Hear Kitty

Hear Kitty plays soothing and distinct orchestral sounds as you gain and spend your combat resources.  It's like having your own theme music!  You'll hear tones as you gain combo points or stacks of your buffs, and when you hear the final note played, you'll know it's time for a finishing move.  Never watch for little red dots or buff stacks again!

These classes and specs work with Hear Kitty:

• Druids (in cat form): combo points
• Rogues: combo points
• Enhancement shamans: Maelstrom Weapon charges
• Elemental shamans: Lightning Shield charges
• Paladins: holy power
• Discipline priests: Evangelism stacks
• Shadow priests: shadow orbs
• Marksmanship hunters: Ready, Set, Aim... and Fire! stacks
• Unholy death knights: Shadow Infusion stacks on your ghoul and when Dark Transformation ends
• Destruction warlocks: burning embers
• Monks: chi
• Arcane mages: arcane charges
• Vehicles with combo points (such as the drakes in Eye of Eternity)

Installing Hear Kitty

Hear Kitty is installed like pretty much every other World of Warcraft mod on the planet.  Extract the contents of the zip file to your Add-ons folder, generally located in one of these locations:

C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns
C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns
C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns

Contacting the author

I'm interested in knowing what you think of Hear Kitty!  Bug reports and suggestions are cool too.  The best way to contact me is through Facebook or on the Hear Kitty page at Curse, which I check daily.  You can also contact me through in-game mail: Vger on Azjol-Nerub (US), Horde.  (Just make sure that you keep a character on my server and check your mail, or I can't respond!)  Also, check out my official site, where you can find links to all of my mods.

Hear Kitty Options

To change Hear Kitty options, open Interface Options, click the AddOns tab, and then choose Hear Kitty from the list.

Play sounds

You can disable all Hear Kitty sounds by unchecking this option.

Sound pack

If you install additional Hear Kitty sound packs, you can choose which set of sounds you'd like to hear from this list.  You can find additional sound packs on Curse.

Control Hear Kitty sound volume the same as in-game sounds

Normally, Hear Kitty sounds will play even if game sounds are disabled, and they ignore the Sound effects volume setting, so you can only control the volume with the Master volume slider.  Enable this option to make Hear Kitty respect the volume settings for in-game sound effects.

Only play a tone when resource is maxed

Check this option to cause Hear Kitty to skip the sounds for combo points 1-4 so you only hear a sound when your combo points are maxed out.

Play multiple tones on a crit

Certain talents can cause you to score two combo points instead of one when you crit with an ability.  By default, Hear Kitty will play both sound effects when this happens.  For example, if you had one combo point already, and then got a crit that scored you two combo points, you'd normally hear the "two combo points" sound quickly followed by the "three combo points" sound.  With this option checked (the default), you'd hear both sounds.  If you uncheck it, you'll only hear the "three combo points" sound in this situation.

Slash commands

Hear Kitty supports a couple slash commands that you can use in macros.

Showing the Hear Kitty configuration UI

/hearkitty

Use /hearkitty to go directly to the Hear Kitty options panel, without having to find it in Interface Options. 

Turning Hear Kitty sounds on or off entirely

/hearkitty on
/hearkitty off

Use /hearkitty off to turn off all Hear Kitty sounds.  Use /hearkitty on to turn them back on.  (This is the same as the "Play sounds" checkbox in the Hear Kitty options.)

Customizing Hear Kitty

There are a couple things that you can do to customize Hear Kitty to your liking.

Changing the volume

By default, the volume of Hear Kitty's sounds is controlled by the Master Volume setting on the Sound options screen, and Hear Kitty sounds will play even if in-game sounds are muted.  You can raise or lower the volume of music and ambience to make Hear Kitty's sound quieter or louder, depending on your preference.  If you'd like Hear Kitty to respect your in-game sound volume settings, check the "Control Hear Kitty sound volume the same as in-game sounds" option in the Hear Kitty options.

