User talk:Aldyron

Aldyron for Admin

I think you should become an admin (DDO_wiki:Administrators). I have started the process here. If you agree, please say it there.--Cru121 (Contributions • Message) 11:10, November 11, 2013 (EST)

Thanks for considering me worthy. :-) Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 08:01, November 12, 2013 (EST)

DDO VIP

Thanks for your hard work on the last days. You have been promoted and is now a DDO Wiki VIP. Remember to use the User edit award template in your page. Nibelung (Contributions • Message) 00:00, August 27, 2013 (EDT)

I stand VIPped. :-) Page created, template added, thank you. Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 10:41, August 27, 2013 (EDT)

Monster pics

First off, thanks for helping on the bestiary project. Second, when you take a pic of a new monster, please keep their name on screen. A lot of monsters share the same model, and without the name showing there would be no difference between them. Eg, we could just take the pic of the generic Ogre, and put it on every named ogre in game that share that model.

Nibelung (Contributions • Message) 19:51, August 29, 2013 (EDT)

I was thinking to ask about just this the other day, didn't make it in time. I will take the pictures again. If only I could make them smile for the camera... Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 21:51, August 30, 2013 (EDT)

There are some tricks to take good pics. From non-bosses you can stun them (electric loop, greater shout, sound burst, stunning blow/fist, stat damage...), them position yourself in the six seconds it takes them to recover, and take the pic the second they unstun. For bosses you can use summons and let them fight it while you position yourself. When defeated, summons don't left a corpse, but disapear. If you are lucky, some bosses will keep attacking the dead summon for one or two more attacks before turning to you, and you can use this time to take the pic. For everything, a good rogue/ranger/monk with great stealth also works. Nibelung (Contributions • Message) 11:13, August 31, 2013 (EDT)

My thoughts exactly. I'm also experimenting with zooming all the way in (in order get "me" out of the frame) or all the way out (in order to sidestep the subject). So far, so good. I'll apply for a job at the Korranberg Chronicle as an "assault portrait artist" :-) Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 12:09, August 31, 2013 (EDT)

Ioun Stones

Changing 'em is fine by me! I'm pretty sure my edits consisted largely of copy/pasting without actually looking at the type (mainly the extra spaces to line up the = so that the fields are all lined up instead of bouncing back and forth between "Type=" and "Durability="). In fact, I'm glad you caught that because yeah, they *should* be Trinket. Ah, the perils of C&P...

LrdSlvrhnd (Contributions • Message) 11:59, October 11, 2013 (EDT)

Done (see User_talk:LrdSlvrhnd#Ioun_Stones if you're not us :-) Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 08:59, October 12, 2013 (EDT)

Diagnostics listed as an item

Any chance you are able to remove User:Aldyron/Diagnostics/Items consistency.... the that is found in the Category:Trinket items under 'A' when you have a chance. TY Bladedge (Contributions • Message) 23:18, November 19, 2013 (EST)

... and in Category:Special event items loot, and in Category:Eternal flasks, and in Category:Minimum Level 14 weapons... You're absolutely right, I intended to face that problem, but I postponed because my initial tries turned out molasses slow. Working on it now. Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 06:45, November 20, 2013 (EST)

I *think* I solved it, but with caching at work, I'm never sure. It would be best to get independent testing, so please test (maybe a couple of days from now). Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 08:30, November 20, 2013 (EST)

Of course, should the solution pass testing, I'll apply it to my other dpl queries. Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 08:34, November 20, 2013 (EST)

My previous attempt didn't work. I think I nailed it now. What do you reckon? Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 11:32, December 24, 2013 (EST)

Aldyron, I hope you dont mind me offering my help. The problem here is related to some of the templates used on item pages not wrapping their category injection.

This "category bleed" from transcluding pages is a hold over from before there was an item namespace, and as not all templates have been refactored, any page which transcludes an old template will be subject to some category bleed.

The "trinket" culprit I tracked down to the Template:Consumable. I updated it to only inject categories for "item" namespace pages that use the template.

(That template is in need of more than just fixing category bleed though.)

I'll work on fixing category bleed in templates based on what I find in your Item consistency page.

Joenuts (Contributions • Message) 15:53, December 24, 2013 (EST)

dpl has a built-in function to remove categories injected via transclusion, that I wasn't able to convince to work as intended until today (I *think*! :-), so category bleed should be solved for dpl (I *think*! :-).

That said, I absolutely welcome your help. As a matter of fact, a few minutes ago I was re-reading the history of the move to the Item namespace and was trying to reason and plan about what you just did, which should reduce category bleed anywhere (I *think*! :-).

