CensusPlus and Blizzard 5.0.4 and MoP - good news/bad news

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:49 pm

As you might guess from my localization.lua file post.. we are down to the last few things..

All major milestones are completed.. and we are ready to go on the addon..

except.. {bad new time}

Rollie got called out of town.. and won't be back until after 5.0.4 rolls out.
and he hadn't be able to finish the web site code changes.

Which means my 5.2.0 won't work.. but {good news time}

Rollie has added me as code maintainer at curse.com.. for his addon.
and I'll be uploading a ready to run update that will handle us until MoP
The upload will happen Monday.

The little sleazy fact.. will be that while the version number will be increased for the TOC.. internally it will still claim to be the 5.0.2 we have been using to upload to the web site.

[url]http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/census-plus[/url]

Balgair · Post by **Balgair** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:10 am

Well we have success as far as the new version working with the website goes; my last upload was from the latest test version and processed correctly

So just in time, we will have it functional for the patch!

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:36 am

NO NO NO!!!:shock:

I need to break it some more

Please

One more test run.. just to verify a rarely used function is working as before.
Then it goes gold on curse.

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:53 pm

As of an hour ago.. CensusPlus-5000-5.0.4.zip was uploaded to
http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/census-plus

The description at curse was updated and so were the images.. boy were they out of date!

The question now.. is how long before the admins/moderators at curse toggle the approval of the upload.

edit: and we are live at curse.com two hours later -
have fun.. and census those realms.

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:54 pm

Odd.. That was 0:53(ish) CET.. But when I scanned (curse cient) for new addons at 5:30, it wasn't found..

I'll see what happens when I get home from work..

EDIT: Even more odd.. I see it on http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/census-plus/files/ so it must be OK...

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:20 am

I have downloaded it manually, since Curse Client still refuse to acknowled its existance

One minor thing I noticed: On Horde you use Male and on Allance you use Female portrait for Pandas.. Every other race use male only...

Otherwise: GREAT WORK!!

Balgair · Post by **Balgair** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:32 am

It'll switch to 90-90 when MoP releases, it autodetects the max level now - I've been running the exact same copy on beta and live and it switches to the right level range fine

Will still need the new version though, since there's some differences in the data output I believe (at least, I know it had to be quickly modified to work with the old database when Rollie couldn't make it in time), plus the 86-90 bars have been hidden on this version (they didn't interact too well with max lvl 85 and went to full which looked bad), but it's pretty much functional on beta even as it is.

The different portraits were to give a difference between factions, a bit awkward I agree but equally I agree with bringoutyourdead that it needed some difference in looks between factions - Alliance's Pandaren faction leader is Aysa Cloudsinger, a female Pandaren, so female makes sense on that front!

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:34 am

Ups.. I edited while you replied.. Just saw the 85/90 switch on beta

Balgair · Post by **Balgair** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:37 am

Hehe

A very useful addition that one! Considering how many things needed changed, updated, fixed etc, plus the extra features and improvements that got included too, I'm seriously impressed it was ready on time, massive respect to bringoutyourdead for his great work on it!

(Gotta say I won't miss having 5-10 new versions a day though, it'll be quite nice to settle down for a while

)

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:48 am

If gender of faction leader decides portrait, then Forsaken/Night Elf should have female portraits too

Also, one bug: Level 86-90 (on beta right now) isn't shown in the bars in the bottom.. They are however, stored in the data file..

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:24 am

Grumble Grumble..
It is possible that Blizzard might not switch the TOC for the 5.0.4 release

if so the TOC will need to be edited bat to 50001 instead of 50400

let me know if that ends up being the case

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:46 am

FuxieDK wrote:I have downloaded it manually, since Curse Client still refuse to acknowled its existance

One minor thing I noticed: On Horde you use Male and on Allance you use Female portrait for Pandas.. Every other race use male only...

Otherwise: GREAT WORK!!

