To Cheat or not To Cheat

I’ve recently begun struggling with the limits of the FF macro system.

Yes, yes, I know, PS2 limitations, etc.

However, I play on the PC, which makes the Windower an option. One I’ve generally stayed away from because I feel it is cheating. Yes, I know, I modify some of my .dats, but I don’t find that to be cheating, just making the game easier on the eyes. Changing the .dats also doesn’t give me an advantage over anyone else. Windower would — except that I know most people use it at this point.

Windower also has those nice externally editable macros, which would make everything a lot easier in-game. Right now, for my thf’s WS, I need to hit 6 macros (Sneak Attack, Gear Swap 1, Gear Swap 2, WS, Gear Swap back 1, Gear Swap back 2). Much of the time (especially in dynamis with the lag), I don’t even bother for half of the swaps b/c by the time I’m finished swapping, the monster would be dead. Considering the number of different sets of gear I have for THF, I really need to have its own set of macros (which would put yet another macro in the mix, one macro to switch into my WS macro set, and one to switch back to TP set).

Several years ago I used the early windower for a month or so to keep the game from crashing when I would get those annoying pop ups in the task manager, and also to prevent the game from crashing when I accidentally hit alt-tab or the windows key (I also used an outside program called WinKeyKill which would disable the windows key and alt-tab). It was broken a few patches later and I never bothered to get the latest version. None of the nicities really mattered to me — distance was neat, but meh; tparty was also neat, but meh (I was only a whm at the time); exp watch I liked, etc.

Having my recasts on screen would also eliminate another couple macros I have to check my recasts all the time. Not to mention the BlinkMeNot, which would prevent me from losing my target when I swap visible gear (this one really bugs me a lot, and is why I lost my first Maat fight on mnk).

I also really need to completely rewrite most of my macro sets to take advantage of new gear and new JAs. Since I’ve gotta rewrite them all, I may as well just use the Windower Extended macros. I could write them at work to eliminate a lot of boredom too.

Ah ponderings. I guess this comes from my very strange moral code. For example, I have enough money in real life to buy myself a relic, but I choose not to. Its really hard to spend any amount of time farming when you know that for the same time at work, you could make way more than enough to buy several times the amount you are getting. I’m not saying I’m rich, but I could part with a thousand or two to get a relic and not really miss it.

And I put using windower on the level of buying gil online. I don’t really want to do it, and I would feel bad for using it. At the same time, I don’t really see a good option to my problems other than using something like windower.

Although if someone had an option for something other than windower, and a way to reorganize my macros, I’m all ears.