How was it done now???

[Gaell Stormracer]

But that'd be a bit recursive, no? Since it would invoke the http method handler, and that's what we're actually using as a hook?

Ideally, the script should snarf whatever is in that regkey when it starts, and if it's not itself, should save it and set itself to be the handler, and exit. Then, whenever it's invoked in future, it should pass the arguments by substituting the "%1". That should cut out the need to set the registry entry, as long as there's some way for a VB script like that to find its' own filename.

EDIT: just discovered "WScript.ScriptFullName" ... will play a bit with it.

[KyrosKrane]

Meh. Remind me not to post again before I drink my morning Diet Coke. You're right, that would be silly.

[Gaell Stormracer]

I think I've got it - script now installs itself if invoked with "-install" argument, and removes itself when invoked with "-remove", and uses the saved params.

[Tanker]

Dear lord, item links were such a hack.

Anarchy Online had just come out while we were working on the "new new UI" before PoP. I thought the item links were cool, so I poked around at putting them into EQ. First pass took about 2 days (you wouldn't believe what a pain it was to have text in the chat text, but not have that text show up, and still get the cursor to move normally), and worked, but it turned the chat bar into a data mine for item info, even items that weren't "released".

Gallenite and I spent about 3 days brainstorming with some player friends of his off and on, and finally came up with the checksum method still in use today.

Enter Augments.... and the "false text" in the link grew by 30 characters (item number * 5).

Enter the non-EQ chat system, which the programmer wanted to keep "general", so no EQ-specific link interpreter was ever written, and the chat-based item DB was born.

Gotta love EQ history.

[KyrosKrane]

Fascinating story! I always do love insider anecdotes about EQ, especially the wild and wooly early days.

Enter the non-EQ chat system, which the programmer wanted to keep "general", so no EQ-specific link interpreter was ever written, and the chat-based item DB was born.

I don't think I've heard about this before (though admittedly, I never thought to look). What do you mean by a chat-based item DB? Is that accessed separately from the normal EQ items database?

[Gaell Stormracer]

Tanker dates from the "middle" era though, when he had to deal with lots of hard-coded obscure stuff written by The Founders who'd started drifting away from the company -- a much harder task than writing things from scratch.

[Tanker]

I don't think I've heard about this before (though admittedly, I never thought to look). What do you mean by a chat-based item DB? Is that accessed separately from the normal EQ items database?

I've seen several versions. Essentially, someone kept an EQIM client open to a specific channel all the time. Players would link items to the channel, which would give them the checksum they needed to create a link associated with the item of that name. Finally, someone could type ";itemsearch [itemname]" to that channel, which the client would interpret, search through its list of item name, and output valid item links for the items that matched it.

A couple times over the years, I re-factored what stats went into the checksum, effectively destroying the data stores that these people had made. Then they just had to re-link each item they wanted in the DB to the chat channel again, to get the new checksum.

[KyrosKrane]

Oh, you mean the link-bots. Yeah, those were actually rather handy tools, and players who used them got irritated on a regular basis when item links changed and the bot didn't work any more. =)

I thought you meant an official, Sony DB that was somehow used in chat channels.

[Tanker]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that destroying the link-bots was the reason for changing the checksums, it just was a minor bonus

Actually, there is an item DB in the game now, it's called the Barter system.

[KyrosKrane]

True, but sadly, it doesn't include links to any no-drop items. There are also certified problems with the discovery system -- at one point, I demonstrated to Ngreth that when items are made for the first time, they don't show up in /buy until the server is restarted.

[Elyssanda]

True, but sadly, it doesn't include links to any no-drop items. There are also certified problems with the discovery system -- at one point, I demonstrated to Ngreth that when items are made for the first time, they don't show up in /buy until the server is restarted.

yep. check the buyer system on Fennin ro. I can promise you , a complete set of GM (elaborate) Drakkin armor will NOT show up yet for tailoring. I haven't made it yet, and no one else is high enough to make it.
Does it exist in game? yes, but not on our server, therefore we can't link it or set up buyers for it.

[KyrosKrane]

That's not the problem I meant. What I saw was: Search for an item -- it's not there. Make the item. Search again -- it's still not there, and it won't show up until the server restarts.

[Gaell Stormracer]

The server or "just" the bazaar?

[Gaell Stormracer]

A couple times over the years, I re-factored what stats went into the checksum, effectively destroying the data stores that these people had made.

Er, no, they just had to work out how to do the new checksum.... the data store itself remains intact....

[KyrosKrane]

The server or "just" the bazaar?

I honestly don't know. I wasn't about to suggest to Ngreth that he repeatedly bring down Luclin's bazaar so we can test. =)