TF2Idle - An easier way to idle

[IchiVictus]

So I've been using TF2idle for quite some time, and I felt like letting you (mousekateer) know that I'm real happy you created this.

I've had a problem many others have had in this, and that's having to manually defrag every account after nearly every update. I decided to take it upon my own initiative to add a Defrag Accounts button that would act the same way as the other buttons. So like, you select the accounts you want defragged (I would like to do it 5 at a time), and it would defrag em.

So I checked out your source code and made this for the button, ain't much but still it's 256x256 like the others:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YacK6.png[/IMG]

Extra code. I put this at line 136-141 in AccountsView.py

startDefragIcon = QtGui.QIcon()
		startDefragIcon.addPixmap(QtGui.QPixmap(returnResourcePath('images/defrag.png')), QtGui.QIcon.Normal, QtGui.QIcon.Off)
		self.startDefragAction = self.mainwindow.htoolBar.addAction(startDefragIcon, 'Defrag Accounts')
		QtCore.QObject.connect(self.startDefragAction, QtCore.SIGNAL('triggered()'), curry(self.startUpAccounts, action='start_Defrag'))
		
		self.mainwindow.htoolBar.addSeparator()

And then what does the button do? This:
(lines 328-338 is where I put it)

if action == 'start_Defrag':
					command = r'"%s/Steam.exe" -login %s %s' % (sandbox_install, username, password)
					if easy_sandbox_mode == 'yes' and self.settings.get_option('Account-' + account, 'sandbox_install') == '':
						self.commandthread.addSandbox('TF2Idle' + username)
						self.createdSandboxes.append(username)
						command = r'"%s/Start.exe" /box:%s %s' % (sandboxielocation, 'TF2Idle' + username, command)
					else:
						command = r'"%s/Start.exe" /box:%s %s' % (sandboxielocation, sandboxname, command)
					#Right here add script to launch steam://defrag/440
					import webbrowser
					webbrowser.open_new('steam://defrag/440')

Yes I copied lots of your code, and I'm not taking any credit, I just REALLY want this added. I even learned to use pyinstaller and had trouble making CMD recognize "python" as a command till I edited the PATH thing correctly.

I finally turned it into an executable file to test it, and it turned out to be 4.5kb unlike your 11kb exe. That was the first red flag. The second was that it didn't do anything when I launched it.

I'm stuck on this and I have no clue how to figure this out at this point lol. Here's a pastebin with my tweaked AccountsView.py
[url]http://pastebin.com/v6FezfDh[/url]

[misterdoo01]

[QUOTE=IchiVictus;38308865]-snip-[/QUOTE]

That's pretty cool that you added that functionality, but why the need to defrag after every update?

[IchiVictus]

[QUOTE=misterdoo01;38310587]That's pretty cool that you added that functionality, but why the need to defrag after every update?[/QUOTE]

After every update, all accounts get stuck on validating at 100% and TF2 never launches. There are 2 ways to fix this, one is to reinstall TF2 completely, and the other is to defrag the accounts. Defragging manually is probably easy for those who just have 5-10 accounts, but some of us here have 50-100 or even more.

I've been putting about 2 hours a week in just defragging, and I'm sick of it lol. I haven't messed with my idle accounts for a few weeks. They are collecting dust instead of metal! So I decided to try to do something about it, and kinda failed. I just hope mousekateer adds this functionality. I'll try to make a more appealing button today :)

[Boben]

[QUOTE=IchiVictus;38314119]After every update, all accounts get stuck on validating at 100% and TF2 never launches. There are 2 ways to fix this, one is to reinstall TF2 completely, and the other is to defrag the accounts. Defragging manually is probably easy for those who just have 5-10 accounts, but some of us here have 50-100 or even more.

I've been putting about 2 hours a week in just defragging, and I'm sick of it lol. I haven't messed with my idle accounts for a few weeks. They are collecting dust instead of metal! So I decided to try to do something about it, and kinda failed. I just hope mousekateer adds this functionality. I'll try to make a more appealing button today :)[/QUOTE]
Reinstall TF - 20 min.
Defrag 300 accounts with 10k 10kb files - 25 hours.

[misterdoo01]

[QUOTE=IchiVictus;38314119]After every update, all accounts get stuck on validating at 100% and TF2 never launches. There are 2 ways to fix this, one is to reinstall TF2 completely, and the other is to defrag the accounts. Defragging manually is probably easy for those who just have 5-10 accounts, but some of us here have 50-100 or even more.

I've been putting about 2 hours a week in just defragging, and I'm sick of it lol. I haven't messed with my idle accounts for a few weeks. They are collecting dust instead of metal! So I decided to try to do something about it, and kinda failed. I just hope mousekateer adds this functionality. I'll try to make a more appealing button today :)[/QUOTE]

Weird, I never have that validation issue at all.

[IchiVictus]

[QUOTE=misterdoo01;38315856]Weird, I never have that validation issue at all.[/QUOTE]

Most don't, many do.

