Last Call: Volunteers to Test Census and Excise

[Fliggerty]

I am putting out a request for one last round of testing volunteers!

The to-do list is nearly done...there are only a few last details.  Right now all of the functionality is in place, and it is mostly just some aesthetics that need to be worked out.  In the meantime, I would like the last major revisions that I put into place to be thoroughly tested.

So if you want to help, let me know.  Either just post here, or send me a PM.  Everyone who helps test will be included on the credits page forever more.  Not to mention the bragging rights you will have....

[Elaura]

I'll give it a shot, Fligg.

[Jac]

As will I.

[Jac]

A couple of things:

The options to upload a character avatar and full portrait are not clearly visible, I had to hunt for them.
The links are too close together on the pages - they butt up against each other.
This does not work with MGE, I had to disable the internal MWSE and run the external version for the setup to work. I'll try it with just MGE next time. I have build 3.8.1-SVN_rev-126 fixed which is supposed to support MWSE strings. Hopefully the MGE team can fix that.
The mod list listed all of my mods three times.
There are two companions who are not following me: Maja and someone that started with a "D".
The exe file didn't send the URL for the C&E office to Opera.

Now for the positive news.
The mod was very easy to setup in game after I got it to work.
All of the information seems to have been uploaded properly. When I viewed my character, it looked correct.

This is a great idea, Fligg. Once all of the bugs are gone, it'll be interesting to see how people play their games.

[povuholo]

Good news!

I'll be sure to do a last round of testing this weekend.

[Fliggerty]

The options to upload a character avatar and full portrait are not clearly visible, I had to hunt for them.

I'm thinking of putting "Menu" on the button and moving the name.  I've already moved those links all over the place and people complain about not being able to find them no matter where they are.

The links are too close together on the pages - they butt up against each other.

What links?  I'm not sure what you mean...

This does not work with MGE, I had to disable the internal MWSE and run the external version for the setup to work. I'll try it with just MGE next time. I have build 3.8.1-SVN_rev-126 fixed which is supposed to support MWSE strings. Hopefully the MGE team can fix that.

They are breaking all of my mods lately.  

The mod list listed all of my mods three times.

Ongoing problem. Seems to have something to do with them being read from the save file multiple times.  I have a planned fix that will be implemented soon.

There are two companions who are not following me: Maja and someone that started with a "D".

This looks for any NPC that is in follow mode.  So it's possible there is an NPC following another NPC. There are even some mods that use invisible NPCs to follow you for various reasons; IIRC Pursuit Enhanced does that on occasion.

The exe file didn't send the URL for the C&E office to Opera.

Opera is your default browser?  Did it open up in any other browser, or just do nothing?

Thanks Jac!  

[Jac]

These menu options. If you made them bigger and boldfaced, that might help people find them:



As for the followers, I remembered last night that Children of Morrowind has some of the children following others (either NPCs already in the game or other children). The two "new" ones were in follow mode in the cell I tested it in.

The link you pmed me worked just fine, but the C&E program just opened Opera without going anywhere. It could be my settings, though. I'll see if Elaura has IE has her default and if so, what it does with hers.

[peachykeen]

I used shellexec for the browser thing, so it's like typing the URL into the run dialog (Windows handles it the same way). I checked with IE and FF after making it, and both worked. I think it would either be a command-line issue in Opera or association issue in Windows that would be breaking it, but I'm not sure.

[Elaura]

Okie dokie.  Installation instructions were very easy to follow; I had no setup issues because I went ahead and disabled the internal MWSE in MGE before starting.  Now on to Registration:

• Jac and I figured out what the deal was with Opera.  You have the option to open Opera with no tabs open and if you do that, programs can open your browser, but not go straight to any page.  I turned that feature off before testing and it worked fine.
• A warning in the readme on the possibility of a very long wait during the PIN and user ID input dialogs would be a good idea.  I thought Morrowind had frozen, but instead, I got up and left the room.  When I got back it was moving again.
• Your readme says to close out of Morrowind before starting the Census exe, but in-game it says to alt-tab to the Census Uploader, I think the instructions as well as the name of the file should be consistent either way.

Otherwise, it all went exactly according to plan!!!  In Uploading and editing phase, here are my observations:

• I did not have the same issue with my mods being listed multiple times.
• The instructions on uploading pics was a little small; hard to see the size limits especially.
• After uploading images and/or journal or updating the character profile, submitting does not bring you back to the character page.  You either have to use the back button or navigate back to the office home to continue working on your character.

Fligg, et al, this project is suddenly very exciting to me.  I've never really understood the reasoning behind it or how it worked, but now that I'm literally 'into' it, I am truly amazed.  The link to the UESPWiki mapo is incredible.  Next thing you know, our Characters will have their journals on Twitter!!!

[Mojito]

I'll be happy to help in any way I can. From the get-go, this has sounded like an awesome project.

[peachykeen]

Fligg, et al, this project is suddenly very exciting to me.  I've never really understood the reasoning behind it or how it worked, but now that I'm literally 'into' it, I am truly amazed.  The link to the UESPWiki mapo is incredible.  Next thing you know, our Characters will have their journals on Twitter!!!

Actually, I've been looking at MySpace and FaceBook's APIs lately, as well as playing with more varied game script -> program linking. A MWScript->MWSE->pipe->FB client could be possible.

[Fliggerty]

I've been tossing around the idea of a sort of MW Twitter thing.  An integration into CnE.  It would have the ability to send messages from within the game.

