NAB622

I am still working on the most useful part of it, which will show how many players there are per map hour. Basically, it will be an easy way to see what maps people like most. The other thing I could see it being used for is to tell when a server is normally busy, so players know when to show up.

So we're still at least two weeks from release I think, but I wanted to get opinions on the final feature we're adding. ParaTracker is now continuously tracking every server that the users make it aware of, and saving the info to a database. We are still working on displaying the data to the clients, and this is where we need opinions. Circa, the following link is your server. The blue dots are the player count, and the pink bars are the map being played. Each map is a unique height. http://testbed.dogi.us/ParaTracker/utilities/Analytics.php?ip=so.jk3.in&port=29070 To see how it looks with more data, here's a popular CoD4 server with a map rotation every 15 minutes or so: http://testbed.dogi.us/ParaTracker/utilities/Analytics.php?ip=66.150.121.164&port=28931 There will be controls for viewing different data times and viewing a few other parameters but I am not there yet. For now, I would appreciate your feedback!

Not yet. Finishing ParaTracker first, then I intend to jump on board this project. That's why development on ParaTracker will cease after the next big update.

Circa - I modified your CSS file to be compatible with the upcoming release. I tried not to touch anything without good reason, however I did remove the float: left; property from the color classes at the bottom, since it broke the player list when teams were added. I understand you probably won't use it for teams, so feel free to add it back if you like. Link: http://testbed.dogi.us/ParaTracker/Circa.css It will probably need edited one more time in the future, but in the meantime it won't break anything when we update the back end. Edit: The new css file may break things, specifically the player list, so hang on to the old one.

We still have some time left before release, but I wanted to know if anyone has an opinion on the new layout of the tracker utilities. Click the button at the top of the page to open them. http://testbed.dogi.us/ParaTracker/ParaTrackerDynamic.php Most of the games that we plan to support are already added. All we need now is levelshots and to finish analytics. After this release, ParaTracker is intended to be maintenance only; we do not plan on adding any more features. We will do bug fixes and game support, but that is all. So if you want something added, now is the time to speak up. As always, opinions are welcome.

Most of the reconstruction process is complete. Here's a preview of what's coming. If anyone has feedback, I would like to hear it before going much further. These changes are being rolled out on the back end, and will affect all users. Link: http://testbed.dogi.us/ParaTracker/ParaTrackerDynamic.php?ip=66.150.121.164&port=28931&skin=Metallic%20Console&filterOffendingServerNameSymbols=true&displayGameName=true&enableAutoRefresh=true&levelshotsEnabled=true The two biggest changes are that reloads are now butter smooth, and clicking on the column headers for the player list will re-sort the list. Edit: Also, level changes are now handled differently. The levelshots will transition to static, buffer the new images, and then transition back to the images. Also, a lot of former PHP functions have been pushed off onto the client and are done with Javascript now, so response times under load should be faster.

JediTracker was a free server tracker for Jedi Academy and several other games. You could give it the IP address and port of your server, and it would give you some HTML code to put on your website that would showcase your game. Many trackers over the years have come and gone, and every single for-profit tracker I've seen has failed, except for GameTracker. What's worse, the code is never open-sourced for them, to my knowledge. ParaTracker aims to fix both of these problems, by being both free and 100% open source.

You should have full control over the transitions with the CSS file. At the end of your custom CSS file, paste the following code, then allow transitions to test it: Effectively, it should override the existing 15 transitions with the same basic one. If it does not work, let me know, and I'll see about adding a method to choose transitions.

Thanks. I think I already had it fixed, although at this point I'm quite a ways into rewriting the output code, and that stuff needs to wait for a new version because of the significant number of changes, plus I need to test a bunch of stuff first (Housekeeping stuff), By the way, I'm interested in your opinion - even though the levelshot transitions are disabled on your tracker, would you be opposed to allowing users to click on them to look through all the pictures manually?

