Hi people - merry xmas!
I have a little present for you (work in progress):
OT_Falko watches Barteks emu-server and shows you if there are running host + gives you some soundnotification if something changes (hosts get available
).The current version show up to 4 hosts (which should be enough right now).
After adding some more features there will be a new version comming up in the next days
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OT_Falko is currently only tested for Windows XP (SP3) and Windows7 (SP1)
IT IS NOT TESTED FOR Windows Vista or Windows 8
...OT_Falko does not run on Windows 2000 SP2 or lower due to missing system-files.
(msvcrt80.dll, gdiplus.dll) which might be available if some newer software was
installed on the computer - but this was not the case on the old testing-machine...
If you want to test it under Windows 8 - I'am interested in the result as I
don't run Windows 8 on any computer right now (and I don't think that
I will run Windows 8 at all in the future
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OT_Falko is freeware
.... BUT ....
You use OT_Falko at your own risk: there are no guaranties - neither explictly
nor implictyl given, that using OT_Falko wont harm your computer.
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** Ok that's it for the legal stuff to save my company from trouble ....
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Download the OT_Falko.zip (do some virus-scanning) and unpack the included OT_Falko.exe to your prefered location (should require no further installation).
In case it runs well on your computer you can put it to your Autostart-Folder (and wont hopefully never again miss an running host).
Some minimal manual:
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After starting OT_Falko should appear in the lower-right corner of your destop above the tastbar.
Quitting it: Just select the menu File|Exit (OT_Falko is intentionally not shown in the tastbar) or - in case something strange is happening - go to the taskmanager and kill it there...
Moving it: Just left-click and holding mouse-button down to drag OT_Falko to a new location (dragging does not work if you click into the area of the menu-bar). The new location
is not stored (right now - means: with the next start of OT_Falko it will popup at it's default-location again).
What the colors (right now) mean:
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4 gray dots ... sorry there is no host running (OT_Falko checks the status every 30 seconds ... so let him some time, as the emu-server has some delay to until it gets updated)
you can check it on your own - just start hosting a game ... status should change.
4 orange dots ... that's bad ... the emu-server can't be reached: either it's not up and running or OT_Falko is blocked by the firewall - check again with
some (or up to 4) green dots ... there are the according number of host listet on the emu-server
What Bartek says on his startpage:
is true for the current version of OT_Falko too. (But will hopefully change soon, as I want to add some more detection (querying the host to get more details)...)*Including servers that u cant join (behind NATs, firewalls, hosted through gameranger,..)
Sounds - there are four different sounds which will notify you about different events:
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noserver - the emu-server is not reachable
nohost - the emu-server is available but there is no (more host); will be played if
the last available host is closed or in case the server was not available
before and came back online with no current host running
hostplus - there is (another) host available
hostminus - one of the available host terminated but there are still more hosts available
Refresh and configuration
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Right now there is no need to do configuration. OT_Falko does not need to have the hosts-file been
tweaked but directly connects to barteks emu-server.
The default-refresh is executed every 30 seconds.
OT_Falko will stay on top of other windows and is partial transparent - so it does not hide other things too much.
Known issues - until now 2012.12.26
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0) I will add some more detailed description especially on how to setup your own sound-files to get some more pleasant alarms
+ how to change gui-settings (transparancy + stayontop) and so on within the next days.
1) In case a host closes an race: It looks like that the emu-server uses some large time-out until it updates it's hostlist - so OT_Falko will show
available hosts for some long, long time...
(New host are noticed quite fast (some seconds after it started a hosted game) + the timeout of OT_Falko (default is 30 seconds))
The timeout is much lower in case someone looks at the startpage of http://www.cmr04.com (where the server-count is shown too eidt: And refreshes the page for 2 times pressing F5); I guess that in this case
Bartek forces the hostlist to be updated immediatedly .. (guessing right x42 ?
)In case the host ended a game, but still runs cmr04 (to join another game for himselfe or to drive offline): 15 minutes
In case the host ended a game and did quit cmr04 : 10 minutes (could be 15 minutes too, as I don't know whether somebody went to the http://www.cmr04.com startpage in the meantime....)
2) Window 2000 SP2 needs additional files to run (MSVCRT8.dll, gdiplus.dll ) which might be missing if you don't installed some newer software on it.
I am looking if I can fix the issue - as I guess there are very few people running Windows 2000
this issue will have lowest to zero priority...=======================================
So have a nice vacation and stay well,
Merry X-Mas,
orcus
PS: Make a note to your compadres if you find it valueable - hope there will be more people back online soon.
PPS.: Version is outdated ... there is an update Version - see last(?) topic(s)...
)