Audio Triggers

When EverQuest added the "audio triggers" feature in October 2005, I found it useful in so many situations that the sounds built into the audio menu weren't enough; I needed ways to differentiate among them. So I recorded myself saying various words to use as audio trigger sound files. For several of them, I overlaid one of the existing alerts, based on the level of importance for the messages that set off that trigger. A few of the resulting audio files are used for only one message, but most of them were pressed into service in a surprising variety of situations.

I decided to put together this web page both to make the recordings available to anyone who might find them useful, and as a way to suggest some uses for audio triggers that some might otherwise overlook. For the most part, the order of triggers in your list doesn't matter, so I try to group mine by function (such as different ways a spell can fail) or by sound (various things this sound can mean). However, if more than one trigger matches something in your chat window, only the first of the triggers gets played, and there are places where I depend on that; I've tried to remark on the cases where it matters.

If you're completely unfamiliar with audio triggers, here is a brief tutorial on how they work, including how to add your own custom audio files.

If you know how to run Perl programs, here is a short program that converts back and forth between the EQ format and an unnumbered list; it makes it much easier to move blocks of triggers around and cut and paste between characters.

My triggers

I tend to use audio triggers for two types of message. One type is a message that can come unexpectedly and I want to be sure to notice it when it happens. These can range from mobs casting Gate, to skillup messages, to hails and tells. In many cases the sound is just a reminder that I should check my chat windows; in cases like a mob Gating, I use a more specific sound file so I immediately know what's happening.

The other type of trigger is when I try to do something that I would normally expect to work, and it fails. This can be because I'm out of mana, or my inventory is full, or I'm trying to cast a spell while a bank window is open, etc. Again, usually the sound simply alerts me that something went wrong and I check the chat window to see what the problem is. In most cases the failure happens immediately when I try to do the action, so I know what it is that just failed and the only question is why. (Spell-casting failures are actually more in the first category, since they usually happen at the end of the cast and thus my attention may already be elsewhere.)

In both cases I try to use more attention-grabbing sounds for events that need a more immediate response. For instance, being unable to buy something because my inventory is full is less important than noticing when I do a trade and some of the items fall to the ground because I'm full. For the really important cases I combine one of the more urgent sounds with a spoken word.

Here is the list of audio triggers I use for most of my characters, along with commentary on some of the fine points. If the sound shown is a link, it links to the .wav file, which you can download and install in your AudioTriggers\shared folder if you want to use it. Sounds that are not links are built into the game as part of the AudioTriggers\default folder.

Though capitalisation doesn't matter in the trigger phrase, I try to match the capitalisation used by the game, to make it easier to recognise the message text.

Complete Heal

This sound file is a countdown that lets me know when the Complete Healing spell is going to finish casting. I find it useful both on party CHeals so I can watch the target's hit points and decide if the spell is going to finish in time, and when a mob casts it (which I can see if the group leader has the "spell awareness" ability) and I want to know how long we have to either kill the mob or interrupt the cast.

This trigger is the first in my list so that it takes precedence over things like "tells the group"; i.e. I get the countdown message when someone tells the group about a Complete Heal. Note: You might need to adjust the phrase to match what your healer says when casting CH. Remember that trigger phrases ignore upper/lowercase, so don't trigger on just "CH" or you'll be alerted any time a word appears that contains "ch"!

SoundPhrase
tencountComplete Heal

Chat

I use one sound for group/raid chat and my private friends channel, and another one for guild and guild officers chat, which matches how I have those channels split between chat windows. I reserved a more distinctive sound for messages that warrant my immediate attention: hails, invitations, and personal tells. (The tells are handled by a set of triggers at the end of the list so I can filter out "tells" from NPC bankers, merchants, etc., some of which have special triggers of their own.)

The group and chat triggers come first (after CH) so they'll be the sound I get if someone tells the group/guild/whatever something that would otherwise fire off a more specific trigger. (E.g., if someone in the guild happens to say "You are no longer feigning death", I'll get just the guild-chat sound.) I include the open-quote (actually apostrophe) on some of them so they won't trigger on voice-tells.