There is also a sound pack available for download at Curse that includes both quieter and louder versions of the Symphony sound pack that you can select from the Hear Kitty options once it's installed.

Developing your own sound packs

If you'd like to develop your own sound pack for Hear Kitty, download the Backwards sound pack from vgermods.com and use it as a starting point.

• Rename the folder and .toc file to the same thing.  I suggest "HearKitty_" and then the name of your sound pack.
• Edit the .toc file to give your sound pack a friendly and recognizable name.
• Edit the .lua file to give your sound pack two names: an "internal" name that never shows up in the UI, and the localized name that your users will see.  Both should be unique.
• You can also choose how the Hear Kitty options will credit you when the user selects your sound pack.
• Change the paths in the .lua file to point to your sound pack's sound files.  For best results, save the sounds in Ogg Vorbis (.ogg) format and put them in the same folder as your sound pack, or a subfolder.  (However, World of Warcraft also supports .wav and .mp3 sounds.)  You can convert a wide variety of different sound files to Ogg Vorbis files, as well as adjust volume and perform other edits, using the free Audacity software.  (There are many different free sound editors available.)

Disabling Hear Kitty sounds when you're in a raid

Another one of Vger's mods, "Gyro: Get Your Raid On!", lets you set up macros that are run whenever you join or leave a raid.  If you want to set up Hear Kitty so that sounds don't play when you're in a raid, first download Gyro from your favorite mod site (or vgermods.com).  Then, add /hearkitty off to your GyroStartRaid macro, and /hearkitty on to your GyroEndRaid macro.  For more information, see the readme that comes with the Gyro mod.

Release history

Version 1.5.1

• Fixed a bug where Hear Kitty would play extra sounds for shadow priests if they had previously been discipline spec.

Version 1.5

• All Hear Kitty features, classes, and specs should now work for German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Russian players.  Those languages also include a machine-translated UI.  Some Hear Kitty features (but not all classes and specs) will work in other languages.
  • If you have any suggestions or corrections to the existing machine translations, or would like to translate Hear Kitty into a different language, please let me know!
• Added support for arcane mages (Arcane Charge stacks).
• Changed the way that holy power and chi work: previously Hear Kitty would not play a sound when spending only 1 of those resources, since it can't tell the difference between a resource that was spent and one that expired.  That behavior was weird for Tiger Palm, which costs 1 chi and is used frequently.  The new behavior is that Hear Kitty will continue to play sounds when 1 chi is lost if you're in combat, or if it was your last chi, but not if you're out of combat and you still have some chi left.  This behavior should be more pleasant and predictable.
• Hear Kitty will no longer play sounds for gaining and losing holy power, chi, and shadow orbs when your level is too low to use those resources.
• Hear Kitty will no longer play sounds during the preparation phase of a battleground or arena.
• Fixed a bug where Hear Kitty would play sounds even when its sounds were disabled for classes other than druid and rogue.

Version 1.4.3

• Updated the monk support for patch 5.1.  (Chi used to be called "Light force" in the Blizzard code and that's what Hear Kitty tracked.  Now it's called a more sensible "Chi".)

Version 1.4.2

• Hear Kitty will no longer play sounds for guardian druids who get Lightning Shield from a shaman through Symbiosis.  (Please consider this bug payback for all those times I got your stupid Prowl ability in return.)
• Updated Ready, Set, Aim... (marksmanship hunters) for 5.0 so that it properly counts to 3 stacks now.

Version 1.4.1

• Changed the behavior of Holy Power and Chi and other resources that decay over time) so that their sound effects won't slowly count down when you're just soloing, waiting for the tank to pull, or otherwise letting your resources decay, since probably you're already annoyed by not killing things and Hear Kitty reminding you that you haven't killed things in a while is extra annoying.

