August 2022

August 1

...I did not intend to let all of July pass without a post. I blame RuneScape this time. And the fact that I've been gathering gold in my reserves again on Vindictus. Anyway on to the actual topic. Here are the things I've done since the last post:

Gear module:

• Fixed a bug where using the "Use" buttons on the Gear Params Prompt to swap active enchants or infusions would edit all three slot presets for that item.
  

Battles module:

• Refactored the code to check a newer and more general location for battle data. This module no longer has sole domain over it.
  
• Removed the ability to select a battle from this tab. This was only relevant to the Power module, so this functionality is now part of the Power module.
  
• Removed some code that became obsolete due to these changes.
  

Power module:

• Refactored the code to check itself for selected battle data instead of the Battles module.
  
• Implemented a check to prevent any default baseline used from having stats below the requirements of the battle (if they cannot be bypassed, such as with Taros). This will not apply when using your other gear sets as baselines.
  
• Fixed a bug where battles with no Counterforce Resistance still calculated damage from Counterforce; it would reduce damage unless you had 100 Counterforce, which is erroneous.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Baseline being compared to was counted as having the same ATT Surplus as your current stats.
  
• Identified an issue where Redeemers raids, which don't have QB requirements, can't show differences when on the default QB Reqs baseline. I am undecided on what I want to do to fix this.
  

Miscellaneous small patches

• Fixed the display order of Rhod Compasses, to display them in descending order of stats, instead of the default alphabetical sort.
  
• Replaced my placeholder background image for the Rhod Compass slot with a proper one.
  
• Overhauled the way the Armory stores set stats so keep stored copies of all 7 sets/21 total configurations, and to be able to keep them all up to date. This is required for the Power module to use them as Baselines in comparisons.
  

The main drag on progress recently has been dependencies the Power module turned out to need. My decided solution for the problem of how to handle multiple battle selection was to take that functionality away from the Battles module entirely. The Power module should not have to lean so heavily on an entirely separate module to be able to do anything. Battle selection is now done via clicking the shown battle name on the Power module (will show this UI later in the post).

Having decided that, it turned out that it would be inefficient to make two different modules both request battle data and process it separately, when they both had to do exactly the same work. So I then ripped that process out of the Battles module as well, which required some server-side work to completely strip it away. Battle data is now provided in the initial burst of data the Armory gets on page load, for info that multiple modules need to make use of.

With battles sorted out, I then needed to make baselines work. This instantly ran into another dependency, where to make gear baselines work the Power module needed to be able to have instant access to the final fully calculated stats of any set. At this point, the Armory only kept one fully calculated set of stats, and it was for your current set only. Reworking this was fairly tedious, but after a lot of rebuilding to the class that handles it, and a lot of references to it, the Armory now stores 21 copies of fully calculated stats, one for each set and for each preset configuration that set can have.

So that is where my development progress has been lately. To close out this post, I will show how it looks currently, and what I plan to finish next.

This is the Power tab's design, in its final iteration before release:


The tab row with "Standard" and "Multi-view" is the most recent significant addition. The Standard view mode shows you what you see there, your current set against one battle as compared against some baseline. The Multi-view mode is the one I showed a draft of in a previous post, where you could check your current set against multiple battles at once, with a different slot preset selected on each. This would allow you to min/max your scroll/infusion slots efficiently. That one doesn't work yet, so nothing to show on that front.

To change the selected battle, you just click the battle name on the tab and it pops up a list of battles you can change to. Click a battle on that list, and it instantly switches over.



Due to the reuse of some fancy code on the Armory, the baseline selection and battle selection prompts will always open in a way that doesn't clip them off the edge of your screen, while also keeping them aligned to the label you clicked to open them in the first place. It's rather handy.

My next bit of work to do is making Multi-view mode work. All of the dependencies are done and handled, so it should just be straightforward work on the Power module itself. A nice change of pace somehow. When it is done, the Power module is finished. Once that is done, I need to fix the several bugs I discovered while working on Standard view mode that I couldn't instantly fix on sight.

From there, two modules remain that need to be created and completed. Both should hopefully be minor compared to basically any of the existing modules.
1: A module to select buffs like Fury Infusion, Greater Werewolf Paw, and other rather important effects.
2: A module to create shareable links to sets and saved Profiles/Loadouts.

August 13

I have decided that I am going to fully clear the to do list before creating the Buffs and Share modules. That will leave me in a position where the Armory (should) have no bugs/issues at all, and finishing those would complete the Armory. It also gives me more time to QA test the rest of the Armory while developing those. To that end, here is what I've done since the last post:

Miscellaneous small patches

• Finished filling in all bracelet icon variations, previously only Gold Bracelets were fully defined.
  
• Added in all relevant missing battles to the battle data.
  
• Added the ability to drag scroll bars up and down with the mouse.
  
• Removed a placeholder function from existence on the server. The security implications were terrifying but it was a good placeholder while it was needed.
  
• Added the new ES for Rhod Compasses, and prevented generic accessory ES such as Irate from appearing as options for Rhod Compasses.
  
• Item tooltips for enchant scrolls can now display effects such as the buff granted from Dash, or the passive bonus from Berserker.
  
