WowAce - Curse - WUU Updater - Future?
 

Ok I use WUU to update 4 guild mod packs as well as My addons and my wifes.

This program makes my duties doable.

I have been looking at the changes and i am worried. What is the future hold?

Not everything is available on Wowui. I honestly don't trust Curse. Feels way to commercial.

Not trying to start a flame war. I just want advice.

Well, WAU doesn't work anymore. Files.wowace.com won't either.

The new CurseClient is the only on supported for the addons on curse and wowace. You can get them one by one manually, or use the client. The client will have a premium and free version. From what I've read, the premium client would allow you to grab an API key which then can be used in alternative updaters, but the api for all that hasn't been written. So, without meaning to sound harsh (believe me, but there's no other way of putting it.) you can use the CurseClient, do it manual or not. We all just have to deal with it.

Although I am furiously hoping that the projects pages at wowace will offer a way to download it too, if not, you could try to grab it through SVN and git.

Just remember that if you are using the CurseClient you accept the fact that it auto-updates itself whether you want to or not and auto-submits game info to their site, just as authors have to accept that if they upload to Ace their mod is on Curse now too whether they want it there or not.

And it will auto-install an addon to monitor your addons while in game. It's also known to pull addons that you didn't install, addons that share similar names but may not be the same.

Well known example: Tekkub's Panda and some other panda. It will get overwritten.

...It's "Curse"-ed, what do you expect?

In regards to the "it installed an addon i didnt want it to", the solution is simple when opening the client, click on configuration go to Addon Settings and untick reinstall new addons. Problem solved.

I'm not going to even touch the issues with auto-updating/privacy concerns or even the CurseProfiler which isn't an optional installation component but rather made an optional component to uninstall (after is has been installed :p). All of this has already been mentioned weeks ago, in the relevant WoWAce thread. Some things have changed for the better, some have stayed the same.

The main problem with the curse client is the fact that its matching system is pretty messed at the moment, which makes it pretty unreliable since there is no way of knowing whether the addon installed is actually a valid/updated version or some random addon with the same name that hasn't been updated since WoW 1.0, yet for some obscure reason, hasn't been nuked from the database. If you have to constantly check the integrity of your ..\Interface\Addons folder, keep compressed backups out of fear that X updater may ruin everything in the next update, then really, what's the point of using an updater. Better off just SVN checking out the addons you want, or doing it the traditional way through site downloads.

You can download from the projects page. Select the project you wish to grab, then at the top of the page select the "Files" tab. Then from the list select the file you want to downland (the most recent commits are at the top), then finally in the Actions box on the next page, select Download.

Yes, its three clicks to download one file. I don't know why they just don't have a list of the three most recent files on the project's front page with a direct link to the file in question. However this seems to be the CurseForge/WoWAce works now (and the way Curse v.3 has always worked). I prefer WoWInterface's layout. One page, with the download link on the first page.

ok then what is to stop people from just not using them. Wow interface may be the way to go for all your addons.

I use wowmatrix, because it works. All the other updaters have issues. I just want updated addons.

Please see this thread about wowmatrix: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=18358

WUU was not affiliated with wowace and was not WAU. It supported Wowinterface, wowace, curse and some direct websites. I am comfortable with it. I assume it still works here. No idea on support for other 2 places.

If wowmatrix can get the files why not WUU?

The only site that WUU will not be able to pull from at this time will be WoWAce/CurseForge (and possibly Curse itself). The other sites such as WoWI, Norganna's addons (Auctioneer, etc.), etc should still work.

In the future, Curse Premium subscribers MAY be able to use the updater of their choice once Curse releases the API needed for access to their servers. To the best of my knowledge the APIs have not been released and I would imagine it will be a while before we see it. Again only Curse Premium subscibers will have access since you have to log into Curse to use the update services. Non Premium users will have to use the free version of the Curse Client or download and extract manually.

It sucks, but that is the things will be for the foreseeable future.

Well lets hope wowace authors move to wowinterface. I always feel safer here than curse.

well.. i think that's a bit harsh. I don't like the curse client and I don't use it, but I looked over it yesterday.