I thought I knew what was causing that, but I guess not. Thanks for the heads up, we'll look into it. Edit: Any time you run into an error in ParaTracker, check the page in the iframe - if it's throwing any errors, they will be in the HTML comment at the top, right after the version number. Those messages are invaluable to us for bug finding.

We will eventually be making a move to JSON for the server data, but that update will roll out automatically on the back end. If you need to add any CSS classes to your custom skin for compatibility, I will let you know. The end result of using JSON for the data is that the refreshes will not blink, since the page will never reload. The tracker should also perform much better under high load, due to it loading two text files per page load instead of 12 or more.

Just uploaded 135 levelshots. Some of those maps are huuuuuge. Impressive. I also noticed that Siren's Enclave used some rather familiar prefabs. Flattering, to say the least. I keep seeing them everywhere. We already had levelshots for Taspir Power Complex v3 (Naturally), Grand Jedi Skills: Flaw Stories, Jedi's Home II, Sith Council v2, The Academy v3, and the official bonus map pack, so it wasn't as big a task as it seemed. If you need updated levelshots for the clan map in the future, just say so. Cagelight is working on a method to request new levelshots as well.

Circa - I have made a CSS skin that should be a little more to your liking. You should be able to easily modify it from here to say whatever you want. After modifying it, put it on your web server and link to it on the dynamic page, and it should work. FYI, the custom text does not accept HTML tags, due to it being a CSS element, but you can add whatever you like. The color settings are toward the bottom of the file. http://testbed.dogi.us/Circa.zip I also downloaded the maps from your downloads section, and I plan on taking levelshots later tonight.

Circa - I have not forgotten about you. I was busy rewriting another large portion of the back end. The next big update is intended to implement JSON into the CSS skins. The results will be worth it, but it could take a few weeks. I will try and make time to get you those levelshots and possibly the css file tomorrow. Unless you specify otherwise, I will use your last image as a reference point for the tracker's​ appearance.

Is there any special parsing that needs done for JKG? Are the gametypes and bitflags the same?

I am personally going through every game we intend to support and taking 5 to 8 levelshots of every single level. This is merely a drop in the ocean of work I have to do. It won't be a problem.

Cagelight already took care of the GeoIP issue. I can add the levelshot, but actually I'd rather take several of them. Is there a specific reason you want that levelshot? If not, I'll download that map and some others and take several levelshots of each. CSS can add custom text to the skins, actually. I put six divs labeled "CustomDiv1" through "CustomDiv6". Using the CSS "::before" property, you can commandeer one of the unused custom divs and add whatever text you want. I also used ::before to label all the parameters, so you can change literally anything you like except the data itself, with just the CSS file. Actually there was a bug in the game detection routine. I forgot to check for null input, which returned an array of every game name. Garbage in, garbage out. It has now been fixed, pending a pull from GitHub. JKG apparently was programmed to give a different game name than JA, so I made a new parsing routine for it. At the moment, ParaTracker is parsing the info just like any other JA server. Is that correct, or are there some special things that need taken into account? I know next to nothing about JKG. Specifically, have the gametypes changed?

I need the IP address of the server. Game detection should be a very easy thing to fix.

Posting here because this thread keeps showing up near the top of Google's results. ParaTracker by itself is active and released. My personal website and Parabolic's JA server are both hosted on the same web server, so ParaTracker is not going anywhere any time soon. It is still in active development, and many more games are planned to be supported. http://paratracker.dogi.us/

Good news: 1.3.4 has been released. Let us know if you find any bugs! http://paratracker.dogi.us/ New in this version: Many more customization options have been added to dynamic mode. Custom (External) skins can be used.Enabling GeoIP without having it installed will no longer crash the tracker.New skin: Hugeflat (Slightly modified version of bigflat). The Safari levelshots bug has been fixed. At least, it has been fixed in the Windows version of Safari (Which is 5 years old). In addition to the previous issue, I didn't know I needed to add .cssText to the levelshot script in several places, and Safari is ridiculously strict with JavaScript. The array to string conversion error messages have been fixed. Nothing was 'wrong' with the code per se; PHP updated how it handled variable variables, and thus the code needed updated. The gametype bug in Jedi Academy has been fixed. @@Circa - I can assist you with a custom skin shortly. Now that the tracker is updated, can you update your website with the new settings you want, and do one more mockup image that specifies the remaining changes?

