Cursor Effects - World of Warcraft Addon

An addon that enhances your mouse cursor with customizable visual effects to make it more visible and distinctive during gameplay.

Features

Multiple Effect Types: Glow, Pulse, Trail, and Sparkle — enable any combination simultaneously
Per-Effect Colors: Assign a different color to each effect independently
Rainbow Mode: Enable smooth rainbow color cycling for any effect
Shake-to-Find Crosshair: Shake your mouse rapidly to trigger a crosshair animation that converges on your cursor and flashes
24 Preset Colors: Quick color buttons in the settings panel, plus a full color picker per effect
Slash Commands: Full control via /ce commands
In-Game Settings Panel: Accessible from Game Menu → Settings → AddOns → Cursor Effects
Multi-Language Support: English, Portuguese (Brazilian), German, and French
Saved Settings: All preferences persist across sessions via SavedVariables

Installation

Extract the CursorEffects folder to your WoW AddOns directory:
- macOS: /Applications/World of Warcraft/_retail_/Interface/AddOns/
- Windows: C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\_retail_\Interface\AddOns\
Launch WoW, enable "Cursor Effects" in the AddOns menu on the character select screen.
Log in — you should see "Cursor Effects v1.0.0 - Loaded!" in chat.

Settings Panel

Open via Game Menu → Settings → AddOns → Cursor Effects, or type /ce options. text

Enable Cursor Effects — Master on/off toggle
Effect Types — Check any combination: Glow, Pulse, Trail, Sparkle
Shake-to-Find Crosshair — Toggle the shake-triggered crosshair on/off
Crosshair Sensitivity — Adjust how easily mouse shaking triggers the crosshair (0.5x – 2.0x)
Mouse Size — Scale the effect (0.5x – 3.0x)
Glow Intensity — Brightness of the glow layers (0 – 2.0)
Pulse Speed — Animation speed for pulse effect (0.5x – 2.0x)
Effect Colors — Pick a color for each effect individually (Glow, Pulse, Trail, Sparkle, Crosshair)
Rainbow Checkboxes — Enable smooth rainbow color cycling per effect
Set All Colors — Change every effect's color at once
Preset Colors — 24 one-click color buttons (applies to all effects)

Slash Commands

All commands use /ce (or /cursoreffects):

Command	Description
`/ce toggle`	Toggle effects on/off
`/ce effect <type>`	Toggle an effect on/off (glow, pulse, trail, sparkle, none)
`/ce size <n>`	Set cursor effect size (0.5 – 3.0)
`/ce intensity <n>`	Set glow intensity (0 – 2.0)
`/ce color <name>`	Set all effect colors by name
`/ce color <effect> <name>`	Set one effect's color (glow, pulse, trail, sparkle, crosshair)
`/ce rainbow [effect\|all]`	Toggle rainbow cycling for effect(s) (glow, pulse, trail, sparkle, crosshair, all)
`/ce crosshair`	Toggle shake-to-find crosshair on/off
`/ce options`	Open the settings panel
`/ce help`	Show help message

Available Color Names

red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, orange, pink, purple, white, gold, lime, teal, coral, lavender, mint, crimson, skyblue, peach, violet

Effect Types

Effect	Description
Glow	Steady glowing aura around the cursor using layered star4 textures
Pulse	Expanding/contracting animation with adjustable speed
Trail	Star particles left behind as you move the mouse
Sparkle	Twinkling particles orbiting the cursor with color shimmer
Crosshair	Shake your mouse to trigger — 4 arms converge on cursor and flash twice

Effects can be combined — e.g., enable Glow + Sparkle together for a glowing cursor with sparkle particles.

Default Settings

Setting	Default
Enabled	Yes
Effects	Glow
Crosshair	On
Mouse Size	1.5x
Glow Intensity	1.0
Pulse Speed	1.0
All Colors	Cyan (0, 1, 1)

File Structure

CursorEffects/
├── CursorEffects.toc      - Addon manifest (Interface 120001)
├── icon.png               - Addon icon
├── core.lua               - Main addon logic, effects, shake detection, slash commands
├── options.lua            - Settings panel (scrollable, Settings API, per-effect colors)
├── effects.lua            - Effect utilities
├── localization.lua       - Multi-language strings (EN/PT/DE/FR)
└── README.md              - This file

Technical Notes

WoW Version: 12.0.5 (Midnight), Interface 120005
Settings API: Uses Settings.RegisterCanvasLayoutCategory
Color Picker: Uses ColorPickerFrame:SetupColorPickerAndShow()
Performance: Frame pooling for trail/sparkle particles with configurable caps (30 trail, 40 sparkle)
SavedVariables: CursorEffectsDB — automatically migrates old single-color and effectType settings
Shake Detection: Monitors mouse direction reversals within a 0.5s window; 3+ reversals with sufficient movement triggers the crosshair
Languages: enUS, ptBR, deDE, frFR

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Addon not loading	Verify folder is named `CursorEffects` and contains `.toc` file
Effect not visible	Increase Mouse Size or Glow Intensity; try a brighter color
Performance lag	Disable Trail and Sparkle; use Glow or Pulse alone
Settings not saving	Check `CursorEffectsDB` is listed in `.toc` SavedVariables
Options panel empty	Type `/ce options` or `/reload`
Crosshair not triggering	Check it's enabled in settings; shake mouse faster side-to-side