There is a option to enable/disable autoupdate of the curse client

From what I saw it does not submit anything to their page yet, but I guess they will put that in again.

I think authors still can choose if they want to upload their addons to wowace/curse, and they can remove their addons if they want. I guess the bill of the wowace hosting was paid by curse for some time now, so it's not really a change just now it's more official.

When did that happen ?! :confused::eek: My interwebs has been broked for a while, so I have no idea what's going on.:o

I was just on the curse forums and was reading the threads there. Looks like people are not happy.

Would be a great time for wowinterface to win market share.

Convice ace authors to move over.

Ok I am looking out for myself.... But would fix things.

For real? Addon authors have no say if they want their addon removed from Curse... Curse will not remove it?

Didn't say that. Said that if your mods are on Ace, they are on CurseForge/Curse too. If you don't want them on there you have to request them to be removed. Kinda like when the cable companies would give you a package deal without telling you, charge you for it, then you having to deliberately opt-out if you didn't want it and didn't want to be charged for it.

The entire viewpoint of our site is pretty obvious by now. We believe in opt-in, not opt-out.

Because the author of WUU doesn't believing in using a battery ram to break into the building that houses the addons like the author of Wowmatrix does.

I've moved over here now. Expect Benea UI compilations post 3.0 patch (once the addons don't act all crazy) posted somewhere in here instead of ace forums.

I might (*might*) actually get off my lazy behind and get an upload page here instead of filefront. =p

edit: And I got some really crude WAR UI compilation too =p

So is a new WOWI updater in the works? (think i heard something about that)

I think i'm pretty much just gonna stick with this site, easy updating even if i have to manually do it, just really dislike curse and reading the wowace forums they seem to be getting rather uptight about users being there, so i don't wanna be where i'm not wanted, so much for a community at that place.

Well, wowace started as a developer community for addon authors and Ace devs to have a place to discuss the framework. It was forums and an svn repo only (maybe the wiki?). Then they added the files page so that the authors/devs and their alpha/beta testers could have an easier way of downloading the few files on the svn.

Word got out to other authors that the ace forums were a good place to get help with their code, and if they wanted to use the framework, they could put their files on the svn, too. So, more addons were on the files page, and more authors were using the forums. Release versions of the addons were supposed to be pushed to release sites (like here or Curse) - wowace was just a developer location, and what was on the files page were alpha/beta versions of mods.

Then word got out that there were a few really cool addons on that files page for download. Users started using the files page to download mods. When they had problems with them (which they did, because they weren't release versions), they went to the wowace forums to ask for support. The developer forums now had to support mods, too. More people found wowace, more addons were added to the svn, more users came looking for new mods. But it was still fairly well understood that these were alpha/beta quality addons, and the users expected bugs, and they helped beta test, debug, put in new features, etc.

To aid people with beta-testing these *non-release* versions of their addons/libraries, WAU was created to help them update to the latest versions easier. Everything snowballed from there. Suddenly, users were in love with the one-click updater, with absolutely no regard for the quality of addons on the other side or the cost of the bandwidth to funnel their new obsession with updates to them. Users begged authors to put mods on wowace just so that it could be updated at the click of a button, and more authors flocked there because of the *developer* support community and how people could commit to others' projects for bug fixes, translations, etc.

WoWInterface hosted Ace for over two years, with not a single ad on the site. Eventually Kaelten took Ace off WoWInterface's servers. Then WoWAce could no longer survive on the funds it had. Kaelten was forced often to pay bandwidth costs out of his own pocket. When Kaelten asked for donations hardly anyone donated, so he stopped asking. When ads were put in WAU to help fund some users' crack habit of updating, there was a revolt. By that time, Kaelten had taken up a position with Curse, who also helped him out by paying for the cost to keep wowace up and running.

The snowball kept building. As of the close of the wowace svn last week, there were over 1600 addons on the svn. That is not including severely old mods that weren't even shown on the files page/WAU any longer, nor anything in the branches repo which some people downloaded manually with svn clients. The wowace forums had over 10,000 accounts. You don't even want to imagine the monthly costs for providing all of that - especially on patch days. If I remember correctly, wowace topped a *Terabyte* in one day for 2.4. That is 1024GB. To put that in perspective, my photobucket account (hosting my sig below) allows me 25GB in one *month*.

