Joined: Tue Dec 30 2003 Location: Lincolnshire England Posts: 2080
I fear the stats will never be fully functional, we did not write the code for the stats system and we are not coders, we do have a member that is looking into this, but like yourself he likes to game of an evening to relax, so he looks into the problems within the code as and when he can.
Joined: Thu Mar 29 2007 Location: London Posts: 445
Ron I think this is unjust, be thankful you have a server that you can play in. it's not about stats it's the enjoyment in playing the game.
I am one of the ever grateful people on here that we have awesome maps and servers to play on. I can't believe that you say that you are not bothered about stats where every two weeks you are complaining about it.
Maybe you're right Kov, ... but sometimes i get nervous when others earn their points and me not... after four or five rounds (maps) Many other players have the same opinion about bad scoring of JoStats scripts. DrAgUnOv-S seemed to be the most affected... he don't play on HMS since 04 Feb 2013.
I apreciate the work to keep servers and site alive. But in my opinion, if doing a job do your best, or cut off the parts that not functioning properly.
When i find more spare time i will post a few more things here - I do not want to offend anyone, I just want to help to improve something, if it's possible...
I am root. If you see me laughing, you‘d better have a backup!
Registered Member #1489
Joined: Sat Nov 11 2006 Location: Münster (Westphalia), Germany Posts: 1216
After writing a raging answer on Your post for the last 40 minutes, I took a deep breath and reduced it unto the following sentence:
You should have only posted this sentence in the first place ...
Ron wrote ...
When i find more spare time i will post a few more things here - I do not want to offend anyone, I just want to help to improve something, if it's possible...
I am root. If you see me laughing, you‘d better have a backup!
Registered Member #1489
Joined: Sat Nov 11 2006 Location: Münster (Westphalia), Germany Posts: 1216
If You can and want to contribute, by giving helpful hints or URL's, You are most welcome! I really would appreciate that!
But if You want to bicker about Hardmaps server hosts not doing their "job" right, please stay quiet ...
It is not a job, it never was and never will be, because:
We all do it for free, give our time and money so others can have a good time. We give what we can spare, if that is not good enough for You, we do not need to know.
We do not expect a lot of "Thank You's", but not being stomped into the ground for not having the time anymore, would be nice! Because the job and the private life everyone of us has as and last but not least, the time everyone of us wants to spend gaming with his mates as well, is taking most of the time of those 24 hours a day actually has, last time I checked, ...
Hardmaps was and is always about the fun of gaming together, stats systems were always an afterthought for the ones from outside the squad, who found their way into our servers.
To be honest: after 2,5 hours of commute every day and after 9 hours of sitting in front of two big screens going through code or other IT related problems, after I took care of the other stuff I need to do (building a house, fix stuff around the flat, fix something to eat), after I made sure the JO servers are up and running, after I met some friends or had a game with fellow squad members or met the family, after I fixed a lot of computer problems for my family, friends and squad mates, after I got the sleep I need, after that I will probably have some time to take care of the stats system. So lets call it 20 minutes a day, maybe less ...
I need at least 2 or 3 days to reengineer, what babstats is doing when collecting stats, I have zero documentation on the software layout, interfaces or data moved about. If I can build that documentation, I can start to try to identify the problem and then come up with a solution... at least 3 more days gone A "job" that should be done by the original authors of that tool ... which they sadly neglected to do, but I can understand why, the game is more than a decade old and nothing seems to come down the road from novalogic, that would merit much effort in keeping the tool going. Because they did it on their spare time as well.
I hope You understand, that I am being a little selfish here and do not spend half of my available holidays on fixing a stats system, but use that holidays to my own ends. At the moment, I do not have the time to fix the world on my own, not even with a squad as good as Hardmaps backing me up.
If You want to take the time and point me to where I find solutions, I will gladly try to implement them.
(And I hate fact that, instead of gaming a couple of minutes with Trev, who is hanging around atm, I need to spend my time here to explain, why I do not have the time to fix a bloody useless stats system, because if do not, I am accused of not doing my "job" right.)
Joined: Sat Dec 20 2003 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2646
An excellent reply Cardinal, and thanks for the support Kovoet.
As everyone should always know, right from the start HardMaps was never about the stats. We tracked them yes, but didn't really care about them. About the only times we really watched them was back when we hosted some matches so we could keep track so we could tease each other.
And now? Since so few even play the games (or even have them installed), stats are way down on anyone's list of priorities. They get fixed if and when someone decides to take the time.
