1768 replies to this topic

[Nacon]

I think the ammo could use some love.

With some thoughts into it... how about a checkbox in Ammo section where user can see all type of ammo. If unchecked, as by default, should only appear the ammo for the current weapons on the mech, which make it easier to grab the right ammo. Also... colored too?

Fine work, keep it up!


PS: Oh by the way, if not mentioned yet... flamer isn't taken into account for heat rating.

Edited by Nacon, 04 March 2013 - 03:26 AM.

[smurfynet]

Deathlike, on 03 March 2013 - 04:54 PM, said:

The only minor suggestion is to move AMS as the first thing in the mech hardpoint tables, because it would align much better with everything else...

i dont get it in the stats or mechlab and you mean in the loadoutitself or in the hardpoint list. maybe create a fake screenshot?

Nacon, on 04 March 2013 - 03:26 AM, said:

With some thoughts into it... how about a checkbox in Ammo section where user can see all type of ammo. If unchecked, as by default, should only appear the ammo for the current weapons on the mech, which make it easier to grab the right ammo. Also... colored too?

Part of your suggestion is planned.

Nacon, on 04 March 2013 - 03:26 AM, said:

PS: Oh by the way, if not mentioned yet... flamer isn't taken into account for heat rating.

yea i know and this has been mentioned some times before. i need to change the formula to get this working. and test if everything works as intended afterwards.

[Deathlike]

smurfynet, on 04 March 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:

i dont get it in the stats or mechlab and you mean in the loadoutitself or in the hardpoint list. maybe create a fake screenshot?

I meant in the list of all chassis and variants (the main page, where you see the entire list). Having AMS listed as the last possible item in the mech hardpoint is a little less confusing if it is the first thing in the list.

For instance, let's say the current Raven list. The AMS is in the left torso, but the 2X has 2 energy points on it, and it is shown before AMS. Visually, it's easier to sort out AMS when they are all in the same area (unless, the day comes where one variant isn't coming with AMS). If you put AMS in front of the energy points, it would work better IMO... that was my overall suggestion.

TBH, it doesn't have to be limited to AMS, but rather ideally the common attributes of the mech ideally should be aligned in the same column. For example, the Stalker's left arm and right torso could be sorted better. The common hardpoint in the Stalker's left arm is energy, so it should be listed first. The Stalker's right torso IMO should be listed with AMS first, then missile, and then energy. It's easier to visualize the consistent hardpoint on a mech when they are aligned as such (so people can figure out which variants they want).

Edited by Deathlike, 04 March 2013 - 09:25 AM.

[smurfynet]

Ah ok i get it now, good suggestion. i will do that.

[Butane9000]

It'd be nice if you added in a cost calculator. It'd be great to know roughly/exactly the amount of C-bills I need for the mechs I build in your mechlab.

Edit: Also it's only gotten better with time. Keep up the good work!

Edited by Butane9000, 04 March 2013 - 10:02 AM.

[LarkinOmega]

Butane9000, on 04 March 2013 - 10:01 AM, said:

It'd be nice if you added in a cost calculator. It'd be great to know roughly/exactly the amount of C-bills I need for the mechs I build in your mechlab.

Edit: Also it's only gotten better with time. Keep up the good work!

Upper right hand corner, above the weapons/engines/stuff there is a cost breakdown with an itemized list if you mouse over it.

[Darkblood]

As a suggestion, it would be nice to have a way to share builds that didn´t involve people actually going to your site. Soething like a [smurfy] BBCode that could be incorporated to forums and then, if I used something like:

[smufy]http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=17&l=6eb098ea1a7a393ed703be2f4761b072c0692766[/smurfy]

It would show a compact description of the build (chasis, variant, list of weapons, engine, armor values, etc...) in a table format of sorts (configurable on the forum´s end). I´m quite sure that, if you write such a code and make it available in your site, build oriented forums (like Mechspecs) and various Clan´s forums, would quickly incorporate it. People would still need to go to your place to edit the builds, so it would result in more visits for you.

