there's no point in making it an in-game hud. the message is only sent to the client when the character selection screen appears, which is why, when you go in-game it tells you how long ago that count was taken. so, for example, if you log on to the game, then sit at the character selection screen for 2 hours before logging on, then Population Filter will display in your chat window how many people were connected to the game 2 hours ago. if you want an up-to-date value, you need to make the character selection screen reappear somehow. exiting the game and restarting will cause the server to send another population update, I believe logging a character on and off will do it as well.


"how many people were connected to the game" includes people who were sitting at the character screen, just like it was pre-ToD. there's no way that I know of to find out how many of them are actually logged on, in-game (and at their computer, rather than running a bot or an idle program).


I don't know if it's possible to have a hud appear at the character selection screen, but I'll look into it.


-ken

teaser image: http://www.geocities.com/acyellowtail/PopulationFilterTeaser.htm


-ken

Sweet!

" so, for example, if you log on to the game, then sit at the character selection screen for 2 hours before logging on, then Population Filter will display in your chat window how many people were connected to the game 2 hours ago"


So that command that is sent to the game client could actually be re-iniated by tricking the client into thinking your @ the login screen correct? Then a HUD could be a reality? Or is it too hard?

Thank you for the thorough replies. I most likely messed up with the .NET stuff but I'll give it another go.

 

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what you have to do to get more updates is trick the server into thinking that you want to see the character selection screen again. you do this one of several ways:


1. you run the game. the server knows to send you a population update as soon as you start the game.

2. you log off voluntarily. the server knows to send you a population update when you log off.

3. you log off involuntarily (e.g. your character is ejected from the game by an admin or envoy).


an in-game hud will not become a reality, simply because there is no way to trick the server into thinking you're logging off, when you really aren't. this is because, if the server thinks you're logging off, you're logging off whether you want to or not -- the server will kick you out of the game to ensure that it happens.


-ken

what *is* a possibility, by the way, is a macro that repeatedly logs a character on and off, thus forcing repeated updates of the population count.


combine this with an update to population filter that writes the current population to a web server via HTTP POST, and you have something kinda sorta like what you're asking for.


-ken

I don't like that idea, if hundreds of people are doing that, it could put a lot of un needed stress on the servers.

 

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if you want to pay for an account so that you can do nothing but log on and off, i'm sure turbine will be delighted to accept your monthly payment. even thousands of users doing this won't get server loads anywhere near where they were during AC's heyday, when 2000 players logged on at once on a single world was commonplace, and the total number of players connected across all servers was over 15,000.


-ken

Confirmed that version 0.0.0.1 must work only with the NET 2.0 beta, it does not work (for me) with NET 2.0 release version.


I'm still running Decal 3.0 Alpha 3, as I am using several plugins that work with Alpha 3 but not comfirmed for Alpha 4.


Eagerly awaiting a release version of Decal 3.0.

 

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