Updating addons.

[Deleted]

I have come to the conclusion that, as wow matrix before it, the curse client is garbage.

Now, I am famliar with the manual update process, the issue is how to effectively keep track of addons versions and update them promptly.
Is there any site which will, once selected all your addons in a list, inform you when a new version is out? Something like this:

Xeno's addon list:
- addon_name1 current_version
- addon_name2 current_version new
- addon_name3 current_version

I dont even need the list to be compiled automatically, Im happy if I can fill it myself with addon_name and current_version and thats it. Im not looking for automated installation, rather a tool to help me track new versions without having to browse curse all day.

I do kow this sounds like what the curse client does (not counting the actual download process), but as I said it is a ridicoulus piece of code and I wont be using it ever again.

Any suggestions, tips?

[Deleted]

I don't have a solution for you, but could you please explain further what's so bad about curse client? just interested.

[Ashareth]

I don't have a solution for you, but could you please explain further what's so bad about curse client? just interested.

Outside of the fact it use the IE engine, display ugly ass big adds all the time, is ultra slow and ultra ressources hungry, that it is severely limited ?
Yeah i don't see why people don't like it.

But sadly it's the best (sorry, read : only because wowinterface's one doesn't exist at all, it's pathetic and all they did was put 1 guy working on it every 2/3 blue moon.... and they both killed wowmatrix sadly ) way of managing updating more than a couple addons out there.

[Dalinth]

and they both killed wowmatrix sadly

Because wowmatrix totally didn't have malware

[Deleted]

yeah well i get that it's slow, found that, too, and I never have it open longer than needed. IE engine is bad, though
But I thought there was something severely wrong with it, like ugly little trolls crawling into your motherboard while it runs or something

[Skullbanger]

I really dont have any issues with the curse client.
It does exactly what I think it should do, and therefore i fail to see your point.
Manually installing over 40 addons, and alway keep track over updates by my self? No thanks.
Thak you curse for your client.

[Ashareth]

Because wowmatrix totally didn't have malware

Not for the year and a half i used it... it was pulling addons out of WoWinterface/Curse, and the client from the website was clean (until it was killed on 3.1 or 3.2 don't remember.

As far as i'm concerned, the whole "WoW Matrix brings malware" is the exact same case of retards that go with the "Curse client is malware but curse.com is fine" cohort of morons.

[Dalinth]

What I don't like about the Curse Client is all this "Premium" crap. I mean, really? You want me to pay to be able to queue more than 2 at a time? A perfect example of overly limited shareware software.

[Deleted]

Because wowmatrix totally didn't have malware

It didn't have malware - instead they hotlinked into the curse.com file servers, thus using the curse servers' bandwith in excessive amounts while denying them ad revenue needed to pay for said bandwidth.

---------- Post added 2011-05-07 at 03:53 PM ----------

What I don't like about the Curse Client is all this "Premium" crap. I mean, really? You want me to pay to be able to queue more than 2 at a time? A perfect example of overly limited shareware software.

You can also contribute to the community by writing your own addons.
Free premium membership right there.

[Taryble]

Just an FYI, if your addons are available on WoWInterface, they have a "Favorites" option, and there's an option to email you when any addon on your "Favorites" list is updated.

I haven't looked into Curse's page to see if they have a similar capability, though.

----------
For those still bitching about the WM killing - websites have to pay for their bandwidth usage. This is why websites have advertising, to offset the cost of their bandwidth usage and hardware maintenance (and colocation, usually).

WoWI and Curse both use, literally, terabytes of bandwidth in a normal month, and from some reports they edge close to PETABYTES on months with a major patch (I remember a comment from several years ago where just WowAce used over 2TB a day for the first week after the 2.4 patch, but only about 100gb normally). This is fairly expensive to maintain - it probably costs Curse at least a grand a month just for bandwidth, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was several thousand in a normal month.

The problem is, WowMatrix was, instead of getting their own copies of the addons like WoWI/Curse/Wowace, just connecting people to the addons on the main websites' servers. This meant that WM wasn't paying any bandwidth fees, it was making the major addon sites pay for the bandwidth that WM users were using. The worst part is, WM blocked ads from those other sites, and instead showed their OWN advertisements. So not only were they deep-linking and using other websites' bandwidth, but they were doing it in a way that meant they made money, but kept the sites they were "stealing" bandwidth from making money. This is a Very Bad Thing, and they were asked several times by Curse and WoWI to stop this.

WM was also often linking to old versions of the addons, and was also modifying users WoW setups (turning off Lua errors, automatically enabling Out of Date addons) so that the users wouldn't KNOW they were using old versions until they just stopped working. This then sent WM users to addon's websites (or Curse/WoWI/WowAce pages) to complain that the "new version" of the addon wasn't working. The recent versions of the addons WERE working - but the 6-14 month old versions they were getting from WM without knowing it were broken and buggy.

[Deleted]

Outside of the fact it use the IE engine, display ugly ass big adds all the time, is ultra slow and ultra ressources hungry, that it is severely limited ?

