XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

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XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by ~V~ »

XConsole 2.5.0 rc1 is available for testing.

What is an 'rc'? It's short for release candidate, which means that it's a kind of testing version before the full 2.5.0 is released (think beta).
We'll see how we get on with bugs and then release an rc2 etc. until no more glaring errors are found (or people give up caring) and release the 2.5.0 final.

Please use this thread for reporting bugs etc.

=============================

Installation
------------

For new users who don't already have XConsole:

Information on XConsole and a few screenshots are here:
http://www.unrealize.co.uk/index.php?xconsole

Install:
1) Install version 3.4.8 from here: http://www.unrealize.co.uk/cgi-bin/down ... onsole.zip
2) Grab rc1 from: http://www.unrealize.co.uk/xconsole/xco ... 5.0rc1.zip and replace XConsole.u with the one in this and put in place the other files, replacing where necesary.

-----------

For people that already have XConsole installed:
1) BACKUP your old files: XConsole.u, XConsole.ini, XMacros.ini, UnrealTournament.ini.
Do (2) above.

There are some extra files that come with XConsole now:

Textures\XFonts.utx - custom fixed width Deja Vu fonts. They make the console text much clearer and better aligned.
System\XConsoleHelp.ini - now help is stored in a separate text file.
System\Radiobox.u - Wormbo's radiobox class used in the config window.

XConsole.int has changed slightly and now the UT advanced options (type 'preferences') shows an XConsole section and some editable settings.

=============================

Changelog:

Alt-p opens up config window to change fonts, which pages are shown etc.
tc command which toggles between XConsole console text and normal console text.
Show/Hide page renamed to Console.
Macro page renamed to Keys.
Much better alias system, which allows unlimited, multiple commands aliases and menus.
Aliases are automatically included in the auto-complete system.
New spectating modes (see commands.txt): nukers, xspec.
IP address of server in status bar.
IRC commands for admins/moderators to use with IRC bots.
Dynamically coloured console text, switchable with colours/colors commands.
Console colours can be set in XConsole.ini [XConsole.XConsole_ConsoleTextArea] section.
Clickable links and IPs in console (can turn off with 'links' command).
Variables that are usable in a bind/alias.
Support for bExtra button binds to take UT or XConsole commands/aliases.
Extra HUD info about people removing buildings in Siege.
Console tabs can be traversed using alt+PageUp/PageDown keys.
Console scrolls 20 lines with PageUp/PageDown.
Font settings for scrollback, input box, IRC and player list.
MaxLines setting for console auto-adjusted depending on which logging mode is used.
Siege stats in HUD while spectating.
Added second custom buttons page.
Added a fixed width console/irc font in separate XFonts package.
Added TabComplete[] list to ini to add custom commands to.
Probably more stuff that I forgot.

See the Changelog.txt for more info.

Oops almost forgot this:

Command list: http://www.unrealize.co.uk/xconsole/commands.txt
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by UT99.org »

billybill wrote:hi weird bug when I installed it i used console=xconsole.xconsole and it would crash every time. I didn't know it would be case sensitive and I would have to use XConsole.XConsole. Not a major but something I wouldn't expect, I have no idea how that would even be possible. U files and Classes are case sensitive, since when? Too much linux for me and not much windows? maybe

One feature I would request is a user and pass to the IRC tab. Do the messages come through to the game like the normal IRC tab? Then maybe an option to disable this. You have unlocked a world of good having implemented the IRC tab assuming you are not just importing the existing class

One more thing, and this is important and has to be said.
Are you still hiding the code on these later releases? Assuming yes like the last couple releases. You know we can still extract every class and walk away thinking the author was a prick for the time wastage in doing so

I'd go further with requests saying a plugin system like nexgen has would be 100% benficial, but maybe someone else wants to make a new console, someone who doesn't waste their time and others by constantly hiding their code and saying "trust me there is nothing malicious". (not talking any specific person) You think I out of line to suggest that would be asking a bit much? Looks like a case of release a few versions then gain their trust and start hiding code. Would you agree then that some big server networks in the UT world have an attitude of mass banning with no benefits of the doubt given and one must thoroughly check any client-side code before running it?