[smurfynet]

Darkblood, on 04 March 2013 - 01:10 PM, said:

As a suggestion, it would be nice to have a way to share builds that didn´t involve people actually going to your site. Soething like a [smurfy] BBCode that could be incorporated to forums and then

hi, funny you say that, i just talked with Michael from mechspecs i really like the idea as well. i could help out with writing plugins for forums software aswell.

also that is exactly what i created my api for.

i also started a userscript (https://userscripts.org/) but i'm not finished yet and not as nice as a real integration to a forum.

i will have a look at vbulliten board over the next couple of days. if i create something useable i will post it on my github.com account (https://github.com/s.../mwo-api-sample)

Phil

[Darkblood]

smurfynet, on 04 March 2013 - 01:23 PM, said:

hi, funny you say that, i just talked with Michael from mechspecs i really like the idea as well. i could help out with writing plugins for forums software aswell.

also that is exactly what i created my api for.

i also started a userscript (https://userscripts.org/) but i'm not finished yet and not as nice as a real integration to a forum.

i will have a look at vbulliten board over the next couple of days. if i create something useable i will post it on my github.com account (https://github.com/s.../mwo-api-sample)

Phil

Well, I´ve been posting this idea here AND in MechSpecs...

I was just about to offer some help to Michael with using your API to try and do some code for him (I´m not that much of a programmer but I can deal with PHP just fine...), but if you´re on to it we have the right man for the job.

[SaintPeter]

smurfynet, on 04 March 2013 - 01:23 PM, said:

i will have a look at vbulliten board over the next couple of days. if i create something useable i will post it on my github.com account (https://github.com/s.../mwo-api-sample)

Prefomatted API Version
What would greatly simplify the task would be to have a "Text" or "HTML" format along with the "xml" and "json" data types.
The HTML type would return a preformatted output which contained summary information for the 'mech and a link to the 'mech in the mechlab.

I'm envisioning a format like this:

Quote

Chassis: HBK-4SP (Hunchback)
Armor: 304
Cooling Effeciency: 48%
Engine: STD ENGINE 255
Speed: 82.6 kph / 90.9 kph
Heatsinks: 16

Armaments
SRM 6 - Qty 2
MEDIUM LASER - Qty 4

Ammunition
SRM AMMO 300

Upgrades
Armor: Standard
Structure: Endo-Steel
Heatsinks: Double
Guidance: Standard

View Full Loudout

The idea is that the API returns preformatted HTML for a given Loadout ID. This makes it trivial to parse for BBCode - all the code needs to do is submit an API request for the linked Loadout ID and display the returned HTML inline.

You already have this information - I just cut and pasted it off the site and dropped it into some simple formatting.

You could potentially have multiple output formats (html_short, html_long) with more or less informaton, although I suspect the above would be sufficient for most.

The key is that no-one had to write a json or xml parser to render your data. That would be ugly and potentially break anytime you made changes to the data format. Instead, take full responsibility for generating as generic a template as possible for displaying the HTML.

There is some potential for some nifty in-line styling as well.

Iframe Version
The alternative would be to have a super simple display format similar to what I list above ON the smurfy site and allow it to be embedded as an iframe. That would be even simpler and give you greater control over the way the information is displayed. There is slightly more overhead for your servers (since you have to serve headers, etc.), but less overhead for the forum server.

Bottom Line
I could write the PHP to do ether of these methods in just a few lines of code. The API method is slightly harder, since you have to make a CURL call. The iframe is like a regex and building a string. YouTube does it the iframe way to great effect.

[Tremendous Upside]

Hey Smurfy - awesome tool, but it looks like the stats for HPS on the regular PPC haven't updated with the heat reduction to 8 pts. It still lists the weapon as 2.67 HPS (which isn't consistent with the other energy weapons). Think that might be factoring into why the DPS seems much lower on PPC builds?

[Butane9000]

LarkinOmega, on 04 March 2013 - 11:16 AM, said:

Upper right hand corner, above the weapons/engines/stuff there is a cost breakdown with an itemized list if you mouse over it.

So you're right. thanks!

[smurfynet]

SaintPeter, on 04 March 2013 - 02:40 PM, said:

Iframe version

i already did a PROTOTYPE iframe version for my popup which is still with a bad fixed width and has the footer, i will change that probably with todays update. but is that something you suggest?

