All your GW2 TacO questions answered: what is TacO, how to use it, how to update it, and whether it’s allowed by the Guild Wars 2 terms of service.
What Is TacO?
TacO is short for TACtical Overlay. It’s an overlay for Guild Wars 2, which means it adds a layer of map pointers and markers to the game. For example, if you’re in The Silverwastes, you can turn on markers for hidden Bandit Chests.
TacO also includes markers for jumping puzzles, festival guides like Super Adventure Box, and more. Many community members have created and packaged their own TacO overlay packs, and you can add and remove any of these as you like.
Is TacO “Legal”?
No need to worry. TacO is allowed by the Guild Wars 2 Terms of Service (ToS). TacO only uses the official Guild Wars 2 API to gather its information, and it is specifically developed to comply with ArenaNet’s ToS.
TacO is not considered “cheating,” because it doesn’t affect gameplay. It doesn’t actually do anything – it just adds extra graphics and visual effects to the game.
How to Install TacO
To install TacO, download the latest build from the official development blog. The download links are on the right-hand side of the site.
NOTE: You don’t need to sign in to Dropbox to download the file. Click No thanks, continue to view to download without signing in.
Click the download icon in the upper right, above the chat window. Choose Direct download from the drop-down menu.
This downloads the TacO package to your computer as a compressed (zipped) file.
Create a folder on your computer where you want TacO to live. This should be separate from the folder where the Guild Wars 2 game files are located.
TIP: Create this folder somewhere it will be easy for you to find later. For example, you can put it on your computer’s desktop, or in the Documents folder.
Go to your Downloads folder and find the compressed (zipped) TacO file you downloaded. Extract the contents of this file to the TacO folder you created in the previous step.
Start Guild Wars 2. Log in and launch the game.
To use TacO, you will need to run GW2 in either Window or Windowed Fullscreen mode.
To set this from the character select screen, click F11 (or click the Options gear in the upper left-hand corner of the game, then click Options). Click the Graphics tab, then check Display: Resolution.
Select Window or Windowed Fullscreen from the drop-down menu.
Go to the folder you created for TacO and double-click GW2TacO.exe to launch it. You will need to do this every time you launch Guild Wars 2.
Depending on your Windows security setting, you may need to allow the program to run. On my computer, I get a big orange pop-up warning.
Click More info, then click Run anyway to allow TacO to run.
Choose your character and log in. You will probably see an overlay with the upcoming world boss timers, to start.
To configure which TacO elements you see, click the taco icon in the upper left-hand corner.
There are a lot of configurations available. You will probably want to start by hovering over the Filter Displayed Tactical Markers menu option. This opens up a sub-menu of marker types. Click the X to display or hide each item.
Poke around in the menus to find the markers you want. In the example above, we’re selecting markers for Super Adventure Box: Filter Displayed Tactical Markers > Festivals > SAB
TIP: To get rid of the boss timer, click Configure Map Timer, then un-click all the bosses.
See the official installation guide for more tips, tricks, and help with installation issues.
What’s a TacO Distribution?
TacO is open source, and many community members have created their own packages for it. The official TacO website is http://www.gw2taco.com.
Some of the best-known and tested TacO packages are:
- ReActif: https://www.heinze.fr/taco
- Tekki’s Workshop: http://tekkitsworkshop.net/index.php/gw2-taco/download
- GW2Info: http://gw2taco.gw2info.net
- You can also consult the TacO subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/GW2TacO
