New Version Feature Requests

[65536]

I have been planning for about a year to write a MySEQ like program and implement some features I have always wanted. I finally have the time to commit to writing the program. It will be a complete rewrite written in C++, without .Net dependency. And of course, it will be open source. I am unsure at this point if I will make it a branch or call it something new, but it isn't intended to be a replacement for the current version of MySEQ just another option. Before I get too far into development I thought that I would take some suggestions on new or altered features. Feel free to request any feature no matter how crazy. I might be as crazy as you, or I might just think your crazy and not implement it :).

Currently planned features:
New offsets including guild, guild position, pet owner, GM flag, anon/role, primary/secondary slots.
Very noticeable speed increase.
Support for the new proximity system. (if its ever implemented)
Spawn timers that even work with the new proximity system.
Spawn timer saving.
Advanced alerts. Specify level range, class, etc. Works for ground drops as well.
Audible tracking. Specify a spawn or the nearest alert and you will have directions to it, similar to in game tracking.
Client and server are one program.
Auto-discover MySEQ clients on your local network and connect to the first one it finds. Implemented by reading the local ARP table and attempting to connect to each IP.
Auto-connect, attempt to connect to each IP you specify in the settings until it finds one it can connect to.
View ground drops in a list format, like spawns.
Use less network bandwidth.
Windows 2000 and higher.Features I'm thinking about:
Native 64bit version. Its not that much work to do, but I don't have a 64bit computer to test with.
Drawing inside EQ, optional of course.
Reading commands entered into the chat window, optional of course. It would be nice for audible tracking.
Send a text message to your phone when something spawns in an alert group. Would anyone actually use this feature?
Specify hostname as well as IP address of server. Might be nice for people that use DHCP, but with auto-discover will anyone use it?
Auto-update offsets.Features I thought about, but will not add:
Reading from the network instead of memory. Sony has a history of breaking programs that read data from the network.
Pink color theme. Enough said.Features planned for future versions (maybe):
3D drawing mode. View everything in 3D and walk around the zone.
Reading and displaying EQ zone files for 3D drawing.
Pathfinding, more advanced track gives you directions not just a general direction.
Active measures to combat the new proximity system, like targeting everything in the zone upon zone in. Optional of course.

[Hidron]

Client and server are one program.

I currently prefer to run the client on a separate box so I can keep track of it without having to tab out. Would be nice to keep this functionality even if it involves running the same program on both boxes.

[65536]

I currently prefer to run the client on a separate box so I can keep track of it without having to tab out. Would be nice to keep this functionality even if it involves running the same program on both boxes.
You will still be able to view EQ remotely. I just mean that instead of having separate client and server programs, one program can act as either the client or the server.

[Hidron]

Something I have been thinking about lately in some multi levels zones. It would be nice to have something similar to the Height Filter from the in-game map available.

[Carpathian]

One of the biggest things I've found helpful when I wrote my custom client/server was to using signals to notify on different events. That way the "server" handles the management of what was added/changed/removed and cuts down on the network bandwidth. onAddSpawn(SpawnInfo), onRemoveSpawn(SpawnId), onUpdateSpawn(SpawnId, SpawnInfo). Beats sending the whole spawnlist. I have a lot of code I could send you too if you're interested. Has a lot of potential, I just don't have the time, its all C++/Qt.

[65536]

...

Height filters, that's one thing I forgot to consider. Given that I haven't started writing any map drawing code, I might actually make a big change. My fantasy has always been to have 3D drawing and to be able to render EQ zone files. Thats a lot of work though. Maybe I will just do something inbetween for this version. Full 3D drawing and just draw the EQ map. An overhead view should look very similar to the way MySEQ looks. It will have a setting to fade objects similar to height filter in EQ and depth filter in MySEQ, except the fading isn't done on the height axis its done parallel with the direction your viewing. Again in an overhead view it will look almost identical to MySEQ with dynamic alpha depth filter, just prettier lines.


