Zezo forum:

Post by llamedos | 2009-09-15 | 19:17:32

I see they are now trying Ver.3.15d on Istanbul Europa

26 Comments

Post by Belladonna | 2009-09-15 | 19:56:08

Yes, and it seems that the boats positions (by name of the boat) are not any more recognised in Cvetan's Sailing Simulator !
Back to our compass and rule :-))

Post by zezo | 2009-09-15 | 20:05:51

Or shift-click? ;-)

Post by gwenan | 2009-09-15 | 20:08:02

You can still use the program as usual... :

Get your position in your profile. In zezo's chart, position the mouse at the right place. Right clic and choose "set as starting point". It's magic. it's like before.
(sorry for the english : I'm french)

Post by Belladonna | 2009-09-15 | 20:16:07

Oui, bien sur, mais c'est plus simple avec une r�gle Cras. (je suis Belge francophone)
For Zezo : what do you mean shift-clic ?

Post by gwenan | 2009-09-15 | 20:26:38

shift-clic : ctrl-clic avec la souris en fran�ais

Post by Belladonna | 2009-09-15 | 20:45:12

Non, shift c'est maj(uscule). Mais la question est : qu'est-ce-que fait le shift-click et comment ?

Post by gwenan | 2009-09-15 | 21:01:40

Dans le cas pr�cis il a peut �tre voulu dire ctrl, car si tu fais ctrl-clic tu obtiens la m�me chose que clic droit : un menu d�roulant. Si ta souris est � la position de ton bateau tu choisis "set as starting point" et il refait le routage..

Post by Belladonna | 2009-09-15 | 21:08:34

OK, pig� :-)))))

Post by Fuga9 | 2009-09-15 | 20:13:12

we are out...??!!!
Cvetan will find a way...

Post by Belladonna | 2009-09-15 | 22:03:17

pse cm'on Zezo, they did the same for the transat 6.50

Post by thierry62 | 2009-09-15 | 22:22:03

I think it's finish.
Thanks zezo for all.
je crois que c'est fini, plus d'aide au routage,certains, carr�ment vir�s
du jeu : Mikael-saintbrieuc, Chtiminou III.

Post by Belladonna | 2009-09-15 | 22:40:45

T'en fais pas Thierry, tu peux toujours utiliser la technique mentionn�e ci-dessus. Mais c'est plus grave pour ceux qui ont �t� vir�s. Sur quelles bases, de quelle fa�on, et surtout pour quelles raisons pr�cises ?

For Cvetan : by the way, do you understand and/or speak french ?

Post by thierry62 | 2009-09-15 | 23:13:18

Oui, on peut utiliser cette m�thode qui fait table � calcul.
Les vir�s ont d�velopp�s leur propre interface, mais avec robotisation :
automatisation des changements de caps, voiles .....

Post by zezo | 2009-09-15 | 23:24:55

I can manage it with some help from google.

Thanks for giving help in french ;)

Post by OldChapZ | 2009-09-15 | 23:07:15

Hello Cvetan,

I'm afraid our friend "random U" is back.

In this case, I'm afraid there is "No Way".

Post by zezo | 2009-09-15 | 23:27:18

There is always a way, but I don't really want to go into that. Copy/pasting few numbers should be good enough.

Post by OldChapZ | 2009-09-17 | 11:32:39

You were right ! (as usual ;) )
I tell you more by mail.

Post by OldChapZ | 2009-09-15 | 23:47:18

Of course, I can continue to use your site....

BUT, I used to have my own interface (customised VRTools with boat positions and my own GUI for position display, Vmg calculations, orders and autopilot), I really can't the "official" game interface (rough maps and uneasy rudder)

I'll keep on searching but I'm afraid they endly found the trick.

One more time, you did a marvellous tool.

Post by Fuga9 | 2009-09-16 | 01:53:02

Cvetan for president...!!!!!!

Post by Orcaman | 2009-09-16 | 02:21:04

Hi Cvetan, have I missed some poitics between VR/Many Players and yourself?
See you on the water.

Post by zezo | 2009-09-17 | 13:08:27

Nothing personal.

MP just decided to block access to their servers. In fact they have decided that one months ago, but their first protection scheme was pathetic and was broken by me and other people within a day.

BTW I'm getting a bit tired of making them free favors - this site (and other 3th party tools) probably make people pay them for options.

Post by nimbus58 | 2009-09-17 | 16:08:30

The attitude of VR/MP is a bit of a farce.
On the one hand they have managed to build a fantastic user base with a simple and very accessible interface. Not knowing their business model, I can imagine that their revenues may be quite good (paying options, ads, ...).
On the other end, they have left wide open access to their servers, inviting data gathering and injections.
The data gathering (winds, polars, ...) does in no way interferes with their operations if only increases bandwidth traffic.
Data injection outside their interface is another problem and any good administrator knows how to block that type of action.
But by blocking ALL access outside their interface destroys the tools that helped grow the user base and motivated so many players to pay and play.
I think they are stuck now. Unless they offer the tools that Zezo, Paco and others made available (and I thank all of you!), the actual user base will decline.
It seems to me that the production by VR/MP of an API useable for data gathering and licensed under certain conditions would be to their best advantage.
But for the time being, and knowing their communications skills, I doubt this will see the day.
I have started testing the sailonline.org system and could get hooked on that. At least, they have a weather system which makes up for the lack of other goodies.
Thanks for your work, Zezo!

Post by zezo | 2009-09-17 | 16:29:20

Thanks. That was exactly my point.

By maintaining this site I've probably earned much more money for MP than for myself (donations amount to something like 600 EUR. That's 30 people paying full options to MP).

I also agree that there are a lot of things to do towards customer satisfaction, and MP could outsource some of them, but they don't see terribly interested in customer satisfaction.

Funny things is that in full contrast of the official position the last update makes data collection much harder, but still leaves injection trivial to someone with basic reverse engineering skills.

It seems to me that things like the unofficial ranking (Without Options) and players not using the official site and clicking ads is scarier than robots.

You can use external tools without data connection by copy-pasting the position from the profile page, and nobody can stop you doing that, but it takes away part of the fun and additional features like friends and fleet position. And some people were using this site to check their boats instead of the official site because of company IT policies.

Post by danfil | 2009-09-18 | 16:27:26

Hi Cvtan,

Just like most of us, you are playing as a hobby, for MP its completely different sail (sale)game. They are there to make money only so don't be surprised by their attitude,like most of your supporters I am ready to continue with donations, to help you to continue your software developpement.

If I am a very experienced sailor, my knowledge in programming is fairly limited, but dont you thinks that every 10 minutes MP software is sending information to our computer like position, positions of friends, update of winds every 12 hours.

My guess is that its stored in internet temporary files, therefore if you can find these files, you have the right to use it as it will be done within MP rules.

Just let us know, and thanks again for your efforts.

Daniel

Post by zezo | 2009-09-18 | 17:54:41

Yes, there are ways of doing something like that. Temporary files are not the best solution (it's not portable across browsers and OS's), but that can be done with Firefox extension. That is not multi-browser, but is multi-platform ;)

You can even use some readily available extension like "Tamper data" to get the exact numbers if they are ever removed from the "My Profile" page.