A New Tool for Automating Hekili and Similar Rotations in WoW - Seeking Feedback

[nulrut]

Hello everyone!

I've been a long-time World of Warcraft player, though I often find myself more as a spectator in the community rather than an active participant. Today, I'd like to change that by sharing something I've developed and seeking your feedback.

About six months ago I've been working on and using a software tool I've developed called Rotator. My goal was to find a new way to leverage on-screen cues to automate gameplay rotations and skill usage in general. It leverages existing addons (Hekili and similar) to provide on-screen queues and then uses image recognition to trigger keypresses on OS level.

Setup: Configure Hekili (or a similar addon) to display rotation icons under specified conditions (e.g., when in combat, raid, arena).
Screen Selection: Launch Rotator and select the screen area where the Hekili icon appears.
Key Association: Link WoW icons (sourced from sites like Wowhead) to the keyboard shortcuts on your action bars (e.g., Ctrl+1, Ctrl+Alt+9).
Operational Modes:
- Automatic: Rotator continuously scans the selected screen area, and when it detects a matching icon, it triggers the corresponding shortcut in WoW.
- On-Press: The screen is scanned for icon matches when you hold a configurable button, sending the shortcut once a match is detected.

I've written Rotator in Python, using low-level OS libraries to simulate keypress events, making it currently compatible with Windows 10+ (tested on Windows 11), with potential easy porting to macOS. It runs on all WOW versions, including Classic, Retail, and PTR. That said it will also work in any other games with similar mechanics - but I've only tested it in WoW.
It executes the keypresses on the OS level, so it doesn't interact with the game client directly, making it much harder to detect. It's also designed to be as lightweight as possible, with minimal CPU and memory usage. Typical turnaround between icon detection and keypress is between 10-50ms, depending on the system and conditions.

I'd love to get your thoughts on this tool. Is this something you might find useful? Any concerns about its functionality? I'm here for an open and constructive discussion!

I'd also be interested in taking on a few beta testers to help me refine the tool further. If you're interested, please let me know, and I'll reach out to you directly. Assuming that there is enough interest, I'm also considering making the tool available to the public, so I'd like to gauge the community's interest in that as well.

Looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!

Some screenshots:

[tamedbeast]

If I get this right this is just using Hekili? If so there are ways to modify Hekili core files to get key info already. No need for any type of manual keybinding setup.

[digital_err0r]

sent you a dm

[Ezraiel92]

You still looking for beta tester?

[flyg]

I would be interesting in testing/improving it. Actually created my own in python as well but its got quite a few issues.

[huztnan]

Originally Posted by tamedbeast

If I get this right this is just using Hekili? If so there are ways to modify Hekili core files to get key info already. No need for any type of manual keybinding setup.

A bit OT but do you know if that would have to be done by every user or can it be done from the tool? Been making something for myself but might give it to some friends or release for free or something, right now im saving every icon and hotkey manually

[lepergnome89]

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[teamtitan]

I spent a while making one of these too! Really fun exercise. One tip I have to offer is to stop using icons themselves as your mechanism for scraping. You can map keybindings to colors instead, then draw a pixel of that specific color in order to signal it's time to press <X> key. You can then reduce the large icon to a single pixel (or a small square for easier targeting it) and just convert back from color -> keybinding. It's a pretty significant perf gain

This also makes the trick mentioned above of modifying Hekili core files work even better. It's 2 additional lines of code in UI.lua to attach the next recommended keybinding to a global lua var, then you can have a small addon of your own that fishes the keybindings out of that global var and draws the appropriate color. Super fast and effective!

I've been using mine for months now and got **** close to 3k io by the end of DF. Makes it even more satisfying imo

[digital_err0r]

Originally Posted by teamtitan

I spent a while making one of these too! Really fun exercise. One tip I have to offer is to stop using icons themselves as your mechanism for scraping. You can map keybindings to colors instead, then draw a pixel of that specific color in order to signal it's time to press <X> key. You can then reduce the large icon to a single pixel (or a small square for easier targeting it) and just convert back from color -> keybinding. It's a pretty significant perf gain

This also makes the trick mentioned above of modifying Hekili core files work even better. It's 2 additional lines of code in UI.lua to attach the next recommended keybinding to a global lua var, then you can have a small addon of your own that fishes the keybindings out of that global var and draws the appropriate color. Super fast and effective!

I've been using mine for months now and got **** close to 3k io by the end of DF. Makes it even more satisfying imo

I would like it if you could provide a guide or dm me instructions i'd like to run mine more efficient, someone else posted instructions but it made no sense and not sure how it changes things from the og script.., i assume from context someone mentioned that it automates making grabbing pixel icon easier or something =/?

[neofox]

Are you still looking for testers? I would be interested.

[emorrowdf]

applications can tell when you send keys with software. write a driver or use an arduino imo. My fishing bot sends keys through my arduino uno, no ban in months.

[xXmagreoXx]

send me a dm

[exec85]

Originally Posted by teamtitan

I spent a while making one of these too! Really fun exercise. One tip I have to offer is to stop using icons themselves as your mechanism for scraping. You can map keybindings to colors instead, then draw a pixel of that specific color in order to signal it's time to press <X> key. You can then reduce the large icon to a single pixel (or a small square for easier targeting it) and just convert back from color -> keybinding. It's a pretty significant perf gain

This also makes the trick mentioned above of modifying Hekili core files work even better. It's 2 additional lines of code in UI.lua to attach the next recommended keybinding to a global lua var, then you can have a small addon of your own that fishes the keybindings out of that global var and draws the appropriate color. Super fast and effective!

I've been using mine for months now and got **** close to 3k io by the end of DF. Makes it even more satisfying imo

Would you mind sharing ?

I am trying to get something up in python since months but my skills are just to far away to get this done..

Reasons are that I got a disability which is not allowing me playing two handed. So I went to GSE but it is just by far not as good as hekili but since I am limited I still can’t really play long and well.

So I thought asking is not crime. If it would work I would also of course tip you something.

[aylak2929292]

I've been working on what Team Titan is suggesting for two weeks now and I've now got to the point where I've assigned colors to 20 keys and all the numbers are being pressed. I've even managed to get it so that I don't have to turn it on and off. It reacts to me entering combat as soon as the rotation starts. Unfortunately, I'm currently testing it on a level 20 character. Since Hekili is designed so that all talents are used, I'll be able to give better information when I get an account in the next few days Why am I doing this? Blizzard banned my 17-year-old account for nothing and I was annoyed. When I've finished my rotation clicker, I'll share it with everyone

[90zimara]

Originally Posted by aylak2929292

I've been working on what Team Titan is suggesting for two weeks now and I've now got to the point where I've assigned colors to 20 keys and all the numbers are being pressed. I've even managed to get it so that I don't have to turn it on and off. It reacts to me entering combat as soon as the rotation starts. Unfortunately, I'm currently testing it on a level 20 character. Since Hekili is designed so that all talents are used, I'll be able to give better information when I get an account in the next few days Why am I doing this? Blizzard banned my 17-year-old account for nothing and I was annoyed. When I've finished my rotation clicker, I'll share it with everyone

Looking forward