TF2Idle - An easier way to idle

[Maxus]

I still get that validating issue...

One sandbox account runs just fine, but others keep validating

What I did:

1. Deleted every GCF in my alt steamapps folder and copied original GCFs from mine steamapp folder (they work fine - I have just played TF2 on my main)
2. Defragged GCF with HLEXTRACT
3. Deleted everything in my sandboxies folders except Steam.exe

If I understood it corectly, every single sandboxie is using the same GCF file simultaneously? I used to idle 4 accs at once, but they all had seperate steamapps folder (so like 40-50 GB of hard drive taken)...

Does anyone have solution to this? So I can run couple sandboxies with just one alt steamapps folder?

Some Screenshots:
[url]http://scr.hu/0eva/rs6y4[/url] + [url]http://scr.hu/0eva/usjci[/url] - sandboxie settings
[url]http://scr.hu/0eva/wk47j[/url] - folder structure (everything in 1 folder - ALT steamapps + separete folders for each account)
[url]http://scr.hu/0eva/y7i61[/url] - inside alt steamapps
[url]http://scr.hu/0eva/i9gmd[/url] - TF2IDLE options

[Errorproxy]

Shouldn't you defrag the main GCF first then replace every alt account's GCF with it?

[ric20007]

[QUOTE=Errorproxy;38371488]Shouldn't you defrag the main GCF first then replace every alt account's GCF with it?[/QUOTE]

if your it's your main gcf it should work , so no need to defrag.

[Errorproxy]

Hm.

These item mangers don't work for me. Maybe Windows 8 problem.

Are there any other convenient or autocrafting programs out there for Tf2?

[JoeBlack]

Hi. First of all thank you for this great tool.

Quick question. I have my OS installed on 60Gb SSD. Not really a suitable environment to grow farm ;= . Is it possible to move all the accounts from my C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamappsfolder to other drive and acess them through shortcuts. Thanks again.

[plutonick]

[QUOTE=Boben;38356979]For some reason you not reading thread.[/QUOTE]

You are wrong sir.
I am reading this thread religiously. I know about setting up a server, but I don't see why I should be limited to 12 accounts/servers at the same time

[XCloudXO1]

I've come up with a fix for the validating issue, plus the tf2 is not available issue; or rather a work around.
I've made a new app to idle with, use it instead of tf2idle. You'll still have to use tf2idle though as your drop logger.

It'll start tf2, then if it validates it will cancel it at 10% (where it then works for me) and starts the game. If you get the tf2 isn't available error it keeps trying untill it successfully starts.
When the game starts it renames the window to the name of the account it belongs to, then loads the next one. You can use as many accounts as you like.
I don't know yet how to make it detect if you disconnected from the server. I'll try figure something out.

You will need [url=http://www.autohotkey.com/]AutoHotKey[/url] to run it.

Download script [b][url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12153532/Clouds%20TF2%20Idler.ahk]HERE[/url][/b]

[gooooooooooogle]

[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38449346]Only downside is you can't track your drops with it.[/QUOTE]

can't you just track the item drops with tf2idle and use this at the same time?

[zantze]

Okay, this has been probably asked like million times, but I'm getting 'Unable to connect to Steam'. Any help?

[XCloudXO1]

[QUOTE=gooooooooooogle;38449594]can't you just track the item drops with tf2idle and use this at the same time?[/QUOTE]

Yeah that works.

Edit: Regarding fixing disconnects, is there some way you can feed console commands into the textmode tf2? I can't seem to type anything in it. I think i've found how to get my script to read the console so it can find out if you disconnect, but it'd be nice if it didnt have to kill the sandbox and relog it in entirely to get you to reconnect

[Eraserhead23]

[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38449346]I've come up with a fix for the validating issue, plus the tf2 is not available issue; or rather a work around.
I've made a new app to idle with, use it instead of tf2idle. You'll still have to use tf2idle though as your drop logger.

It'll start tf2, then if it validates it will cancel it at 10% (where it then works for me) and starts the game. If you get the tf2 isn't available error it keeps trying untill it successfully starts.
When the game starts it renames the window to the name of the account it belongs to, then loads the next one. You can use as many accounts as you like.
I don't know yet how to make it detect if you disconnected from the server. I'll try figure something out.

You will need [url=http://www.autohotkey.com/]AutoHotKey[/url] to run it.