• Item tooltips for enchant scrolls will now display the item types they are compatible with.
  
• Item tooltips can now display item effects, such as on Artifacts and the Usurper's Complete Rhod Compass.
  
• Item tooltips can now display expiration timers and expiration dates, for items that have those.
  
• Changed the alignment code for general tooltips (anything except an item tooltip) to only show in one of four positions (N, S, E, W), but they will intelligently pick a different side to open from if they don't fit on the screen in the user's chosen position. This prevents them from appearing over top of the hovered element.
  
• Fixed a bug on the Loadouts module where saving changes to a Loadout would not update the weapon icon on the loadout's info card.
  
• Cleaned up directories on the server-side, removing files that won't be relevant on release, were extra backups, or were just for debug/scrapped ideas.
  
• Discovered and fixed an issue from rebuilding the data previously, where Outfit rarities were set wrong.
  
• Typed out the patch notes for v4.00.00 based on the Armory version from 2017, mostly for self-amusement, though they will be published at release.
  

These are mostly self-explanatory, though some may be surprising to see this late in. For the last ~4 years, all of the scrollable elements have literally only been scrollable. Only this month did they gain the ability to be dragged around with the mouse.

The note regarding file removal includes references to things like the Skills module, Titles module, and other Simulation mode things that aren't part of the release of v4. I still have them, they are just pruned from the initial release build. Fewer things means less to scroll through and less to possibly act weird. It also means nobody will be able to glitch one of the tabs into view and cause errors from mismatching modes.

Here is the remaining to do list that I am working on clearing:

Overall Site:

• The site is account-based, yet there is no method to create an account currently; this needs to be addressed.
  
• I need a background image(s) that support 1440p but are tinted to not be as obtrusive. Maybe using grayscale but with an overlay layer of a theme color to match the user's colors?
  
• Another pass needs to be made on every gear category for every character, to make sure nothing is missing. At minimum a LOT of outfits are.
  
• The Settings window exists but is very incomplete/placeholder-ish.
  
• A notifications tab exists on the main nav bar, but it currently does nothing.
  
• Enable data saving on basically everything, as it isn't coded in yet/has been disabled for stability while testing other things.
  
• Editing color themes is dummied out and instead opens the "New" interface. Edit can also be clicked even when disabled, not ideal.
  
• An introductory tutorial of some form needs to be made to ease people into the new UI functionality.
  

Loadouts module:

• I need to update the sprite image that has all of the weapon icons used when viewing saved Loadouts, it has nothing newer than Belle's axe.
  

This is the complete list as I know of right now, but don't be surprised if the next post includes things not listed above. That just means I found more bugs/issues.

The one I am currently working on is the most daunting one, to add all missing gear/outfits. I recorded 41 missing female outfits and 10 missing male outfits. The actual number I am having to work on is larger though, as I discovered some issues with the icons of some of the existing sets. They have the wrong colors due to having to remove dynamic color functionality. A separate thing I had done in the past to remove duplicates on the Armory flattened them into one variation each, and I am having to go back and re-make those entries now that the scope of the site is larger than previously drafted.

The next post will be an extremely boring/short one, just declaring that the Armory is now caught up on items. Hopefully I can finish that before Latiya, since she is going to add another ~50 gear items and at least 2 outfits...

August 19

Unlike originally planned, this isn't a report that the Armory is 100% caught up on items, but I am getting there. I'm making a partway through post since Double XP on RS3 has started eating my time until Monday when it ends. Here are my current stats so far on the item/icon work:

• Modified one outfit (Dullahan) since it became unisex a while back.
  
• Added 70 new outfit icons to the server (and these are a pain in the ass to prepare).
  
• Added 225 variant versions of existing icons to the server (for different colors/rarity borders/etc).
  
• Added 39 outfits to the server data.
  

The work remaining is, approximately:

• The addition of 25 more outfit icons.
  
• The addition of 60 more variant versions of icons.
  
• The addition of 9 more outfits.
  

This doesn't include standalone outfit pieces that aren't part of a set, or back/tail items. Due to the numbers difference in those, it will probably take longer to identify the standalone pieces than to add all of the missing items after.

Double XP will end Monday morning, so the chance I can be fully caught up before Latiya is zero. The first instance of the Armory data being fully up to date on gear will be with 21 characters, then.

August 31

I've been going stir crazy just working nonstop on icons. There are so many steps involved in creating good item icons, and every single step is amazingly monotonous and tedious. This is exactly the kind of work I'm bad at being able to grind out nowadays.

For the last day or two I dropped my work on icons briefly to go back and start working on my other "to do list" items. I found a separate, and much older, list of unfinished things/issues in another file and merged it with my current list. As a result, even after knocking out some of the things on the new list, its size has increased to 17 entries. Most of the new entries are small things, fortunately.

At this point, I have the fully unprocessed images for every new icon I still need to add to the site (except for Rear slot items). Some have also been partially processed, but no new final icons have been made since the last post about icon additions. I will likely be going back and forth between icon work and code fixes until one or the other is done.

I was originally hopeful for starting limited online testing in September, but that is looking quite unlikely now. I will refrain from giving estimate dates again.