Version 1.4

• This version of Hear Kitty is for World of Warcraft 5.0 only.  It will not work properly for all classes and specs on old versions of World of Warcraft.
• Changes were made to the following classes and specs to make them work in 5.0:
  • Shadow priests (didn't work at all in 5.0 since shadow orbs are now a resource and not a buff)
  • Elemental shamans (didn't play the correct sounds in 5.0 since Lightning Shield stacks to 7 and not 9)
  • Paladins (holy power now holds 5 charges instead of 3)
  • Warlocks (new support for burning embers in Hear Kitty 1.4) (special thanks to Derrek-Cairne)
  • Monks, all specs (new support for the chi resource in Hear Kitty 1.4)
• Note that older Hear Kitty sound packs will not work properly for elemental shamans and monks when using Hear Kitty 1.4.  Be sure to upgrade your sound packs too!

Version 1.3.2

• Now plays the finishing (drums) sound again when Dark Transformation ends on an unholy death knight's ghoul.

Version 1.3.1

• Fixed a minor bug that could occur when spellstealing a buff from an NPC that had the same name as one that Hear Kitty normally tracks (such as Lightning Shield) but more charges than the normal player version (such as 20).

Version 1.3

• Added support for unholy death knights (Shadow Infusion stacks on ghouls).
• Added support for elemental shamans (extra Lightning Shield charges due to Rolling Thunder, starting at the fifth stack).
• Added support for discipline priests (Evangelism stacks).  Only stacks of Evangelism are counted, not Dark Evangelism.  The tones for the stacks are played regardless of whether Archangel is off cooldown.
• Added support for shadow priests (Shadow Orb stacks).
• Added support for marksmanship hunters (Ready, Set, Aim... and Fire! stacks).
• When you choose a new sound pack and then later uninstall that sound pack, Hear Kitty will now return to the default set of sounds (Symphony) instead of failing to play any sounds at all.

Version 1.2.1

• Fixed a bug where the currently selected sound pack would sometimes appear as "Custom" when opening the Hear Kitty options.
• Sound pack authors can now have their names appear in the Hear Kitty options when the sound pack is selected.

Version 1.2

• Hear Kitty now supports installable sound packs to customize the Hear Kitty sounds to your liking without having to manually replace files each time you update Hear Kitty.  You can change your sound pack in the Hear Kitty options.
• Added a new option to let you control the volume and muting of Hear Kitty sounds using the in-game Sound Effects volume settings.  This was the behavior of Hear Kitty since patch 4.0 until now.  This option is off by default, so the Sound Effects volume and muting settings don't affect Hear Kitty, which was the behavior before patch 4.0.
• Fixed some minor UI issues that occurred when clicking Cancel in the Hear Kitty options.

Version 1.1.8

• The "only play a sound at five combo points" option has been renamed and also now allows you to set up Hear Kitty so that it only plays a tone when you reach three Holy Power, and stays silent on the first two charges.

Version 1.1.7

• Fixed an error message that occurred if you tried to set Hear Kitty options and hadn't gained any combo points yet since logging in.
• Increased the volume of the sound effects.

Version 1.1.6

• Supports the paladin resource of Holy Power, and plays sound effects for holy power charges as if they were combo points.
• Worked around the problem on WoW 4.0 where sounds would play extremely quietly.

Version 1.1.5

• Update for the Cataclysm beta and the 4.0 PTR.

Version 1.1.4

• Fixed the sporadic issue some people were experiencing with Hear Kitty getting randomly turned off after using the Interface Options window.

Version 1.1.3

• Supports the enhancement shaman ability Maelstrom Weapon, and plays sound effects for maelstrom charges as if they were combo points.
• Added an option to only play a tone when hitting 5 combo points (or MW charges), rather than for each combo point 1-4.

Version 1.1.2

• Added support for vehicles and mounts with combo points.  The only quest that I'm aware of where you use such a vehicle is Aces High!, but there may be more.)

Version 1.1.1

• Updated for patch 3.0.

