Player0
07-21-2003, 07:10 PM
This guide is to help answer the most frequently asked questions we get about our stats programs. If you don't see an answer to your question here, please post it up in this forum. Please do not email me (Player0) questions directly, as I don't have time to handle them all. Most problems can be easily solved by the other members on these forums.
Q.) What does DCS stand for?
A.) DCS stands for Distributed Computing Suite. It is a suite of a few applications that work together to form a well rounded set of tools for DC users. It currently consists of the main engine, the skinning engine, the signature generator and the stats generator.
Q.) When will DCS v3.0 be completed?
A.) The newest version has now gone from Beta to Gold status. Version 2 F@H was turned off on 10/13/2003. SETI work on v3 has not been completed yet. DCS Stats page is also work-in-progress, but I consider these to be minor to the overall scheme.
Q.) Why was my Version 2 signature disabled?
A.) Version 3 of DCS was completely rewritten from the ground up with new database and stat parsing routines. Not only is V3 exponentially faster than V2 (or any other stats program currently available), it also reduces the load on Stanford servers by a tremendous amount. As LN.com's DCS becomes more popular, this was extremely important, so that we didn't get blacklisted due to hammering. V3 adds many new fields, a revised averaging system which is the most comprehensive around, and also introduces the custom skinning engine, and a custom stats HTML page, if I ever finish it.
Q.) Can I have a copy of the code?
A.) No. This is not an open source project. If other people use this code to set up servers, then very few people will end up using my original copy and I will stop updating the software. I spend all this work coding projects like this so people can benefit from it. The positive feedback I receive is the reason I continue work on these projects. I will, however, be happy to provide help to those looking to create their own statistics programs by offering advice or coding help.
Q.) Will you add project XXX to the stats program?
A.) The DCS app is designed to be very modular. Adding other projects isn't hard. However, it is time consuming for me and I have focused my energies elsewhere. Other projects will be added as the demand for them increases. SETI2 will likely be added, and is the only addition planned for right now. I will consider DF although those projects may be too short lived.
Q.) Do "User Active Processors", "User Last Result", and "User Overall Rank" work?
A.) These fields are disabled because of the AWFUL way Stanford handles stats generation. Yes, DCS *does* actually have the ability to process the individual user pages needed for this information. HOWEVER, this would require thousands upon thousands of page downloads, versus the two-dozen downloads needed without trying to get these fields. If Stanford ever makes this feasible, I will certainly download it.
Q.) Is there anything I can do to help the DCS project?
A.) Certainly. We can always benefit from you helping others in need of help setting up DCS in their signatures/links, especially on other team boards. Also, any information you might be able to provide me about stat page changes or new features available from Stanford/Berkeley would also be great. And certainly, any bug fixes or feature requests would be welcome as well, so I can provide the best service I can. And LiquidNinjas.com is always in need of financial donations, as a non-profit organization. DCS uses a lot of server power and bandwidth, and those costs can add up fast these days.
Skinning Engine v3 Questions
==========================
Q.) How do I make my own custom skin?
A.) Ask one of the moderators of the DCS forum to create a 'skin seed' for you. This will allow you to start work on your own skin. Please note that skin seeds will not be given out during this beta test period.
Q.) I just want to change the background or colors of a skin that already exists, like the default F@H skin. Do I have to reenter all the skin parameters in my skin seed?
A.) No. Administrators can copy the parameters of any skin in to your skin. Please ask for this when you request your skin seed.
Q.) I don't want to make my own skin, can I just use someone elses?
A.) Yes. Simply specify the &xskin=skinname parameter in your signature URL. Once any skin is created, it is global and anyone else can use it. Please note, custom skins can only be shared among beta testers at this point and will not work properly with version 2 of the signature program.
Q.) I am not on a LiquidNinjas team. Can I still make my own skin?
A.) Yes. The only rule is that the skin must display a legible copy of "LiquidNinjas.com" somewhere on the image. Skins that are found to not have LiquidNinjas.com displayed will be disabled. We will check all the signatures from time to time to make sure this one rule is enforced.
Q.) Why do I have to display LiquidNinjas.com on my signature?
A.) LiquidNinjas.com is providing the bandwidth and server required to keep DCS going. With thousands of users and millions of hits, the cost of running DCS is fairly substantial, so it seems only proper that credit is given to where it's due. It also allows others to find the signature program. After all, if your not already on LiquidNinjas.com, the reason you are using the DCS sig program is because you saw the LiquidNinjas.com signature in someone else's stats. AFAIK, all other stat sig programs display a credit back to their home site somewhere as well.
Q.) What kind of images can I use for a background?