For a long time, it had been noted that change was needed for wowace. I saw it, too. You can go back and search the forums, and you will see threads from a year or two ago with people talking about what was needed to help keep wowace alive. Finally, something happened. Now, wowace will never be in need of funds to keep its doors open. Now, Kaelten can be paid to keep the doors open to the website that he loves. Now, not everyone agrees with the change. But everyone agrees that something had to be done. If you think things were perfect before, then you just had no clue, tbh.

As for getting rid of users from wowace, remember that there are two different levels of users. There are users that understand the notion of alpha/beta versions and what it means to beta test and give feedback. These are called "power users." There are also users that just liked some of the mods that wowace provided them, and they just wanted to download the mod and play the game. These are just regular users. Like my husband and I, I belong to the first group, he to the second. He would much rather be able to have stable releases (which will be pushed to Curse now, from wowace) and have no errors when he logs into the game for a raid. I love trying new things, even if they're broken or only half implemented. I give feedback, bug reports, dig into the code...

In all honesty, that second group of users never belonged on wowace in the first place. It was never ever meant as a release site, and wasn't built that way. WAU made users and authors lazy - authors stopped "releasing" their addons to release sites because it was too easy to just leave it on WAU, and users didn't want to look anywhere else because it was too easy to click one button to update. Now, it's as simple as setting a version in the toc file to a certain format to get a mod pushed from wowace to Curse, so authors can still be lazy. Regular users can make sure they get only release versions of those addons from Curse. Power users can still check out bleeding-edge versions of their favorite mods for testing from the wowace site.

I won't lie to you - I, personally, preferred WAU to the Curse Client, and I prefer wowi to Curse (no, I'm not being biased - I'm smod here *because* I like wowi :p ). Some authors will pick up and leave wowace so that their mods do not end up on the Curse site. Like I said, not everyone agree with the change that was made. But I hope I have provided insight into why it was done, and how long it had it coming, and why wowace is, and will always be, a developer community.

Yes, a new updater is in a works, though we have no timeline on when it will be finished. But expect good things from it. :)

^.^

Yay.

And good story Seerah, it summed pretty much everything up.

Giev sneak preview !!!

Hey guys, just wanted to interject.

I didn't and don't force anyone to be where they don't want to be.

I made the post on wowace of what was happening months ago. Due to issues with the old site I didn't have a list of authors emails, so I did the best I can.

And as I posted over in the wowace forums, the numbers in seerah's post are actually underestimating.

Also, the curse client no longer requires auto updating, and we're also looking at making the profiler more of an opt in process. Curse has changed a lot (and for the better) in the last two years I've been working for them.

Thank you Seerah especially I understand a little better now.

Basicly I used a javabased updater JwowUpdater primarily to recommend to my guildmates as a simpleway to keep their mods up to date. (and not slow down our pulltimes especially with arffmyUI/deco/reco/ in chat permanently. In java this seemed to me a good multi-platform decision which resepcted authors rights (including a manual key in for non-ace mods --> can be used to re-drect to curse or WoWInt or WoWUI)

I realise now that this does steal some bandwith from the parent sites however.

I really love this site, and have not been a Curse fan for the last two years. But that is beside the point. I like the idea of getting the mod form their source.

I would like to recommend the "authors" website of choice to my guildmates - the site which the author recommends and would be updated first. If the mods are on curse tacitly transferred over, AND also here as an exemple -- how do I find THE link? Where do I tell them to go? To compare version numbers for ech add, look for a post from each author seems very daunting to me.

Regardless of a manual, direct dl or an updater which respects "authors consent" (by the way, WoWmatrix I have "condemned" on our french site).

As I understand it, aceaddons have been moved to curse ok. I understand the reasons better now. But as this transition completes, some developers will stay with curseforge, others may not. Recommendations?

Wowace and Curseforge are developers' websites. Being part of the Curse network, whatever project tagged on either site gets pushed to Curse. Arindelle, this is where I told my guild to go. For the most part, they belong to the "stable" add-on crowd and don't really need/care about/understand the rest.

