I've made a standalone plugin that lets you display pure text in small boxes, with a cooldown timeout.
To save and install the
Cooldown_Text plugin do this:
- Copy the code below (in the code box) to the Clipboard
- Open a text editor (such as Notepad) and paste the plugin code into it
- Save to disk on your PC, preferably in your plugins directory, as
Cooldown_Text.xml
- The "plugins" directory is usually under the "worlds" directory inside where you installed MUSHclient.
- Go to the MUSHclient File menu -> Plugins
- Click "Add"
- Choose the file
Cooldown_Text.xml (which you just saved in step 3) as a plugin
- Click "Close"
- Save your world file, so that the plugin loads next time you open it.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE muclient>
<muclient>
<plugin
name="Cooldown_Text"
author="Nick Gammon"
id="2f103c42b3356ee1bcac384b"
language="Lua"
purpose="Shows cooldowns in a miniwindow"
save_state="y"
date_written="2025-04-08 11:50:44"
requires="5.06"
version="1.0"
>
</plugin>
<!-- Timers -->
<timers>
<timer
script="handle_cooldowns"
enabled="y" second="1.00"
active_closed="y" >
</timer>
</timers>
<!-- Script -->
<script>
<![CDATA[
require "commas" -- for convert_time
font_id = "fn"
FONT_NAME = "Sans" -- input font name
active_windows = { } -- our windows
MARGIN = 10 -- pixels
function ShowWindows ()
top = 5
for name, details in pairs (active_windows) do
contents = details.contents
if details.cooldown then
if details.cooldown <= 0 then
contents = contents .. " (ready)"
else
contents = contents .. " (wait) " .. convert_time (details.cooldown)
end -- if ready or waiting
end -- if it has a cooldown
win = GetPluginID () .. "_" .. name
-- make window so I can grab the font info
WindowCreate (win, 0, 0, 1, 1, miniwin.pos_top_right, miniwin.create_absolute_location, 0)
WindowFont (win, font_id, FONT_NAME, 12, false, false, false, false, 0, 0) -- normal
font_height = WindowFontInfo (win, font_id, 1) -- height
-- calculate window size
window_height = font_height + MARGIN
window_width = WindowTextWidth (win, font_id, contents) + MARGIN
-- work out left of window (output window width - size of window)
left = GetInfo (281) - window_width - 5 -- position on right, slightly in from edge
-- make window correct size and location
WindowCreate (win, left, top, window_width, window_height,
miniwin.pos_top_right, miniwin.create_absolute_location, ColourNameToRGB ("white"))
-- blank the window
WindowRectOp (win, miniwin.rect_draw_edge, 0, 0, 0, 0,
miniwin.rect_edge_raised, miniwin.rect_edge_at_all + miniwin.rect_option_softer_buttons)
-- add the text
WindowText (win, font_id, contents, MARGIN / 2, MARGIN / 2, 0, 0, ColourNameToRGB ("black"))
-- show the window
WindowShow (win, true)
-- next window is further down
top = top + window_height + 5
end -- for each window
end -- ShowWindows
-- add a notification window
function MakeWindow (name, contents, cooldown)
active_windows [name] = { contents = contents, cooldown = cooldown }
ShowWindows()
end -- MakeWindow
-- call this to remove a notification window
function RemoveWindow (name)
active_windows [name] = nil
win = GetPluginID () .. "_" .. name
WindowDelete (win)
ShowWindows()
end -- RemoveWindow
-- called every second on a timer
function handle_cooldowns ()
for name, details in pairs (active_windows) do
if details.cooldown then
details.cooldown = details.cooldown - 1 -- one less second
if details.cooldown < 1 then
details.cooldown = 0
end -- if time is up
end -- if has a cooldown
end -- for each window
ShowWindows()
end -- function handle_cooldowns
-- remove the windows when we disconnect
function OnPluginDisconnect()
for name, details in pairs (active_windows) do
RemoveWindow (name)
end -- for each window
end -- OnPluginDisconnect
]]>
</script>
</muclient>
To use it:
You can have a text box with or without a timeout. Each text box has a name (it can be anything, eg. "fireball") and then the text you want in the box (that you see). If you use the same name twice it will replace the previous box, if you use a different name then you will get extra boxes (one per name).
You add boxes to the screen with CallPlugin like this:
CallPlugin ("2f103c42b3356ee1bcac384b" , "MakeWindow" , "fireball", "Fireball Spell", 30 )
What that does is call MakeWindow inside the plugin, creates a box name "fireball" and puts the text "Fireball Spell" into the box. It has a timeout of 30 seconds in this example. It will automatically count down every second.
Another example:
CallPlugin ("2f103c42b3356ee1bcac384b" , "MakeWindow" , "rez", "Resurrection", 30 * 60 )
That would show "Resurrection" counting down for 30 minutes (30 times 60 seconds).
You can have a box without a timeout:
CallPlugin ("2f103c42b3356ee1bcac384b" , "MakeWindow" , "quest", "You have active quests")
You can remove a box:
CallPlugin ("2f103c42b3356ee1bcac384b" , "RemoveWindow" , "quest")
It's up to you to activate these windows by detecting game events with triggers or aliases.
This plugin is:
now available on GitHub.
The version there splits the XML and Lua portions into different files, for better readability when using an editor that does syntax colouring (and on GitHub).