Aether Compass
Have you ever run into something when looking at your compass ... oooops!
Aether Compass is an FFXIV Dalamud plugin that has a compass (a set of compasses, actually) that automatically detects certain objects/NPCs such as Aether Currents nearby and shows where they are.
Detected objects/NPCs are displayed in various ways, notably through markers on your screen that point to the locations of these objects/NPCs. Optionally, it can notify you through Chat and/or Toast messages.
Currently supports detecting:
- Aether Currents
- Mob Hunt Elite Marks (Notorious Monsters)
- Gathering Points
- [Experimental] Quest-related NPCs/Objects
- [Experimental] Island Sanctuary Gathering Objects and Animals
- [Experimental] Eureka Elementals (by apetih)
NOTE: Because most objects/NPCs are not loaded when they are too faraway or when there are too many entities nearby (such as too many player characters), they will not be detected in this case.
Installation
XIVLauncher is required to install and run the plugin.
There are two sources from which you can install the plugin:
- the official repo (the "standard" version, but as a testing plugin), or
- my custom repo (the "preview" version)
❗ For users who previously installed through my custom repo:
If the version you installed from my custom repo does not have [Preview] in its name,
please uninstall it and reinstall through one of the methods for the correct version.
That version is obsolete and is no longer able to receive update.
Through Official Repo
Aether Compass is currently a testing plugin in the Dalamud official repo.
To install the plugin from the official repo, you will need to enable the setting "Get plugin testing builds" under the "Experimental" tab in Dalamud Settings.
⚠️ However, please be cautious that by enabling this setting you will also be receiving testing builds of other plugins, which, as the name suggests, are still in testing and may be unstable.
Through My Custom Repo
Add my Dalamud plugin repo to Dalamud's Custom Plugin Repositories.
Once added, look for the plugin "Aether Compass [Preview]" in Plugin Installer's available plugins.
You do not need to enable the setting "Get plugin testing builds" in Dalamud in order to install the preview version, although you could opt to do so and receive unstable test builds occasionally.
⚠️ If you would like to install the Preview version this way but have also installed the plugin through the official repo as described above, please disable the standard version from the official repo before installing and running
Notes on the Two Versions
Normally the two versions are the same, despite that the preview version has "[Preview]" in its name.
The "standard" version installed through the official repo tends to receive an update a bit later due to the review process. But that should not be a real problem most of the time (I guess?).
You can click below for more detailed explanation for why there is such a mess. But tl;dr
Since an update introduced in Dalamud some time around the release of Patch 6.2 (probably), plugins in custom repos are not allowed to have the same name as plugins in the official repo for security reasons.
Previously, Aether Compass had been on both repos. Due to the new policy, however, the plugin on my custom repo is no longer available through Dalamud under the same name, and those who installed that version of the plugin through my custom repo are probably unable to receive any update.
(Those who installed the plugin through the official repo are not likely to be affected by this policy.)
Ideally, everyone should be installing the plugin through the official repo. But, as it is currently a testing plugin there, this means one must enabling the corresponding setting in order to receive testing builds, and so potentially get exposed to the testing builds of all the other plugins on any repo. And some of these are truly just, well, testing builds.
So the plugin is renamed as a Preview version so that it can exist alongside the "standard" version in the official repo, to allow anyone to install it without enabling the "Get plugin testing builds" setting.
Both ways of installation have their own drawbacks. And the current workaround (by providing a so-called "Preview" version) is very messy on both ends.
That being said, there should presumably be a better way to resolve this issue... But another day, perhaps.
Special Thanks
- apetih - For making the Eureka Elementals compass
- Lumas Arkfrost - For the plugin icon