What's the cheapest way to make some accounts for idling? Obviously we have to spend 5 euros to get a premium account, but maybe there is a good way to make most of it back? For example you can buy 2 keys and sell them for paypal $, get some money back in this way. Of course this is a poor example and you don't get much money back, anyone got better ideas?
[QUOTE=Reclaimed;38489904]What's the cheapest way to make some accounts for idling? Obviously we have to spend 5 euros to get a premium account, but maybe there is a good way to make most of it back? For example you can buy 2 keys and sell them for paypal $, get some money back in this way. Of course this is a poor example and you don't get much money back, anyone got better ideas?[/QUOTE]
idle for 8 weeks with free account, buy 2 gift wraps + team spirit paint (or 2 dota keys + gold paint - this i prefer), free upgrade
[QUOTE=radek;38489951]idle for 8 weeks with free account, buy 2 gift wraps + team spirit paint (or 2 dota keys + gold paint - this i prefer), free upgrade[/QUOTE]
Well if you buy 2 gift wraps + team spirit you get 9-10 ref depending on the price you sell it for, which is 3,38-3,75 keys. If one key sells for $1,2-1,4 and you get ~5$ after selling it you would lose 1 euro per account creation.
This is not bad, but it's still not a free upgrade and getting weapons which are worth almost nothing while idling probably wouldn't make it profitable.
By the way, what's the point of idling for 8 weeks before buying those items?
[QUOTE=Reclaimed;38491072]Well if you buy 2 gift wraps + team spirit you get 9-10 ref depending on the price you sell it for, which is 3,38-3,75 keys. If one key sells for $1,2-1,4 and you get ~5$ after selling it you would lose 1 euro per account creation.
This is not bad, but it's still not a free upgrade and getting weapons which are worth almost nothing while idling probably wouldn't make it profitable.
By the way, what's the point of idling for 8 weeks before buying those items?[/QUOTE]
the point is not losing anything while upgrading
I have had some free time this weekend and have been working on adding some requested features into the program, hopefully for release in the next day or two. So this is the time to request something you feel is missing or can be improved.
As for an autoreconnect feature [URL="https://github.com/Moussekateer/TF2IdleGUI/tree/smartidle"]there is a branch of TF2Idle on Github[/URL] that has that feature working. I have not released this yet for two reasons. The first is because of something that seemed minor but turned out to be a big headache. The program checks for disconnects by reading a file created from the output of the ingame console to check for error messages. Locating this file is tricky because it is located on the computer in a sandbox and working out the path to it is messy. Just as tricky is also the fact that most people use symlinks and I need to find the actual path to the file, which is not straightforward using Python and Windows. I will need to look more into this to see if there is a more reliable way.
Secondly, I have run into an issue of compiling the program into an exe with the module dependency I need to resolve those symlinks. It is a well known bug with the compiler but none of the fixes I've encountered so far are working for me. This is a major setback, which means an alternative is really needed.
If someone familiar with running the Python script can test it out to see if it works for them that would be great.
My drop log never worked..
I got an API key and copy pasted it into the settings of the program.
Nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;38493845]My drop log never worked..
I got an API key and copy pasted it into the settings of the program.
Nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?[/QUOTE]
You need to switch to the drop log and click add accounts. A bit unintuitive I know. I should figure out a better way.
[QUOTE=Moussekateer;38493514]I have had some free time this weekend and have been working on adding some requested features into the program, hopefully for release in the next day or two. So this is the time to request something you feel is missing or can be improved.
[/QUOTE]
Suggestions:
button to defrag accounts like the one I posted here:
[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1161862&p=38308865&viewfull=1#post38308865[/url]
I got that button to work, but couldn't get the (steam://defrag/440) to work with sandboxie. It kept wanting to defrag my non-sandboxes account.
An account switcher would be ideal, like after 10 hours of successful idling (or an hour after no drops), it will terminate all current sandboxes and switch to the next group of accounts. This isn't really needed though.