So, Merry Christmas (in a few hours, depending on what time-zone you tap your keys in) <:o) Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 16:07, December 24, 2013 (EST)

Okay, I've done some updates, and reached a point where I've hit a road block.

Template:Named_Jewelry is injecting categories without checking for item namespace, so your page is getting put in to 'Finger Items'

I dont have required security clearance to edit that template, so I figure it's time for me to take a break.

If you wish to continue my work, The section near the end (between the includeonly tags) needs to be peeled out and put inside an "if namespace == item" block.

If not, I'll maybe add a note on the template discussion page ( I'm pretty sure I can edit protected templates' discussion pages ).

Thanks for the well holiday wishes, and a happy holiday to you!

Joenuts (Contributions • Message) 16:55, December 24, 2013 (EST)

I can do it, but first I'd like to finish what I'm banging my head on at the moment.

One thing I've noticed when looking at your recent edits: you didn't "secure" all categorization tags. Mind you, I'm not completely sure about that, but following those templates' flows I seem to intuit a given page will still be categorized even if not in the Item namespace. E.g., in Template:Named Jewelry, besides what you pointed me at, I read {{#if:{{{end reward|}}}|[[Category:{{{quest|Unknown location}}} reward items]]}}. Am I reading this right?→ Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 18:48, December 24, 2013 (EST)

By the way, Joenuts' welcome edits notwithstanding, I may have found a bug in dpl: in my experiments, I *thought* I had removed inherited categories from User:Aldyron/Diagnostics/Items consistency/Pages not using item-defining templates and in namespace Item... but I was only half-right. Visually, it did remove them from the first part of the category listing (the plain list), but not from the second part (the breadcrumb-style list). Somehow, the two listings weren't equivalent before today. Something Joenuts and/or I did today mitigated the problem Bladedge found out, but of course it didn't solve it completely. Sigh, testing continues... Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 19:01, December 24, 2013 (EST)

eCasual monster CR

Regarding https://ddowiki.com/index.php?title=Template:Infobox-monster&curid=4176&diff=205633&oldid=185901: I think I remember someone saying that normal CR = casual CR always. Not sure if it's true.--Cru121 (Contributions • Message) 10:25, December 16, 2013 (EST)

Always true for named monsters. Not for trash. But since we mostly note down the CR of named mobs, it is safe to say they are equal on the cases that matter. Nibelung (Contributions • Message) 11:05, December 16, 2013 (EST)

I always try to see things from the beginner's point of view, both for passive users and for active editors. Rather than make a special case of CRs, and adequately notifying both newcomer users and newcomer editors, I'd prefer sticking to the norm. Meaning, explicitly listing ecasual (when I eventually get there, that is :-) Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 11:51, December 16, 2013 (EST)

Item Namespace

Pardon the delay in responding, I've become less active since it seems any changes / progress I try to make just gets reversed.

As far as where Belt should land according to my proposed policy, it would not be in the item namespace.

That page is more of a description of what qualifies as a belt, not an item per se.

I think what would work best for the wiki is a hard rule where only items that can be placed in inventory deserve a page in the item namespace.

That would make it CLEAR what belongs there and what does not.

Belt would live in main namespace, and can be transcluded to the Category:Waist_items. ( I should say I don't like the name "waist items" for that category, I think it should be "belts".

Potions I think the same, but since it currently lists various potions and prices, I think a refactor may be in order. The category page for Potions can list the potions, and if potion item pages are designed correctly, the DPL plug in can list prices.

Kargon's Tasty Ham should absolutely be in item namespace.

That being said, this is my opinion only. You may want to run it by Bladedge, he has his own ideas about where pages should live and how they should look ( completely disregarding inconsistencies in the wiki ).

That's mostly what I was thinking. As far as my opinion goes, I'm inclined to work toward what works best (for example, I had to change my mind about LST when I found out it didn't work well with templates at all), and I still haven't found out what works best (small-and-simple or big-and-complex) with DPL when nearing MediaWiki's limits, and unfortunately all the good stuff seems to go near them, so I installed the software on a local machine and am experimenting (Frankensteining would be a better term) on it without damaging this wiki :-) Festivities are slowing things down, though.

Whatever data-wrangling system we'll end up using, it'll only be as good as the underlying data, so in the meantime I've put things like splitting potions and itemizing the ham in my working queue, as that will be good regardless. (see User talk:Joenuts#Is this an item? if you're not us :-)→ Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 05:56, December 23, 2013 (EST)

.

