25 replies to this topic

[ShadowLink64]

The Neocodex Item Database is about to go through a major change. We want to keep you updated as to what is going on. Here are some of the changes we have already made (more to come a bit later ).

New Data Sources
Previously, most of our data came from main shops and user shops. This is great to discover buyable items. However, there are a fair amount of items on Neopets which have been retired or are too rare to be found in main shops and user shops. We have added the trading post and auction house as data sources for new items as well.

6,000 New Items in the Database
We didn't realize how big an impact these new data sources would have. Only a few hours after we turned on our trading post and auction house scrapers, we are tracking item information on 6,000 more items than we were before. This is huge! It means that you will more likely find the item you are looking for. We still have a ways to go to reach all of the items in Neopia, but we're getting there .

1.6 Million Items Priced
We originally wanted to make a news post when we hit one million priced items but the speed at which you guys have priced the items in the items database is a bit faster than we originally anticipated. About 600,000 items faster than we originally anticipated. Congratulations everyone! The Neocodex Item Database has reached 1.6 million individual items priced since it was launched on August 11, 2009. That's an average of a little over 30,000 items priced per day!

What This All Means
We're just as excited as you are. We are on track to host the best, most reliable Neopets item database on the Internet, complete with the most accurate and most up to date prices available. Other databases are limited in that they rely solely on user-submitted input to keep their data current. At Neocodex, our database uses a hybrid of bots and man power to be able to price both buyable and unbuyable items.

We hope that you find these additions useful. Make sure you refer your friends so that they may enjoy the usefulness of the database! Remember to check our Twitter account, @ncodex, for future updates as well!

[Kway]

I can't wait.

ShadowLink64, on 03 October 2009 - 02:35 PM, said:

We have added the trading post and auction house as data sources for new items as well.

Does this mean we will get an auto-buyer/bidder for auctions to help develop the database (and snipe profitable items)?

[ShadowLink64]

Neoology, on 03 October 2009 - 04:33 PM, said:

Does this mean we will get an auto-buyer/bidder for auctions to help develop the database (and snipe profitable items)?

Not at the moment, no. Maybe later on though.

[iargue]

Neoology, on 03 October 2009 - 04:33 PM, said:

I can't wait.



Does this mean we will get an auto-buyer/bidder for auctions to help develop the database (and snipe profitable items)?

Dailyer doer. NQ1 and NQ2 completer and Auto Trainer are first!

[Rikku]

iargue, on 03 October 2009 - 05:09 PM, said:

Dailyer doer. NQ1 and NQ2 completer and Auto Trainer are first!

*drools* i love NQ 1+2... can't wait for those. Auto trainer would be amazing as well!!!

[Waser Lave]

Kitsune, on 03 October 2009 - 04:21 PM, said:

Might I suggest doing gallery searches. That will easily find all those rare and retired items that you might otherwise miss.

Yeah I've already mentioned galleries, SDBs and equipped battledome items as suggestions for future harvest locations.

[Waser Lave]

Kitsune, on 04 October 2009 - 04:23 AM, said:

You mean when people use the program their OWN gallery, bd set and SDB will be searched to harvest items?

I meant searching galleries by going to random user's galleries.

I meant both the user's own and other users' for the galleries, and obviously just the users own bd set and SDB since you can't see other users' sets or sdb. I wish they made it easier to populate a full database.

[iargue]

Waser Lave, on 04 October 2009 - 04:35 AM, said:

I meant both the user's own and other users' for the galleries, and obviously just the users own bd set and SDB since you can't see other users' sets or sdb. I wish they made it easier to populate a full database.

Well, the database already has 31k items, thats almost 99% of all tradeable items

[Daniel#1]

Wow, this database has grown so much since it started. You guys have done a great job on it.

[iargue]

Daniel#1, on 04 October 2009 - 08:41 AM, said:

Wow, this database has grown so much since it started. You guys have done a great job on it.

Hydrogen and Noit has worked non stop on it, day after day. Sometimes they are too busy to even talk

Laser Wave has worked non stop on the Battledome and Paint sims.

Shadowlink has not only worked nonstop on the MSAB, but has also worked on the Database.

We put ALOT of work into this project, and we do hope that you enjoy, and remain active. We need active users to stay alive and produce more epic programs.

[Eric]

Great job you guys! Its so informative!!

[arthritis]

actually, can i ask.

since this is such a big project to neocodex, what actually is its use? if i infer correctly, it just allows neopets players to know the value of items easily, am i right?