Going back a moment, you have a ton of utility functions there that would make making clientside stuff a whole lot easier, and easier = more fun for new coders, bringing in new coders etc. I think more people would benefit from a plugin system and clientside coding that they can actually see without having to host a server, mess with server files etc. Of course a lot of this would work on ANY server and not only offline. ACE and PURE restrict several ufunction calls already that would be considered cheating, there wouldn't be much harm in this it would open up a whole field of new coders, huds etc. And there are already far too many empty servers

Like to hear yourself or anyone elses thoughts
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by ~V~ »

I'll try to answer point by point.

I also use Linux and I think it does make a difference whether you use XConsole or xconsole, mainly because of the config file names, but I'd need to check this out again. *Edit: yes it does matter as UT cannot find some classes using lowercase. So exact case needs to be used.

I'm not sure what you mean by having a user/pass to IRC tab. The IRC tab is the same as it ever was really. There is an IRC option: /bigmessages that sets whether you see when your nick is mentioned in IRC as a big HUD message, or just in the chat box, top-left. Other than that and the option of using different fonts in IRC it's fairly much the same as it was in the previous release. And no, I wrote/extended the classes myself.

Yes I still obfuscate some of the code ever since that D4Console came out (not that it worked with Pure anyway), but if you remember, it subclassed XC. I prefer if most people couldn't compile XC or compile subclasses of it for their cheats. Much of the code is unobfuscated though, so it's still possible to see how things work. I know that some people have the ability to decompile it, but most don't, and that's fine with me. I guess that it could seem suspicious to some people. I'll have to think a bit more about what to do here. Of course though there would be nothing stopping me releasing a 'safe' version of XC and keeping a hacker version for myself, so whether it's obfuscated it or not seems a moot point.

A plugin system seems like a good idea. But then of course code obfuscation gets in the way. Needs more discussion.

I think any clientside code can be tested anyway. I don't see how XC could help make this easier. Most of the bug fixing I've had to do is with getting it to work properly online. I don't really see where you're going with HUDs - XC doesn't and cannot change the HUD. It does have some PostRender stuff for spectating modes like Nukers etc. But this is separate from the normal HUD and will not work with Pure/ACE etc. anyway. To do any HUD code you would need to make it a server mutator of some sort AFAIK.

Waiting for further discussion.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by UT99.org »

billybill wrote:
~V~ wrote: I'm not sure what you mean by having a user/pass to IRC tab. The IRC tab is the same as it ever was really. There is an IRC option: /bigmessages that sets whether you see when your nick is mentioned in IRC as a big HUD message, or just in the chat box, top-left. Other than that and the option of using different fonts in IRC it's fairly much the same as it was in the previous release. And no, I wrote/extended the classes myself.
Good, I was hoping you did because it would allow for more features. The default one doesnt allow for raw commands so sending "AUTH name password" to the server during the connection process becomes impossible
~V~ wrote: I don't see how XC could help make this easier. Most of the bug fixing I've had to do is with getting it to work properly online. I don't really see where you're going with HUDs - XC doesn't and cannot change the HUD. It does have some PostRender stuff for spectating modes like Nukers etc. But this is separate from the normal HUD and will not work with Pure/ACE etc. anyway. To do any HUD code you would need to make it a server mutator of some sort AFAIK.
The offline classes and functions are all much different from mutators etc, I don't know how else to put it. But you've put a lot of work into simplifying it. And if you look at some of the new stuff newgen added for example being able to write an event around a player leaving the server. Even simple things like getting the correct date paramenters in the format you have run through a utility function right? And if someone wanted to make their own console features but liked xconsole, the console= line isn't flexible enough to allow for more than one console. At the moment everything being developed is mutators for servers and this would really open the door for people to learn and have a little fun be it offline or online but without having to rent a server. If I didn't make that point clear in the first post. Of course you don't have to consider any of this but people in the future would appreciate some sort of open source release to work off at the very least