SoundPhrase
Tell2tells the group, '
Tell2tells myfriendschannel_01:
Tell2tells the raid, '
Tell2tells raidchat_01:
Thumptells the guild, '
Thumptells guildofficers_01:
Alert5'Hail, Sukrasisx'
Alert5invites you to join a

When I'm AFK

Sometimes I'm AFK but near my computer, so I'm interested in noticing if someone tries to talk to me. These alerts notice when I send my AFK message in response to a tell, and are more attention-grabbing than the alerts on tells shown further down. Each character has a single trigger matching that character's usual AFK message; one example is shown.

This is one of the cases where I wish the trigger pattern could include a wildcard, so I could match "You tell*AFK Message". As it is, these triggers sometimes fire off on other people's AFK messages. I try to make my actual AFK messages distinctive enough to avoid that, though.

SoundPhrase
Alert3'AFK Message: Trader mode.

Invisibility

I have one alert for when I get warned that invis is fading early, and another that I use for all the different "invis wore off" messages. As I encounter new forms of invis with new messages, I add them to the list. So far I haven't felt the need to trigger when invis-vs-undead wears off. (The "starting to appear" message applies to both regular invis and IVU.)

SoundPhrase
AppearingYou feel yourself starting to appear.
VisibleYou appear.
VisibleYou become visible.
VisibleYou return to view.
VisibleYour shadows fade.
VisibleThe mystical foliage vanishes.
VisibleThe cloud of indifference fades.
VisibleYour body shifts into phase.

Happy Events

I like to notice when I get a skill-up. I especially enjoy the rash of melee skill-ups just after I gain a level, but it's also useful when I'm explicitly training up a skill (tradeskill, spellcasting, swimming, etc.) and want to notice the skill-ups as I approach the cap. Similarly, some of my characters want to notice certain weapon procs, either to savor a particularly vicious proc or because the proc is a DOT or debuff and once it fires it's time for me to switch weapons.

Another "happy event" that's important to notice is when a Divine Intervention or similar spell saves me from death; some forms of this include a few ticks of invulnerability, and it helps if I realise what's happened so I don't squander my second chance at life. (I chose the word "shielded" for this trigger so I could re-use it in a trigger alerting my SK when he's using his pet as a living shield.) This trigger includes my character's name so it won't fire off from other characters' death pacts.

SoundPhrase
Thump2You have become better at
Thump2has been poisoned
ShieldedSukrasisx's death pact has been benevolently fulfilled!

Unexpected Trouble

When something fails that usually works, I often need to realise it as soon as possible. Heading the list, for those characters who have the ability, is Feign Death. The sound under both "Fallen" and "Broken" is Alert4, which I find is one of the most attention-grabbing. I tend to reserve it for alerting me to things failing in combat, with a few exceptions.

As with the death pact trigger, the "fallen to the ground" message has my character's name in it so I don't get alerted when other nearby players fail to feign death.

SoundPhrase
FallenSukrasisx has fallen to the ground
BrokenYou are no longer feigning death
ResistThe strength of your will allows you to resume feigning death.
ClearYour enemies have forgotten you

The first autofollow message is the one you get when you get out of range. The other is when you retake control by turning or moving yourself; since it happens as a result of me doing something it doesn't require as obvious a sound, but I find it does sometimes help to have a reminder that my action turned off autofollow.

SoundPhrase
LostFollowcanceling auto-follow
Alert2You are no longer auto-following

I've found three different messages that can arise from objects falling to the ground: when I accept a trade, when I /autoinventory or drop an item in the middle of my inventory window, and when I try to give someone an item but they're too far away. The sound mixed with "Dropped" is Alert3, which is the other one I find particularly attention-grabbing. I use it more for non-combat matters. Once I had the audio file it was the obvious choice for the fourth message in the group as well.