Version 1.1

• Hear Kitty now has a UI for changing options in the AddOns section of Interface Options.  You can also get to it by typing /hearkitty.
• Now supports playing a longer string of sound effects on when gaining more than two combo points.  For example, if you had one combo point and gained three more from one attack, sounds 2, 3, and 4 would be played by default.
• Now supports talents that give you a combo point on a finishing move (Ruthlessness).  For example, if you had two combo points and then did a finishing move that gave you a bonus combo point, sounds 0 and 1 would be played by default.
• Fixed an occasional bug where if you gained two combo points in rapid succession but not at the exact same time, the two sounds would play at the same time and sound like a single chord.

Version 1.0.1

• Now displays a more readable error message when the embedded mod VgerCore is missing or failed to load.

Version 1.0

• Hear Kitty is now version 1.0!  It now includes VgerCore 1.0 embedded within the mod, so you don't need a separate VgerCore folder in your AddOns folder.

Version 0.2.1

• Now checks to make sure that a usable version of VgerCore is installed when Hear Kitty is loaded.
• Localization changes to make it easier to translate Hear Kitty into another language.

Version 0.2

• Added support for playing both sounds when you score two combo points on a critical hit. See /hearkitty double crits under "Slash commands" for more information.

Version 0.1

• Initial released version, compatible with patch 2.0.

Future version ideas

Additional classes and specs

• If there's a class or spec that I missed that you think would work well with Hear Kitty, please let me know.  Be sure to tell me how you'd expect it to work, since I probably don't play that spec.
• Warlocks—soul shards (see ShardBar.lua) (old version: starting at level 10, monitor UNIT_POWER_FREQUENT for SOUL_SHARDS and check UnitPower("player", SPELL_POWER_SOUL_SHARDS))
• Unholy death knights—add a warning sound a few seconds before your ghoul's stacks are about to wear off so you know to use death coil again to preserve them.
• Unholy death knights—add an alternate sound effect for when transforming the ghoul (or just treat the transformation buff as 5 stacks and don't play a sound at all).
• All death knights—add sounds for Blood Tap stacks.  (There's a technical limitation preventing that right now—Hear Kitty doesn't have a way to track two things for the same player, but an unholy death knight could have stacks for both her ghoul and Blood Tap.  Also that would probably be confusing so I'd have to decide how the two spells should interact.)
• Feral kitties—add a sound effect at 25% boss health for when Blood in the Water kicks in (or 60% health if you have the set bonus).  (I'd want to come up with some rules like "only do this if the boss is a skull-level enemy and has at least 10x my health" or something like that.)
• Arms warriors—add sounds for Taste for Blood stacks.
• Feral bears—Lacerate stacks.  (Since Lacerate is a debuff on your target and not a buff on your character, and you can have Lacerate stacks on multiple targets, it's more complex and actually fairly different from other things that Hear Kitty currently tracks.)

General

• I should add different sets of tones for resources that go to 3, 4, or 6; right now they just reuse the tones for 5, and they sound particularly weird for 4- and 6-point resources.
• I might add an optional alternate sound effect for when combat ends, instead of playing the normal "0 combo points" sound.
• Paladins might want a more "final"-sounding tone at 3 holy power instead of 5 since nothing costs more than 3 holy power and it's worth using it as soon as possible.
• I could add a sound effect for when your energy, runic power, or focus caps out.
• I could add something to detect when you've been capped at combo points for a while and still haven't spent them, in case you forget.
• It's been suggested that warriors and bears would like a warning sound when they hit 60 rage.
• It's been suggested that some rogues would like the 4 sound to sound more "final" since that's when they use finishers.

The fine print

© 2006-2013 Green Eclipse.  This mod is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license.  In short, this means that you can use it, copy it, and share it, but you can't sell it or distribute your own altered versions without permission. By using the mod you agree to the terms of the license. For more information, click the link.