A.) Any PNG, JPEG, or GIF should work okay now. I recommend using smaller files for performance reasons. On GIFs and PNGs, try to use 240 colors or less. The use of a full 256 color palette will cause discoloration of your statistic printouts. I suggest using JPEG quality of 80 or above for best results, but urge you to use PNG or GIF over JPEG unless absolutely necessary, otherwise the fonts will look 'fuzzy'.
Q.) What parameters are available for the skinning engine?
A.) Listed below:
&xfahuser= -- Your F@H User Name, used for Preview Mode
&xsetiuser= -- Your SETI User Name, used for Preview Mode
&xskin= -- Name of the skin you are editing
&xpass = -- Password required to edit said skin
You will see other parameters passed in to the URL from time to time. Please do not alter these other parameters as they will cause unexpected results.
Q.) Why did all the parameters in my URL disappear?!
A.) Editing/Inserting a skin row will force the URL parameters to disappear because of how the information is being passed (HTTP POST). Use the 'Click for Full URL Display' to retrieve the lost parameters.
Q.) What does Wrapper do?
A.) It is not functional yet. It will allow you to encompass the data field with text. For example, say your F@H Score is 100. Normally the field will just show 100.0. However, with wrapper, you can have it say 100.0 WU or (100), etc.
Q.) Why doesn't data type xxx work?
A.) Some data types aren't installed yet. There are many others still to come as well. These data types will show up as blank.
Q.) What does Font mean?
A.) Font is a number between 1 and 5. See the font sample image for a preview of the different font sizes. There are only 5 default fonts in PHP.
Q.) Will there be additional fonts in the future?
A.) It is likely that I will install at least a few TTF fonts before the final release of DCS.
Q.) What does Color mean?
A.) This is a standard HTML color code. #FFFFFF is white, #000000 is black. Many graphics programs will display a color table with HTML codes showing. There are countless sites on the web with color charts as well.
Q.) Why isn't my color showing up correctly?
A.) Be sure that you are using a proper HTML color code, without the leading # symbol. Typing in 'red' or 'black' will not work. If your color data is correct, the color may not be displayed properly due to a full color palette, ie your background image is using 250 of 256 colors available, and you are trying to use 20 different colors for text. Colors that can't be allocated normally will be 'best-matched' against a pre-existing color in your palette. In English, try reducing the number of colors in your background image (PNG, GIF). In the case of a JPEG, the color error is probably due to compression distortion or incorrect color profiling, and there's not a lot you can do.
Q.) Why can't I upload my background image?
A.) Did you already upload it? You can't upload an image by the same name more than once. Rename the new image and upload it again. Once you change your background image to something new, you can't switch back to the old image unless you rename it! Yes, it's a huge limitation and I am thinking of a solution.
Q.) What does DCS stand for?
A.) DCS stands for Distributed Computing Suite. It is a suite of a few applications that work together to form a well rounded set of tools for DC users. It currently consists of the main engine, the skinning engine, the signature generator and the stats generator.
Q.) When will DCS v3.0 be completed?
A.) The newest version has now gone from Beta to Gold status. Version 2 F@H was turned off on 10/13/2003. SETI work on v3 has not been completed yet. DCS Stats page is also work-in-progress, but I consider these to be minor to the overall scheme.
Q.) Why was my Version 2 signature disabled?
A.) Version 3 of DCS was completely rewritten from the ground up with new database and stat parsing routines. Not only is V3 exponentially faster than V2 (or any other stats program currently available), it also reduces the load on Stanford servers by a tremendous amount. As LN.com's DCS becomes more popular, this was extremely important, so that we didn't get blacklisted due to hammering. V3 adds many new fields, a revised averaging system which is the most comprehensive around, and also introduces the custom skinning engine, and a custom stats HTML page, if I ever finish it.
Q.) Can I have a copy of the code?
A.) No. This is not an open source project. If other people use this code to set up servers, then very few people will end up using my original copy and I will stop updating the software. I spend all this work coding projects like this so people can benefit from it. The positive feedback I receive is the reason I continue work on these projects. I will, however, be happy to provide help to those looking to create their own statistics programs by offering advice or coding help.
Q.) Will you add project XXX to the stats program?
A.) The DCS app is designed to be very modular. Adding other projects isn't hard. However, it is time consuming for me and I have focused my energies elsewhere. Other projects will be added as the demand for them increases. SETI2 will likely be added, and is the only addition planned for right now. I will consider DF although those projects may be too short lived.
Q.) Do "User Active Processors", "User Last Result", and "User Overall Rank" work?
A.) These fields are disabled because of the AWFUL way Stanford handles stats generation. Yes, DCS *does* actually have the ability to process the individual user pages needed for this information. HOWEVER, this would require thousands upon thousands of page downloads, versus the two-dozen downloads needed without trying to get these fields. If Stanford ever makes this feasible, I will certainly download it.
Q.) Is there anything I can do to help the DCS project?