The only other website I recommended was this one.

I also strongly advised against wowmatrix.

As to auto-updating, I guess I will eventually recommend the Curse Client. It does need to get better at matching (although it seems it's a lot better as of the latest version), and I did warn them about the Profiler. Sounds like it needs to get a more user-friendly interface too (as in, it can be confusing at times, I'm told).

I don't quite understand the hate against Curse to be honest. The bandwidth issues have been explained. Having wowace/CF for the devs, and Curse for users is actually a good thing as it should push regular users away from the devlopers' communities. Also saw some concerns over trojans on Curse. As I recall, most sites have had issues with that, not just them. And as far as the site itself goes, perhaps it wasn't made clear enough by the Curse team, but it's a new team with a new website (it just launched) running on a completely new backend, much more robust. Or so I gather. It's a different Curse now.

That doesn't make it perfect, nor does it make wowinterface worse. It's just an alternative. It's a bit harsh to hate without giving a chance imo. And I have no preference or affiliation to either site, so trust me, I'm unbiased.

The only valid disagreement (valid in my eyes anyway, the rest really seems like bickering, sorry to say) is the Profiler being opt-out and not opt-in, but we should also all remember that sites like thottbot, wowhead and Curse's wowdb rely on us for data. And god knows we like those websites, don't we ? So let's not bite the hand that feeds us either... As to security concerns, if you use the same password on curse and others as you do in wow, well... you reap what you sow. Besides, the only way to be truly secure is to be offline. I don't see why I'd have a reason to think Curse is ill-intentioned and is going to use my info. They need us after all.

I'll keep using this site and theirs for my add-ons, I just might have to work for them a little more until the Curse updater gets better. Not really a huge deal for me, I like to be in control of my add-ons, even when I used WAU.

My 2 cents.

The website is damn ugly and hard to navigate.

Thank you Seerah and Kaelten for your explanations and reasoning.

Being a "power user" I, of course, loved the bleeding-edge of wowace and will miss it. I also understand and foresaw that something needed to change, and change it has done. I say that's good. I honestly hope many of those authors that hosted there come over to MMOUI/WoWI, but it's their choice.

I won't touch the CurseUpdater yet until some of the features Kaelten mentioned (like absence of Profiler, auto-anything option) are included though. Curse no longer hosts compilations so it doesn't affect me, but I haven't been fond of the last couple incarnations:

What's ugly is a personal preference. Both sites have strengths and weaknesses. I update both, try to read comments on both.

The biggest issue with Curse has been the inability to handle the load. They claim to have resolved this. I guess we'll all find out in a week or so.

A light deviation from the main topic of the thread, but one I've been pondering...

As a CurseForge author ("migrated" from Ace), I've been wondering about how I might automate my publication from CF to wowi.

Any thoughts from you guys about a way of enabling that? Something to make it easier for me to push updates to my addons to my wowi page for that addon?

Keep it manual for the first page (approval and all that), but being able to script up a publication when I release would enable me, the addon author, to put my stuff here as easily as it flows onto Curse.com.

Currently, there is no way to move things from the wowace svn to wowi. I honestly don't remember if they were hoping to implement something like that or not... For now, there is the WoWI Mod Uploader (not updater) or you can use the wowi svn and push from there.

The easiest way by far, is retain an SVN copy of your addons on the WoWI SVN, simply replicate your check-ins, use the "Make Zip" function, copy/paste release notes (if applicable) and push it live. Approval will still be required, but you shouldn't have to worry much about it.

That or either, manually upload the stable/published zip from Curse.

To the best of my knowledge there isn't an automated, make-it-all configuration file (yet), through Cairenn (maybe even Seerah/Shirik) can probably elaborate more on that.


P.S : Don't be lazy (no offense intended ;))
P.S2: Seerah beat me to it, God dangit !

Yeah, I know I can do it manually from ZIPs. That wasn't my point. If there were a reasonably way to push the ZIPs up to wowi, I would use it with every tag I do on the CF site.

I'll take a look at WOWIUPLOADER and see how it looks. Might just have to script it the old fashioned way.

personally, i love Wowinterface updater!!!!!

