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Welcome to the XI-InfoBar-MIP wiki!

History

InfoBar was originally programmed and created as a plugin many years ago, of which it had become abandoned some time around 2010 or so. The idea behind InfoBar was to give the user information of what a target monster in the game has, things such as their expected level range, resistances, immunities, drops, and more. This led to the plugin still being used for many years and became a favorite. Iryoku explains, as listed on Iyouboushi's blog, why the plugin never seemed to get updates:

InfoBar is the hardest plugin we have to maintain. It makes minimal use of the Windower plugin API and does everything its own way. It even implements its own scripting language using a custom-built interpreter. What happens when we fix all of the other plugins is we make a few minor changes to the plugin API source files, and then we can just recompile all the plugins and they’re good to go. With Infobar that doesn’t work, and we have to re-implement all of those fixes again for a completely different API that none of us are familiar with. Knowing this, you might be able to understand why none of us really ever want to tackle fixing InfoBar, and it’s perpetually put off for later.

After some time had passed, KenshiDRK created a LUA-based version of the same InfoBar plugin, allowing for InfoBar to live on in a new format. However, the database was still lacking some entries. KenshiDRK, Iyouboushi, and countless others had done an amazing job of adding in some of the monsters and content that had been implemented since the last major revision of the database. Despite it all, there are still a variety of monsters that have either been added due to new content over the years, adjustments made to existing monsters and much more that may have gone unnoticed.

Today and onward

It brings us to today. I started the initiative, even with my very limited time in FFXI (even after attempting to give XI a go almost 20 years ago now!), because I do appreciate the work of having data available to one self. While throwing yourself head first into a situation can help with the learning experience, sometimes having a quick snippet of information made available to you can the difference in making an informed decision before you go head-first into the jaws of death.

I do not know what KenshiDRK's plans are regarding ongoing development or maintenance of the Windower 4 variety of InfoBar as a LUA addon. I also do not know if there is any intention to bring InfoBar over to Windower 5. But what I do know is that there are others like myself that still use InfoBar today and want to make a change in a good direction.

Current

We need to figure out what fields in the database we want to keep. Most of it is perfectly fine and doesn't need to change much. But a few extra fields that aren't utilized probably need to go.

Once we've got the groundwork setup, we can move forward with the daunting task of updating/adding monster info. Time consuming, but a work that will be noticed by users and appreciated for, none the less.

Credits

Iryoku for creating the original Infobar Plugin for Windower (if I'm wrong, apologies! First name I could find at all regarding the original plugin!)

Iyouboushi for previous contributions to the Infobar Monster Database (https://iyouffxi.wordpress.com/category/programs/infobar/)

KenshiDRK for the Infobar Addon (https://github.com/KenshiDRK)

The entire Windower Team and all who've made it possible for FFXI to run on modern OSes with few problems! (https://www.windower.net/)

And all contributors not mentioned because I don't know all the names.