Edit: And I do believe you can put overlays on the HUD, change a whole lot of client-side things in the game in real-time. People will make client-side stuff, no need for having to mess with servers, linking your new actor with GUI mod menu items, and then only to find some server has banned you for accidently using a banned mod menu item name. Whether they release what they make or move on to converting it to servermod doesn't really matter. It would be the ideal way for people to start off without any experience as a base for whatever they want to mess around with and on servers that allow for it. This would unintentionally make XConsole an absolute MUST for everyone if it is not already. It would be far better than someone trying to compete for that XConsole= line. For example I'm in possession of a server controller far superior to nexgen in it's performance, it was never intended for public use it is private and always will be because the author wishes it to stay that way. Had it been made public it would be a real contender for tidiness and reliability in the way it was written. I can't think of any servers that run a servercontroller other than nexgen, maybe one or two still using ASC. The only real edge nexgen would have is the plugin system and you can't really compete with something that allows such easy subclassing or plugins. And don't worry I would let you take credit for anything I have suggested haha, if you have time though make some of this happen before another console comes along and people have to choose. Enough suggestions :tu: or you'll have a fully fledged IRC client as well
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by UnrealGGecko »

I can't use addbots and summon comands! Maybe even more but I didn't try them. :(
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by ~V~ »

@GEx: Strange. They work fine for me, both online and in a practise session. I'm not sure what to suggest since these are normal console commands.

@billybill: I think it would be a bad idea to let people run whatever they liked as a plugin to XC. Before long admins would just start banning XC outright cause of all the chaos and suspicion going on. Also, with IRC, I'm forced to use the default, buggy IRC link class which strips off : and ! from the start of people's chat. I did make a new one that fixes this issue, but some CSHPs kick for it, so it's a no go area I'm afraid. I'm sure my IRC stuff could be improved though, maybe a config window rather than typing in a bunch of network info (I'm used to irssi). I will always look at any suggestions in that area or in any other feature that could be improved. But these things will be in the next version. All I'm doing now is testing for bugs so that I can release a full version.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by JackGriffin »

I decompiled the XConsole.u part of the mod (I'm curious, lol) and I don't see anything bad in a quick glance through the code. I'm not surprised though, as I trust your work because I know you as a dev. That being said I personally would never install anything of this magnitude unless the developer allows his code to be looked over and studied before use. As a server admin you have a responsibility to ensure your clients are served clean files that will not harm them so as a general rule I pass on anything encrypted that functions on an administrative capacity even though I have the tools to see the code myself.

Billy is right here. You are really missing out on allowing other modders to take this in personal directions via sub-mod and also to learn from your considerable coding effort here. There's some damn good function code in this console (I'm looking at it right now) and you ought to take the time to add some code notes (you use almost none, how the heck do you keep it all straight?) and re-release the entire thing openly. Trust me here, the guys who want to hack your console can do it anyway, and you'd be doing a real solid for the remaining active community members. Almost no one is working in this part of admin anymore besides you, your code is beautifully laid out, and you know what you are doing. This sort of thing could inspire a development renaissance in the console code but until I can clearly see what I'm installing at this level I won't use it.

Edit:
Scratch some of the above comments. I just got down to the UTDC hooks. Nope, total pass until I see the entire script openly. You are asking too much trust.
Last edited by JackGriffin on Sun Aug 11, 2013 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by UnrealGGecko »

LOL sorry, had my command line on 'Say' and not 'Command'. Dumbest mistake I made yet :loool:
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by ~V~ »

"Well i used some code from
Unreal 1 Pcube's xConsole: WorldToScreen (heavily modified)"

http://www.unrealadmin.org/forums/showp ... stcount=14

This is one reason why I stop things subclassing the console now. Obviously it can be got around by releasing the source.

