Map Tracking Tool

[Chicken Mentality 33 / 1,267]

If anyone is interested, this is a tool I wrote to notify if a specific map is being played on GFL at the moment. Couldn't find similar feature anywhere else.

 

The tool is a very basic jar file (with GUI) - you just specify a list of map names. The tool periodically pings https://www.gametracker.com/server_info/216.52.148.47:27015/ and https://www.game-state.com/216.52.148.47:27015/ to fetch the current map and if tracked - plays a notification ringtone. The only prerequisite is to have java run-time installed (I am running it on Windows without issues).

 

If you want to try it, I've added the jar file along with the java source code below (feel free to modify (e.g. if you want to track different server than GFL) or let me know if there is already another way to get notified on maps). 

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/v8ps2p9qmlrau86/ZombieMapTracker.zip/file

 

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

That's a pretty neat tool! I've wanted to do something like this years ago when we had CS:S Zombie Escape.

 

Nice work

 

Thanks!

[Onah 58 / 2,684]

There's the maunz bot on the ze discord for map tracking notifications  just hit up the #bot-commands channel and type *notify mako

[hotEvercLear 194 / 4,723]

I just have alerts set up in the discord @map-tracking channel. 

 

Cool project though, thanks for putting this together. 

 

if you have *notify mako you do get a virus... a weeb virus for which there is no cure... be careful on discord... weebs are lurking looking to lure you in and prey on you!

Edited July 27, 2018 by hotEvercLear

[Vauff 965 / 16,976]

2 hours ago, Chicken Mentality said:

or let me know if there is already another way to get notified on maps

Yeah, there is Maunz on the ZE Discord as others have mentioned, AntiTeal also made a web tracker that accomplishes the same goal. However, I think you're the first to create a desktop program to do it.

 

If you wanted to improve the reliability of the tool, I'd suggest looking into using steam-condenser-java to query the server directly instead of feeding through GameTracker/Game-State. That way you're getting fully up to date information when you run a query. I've used it in Maunz for about a year now and it works great.

[Chicken Mentality 33 / 1,267]

Awesome, the web-tracker is more or less what I was looking for (before writing the tool) - a way to monitor for maps across servers.

 

Also, thanks for the suggestion. I am curious what information can be queried from the server. In particular, the other info I generally look for is whether new maps are added to the rotation, if there are any scheduled events, whether this is a casual or try-hard hour and when, roughly, a certain map would be available for nomination, across few servers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Basically, if I am going to spend time on ze, it should worth it.

 

I don't envision such client-side tool actually querying the server directly. More of a tool -> [web] service -> server style of communication. Anyway, might give it a try.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Chicken Mentality

[Loco 117 / 3,321]

?  KUDOS FOR YA!

I think really good attempts and got me excited to write a somewhat long post.

 

But like Vauff said:

  Wouldn't be reliable and efficient to use steam api tools? I feel like Gametracker isn't that reliable and you will have delays between feeding the information.

 

For checking a new map, you can probably scrape and parse information from http://fastdl.gflclan.com/csgo/maps/ 

based on date added in; however, nomination availability is something you probably hit the obstacle.  The server has a config file that hosts what's to be added in nomination list but I don't think you will never gain an access into the file.   I think you can also scrape & parse the information from the forum for the event section.

 

 

Anyway, good luck to ya keep us updated on the progress!

 

[Chicken Mentality 33 / 1,267]

I've updated the tool with the above suggestions. To summarize the functionality:

 

You can specify and track maps either by polling Gametracker/Gamestate or directly querying the server.  You can add custom servers (not limited to GFL) - more or less what the web-tool supports.

In addition, you can list recently-added maps, set minimum player count and active hours (maybe leave it running overnight and get awaken after some hour) for notifications. Also add restriction based on number of active "regulars" (user-specified players) or maybe stalk someone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There are also links to the major even threads (scraping events directly is not easy), but this should give some sense of the ongoing events.

 

The 2 major limitations are: You can track no more than 2 servers at a time and Recent maps are polled only from Net4All fastdl (GFL one doesn't have proper map timestamps, nor it covers CSS)

 

Runnable jar: http://www.mediafire.com/file/vcavt3dy1yz9121/ZombieMapTrackerApp.zip/file

Source code: http://www.mediafire.com/file/d4nod3zorhprw4j/ZombieMapTrackerSource.zip/file

 

Let me know if you discover any issues. I might upload the source to github instead later on.

[1mpact 107 / 3,838]

Quote

or maybe stalk someone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you feel like another player is stalking you make sure you can protect yourself, perhaps envision them as a laser and jump over them. In the likely case your athletic abilities don't allow you to jump over the stalker, I advise reading the wikihow on self defence linked below. I recommend practicing in a mirror to locate your weaknesses before your stalker takes advantage of them. 

https://www.wikihow.com/Defend-Yourself