Feature Req: More information in Valhalla

MCroft

Developer
Staff member
I am looking to solve a problem I have with my faulty memory. When I'm picking a path, I often want to know if I have a thwaitgold statue for that path, or the Yearly item, etc, or maybe number of times and last time I finished that path, especially if I haven't tried a path (i.e. it's new).

I don't know the best solution to this, either from a data persepctive or a UX perspective. I can see how several of the options would not have any data if the user was on more than one computer, closed and restarted KoLMafia, etc.

Thoughts, with no regard to difficulty of implementation...
  1. Parse the history page before ascension. Hovertext for each path with path stats (count + last date + days?)
  2. Access to the Inventory for searching/viewing in Valhalla. disable all use buttons.
  3. Ascension Manager Pane -- All the stuff you have to do to ascend in one lovely place, plus the info I was looking for.
 

fronobulax

Developer
Staff member
My solution has been to run cc_snapshot. Most of the things I want to know before I ascend and pick a path are displayed. I am rarely interested in past statistics about a path but when I am I go to KoLDB http://www.koldb.com/

If one stop shopping is key, perhaps this is a job for a relay script?

It's not a bad idea but it's not something I am likely to try and implement in mafia unless someone else organizes it and asks for help.
 

Veracity

Developer
Staff member
When I've been in Valhalla I have literally never tried to do anything else in KoL before reentering the Kingdom.

Do you have access to your inventory?
Do you have access to your Ascension History?

If both of the above are true, I think this is a candidate for a relay script in Valhalla - which is where you will actually make your decision.
If either is not true, perhaps there could be a non-relay script which gathers all the data and helps you decide on your plan, and a tiny relay script for the page where you choose your path to pre-select the decision.
Trickiness and complexity could ensue if you wanted to go TCRS and choose your class and sign based on arbitrary factors.

This seems complicated, and not probably not well-suited to building into KoLmafia proper.

I vote for an Ascension Planning script.

How hard could it be? ;)
 

MCroft

Developer
Staff member
When I've been in Valhalla I have literally never tried to do anything else in KoL before reentering the Kingdom.

Do you have access to your inventory?
Do you have access to your Ascension History?

This seems complicated, and not probably not well-suited to building into KoLmafia proper.

I vote for an Ascension Planning script.

How hard could it be? ;)

I don't know. I'm more comfortable changing KoLMafia than I am writing scripts. But I can give it a go, since my goal with turning up the dial on my involvement is to get better at coding and that includes using the scripting engine.

When you ascend inventory gets cleared. I'll have to check on ascension history.

What I had been thinking was along the lines of "don't erase the inventory contents on ascension" plus "disable all functions acting upon inventory contents in Valhalla" followed by "erase the inventory on rebirth".

The "what have I done before" part of valhalla is based around my attempts to pick paths based on novelty-- my current oxygenarian run is based on me realizing that I haven't done that path since 2012. It's static data, except for the just-completed ascension. Maybe I want an ascension history gatherer at/prior-to ascension and a relay script for Valhalla that displays some stats on the path (run count, last run, shortest run).
 

fronobulax

Developer
Staff member
I'm more comfortable changing KoLMafia than I am writing scripts.

FWIW, to the extent that there are Guiding Principles for KoLmafia development one of them is to avoid changing code for a) things that can be easily accomplished with scripts and b) things that are of limited use, outside of a niche.

Perhaps that is incentive to expand your comfort zone? :)
 

MCroft

Developer
Staff member
FWIW, to the extent that there are Guiding Principles for KoLmafia development one of them is to avoid changing code for a) things that can be easily accomplished with scripts and b) things that are of limited use, outside of a niche.

Perhaps that is incentive to expand your comfort zone? :)

I am incented, and I'm gamely going to take a crack at it that way. It's a good principle, and it means that suggestions like "can we make a new tab for Valhalla?" need extra discussion. If I can't get the info I need in a way that works for me, I'll probably revisit this idea. But I'll work on Ascension Planning as a script first.

That said, it seems like a hole that there's not a Valhalla Manager. I can do valhalla in scripts or the relay browser, but not the SwingUI. While it's clearly not needed (see: 14+ years of not having it), it seems to force me to the relay browser, and not much else does that. The things I'm thinking about seem to belong grouped with that.
 

Veracity

Developer
Staff member
As I am just discovering, you can't really do Valhalla correctly in scripts. See a couple of recent bug reports I just commented on. :)

But, yes - I think Valhalla was originally seen as something "nobody would want automate" so, other than properly maintaining the model when you jump the gash and then return to the Kingdom - and decorating the page at the gash (and later, within Valhalla), nothing was done for it.

