[Request] Character Sorter

[WanderingAries]

Suggestion based on this:

 

A simple interface could be used to facilitate this task I believe. The only thing it would need to edit is the first part of the record string, but I'd like to introduce some helpful sorting options.

 

The file basically consists of plain text entries wrapped in double quotes and separated by what appears to be a new line character. (My VERY trimmed file). The entries are comprised of: ACCOUNT_NAME SERVER_NAME ALT_NAME SORT_ID. The Account Name is constant for the whole file. The Server Names are also known, but only consist of servers that the user has an alt on. The Alt Names can be duplicated across servers so long as the user managed to acquire them. The Sort ID is the only real variable we're concerned with here. It counts up from 0.

 

Quote

"WanderingAries" "Torchbearer" "Shadow of Cygnes" "12"
"WanderingAries" "Torchbearer" "La Femme de Bleu" "11"
"WanderingAries" "Torchbearer" "Bovine Centurian" "20"
"WanderingAries" "Torchbearer" "Matriarch of Nature" "21"
"WanderingAries" "Indomitable" "Perma-THO" "5"
"WanderingAries" "Indomitable" "Cyphilis Centurion" "12"
"WanderingAries" "Indomitable" "Silent Widower" "8"
"WanderingAries" "Reunion" "Gage Blackwood" "4"
"WanderingAries" "Reunion" "Nestis" "18"
"WanderingAries" "Everlasting" "Here to bite KOIS" "0"
"WanderingAries" "Everlasting" "Stone Walled" "3"
"WanderingAries" "Everlasting" "Titan Oh Myy" "4"
"WanderingAries" "Everlasting" "Water Marked" "5"
"WanderingAries" "Everlasting" "Hard-Boiled" "2"
"WanderingAries" "Everlasting" "Bone-Chilling" "1"
"WanderingAries" "Excelsior" "Coruscate" "0"
"WanderingAries" "Excelsior" "Beifneiter" "2"
"WanderingAries" "Excelsior" "Johnny Bukowski" "6"
 

 

The concept I have would be to have this read into an interface that understands each string needs to be double quote separated as well as having a space between the categories. Finally, each master string is on a new line. The Sort ID will be the only thing that it would be allowed to modify before writing back to the file. Ideally, the application would be smart enough to identify different Game Accounts by looking for non-game folders (IE: It ignores things like Homecoming, HC-beta, PIGGS, etc).

 

The main purpose of the app would be sorting the characters and rewriting the file. Because of this, the original file will either need to be erased and rewritten or simply deleted and a new file put in its place to avoid accidentally duplicating entries. I imagine a simple 4 column array would work as a master variable.

 

The sorting would work as follows:

• Auto-sort the file by Server Name, then Sort ID when loaded
• Allow sorting by Name (alphabetically) as well as a drag/drop interface
• Once the sorting is decided, the Sort IDs are rewritten accordingly (Range would be 0-999)
• The file would then be written and saved.

 

Unfortunately, I can't see a way to offer more sorting choices (that would matter) due to the limited data the original file offers. IE: You won't be able to sort by AT, etc. Now if someone wanted to create a new tracker that the user could sync to the sorter to sort say by AT, level, etc, then that would be a good collaboration.

[WanderingAries]

If you want insight on how the file interacts with the game, then checkout the above thread as it's quite interesting to test.

[FoulVileTerror]

If the Devs could flag the game to populate the sorting.txt file with more information, then I think we'd be in business.

Stuff I'd like to see get sent to the sorting.txt (in order of priority):

- Level

- Archetype

- Primary Power Set and Secondary Power Set

- Inf Amount

- Origin

 

This would make any third-party sorting tool immensely more powerful and useful to the users.

[WanderingAries]

47 minutes ago, FoulVileTerror said:

If the Devs could flag the game to populate the sorting.txt file with more information, then I think we'd be in business.

Stuff I'd like to see get sent to the sorting.txt (in order of priority):

- Level

- Archetype

- Primary Power Set and Secondary Power Set

- Inf Amount

- Origin

 

This would make any third-party sorting tool immensely more powerful and useful to the users.

What do you think, @Jimmy, possible?

[Rathulfr]

Writing a PowerShell script to manipulate this file's contents has been on my Round Tuit* list for awhile now.

 

(*: I'll do it when I get a round tuit.)

 

[Michiyo]

I'm currently working on something to do just this please excuse the very early screenshot: 

It looks for a 'playerslot.txt' in any folder in your City of Heroes install (it tries to guess where it is based on where Tequila says, if it can't find the path it will prompt you for it.  It then lists any folder it finds the file in as an "Account" then it will further break down per server and then you can sort your characters in the List View.

[Jack Power]

11 hours ago, FoulVileTerror said:

If the Devs could flag the game to populate the sorting.txt file with more information, then I think we'd be in business.

Stuff I'd like to see get sent to the sorting.txt (in order of priority):

- Level

- Archetype

- Primary Power Set and Secondary Power Set

- Inf Amount

- Origin

 

This would make any third-party sorting tool immensely more powerful and useful to the users.

Just noticed there's a search bar on the character picking screen. You can search by AT and powers there. Maybe not exactly what you want though.

 

//Jack

[FoulVileTerror]

Aye aye, @Jack Power.

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/12251-sorting-character-select/?tab=comments#comment-128325

 

Though, as some other players have stated throughout suggestions along the lines of this in the past; being able to Search isn't -quite- the same thing as Sorting.   However, I can understand if the Devs feel that the existence of the Search function is "good enough" to not prioritize any superior sorting tools.

 

Still, doesn't hurt to try to see how feasible it is to ask a Dev to hand more power over to the players to solve our own problems with mods and applications.

[Michiyo]

Well, I've finished the initial prototype, it works well enough in my testing.  If you want to test this, and you have already sorted your characters you may want to backup your existing playerslot.txt, I've not had issues myself though. https://drive.pc-logix.com/s/WFMwS8eeabDc5nr 

 

Currently it supports sorting characters alphabetically, or you can drag and drop them.  Since there isn't any other information available in the playerslot.txt that's all I can really offer currently.

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Mimiru
Added updated screenshot

[WanderingAries]

14 hours ago, Mimiru said:

Well, I've finished the initial prototype

Seems to be a good, working, starting point. I didn't really test the file afterwards and I noticed a quirk, but the app corrected itself. The one thing I noticed was that when dragging, it chose to increment the number assignments by one, but then corrected when letting go of the name.

 

Note: For those wanting to test for themselves, this WILL trigger your AV and may be blocked for downloading. Just follow your onscreen options to allow the download and running of the app. I know it's beta, but I've already flagged it as safe with MSFT.