[Waser Lave]

arthritis, on 03 January 2010 - 08:21 AM, said:

actually, can i ask.

since this is such a big project to neocodex, what actually is its use? if i infer correctly, it just allows neopets players to know the value of items easily, am i right?

You can see the prices, rarities, restock information, price history, owner information of items and it allows us to make more advanced programs using the data we collect because we essentially get real-time information on prices.

[arthritis]

i see. just out of curiosity, what programs can be made? besides from autobuying lists being created, from the profit margins.

[Waser Lave]

arthritis, on 03 January 2010 - 08:32 AM, said:

i see. just out of curiosity, what programs can be made? besides from autobuying lists being created, from the profit margins.

There's one which is coming out soon which is looking quite exciting. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise though.

And we don't just collect information on items, we collect lots of information so we've got plenty of projects still to develop.

[arthritis]

alright, thanks for not spoiling the surprise. i may hate you now, but i'd love you when the prog's out! ^^ highly anticipating it. (:

[iargue]

arthritis, on 03 January 2010 - 08:32 AM, said:

i see. just out of curiosity, what programs can be made? besides from autobuying lists being created, from the profit margins.

Currently the Autobuyer and Kad Feeder use the item database, the Kad Feeder feeds 2-4 seconds faster then a normal autofeeder thanks to the item database, and the Autobuyer can always gain a profit and visit multiple shops thanks to fact that it doesn't need lists.

In the future any programs that need item price can rely on the project. this means a USAB, an auction sniper, an Job Completer, and a Faerie Quest Completer all can use the database. For the Job Completer it will be specially useful, because right on the spot it can decide the total cost of the job, and pick ones that will cost you the least.


It also has the advantage of enabling you to complete you Faerie Quest by giving you a list of people who own the item. Just search for the item the faerie wants, and look on the right side at the Shop Owners list.

[Kas]

This is amazing. So, will the "Buy items considered "unbuyable" be obsolete soon?

[Kway]

Kas, on 03 January 2010 - 02:20 PM, said:

This is amazing. So, will the "Buy items considered "unbuyable" be obsolete soon?

I think that is only there for people that want Abrosia to do everything. Unbuyables can't be sold in the shop by Abrosia unless somebody has one for 99,999np so the np spent on that item is wasted until the person manually puts it on the tp.

[iargue]

Kas, on 03 January 2010 - 02:20 PM, said:

This is amazing. So, will the "Buy items considered "unbuyable" be obsolete soon?

That option just means that Abrosia will buy things that are recognized as being over 99k np. Some people dont wish to buy these items due to the time it takes to sell them, and the risk involved.

[kittycat]

Every time I get something on my AB I check the database to see it's value. The only problem with the database is for the minimum profit margarine that everyone uses the auto buyer for the values of the items can be a lot lower when you actually buy them. That just means more people need to AB/AP though so get to it !!!

IMO the IDB is 10x more useful than the shop wizard. Such an amazing tool and reason why Abrosia is the best.

[arthritis]

just curious, how do you guys get prices for the Unbuyable items? for those <99,999Nps, i'd guess that you take the value of the item directly from the shop wiz, but is it the lowest? the average or what?

what about users falsely inflating stuff?

[Kway]

arthritis, on 03 January 2010 - 04:12 PM, said:

just curious, how do you guys get prices for the Unbuyable items? for those <99,999Nps, i'd guess that you take the value of the item directly from the shop wiz, but is it the lowest? the average or what?

what about users falsely inflating stuff?

Advanced members manually price unbuyable items.

As for falsely inflating stuff, it will be difficult to maintain as cheaper items on the sw will have to be bought out to make sure the inflated prices are grabbed. Or advanced members can insert a false price but the item database names who last priced the item so we can figure out who is responsible and there are probably logs behind the scenes for special members.

[Kas]

Kweh, on 03 January 2010 - 03:00 PM, said:

I think that is only there for people that want Abrosia to do everything. Unbuyables can't be sold in the shop by Abrosia unless somebody has one for 99,999np so the np spent on that item is wasted until the person manually puts it on the tp.

Oh, I got it. Are unpriced items considered Unbuyable, though? Like if you happened across an unpriced item in a shop, would it be bought?

[iargue]

Kas, on 03 January 2010 - 06:27 PM, said:

Oh, I got it. Are unpriced items considered Unbuyable, though? Like if you happened across an unpriced item in a shop, would it be bought?

If its a user shop, you cant buy items priced at 0. If you come across an item we dont have a price for in our database, but its in a main shop, abrosia will buy it. We just dont know if it will make you a profit or not.