Helper - Customizable In-game Assistants

Presenting: Helper

The Helper addon acts as a customizable in-game assistant that provides alerts, notifications, and flavor text to enhance the player's experience. The addon features a system of "Helpers" - virtual companions that deliver messages in chat, track important gameplay events, and provide reminders. The default Helper, Vana, offers encouragement, alerts players about key game mechanics (such as abilities becoming ready or capped job/merit points), and notifies them of party-related events like members joining or leaving.

Players can load different Helpers, each with its own personality and dialogue, and cycle between them. The addon also supports sound effects for key notifications and reminders for gameplay mechanics like Sublimation being fully charged or Vorseal effects nearing expiration. With its blend of functionality and personality, Helper adds both utility and charm to the FFXI experience.
(That was great, thanks ChatGPT)

Download from Github repo
NOTE: All you need to start is the `Helper.lua` file itself. The rest will be downloaded automatically with the `//helper update` after you load it for the first time. A lot of Scary Windows™ will pop up when you update, this is the curl command running to download from GitHub.

Helpers
Choose your companion! These are just three of the many Helpers available - each with their own unique personality!


Shantotto
Witty, rhyming, and slightly menacing.


Moogle
Cheerful, helpful, and full of "kupo!"


Mayakov
Flamboyant, theatrical, and obthethed with perfecthion.

Features

Automated Notifications & Alerts

• Ability Ready Alerts → Notifies you when an ability is ready to use.

• Job Points & Merit Points Capped → Alerts you when you reach the max.

• Party & Alliance Updates → Get messages when members join or leave.

• Key Item Reminders → Never forget to pickup a Mystical Canteen, Moglophone, or Shiny Ra'Kaznarian Plate again.

• Sublimation Charged → Tells you when Sublimation is fully charged.

• Vorseal Wearing → Notifies you when your Vorseal buff is about to expire.

• Mireu Pop Alerts → Notifies you when the NM Mireu is mentioned.

• Mog Locker Expiring → Don't let your Mog Locker lease expire.

• Reraise Check → Don't forget... again.

Enhanced Party Awareness

• Low MP Warnings → Alerts you if a party member needs Refresh.

• Party & Alliance Updates → Get messages when members join or leave.

• You Became Party/Alliance Leader → Tells you when you’re promoted to leader.

Interchangeable Helper System (Custom NPC-Like Assistants)

• Choose from multiple Helper personalities.

• Easily switch between Helpers.

• Create your own!

GitHub-Powered Updates

• Checks for new Helpers → New available Helpers added to the GitHub repo.

• Checks for Helper updates → Updates available for current Helpers you have.

• Checks for addon updates → Update available for the addon itself (Helper.lua).

• Optional automatic updates → Updates addon and Helpers automatically (if enabled).

Customization & User Control

• Choose between automatic or manual updates.

• Enable/disable individual Helpers.

• Modify Helper settings & messages in XML files.

Helper has been fun to make. It started off as pretend "AI" thing that I added into a new BRD lua I was making that just let me know when mages were low on MP and could use a Ballad. I created the "Vana" personality for it for funsies (a play on Vana'diel but others have guessed Vana White and that kinda works too). Then I added in a notification that Sublimation was charged and ready to use. I realized how useful that was and wanted it on other jobs, so I pulled it out and started Helper, adding in a few other things that my GearSwap files do. Eventually I thought it might be fun to have some other game NPCs telling me things and the interchangeable Helpers were born! We've been using it for about a month or so and I think it's in a decent place to post here now. Every so often I plan on releasing another Helper (there are 9 as of the initial release), and the neat thing is you can get them automatically downloaded and added when they are live on GitHub. AND you can make your own Helpers too (see Create Your Own Helper)! Hope you like it!

Updated to Version 2.1

• Added the ability to have sound files for sparkolade_reminder, reminder_canteen, reminder_moglophone, and reminder_plate, mog_locker_expiring, capped_merit_points, capped_job_points, party_low_mp, sublimation_charged, food_wears_off, reraise_wears_off, signet_wears_off, mireu_popped, vorseal_wearing, reraise_check. This now allows for all notifications to have custom sound files.