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...761b072c0692766

Banky, on 04 March 2013 - 03:18 PM, said:

Hey Smurfy - awesome tool, but it looks like the stats for HPS on the regular PPC haven't updated with the heat reduction to 8 pts. It still lists the weapon as 2.67 HPS (which isn't consistent with the other energy weapons). Think that might be factoring into why the DPS seems much lower on PPC builds?

The heat reduction is there (see mainpage for detailed stats) also before the reduction hps was at 3.00.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...179#weapon_beam

phil

[SaintPeter]

smurfynet, on 04 March 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

i already did a PROTOTYPE iframe version for my popup which is still with a bad fixed width and has the footer, i will change that probably with todays update. but is that something you suggest?

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...761b072c0692766

LOL, yeah, that's just about perfect.

There probably needs to be a bit more formatting to make it display clean and also be understandable out of the context of your site. For example, you need headers for some of the information (Weapons, Amunition). You'll also want a link to actually view/edit the 'mech on your site, probably at the bottom.

I'll see if I can't hack something together as a proof of concept on my clan's forums. If it works out I'll post the code here.

The only thing I'm not 100% sure on is if I can get an auto-height on the iframe. That may require a small amount of javascript on your end.

Do you want to break out the code seperate from the tooltip so we can make formatting changes? Maybe add some options like white/black background so it will blend with most forums?

Edited by SaintPeter, 04 March 2013 - 11:20 PM.

[smurfynet]

SaintPeter, on 04 March 2013 - 11:19 PM, said:

The only thing I'm not 100% sure on is if I can get an auto-height on the iframe. That may require a small amount of javascript on your end.

Do you want to break out the code seperate from the tooltip so we can make formatting changes? Maybe add some options like white/black background so it will blend with most forums?

yea height of the iframe could be tricky and sure i can add some helper scripts if needed.

about style i'm thinking about adding a additional param to the page which allows you to give a custom css file for the site. (which should allow you to fully customize the output of the data).

on a side note, if you want more clan features you also can have a look at the api sample, i will post some more infos later today. (sample xml and json file)

phil

[smurfynet]

Update:

* added x-5
* small layout changes
* added some nice backend tools for me to almost automatically perform a gamedata update.
* changed the tooltip layout a bit

[SaintPeter]

I've got this working:
http://1st-rangers.c...&id=21700#34826

Obviously it leaves something to be desired in the looks department.

here is the php code:

$html = '';
if(preg_match("/i=(\d+)&l=(\w+)/",$content, $matches)) {
			$html = '<iframe src="http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/tools/mechtooltip?i=' . $matches[1] . '&l=' . $matches[2] . '" width="100%" height="300"></iframe>';
}
return $html;

This assumes that you already have matching [smurfy] code parsing and that $content contains what is between them.
I made the changes in the Kunena bbcode libraries in about 10 minutes - most of which was figuring out how their BBCode library worked.

My thought:
If you could create a standardized, fixed width/height display, then we could just set the iframe to that size.
I'm thinking roughly 600x300 table, maybe 3 columns: Chassis, Weapons, Ammo. Include the Upgrades flags in the Chassis column.

If you want I can mock up the HTML.

[Supah]

Has anyone been unable to log in? I try to log in, but as soon as I click on any tab, it just logs me straight out again.

[smurfynet]

Supah, on 05 March 2013 - 12:04 PM, said:

Has anyone been unable to log in? I try to log in, but as soon as I click on any tab, it just logs me straight out again.

yepp, there is something wrong, i' looking into it right now.

edit: found the bug releasing now.

bug should be fixed and rolled out. please provide feedback if the problem still occures.

Edited by smurfynet, 05 March 2013 - 12:40 PM.

[smurfynet]

SaintPeter, on 05 March 2013 - 11:59 AM, said:

My thought:
If you could create a standardized, fixed width/height display, then we could just set the iframe to that size.
I'm thinking roughly 600x300 table, maybe 3 columns: Chassis, Weapons, Ammo. Include the Upgrades flags in the Chassis column.

If you want I can mock up the HTML.

sure the thing was planned as a tooltip, it would be nice if you can provide me with a mockup. and i will create it.