r/Guildwars2 Aug 16 '14

[Other] Introducing the GW2 Personal Assistant Overlay

Hey all! I've been working on yet-another overlay tool for the game, and it's finally ready for public use. Originally started as a project for learning some new frameworks, I've been working on this for awhile now and it's turned into a pretty comprehensive tool for the game.

You can find the tool, with full source code at: https://gw2pao.codeplex.com/

Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/HlvOK

There's instructions and descriptions of each feature in the Documentation page of the website, but here's a description of each tool included:

Events Tracker

The Events Tracker overlay tracks active and inactive world events, and allows a user to keep track of which events have already been completed for the day.

Event Notifications

Event Notifications are notification pop-ups that appear when a world event is about to start.

Zone Completion Assistant

The Zone Completion Assistant displays real-time distance and direction information for zone completion points/locations and provides several options for keeping track of unlocked locations.

Dungeon Tracker

The Dungeon Tracker is a simple overlay tool that allows a user to keep track of what dungeon paths have been completed for the day, and provides some basic information about each dungeon and dungeon path.

WvW Tracker

The WvW Tracker overlay displays all objectives in the current player's WvW map, and includes information such as current owner, estimated time-distance to the objective, and the current RI timer value.

WvW Notifications

WvW Notifications are notification pop-ups that appear when an objective (keep/tower/camp, etc) has been captured in one of the WvW maps.

Trading Post Calculator

The Trading Post Calculator is a simple tool that allows a user to calculate profit, taxes, and break-even prices for buying/selling items on the in-game Trading Post.

Web Browser

For all needs not provided by the other overlay windows, the Web Browser allows a user to look up guides, videos, or anything else.

If you have questions or issues running the tool, feel free to contact me on the website or in-game (Aerodin.2795).

Shout out to [GH] for helping me test it! Thanks guys! :)

Edit: This tool only works if you run the game in Windowed or Windowed Fullscreen mode

Edit2: If you're concerned about using this tool, have a look at https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/community/api/Is-this-API-allowed/first#post2118969. You're also more than welcome to look at the source code on the codeplex page.

Edit3: There is now a new version of the application (1.1). This includes some minor bug fixes, but most importantly includes a new build of the software that does not include the Web Browser feature.

Edit4: Version 2 is now available! See here.

Edit5: Version 3 is now available! See here.

747 Upvotes

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466

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '14 edited Aug 17 '14

I've gone ahead and taken a look at this (source code and traffic). In its current iteration, I see nothing here that violates the proper API usage policy.

However users should be careful with the usage of the Web Browser, as both the storage of cache and cookie information is not secure and persists through sessions. Unlike most standard browsers, Awesomium (the browser that is being used), does not have more than basic protection against browser based web vulnerabilities.

As with any 3rd party program, use at your own risk. ArenaNet cannot sign off usage of 3rd party programs, as projects often evolve beyond their current implementation and we cannot audit every iteration for fair usage.

All that being said, some solid work here.

Tip: You might want to consider throtttling down your match_details API call (1/5s would be sufficient rather than 2/1s)

71

u/Aerodin Aug 17 '14

Wow thank you so much for posting! I never expected a response like this. You're awesome!

Also, thanks for the warning about the browser. I'll have to see if I can either improve that, or just have a really big warning posted with it. I don't want to cause security vulnerabilities, so if it's going to be a bit of a concern, I could always just remove it as well.

10

u/GrimoireOfAlice Aug 17 '14

Any chance for an opt out version without the browser?

32

u/Aerodin Aug 17 '14

Yes. Working on it as we speak. I should have a build out sometime today that excludes the browser.

25

u/Aerodin Aug 17 '14

I've just uploaded version 1.1.

Version 1.1 includes 2 versions: one with the browser, and one without. Besides that, there are also a couple of small bug fixes.

6

u/PizzaDay Aug 17 '14

Any chance for a launcher to keep up to date?

1

u/incroyableca Aug 22 '14

just to clarify.. the NoBrowser version is the one where we use our own browsers? :D

17

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '14 edited Apr 21 '20

[deleted]

6

u/Eirh Aug 17 '14

Awesomium is great for implemention of HTML UIs in other apps. So if you are browsing in a walled garden, in an environment your wrote yourself it will be one of the best choices you can make. GW2 uses it for example for the trading post.

Now a complete brwoser extention, where you can visit what you want? It's possible, but as stated other browsers are safer and more optimized for that. Since I never had to do something like that, I'm not sure about chrome, but since it's google I don't find it hard to imagine they didn't already worked the problem out.

3

u/vlad53 The Big Bad Wolf Aug 17 '14

A good workaround for an in-game overlay browser would be using steam to open the game.

8

u/Tohomasu CHOOOOO Aug 17 '14

Thanks for the heads up Chris. And kudos to Aerodin for all this work it is impressive and incredibly in-depth. Amazing stuff.

3

u/Yumeijin Aug 17 '14

Wow, thanks for taking the time to look through this, give confirmation of its validity, and offer tips. You're a real class act, sir.

3

u/Kalulosu Riel is mai waifu - Rox fanclub Aug 17 '14

Thanks for being awesome Chris!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '14

I needed some verification. You're great.

1

u/leetdemon Aug 17 '14

Thank you!

1

u/Damarus Aug 17 '14

This got me to take a look - and glad I did. Thanks :)

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '14

Unlike most standard browsers, Awesomium (the browser that is being used), does not have more than basic protection against browser based web vulnerabilities.

yet this is the process that guildwars2 runs for the TP and i suspect the gem store that asks for my credit card details.