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Automated Sleuth Helper complete!
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Pidgeot
Pidgeot

Jan-30-2007 12:13

Hello, fellow Sleuths!

Over the last two months, I've been working on a brand new Sleuth helper. You might not think that sounds all that special - after all, great helpers are already available - but what makes this one different is that it's automated!

What it does is monitor your progress in the game, and extract relevant information from the pages. The information is stored and analyzed, in order to help you determine who did it, and who didn't.

It's heavily inspired by Evita's JavaScript-based Sleuth Helper, so a special "thank you" goes out there.

The application is made with Delphi 2005, and should run on any machine with Windows NT/98/ME/2K/XP/Vista and Internet Explorer 4 or later. Additionally, source code is included (ZLib license) in case someone wants to port it to another platform and/or language (such as Java).

The program can be downloaded from http://download.birdiesoft.dk/SleuthHelper.exe (330 KB), and a screenshot of the program can be seen at http://download.birdiesoft.dk/sleuth_helper.png.

Please take a look at the help file before using the program (it's very short), so you are familiar with how the program works.

(Disclaimer: The application depends heavily on the current structure of the game pages, and changes to this may break the program. Although the application is designed in such a way that it should fail entirely if something goes wrong, this cannot be guaranteed. Use of this program is entirely at your own risk, and any cases lost because of errors in the program should not be blamed on the program or the author.)

Replies

Piccolo
Piccolo

May-20-2007 10:37

No, i expect it was my internet connection. As I say, the phone line is very bad so it could easily have been that the wrong noises went down the line! Living in the Algarve is "wonderful" at times - most of the time it's fantastic!

Piccolo
Piccolo

May-20-2007 14:24

I've figured out a way of overcoming the PM problem - I open sleuth in my usual browser as well as automated helper. this means that when PMs come through they sort of attach themselves to the "real" sleuth allowing me to work in the automated helper window. works a treat!

Piccolo
Piccolo

May-20-2007 14:57

someone was mentioning having the suspects in order. i wondered if there could be an extra column (far left) into which we can type the number/order into which we'd like them to be sorted, then i suppose we'd need a button to push to activate the sort. any chance? personally i'm not so bothered but it could be useful! many thanks - it's a great programme. Why don't you put it on your website alongside a link to Sleuth?

Lady Jas
Lady Jas
The Chosen One

May-20-2007 15:21

Well I guess I'm out of luck using this helper. I tried downloading it I get error messages or to try back later, same as fiona, and I tried downloading adams version with the link you gave me and all I get is page cannot be displayed, page is unavailable.

Oh well hehe!

Piccolo
Piccolo

May-20-2007 15:32

Hi Adam Carter - is your weblink still active? I put it in and it goes to http://www.fsphost.com instead of your own page.

Lady Jas
Lady Jas
The Chosen One

May-20-2007 16:23

HI all, I got the helper downloaded, but Piccolo had to email me the file in order for me to get it to download. I too get that error code that flautim posted about on May 15th. However Sir A. Conan Doyle, that message is not due to him not having any contacts, as I have all my contacts and still get that error message too!

Sir A. Conan Doyle
Sir A. Conan Doyle

May-20-2007 18:56

Lady Jas, do you get the error message when you look at the detective page or when you are interviewing your suspects?

When I had no contacts, I was getting error message when I try to look at detective page same as flautim. After I get one it's stopped. It's happening because the helper looks for skills, factions and contacts information, when you look at your detective page. It causes an error when the helper try to get the contacts information and finds any contact.

However, I still get error message when I interrogate a suspect. I think, your case is the same with that.

Pidgeot
Pidgeot

May-21-2007 03:40

Those of you with continuing download trouble: I'm adding an extra mirror for the next release, and having had a few people test it out, at least one of them should work for you.

The problem with the lack of contacts should be fixed for 1.10, which is planned for release today or tomorrow.

As for suspects, there are two things I can think of:

1) If you're doing a featured mystery, the helper won't work, due to different gameplay mechanics. You can temporarily disable parsing in the next version for when you're doing those.
2) If you've been moving too fast, the helper might not have picked up on all the information it needs (nothing I can do about that right now). Make sure the page is finished loading before you move on - this is especially important for the map screen.

If neither of those apply, please let me know EXACTLY what you were doing when the error popped up - what you asked him and what he replied should be able to tell me what's going on.

Lady Jas
Lady Jas
The Chosen One

May-21-2007 07:30

I get the error message when trying to interview suspects Sir. A.

Since I have all my contacts, I know its not from having any contacts!

Sir A. Conan Doyle
Sir A. Conan Doyle

May-21-2007 10:08

Thanks Pidgeot, for fixing the problem with the lack of contacts for 1.10.

It's great to know that, there will be no error message when we look at the detective page with no contacts.

But what about the error message which comes out when we're interviewing our suspects. Error message pops up before the page is finished loading. The helper can't get any information from that suspect, even after the page is loaded.

Sometimes, the problem is fixed when I check the suspect from the "case" page; sometimes it gives error again. I didn't mean that "this" error message pops up because of having no contacts. Having no contacts cause another error related with the detective page. Which is fixed, thanks again.

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