The headline of this thread is 100% correct, the stat system is not 100% repaird, but I will say this, it's 99% better then what it was before with input from players, suggestions on repair from Ron, and implementations from Cardinal! I have played about 30 maps since Cardinal (with Rons suggestions) worked his wonders a few weeks back, and I would say all but one registered, so no complaints here. Anytime anyone posts something other than praise (with some exception) in this forum, it seems to be taken personally, which is usually not the posters intent. We realize all HmS hosts have invested their personal time (setting up, designing, maintaining, and hosting) not to mention their own $$ so we can enjoy the servers and maps they provide. So thanks!! I'm sure the intention of most of the feedback is to try and help make your awesome servers a better place for all. Sometimes posts are left in frustration (see ron, and possibly some of my own), but that's not to discountt all the work you do so that we can enjoy!
.....and @ Kovoet....not to take away from the excitement of playing the maps, and the accomplishment of teamwork, but the score is important to many players, it's not the most important, but important just the same (mostly for the same reasons HmS grunt stated in his reply).....besides name one other game in the history of games where you don't keep score, and I will say this .....yawn! LOL
I am root. If you see me laughing, you‘d better have a backup!
Registered Member #1489
Joined: Sat Nov 11 2006 Location: Münster (Westphalia), Germany Posts: 1216
Thanks for the input Ghost,
But lines like these:
Ron wrote ...
referring to bad stats hosting... I will dare to ask : why did HARDMAPS even bother? Lack of trained people to do maintenance, better leave this job
make it very difficult to not take it personally, You know!? We are not paying anyone to do this stuff and never will, we do it on our own spare time, so people can have fun. We have even posted this on nearly every thread dealing with problems and still we get to read
Ron wrote ...
referring to bad stats hosting... I will dare to ask : why did HARDMAPS even bother? Lack of trained people to do maintenance, better leave this job
We bother, because we know that people like You do care and like to have a stats system in place, thats is the ONLY reason I and we still do even bother.
I cannot leave this job, because it isn't my job! I have a real job, which is actually keeping systems like that running ... OK granted, the systems o the real job are a bit more complex, but still I am doing this for a living and I am "trained people"
And I have read lines like that maybe a couple of times too often, from people thinking we are some kind of professional hosting team, that's getting paid by some obscure ways to provide JO servers for people who do not bother to get the picture before they attack people whos only goal it was to create some fun for everyone....
News is, it is not fun anymore and it is getting more annoying by every such inconsiderate sentence posted on the forum....
I did it for us, the squad, but nowadays it seems to me, I only do it for people who do not or don't want to appreciate how much work is already done to keep all this in operation, but only cry for more and more, acting like we are some kind of paid service, where they can scream down the telephone line at some unlucky support desk operator and demand instant action or legal consequences will follow. This kind of attitude seem to be encountered more and more often lately, and I do not like that one bit.
We give what we have, and we give it freely and with joy ... but getting smacked right in the face over and over again, for something that we offer without asking anything back ... it kinda takes the joy out of giving it, very quickly ... This is not some unlucky support desk operator, these are guys who spend their free time and hard earned money and it would be nice, respectful and polite to remember that before clicking the "reply to thread" button ...
We do not ask anything back not even a "thank you", but sentences like
Ron wrote ...
referring to bad stats hosting... I will dare to ask : why did HARDMAPS even bother? Lack of trained people to do maintenance, better leave this job
are personal attacks and they definitly feel like personal attacks ... they hurt. They push me close to log into the server and formulate a SQL-statement that starts with "DROP DATABASE" but knowing that guys like You would loose a lot of fun still keeps me back
Hey Cardinal, just thought I would let you know of a new glitch I found with thee stats system because .....I know, I know right? But this is what I found....It seems that although the system is recording all the correct stat lines, it's not adding them to the stat total correctly....example I started with 658,236, I played two maps scoring 1,253 pts, and 1,601 pts which should have moved my total to 661,090, netting 2,854 pts, instead my total moved to 658,868 for a neet of only 632 pts Not sure if there is anything you can do about it or even have the time, but I just thought I would pass along my findings.
I am root. If you see me laughing, you‘d better have a backup!
Registered Member #1489
Joined: Sat Nov 11 2006 Location: Münster (Westphalia), Germany Posts: 1216
*HmS*grunt wrote ...
*HmS*Cardinal wrote ...
.... house officially turned over...
Is that like the yanky cow tipping? Only on a larger scale?
Yepp, at least they did not turned it onto the side with the photovoltaic panels on the roof, otherwise they would all have been broken ... which would have been a pity .... luckily we built a full size door into our upstairs bedroom, which now becomes the entrance hall: