Clicksaver 2.3.3

[Ukblizzard]

Further to the 18.1 patch this last week, Clicksaver unfortunately broke. Uragon has made some changes so that it can read the new database and made it compile and run in Visual Studio 2008.

We have uploaded 2 versions for download. One version is the full package of program, source code, changes etc. The other is purely the program -- so you can decide which you would like to download and use.

You can download them here:

http://www.ao-universe.com/main.php?...d&action=tools

Please do remember that Clicksaver is a third party tool. Funcom and ARK will not provide any support whatsoever with this program. You will run it at your own risk.

As Uragon has made this update, if you do have any issues, please use the AO Universe forum to discuss these and we will help you as quickly and as best as we can.

We are discussing within the AOU team whether this is a project we would like to take time to develop further for the community and would appreciate any feedback regarding this.

[Siahanor]

The only concern I have at this point is that myself and others have noticed that since the patch, with all the database hitting third party tools disabled, server performance has increased dramatically.

At this point, there's no way to say whether this is due to the tools being locked out or because of the new database itself. But those are the only two differences between when Bor was a solid lagfest and now, when even with the humongous stimpak farming crowd there's still better performance than before.

I would just like to ask that maybe AOU could work together with Means and/or Macrosun to make sure that there's no performance lost due to all the database hammering that comes with hundreds/thousands of people using clicksaver and other third party tools that access the database.

I'm not trying to rain on the parade. I just think this may be a real concern.

What makes me think of this is when there was the problem a week or so ago due to that guy screwing the servers with a bot, Means had stated that while trying to fix it they had also found where database hammering from bots, tools, and so forth had apparently been the cause of much of the lag up until then. Means said they changed how the database was accessed in some way, but that was the old database. So I'm not sure if that same fix they did works the same with the new database.

[Uragon]

It is pretty safe to say that using ClickSaver to access the items database is not affecting the AO servers at all. Extracting the database happens locally on your client, no network connections are involved.

The actual process of using ClickSaver can obviously affect the servers, as it pulls new missions until it finds the ones you were looking for. This is rate limited by the AO servers (you can't pull more than one set of missions every second) and basically causes the same load as someone manually clicking the mouse button every second. Wether that causes any significant server load is obviously something that only Funcom can determine.

As I "only" joined the game in 2005, my history on this is a bit limited, but I do understand that the first versions of Clicksaver pulled missions very rapidly and indeed did cause server issues. That limit then got put into the game, and people have been using it ever since. Quoting from halorn.com, the original home page:

Q: What about ClickSaver? Will that be still available?

A: I will continue to host the ClickSaver program and have no intention to remove it, unless (of course) Funcom tells me to remove it.

The same obviously holds true for the AO-Universe edition. If Funcom deems this program to be an issue, we will immediately remove it.

[polartiger]

Credits for your work Uragon, keep up the good work
however I can't get it to work somehow.
Clicksaver doesnt seem to pick up the missions I pull in AO, nothing happens when i click Request Mission, no sound, even the Clicksaver window doesnt show any items/info.

- edit: Yes, I downloaded the full package

[Siahanor]

Thanks for the reply, Uragon. And again, I wasn't trying to diminish the good work you guys are doing. It was just something that I thought maybe I should bring up. So please don't take my post as anything but ordinary concern. I can be a worrywart sometimes.

[Uragon]

Credits for your work Uragon, keep up the good work
however I can't get it to work somehow.
Clicksaver doesnt seem to pick up the missions I pull in AO, nothing happens when i click Request Mission, no sound, even the Clicksaver window doesnt show any items/info.

- edit: Yes, I downloaded the full package

Sounds like the program failed to attach to AO. A few questions:
What OS are you running it on?
Are you running AO and ClickSaver under the same user account?
Did the old Clicksaver work for you?
Does it work when you start AO, start version 2.3.2 of ClickSaver, end ClickSaver and then start version 2.3.3?

PS: It shouldn't make a difference wether you download the full or the normal version. The full version just is for developers that want to have a look at the code or "paranoid" people that don't trust anything they haven't compiled themselves.

[polartiger]

Running Vista 64 Ultimate
Never had any problems with clicksaver (always used 2.4.3 from arpa3)
even since 18.1 as long as i clicked Skip instead of Continue when it asked to create database.
Stupid me clicked Continue instead of skip by accident now haha.