• Adjusted the zoning and paused flags to condense into just the paused flag. This also fixes a few notifications that would trigger unintentionally.

• Fixed help text for the face command.

Two New Helpers Released
These two new helpers are a pair. As such, their notifications are similar, but with an opposite spin to them. Every notification has a unique, voiced sound clip with it.
This brings the current total number of unique Helpers to 11.


Altana
Warm, comforting, and protective.


Promathia
Dark, foreboding, and indifferent to your struggles.

Updated to Version 2.2

• Adjusted timestamp structure for canteen, moglophone, and plate reminders, as well as mog locker expiration to be saved based on character name. This allows different characters to have their own timestamps.

This update makes adjustments to the timestamps for key item tracking so it works with multiple characters on the same account. You will need to either delete your settings.xml file before doing the `//helper update` (so it creates a new one with the correct timestamp table structure), or remove the timestamps from within the timestamp section inside that file (preserving your other settings). Doing the latter is super easy, open your settings.xml file and look for the timestamps section, it should look similar to this:
Delete everything within but not including the <timestamps> and </timestamps>, the result should then look like this:
Save the file then do the `//helper update`.

Update to Version 2.3
Swapped out the "Next Sparkolade Reminder" in the the help command (idk why I had that in there, it's always the same time every week), for the status of the 3 main KI reminders, Mystical Canteen, Moglophone, and the Ra'Kaznarian Plate. Now if you do `//helper help` you can see if they are ready or when they will be available. Also released a new Helper bringing the total to 12 unique Helpers :D

Version 2.3

• Added Mystical Canteen, Moglophone, and Ra'Kaznarian Plate KI ready status to Help command.

• Removed Next Sparkolade Reminder from Help command.

Version 2.2.2

• Fixed Faceplate getting left on screen if triggered right before logging out. (Thanks Xerus!)

Version 2.2.1

• Adjusted list of New Helpers (//helper check new) to be sorted alphabetically.

• Adjusted list of Helpers (//helper list) to show both loaded and unloaded Helpers.

New Helper Released


Brygid
Fabulously judgmental and fashion-obsessed.

New Helper Released


Gilgamesh
Gruff, tough, and plenty of hidden heart.

I’m gonna need a way to lower the volume on the helper effects. I got some new headphones and the sound effect is LOUD compared to the volume needed to hear anything else on my PC. I can hear Shantotto ohoho from another room.

That's fair. I spent a bit of time tuning the volume to something that was, to my ear in my setup, roughly on par with the chatmon sounds ("You have been examined", etc), but I knew that it was not going to be perfect for everyone. From what I can tell, the volume of sounds from addons is tied to the games audio in Windows. Adjusting the games audio through Windows seems to be the only way (on the users end) to adjust the sound coming from an addon, which, of course, adjusts the games own sounds as well. As an immediate thought, if you have the games internal audio turned down (Config > Gameplay), you could turn it up there, then turn the game down in Windows. Aside from that, I either go back through every single sound effect and readjust volumes down, which would affect anyone running it that updates, or I create something like a lower/higher volume setting (like how the faceplates have two sizes). The latter is probably the best bet.

I’m interested in this, but I haven’t used anything outside of default before.

How do I set it up? ;;

Two ways to do it:

Go into your Windower addons folder and create a new folder called "Helper" then create a new text file named "Helper.lua". Depending on your Windows settings you may have an issue changing the file type from .txt to .lua. Go to this page and copy everything in the file and paste it into your Helper/Helper.lua file.

Or

Go to this page. Click on the green button that says "Code" then click the "Download ZIP" link. That will download all my addons and gearswap files in one zip file to your downloads folder. Open that zip file up and go into the addons folder and copy the Helper folder into your Windower addons folder.

Then

Load it on demand in game by typing `//lua load helper`.

Or

Set it to autoload every time by going into your Windower scripts/init.txt file and adding `lua load helper` to its own new line at the bottom. Save the file, then the next time you launch Windower it will load it with all the native Windower addons.

Thanks. I should be able to work with that.