EQPlayers...

Why should anyone use that thread haha it doesn't have any more definitive information that any of the other threads posted about this subject. It's quite obvious that players want this (once a month a thread pops up) so why hasn't it been done? They've talked about doing it since FtP went live and before that, yet not one single post has indicated that there has been any movement on it.

That CENSUS they speak of is working, so the code is there. All that is needed is to make it exclusive and put loops in to define lists of EQ1 items instead of EQ2 items.

Once a month? More like once every 2-4 days. There isn't a definite date and regardless of how truly few (and they are few) people on the boards make it out to be one of the most important things that could ever be done, most people seem content to wait. Not sure what more info you could want. We all know, or should know by now, that it will happen when it happens and asking for even an idea of when is never going to happen.

Oh I've all but given up hope it will ever come back. But if you were to ask in game, there's MANY that also want it back (least that's the feelings on the 2 servers I'm on from time to time). Most just find it to be a trivial task so are not sure why this hasn't been done. The resources are all there, it's just a matter of actually doing the work.

I was one of the people that used to pay for it until it went free, so it's a feature I'd love to have back. I'm sure there's more then a few who also feel that way but also have doubts that it will ever return.

Nope it was in error. When I went to get it put back then we started the discussion of "wouldn't it be better to put x in spot y, and z in spot a" and it takes a little while longer than I'd like.

Ah just love those coversations that trail off. ha

The data resources aren't there. That's part of doing the work. The data feed coming off EQ was outdated, and never worked as well as we'd like. Redoing the feed completely requires quite a bit of work, the web front end is the easy part.

Edit: to clarify

Census is not implemented in EQ.

I get that it isn't in EQ, and maybe my data structures teachers sold it to me wrong. I was taught to rehash code, recycle the strings and make it specific to the product at hand. I.E. It's working for X game, now to change the variables to Y game (the work part). The hardest part I see (without being there) is if EQ1 stores the data differently then EQ2 and if so what/how is the difference to extract that data.

That's always been the problem.

But magelo can do it and very well at that, how come ?

I think the only way we will get EQ Players back is if they make it a "feature" of a new expansion or digital download pack.

It actually took them a long time to do it well.

So why cant SOE just get into bed with Magelo, learn from the masters so to speak

Lots of people would like that, and other games have done so like Ultima Online, but Sony would never share with anyone.

A significant part of Census is data sharing. It allows feeds of data to be read by 3rd party sites and utilized to make more specific tools that people might be interested in. For EQ2 a good example is http://u.eq2wire.com/

Magelo works a completely different way than our player site did.

As for how the data is stored (in eq and eq2), it's radically different.

Magelo "hacks" your computers memory and pulls your player data from there. Pretty sure this is technically against SOE's EULA, but SOE doesn't seem to mind. SOE needs a method of their website talking to the game servers directly for instant updates with no player involvement. They are currently implementing a system to allow this communication, but it does and will take a bunch of time. Once it is done, however, you will see a lot of fun things come from not just EQPlayers, but other websites as well. Have you ever seen the server status pages on SOE's site, or other EQ related sites? These pages use the type of communication that is needed for EQPlayers - it's a small taste of things to come.

Work being the key word.

Interesting, I look forward to it's return.

I miss being able to check on old friends, and if they've logged on in recent months/years.

Maybe EQ was written by programmers who were coding before your data structure teachers had their PhD's? I've nearly always found that maintaining legacy code is a really bad dream and making significant changes to it is a nightmare.

Works, yes. Works well, no. Its great for dumping item lists or getting a rough number on your stats, but its far from perfect. It will most likely never be able to detect your flags, keys, progression, or anything else that is entirely server side, since all it does it hack the client that's loaded into memory. There is only so much it will ever be able to do. If they rework EQplayers right, it will be able to do more because of the data its looking at. The emphasis is on "If".

It says he will keep us updated.....I think he teases about keeping us updated...lol

Very leaky buckets... that fall apart when you zone into Pillars or Valley.