I already tried different things, starting other versions, rebooting AO and clicksaver,
starting AO before clicksaver and vice versa, up to rebooting the entire computer.

[scenenheard]

have you tried deleting the AODatabase.bdb file that CS creates (in the same folder as the CS app) then restart CS and leet it rebuild that file?

[polartiger]

have you tried deleting the AODatabase.bdb file that CS creates (in the same folder as the CS app) then restart CS and leet it rebuild that file?

Tried and didnt work

[moonfry2005]

ok im having the exact same issue and seems we have the same windows setup.

ok seems like when i delete that file and it starts to build database it only runs for a few seconds (maybe less than 30) then cs pops open as usual. however previously when it builds db it usually took several minutes to complete this process. when i run to the mission terminal none of the mission info pops up in cs window. but hey at least its opening so thats a start!

[Moyahno]

anyone know if the MA attack clicksaver crash bug is removed with this version?

[Uragon]

Arctictiger/Moonfry, mind trying out this binary?
<link removed>
Just copy it into the ClickSaver 2.3.3 directory and run from there. With a bit of luck it might work for Vista, if process access rights were the issue.

Oh, and the MA Attack bug isn't fixed in that version. Might give that a go for a later version. As this is my first Microsoft C++ project that I took on, I'd be happy to actually get it to run on all platforms first.

PS: The fact that the database is read much faster now is normal/to be expected. I blame it on the 18.1. changes.

[moonfry2005]

yessir you have done the trick! awesome and thank you so much for the fast work. im truly lost without this program.

[Uragon]

Ok, then it seems like I was just a bit too conservative regarding what access rights to request. Looks like Vista needs a couple more. I'll build a version 2.3.3.1 with that binary included, host it on AOU and then take the other link offline again.

D'oh, I just noticed that the binary I posted above doesn't actually work for XP. I had to take another "bit" out to make it work now. It will be up in AOU as 2.3.3.1 with that change. Once it is uploaded, feedback from Vista users on wether 2.3.3.1 works for them would be appreciated.

[Omutb]

Ok, then it seems like I was just a bit too conservative regarding what access rights to request. Looks like Vista needs a couple more. I'll build a version 2.3.3.1 with that binary included, host it on AOU and then take the other link offline again.

D'oh, I just noticed that the binary I posted above doesn't actually work for XP. I had to take another "bit" out to make it work now. It will be up in AOU as 2.3.3.1 with that change. Once it is uploaded, feedback from Vista users on wether 2.3.3.1 works for them would be appreciated.

Whats the problem with it?

Under Vista you have to be careful what rights you request when opening files, depending on the files location.

IF the file you are opening requires write access, and it is located in Program Files, and you have UAC on, you cant do it unless youre running elevated, ie with full Admin rights.

[Uragon]

*begin technobabble*
It's actually about attaching to a process, not opening a file. For the first version (2.3.3), I tested the minimum required privileges to attach and load the hooking DLL under XP. For Vista, you seem to require more though, so as a quick fix I just requested all possible bits set. The first compile did request so much though that it then failed in XP. For the now released 2.3.3.1, I had to remove the PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION bit again, as it seems to not be supported in XP. So well... if Clicksaver now again breaks for Vista, I'll have to make the code OS version dependent I guess.
*end technobabble*

[Koizumi]

*begin technobabble*
It's actually about attaching to a process, not opening a file. For the first version (2.3.3), I tested the minimum required privileges to attach and load the hooking DLL under XP. For Vista, you seem to require more though, so as a quick fix I just requested all possible bits set. The first compile did request so much though that it then failed in XP. For the now released 2.3.3.1, I had to remove the PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION bit again, as it seems to not be supported in XP. So well... if Clicksaver now again breaks for Vista, I'll have to make the code OS version dependent I guess.
*end technobabble*

And i have a girlfriend! :P

[scenenheard]

And i have a girlfriend! :P

he's married with a kid :P

[Omutb]

if Clicksaver now again breaks for Vista, I'll have to make the code OS version dependent I guess.

Add something that does the following

OSVERSIONINFO os;
ZeroMemory( &os, sizeof( os ) );

os.dwOSVersionInfoSize= sizeof( OSVERSIONINFO );

GetVersionEx( &os );

if( os.dwMajorVersion >= 6 )
{
 // do vista/Win7 stuff
}
else
{
 // do XP/2K/lower stuff
}

[polartiger]

Uragon you did the trick indeed, thank you for your effort