Although he claims to be using Pcube's, I know he was using mine at some point.

EDIT-------------------------------------- by papercoffee
JackGriffin wrote:As a server admin you have a responsibility to ensure your clients are served clean files that will not harm them so as a general rule I pass on anything encrypted that functions on an administrative capacity even though I have the tools to see the code myself.
You won't be serving anything. It's a client mod, not a server mod.
JackGriffin wrote:your code is beautifully laid out, and you know what you are doing
Actually some of the first code I wrote, maybe 10 years ago or whatever, is pretty ugly. I'm the first to admit it. I'd have to rewrite all of that old stuff if I was going to release. I do intend to rewrite the logger anyway as some point. But that won't be now. I've just spent the last few months with a couple of testers frantically working on this and trying to fix the bugs in the new console method and the new 'nukers' spec mod. I expect a bunch more bug reports to come in.
Last edited by ~V~ on Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by papercoffee »

Please avoid double posts next time.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by JackGriffin »

~V~ wrote:You won't be serving anything. It's a client mod, not a server mod.
Just for clarification I'd like to explain a bit better. My response there was written poorly. My rule of thumb about serving files I don't know what they are doing extends into installing files into my game too. If I can't see it and tell what it's doing I take a pass. One of the things that the work on UTP showed me is that I'm not going to trust anyone implicitly. Events like password stealing has happened in the large scale in UT and it's super-easy to do. I've personally embedded non-malicious (but very obviously curious) code into some of my mods that still hasn't been (mostly) noticed. That still amazes me to this day but it speaks to people's trust and how easy that would be to manipulate.

I hope you consider a code release. Damn, there is some good work in your console.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by UT99.org »

billybill wrote:I meant login not auth. scratch this command "AUTH name password" I could easily do that with the auth feature you added already. The problem is I cannot send more than one line or a raw command

example in windows command prompt

Code: Select all

telnet tmi.twitch.tv 6667
PASS <mypass>
USER <twitchlogin>
This stuff is standard in irc clients. And I wouldn't mind typing the password in each time for extra security, there is some space next to the default connection options for some new editboxes. Too bad nobody has made an editbox that would make the letters entered come up in asterisk :(
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by ~V~ »

I could probably make an editbox that replaces text with asterisks as soon as a new character is typed. This probably the best that can be expected.

Unfortunately, since I'm using the default IRCLink I can't so any raw stuff. I may add an option to use my fixed one since IIRC it was only LeagueAS140 that killed of my custom IRCLink class, but I'd need to test with Pure again.
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by UT99.org »

billybill wrote:sounds good. The above code is not the actual command mIRC uses. You would need to listen to what IRC clients are sending, that code will log in but not let you chat because it not complete. MV reporter does seem to be able to login perfectly, is written in same engine uscript. Lucky it's open source hey? That should let you both implement logging in and raw commands, if you can get around the blocking you mentioned. Maybe for aliases and auth commands you could add support for CRLF so can send multiple commands, at the moment have to manually add them in preferences using same network name. If you have them use the | character between lines and have it seperate them out, or be able to add more than one line per network by console command

I don't want to get on your back about this too much, but there was a thread here where someone wanted to add more cross-hairs because the array length was too small. That would be such an easy plugin/extension to make and there would be several ways to do it. You wouldn't have to do it all yourself bc you would be giving people more access to write their own extensions through your console. Thanks again anyway :)
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Re: XConsole 2.5.0 rc1

Post by ~V~ »

rc2 is available. Same installation method as rc1. If you are using rc1 now, then you can just copy the new XConsole.u over the old one.

http://www.unrealize.co.uk/xconsole
billybill wrote:Maybe for aliases and auth commands you could add support for CRLF so can send multiple commands, at the moment have to manually add them in preferences using same network name. If you have them use the | character between lines and have it seperate them out, or be able to add more than one line per network by console command
I'll look into doing that. That's pretty much what I did with the normal console aliases, except separating with a ;
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