NullTrading.com is open for business

Discussion in 'Player Created Resources' started by OxNull, Jul 26, 2018.

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  1. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    I may have figured it out. The place it is cutting is where the crop line is (bottom crop line) BEFORE I move it. So maybe it isn't saving that line at all.
     
  2. Vladamir Begemot

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    Or maybe I have almost figured it out. I tested 3 different uploads and all were coming very close to the crop lines original position instead of where I put it. All were a dozen or so above where I put it.

    One was almost right on the original position of the crop line. One was 2 above, and the last one was 3 above. I'll upload those and send you links to them.
     
  3. OxNull

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    After some time i've finally threw together a quick video of the upload process to Null Trading.

    I hope this helps others understand how to use the site and maybe allow others to use the website that were unsure how to use it before.


    Happy Trading
    Ox Null
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2020
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  4. OxNull

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    Good day everyone, here with another update for Null Trading.

    The main changes are,
    I had terribly inefficient code for uploading images. If you used null trading in the past you might have noticed some of this inefficiency. I have now refactored that code and it is running a lot smoother with the uploading process. With this refactor I removed the scan button in favor of it being done automatically upon creation. Some users were not scanning their items after creation and this should help any items not being scanned to be searchable. I also temporarily disabled the tool tip option to better implement it.

    [​IMG]
    If you see this spinning icon on your vendor, your vendor is still processing and is either being cropped (so you might not see all your items at once) or if all your items are there they are being scanned. It will be removed once your vendor is done processing.

    I now allow for Images of your vendor map location to be uploaded instead of using a Sota map link. The sota map links seem to be less than reliable and often buggy. I notice a lot of people just share an image of the map location of their vendor spots. You can now upload theses in place or the sota map url, or have both. You can see an example at https://nulltrading.com/oxnull just click on the vendor location.

    Just edit your vendor and click on the "Add Map IMG or URL" button to view the upload form.
    [​IMG]

    There were other little tweaks here and there, but theses are the main things that users will notice.

    I will continue to optimize and improve Null Trading for your trading pleasure.

    Happy Trading,
    Ox Null
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2019
  5. CICI

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    Cool :) Been using this for a long time works well!
     
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  6. OxNull

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    Good day everyone, here with a special update.
    Null Trading is 1 years old!

    In celebration of the website still kicking, I added some new changes to hopefully get more users to be able to upload their inventories for more opportunities for exposure and sales.


    Any vendors made on the website with updated Map locations will be getting updated monthly by site admins. All that is needed to have your vendor inventories on the web is to make an empty vendor with up to date location coordinates (map image works best).
    Vendors made on Null Trading going forward will be updated by oldest date first.

    If you want your vendor to be updated on demand there are two options:
    1) For 15000 igg you can purchase a Null Coin Voucher which allows you to have on demand vendor updates for 30 days by having an admin run to your vendor locations and updating your wares without any effort on your part. The profits from the Null Coins go to house upkeep.

    2) NEWLY added, you can have your vendors updated on demand without having to purchase a Null Coin Voucher by using the new feature of "Uploaded Vendor Images"

    [​IMG]

    with this new feature you only have to upload your screenshots of your inventories and not have to mess with the cropping of the images. Any vendors that upload their images to be cropped will be updated within 24hrs by a site admin.

    ------

    With all that said, a quick summary. Any vendors created on Null Trading will be updated on a regular basis (at least once a month). I recommend anyone interested in the market, items, pricing or shopping to stop by Null Trading regularly for fresh wares around Novia for sale going forward.

    The Null Coin and Uploaded Images to your vendor are for users who want on demand updates to their vendors.

    With Null Trading you can share your items easily to others with https://nulltrading.com/[your username]

    And here are quick examples of how to achieve the best crop results if you still choose to manually upload your vendors:

    Image of a good item selection crop
    Video of the item selection and upload process


    -----

    Final final note, anyone that had previously registered do have a few Null Coins already allotted from the past. Those are still valid to use if you want to try out the on demand services. They expire 30 days upon activation.

    And if you currently have a vendor on the website and you want it updated starting this month, check to see if the map url still links to your proper location or updated your map location to an image. If I cannot locate the vendor it cannot be updated :(

    Happy trading all
    Ox



     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2019
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  7. Bedawyn

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    Thank you! This is finally looking simple enough for me to use -- at least, as soon as I stop fighting Unity crashes for long enough to get some screenshots. :)

    Anything in the works to allow people to help update vendors that they don't own? For instance, public vendors or shared POT/guild vendors whose owners might not have time to fuss with another website, but other people can still take screenshots?
     
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  8. OxNull

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    Yes, the NPC part is going to be added next . So that other users can upload screenshots from public vendors, or if one of the crown merchants is outdated they can upload the updated items. Crowd sharing screenshots of Public Vendors I think will get public vendors more access since they have a 7 day lifespan and are far spread, but some users might stop by there in between those 7 days to fresh'n the stock.

