Tom Sawyer
Member
If I use winzip to edit the daily build, aka the adventures.txt file and add in a location based upon the snarfblat location number why does kol mafia keep telling me the location does not exist in the database?
Ok I am stumped
- Thread starter Tom Sawyer
- Start date
Tom Sawyer
Member
manually visiting the location via the relay browser is fine
but running a script gives back the error location does not exist
Perhaps to be more concise when setting the flag in adventures.txt should the flag be true or false
but running a script gives back the error location does not exist
Perhaps to be more concise when setting the flag in adventures.txt should the flag be true or false
Tom Sawyer
Member
Nevermind, figured it out
And no this is not to create a multi farm
Having played since Feb of 2006 I agree slamming the servers is not kosher.
However mafia is designed to help speed up, or automate things I find tedious hence my request.
And no this is not to create a multi farm
Having played since Feb of 2006 I agree slamming the servers is not kosher.
However mafia is designed to help speed up, or automate things I find tedious hence my request.
I made no assumptions as to whether you will or will not use the information to abuse automation. That is not the point.
I'm sure you can appreciate why asking for this information on a public forum may not be the best way to go about things. You may have the best intentions, but others won't. It would probably be a good idea to remove references to internal files from your posts.
I'm sure you can appreciate why asking for this information on a public forum may not be the best way to go about things. You may have the best intentions, but others won't. It would probably be a good idea to remove references to internal files from your posts.
bordemstirs
Member
I can understand the unwillingness to help someone in a public place that may be used to do something morally gray (or downright black) but it seems a little off to me that you'd request that he remove references to internal files from a post on a forum dedicated to helping users of this open source program.
Well, it seems that my opinion is rather out of date on this forum, and that's fine -- I can live with it.
Really, I don't mean to be a dick about this, and I can understand an individual wanting to automate this content. The point is that people who put the effort in will be able to discover how to add zones themselves -- the information is, as you say, open source and public. We have SVN logs. A browse through that would tell you all you need to know. The point isn't about trying to conceal the information completely. Just not to provide an easily accessible HOWTO guide for all the botters out there who want an easy fix.
In the past the design ethos has been that mafia shouldn't provide automation for this content, and previous posters who explained how to modify the code yourself have been asked to take their instructions down. My comments don't really deviate much from those. I happen to believe that the previous stance was nicer. I appear to be in the minority and from now on will simply back out of these discussions. I apologise if I have offended anyone.
Really, I don't mean to be a dick about this, and I can understand an individual wanting to automate this content. The point is that people who put the effort in will be able to discover how to add zones themselves -- the information is, as you say, open source and public. We have SVN logs. A browse through that would tell you all you need to know. The point isn't about trying to conceal the information completely. Just not to provide an easily accessible HOWTO guide for all the botters out there who want an easy fix.
In the past the design ethos has been that mafia shouldn't provide automation for this content, and previous posters who explained how to modify the code yourself have been asked to take their instructions down. My comments don't really deviate much from those. I happen to believe that the previous stance was nicer. I appear to be in the minority and from now on will simply back out of these discussions. I apologise if I have offended anyone.
bordemstirs
Member
Not offended at all. In fact:
Better approach: If you still want to know how to add zones yourself in January, ask again.
I agree with this. It makes sense. It's new content, and it's busy season. There shouldn't be any automation. That said,
We can't really stop anyone from doing this. And, from the "free software" perspective, it feels wrong to tell them they can't know. Your request to remove file names felt off in this respect. As it pertains to Crimbo as a whole, it makes more sense, but seems like there should be a different way to go about it.
Better approach: If you still want to know how to add zones yourself in January, ask again.
StDoodle
Minion
bordemstirs, what you seem to not be connecting on is that this forum is not the KoLmafia project itself; it's the place officially sanction by the developers for discussing the project. No one is going to argue that an open-source project should be able to prevent anyone from discussing certain aspects of the project anywhere. However, just like it isn't government censorship when a private company removes posts against its TOS from its own website, it isn't really anti-open-source for the current developers of mafia to have a say in what gets discussed on this site.
All a moot point since Veracity added support, but I feel like chiming in anyway.
This is my sixth Crimbo and I'm pretty sure I discovered KoLmafia before the first one. In my opinion there have been four valid reasons for not automating Crimbo content as it occurs:
While Hola's vision is still respected, he is no longer an active participant in the project (compared to his prior involvement).
On an individual basis it has been pretty extensively demonstrated that a user who plays with mafia and does the exact same thing as a user with a plain browser will hit the server the same number of times or less. (Fewer? I never get that right)
KoL's infrastructure has improved so that it can handle increased numbers of users much better and as a consequence, lag is not the problem it once was.
So the last point is the only one that remains valid today and it appears that CDMoyer and TPTB are not willing to go so far as to ask that it not be automated, probably because (unlike in the past) KoLmafia is only one of several tools that can be used to automate.
So while I respect the previous decisions, I see no reason not to change or relax the policy (which is what Veracity has effectively done).
As far as posting a request for "how to do something", that at the time of the request was a feature explicitly rejected by the developers, that seems pretty tacky to me, even if the policy has changed. Open source means everyone has access and can make their own changes but it does not mean the dev team needs to help people make changes that the team has explicitly rejected.
This is my sixth Crimbo and I'm pretty sure I discovered KoLmafia before the first one. In my opinion there have been four valid reasons for not automating Crimbo content as it occurs:
- Hola - the visionary behind KoLmafia - felt it was wrong.
- KoLmafia was believed to increase lag.
- KoLmafia was believed to encourage inactive accounts to become active or new accounts to be created in order to farm, hence more lag.
- Players not reading the content and just farming made the KoL developers "sad".
While Hola's vision is still respected, he is no longer an active participant in the project (compared to his prior involvement).
On an individual basis it has been pretty extensively demonstrated that a user who plays with mafia and does the exact same thing as a user with a plain browser will hit the server the same number of times or less. (Fewer? I never get that right)
KoL's infrastructure has improved so that it can handle increased numbers of users much better and as a consequence, lag is not the problem it once was.
So the last point is the only one that remains valid today and it appears that CDMoyer and TPTB are not willing to go so far as to ask that it not be automated, probably because (unlike in the past) KoLmafia is only one of several tools that can be used to automate.
So while I respect the previous decisions, I see no reason not to change or relax the policy (which is what Veracity has effectively done).
As far as posting a request for "how to do something", that at the time of the request was a feature explicitly rejected by the developers, that seems pretty tacky to me, even if the policy has changed. Open source means everyone has access and can make their own changes but it does not mean the dev team needs to help people make changes that the team has explicitly rejected.