UDTool/List

UDTool/List is under construction. It is either not completed or is about a subject or event which has yet to finish. Feel free to check back later for an update in information.

UDTool is an Firefox extension designed to enhance the Urban Dead playing experience. Although UDTool has pretty been obsoleted by various other extensions and scripts, it did leave a lasting legacy in the form of the UDTool List. In its simplest form, a list contains one or more group and character names; when the list is loaded into the tool and a listed character is encountered in-game, their name will be coloured according to the list definition. There are a number of advanced features which will be covered later in this guide.

UDTool 101

1. First off, you must be using a Mozilla web browser such as Firefox.

2. Next, download and install udWidget (recommended) or UDTool (mostly obsolete). It should come up with the option to install automatically, but if you happen to save the file, simply drag it into the browser window to install it.

3. Optional: If you receive an error about version incompatibility, first install Nightly Tester Tools. Restart the browser and attempt step 2 again.

4. Restart Firefox to complete installation.

5. Open Notepad, or your preferred text editor.

6. The basic format list is usually in a format something like this:

;Comment line - can contain anything, this will not be processed

#Colour,Group
#Colour,Group
#Colour,Group
#Colour,Group

name,Group,optional comment
name,Group,optional comment
name,Group,optional comment
name,Group,optional comment

A simple list may look something like this:

;Sample UDTool List
#FFFFFF,SurvivorsINC
#004400,PKersAhNah

Athos,SurvivorsINC
Porthos,SurvivorsINC
Aramis,SurvivorsINC
d'Artagnan,SurvivorsINC,a newbie to the group
Snorkel,PKersAhNah
Shrubbery,PKersAhNah
Jujube,PKersAhNah

This example would make  Zergs  show up as mint-green,  SurvivorsINC  as white, and  PKersAhNah  as dark green. Colours can be changed per personal preference, provided you use hexadecimal. There are a number of handy tools available to help you with this.

Important: When you write the list, make sure you spell AND capitalise the character names as they show up in-game.

7. Save your list (make sure it's as a TEXT file) wherever.^[1]

8. Next, load the list:

• UDWidget: Go toTools --> udWidget Options --> Check "Enable Colorizer", and click 'Import Names and Groups'
• UDTool: Go to 'Tools' --> UDTool' --> Change/load list, and click 'Open Existing' at the prompt.

9. Find the list you saved, and open it.

10. If all's been done successfully, next time you log into Urban Dead, you should be able to see names highlight in the colour you have specified. If running udWidget, go to the profile page of one of the characters named on the list and the highlighting should be visible there.

Credit to KN for writing up the initial version and providing me (Revenant) with the impetus to (eventually) work on this.

Advanced

Auto-update lists with UDWidget

As well as characters and groups designated in the list file itself, UDTool Lists can contain Auto-Update Lists. As the name implies, these are automatically updated from a remote URL. This method works with UDWidget but not with UDTool.

A UDTool Auto-Update line is formatted along these lines

:url(http://url-to-list/),(;Start List),end(;End List),group(Group),color(#FFFFFF)

While the list itself is formatted something like this

;UDTool Auto-Update list - located at http://url-to-list/

;Start List
#FFFFFF,Group
Character1,Group
Character2,Group
;End List

If using UDWidget, one may instead link directly to a list file, provided that the URL is a direct link and contains nothing other than the list information. In addition, the groups must be defined before the :url line.

#FFFFFF,Group
:url(http://url-to-list/)

Example

;Auto-Update Lists

;Zerg Liste
#00ff64,Zergs
:url(http://zombies.dementiastudios.org/boards/index.php?topic=12.0),start(;Start List One),end(;End List One),group(Zergs),color(#00ff64)
:url(http://zombies.dementiastudios.org/boards/index.php?topic=12.0),start(;Start List Two),end(;End List Two),group(Zergs),color(#00ff64)
:url(http://zombies.dementiastudios.org/boards/index.php?topic=12.0),start(;Start List Three),end(;End List Three),group(Zergs),color(#00ff64)
:url(http://zombies.dementiastudios.org/boards/index.php?topic=12.0),start(;Start List Four),end(;End List Four),group(Zergs),color(#00ff64)

;Rogues Gallery
#FF0000,Wanted
#FF7256,Past PKers
:url(http://ud-malton.info/Rogues_Gallery.cgi?State=UD%20Tool%20list)

List priority

Entries are given the following priorities, determining which colour a character appears should they be listed in more than one group:

1. Locally defined groups, in order of appearance
2. Imported groups, in order of appearance

Auto-update Lists with UDTool

Since UDWidget doesn't work on Linux, some Linux users are still using UDTool. An explanation of how to have an auto-updating UDTool list with UDTool on Linux can be found here.

References

• Note 1: If using UDTool, it is advised to name the list file something generic such as UDTool List.txt, as its filename will be visible when you take a screenshot.