    I can defiantly add a feature to where multiple people can manage a users vendors. The quick and dirty way is just sharing the guild account or POT account with those you trust, but I can easily setup a permission list of users that can update a vendor. Most likely have the user account that wants to allow outside access from others can just add the user name into their settings. And remove them when they want to revoke access.

    With the uploaded images to the vendor, one person can upload images for one vendor, another user can upload images for a different vendor and if another user wants to do the cropping they can do that too instead of uploading.

    I can have this implemented in the coming weeks, thank you for the suggestion!
    Ox
     
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  9. Vladamir Begemot

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    Crown merchants are long gone I thought.
     
  10. OxNull

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    Oh, probably, i honestly dont know. I thought they would keep the region specific coto merchants in to keep some sense of worldliness but they could have just dumped everything in one location know. I havnt checked in a long time >XD, but regardless, Public vendors could benifit from crowd updates.
     
  11. OxNull

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    Good day everyone - here with another update,

    Users are able to contribute to the NPC vendors on Null Trading to keep fresh stock for others to view while away from Novia.
    The same mechanic as with uploading images to vendor, this time Users are able to contribute to NPC vendors to help keep their correctness. Uploading current screenshots of the NPC vendors as you pass by helps out tremendously with keeping accurate stocks. Anyone can help crop the images if they see there is images already uploaded to the vendors.

    [​IMG]

    Users can "Replenish Items", "Upload Images", or "Delete ALL items,"
    the last one is logged and I hope we can have nice things and contribute respectfully.

    View current NPC vendors here:
    https://nulltrading.com/publicvendors (this will be expanded, I have to hunt down the public vendors and add them. If you know of locations please PM me :))
    https://nulltrading.com/npc (general NPC vendor items. Most likely heavily outdated. Will be expanding soon to better represent same items on multiple vendors in multiple locations)
    (I also want to add some way of rewarding users that update vendors. I was thinking 500-1000g per correct update to an outdated NPC. But that will have to come later when I can implement a proper system.)

    This might be helpful for the residents of slower towns like Solania or Kingsport, who still want to have a public vendor presence in those cities; all that is needed is current screenshots of the vendors inventory.


    The other update that I added is vendors with buy orders - their total count is shown on the main vendor page for easier discovery.

    [​IMG]

    And the last change was, I condensed the location settings to only allow a map image to be uploaded. I removed the option for a location URL. Sota maps would often be buggy with player lot locations in the url and show the wrong Lot or not event register the lot on the link, just showing the full map zone not a specific location. So for the time being, while Sotamap can be useful, I removed it to implement it better later on. The image of the vendor location with the town name as the location name should be useful enough to find the correct vendor.
    Near future I will expand the location/map image upload to be able to crop your desired image instead of the current state of not being able to edit the map image when uploading, it has to be ready to be seen upon upload.

    Until next time, happy trading.
    Ox Null
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2019
  12. Bedawyn

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    Wonderful, thank you! I should be able to get screenshots for Resolute and Ardoris often enough to keep them pretty fresh -- not every day, but often enough.

    Will there be any way for us to tell if there's already a pending image waiting to be processed? I.e., if someones's already uploaded a recent image that just hasn't shown up yet, you probably don't need a second image uploaded that's only a few hours more recent. I know when I listed my vendor, it was up REALLY quickly, but I don't know if that was typical or if I just got lucky with the timing. I don't know how much of this is going to be automated and how much is you doing manual work behind the scenes, but I'd imagine you don't want to be processing three images a day for the same vendor!

    [EDIT: Yes, if you try to upload images, it will show you the images already there.]

    Could we please we get a clarification on what "Replenish items" means?
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
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  13. Bedawyn

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    South Paladis public vendors:
    • Resolute is of course the important one.
    • There's an unnamed vendor in Axwich, but no one ever uses it. (I'm the only one who lives in Axwich and I've declared her name is Juliana McCrae, but alas, she doesn't recognize my authority.) Not worth creating a web presence for her yet, until I'm further along in building the town up.
    • The vendor in Bramble is unnamed and empty today.
    • The vendor in Jaanaford is named Maurice but also empty today.
    I don't remember ever seeing anything for sale in Bramble or Jaanaford. I haven't checked in the past often enough to say for sure that they're never used, but I'd assume anyone who wants their stuff to sell is just jotting up to use the vendor in Resolute. Maybe if Resolute becomes busier in the future, Bramble and Jaanaford might start seeing some spillover.

    If you want to create vendors for them anyway, I can send you some mugshots for their portraits, but I doubt it's worth the time.
     
