The Gold Road Chapter – which includes the Scribing system – and Update 42 is now available to test on the PTS! You can read the latest patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/656454/

How does one get started writing Add-Ons

Sandmanninja
Sandmanninja
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I've been a programmer for years (VB, VC, VC++, C#,Javascript, VBScript) and I'd love to try my hand at writing add-ons for ESO.

Is there a Dev Kit I can download? PDF with explanations of the calls, syntax, examples?

Thanks in advance
[Hard Mode Dungeoneers] is recruiting all players of all levels for this new Guild.
THIS IS A NEW-BUT-GROWING GUILD. We are focused on doing vet pledges, vet dungeons, getting achieves, & doing hard mode bosses.
Most active GMT+10 (Australia time zone) in the afternoon Mon-Fri and all day Sat/Sun.
Pst/email for info/invites.
  • Ayantir
    Ayantir
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    Obsessive Compulsive Elder Scrolls addons Coder
    A Few millions downloads of ESO addons now.
    Master crafter on my main char since release. All tradeskills, recipes \o/, researchs (since long), 35 styles known
    My little french Guild: Cercle de l'Eveil
  • Sacadon
    Sacadon
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    No dev kit and the api is in the wiki posted previously. Tons of examples out there. Take some time to get a LUA IDE setup and it's easier but not required
    Edited by Sacadon on April 30, 2015 9:57AM
  • Deome
    Deome
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    I've written all my addons in Notepad++. https://notepad-plus-plus.org
    I love it.

    Start taking apart other people's addons. Even mine. Especially mine, I comment everything. Figure out how they work. Reference LUA occasionally, but the API itself is such a massive thing that it's really a language unto itself.

    Learn to use the libraries available on ESOUI. LibAddonMenu-2.0 and Libstub are essential.

    Read through the developer forums on ESOUI. That's where we go when we get stuck, there's a lot explained there.

    Write your first addon to do something small that you want to do, not what the tutorials suggest. Hello World is boring. DataDaedra started as a printout of total sales in the history.

    Read the licenses and the forums to learn what's expected for using other people's work/code/ideas. The huge mess Steam had with the Skyrim community is one such example of why it's best to ask permission even if you don't feel you need to. I'm now far more restrictive in my own licenses after my experiences with addons that replicated features and code in my addons.

    Oh, and I have a rule for how I organize data: If you're using a spreadsheet, you're doing WAY too much work. Write a function to do it all for you.
    Deome
    Loremonger, Addon Developer (DataDaedra, etc.), Ministry Malcontent

    "I am alive because that one is dead. I exist because I have the will to do so." --Now-Last, "Boethiah's Proving"
  • Sandmanninja
    Sandmanninja
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    Thanks!! Good info!
    [Hard Mode Dungeoneers] is recruiting all players of all levels for this new Guild.
    THIS IS A NEW-BUT-GROWING GUILD. We are focused on doing vet pledges, vet dungeons, getting achieves, & doing hard mode bosses.
    Most active GMT+10 (Australia time zone) in the afternoon Mon-Fri and all day Sat/Sun.
    Pst/email for info/invites.
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