Unfortunately, for the same reason I needed Balgair to do my QA testing, it is impossible for me to create a Curse Client package [at least at this time.]

The reason for the multiple portraits.. is that Pandas are a fickle species.. you never know which way they will jump. As you can see from the opening cinematic even the Alliance and Horde can forget which side of the battle they might be on.

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:53 am

Just to let you know, I have run into a small, but annoying problem. Using the manual /census me command while census is already running PAUSES the census and doesn't work. The one at end of census is ok as is doing one while no census is in progress. Otherwise pretty happy with what little I have been able to test so far (was away most of the day and only managed two very small tests early this morning).

Additional query: Will using lots of manual /census mes cause data distortion as it is effectively a census of one, completed?

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:01 am

bringoutyourdead wrote:
FuxieDK wrote:I have downloaded it manually, since Curse Client still refuse to acknowled its existance

One minor thing I noticed: On Horde you use Male and on Allance you use Female portrait for Pandas.. Every other race use male only...

Otherwise: GREAT WORK!!
Unfortunately, for the same reason I needed Balgair to do my QA testing, it is impossible for me to create a Curse Client package [at least at this time.]

OK.. As long as we're aware of the issue

Balgair · Post by **Balgair** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:19 am

1974ER wrote:Just to let you know, I have run into a small, but annoying problem. Using the manual /census me command while census is already running PAUSES the census and doesn't work. The one at end of census is ok as is doing one while no census is in progress.

Known bug/feature, it's down to the way the take feature works, it's a toggle between take and pause. Try typing "/census take" when one's already running sometime and you'll see why this happens

I felt the same way as you but apparently you're not supposed to use it while the census is already running lol, not much use to me when I have census running all the time but that's the answer I got

If you stop the census first it works at least!

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:01 pm

It's not insurmountable, I just have to alter certain patterns, especially for days like today when I have little time and despite that need a good coverage of my own characters. I was hoping for ability like the /who "name" used to be long ago, but the main thing is that main code works and collects data that the site can use. Bringoutyourdead and you have done a very, very good job under pressure and finished just in the nick of time. Three more /cheer!

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:51 pm

1974ER wrote:Additional query: Will using lots of manual /census mes cause data distortion as it is effectively a census of one, completed?

/census me... is almost a needless option.

As Balgair noted it is really nothing more then a /census take where the queue is limited to doing a /who of your current character name.

It was envisioned first to handle FuxieDK's request where his character might have leveled during but after his character was caught by the census run. Later I realized that just having the local character checked at the end of the run would do the same thing for 99% of peoples needs.

The only reason to do a /census me is if you level while having stopped doing census runs... maybe to do battlegrounds.. or a raid or other high intensity action where you didn't want the distraction of Census+ running in the background.

If someone were to do a macro

and spam /census me frequently.. all it would do is increase the number of entries in the "TimesPlus" table that tracks when you do census runs. The actual entry for the character won't be changed unless the character levels from one /census me to the next.

This is a baseline truth for CensusPlus.. no matter how many times a day you take a census snapshot if a character hasn't changed level or guild there will be no difference on the data recorded and if there is a change in level or guild only the newest info is remembered.

Or another way of saying.. the LAST census run you record on a character for the day is the only one that matters.

I don't currently have the info I need to say for sure on the master database here at warcraftrealms.com.. (but hope to have that after the next time Rollie and I converse).. but on your local client database no matter how many times a character levels or changes his guild affiliation during the day, only the last one is remembered. It appears the master database remembers based on uploads, so to record multiple character changes in the same day requires an upload of data after each character change of level or guild.

If you are uploading data to this site [PLEASE DO] it is important to try to do it at least once a day when you take census snapshots. If you do snapshots over multiple days... only the last time a character is seen is remembered on the client so previous days census snapshots can be lost as characters level up or change guilds.

This doesn't mean you should just do one census and call it a day. Every time you do a start a snapshot running you gain the possibility of catching a new character that hasn't been seen before that day.