...

I've actually implemented something not that different. Server sends information as it gets it. Adds are implicit they are just sent as a general update message. That way I can be lazy and use the same methods in the spawn list class for both the memory reader and the network client lol. Update messages only contain variables that have changed as well. And of course deletions are explicit.

[65536]

My first post is too old to edit, but I have some changes to the features.

I decided not to implement drawing inside EQ and reading commands entered into the chat window. Even if these features are optional and off by default, I don't want to implement anything that will alter EQ, only read from it for a variety of reasons. I will implement hot keys that can be pressed while EQ is in the foreground that will allow you to start tracking alert groups.

I also decided to allow you to specify the hostname or the IP address of the server you want to connect to.

It will also optimize map files. It finds lines that are touching and checks the angle between them. If they form a straight line or very close to a straight line it combines them into one line. This actually gets rid of a suprisingly large number of lines. It takes about as long to optimize a map as it does to read the map file, so after it optimizes the map it will write it to a binary file that can be read very quickly the next time you enter the zone. The only disadvantage is that if you update your EQ maps you have to delete the opimized versions to see your updated maps.

[65536]

I just got some very basic 3D drawing working. Below is a screen shot of what it looks like. Its a view in PoKnowledge looking at the library from a little above the eastern trader building. On my old AMD Athlon 1800+ it uses 3% of my CPU at peak when just updating and redrawing. The screen shot doesn't do it justice though. Flying through PoK is looks awesome.

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/3876/previewve4.th.png (http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=previewve4.png)

I'm trying to decide how NPCs, PCs, ground items, etc. should be drawn. I have three criteria that I want to maximize. It should be very easy to dicern what an object is by looking at it. It should convey as much information as possible. And should work well in an overhead view.

I could do geometric shapes. Players could be arrows. NPCs could be a pointed cylinder. They would look very good in an overhead view. The problem with this idea is how do you represent corpses and invisibility? Maybe I could hollow out a cylinder in the center and color it according to dead/visible, and have the rest of the shape the con color. Partial transparency for invisibility?

Another option is 3D models. Players could be simple a human looking person. NPCs could be a monsterish thing. Pets could be dogs. Ground drops could be little bags. All monks would be monkies. When something is dead have an alternate model keeled over. It sounds cool, but there are many down sides. I suck at drawing 3D models. Hard to dicern when zoomed out. No animation so the models slide around. Slightly more memory/processing.

I guess right now my preference is toward shapes. Anyone have any sugestions? Specific shapes? How to convey more information? Why a model would be better?

[orc_pawn_01]

I like the idea of simple shapes. You can use the same shape for both 2D and 3D maps and they are easy to identify at a glance.

I'd suggest that you make the shape selection and assignment adjustable and allow me to select a shape that is different from the default for NPCs, PCs, etc.. You could go so far as allowing the selection of each shape for each object's state. For example, I choose a solid diamond for NPCs who are alive and a hollow circle for NPC corpses and a blinking X for NPCs in my alerts list that are listed under rare.

[orc_pawn_01]

Would it be possible to include proximity alerts? I think it would be great if there were a way to have the alert beep go off when a specific mob gets within a specified distance.

For example, if I am in The Buried Sea there are a TON of Blacksail pirates but the only ones I am interested in are ones that are going to path close enough to agro on me.

[65536]

Would it be possible to include proximity alerts? I think it would be great if there were a way to have the alert beep go off when a specific mob gets within a specified distance.

For example, if I am in The Buried Sea there are a TON of Blacksail pirates but the only ones I am interested in are ones that are going to path close enough to agro on me.

That sounds like a cool feature. I'll add that to the alert functionality. Instead of hunt/caution/rare, you can have as many groups as you want and you can call them anything you want. For each "alert group" you can specify name, level range, class list, race list, and spawn types. I'll add an option for each alert group to beep periodically if anything is within a specified range from you.