shanga

Here's a nice test for you... I didn't believe this until I saw it with my own eyes... 1. Open EL and Yahoo Messenger (didn't test on other messengers) 2. Minimize Yahoo Messenger and move around in EL a bit 3. Have a friend send you a message on YIM so the YIM window pops up 4. Write something on YIM and send it (press ENTER to send) 5. Ooopss... seems what you write in YIM gets written in EL too ... and sent too... I hope someone realizes what an ugly bug this is... and how it can damage any reputation EL devs hold. No one wants to play a game that sniffs private conversations.

Tovaras sa fii dumneata cu colegii de gradinita, cu mine nu ai sanse. Daca e open-source inseamna ca el al meu, stimabile? Am semnalat un bug, acum inseamna ca ma dau destept, nu? Vai de capul tau... For English readers: As I pretty much expected - from what I've seen on these forums - thanks to the fact that I signalled a bug, you gentlemen (with some exceptions) decided the best policy is to flame the messenger. That makes me sick beyond imagination, so consider yourself happy in your own little world... this is the last post you'll see from me...

Thanks ecraven and crusadingknight. In the end, someone who started some bugfixing and stopped talking nonsense. @ Entropy - I just did help you out, by beta-testing and finding a bug that would've embarassed and - possibly - made you liable for damage if the game had been p2p. The least you can do is fix the game, if not say thanks. And yes - technically this bug is a "keylogger", since it captures keystrokes from a 3rd party app and sends them over a public chat. This idea might piss you off, but your fault or not, that's the end result. Using bad libs in your end product doesn't mean you aren't responsible. And it's not all the programmers that are bad. It just those who cannot admit they are wrong. Those who made Putty did a much better job so I don't see the relevance of that phrase... As i've decided to quit playing EL, this is how far my contribution to this game goes.

Exactly.

I cannot see the letters "as I type them". They get sent when I press Enter key. And no, YIM does not obscure the whole EL window, otherwise I wouldn't see the bug happening.

No, i was playing at 800x600 I think. As I explained in the first post, the procedure is this: Open both YIM and EL Have YIM minimized in the taskbar Play EL When someone sends you a message and YIM flashes, click on it to activate it ..... At this instance, YIM is over the EL window Well, anything you type in YIM and send by pressing Enter goes to both YIM and EL. Also, as soon as you click back into EL window the bug dissapears. Dunno, about SSH and putty, but i suspect the bug manifests itself in a similar fashion (when the program window is OVER the EL window after being minimized on the taskbar).

Of course I checked, that was the first suspicion I had. But when the bug was replicated - as I already said - on four different computers, all running updated AV and firewall, it became obvious it wasn't an external program. It is a keylogger since it captures keystrokes it shouldn't. I am not saying it's an "intentional" keylogger, or a vicious one. It's simply poor programming. If it's the SDL or not, as I said, it's not for the user to find out. That is a pathetic excuse. Like MS saying they carry no responsability for OS bugs, since the buffer overflow was there when they begun. I think I've seen too much dissing instead of a decent "ok, we'll fix the bug in the next release" or something. So, no I won't play EL anymore and be sure I won't let anyone I know do such a stupid thing either. Maybe the 13 year olds who worship the devs egos around here don't care if their private info gets spilled over a public chat, but I do.

Eeekk!!! I was wrong! It keeps doing it with YIM 6.0, latest version. And it does it, yes, with SSH and putty. Now, SDL or not, it's not the PLAYER'S responsability to fix YOUR game. Any sound minded developer would've hidden been out of view now, trying HIMSELF to see if an updated SDL is needed. This is a statically compiled lib, so I won't even dream of recompiling EL (a mind numbing job in intself) just to see if it works or not. It's a lib in a public version you put up for download. As far as any user is concerned, it's a nice, come-and-get-it, keylogger. Go work for MS if you think this is the way to treat a serious bug report. PS: Si mai zice lumea, domnule Privantu, ca avem programatori buni... bleah...

Maybe, maybe not... Dismiss this if you want to, but I had never had YIM send text to MS Word, IRC or any other web game I've played for that matter. It's only up to you to find out or not what caused this. I don't even care, since it's not my name on the game.

Well, getting past some smart ass attitudes, I'll add that this bug/incompatibilty/whatever doesn't appear on Trillian. Dunno about Gaim. I actually tried with YIM 6.0 and the freaky text doesn't appear anymore. I'll do more tests in the morning.

Q.E.D.

