I am a random guy from Denmark who enjoys creating - it's a huge drive for me. For instance I produce music, do photography, programming, design, graphics and video.
I have also previously made a lot of add-ons for games like World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, The Secret World and WildStar.
Now with that out of the way...
What's with these Eco tools?
A few of my friends and I got interested in Eco, so we decided to give it a go. Initially we ran the server on my computer, which in turn meant that I had to manage the server as well.
Running the server I naturally got some insight into its settings, so I'm the one dealing with adjusting these appropriately for our worlds.
Our first game was too easy, despite us actually trying to make it harder, which meant I had to look into increasing the difficulty in different ways by modifying the server configuration files.
I quickly realised that some of these settings would be a pain to modify by hand, so I figured I'd just write some tools to make it easier for me to do.
The project turned more elaborate as I decided that I might as well make them publicly available, which in turn also meant that I had to put more effort into the look of the tools, how easy they are to understand and use, and prevent errors that people might encounter by using the tools wrong. Basically write and test a lot of code so people can't do things in a way that would generate errors or create invalid output (files that would prevent the server from starting).
It also means that I will be creating tools that I probably otherwise wouldn't have, since there are some things I don't need tools to do, but others might. In short I will try to make this a very complete collection of tools for modifying the server configuration files.
Where do I find these files?
Each tool has a guide for finding the file(s) used by it. You can find a link to this guide in the dark column of text to the right within the tool.
Are you going to steal my files and hack my server?
Yes! Or more seriously: Absolutely not.
When you open a file using any of these tools it's not even sent to my web server. All of these tools work strictly client-side, which means it's your computer and browser doing all the work and handling all the data. Even when you "download" the new file it's just being created by your computer from the data that your browser already has on the page, it just looks like a download to make you able to save the result as a file.
Nothing goes back to my server. I have no need for it, nor do I want to spend server resources and bandwidth on doing these things, when I can just have your computer do it instead. This also means that it gets done much faster, so it's a win-win situation.
Basically all my server is doing is sending your browser the files which enable it to do all the things the tools do. You can compare it to downloading a small program and running it on your computer, except this is just JavaScript running in your browser.
Can I trust the files you give me?
Yes. First of all, as mentioned above, they're created by your computer, not my server, so there's no risk of you getting some sort of virus.
Secondly they are just plain boring JSON files. It's not possible to hide anything in them, because anyone would be able to plainly see that it's there.
Even if it was possible for me to do something malicious I can assure you that I wouldn't. I haven't spent hours making these tools user-friendly and what not, just to mess with a few people. After all it'd quickly become known that odd stuff was happening when using the tools on this site, which would make it very short-lived.
I could go into a long explanation about how it's basically impossible for me to actually do anything malicious through these files, but it'd be way too long and I'm not sure I could even explain it well enough for the people who would need this explanation. If you're in doubt get a tech-savvy friend to look through the files. They just need JSON knowledge and they should be able to tell you that everything is okay. You can of course also ask on the Eco Discord channel and hear from people who've used the tools and their experiences.
My file is smaller now, why is that?
This is particularly apparent with EcoSim.eco. If you load it into EcoSim Commander and save it again, you will see that it's about 18 kb smaller in file size, compared to the original.
This could make you believe that something is missing, but that is not the case. The reason is that in the original files all number values are saved with fractions. For instance 8 is 8.0 in the original file, but when my tools create the output 8 is just 8.
This means that for each number value, where fractions aren't needed, 2 bytes are removed from the file size. In a file like EcoSim.eco that amounts to a lot of values, which in turn means that the file size is noticeably reduced.
I've added custom properties to my files, can your tools handle that?
The tools are written with that in mind, but there might be limitations. For the most part you should be able to edit custom properties as well, especially if they follow the object formatting that Strange Loop Games uses in the files.
Even if my tools can't display or provide editing capabilities of your custom properties, they will be left completely intact when saving the file.
If you run into issues with custom properties, feel free to get a hold of me and we'll find out how to fix or improve it.
Can I help in any way?
If you see a setting missing somewhere, it might be that I've not included it yet as I couldn't explain what it does. If you know what X setting does, then letting me know will mean that I can include it. One of the goals for these tools is also explaining what each setting does, so people have an understanding of the impact changes to it has.
Likewise if you see a setting explained poorly, incorrectly or not at all, letting me know how to improve, fix or add it is very appreciated.
The same applies to input restrictions. If you are aware of value limitations that aren't currently present and enforced, then letting me know about those will be a great help. Naturally the same applies if any current ones are wrong.
If you have ideas or suggestions for improvements or new features then feel free to get in touch!
Think you have something else you can help with? Check the footer on how to reach me.
If you help with something, more than pointing out a typo or some such, you can choose to be added to the contributors list on the right side of this page.
Can I email you?
I guess! Use [email protected] to get a hold of me.
Are you tracking me using cookies?
Certainly not. I have no interest in what you're doing on the internet, nor am I actually able to see what you're doing outside of this page. I might implement Google Analytics on the website at some point, but this is merely to help me see which tools are popular and which are not. If I do decide to implement Google Analytics I will make sure to make people aware of it, as well as explain how I use the data. I'll be using the anonymizeIp setting if I decide to do it.
I am maintaining your user settings across sessions, for instance if you've hidden the sidebar on a page. This is done using localStorage, which is basically a newer and better version of cookies, part of the Web Storage API. This data is stored in your browser, on your machine, and is solely used to save your settings for the next time you visit the page.
Your site is broken on my tablet and mobile phone
Yep! I doubt there's much use for it on mobile devices, as I assume these tools will primarily be used from a desktop or laptop computer.
However if there is enough of a demand for it to work on tablets and mobile phones, then I will consider looking into it.
I use an obscure or old browser and your site doesn't work
Then I will kindly suggest that you upgrade to a more modern browser. You'll do all the world's web developers a great favour.
I will not be supporting old or obscure browsers at any point. I do this in my spare time and supporting old and obscure browsers is annoying and time consuming, so I decided not to do so for this site. It's also in your own best interest to keep your browser up-to-date, since that means you're more secure when using the web.
Good browser options: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Microsoft Edge.
I use noscript and nothing works
If you're clever enough to use noscript, then you're also clever enough to whitelist this website for script use. These tools are extremely non-functional if JavaScript is disabled.
Do you accept donations?
I used not to (back when I was developing add-ons for various games), but people kept asking if they could donate, so I decided to start doing so. After all; why not?
I want to make something very clear though: I am not doing this for money. I am doing this because I want to. You won't see me push anyone to donate anything. I will not try to guilt anyone into donating. This was something I saw a good few add-on developers do, and it's not something I approve of.
It is my choice to spend the time and money doing this and none of you who use these tools owe me anything for doing so.
I also want to make it very clear that you should never donate for the future, but only for the past. What I mean by this is: Don't donate and expect that it'll make X tool or feature come, or come faster, because that won't be the case. Only donate because of what I've done, not for what you think or hope I will do.
If you want to donate but can't afford to, simply telling me that you appreciate the work I've put in goes a long way. Don't ever feel bad for not being able to donate, because I will never expect any of you to do so.
If I one day decide that I don't want to do this website anymore, then I will stop doing it. Likely I'll ask if anyone wants to take over the project or some such. But just as you don't owe me anything, neither do I owe you anything, and any donation should not change that.
If you want and are able to donate, you can do so here: paypal.me/Viper. You have my most sincerest thanks if you choose to do so.