more detailed description on how this will be achieved.

We appreciate your patience and understanding, and wish you the very best of luck with your future gameplay experiences.

Ah, interesting! Guess I'll be able to play stuff of all sorts with wow minimzed in the background. Good thing too, I just bought all of 2,000 stacks of elementium ore, and.... well let's just say prospecting 40,000 ore is just too damn long.

Regarding this:

Originally Posted by Sinshroud

Blizzard will pick up the precise prospect every 4 seconds for 10 hours EVERY TIME - which is impossible by human hands for that kind of precision.

Like many people here, I use my mousewheel with a macro for prospecting/milling, and I've done a fair few long sessions (not 10h though). Never had any trouble. As for getting reported, meh; just go prospect your ore near a mailbox in shattrath or any small town without too many quests and a mailbox. No players, no reports. I will be contacting the GM department and, if possible, the FR tech forums to ask a bit about it, just to get an official, blue response.

Cheers and have some +rep for having lots of rep! (yo dawg, I heard you like rep!)

Ah, interesting! Guess I'll be able to play stuff of all sorts with wow minimzed in the background. Good thing too, I just bought all of 2,000 stacks of elementium ore, and.... well let's just say prospecting 40,000 ore is just too damn long.

Regarding this:

Originally Posted by Sinshroud

Blizzard will pick up the precise prospect every 4 seconds for 10 hours EVERY TIME - which is impossible by human hands for that kind of precision.

Like many people here, I use my mousewheel with a macro for prospecting/milling, and I've done a fair few long sessions (not 10h though). Never had any trouble. As for getting reported, meh; just go prospect your ore near a mailbox in shattrath or any small town without too many quests and a mailbox. No players, no reports. I will be contacting the GM department and, if possible, the FR tech forums to ask a bit about it, just to get an official, blue response.

Cheers and have some +rep for having lots of rep! (yo dawg, I heard you like rep!)

Hehe thanks @Belzebutinov , hope it helps you.

I just updated the script to include a pause keybinding so you don't have to right click on the icon to pause the script but can just hit a key now.
Also highlighted the 2 pieces in red that can be changed according to how you desire and added a quick description of them below the code.

The red = is what pauses and unpauses the script. Replace it with what ever you want.
The red 1 is the keypress it sends to wow. Replace it with what ever you want.