A.) Certainly. We can always benefit from you helping others in need of help setting up DCS in their signatures/links, especially on other team boards. Also, any information you might be able to provide me about stat page changes or new features available from Stanford/Berkeley would also be great. And certainly, any bug fixes or feature requests would be welcome as well, so I can provide the best service I can. And LiquidNinjas.com is always in need of financial donations, as a non-profit organization. DCS uses a lot of server power and bandwidth, and those costs can add up fast these days.
Skinning Engine v3 Questions
==========================
Q.) How do I make my own custom skin?
A.) Ask one of the moderators of the DCS forum to create a 'skin seed' for you. This will allow you to start work on your own skin. Please note that skin seeds will not be given out during this beta test period.
Q.) I just want to change the background or colors of a skin that already exists, like the default F@H skin. Do I have to reenter all the skin parameters in my skin seed?
A.) No. Administrators can copy the parameters of any skin in to your skin. Please ask for this when you request your skin seed.
Q.) I don't want to make my own skin, can I just use someone elses?
A.) Yes. Simply specify the &xskin=skinname parameter in your signature URL. Once any skin is created, it is global and anyone else can use it. Please note, custom skins can only be shared among beta testers at this point and will not work properly with version 2 of the signature program.
Q.) I am not on a LiquidNinjas team. Can I still make my own skin?
A.) Yes. The only rule is that the skin must display a legible copy of "LiquidNinjas.com" somewhere on the image. Skins that are found to not have LiquidNinjas.com displayed will be disabled. We will check all the signatures from time to time to make sure this one rule is enforced.
Q.) Why do I have to display LiquidNinjas.com on my signature?
A.) LiquidNinjas.com is providing the bandwidth and server required to keep DCS going. With thousands of users and millions of hits, the cost of running DCS is fairly substantial, so it seems only proper that credit is given to where it's due. It also allows others to find the signature program. After all, if your not already on LiquidNinjas.com, the reason you are using the DCS sig program is because you saw the LiquidNinjas.com signature in someone else's stats. AFAIK, all other stat sig programs display a credit back to their home site somewhere as well.
Q.) What kind of images can I use for a background?
A.) Any PNG, JPEG, or GIF should work okay now. I recommend using smaller files for performance reasons. On GIFs and PNGs, try to use 240 colors or less. The use of a full 256 color palette will cause discoloration of your statistic printouts. I suggest using JPEG quality of 80 or above for best results, but urge you to use PNG or GIF over JPEG unless absolutely necessary, otherwise the fonts will look 'fuzzy'.
Q.) What parameters are available for the skinning engine?
A.) Listed below:
&xfahuser= -- Your F@H User Name, used for Preview Mode
&xsetiuser= -- Your SETI User Name, used for Preview Mode
&xskin= -- Name of the skin you are editing
&xpass = -- Password required to edit said skin
You will see other parameters passed in to the URL from time to time. Please do not alter these other parameters as they will cause unexpected results.
Q.) Why did all the parameters in my URL disappear?!
A.) Editing/Inserting a skin row will force the URL parameters to disappear because of how the information is being passed (HTTP POST). Use the 'Click for Full URL Display' to retrieve the lost parameters.
Q.) What does Wrapper do?
A.) It is not functional yet. It will allow you to encompass the data field with text. For example, say your F@H Score is 100. Normally the field will just show 100.0. However, with wrapper, you can have it say 100.0 WU or (100), etc.
Q.) Why doesn't data type xxx work?
A.) Some data types aren't installed yet. There are many others still to come as well. These data types will show up as blank.
Q.) What does Font mean?
A.) Font is a number between 1 and 5. See the font sample image for a preview of the different font sizes. There are only 5 default fonts in PHP.
Q.) Will there be additional fonts in the future?
A.) It is likely that I will install at least a few TTF fonts before the final release of DCS.
Q.) What does Color mean?
A.) This is a standard HTML color code. #FFFFFF is white, #000000 is black. Many graphics programs will display a color table with HTML codes showing. There are countless sites on the web with color charts as well.
Q.) Why isn't my color showing up correctly?
A.) Be sure that you are using a proper HTML color code, without the leading # symbol. Typing in 'red' or 'black' will not work. If your color data is correct, the color may not be displayed properly due to a full color palette, ie your background image is using 250 of 256 colors available, and you are trying to use 20 different colors for text. Colors that can't be allocated normally will be 'best-matched' against a pre-existing color in your palette. In English, try reducing the number of colors in your background image (PNG, GIF). In the case of a JPEG, the color error is probably due to compression distortion or incorrect color profiling, and there's not a lot you can do.
Q.) Why can't I upload my background image?
A.) Did you already upload it? You can't upload an image by the same name more than once. Rename the new image and upload it again. Once you change your background image to something new, you can't switch back to the old image unless you rename it! Yes, it's a huge limitation and I am thinking of a solution.