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# PixelState
A World of Warcraft addon (Classic Anniversary and WoW Forever) that shows your character's state
as seven small colored squares in the top-left corner of the screen. A program
that reads those pixel colors can decode the state without touching the game.
## Install
It ships with GCD Goblin: pick **install addon** in its menu with the
game focused, then `/reload`. By hand, copy this folder into the game's
AddOns folder, such as:
```
C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\_forever_\Interface\AddOns\PixelState
```
Enable PixelState on the character select AddOns screen.
## Layout
The squares sit in a row starting at the very top-left pixel. Each one is
4 x 4 screen pixels, so square N starts at x = N * 4. Sample the center pixel
of each square, at x = N * 4 + 2 and y = 2.
Every pixel has a red, green and blue value from 0 to 255. Each of those values
stores one number.
| Square | Red | Green | Blue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 255 | 0 | 255 |
| 1 | X position, high byte | X position, low byte | Facing |
| 2 | Y position, high byte | Y position, low byte | Flags |
| 3 | Map ID, high byte | Map ID, low byte | Player health |
| 4 | Player power | Target health | Checksum |
| 5 | Player level | Target level | Flags 2 |
| 6 | Typing | Typing | Typing |
## What each value means
### Square 0: sync marker
Always magenta, 255 0 255. If the reader doesn't see this color at square 0,
the strip is covered, off screen, or the colors are being altered. Ignore the
other squares until it shows up.
### Square 1 and 2: position
X and Y are your position on the current zone map, the same numbers map
addons show as coordinates. They are stored as 16-bit values split across two
channels:
```
x = (red1 * 256 + green1) / 65535 0.0 = left edge, 1.0 = right edge
y = (red2 * 256 + green2) / 65535 0.0 = top edge, 1.0 = bottom edge
```
Multiply by 100 to get the familiar map coordinates, such as 45.2, 61.8.
These coordinates are only meaningful together with the map ID in square 3.
Both read 0 where the game hides your position, such as inside dungeons.
### Square 1 blue: facing
The direction your character faces, as a fraction of a full turn:
```
facing_radians = blue1 / 255 * 2 * pi
```
0 is north, and the angle increases counterclockwise, so pi / 2 is west.
Each step is about 1.4 degrees.
### Square 2 blue: flags
Yes or no states, added together:
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 | You are in combat |
| 2 | You have a target |
| 4 | Your target is dead |
| 8 | You are dead or a ghost |
| 16 | Your target is in range of Shadow Bolt |
| 32 | The game said you are facing the wrong way, in the last second |
| 64 | You are auto-attacking, melee or wand |
| 128 | You are casting or channelling |
The range spell is `RANGE_SPELL` at the top of `PixelState.lua`. Change it to
a spell your class has, by its exact in-game name.
Test each one with a bitwise AND. A value of 3 means in combat with a target.
A value of 6 means you have a dead target selected, such as a mob to loot.
### Square 3: map ID
The zone map you're on, as a 16-bit value:
```
map_id = red3 * 256 + green3
```
It changes when you cross into a new zone or subzone map. A value of 0 means
the game reports no map.
### Square 3 blue and square 4 red and green: percentages
Health and power are scaled so 255 means full:
```
percent = value / 255 * 100
```
- **Square 3 blue** is your health.
- **Square 4 red** is your primary power, which is mana, rage or energy
depending on your class and form.
- **Square 4 green** is your target's health. It reads 0 with no target.
### Square 4 blue: checksum
The sum of the other fourteen values in squares 1 to 5, modulo 256:
```
checksum = (red1 + green1 + blue1 + red2 + green2 + blue2
+ red3 + green3 + blue3 + red4 + green4 + red5 + green5 + blue5) % 256
```
If your computed sum doesn't match blue4, throw that sample away. A mismatch
means the read caught the screen mid-redraw, or something shifted the colors.
### Square 5: levels
- **Red** is your character level, 1 to 70.
- **Green** is your target's level. It reads 0 with no target and 255 for a
target shown as a skull (??), which is far above you.
- **Blue** is a second set of flags: 1 means your target is within about 10 yards (melee reach), from `CheckInteractDistance`; 2 means your target can be attacked, from `UnitCanAttack`; 4 means you are moving, from `GetUnitSpeed`.
### Square 6: typing
White, 255 255 255, while a text box has keyboard focus (`GetCurrentKeyBoardFocus`):
you are typing in chat or another edit box. Black, 0 0 0, otherwise. Full-on
and full-off survive any gamma, brightness or contrast setting, so read it as
typing when red is above 127. It is outside the checksum.
## Keeping colors exact
The decoding of squares 1 to 5 only works if the colors reach the screen unchanged.
- Leave the in-game gamma, brightness and contrast at their defaults.
- Turn off Windows HDR and night light for the game's monitor.
- Turn off GPU color filters and any overlay that tints the screen.
- Keep the top-left corner of the game window uncovered.
If square 0 doesn't read exactly 255 0 255, one of these is the cause.