I asked Balgair to do some simultaneous census runs for me from two machines on the same realm/faction. Even though both machines were tracking the same time frame.. there ended up being a difference of 5 characters (in a total of 2000+) between the two as one would catch a new login or the other would miss a character that had just logged out.

edit: master database recording actions

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:14 pm

Bringoutyourdead, I fully appreciate what you are saying, it's just that I fall within that 1% of "strange" people.

The reason /census me is actually vital to me is rather simple. I like to keep close track of my own characters. Even its current form /census me will offer the possibility to actually increase the time I can spend censusing realms where I don't actively play.

Additionally, the functionality that /who "name" offered long ago didn't relate to my own characters only. A very large portion of the people I play(ed) with own(ed) a significant number of alts, many of whom are logged in only occasionally and often for short periods of time. Long ago, if I was fast, I was able catch characters that only spent a few dozen seconds online during the times I was online.

You see, the "trick" has always been that with some experience, it has been possible to pull in very large amounts of data even with a single account and without sacrificing my own fun.

I also fully realise that you and Balgair have put in countless hours to help Rollie. I don't want to sound ungrateful, arrogant or outright mean, none of the above means that. Ok?

I am just... not quite like most people... I still feel honoured that Rollie bestowed Epic Censi rank upon me. I have just gone so far beyond most peoples' limits that it's slightly mindstaggering... and also something difficult to discuss without sounding insincere. Even Balgair is now more than 10 million updates behind me, over 12 million to Kerebo, maybe 2 days worth until Gmmmpresser is 13 million behind... and Hybuir, who is hanging tooth and nail on to spot 10... 16 million behind.

I apologise if I appear... pompous, I think is the word... I am also getting tired and starting to wax philosophical, so I might better take a break and write more after I have gotten some sleep...

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:04 pm

Not a problem... I think that anyone who can count over 18,000,000 characters in the game is automatically considered

"Strange"

The old way that CensusPlus ran caused problems not only for Rollie as a programmer, but for the other programmers in the addon community, as CensusPlus did not play nice. CensusPlus is a spammer, but at least we only spam a single game resource which only is seen by the game client.. and Blizzard.

Blizzard is already in the process of 'shrinking' the computer resources for WoW... I assume so they can re-task the machines for Titan when it comes out.

The advent of cross realm Battlegrounds made doing census runs a problem. With cross realm Zones we will be seeing more characters in game that will not get counted by CensusPlus since the who api resource is not cross realm enabled.

I hope in the future to create a new CensusPlus that allow the users to maximum the usage they get out of the addon. Normal users would just use the addon straight out of the .zip archive. Power users would use (if they wish) more deep switches in the code to modify how the addon works.

Some of the things I'm thinking about are:

Total Silence mode.. with NO chat window message

Full language localization.. with no forced English when played on a localized client.

Alternate letter set selections for either faster or more complete census.
-- (We did some testing on that.. and found little count difference on two sets but a significant speed increase with only a tiny loss on the character counts for a third selector set.)

Adding back in the ability to grab Username-Realm/guild/level/race/class off of targeted nameplates.

Adding the ability to grab (if possible) Username-Realm/etc off of any character in reasonable range as you run across them in play.

If any of you think of any more enhancements you would like to see... here in the forums is the place to make your thoughts known. Who knows maybe something you think up will make it in before MoP goes live!

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:10 pm

Notice: I pushed out a correction update for CensusPlus to curse.com (normal caveats apply about when it will really show up)

5.0.4a.zip

it only fixes the TOC version from 50400 back to the beta version that Blizzard hadn't bothered to update. 50001

and I updated the deDE (German) translations as provided by Djambo
(although I wonder about that.. English is a more concise language then German at least by letter count

)

hmmm... I may just redo the options window to be nearly full size... that will allow me to bypass the issue of language translations there!