33 replies to this topic

[James1]

I haven't been on neopets in about 4 years, but got a sudden urge to do some kind of bot coding for it , and after a quick google search, I figured this is the best place... right?

Anyway, I have a lot of experience with.... C#, PHP, MySQL, C++, Java and probably a couple of others I forgot.

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this (as I don't have a lot of time). I kind of want to just get stuck in and get something coded. Be warned that I might just get bored and disappear at any time though .

When I was a noob 4 years ago I coded an auto buyer/seller (shop wizard) and auto adopter in VB, but looking around it seems that's already well covered. Sooo anyone got any ideas for something I can code from the ground up? Like, maybe something that's challenging so no one else has tried?

Then again looking at neopets compared with how it was 4 years ago, it doesn't seem to have changed much, so maybe there's nothing useful left to do, in which case I'll just find a different site.

Eh this is quite a lame topic, sorry haha. Meh. Hi people

[Waser Lave]

Welcome to Neocodex.

There isn't really much which has never been done by now, some more popular choices which people tend to make are things like mainshop autobuyers, usershop autobuyers, auctions snipers or autoplayers for the games.

[James1]

Thanks! But I'm wondering if there's any point coding any of those, if you guys have done such a good job of it already (just saw the impressive feature list on Abrosia!). I think it would feel more satisfying if people could get use out of something I made, rather than just remaking something that's already working fine haha.

By the way, what's with the "Copyright 2000-2009 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission"? So Neopets support these type of programs?

[Waser Lave]

By the way, what's with the "Copyright 2000-2009 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission"? So Neopets support these type of programs?

Nah, it's just so we can use their images without breaking any copyright laws. We should probably change it to 2010 now though.

[outsidedream86]

Here are some things that I would probably make for myself if I knew how to code. Not sure about the interest level for the wider neocodex community though. Maybe it'll spark an idea for ya. Some may be pretty unrealistic:

Sewage Surfer AP (you get an avatar at level 50)
or any non-flash based game really...
Plushie Tycoon AP
Daily doer
Quest doer
Something that analyzes Food Club data and picks the best odds
Meta-program manager that starts up and runs different codex programs throughout the day

[James1]

Ooh, thanks . I'll have to take a look at most of those - like I said I've not used NP in a long time, so forgotten a lot about it.


Also, have a message to deliver - BaoUnit says hey!

[Jake2]

Welcome to NC, James.

It's nice to see our community is constantly growing for users and programmers.

You should just test your skills on some easy projects like a spam bot on the boards. That would be extremely annoying but it'd be good practice before you jump into a bigger project, like a Neoquest auto-player. There's a few floating around the interwebs for NQ2 but I haven't seen one for NQ 1 yet. Maybe something you should try?

[James1]

Ok cool . I'm currently studying computer science at uni, so I've got a load of experience with different languages, OOP, database etc.. The only thing which I need practice in is mimicking HTTP requests so that the program looks like it's a user browsing, but really all I need for that is a good class for C# which supports GET and POST [any recommendations?].

Edited by James1, 02 March 2010 - 04:31 PM.

[kbbbb]

Sewage Surfer AP (you get an avatar at level 50)
or any non-flash based game really...
Plushie Tycoon AP
Daily doer
Quest doer
Something that analyzes Food Club data and picks the best odds

+1 on Plushie Tycoon.

The rest sound awesome tho

[Scot]

If you're looking for ideas, I could use a shop pricer that utilizes multiple accounts since my shop is huge.
And an auction sniper
and a User shop sniper

Edited by Scot, 03 March 2010 - 12:12 AM.

[Jake2]

Plushie Tycoon would be fun, but kinda shit as well. Everyone would have the avatar & it's take away its rarity.

[MasterJunpei]

yeah I would love a plushie tycoon program, even if it wasn't completely automated, just made it easier to work the damn thing. I gets bored and forget about it and hiya

[James1]

Auction sniper sounds interesting, but I just had a look now and it's not particularly helpful that the only info they give for time left is "< 30 mins"

Also, the item database here is an excellent idea - is there some kind of API for it? Could lead to something like... an auction sniper which picks out items about to finish, and cross-checks them with the item db, bidding only if it's <75% of the value. Or something similar for user shops.

Edited by James1, 03 March 2010 - 06:16 AM.

[Waser Lave]

Auction sniper sounds interesting, but I just had a look now and it's not particularly helpful that the only info they give for time left is "< 30 mins"

Also, the item database here is an excellent idea - is there some kind of API for it? Could lead to something like... an auction sniper which picks out items about to finish, and cross-checks them with the item db, bidding only if it's

There isn't a public API at the moment but it's planned for this summer I think, and an auction sniper is already being made with database functionality.

[Zhuris]

Auction sniper sounds interesting, but I just had a look now and it's not particularly helpful that the only info they give for time left is "< 30 mins"

That shouldn't be a problem if you make requests regularly enough (But not suspiciously often..). Presuming the Neopets auctions always report the correct time bracket (Eg, "< 30 mins"), you can tell when an auction will end when you catch it switch brackets. For example:

Auction ID 154902135 (Nothing special, just picked it out at random) is in the bracket "30 min - 2 hours" when you checked at 14:48. When you check at 14:49, however, it's in the "< 30 mins" bracket. You can then conclude the auction will end sometime around 15:18.

I've never tested a system like this out, but it'll work in theory. I hope.

[James1]

There isn't a public API at the moment but it's planned for this summer I think, and an auction sniper is already being made with database functionality.