We HAVE a ValhallaManager. We just don't have much scripting support - and certainly don't have a ValhallaFrame.

I'm curious what "access to Inventory" - or should it be (what will be) storage? - gains you in Valhalla.
 

MCroft

Developer
Staff member
Sorry, I meant swingUI frame named Valhalla Manager, or some such. Of course there's a manager on the back end.

For yearly outfits, I kept going through a cycle of "ascend, try to choose class/path, "oops, which chalk item don't I have?", and being frustrated that I couldn't check my inventory. It would also have been useful in-season for things like License to Kill where you needed to get 11 rewards. Or even "do I have the Thwaitgold statutette for Heavy Rains yet, or do I still need this path?"

The GUI for this might not need the full inventory, it might be just a decoration on the reward saying how many you have of it in inventory... It would require some thinking on how to make it future proof (or future-easy), but the "let me search my inventory, it's not changing..." was the simplest answer (if not the most elegant) that I thought of in the course of writing these few posts...
 
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MCroft

Developer
Staff member
As I am just discovering, you can't really do Valhalla correctly in scripts. See a couple of recent bug reports I just commented on. :)\

Having just popped out to look at the other bug reports, it does strike me as strange that there's a Harmonic Convergence of Valhalla issues right now.
 

fronobulax

Developer
Staff member
You really need to try running cc_snapshot. You might also consider looking at Skill/CS Planner and several others I have forgotten about. In general much of you want to do is already available if you remember to run a script before you jump the gash and/or are willing to have a web page open. So, for the most part we are not talking new capabilities but just a different (and for some people, easier) way of doing things.

That said, I see two distinct cases - one is where we extend scripting capabilities to Valhalla accessing things that are available to mafia when the character is there. The other case is where mafia gathers and caches data that is not available in Valhalla but can be used to inform decisions. I suspect current contents of inventory, closet, Hagnk's and the Display Case are an example of the latter. Of course the TCRS data is going to break any of my attempts to generalize although it is information that is not player specific.

There are people who run headless or choose not to use the relay browser. If we are going to venture down this path, should whatever we do work for them?

And this, for giggles and a reminder of friends who don't visit anymore.

https://kolmafia.us/showthread.php?1934-Ascension-Planner&highlight=ascension+planner
 
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MCroft

Developer
Staff member
You really need to try running cc_snapshot. You might also consider looking at Skill/CS Planner and several others I have forgotten about. In general much of you want to do is already available if you remember to run a script before you jump the gash and/or are willing to have a web page open. So, for the most part we are not talking new capabilities but just a different (and for some people, easier) way of doing things.
I am 100% willing to not reinvent the wheel. Will look.

That said, I see two distinct cases - one is where we extend scripting capabilities to Valhalla accessing things that are available to mafia when the character is there. The other case is where mafia gathers and caches data that is not available in Valhalla but can be used to inform decisions. I suspect current contents of inventory, closet, Hagnk's and the Display Case are an example of the latter. Of course the TCRS data is going to break any of my attempts to generalize although it is information that is not player specific.
Quest Notes could be added to the "stuff you might like to look at post-ascension, based on the thread you listed.

There are people who run headless or choose not to use the relay browser. If we are going to venture down this path, should whatever we do work for them?
What do those people do now when they ascend?

And this, for giggles and a reminder of friends who don't visit anymore.

https://kolmafia.us/showthread.php?1934-Ascension-Planner&highlight=ascension+planner
I like the idea of an Ascension Roadmap that I could add ascensions I want to do (like all the hardcore Standard paths in the new year).
 

ckb

Minion
Staff member
This thread got me thinking, so I built a proof of concept script to parse the ascension log page 'ascensionhistory.php'. I do not know if this is available in Valhalla, but it might be useful to start a relay script. It will also spit out a data file, so you could call this script from your 'preAscensionScript' and then check the data with a relay overide in Valhalla (if ascensionhistory is not available).

Also, I miss Bale.

ckb
 

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MCroft

Developer
Staff member
This thread got me thinking, so I built a proof of concept script to parse the ascension log page 'ascensionhistory.php'. I do not know if this is available in Valhalla, but it might be useful to start a relay script. It will also spit out a data file, so you could call this script from your 'preAscensionScript' and then check the data with a relay overide in Valhalla (if ascensionhistory is not available).

Also, I miss Bale.

ckb

Thank you. If this were Facebook, I would like your reply.
 

ckb

Minion
Staff member
FWIW, I just went through Valhalla, and you cannot access ascensionhistory.php from there.
 
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