Download script [b][url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12153532/Clouds%20TF2%20Idler.ahk]HERE[/url][/b][/QUOTE]

Thanks for creating and sharing this. I was already familiar with autohotkeys so it was easy for me to give this a quick run. A few things:

-it seems you switched the client and server settings boxes, first time i used the app my server account failed connecting and my client account worked fine so i switched the setting boxes and then both worked fine.
-i personally have 50 idle accounts and i idle with 15 accounts each night at the same time. Can you make an option to Idle with groups of accounts or select the accounts you want to idle with? Or make the configure accounts button so you can select a different file each time.
-What does the Stop button do?

[gooooooooooogle]

[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38449346]post[/QUOTE]

could you add an option to change the backpack viewer?

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

canceling at 10% doesn't work for me, it just closes it and does it over and over again

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

i think i should share my idle launch parameters:

server:

-heapsize 131072 -textmode -nosound -low -novid -nopreload -replay_enable 0 -nohltv -tvdisable -nojoy -width 640 -height 480 +sv_password 1234 -sw -port 29015 +sv_lan 1 +map itemtest +maxplayers 40 +mp_idledealmethod 0

client:

-low -textmode -nosound -novid -nopreload -nohltv -nojoy -tvdisable -window -width 640 -height 480 -port 23 +password 1234 +connect [B]your computer's local ip address[/B]:29015

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38450051]Regarding fixing disconnects, is there some way you can feed console commands into the textmode tf2? I can't seem to type anything in it. I think i've found how to get my script to read the console so it can find out if you disconnect, but it'd be nice if it didnt have to kill the sandbox and relog it in entirely to get you to reconnect[/QUOTE]

[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=909584[/url]
i think this should work

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

[QUOTE=Eraserhead23;38460131]-What does the Stop button do?[/QUOTE]

it stops the script

[Eraserhead23]

I just tested with 15 idle accounts. The game unavailable issue was dealt with beautifully, just keep restarting that biatch, hell yeah! I did not have the change to test the validating issue.

I did discover another issue: My server accounts takes a bit longer to startup then the client accounts. This caused my client account to connect to the server while the server was still starting up and resulting in failing to connect after 4 retries.

Maybe you can delay the startup of the first client account or maybe there is a way to increase the number of connect attempts?

[gooooooooooogle]

[QUOTE=Eraserhead23;38460581]Maybe you can delay the startup of the first client account or maybe there is a way to increase the number of connect attempts?[/QUOTE]

i don't think there is a way to increase that number, but you can disable all the client accounts (press the "?" next to the "configure accounts if you don't know how to do it), then press idle to start only the server account(s). when you've got the servers running, enable the client accounts and disable the server ones from the configuration file, and start idling with them.

[gooooooooooogle]

i edited the script a bit:
[url]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31115418/idletool.ahk[/url]

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

a known issue: the "save settings" button doesn't save the launch parameters for some reason

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

that means you'll have to edit the .ini file yourself

[editline]15th November 2012[/editline]

changes:

changed "open gui" to "show gui"
added a partially working "save settings" button
added a confirmation box to the "kill sandboxes" button
some other things i can't remember

[XCloudXO1]

google can you try editing the script where it says

DontStealMouse("Validating Steam files - 1","280","190")

and change that 1 to a 2 and see if it fixes the issue?

I'll get on to fixing the issues you've brought up though regarding saving settings and your server needing more time.
And huh i swapped the boxes around? i'll have a look, it wouldnt surprise me i'd miss something silly like that.
edit: oh i see you've already change what site its using for the backpack google. thanks
Once i've sorted the hitches out and such i'll have a look into if i can make a gui for configuring accounts, but for now the txt file method will do.

[gooooooooooogle]

[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38462228]Though about wanting a different backpack viewer, what site do you want? tf2items?[/QUOTE]

I use backpack.tf

[IchiVictus]

You know what fixes the validating problem for me? Simply defragging each account manually in steam. There is a parameter for that (steam://defrag/440). You might want to try putting that in your script.