Hmm, summer's no good for me really because I'll almost definitely have lost interest by then. I'm using Neopets as a way to get back into web bot coding, so once I'm confident with it I'll probably be moving onto something else.

So the db's there but there's no way I can use it in a program? What do you mean by no public API? There's a private one? What about if I write a program and just send you the source code, haha.

I probably wouldn't even use any of these programs myself - I'm not really interested in playing NP, I just want a challenge (code something that earns points, and can't be detected as non-human), and while I'm at it might as well make it something that other people can use. See where I'm coming from?

That shouldn't be a problem if you make requests regularly enough (But not suspiciously often..). Presuming the Neopets auctions always report the correct time bracket (Eg, "< 30 mins"), you can tell when an auction will end when you catch it switch brackets. For example:

Auction ID 154902135 (Nothing special, just picked it out at random) is in the bracket "30 min - 2 hours" when you checked at 14:48. When you check at 14:49, however, it's in the "< 30 mins" bracket. You can then conclude the auction will end sometime around 15:18.

I've never tested a system like this out, but it'll work in theory. I hope.

Yeah, good point - but then I'd have to be watching them from a very long way off finishing. I was thinking more of something which catches stuff on the 1st/2nd page and looks for good deals. I think with your method it would have to be watching only a few selected items?

EDIT: Ooo, unless it's watching the <30 mins switchover, and keeping track of price changes from different accounts/proxies, and building up a temporary local database of auctions , and a separate account to do the bidding.

Edited by James1, 03 March 2010 - 07:00 AM.

[Melchoire]

Write a Firefox addon that automatically finishes the URL you're typing by choosing the closest matching one from your history. This feature is in Chrome but not FF. I thought about doing it myself but I have NO TIME for anything these days.

[Hazard]

Welcome

[Dan]

Nice to see another .NET developer on the boards.

Ok cool . I'm currently studying computer science at uni, so I've got a load of experience with different languages, OOP, database etc.. The only thing which I need practice in is mimicking HTTP requests so that the program looks like it's a user browsing, but really all I need for that is a good class for C# which supports GET and POST [any recommendations?].

You'll need to use HTTPWebRequest or TCPClient - both can be found on MSDN here and here.

I'd recommend using HTTPWebRequest - it's a little slower than TCPClient but a hell of a lot easier to use - especially if you haven't had too much experience with web-accessing robotic tools.

Auction sniper sounds interesting, but I just had a look now and it's not particularly helpful that the only info they give for time left is "< 30 mins"

Also, the item database here is an excellent idea - is there some kind of API for it? Could lead to something like... an auction sniper which picks out items about to finish, and cross-checks them with the item db, bidding only if it's <75% of the value. Or something similar for user shops.

There is no API at this point in time - and any that are developed in future will be developed with Python I'm sure.

I guess I could write something in WCF as a webservice that you could hook your app up to - but I lack time at the moment.

Hmm, summer's no good for me really because I'll almost definitely have lost interest by then. I'm using Neopets as a way to get back into web bot coding, so once I'm confident with it I'll probably be moving onto something else.

So the db's there but there's no way I can use it in a program? What do you mean by no public API? There's a private one? What about if I write a program and just send you the source code, haha.

I probably wouldn't even use any of these programs myself - I'm not really interested in playing NP, I just want a challenge (code something that earns points, and can't be detected as non-human), and while I'm at it might as well make it something that other people can use. See where I'm coming from?


Yeah, good point - but then I'd have to be watching them from a very long way off finishing. I was thinking more of something which catches stuff on the 1st/2nd page and looks for good deals. I think with your method it would have to be watching only a few selected items?

EDIT: Ooo, unless it's watching the <30 mins switchover, and keeping track of price changes from different accounts/proxies, and building up a temporary local database of auctions , and a separate account to do the bidding.

If you need to access the DB you can - just connect to neocodex and make your requests via HTTP. If you're not going to be interested in a few months then I doubt there's much point in beginning a project to be fair, it's a long winding process which you'll need to pretty much constantly support - due to freeze rates and other variables.

[Waser Lave]

There is no API at this point in time - and any that are developed in future will be developed with Python I'm sure.

I guess I could write something in WCF as a webservice that you could hook your app up to - but I lack time at the moment.

The API would be server-side (therefore PHP based) and would most likely output XML so it's language independent really. It would essentially just be a modified version of the private API we have already have which Abrosia uses.

[GreenScissors]

I don't know what's going on, but hello

[James1]

Ok cool, thanks for the info. I'd used HttpWebRequest for single requests before - but didn't realise it was powerful enough to fully mimic a browser. Had a go with it now and made a "FauxFox" class that supports GET and POST with cookies and everything

If you need to access the DB you can - just connect to neocodex and make your requests via HTTP

Do you mean essentially using a bot on the db? If that's allowed then I should be able to start working on something!

If you're not going to be interested in a few months then I doubt there's much point in beginning a project to be fair, it's a long winding process which you'll need to pretty much constantly support - due to freeze rates and other variables.

Well, for the time it's around it would be better than nothing, right? I'd also probably be fine with releasing the code in case anyone wanted to base something off it.

Edited by James1, 08 March 2010 - 12:25 PM.

[willy101]

Does the current autopricer stop if it detects a quest? If not you should code that to go check our itemdb and automatically complete quests.

[Hakuu]

I'll add a +1 for a user shop sniper. Something where it could work off the database, browse certain items that you plug in, and if it spots something with a certain amount of profit then it will buy it.

[Andy]

How about a program which downloads all of the porn on the internet and makes a screensaver out of it?