[peachykeen]

I've been tossing around the idea of a sort of MW Twitter thing.  An integration into CnE.  It would have the ability to send messages from within the game.

Doing it with writing strings to pipes, similar to MWSQL did, and using CURL to link to Twitter's API should make it a very quick project.
Edit: Given that there are Twitter libraries for C#, and it supports named pipes under Windows, that could be a very simple project.
Edit2: Using MWSE's xStringBuild and string input, would it be possible to show tweets as messageboxes and allow users to cast a spell and tweet from in the game?

[Fliggerty]

Okay, if you write the PC side of it I'll do the server side function.  Our usual agreement.  

We can use xMessageFix to show any string as a MessageBox.    It would all be fairly simple really.

[peachykeen]

I cannibalized some of my code from MWSQL earlier to whip up a pipe listener and cut it with example code from TwitCurl (C++ Twitter/CURL lib), but it tends to crash with a bad CURL request that I haven't been able to figure out yet. I tried a C# thing, but it does some funny stuff with pipes and needs OAuth authentication before it works. I'm currently busy making NWShader cross-platform, so I'll be working on this in bits on the side. Luckily, this one won't need much server-side stuff (that's all on Twitter's end), just scripts in the game.

[Mojito]

On the topic of C&E, I keep getting a "client side error" when trying to upload my character. Installing and running C&E went just fine, it's just at the upload stage that I run into a problem. Neither MGE or MWE are running. Only mod that should be running is New Seyda Neen.

[Elaura]

I guess it's too late to say I thought I was joking, huh?  Wow.

Mojito, have you tried closing Morrowind completely and then uploading?  MW doesn't have to be running for it to upload.  All the uploader seems to need to a good savegame to point to.

Although ingame, Fliggerty gives the alt-tab instructions, the readme says to exit the game.

[Mojito]

I have.  First I thought I had forgotten to save, so I did. then I thought it was a bad save, so I created a new one. Next I thought it may be some kind of conflict with anything that may be running, so I stripped the plugins down to bare bones, created a fresh safe, with a fresh character. Finally I thought my firewall may somehow be getting in the way, so I disabled it. Still no luck.

[peachykeen]

What message pops up in the console window when you get the error? I don't remember exactly what gives a client error, but it's usually related to the connection, I think.

I guess it's too late to say I thought I was joking, huh?  Wow.

Well, when you come up with a good idea that we've already been thinking of (both, separately, apparently)...

[Mojito]

... I ran it under "administrator" with this god-awful vista ... that made it work. Problem is, the only account I use on this computer, is the administrator account ... windows ... I so deeply hate you.

[peachykeen]

Try developing on Linux. It'll make you run screaming back to Winblows. >.>

But, that's a good thing to know and note in the readme. Were you getting any UAC popups, or did it just silently fail? What permissions did the program have? Any AV running?

[Elaura]

You know that's very interesting.  I'm on Windows 7 and usually I have to run anything for Morrowind under XP compatibility and as administrator.  With the CnE, I didn't have to set anything.  I never would have thought of that since I (for once) didn't have that problem.

[Fliggerty]

Users don't have the console version right now Peach.  I'll make it available tomorrow if needed.

Mojito, after you select your save game in the uploader, does it show your stats in the right side window?

Jac, the link issue you are having is related to the theme you're using.  Right now it technically only supports Morrowtheme.  Those links you see are supposed to be a dropdown menu.  I intend to work on support for other themes tomorrow.

The duplicate mods in the list issue is now no more.


Peachy, what about instead of using Twitter (or just alternately) can we make this be another feature for CnE?  It would be nice to make a sort of Twitter clone only for MW characters.

[Mojito]

I have UAC disabled. Only popup I got was from my antivirus, asking if I trust the application. Put it into my "white list" and continued.  

As for alternative operating systems. I have this machine dual booted, with Ubuntu. Learning how to work that, before moving onto what I've heard others call "true Linux".

EDIT: Curious to note, it says my character has entered 13 cells already, while he has only just got off the boat in Seyda Neen. Was this intended to show how many cells have actually been visited, or how many have been loaded between the "loading bar" during travel?

[peachykeen]

You know that's very interesting.  I'm on Windows 7 and usually I have to run anything for Morrowind under XP compatibility and as administrator.  With the CnE, I didn't have to set anything.  I never would have thought of that since I (for once) didn't have that problem.

I'd guess it's cause 7's UAC is cleaned up a bit from Vista's. The general reason is that CnE just reads a few files and then uses a pretty well-known library to do ordinary internet requests, so it doesn't trip anything security-wise.

Peachy, what about instead of using Twitter (or just alternately) can we make this be another feature for CnE?  It would be nice to make a sort of Twitter clone only for MW characters.

Well... I thought about that a bit earlier. I think it'd be easier to make a Twitter list or group or whatever for the MW chars (most of the library I looked at can do a join-group call, so that could work). Twitter already has the API and structure, plus it'd be great advertising (approved Twitter-compatible apps get their name listed as the source for the tweet, so people would see it). If you wanna roll your own, I can support it (just make a relatively normal API). Of course, that'll take more time, and I have a major project in slot 1 at the moment.

I have UAC disabled. Only popup I got was from my antivirus, asking if I trust the application. Put it into my "white list" and continued.  

As for alternative operating systems. I have this machine dual booted, with Ubuntu. Learning how to work that, before moving onto what I've heard others call "true Linux".

Odd, not sure why it wouldn't work then. Did you use the run as admin feature to make it work?
As for *nixes... Ubuntu seems plenty complicated to me.