• Belt would live in main namespace: True as it does so now
  • Description of what qualifies as a belt : True
    • not an item per se. True never was an item
  • I should say I don't like the name "waist items"... : Before my time, its on the items description Equips to <Name>. I tend to go where the AH would have it listed aka clothing > belts with some changes if needed.
• That Potions page I avoid, it became the what ever potion is found at a vender chest etc and thrown it in that page most of the 'name' were given there own page. Page a mess: True. Should it be clean up: Yes
• Kargon's Tasty Ham should absolutely be in item namespace: yes it should
• Template:Consumable (That template is in need of more than just fixing category bleed though.): ..... :( cant say it was great but better then what was there before, which was really nothing or old pic and nothing else

→ Bladedge (Contributions • Message) 18:31, December 24, 2013 (EST)

Good, so we are all on the same wavelength. ;-) I'll tackle them as time and six-year old nephews permit.

Merry Christmas! Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 18:44, December 24, 2013 (EST)

Item list feedback

Any chance can you have collapse option like ummm.... examaple.... the ToC in [[1]] which hides the table as default (lots of scrolling some may find it to long). For Is an epic version of could cut it back to "Epic version of" and move it to the last column (not many epic items and honestly think that coulmn should be omitted completely) Bladedge (Contributions • Message) 22:00, December 24, 2013 (EST)

I was going to suggest something similar. I don't believe that the Chest, Is an Epic version of, Crafting, Crafting upgrade, and row number columns are necessary at all.

( I'm referencing the replacement of content on item category group pages like Category:Waist_items )

Just my thoughts

Joenuts (Contributions • Message) 22:10, December 24, 2013 (EST)

the trinkets page (and perhaps other as well), when sorted by ML, is sorted alphabetically, and not None-2-3-4-...28. Other than that, awesome work. --Cru121 (Contributions • Message) 08:25, December 25, 2013 (EST)

@ Bladedge

I tried to make the table collapsible, but I must have got something wrong, and it doesn't work. Will try again in a few days.

@ Bladedge, @ Joenuts
After looking at the available columns again, I agree the ones you mentioned aren't that useful. Removed.

@ Cru121
You were right about sorting by ML, of course. Should be OK now.→ Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 16:49, December 25, 2013 (EST)

The Chest column should be added back a number of items drop in more then one quest and found as end rewards (GH items, Shavarath belts, post u14 items) and atm its the only way to add the multiple locations is the chest section. Bladedge (Contributions • Message) 18:01, December 25, 2013 (EST)

My opinion here, Quest is more important information to a visitor than chest. "Bastion of Power" is more valuable than "Any End Chest".

If only one quest can be listed per item, that sounds like a fundamental flaw to me, and something that should be fixed.

Having the item display columns be changed to give less useful information, or to have a lot of clutter because of something else that's flawed seems the wrong direction.

I noticed the item templates were missing some key functionality a while back, and spent some time redesigning the code, but leaving the output looking the same.

I'll pick that up again after the holidays.

Joenuts (Contributions • Message) 20:53, December 25, 2013 (EST)

Chest column re-added, that was easy (if you don't see it, refresh the query with the link just under the table). Going to be removed again after Joenuts' announced edits. Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 06:33, December 28, 2013 (EST)

Flagged for deletion

• I'm checking with you before I delete User:Aldyron/Diagnostics/Items_consistency/Pages_not_using_item-defining_templates_and_in_namespace_Item which is in the flagged for deletion category. ShoeMaker (Contributions • Message) 08:40, May 24, 2014 (EDT)

• Nothing in its history suggests active flagging (nor de-flagging, since it's not flagged any more), so I believe it had inherited that category (and others) by transclusion from some of the referenced pages.

There are ways around that in dpl, theoretically, but I couldn't seem to find a correct way to apply them. Or there's some bug around, baffling me.

Anyway, PEBKAC. So I defused it. It's still there, dormant, in case someone (most likely me) needs it again.

Sorry I took so long, I had hardware troubles to deal with first.

Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 19:02, June 10, 2014 (EDT)

• Several pages like Great clubs  and Greatclubs  need to be deleted due to capitalization and space errors that caused the queries to not work, i am currently going through each weapon link on Martial_Weapon_Proficiency to fix their links. (User_talk:John34404) 03:20, January 18, 2020 (EDT)
  • These categories should not be deleted. They should instead be marked as {{Redirect category}}s.  👟 ShoeMaker (Contribs • Message • Email) 👟 20:33, January 18, 2020 (EST)

Thaarak Hound Picture

Never mind your new picture. I still have the old picture on my hard-disk and shall re-upload it, but with a different name. Thanks for your message. Plantasiax 20:22, Januari 25, 2015 (Dutch Time)

Today I had uploaded my original picture to the page ... Finally, after almost 7 years. [Smile] Plantasiax 00:33, December 19, 2021 (Dutch Time)

DPL for armor

• Heya, are you planning to upgrade pages like Category:Heavy armor to use DPL? --Cru121 (Contributions • Message) 12:07, February 9, 2015 (EST)
  • I've had my head buried in monster- and icon-related dpl, trying to work around a few blocking issues, but I guess a change of scenery would help reset my concentration. %-) I'd start with User:Aldyron/Sandbox/Category Armor with dpl experiment, what do you think? I believe it just needs some polishing and constraining to just one armor category at a time. I'll give it a few swings in a couple of days.

  Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 14:48, February 9, 2015 (EST)

• I went ahead and added a dpl query to C:Heavy armor. If you think it is good, I can populate the other armor categories similarly. — Zav (C·T·E) 19:05, February 9, 2015 (EST)

• Nice, thanks.--Cru121 (Contributions • Message) 03:01, February 10, 2015 (EST)
  • I agree. I would just ask you to move the Enchantments column to the second position, since that's usually what one looks at first when choosing an item. That's the reason that moved me to make these dpl queries in the first place: being able to choose an item instead of another by confronting them in a reasonably uniform format in a reasonably confined space. :-)

  Sorry for being late, I have to test-drive new (non-gaming) hardware.

  Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 10:09, February 14, 2015 (EST)

  • Enchantments have been moved to the second column. Bind, Quest, and Chest were added. All of the subcategories of C:Armor have been updated to use T:ArmorTOC and T:Named Armor by proficiency (T:Named Armor phantom). — Zav (C·T·E) 12:06, February 14, 2015 (EST)

• Nice job! The shields, too.

(I used to think I did answer the day after that, but evidently I was more distracted than I thought, apologies)

Aldyron (Contributions • ⇑ top ⇑) 09:32, March 11, 2015 (EDT)

Welcome back!

Welcome back from your absence! I see that you've been working through Monster pages needing habitat checked . I really appreciate the work you've been doing there. I'm considering breaking a few more of the parameters up into numbered arg versions like maybe immunities or attacks or CR/DR values. What are your thoughts on this (as long as all the pages are gone through once here and are made consistent, future such changes should be easy to implement via bot)? Do you expect to be back consistently for the next 6-12 months? If so, what would you think about a promotion to the list of 7 Bureaucrats? ShoeMaker (Contribs • Message • Email) 18:57, September 23, 2016 (EDT)

Thanks! I like the game and I like the wikiwork, so barring any real-life surprises, I'll stick around (with the exception of a period around each March, a time during which I already know I'll be too busy... I thought I'd deleted those mboxes!). So, yes, I'd like the promotion, if you think I'm fit for the role. I guess I'll find out like I did when I became an administrator. :-) Aldyron (Contribs • ⇑ top ⇑ • Email) 21:23, September 23, 2016 (EDT)

Regarding {{Monster}}, that was exactly my thinking, except I still don't have a clear idea of the amount of parameters that would bring out. Every time I "check" an in-game monster, I note elemental resistances (5 parameters? 1?), elemental immunities (5? 1?), damage reductions (alignment-based, material-based, magic-based), feats, racial qualities, class qualities, equipment qualities, offensive spells, defensive spells... This list alone is already too much for what I have in mind (and from your experimentations with dpl, I guess you have something similar in mind too). For starters, I'm aiming to write a *universal* dpl query that can be transcluded as a single template in every quest page to have a nice monster table, so certainly breaking up parameters is good for that. I already know, though, that doing so will create too many columns. Look, for example, at d20PFSRD's Monsters DB, especially the speed columns. The question, then becomes trying to strike a balance about what to break up and what to keep together. I'd certainly break up CR, like the XP in {{Quest}}, something like hnormalcr, hhardcr, helitecr, enormalcr, ehardcr, eelitecr. That would make it trivial to sort monsters by (known) CR, something that currently requires quite a high Knowledge (Arcana) check to write in dpl. That sort of sorting would be useful in other monster tables, like, say, all scorpion monsters. I just realized I completely skipped your other point, sorry. Multi-habitat monsters are tough. By collecting details that were almost always duplicate, I found out that although many monsters are always the same no matter where they live, some are different. It's two o'clock in the morning here, so I can't find my notes right now, but I'm pretty certain there's a fire elemental that is- ah, found it: Elder Fire Elemental, usually CR 12, but in Mount Reysalon it's CR 17. And there's a Neutral Evil Wight I've got to check next Revel (I've lost the first Revels, so I don't know if it's still there), that I believe is the only monster I've found with a variable alignment (updated: Magefire Cannon too, just found out (updated: which is fortunate, since Wight is not variably aligned any more, just found out)). Oh, Bezekiras do not always have a Mandate of Shavarath (fresh from memory). So, those anomalies are not so rare, my initial thought are in User:Aldyron/Sandbox/Template List of monsters in area, the part about "overriding", if you can decode my words. I wrote them before you reworked {{Infobox-monster}}, but they still apply, somewhat. My current conceptual algorithm for monsters in one quest goes something like this:

• consider one quest
• consider one monster (that is, its instance of {{Monster}})
• consider one property of this monster that will go into one table cell, say, CR
• does this monster have some hnote/override/whatever regarding CR in this quest?
• if yes, put it into the dpl output for that table cell
• if no, put the default-for-this-monster CR (that is, the usual cr parameter currently defined in {{Monster}}) into the dpl output for that table cell

The problem is, I've already tried (on a very similar, non-public wiki) a few dpl tricks for "selecting" one single set of parameters all keyed to one single habitat from a monster with several habitats, both with my "sparse matrix" and your multilines, and they don't work so right. I believe I get stuck when trying to develop a capable phantom template, I probably still have many wikitricks to learn (which I'm trying to learn by dissecting templates here and on Wikipedia). Oh, and then there's this other thing on my mind: what do we put in a not-per-quest list, say list of all scorpions? If for example (completely made-up, here) we've got 3 different sets of habitat-keyed parameters for the Clown Scorpion, do we list 1 Clown Scorpion row, with 3 habitat-keyed parameters in each column? 3 habitat-keyed Clown Scorpion rows, each with 1 habitat-keyed parameter in each column? 1 Clown Scorpion row, with the default parameter in each column while skipping (and thus losing) all habitat-keyed parameters? That sounds delirious, I'm afraid: I should put together a few hand-written mock-up tables showing what I'm talking about. :-) I'll put them here as soon as I've finished with my Devil Assault updates. Aldyron (Contribs • ⇑ top ⇑ • Email) 21:23, September 23, 2016 (EDT)

• I'm mobile, and mobile editing sucks, so I'll try to make this short. Oddball CRs I think are tied to a change in quest level. I'm guessing there's actually a formula. I'll see if I can't dissect (or query from a dev) what that formula might be. As to breaking up parameters, we can break them all up and still have them render in a single table cell or whatever. ShoeMaker (Contribs • Message • Email) 21:48, September 23, 2016 (EDT)

• Done: I have not finished with my Devil Assault updates, but I went ahead and made a working proof of concept of it all. From this time forward, you may call me Aldyron the Kludgeful. :-) Aldyron (Contribs • ⇑ top ⇑ • Email) 15:47, October 11, 2016 (EDT)

Bot editing monsters

Hey, I've been watching you go through the monster pages and looking at the timestamps on most of the edits, I have to assume that you're using some kind of semi-automated script for it. Can you give me some details on how you are doing it? That's the kind of thing that should be done with Kobold sneak and tagged as bot edits to not clog up the RC feed. Thanks. ShoeMaker (Contribs • Message • Email) 07:57, October 4, 2016 (EDT)

• Yes and no. I am using AutoWikiBrowser, but the regex-based substitutions i've written are not universal, since the data is often in a non-standard shape. Rather than trying in vain to write 100% accurate regular expressions, which would require reading the whole data base myself anyway, I'm just supervising AWB's work, saving (by hand, not auto) the good substitutions and skipping the bad ones. The bad ones I'm doing myself the traditional way (even in these minutes, as you can probably see). I use Kobold sneak when I'm sure that its work will be 100% good and I let AWB go fully auto, but what I'm doing at the moment I'm basically doing it myself. Aldyron (Contribs • ⇑ top ⇑ • Email) 08:09, October 4, 2016 (EDT)
  • Cool. Once they are all edited to use the habitat# parameter, I'll be working on T:Quest to pull a list of monsters from its child category populated by the monster pages via DPL with some data like monster name, color, CR/DR values, etc... Looking great! ShoeMaker (Contribs • Message • Email) 12:03, October 10, 2016 (EDT)
    • Yep. I feel close to usable functionality. Aldyron (Contribs • ⇑ top ⇑ • Email) 15:44, October 10, 2016 (EDT)