Can't really think of much else at the moment.
Moussekateer, the features that XCloudX01 added with his hotkey script are very useful, esspecially the way it keeps restarting the idle sessions once you get the 'game unavailable' error. That why i can now simply press the Start Idling button and walk away from my computer instead of heaving to monitor if all start up properly (which never happens). His app also looks for each accounts idle window opening then opens up the next, so there is no need for a timer except for one delay after the server account starts up. If you cant make TF2Idle detect accounts successfully starting up then at least move the delay slide to the main screen.
Also it has been posted before; when you select accounts to idle with automatically add them to the drop log. And killing sandboxes would remove them from the droplog.
Make a log counter for salvaged crates.
Finally; It would be nice if the group buttons would also work to unselect accounts.
maybe make an alerting feature which alerts you when you find an item you've written to a list of good items?
I've used the smartidle branch for a while and never got the reconnect to work, and the output.log does not seem to be in the sandbox but in the normal tf folder.
One thing i've noticed is that I don't really use the drop logger that much the way it is now because it is very cluttered and I think it would be nice to have a different kind of logger.
A logger that would have 1 row per account that shows the number of hats, tools, weapons and crates and the time since the last drop (and it would update every X mins like the polling interval setting ) maybe with a plus sign that would expand and show the drops for that account.
And a special log that logs very special items based on a list or settings.
That is my wishlist and thanks for this tool.
[QUOTE=radek;38491861]the point is not losing anything while upgrading[/QUOTE]
So if you idle for 8 weeks and buy 2 gift wraps + team spirit paint you don't lose any money after selling all the items?
Is there a video tutorial for this?
This is a nice tool but it really needs some kind of (optional) auto-launch function. Once you have everything set up what point is there to running the program if not to launch the idling process? This would also allow the user to schedule the idling with Windows' task scheduler or something so it can be left fully unattended. Or maybe I missed a command switch that can do this?
Also, the first time I idled with this tool, the drop log didn't show anything for several hours until I noticed the "Add Accounts" button and realized the problem. For what reason are the accounts not added automatically?
[QUOTE=IchiVictus;38495220]Suggestions:
button to defrag accounts like the one I posted here:
[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1161862&p=38308865&viewfull=1#post38308865[/url]
I got that button to work, but couldn't get the (steam://defrag/440) to work with sandboxie. It kept wanting to defrag my non-sandboxes account.
An account switcher would be ideal, like after 10 hours of successful idling (or an hour after no drops), it will terminate all current sandboxes and switch to the next group of accounts. This isn't really needed though.
Can't really think of much else at the moment.[/QUOTE]
I'm still not sure why this is necessary. You should NEVER have to defrag your sandboxed game files. The only reason the game wants to defrag them is either because the game tried to update while sandboxed or your disk ran out of space. The solution is to delete the sandboxes, delete the account folders and make sure the game files are upto date when unsandboxed. This will always fix it, the game will never try to defrag the game for no reason. I don't feel that this functionality is necessary because it would be there for the wrong reason. For me personally, defragging is horrifically SLOW.
[QUOTE=Eraserhead23;38498150]Moussekateer, the features that XCloudX01 added with his hotkey script are very useful, esspecially the way it keeps restarting the idle sessions once you get the 'game unavailable' error. That why i can now simply press the Start Idling button and walk away from my computer instead of heaving to monitor if all start up properly (which never happens). His app also looks for each accounts idle window opening then opens up the next, so there is no need for a timer except for one delay after the server account starts up. If you cant make TF2Idle detect accounts successfully starting up then at least move the delay slide to the main screen.
Also it has been posted before; when you select accounts to idle with automatically add them to the drop log. And killing sandboxes would remove them from the droplog.
Make a log counter for salvaged crates.
Finally; It would be nice if the group buttons would also work to unselect accounts.[/QUOTE]
I'm not familiar with that program, but you've described the auto reconnect feature I've written and run into issues with.
