[Guide] A closer look at the new /trade feature

Hi gang!

At the end of October Aikar and the developers introduced a very cool new feature: the trading interface. Something which I believe deserves a bit more attention because it can be quite useful. And so I decided that I should write a guide, like I often do. However, something funny happened during my first try I asked Aya to help me out and while we were exploring the interface and experimenting with the options all of a sudden Aikar manifested himself on my residence. Apparently Aya & me somehow created weird messages in the console and he was curious what was going on.

So I decided to postpone the guide a few weeks which should have provided plenty of time to address the caveats and now I really felt like finally making this guide. Also because I believe that the new trading feature can be extremely helpful.

Let's do some trading!

Have you ever been in this situation:

I've gone after a few Blizz's and managed to get both an eye and a nose from them. Thing is: I already had a nose while Aya only had an eye and she really would like to complete her promo collection with a nose (and maybe an arm) as well. The only problem: them rupees Now, I'm not too sure but I do like to think that my friend Blondekid42 started some of this idea with his bartering service (now closed!).

So we decided to trade items. Aya would give me some diamond blocks and I would give her a Blizz Ard's nose. And then this happened....

Caught him red handed!

Fortunately for us there is a new command to prevent all this drama: /trade.

A new command: /trade

You can start a trade with another player by using the command: /trade <name of player> where 'name of player' is obviously the name of another player. For example, in the above screenshot Aya just used: /trade shelluser.

If you start a trade with someone, and they accept, then it will open a new interface which might look a little overwhelming at first. But it's really very easy:

A closer look at the trading interface.

The interface is split into two areas where the left side is always used by the trade starter (so: the player who used the /trade command first) and the right side is used by the trade receiver (the person who had to either click the confirmation or use /trade in response).

As you can see both players have a 4 x 4 area in which they can place items to trade. In my example Aya offered me some blocks in exchange for a Blizz Ard's nose so she needs to put the items into this area. And since I'm offering a Blizz Ard's nose in return I have to place that in my area (on the right):

Aya placed her items and also clicked on the first confirm button.

The advantage here should be obvious: because we're using the actual items both players will get a direct look at the items which they're trading. In a way you could compare this to using a preview sign with a chest, with the main difference that you can actually exchange the items here.

So the next step is for me to place my item and then also click the confirm button. You can see that happening here:

If you look at the picture above then you might notice that the 2 glass panes in the middle (one on each side) have turned red. That's because those panes are the final confirmation buttons. So we both have to click a confirmation button twice. This is to make sure that we both fully agree with the provided trade. At all times you can withdraw your first confirmation, after which you'll probably have to do some re-negotiating. Or you can cancel the trade completely by either clicking on the main cancel button or by hitting the escape key.

Here Aya has clicked on the final confirmation, all that's left now is for me to do the same (click the red glass pane).

Here we've almost struck a deal. The only thing left now is for me to confirm and then all the items will be sent to the other player. Do make sure that you got enough inventory space! Because the items will be dropped no matter what. So you may want to keep that in mind.

Using rupees

You can also add rupees to the deal. There are 2 options: the trade starter can provide a rupee amount when they first use the /trade command. For example, Aya could have used: /trade shelluser 5000. This would have added 5k rupees to our deal.

The other option is to use the 'rupee button' in the trade interface. However, it's use is a bit specific. You need to hover your mouse over the button (the emerald), then you can use the number keys (1 - 9) to create a rupee amount. You can't use a 0, if you want to add an extra zero then you have to click your left mouse button. If you make a mistake then you can use the right mouse button, or the 'drop item' key, to remove the last number.

You can always see how much rupees you or the other player have added to the deal by hovering your mouse over the emerald, then a pop-up windows should appear. However... You may need to adjust the size of your screen, depending on the screen size and resolution you're using. In my example the pop-up window always manages to move out of the screen, so I can hardly see it unless I resize my game window.

But I think that shouldn't be too much of a problem since the whole idea is basically to provide us with an easier way to exchange items and not so much rupees, though the option for that is obviously provided

Where to use this

The /trade option can be used unlimited in town, as long as both players are on the same server (SMP). So you can't trade with a player from SMP4 while you're on SMP2. The command can also be used in the wilderness (outside town) but only when you're within a 32 block distance from each other. Any further out and it won't work. This is to prevent possible abuse: otherwise this system could be used to make it very easy to transport items from a player outpost to town.

And there you have it....

Next time you have some items to exchange with another player then definitely keep the /trade command in mind!

Nice guide!
Nice examples at the beginning, lol!

just pin his post

Yeah, it's surely a nice system!

Or just change the size of your GUI, that seems more convenient to me.

Oh, and interesting to see mention of the guides section just before it was added, here!

I didn't even know this was a thing till now!