1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

SP Happenings #131

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by Taluntain, Dec 22, 2005.

  1. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,654
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    571
    Gender:
    Male
    Remove all ads!
    As I've promised last week, the new SP Mystery Feature has gone up a couple of days ago (details here), and it's working out great. However, it is rather strange to see no comments about it, especially from all those people here who have submitted content on SP and can now keep track of how often their files are being downloaded. Check it out, if you haven't yet.

    We also have a new Baldur's Gate 2 mod review by olimikrig: The Darkest Day. It's a really in-depth look at the WeiDU version of the mod, so I heartily recommend reading it to everyone interested.

    As I won't be around much over the next week (or have much to report), the next SPH will be posted in two weeks' time. I'm pretty happy with how the year's turned out for Sorcerer's Place, since most of what I've set out to do has either already been implemented, or is in various stages of implementation. It'd be nice if I could have wrapped more things up before the end of the year, but c'est la vie - there's always something to look forward to in the next year. My thanks go out especially to all the people who help me run, improve and support SP in various ways, from submitting content, coding, posting news, moderating, donating, buying through our stores, or just being here. As I've often said before, if it weren't for the dedication of a large number of people besides me, SP probably wouldn't still be here today.

    I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and I hope you enjoy the remaining days of 2005. As usual, I have plenty of things in store for next year, so make sure you stick around. And if you're feeling generous, please buy some stuff through the SP stores or donate a few bucks to keep SP running. Thank you!

    And now you can join me in the traditional D&D carol of the season...

    "Ring Their Bells", or "The Munchkin's Carol"
    --by the Sea Wasp
    (to the tune of Jingle Bells)

    "Slashing through the Orcs
    With a good two-handed blade
    Over corpses we go
    And through the gore we wade
    Mace on helmet rings
    Making bodies fly
    What fun to sing our SLAYING song
    And watch these suckers die!

    Chorus:
    Oh, ring their bells with swords and spells
    Don't let 'em get away!
    We're brave and bold for fame and gold
    We'll make a lot today!
    Oh, ring their bells with swords and spells
    Don't let 'em get away!
    We'll hack and slash and blast and trash
    And blow these dudes away!

    Crashing through the door
    Into the dragon's nose
    Our mage whips out a Cone of Cold
    And out its fire goes!
    Elven bowstrings sing
    Making balrogs fall
    And our thief finds a secret door
    Into the treasure hall!

    (Chorus)

    Then appears the Lich
    With his demon guard
    Our wizard yawns and wishes
    We'd run into something HARD...
    He begins to cast
    His 19th level spell
    That damn Lich throws a Gate at us
    And drops us all in Hell!

    (Chorus)

    We appear in Hell
    In front of Satan's Throne
    Our cleric waves us out the door
    And takes him on alone!
    Satan's legions don't
    Want to let us go
    Our Techno pulls a bazooka out
    And NUKES 'em 'til they GLOW!

    Oh, ring their bells with prayers and spells
    Don't let 'em get away!
    We're brave and bold and CRAZED, we're told
    To think we'll live the day!
    Oh, ring their bells with swords and shells
    Don't let 'em get away!
    We'll hack and slash and blast and trash
    And blow these dudes away!
    Yes, we'll hack and slash and blast and trash
    And drag our loot away!"

    » Previous SPH
     
    Taluntain, Dec 22, 2005
    #1
  2. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    May 29, 2003
    Messages:
    13,354
    Likes Received:
    99
    Merry Christmas to you too, Tal.
     
    Harbourboy, Dec 23, 2005
    #2
  3. Felinoid

    Felinoid Who did the what now?

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2005
    Messages:
    7,470
    Likes Received:
    6
    Gender:
    Male
    Hehe, that's the second time now that I've sung this since seeing it. Cool song, Tal! :thumb:

    I really hadn't noticed the counters since I haven't tried to download anything lately. I couldn't even see them this morning, and finally clicked on one of the links on a hunch. Seems kind of odd that the counter is on the other side of the toll, so to speak. You'd have to add to your counter by clicking on the link and not doing anything anytime you wanted to see how many times it'd been downloaded, which would make for some skewed data if someone did it a lot. I don't suppose you could show the counters on the pages themselves? :hmm:

    EDIT: NOOOOOO! :wail: You changed the main page! What happened to "The Stuff of Legends, Right Boo?" I liked that. :cry:

    [ December 23, 2005, 02:28: Message edited by: Felinoid ]
     
    Felinoid, Dec 23, 2005
    #3
  4. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,654
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    571
    Gender:
    Male
    The song's not mine (the author's credited), but yes, it's very fitting. ;)

    Actually, there's a good reason why download pages are separate; namely the rampant hotlinking to files on SP that's been going on for years in many places on the 'net. And until now I could only tell people to link to the download pages themselves instead, but considering the large number of downloads on most pages, finding one in particular there wasn't always easy for everyone and not really convenient for quick linking.

    However, now everyone can link to any specific download on SP without having to resort to hotlinking.

    I'm not quite sure what you mean by that... You don't add to the counter by clicking on the download link on the content listing pages on SP... only by clicking on the download link on the actual download page with the counter. Nothing is counted unless you actually click the link that serves you a file.

    I'll put it on the boards. :D
     
    Taluntain, Dec 23, 2005
    #4
  5. Felinoid

    Felinoid Who did the what now?

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2005
    Messages:
    7,470
    Likes Received:
    6
    Gender:
    Male
    I understand the separate pages (brilliant idea, BTW), but if it doesn't count you coming into the page, then how come when I checked my character ones (Coran, Kagain, & Kivan in the BG1 section), they had exactly 1 each? I doubt anyone else has bothered to so much as look at them, so where'd the 1's come from? Either the code deserves a second look, or my stuff is more popular than I thought. :shake:
     
    Felinoid, Dec 23, 2005
    #5
  6. olimikrig

    olimikrig Cavalier of War Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2004
    Messages:
    1,876
    Media:
    472
    Likes Received:
    21
    Gender:
    Male
    Well, I DL'd Octara's BG2 quest checklist, and it said 7 when I clicked the link on the list, I DL'd it, refreshed the page, and it said 8. After reading this I checked the link again, and it still say 8 (as it should). So nothing wrong here (Yes, your stuff is more popular than you thought :heh: )
     
    olimikrig, Dec 23, 2005
    #6
  7. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2003
    Messages:
    6,815
    Media:
    6
    Likes Received:
    336
    [​IMG]
    Well, I read the post, and I can tell you why I haven't commented on it (aside from the fact that I'm not around much lately) - I didn't really understand it. Or more specifically, I don't get its importance.

    Granted, I'm basically a moron when it comes to this sort of thing, but still...
     
    Splunge, Dec 23, 2005
    #7
  8. olimikrig

    olimikrig Cavalier of War Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2004
    Messages:
    1,876
    Media:
    472
    Likes Received:
    21
    Gender:
    Male
    Well, the importance is that it will become much easier to link to a specific file, instead of the pages (even though one could just use his/hers browser copy url function ;) ). Now you don't have to write those annoying "it's about halfway down the page" messages whenever you link to some if the downloadable content here on SP :p
     
    olimikrig, Dec 23, 2005
    #8

  9. Lynadin Gems: 11/31
    Latest gem: Bloodstone

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2004
    Messages:
    417
    Likes Received:
    0
    Yes, as I said, cool feature.
    Happy holidays all ;)
     
    Lynadin, Dec 23, 2005
    #9
  10. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,654
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    571
    Gender:
    Male
    [​IMG]
    The only way they had counts is if someone's actually downloaded them. There's nothing wrong with the code. :p

    Well, I've explained its importance in that thread about it, but if you didn't understand something, you should have asked! I'm always happy to explain. Basically 1) everyone can now see how often every file on SP is being downloaded and 2) every download on SP now has its own page, so people can link to any individual download without having to link to the file directly, which is Bad (read the SP FAQ for more info why).

    But basically the most important part is the actual publicly accessible counter on every download, so that people who send in stuff that's posted on SP can see how often it's being downloaded. Since all the counts started with the implementation of the new system the total downloads figure for files which have been on SP for some time won't extend into the past, but the the current monthly downloads figure is still interesting. And, of course, with all files added from this point on, both the total and monthly counts will be accurate.
     
    Taluntain, Dec 23, 2005
    #10
  11. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    Merry Christmas to all of you who read the news. ;)
     
    chevalier, Dec 24, 2005
    #11
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.