I will add the feature of automatically logging accounts when idled, makes sense. A log counter specifically for salvaged crates seems unnecessary when they're so rare. The sortable log feature in the upcoming version should make them easier to spot.
I will look into the group deselect functionality too.
[QUOTE=gooooooooooogle;38498400]maybe make an alerting feature which alerts you when you find an item you've written to a list of good items?[/QUOTE]
This already exists with the tray icon with popup toasties
[QUOTE=ric20007;38499296]I've used the smartidle branch for a while and never got the reconnect to work, and the output.log does not seem to be in the sandbox but in the normal tf folder.
One thing i've noticed is that I don't really use the drop logger that much the way it is now because it is very cluttered and I think it would be nice to have a different kind of logger.
A logger that would have 1 row per account that shows the number of hats, tools, weapons and crates and the time since the last drop (and it would update every X mins like the polling interval setting ) maybe with a plus sign that would expand and show the drops for that account.
And a special log that logs very special items based on a list or settings.
That is my wishlist and thanks for this tool.[/QUOTE]
That's odd that it doesn't write to the sandbox folder, that shouldn't be possible. I need time to look into an alternative implementation.
The expandable table idea is good, but difficult to implement as I can't put javascript in the view properly... I'll think of something.
[QUOTE=Jato;38501240]This is a nice tool but it really needs some kind of (optional) auto-launch function. Once you have everything set up what point is there to running the program if not to launch the idling process? This would also allow the user to schedule the idling with Windows' task scheduler or something so it can be left fully unattended. Or maybe I missed a command switch that can do this?
Also, the first time I idled with this tool, the drop log didn't show anything for several hours until I noticed the "Add Accounts" button and realized the problem. For what reason are the accounts not added automatically?[/QUOTE]
Auto launch will come once I figure out this reconnect functionality.
Second request is coming.
[QUOTE]The solution is to delete the sandboxes, delete the account folders and make sure the game files are upto date when unsandboxed. [/QUOTE]
This works for me for the last two days. But now after the first sandboxed succesfully run, the next idle account would just start validating.
I have tried to delete all the content back and copy content from the main steam folder problem still persist.
My folder structure is based from your github instruction. It work wonders for the last 2 weeks. It just went nuts today with my newly made account.
please enlighten me with solution as it should be a simple matter but i fail to find one.
[QUOTE=moalt;38505881]This works for me for the last two days. But now after the first sandboxed succesfully run, the next idle account would just start validating.
I have tried to delete all the content back and copy content from the main steam folder problem still persist.
My folder structure is based from your github instruction. It work wonders for the last 2 weeks. It just went nuts today with my newly made account.
please enlighten me with solution as it should be a simple matter but i fail to find one.[/QUOTE]
Remove and download again ALL tf2 copies on your PC (for idle and main)
[QUOTE=Boben]Remove and download again ALL tf2 copies on your PC (for idle and main) [/QUOTE]
I thought the reason to have a separate steamapps folder is to avoid this?
[QUOTE=moalt;38506204]I thought the reason to have a separate steamapps folder is to avoid this?[/QUOTE]
Almost.
=/ even if i used different steam installation folder?
I have never idle using the main steam folder in C:\ drive.
I have copied the steam directory and steamapps folder into d:\
[QUOTE=Moussekateer;38502833]The solution is to delete the sandboxes, delete the account folders and make sure the game files are upto date when unsandboxed.[/QUOTE]
I don't quite understand that. Should I delete my Sandboxes in Sandboxie? And my account folders (each one of them?). What about the steamapps folder and account specific folders?
And what does "Empty sandboxes" button do?