[QUOTE=Boben;38314634]Reinstall TF - 20 min.
Defrag 300 accounts with 10k 10kb files - 25 hours.[/QUOTE]

How the hell are you able to download 10GB in 20 minutes? That's like 8.5mb/s. Lucky you, my internet here is 300kb/s. And each account takes about 5-10 seconds to defrag. It's quicker than you think. The long part is opening steam to each of them, going into TF2's properties, clicking local files, then defrag. It's a huge time waster when Valve has a steam protocol that defrags for us and all the program needs is like 20 more lines of code plus a small image.

steam://defrag/440

[ric20007]

[QUOTE=IchiVictus;38317141]Most don't, many do.

How the hell are you able to download 10GB in 20 minutes? That's like 8.5mb/s. Lucky you, my internet here is 300kb/s. And each account takes about 5-10 seconds to defrag. It's quicker than you think. The long part is opening steam to each of them, going into TF2's properties, clicking local files, then defrag. It's a huge time waster when Valve has a steam protocol that defrags for us and all the program needs is like 20 more lines of code plus a small image.

steam://defrag/440

[/QUOTE]

Step 1: Get Tf2 to launch properly
Step 2: Backup all the necessary gcf that tf2 needs
Step 3: If anything breaks or needs validating, terminate all accounts paste the backup on the original folder, and run it unsandboxed 1 time.

PS: At every update terminate all sandboxes, run 1 unsandboxed , update tf2 and launch it. After it launches tf2, log off the unsandboxed account, and run as usual

[plutonick]

[QUOTE=ric20007;38321417]Step 1: Get Tf2 to launch properly
Step 2: Backup all the necessary gcf that tf2 needs
Step 3: If anything breaks or needs validating, terminate all accounts paste the backup on the original folder, and run it unsandboxed 1 time.

PS: At every update terminate all sandboxes, run 1 unsandboxed , update tf2 and launch it. After it launches tf2, log off the unsandboxed account, and run as usual[/QUOTE]

I wonder which are the necessary gcf for tf2? Are there only the gcfs that include teamfortress, or are some source gfcs as well?

[Errorproxy]

Hm. I guess I'll use this method rather than the M.A.I.D. method..

that method gives me too many problems. I get it to work then a month later it doesn't work anymore.

Crap.. but they're the same method.

[Eraserhead23]

Defragging doesn't help at all once that problem occurs. I've noticed that steam starts validating your files when:

1.You are idling with TF2 Idle
2.AND you have your main steam account running on the same computer
3.AND at the same time an update comes out and gets downloaded

So to prevent these problems you should simply not run your main steam account while you are idling. Or run it on another computer.

When an update comes out just close all your idle accounts (no active sandboxes), then download the update on your main account and then use the update gcf's procedure (don't forget to idle unsandboxed when done). After that all should be good.

If you still get the validating issues. Simply delete all the gcf files like i've said before from your sandboxie folder and copy over the gcf files from your main folder. After that it will work. No need to reinstall TF2.

[ric20007]

I never liked using the update gcf files, so with every update I launch a single idle account without sandbox, update and run tf2 (no update gcf required).

[QUOTE=plutonick;38324617]I wonder which are the necessary gcf for tf2? Are there only the gcfs that include teamfortress, or are some source gfcs as well?[/QUOTE]

I think this list is still valid: [URL="http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23793863&postcount=6"]SPUF post link[/URL]

[IchiVictus]

[QUOTE=Eraserhead23;38325899]Defragging doesn't help at all once that problem occurs. I've noticed that steam starts validating your files when:

1.You are idling with TF2 Idle
2.AND you have your main steam account running on the same computer
3.AND at the same time an update comes out and gets downloaded

So to prevent these problems you should simply not run your main steam account while you are idling. Or run it on another computer.

When an update comes out just close all your idle accounts (no active sandboxes), then download the update on your main account and then use the update gcf's procedure (don't forget to idle unsandboxed when done). After that all should be good.

If you still get the validating issues. Simply delete all the gcf files like i've said before from your sandboxie folder and copy over the gcf files from your main folder. After that it will work. No need to reinstall TF2.[/QUOTE]

I have 2 separate copies of TF2. One located at:
C:\idle\steamapps
And one for my main account at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps

I thought that would avoid the issue, but it hasn't. Defragging has worked for me every time.

I got the file size issue fixed when turning the source files into an executable. However, it still doesn't do anything when I launch it. I also tried to use just the untweaked source from 1.6.0 and it doesn't do anything either. I think it's something to do with SIP or PyQt not being properly configured. I'll look more into it. I'm just hoping mousekateer can take a look at this and let me know what I'm doing wrong :/

[Errorproxy]

Wicked... I already had everything set up for MAID and just had to do a few things in this program to start idling successfully again.

When I start idling though it says game unavailable then I press ok and it starts working fine. What's up with that?

[editline]5th November 2012[/editline]

I don't get how the drop log works. I registered an API key and copy pasted it into the program where it said to.

Nothing shows up.