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  14. OxNull

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    I just added a visual to the "Replenish Items" button (the plus sign) to where it will be green when there are uploaded items. As I extend the User interface I will be adding visuals to the vendor itself before you click to see the items that will give more information on the status. If its outdated our not. Most likely if a vendor is updated within the week it will glow green, two weeks glow yellow, three glow orange, four weeks it will not glow at all just fade away into background. I want to try an provide the useful info as easily as possible with the least amounts of clicks. Also possible 24hr cooldowns on NPC vendors when they can be updated again.

    Eventually I would love to make it so it can recognize crop and scan screen shots automatically, but atm it is all done manually. I check the website frequently to see if there needs updates. Today I updated the Ardoris vendor from my phone while at work from the uploaded images :) (do not recommend cropping from phone). While the cropping may seem much, its not too bad if you know its workings. I am constantly trying to think of ways to make that as easy as possible. More user interface improvements to come soon™

    "Replenish Items" refers to the plus icon. This is used to manage your vendor after creation. You can delete the current inventory and replenish (refill) the items. Or you can add on top of your already available inventory.

    Thank you for hunting those down! That helps a lot. I will add them today. Even though it does seem pointless I will add the non active vendors to the site for completeness (maybe one day they will be active). And I would gladly take their mug shots if you have them :D. I will be running around Novia checking NPC locations and taking pictures of the mini map and getting general up to date info off and on through out the coming weeks.

    Thank you for the feedback and suggestions it is much appreciated!
    Ox Null
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
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  15. Bedawyn

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    What's the best way to get them to you? If I use Upload Images on the portraits and map shots, would that be helpful or screw up your process? [EDIT: The Upload Images and other icons aren't currently showing up on the new vendors anyway. But thank you for using my name for Juliana!]

    And I was actually wrong about people using the inactive vendors -- there is something up on Jaanaford's today.

    Got halfway through collecting the Perennial Coast vendors today, will finish tomorrow.
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
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  16. OxNull

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    PMing an imgur link would work, but in this case acutally using the upload system might be easiest. At the moment you can upload and store 8 images. so the map and avatar take one which leaves 6 images for items. But if there is more than 6 images I would say items have priority over avatar and loc, and once the items are updated the others can be updated. But at that point if it cannot be updated in one upload than imgurl links through PM might be best.

    Thank you for your efforts!
    Ox
     
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  17. Bedawyn

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    Perennial Coast:
    • The vendor in Solania is Jack (empty today).
    • The vendor in Celestis is unnamed (empty today).
    • The vendor in Aldwater is unnamed (empty today).
    • There are no public vendors in Redmill, Lochfield, Highiron, Greyacre, or Soltown(!).
     
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  18. Bedawyn

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    • The public vendor in Brekken Bay is unnamed.
    • The public vendor in New Holtrot is unnamed.
    • The public vendor in Yew is Melkomur.
    All are empty at the moment. Pics ready when you are. No map for New Holtrot, though. On some of these I've submitted, the map has been off, but I've fudged so it the arrow is pointing to where the vendor is actually found, rather than where the map thinks it is. But the New Holtrot map was just hopeless, no amount of fudge would make it helpful, not even with caramel.

    Have you considered tagging vendors with their region, so that people can filter for only vendors within a specific region? Right now it's not really needed yet, but when the site has a lot more vendors on it, it might be helpful. And at that point, going back to add regions to vendors already listed would probably be a pain.
     
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  19. OxNull

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    Awesome, I added the public vendors. Thank you for locating these.

    Adding region specific categories would defiantly help narrow down searches. I can add that into the to-do list.

    I also want to quickly push out the "vendor user permissions." One of the earlier requests of allowing other users to update a guild vendor collectively. With your helping out on locating NPC vendors, that instead of having the barrier of waiting for me to create the vendor for updating, there can be a trusted user permissions that can update vendors for a specific account. So once you're added to the trusted user permissions for the Pubic vendors you would be able to update the public vendors avatars and location name and map without the processing period currently. ofc, the current method is fine too, but the ability of shared permissions for an account w/o giving up account access to that specific account and only temp privileges would be useful long term.

    Thank you for the suggestions and contributions. I think I will add a category for each region in novia (http://sotawiki.net/sota/Novia) and then a region search category in the search page soon(tm).

    Ox
     
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  20. Bedawyn

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    Sounds good to me. I like exploring, so while I can't promise to search out particular cities on a specific timeline, it's easy enough for me to check whatever city I happen to be in at the moment. But with the current method, it sort of feels like I'm making more work for you, when I was trying to spread the work out instead.

    The Yew vendor is missing the map image too, no map at the moment. May I suggest a different text description for him? "I dream of being a public vendor, but we get so little business here that I have to moonlight as a guard." Or something of the sort. He's actually dressed as a guard, complete with torch, which might confuse people looking for a typical vendor NPC.
     
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