[XCloudXO1]

[url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12153532/Clouds%20TF2%20Idler.ahk]I've updated the script[/url]

changes:
Save button works (for real this time)
Defrag button
Customizable wait time between server starting and clients starting
Made the server and client text actually the right way around
Incorp goooogle's changes

edit: server wait should be fully working now
edit2: save button still wasnt working. it does now

Still not sure though what % the validating can be cancelled at for it to let tf2 run. Its 10% for me so thats what i've put in the script. If anyone's is different let me know what % it works for you at and i'll figure something out.

Going to work on an auto reconnect now, think i've found a method for doing it.

[gooooooooooogle]

i wrote you a magical script that can check if the defrag is done:

IfWinNotActive, Defrag - Team Fortress 2, , WinActivate, Defrag - Team Fortress 2, 
WinWaitActive, Defrag - Team Fortress 2, 
PixelSearch, Px, Py, 28, 135, 28, 135, 0x696D70, 0, Fast
if ErrorLevel
    Click, 321, 225
else
    loop

it might need some polishing

[XCloudXO1]

Oh yeah i forgot about pixel search, i was thinking of using imagesearch. Thanks, i'll add that in in a bit. Just trying to work out how to do auto reconnect now.
Got into a bit of trouble since it seems tf2 has a limit on how many launch params you can feed into it, using autoexec.cfg instead seems to have solved that.

[gooooooooooogle]

use

validatingcheck:
WinActivate Validating Steam files - 1
PixelSearch, , , 21, 160, 21, 160, 0x696D70, 0, Fast
if ErrorLevel
    Click, 280, 190
else
    msgbox, 64, Message, Validating is still in progress.`nThis message will close in 5 seconds., 5
    sleep 7500
    gosub validatingcheck
return

and

defragcheck:
WinActivate, Defrag - Team Fortress 2
PixelSearch, , , 28, 135, 28, 135, 0x696D70, 0, Fast
if ErrorLevel
    Click, 321, 225
else
    msgbox, 64, Message, Defragmenting is still in progress.`nThis message will close in 5 seconds., 5
    sleep 7500
    gosub defragcheck
return

i think these should work

[XCloudXO1]

Alright i've got a relogger working if you disconnect, though i can't recall off the top of my head exactly what it says in the log when it happens. is it just "Server connection timed out." or does it usually give another error too?

[ric20007]

Some possible errors (taken from tf2 idle code):[QUOTE]
Steam Connection Lost
Bad challenge
Failed to load Steam Service
STEAM validation rejected
OnSteamServerConnectFailure
OnSteamServersDisconnected
[/QUOTE]
The only one I have experience with is the Bad challenge (and it's annoying), not sure about the others.

Edit: Bad challenge.
Not sure if the period matters.

[maplemage]

When I press start idling it launches all the accounts and launches TF2, but when I got to my friends list and right click then view game info it shows that they aren't in game, is this how it works or did I do something wrong?

[XCloudXO1]

It should open up a text version of tf2 and in it you should see they've connected to the server. It shows up on the friends list they're playing tf2 too. Did you set your launch parameters right? You can put them in the gui yourself then in the accounts txt file put "server" or "client" at the end (without quotes) to make it use them, or just paste them there directly, that works too.

Thanks for the list of errors, i've added them to what gets checked, still fiddling with getting it to recognise when you're successfully logged back into the server atm

[gooooooooooogle]

i think you should make your own thread for your idling script

[XCloudXO1]

Ah good idea. Yeah i will do once i've added more to it, after this i'll probably make a gui so you don't have to use a txt editor to set up your accounts

[maplemage]

[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38467210]It should open up a text version of tf2 and in it you should see they've connected to the server. It shows up on the friends list they're playing tf2 too. Did you set your launch parameters right? You can put them in the gui yourself then in the accounts txt file put "server" or "client" at the end (without quotes) to make it use them, or just paste them there directly, that works too.

Thanks for the list of errors, i've added them to what gets checked, still fiddling with getting it to recognise when you're successfully logged back into the server atm[/QUOTE]
Nothing pops up when I start idling.
Also can you explain more on how to put the stuff in the GUI myself please? Thank you.

[gooooooooooogle]

[QUOTE=maplemage;38473058]Nothing pops up when I start idling.
Also can you explain more on how to put the stuff in the GUI myself please? Thank you.[/QUOTE]

you'll have to edit the script, it's pretty easy

[editline]16th November 2012[/editline]

if you have no previous experience with autohotkey, you'll probably need a tutorial:
[url]http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/44040-tutorial-for-newbies/[/url]