SoundPhrase
DroppedThe item has dropped to the ground!
DroppedYou have no more room. The item falls to the ground.
DroppedYou just dropped your
DroppedYou LOST a level! You are now level

When I cast a spell I usually press the hotkey or mouse and my attention is already elsewhere by the time I finish casting, so it helps to have a trigger alert me if something fails. Many of these use specific words in the trigger so I know what the problem was and whether I should just recast or try something else (e.g., if out of mana).

The first trigger in this group used to include a misspelling ("collapes") because that's how the game spelled it so the trigger had to match. Finally one day I actually did get left behind by a succor and was surprised because I hadn't heard my audio warning. I checked and found they'd fixed the game! I didn't have a really appropriate word already recorded for this one, so I went with the same sound file as when Feign Death fails, because both events leave me with the same feeling of "oh, you're screwed now!" combined with "well, get up and try to survive long enough to do it again!" The second one is also specific, but Gate isn't always as urgent as Evac so I just treated it as a special type of fizzle.

Note the Null audio file used for a particular spell resist. Null.wav is a zero-duration sound file. Not all of my characters have this trigger; the ones who both cast spells and do melee include it so I can find out about spell resists in general (the next trigger down) while not being spammed by mobs resisting my weapon proc. Similarly, the Null triggers on "Effect spell" and "Aura of Insight" wearing off are to avoid being spammed by my pets moving out of range of auras, while still being alerted when other buffs wear off my pets and when buffs wear off that I've cast on players. My wife's cleric also uses a Null trigger so she doesn't get told when her heal-over-time spells wear off. (Whereas when I run my cleric, I'm happy to be reminded of that.)

SoundPhrase
FallenThe portal collapses before you can escape!
FizzleYour gate is too unstable, and collapses.
NullYour target resisted the Strike of Opportunity
ResistYour target resisted the
FizzleYour spell fizzles!
InterruptYour spell is interrupted.
AlertYou are missing some required components.
NullEffect spell has worn off
NullAura of Insight spell has worn off
Alert2spell has worn off

The "Out" messages below cover a range of things, but mostly they involve things that failed immediately when I tried to do something, unlike (say) spells, where there's a cast time before the interrupt or resist message. For these, the trigger tells me that whatever I just tried to do, failed because something was missing, and if it's not obvious I can look at the chat window for the details. Alert4 is the same sound as "Out", but for some reason I felt the failure to Bash worked better without the spoken part.

The trigger about the Pet is for when I use a hotkey to control my pet when I don't currently have a pet. (In my cleric's case it probably means he tried to summon his animated hammer while targetting the tank instead of the mob, so the spell failed.)

SoundPhrase
OutInsufficient Endurance to activate this ability!
OutInsufficient Mana to cast this spell!
OutItem is out of charges.
OutThrowing mighty (checks nametag) Pet! at
OutYou do not have enough room to use this bandolier.
Out, but you can't afford to buy them.'
Outtells you, 'You cannot afford the
OutYou can't fish without
OutSorry, but you don't have everything you need for this recipe
Alert4You need to equip a shield in order to BASH

Failing a tradeskill combine felt so much like a spell fizzle that it seemed natural to re-use that audio file. The "Alert" sounds are mostly for cases where I've forgotten to do something, like when I try to cast a spell without closing a bank window, but for symmetry I also use it when I try to trade with someone else who's got a banker or merchant open.

The one for "Your spell would not have taken hold" (as distinct from the more common "Your spell did not take hold") was added after my Wizard nearly died trying to recast his self-only levitation buff and a bug (which seems maybe to have been fixed since then) prevented the self-only spell from taking hold if he had something else targetted.

SoundPhrase
FizzleYou lacked the skills to fashion the items together.
FizzleYou can't hold the book open with your hands full.
AlertYou must first select a target for this spell!
AlertYou can only cast this spell in the outdoors.
AlertYou are too distracted to cast a spell now!
AlertYou must be standing to attack!
Alerttells you, 'I'm busy right now.'
AlertYour spell is too powerful for your intended target.
AlertYour spell would not have taken hold on your target.
AlertYour inventory appears full! How can you buy more?
AlertYou cannot pick up a lore item you already possess.
AlertYou cannot loot this Lore Item. You already have one.
AlertYou already have that Lore Item on your person or in the bank.