Thanks for answers guys
Don't know about you guys, but all I have to do is let the validation reach 10%, press cancel, then press Start Idling in tf2idle again, voila, TF2 runs no problem
doesn't work for me
[QUOTE=Moussekateer;38493514]
As for an autoreconnect feature [URL="https://github.com/Moussekateer/TF2IdleGUI/tree/smartidle"]there is a branch of TF2Idle on Github[/URL] that has that feature working. I have not released this yet for two reasons. The first is because of something that seemed minor but turned out to be a big headache. The program checks for disconnects by reading a file created from the output of the ingame console to check for error messages. Locating this file is tricky because it is located on the computer in a sandbox and working out the path to it is messy. Just as tricky is also the fact that most people use symlinks and I need to find the actual path to the file[/QUOTE]
Howcome you need the real path to the file and not the symlinked path? autohotkey seems to be fine with using symlinked paths. I have zero experience with python though but i assume its sort of the same?
Like perhaps you could use the method i've figured out if you can for my autoreconnect.
Two variables, Var1 is the path of the steam.exe that idle account is using, but just chop off the end of it so c:\steam\steam.exe becomes c:\steam\.
Var 2 is the accounts name
Then use Var1\steamapps\Var2\Team Fortress 2\tf\
---
Also, [url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12153532/Clouds%20TF2%20Idler.ahk]I added the server wait time and the autoreconnect to my script[/url]. Clients seem to be reconnecting fine, though at the moment servers don't. I'll do that next. It checks for a dc every 30s
It works by doing that log scanning method that was posted, and checks for all the different errors that come from different disconnects, thanks for the help on that.
Edit: update checker added and -idle launch param to instantly idle on open. Fix for validating infinite loop issue (it'll wait longer each time the cancelling fails)
Sorry for hijacking your thread with it, i'll make my own soon.
Steam updates for every account that I launch in TF2Idle. Are there any solutions?
Edit: launched steam.exe in a folder
[QUOTE=gooooooooooogle;38511125]doesn't work for me[/QUOTE]
Are you sure they're on in settings? and do you see the tray icon?
[QUOTE=XCloudXO1;38513452]Howcome you need the real path to the file and not the symlinked path? autohotkey seems to be fine with using symlinked paths. I have zero experience with python though but i assume its sort of the same?
[/QUOTE]
There were several issues reading the contents of symlinked files and deleting them, but I think I know how to implement this another way.
In the meantime I'd rather push out this update first and then look at reconnect again. I just need to code up one more feature so I can hopefully push it out tonight or tomorrow, pending any unforeseen issues.
[QUOTE=Moussekateer;38525608]Are you sure they're on in settings? and do you see the tray icon?
There were several issues reading the contents of symlinked files and deleting them, but I think I know how to implement this another way.
In the meantime I'd rather push out this update first and then look at reconnect again. I just need to code up one more feature so I can hopefully push it out tonight or tomorrow, pending any unforeseen issues.[/QUOTE]
Will that work with our old settings from 1.6.0?
Also it would be nice if reconnect thing would be optimal,my connection is pretty stable and pretty sure reconnect would mess things up for me.
[QUOTE=Markers;38526275]Will that work with our old settings from 1.6.0?
Also it would be nice if reconnect thing would be optimal,my connection is pretty stable and pretty sure reconnect would mess things up for me.[/QUOTE]
Yes, the settings file is designed to be always backwards and forwards compatible.
Firstly auto reconnect would be optional, and the way I have it designed it would only kick in when the account is disconnected. It never interacts with the running game directly.
[QUOTE=Moussekateer;38526359]Yes, the settings file is designed to be always backwards and forwards compatible.
Firstly auto reconnect would be optional, and the way I have it designed it would only kick in when the account is disconnected. It never interacts with the running game directly.[/QUOTE]
Pretty sure that hit you before but if about more than 10 of the accounts disconnect at the same time or with very short periods,reconnect trying to run them at the same time would cause "Bad challange" errors on 9/10 of accounts and can cause computer freezing.
Accounts should use the normal connect delay when that happens.
Thanks for all your work,great job really!
I was able to get Cloud's script configured and running properly. I have 5 idle accounts, 1 set for server and the other 4 connecting to that server. Everything looks right ... but no drops. I ran it for several hours today and most of the idle accounts haven't been played all week so they're still due their drops. Any ideas?
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