Easy Way to Work on a Parallel UI?

[Squirl]

I built the bulk of my UI back in Cata and I think it's time I tear it all down and build a new one. The way I would like to do this is with a clean slate; all settings deleted and addons back to default. However, I know rebuilding my UI is going to take me weeks (I like doing a lot of things myself, and I'm slow), and I can't have a half/non-functioning UI for that time. So, my questions are:

1. Does backing up a UI like this miss anything (i.e., anything saved server side)?
2. What is the best way to completely wipe out my current UI (is it as simple as deleting Interface and WTF)?
3. Is there anything in general that you think I probably shouldn't delete and instead pull over from my old UI (e.g., I'm saving my TSM stuff)?
4. Is there a way to easily swap between my current UI and my new, work-in-progress UI (e.g., installing a second client for the new UI)?

While I'm here, I have a few more questions about UI creation in general. With my current UI, each time I create a new character, I have to spend a few minutes selecting profiles for a bunch of addons since many addons seem to create and use a new character-specific profile for each new character. This fact also makes my current UI hard to share when people have asked. If there's something I can do to fix both of these things with my new UI from the start, I'd like to. I think my questions boil down to these:

1. Is there a general way to force addons to use a "Default" or "Global" profile for new characters?
2. If it has to be addressed per addon, can you point me to a guide that will help me address it for each addon myself?
3. Is this still the preferred way to package and share entire UIs?

Thanks for the help!

[Cyraxe]

When I am coding myself a new UI I will rename my current Interface/WTF folders and then boot up WoW so it creates fresh of everything. Then when I need to do something in game that requires my previous setup instead of my unfinished wip I just logout, rename the fresh install to something and change the previously renamed folders to the correct ones.

1. Looking at what that addon does, it does basically the same thing as just copying and pasting the folders manually.
2. Best way to start fresh is to do what I've said above. Either by renaming and booting fresh or just deleting but, if you delete with no copies then you can't go back to it.
3. If you're going the deletion route of course you don't want to delete stuff you know you will be using in your new setup.
4. Very easy way is to just use the renaming route I've mentioned. All it requires is to logout, rename folders and then load the game again.


1. This depends on the way the configuration was coded. The author can make database libraries use a default layout but, generally this isn't done so no. However, if you create a profile for each addon with profile capabilities and then install the addon, Reflux, you can do 1 slash command to set all profiles to the one you've specified.
2. ^^^
3. The way to package an interface hasn't changed.

[Squirl]

snip

Thanks for the fast reply!

I'm glad it's that easy to switch between UIs. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to miss anything or mess up my current UI before tinkering with it. Reflux sounds great too; I'm going to check it out.

[Venara]

1. Does backing up a UI like this miss anything (i.e., anything saved server side)?
2. What is the best way to completely wipe out my current UI (is it as simple as deleting Interface and WTF)?
3. Is there anything in general that you think I probably shouldn't delete and instead pull over from my old UI (e.g., I'm saving my TSM stuff)?
4. Is there a way to easily swap between my current UI and my new, work-in-progress UI (e.g., installing a second client for the new UI)?

1. Macros/Keybinds might get lost (unless you use an addon for keybinds). Bit of a tricky thing. I'm not entirely sure how it works right now but some stuff is stored locally while other stuff is stored server-side. If either is deleted the other part occasionally goes as well. You'll want to at least back up your macros somewhere.

2. Delete/Move/Rename the "Interface" and "WTF" folders. Also, you'll want to type "/resetchat" in your chat on your first login. This will reset the chat to default position and configuration. Aside from the Macro/Keybind wonkiness, Chat is the one thing that does not get reset alongside your UI when you delete the folders.

3. Honestly, I'd keep stuff you've calibrated fairly delicately already. Such as, maybe you have your boss mod addon of choice calibrated exactly to your needs. There's really no need to completely redo that, is there? You can change the look/position of stuff any time. The boss mod is just an example of course, could be anything else. I'd only reset stuff that "heavily" modifies your UI, such as an action bar addon like Bartender, a Minimap/Map addon, or similar.

4. There's really no need for two clients. Just keep the old "Interface" and "WTF" folders around and swap them with the new setup whenever you want to use the current / work on the new. Note you'll need to exit the client while you're doing this.

[tordenflesk]

Just make sure to disable sync, so chat frames etc. won't overwrite each other.

[Kanegasi]

Adding to the above reply about sync, this is what they mean: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/13421662064

[Squirl]

Thanks for the help, guys. I have my two separate UIs now and I wrote a batch script to quickly swap between them.

I have a question about syncing. I messed with the actionbars on my new UI today, and it changed the skill placement on my old UI too. I had already turned off all the sync CVars on both UIs, however, it appears actionbars sync no matter what you do according to this post. Is there any way around this? Another CVar I'm missing?

That post also says the you can use Reflux to save actionbar skill placement, but it doesn't appear to. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Here's what I did:

1. /reflux snapshot squirl
2. Moved some skills around
3. /reflux switch squirl

The changes I made on step 2 were still there. I can't figure out how to load the skill placement I snapshotted. I use Bartender for my actionbars if that matters.

I also tried an addon called "Profiles: Action bars", which works great except it doesn't put macros back where they were saved. Most of my actionbars are macros, so that's a big problem.

I can't find another up-to-date addon for saving and loading actionbar skill placement.

If any of you have a solution, I would be appreciate it. Thanks!

[Kanegasi]

Unfortunately, actionbars are not saved locally. They are strictly saved per spec on the server, which means every class has three sets of saved action bars, except for Demon Hunters which have two and Druids which have four. You can try Action Bar Profiles and see if that works.

[Squirl]

Unfortunately, actionbars are not saved locally. They are strictly saved per spec on the server, which means every class has three sets of saved action bars, except for Demon Hunters which have two and Druids which have four. You can try Action Bar Profiles and see if that works.

That addon works! The only thing it didn't put back was my Loot-A-Rang, but I can deal with that (or just turn it into a macro so it does put it back).

Thanks again for the help.