[misterdoo01]

Does anyone in this thread use the Steam Item Manager? [url]http://sim.didrole.com/[/url]

I want to start using it to quickly auto craft each weeks drops, but when I run it, my item list doesn't appear. Instead, I just get "Timeout reached, requesting inventory refresh from the gc server" being printed to the console every 5 seconds.

[AlfieGroove]

[QUOTE=misterdoo01;38332219]Does anyone in this thread use the Steam Item Manager? [url]http://sim.didrole.com/[/url]

I want to start using it to quickly auto craft each weeks drops, but when I run it, my item list doesn't appear. Instead, I just get "Timeout reached, requesting inventory refresh from the gc server" being printed to the console every 5 seconds.[/QUOTE]
I use it every week, very convenient. Are you using an unsandboxied Steam, make sure no other Steam windows are open as well.

[misterdoo01]

[QUOTE=AlfieGroove;38332281]I use it every week, very convenient. Are you using an unsandboxied Steam, make sure no other Steam windows are open as well.[/QUOTE]

I have my main account running, unsandboxed. I also have several other accounts running in their own sandboxes. I'll try using it with only a single, unsandboxed account going.

EDIT: Killing off my sandboxes did nothing.

EDIT 2: SIM also enjoys making Steam crash.

EDIT 3: Okay, that's what's causing it to timeout, Steam crashes EVERYTIME I run SIM.

EDIT 4: Finally got it working. I had to opt-out of the Steam Beta client and use the stable public build instead.

[Errorproxy]

Thanks you fixed my problem.

[editline]6th November 2012[/editline]

Crap, now the problem is when I click on Tf2 in the SIM nothing happens. But Tf2 beta works.

[Big-Iron]

[img_thumb]http://filesmelt.com/dl/halp4.jpg[/img_thumb]
what have i done?

[misterdoo01]

[QUOTE=cheesecurls;38337950]-snip-
what have i done?[/QUOTE]

Shared your username and password for Steam.

[Big-Iron]

my mistake, if you could just remove the reply image.. that would be lovely

[DarkKrystal]

What's the point of this program, if I may ask? I read the OP, but I'm still a little lost.

[gooooooooooogle]

[QUOTE=DarkKrystal;38338758]What's the point of this program, if I may ask? I read the OP, but I'm still a little lost.[/QUOTE]

to idle for item drops with multiple accounts at the same time

[editline]6th November 2012[/editline]

this program makes it easier to start up the accounts and log the item drops

[deqa]

Is there any way to lower the RAM usage of every single TF2Idle account? Moussekateer said
[QUOTE=Moussekateer;35922316]Thanks. The ability is already there. Edit the account you want as the server and give it the relevant custom launch options and then change the main launch options so the other accounts connect to it (launch options defined in an account's settings will always override the main launch settings).

The [URL="https://github.com/Moussekateer/TF2IdleGUI"]source[/URL] has been there since release.[/QUOTE]
but I don't get how to do that.
Edit: In particular, what launch options are needed for the main TF2 idle account and the subsequent accounts.

[Boben]

[QUOTE=deqa;38339208]Is there any way to lower the RAM usage of every single TF2Idle account? Moussekateer said

but I don't get how to do that.
Edit: In particular, what launch options are needed for the main TF2 idle account and the subsequent accounts.[/QUOTE]
more accs - less usage per each, still they trying to use all ram available.

[deqa]

[QUOTE=Boben;38339390]more accs - less usage per each, still they trying to use all ram available.[/QUOTE]
When you have more accounts launched on TF2Idle, the RAM usage decreases? While still consuming 90 percent of your RAM- but at least it's not 100 percent of it?

[Boben]

[QUOTE=deqa;38339432]When you have more accounts launched on TF2Idle, the RAM usage decreases? While still consuming 90 percent of your RAM- but at least it's not 100 percent of it?[/QUOTE]
cant be used 100% anyway. 14gb with 16, 7.6 (not sure now) with 8.

[misterdoo01]

That's something I've been thinking about; I have 8GB of RAM in my machine at the moment. I'm considering bumping that up to 16GB, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the multiple hl2 executables will just use the increased RAM availability as an excuse to use more RAM.

[plutonick]

[QUOTE=misterdoo01;38340363]That's something I've been thinking about; I have 8GB of RAM in my machine at the moment. I'm considering bumping that up to 16GB, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the multiple hl2 executables will just use the increased RAM availability as an excuse to use more RAM.[/QUOTE]

For me the problem isn't ram, but available free ports, for some reason

[misterdoo01]

[QUOTE=plutonick;38354833]For me the problem isn't ram, but available free ports, for some reason[/QUOTE]

Yeah, if I try running more than 13 accounts I get that error.

So I've got the Steam Item Manager working for my main, but I'm trying to see if I can get it setup for all of my idle accounts using Sandboxie. TF2Idle has a "Start Program" button built in, so I imagine I should be able to set it up.

[Boben]

[QUOTE=plutonick;38354833]For me the problem isn't ram, but available free ports, for some reason[/QUOTE]
For some reason you not reading thread.