Lost all credibility right there. Do you even have the slightest idea what you are talking about? It's 2011, 2 MB memory usage isn't exactly resource hungry nowadays.

[Deleted]

Just an FYI, if your addons are available on WoWInterface, they have a "Favorites" option, and there's an option to email you when any addon on your "Favorites" list is updated.

Now we are getting somewhere, thanks.

@CC being resourced hungry: its true that once started it only requires 2mb of memory, but the initial scanning process takes up to 70mb on my machine, just wanted to point that out.

[Deleted]

Open curse client ==> Update addons == >Wait 5 seconds ==> close curse client.

That's what it is made for...you only need to have it open for 1 minute a day.

[Ashareth]

More dev time would be needed to integrate Gecko or Webkit into the client than just using the standard controls provided by MS. If you're given a hammer and told to go smash something, you'll likely take that hammer and smash things instead of taking the time to build your own hammer when you've got a perfectly good one sitting right next to you.

Using a whole web browser to grab files directly from a file database is sloppy and bad design at best. Not accounting for the shitload of security issues that arise between their code AND the MS one problems.
Since they do not advert that part, most people aren't aware of it and expose themselves to vulnerabilities.

Free client displays ads? I can't remember.

Quite annoying ones yes (even if i don't see them and the thing runs much faster since i removed them).

If you're running it on a toaster maybe. I wouldn't call 2mb memory usage and virtually no CPU usage while idle resource hungry, let alone "ultra" resource hungry.

2MB ? In your dreams maybe, because in real life it's more like 20-60Mo + the iexplore instance linked to it.
And it does use cpu cycles too.

In what way? It does everything you've asked for.

So in short, what you're asking for probably doesn't exist because it isn't really needed. You can just use the curse client and not update anything to achieve the same result.

What i'm asking for existed till WoWI/Curse decided to kill WoWMatrix without a decent replacement instead of working with them to share the revenues from it.

Simple, fast, not bloated, working, getting things from the major websites out there for addon.
TLDR : Something that worked and was answering the needs of a lot of people out there.
Instead we have a half-assed client, not really well done, that is a whole advertising board on his own, have painfull default settings, try to spy on your usage of your comp and game usage (yes you can disable that, but that should be off by default, not forced upon you), and quite some things like that, and Curse that nearly killed pretty much everything else (WoWInterface only barely survive now, and 99% of the projects on it are posted on Curse because there is no alternative).

Less competition and choice is NEVER a good thing. NEVER.

[Crimzonblood]

I have come to the conclusion that, as wow matrix before it, the curse client is garbage.

Now, I am famliar with the manual update process, the issue is how to effectively keep track of addons versions and update them promptly.
Is there any site which will, once selected all your addons in a list, inform you when a new version is out? Something like this:

Xeno's addon list:
- addon_name1 current_version
- addon_name2 current_version new
- addon_name3 current_version

I dont even need the list to be compiled automatically, Im happy if I can fill it myself with addon_name and current_version and thats it. Im not looking for automated installation, rather a tool to help me track new versions without having to browse curse all day.

I do kow this sounds like what the curse client does (not counting the actual download process), but as I said it is a ridicoulus piece of code and I wont be using it ever again.

Any suggestions, tips?

Create a folder in your bookmarks, and bookmark every addon you use. Next in a notepad, Microsoft Word, or Wordpad document (or the equivalent if you are running a mac), list every addon you use and their current version number and/or the last day that addon was updated. Finally everytime you want to check if the addon was updated or note go down your bookmarks with that word document and make sure the version number and date last modified match. If they don't there is most likely a new version out.

[klaps_05]

curse is ok - start it, update all your addons, shut it down(including the sys tray icon) = updated addons + no curse client hassle.

ps. dont rly want to start a new thread, but - what's happening to addons like Elkanos Buff Bars, ErrorMonster, oRA3, Quartz Procs, etc when they are not updated for 4.1 but working? Are we just supposed to click "run out of date" and hope there isnt any issue with them? i know you can change the .toc file to 40100 and it would appear that they work, but in reality they *are* outdated? sry, too many buts, NOT trying to hijack the thread :P

[Matchu]

Of course the Curse client will have adverts, they go towards paying for this free addon support you're getting. Try adjusting the graphic settings if you're having issues with the client and "bloating".

[Taryble]

What i'm asking for existed till WoWI/Curse decided to kill WoWMatrix without a decent replacement instead of working with them to share the revenues from it.

They DID offer. Both Curse and WoWInterface both contacted WM, separately, to attempt to politely deal with the issues - working out contracts, agreements, etc, to deal with the problems that WM was causing. The owners of WowMatrix told them both to take a running jump off a high cliff. You can't blame Curse and WoWI for WM dying - it's entirely WM's own damn fault, for utilizing unethical business practices and being unwilling to settle for less than "We make all the money, you guys pay all the bills, and no, we're not sharing."