https://youtu.be/PyXWiBkj33Y

Cagelight fixed the gametype bug. Apparently I miscounted the gametype array and left a blank spot out. Custom, external skin files are now accepted, and all the skin files are easily downloadable from the dynamic setup page. The changes are only available on the testbed - I still want to make one more attempt to fix the Safari levelshot bug before releasing this. After the release, I'll help you get a custom CSS file set up. Testbed link: http://testbed.dogi.us/ParaTracker/ParaTrackerDynamic.php By the way.....does Safari give any JavaScript errors in the console?....

Most of what you're asking for can be done with a custom CSS file, like adjusting the colorizer's colors, adding a custom message and forcing a single transition to be used for all levelshots. I'm working on allowing external CSS skin files, and if they work, you can change whatever you like, whenever you like, by hosting just the CSS file on your own website. Right now I've hit a snag with levelshot transitions and with the width and height of the external skin files. More to come later.

Okay, I'm looking everything over. ParaTracker has not been updated yet; I am simply going over a list of what is done already. First off, some of your suggested changes would be easier with a new skin file; what do you say to a new skin called "Bigflat Huge" or "Hugeflat"? Specifically, you said the player list was a bit small. If I make the player fields a bit smaller and increase the list size, would that work? The scroll bar is difficult to remove because it will misalign the Score and Ping headers. However, the list can be freely resized. The flag alignment can be changed in a new skin. Also, flags can now be disabled. Game name can be disabled. Server ping can be removed in a new skin with ease. (Yes, it is the tracker's ping to your game server - I needed something to fill some space) The logo can be changed to text in a new skin. The orange, black and gray colors can be adjusted in a new skin as well. Can you give me exactly what hex values you would like for them? Fonts can freely be changed. Users can type in several fonts, and they are applied directly into a "font-family" CSS property. Levelshot transitions can now be disabled. Choosing transitions is a tricky issue and is unlikely to work well, but I'll be toying with the idea in my head for a while. Auto refresh can now be disabled. However, it cannot be enabled if the config file has it disabled. EDIT: Server name filtering has also been updated, and can also be disabled or enabled at will. The missing space in the server name has been fixed. Levelshots not working in Safari.....this is a mixed bag. The JavaScript SHOULD work now; however, I do not have a Mac, so I cannot test to see if they do. They still don't work on the latest version of Safari for Windows, but it's 5 years old, so it's irrelevant. The JavaScript definitely works, and that was probably the holdup. This is the new customization list, by the way: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wh10dicvuxmm2lg/2017-04-14.png?dl=0

I don't hate you for the image. Actually, that's exactly the kind of feedback I need. I am at work right now, but I will tackle this when i get home. Most of your suggestions should be very easy to implement, actually, especially since they involve disabling things rather than adding them. I already implemented font changes, although I'll probably have it limited to basic font families.... Is there a specific font you are looking for? We tracked down the issue with Safari - Apple decided they're too good to comply with web standards, just like Microsoft does. We'll get a workaround for it in place, but yeah, we couldn't have foreseen that issue. Thanks for catching it. But, for the record, if it's broken in Internet Exploder, I do not care. It's a nightmare to work with. XD Safari should work in the next update, though. Text only logo is also a possibility, actually, although I'll have to update the skin files a bit. The only reason I want the tracker name visible is so other people know how to find it. It is intended to forever be a free service, just like JediTracker was. The game name is visible on all skins because ParaTracker can track several other games. However, it would be very easy to allow users to disable it, so I'll add that as well.