Let me say... LOL... LMAO... Ah, and before any smartass replies as "you've got a virus yourself" get posted, this happened on 4 separate PCs in 4 separate locations, following the above steps. The minute the YIM window pops up above EL, everything written there is sent into the game too.

It did attract your attention, didn't it? I am sure you would've made it more discrete, if it was a keylogger. But nevertheless, the bug is annoying and private conversations should not end up splattered on EL chat.

Me and nully just created ELF_bot as our first test bot, based on elbot. For now it's rather basic, meaning it does almost nothing. As for the future, if he manage to do something with the code, it should be a trading/storage bot for the guild... But's that's a far perspective now.

Adding to that... After Arby reset the name, I was able to join the guild only using the LONG name. Like #join_guild elven liberation force... But using the tag ELF didn't work.

I am not sure of the autoharvesting itself wasn't the crash cause (not that i want/care/need to know, but since it was implemented the whole game went from slow to slowest). So i voted YES, but if the above it's true, it will only cause more problems...

No, the DID NOT...

Can i look at that wall too?

Yep. Game server down it seems. Cannot connect either. Either autoharvesting thing melted the processor or the bitchin jinxed the motherboard

You need to be an experience blacksmith if you want to make such an uber weapon. That means reading books AND having high manufacturing skills. It would be ridiculous to have a newbie make a super-duper sword in the first day of playing... Actually the suggestion was to implement this new system for uber-weapons (read: experienced players) in the beginning and extend it later, in a simplified form and if it works. And yes, the timed click won't work because of the lag. But here's another idea (much more moderate): keep just the high temperature. So for: 1. warrior weapons (regular weapos with higher durability and damage) - keep the fire going for 1 minute. 2. master weapons (like samurai swords) - keep the fire going for 5 mins 3. uber weapons ( magic weapons) - keep the fire going for 10 mins, allow 1 minute for rune/essence insertion. Higher level crafters can benefit from bonuses as: reduction of time needed, better quality blades, etc. Also don't forget the other parts of the weapon (the handle), which can vary and add new and surprising/random bonuses to it. In conclusion: all the player would need to do is to be patient, well trained and focused. And click once in a while...

Most of the games of this type suffer from click-click-click problem, so to say. In Runescape they introduced higher grade picks, which strike multiple times, but imho that isn't such a great solution. The way to break the monotony would be to make the quality of the weapon dependant on: 1. Forging - quality of ingredients I'd stress the need for special metals. Because before going to the blacksmith, you need a forge to create a metal rod (anyone played Gothic?). That special metal bar could have it's own story - meaning... a. you either buy it from special NPCs for a shamefull amount of cash b. you gather the ingredients and have the NPC make it for you, but for a hefty sum. c. you gather the ingredients, pay the NPC to teach you to forge it and give it a try yourself (more risky and most rewarding in EXP and financially) 2. Smithing - being focused For smithing you shouldn't need to click continuosly, but you need to click EXACTLY at the proper time. The higher the level of the weapon you are going for, the tighter the margin of error (from 60 seconds to 1-2 seconds). The best blades should be be obtained only at extremely high temperatures. For example, you can add the essence or special runes only when the fire is at 2000 degrees - and that happens for 2 seconds in 15 minutes. If you fail, the blade is compromised, meaning you get a regular sword and you lose the special item you added. Ouch! Same options as above should be available (paying a NPC). 3. Working the bellows - cooperation Here we can have one helper. He can be NPC, but in such case he must be payed and his work quality is...well... dependant on the purse. If you are cheap, you'll get only aprentices who will make it very difficult for you (for example, instead of a window of 60 seconds for that superhigh temperature, you only get 10 seconds). If you have a friend to help, he should add the coal and work the bellows for you for 15-30 minutes, so make sure you make good and patient friends in EL. PS: To get rid of the abundance of clicks in harvesting, two things should be done, imho: a. make resources limited and expiring (a bush can only produce X many flowers in a day...) b. limit the need for large ammounts of resources and reward inventivity & work (if I sell 1000 lumps of iron to the store, i get much less cash compared to selling a refined product like bars, rods, etc - and make this valid for all levels, even for noobs).

One humble oppinion - leave the basic swords as they are and use this new idea for special weapons. Who dares to spend 15 minutes (make it 30) and take the risk of losing all the RARE ingredients because...well... the fire wasn't hot enough... let them have their uber-weapon. The rest of us will watch in awe... Idea - make it a "two player" job. One hitting the iron, the other keeping the fire going... ^_^