Bazaar Mules

Many of the special messages for traders and buyers in The Bazaar appear only in special windows, not in chat, and thus cannot set off triggers. But I've run across a couple messages that show up in regular chat, so I can use audio to help me notice them. (There's also the triggers shown earlier that alert me when someone sends a tell while I'm AFK.)

SoundPhrase
Alert4You must be standing on a Buyer platform
OutYou don't have the compensation offered.

Bristlebane's Jester

Here's a truly odd use for audio triggers: distinguishing the Veteran Reward jester's good bread and wine from the poisonous variety. If you try to send a cross-server tell (using ";tell" instead of "/tell") and put an item link in place of the recipient's name, you'll get an error message that includes some gibberish in front of the first word of the item's name:
;tell Bristlebane's Wine
Could not find player 00FA2E000000000000000000000000000000000D75999Bristlebane's

As some folks know, the gibberish can be used to construct hotkeys that put item links into /ooc or other chat. That's because the gibberish is really the game's secret number for identifying what the object is. And it turns out that the good and bad forms are really different objects, so I've set up audio triggers to notice the particular gibberish each of them produces. Now, not only can I test the jester's bread and wine before tasting it, I can test the bread/wine that someone else got just by having them send me a link! (I just use their link to do a ;tell as shown above.)

SoundPhrase
Broken266B629ABristlebane's
Broken9079D92FBristlebane's
Clear00D75999Bristlebane's
Clear7FC40C6EBristlebane's

Hostile Acts

These are various messages that alert me when a mob is doing things that I really want to know about. The one for myself being summoned is mostly to confirm what my screen has already shown; I've found it helps me react more quickly. These are near the end not because they are less important, but because I sometimes find it useful to add temporary situational triggers which tend to feel similar (for instance, to notice special emotes or spell effects), and the way the UI works new triggers get added at the bottom, and I want them closer to these in case I end up keeping them.

The Rage triggers fire off a bit more often than I'd like, because they also react to player pet's becoming enraged. I haven't found a good way to prevent that. (I could add Null triggers for each possible pet name becoming enraged, and for "'s warder" and "'s pet", but that's awkward.) But being alerted to enraged mobs is important enough that I tolerate the occasional false report..

SoundPhrase
DispelYou feel a bit dispelled.
DispelYou feel dispelled.
DispelYou feel annulled.
SummonYou have been summoned!
Gatebegins to cast the Gate spell
Ragehas become ENRAGED
Clearis no longer enraged

Tells

I tried having a trigger on "tells you," but got tired of hearing it every time I opened a banker or merchant window. It turns out, though, there are relatively few things NPCs speak via "tells", so I can list most of them with the Null audio file and then have a catch-all for remaining tells. (Since each chat line only plays the first matching trigger, this means all the boring "tells" play the "no-sound" sound, while real tells play the Alert5 file.)

Some other NPC tells, such as "Your inventory appears full", are covered by earlier triggers. That's why these come at the end, so the earlier ones can take precedence when they apply.

SoundPhrase
Nulltells you, 'That'll be
Nulltells you, 'I'll give you
Nulltells you, 'Welcome to my bank!'
Nulltells you, 'Come back soon!'
Nulltells you, 'A fine donation! You'll receive
Nulltells you, 'We graciously accept your
Nulltells you, 'I cannot accept your
Nulltells you, 'You have increased your skill in
Nulltells you, 'I am unable to wake
Nulltells you, 'Attacking

Tells from players that are really their AFK message feel like they warrant a different alert:

SoundPhrase
Alert4tells you, 'Sorry, I am A.F.K
Alert4tells you, 'AFK Message:

And now finally I can trigger on any tells that weren't caught by earlier triggers. I use the same sound as for hails and invitations.

SoundPhrase
Alert5tells you, '