General EQWatcher Concepts > The Basics > EQWatcher Window

Although the window doesn't look as pretty as I could probably make it if I felt like it... this is all fairly self-explanatory.  However, I will not assume that everyone should understand it perfectly.

The "DirectSound 8.x Enabled for .WAV Playback" indicates that DirectSound support is in fact enabled for .WAV playback (though not for Text-to-Speech.  Information on this is found in other places in this documentation such as Installing TTS). 

The check-box for "Automatically Start EverQuest" tells EQWatcher to automatically run EQ when you start EQWatcher, and the button that says "Start EverQuest" does exactly what it says.

The button that says "Permanently Turn on Logging in eqclient.ini" will modify eqclient.ini for you so that the chat log is always turned on, so you don't have to remember to type /log when you are playing.

The bottom half of the window might be slightly less self-explanatory.  If you do not use WinAMP, you can completely disregard it.  If you do, then this affects you.  The Default WinAMP Volume setting is the setting that you want WinAMP's volume to be at.  It will be set to this percent volume when EQWatcher is started, and after synchronous sounds if it is instructed to lower the volume for those sounds.  The "Synchronous sounds" frame allows you to tell EQWatcher what to do to WinAMP during this type of sound.  The new defaults lower the volume to 60% rather than pausing.

The file menu is mostly self-explanatory:

A commands file (for Run Commands File) is defined as a bunch of commands stored in a text file for EQWatcher to run, as if you ran it in EverQuest by typing /note [command].

There is an option not on the above picture that allows you to load a pronunciation guide.  See the Pronunciation Guides section for more information on them.

When changing the directory settings, please restart EQWatcher for the change to take effect.

There is also a command menu, which has one option for you to execute a command.  When executing a command here don't type /note, because it's not necessary and wont work :)  See the Commands section on how to use EQWatcher commands.

A script (for Load Script) is defined as compiled bits of code for the EQWatcher Advanced interpreter to handle (a .EAC file such as the core script CORE.EAC).  Scripts can be loaded and unloaded automatically by the Script Management system. 

When you run EQWatcher, remember to turn logging on in EverQuest.  This is a simple concept that was left to the obvious previously, but it doesn't always occur right away that you actually have to turn it on.  You can choose to edit the file EQCLIENT.INI and find where it says "logging=false" and change it to "logging=true" (note: EQWatcher can do this for you via the button on the window), or type "/log" each time you log in to EverQuest.  EQWatcher doesn't delete this file for you when it gets too large, so be sure to do it yourself if you want.  I personally don't mind having my log file up to 70 megs of my 40 gigs, but this decision is left up to you.

There are preferences that can be set for most of the built-in functionality.  By default, EQWatcher will automatically say the damage-per-second it detects you doing after each fight, bark when you get a tell (and read it out loud if you have text-to-speech), bark on says, squeak on guild chat and group chat.  The other channels make no sound by default.  The preferences and functions of each module can be found in the corresponding sections of the documentation under basics.