Curse client is not free?????

Rediculus...

Funny thing is; it is 100% free. You don't have to lean to one side to pull out your credit card to send one cent. You can update all your addons, for free, whenever you want. There is, however, a premium account that allows you to update all your addons in the click of one button.

There's more to the game than the title screen. You should really press start before you review it.

You could probably use svnsync to mirror your curseforge repo to WoWI. Looks like you'd still have to generate a release from the website since WoWI doesn't seem to generate releases just from tags. So not sure it'd really be worth it.

svnsync needs an hook set on the target repository and i don't think you can do that here .)

the disadvantage on curse/curseforge/wowace is that that you can't use tags in curseforge/wowace if you want to keep beta versions to just a few users. If you tag, that version will go to the release site and you have to manually edit the files to alpha if you don't want that.

I have been using UI mods as long as there were games that would allow them. I remember Cairenn from back on EQi in the old days, and currently in WoW run about 150+ mods. Back in the early times of WoW, I even had my own compilation pack here, and on Curse.

I >>Hated<< curse with a passion back then, because in the last sentance, about me having my comp pack on Curse, was not because I placed it there, it was because someone else took it from here and posted it there, and then I was forced to claim it to keep my name on it. Curse was rife with viruses and listing mods that were never updated. I liked the fact that when you uplaoded a mod to WoWi, that you usually had to wait 24 hours while it was scanned, and made sure there were no .exes in there. People that knew me would ask my advice about mods, and I would tell them to grab them at WorldofWar, or here, but to avoid Curse like the plague.

Now, I hear that Curse has cleaned up thier act, and that they no longer have viruses in the mods, ect. I have gone there, but there are still two major sticking points for me. 1)The site acts and navigates like it was designed for an adult with a major case of ADHD, which makes navigating around the place a job. People are coming there to get UI mods, just give them UI mods and keep all the other crap in different sections. 2) When you click any category, you still get mods from any and every time. Heck, there might still be my old comp on there, even though it has not been updated for probably 3 years. WorldofWar and WoWi both give you very clear indicators as to which mods are new, which are updated to work with the newest and greatest WoW patch, and which are even most liked by people.


You asked why people have hate for Curse, and I have just given you a very good indication from someone that does not like UI mods, but someone that absolutely LOVES them, and praises UI mod authors for the hard work and dedication that they give to the games they love, so that the rest of us "bumps on a log" can log into a game and enjoy thier work.

what is the future of WWI updater??

personally, i love wwi better than curse.

i love the style.

but , saddly, addons in wowi is less than curse.

because curse have all ace addons.

and wwi updater has some defects:

1. cannnot remove addons...
2. cannot get addon list in wwi updater.
3. fav should have two kind. A. My Fav B Fav of My Fav

Using the web interface its possible, (or should be ;)) to tag something as an alpha.

well i REALLY REALLY REALLY like WUU because it:

• works equally well on windows and on linux,
• is relatively easy to sync addons between pc's (i'm using 4 different pc's in different locations),
• has some very good customization options,
• has a descent search / install for (at least) wowace addons,
• works (worked) for many different sites,

i really can't see anything replacing it, or does anyone have a good substitution? it's VERY important to me, that it works well under linux.

is there any chance it will work with curse again in the (near) future, or can i just use wowi instead?

i'm currently trying to switch from curse to the developer's sites for downloading, but finding the right parameters is quite a challenge.

i just hope in near future will be someone who can offer another updater, more similar to jwu, i loved it.
curse client is just all i hate: curse. i'm away from there since patch 1.8. now that the ace team moved there (i really dont understand why), we are all in a great confusion. with 'all' ai mean ppl who care about what addons are, who develop this stuff, and how.
here, or in ace forums, there is a community. on curse there is nothing. just ads, ripoffs, and other odd stuff.
the first question i had in mind was 'why curse and not wowui?' well, still cant catch it. the second question, when i learned about tis curse clien, was 'cool, now i have to pay for the autoupdate function'.
btw, i got a mac, and the cc beta for mac is so ugly and buggy that just i'm not updating addons. and if they think they can get some money rfom ppl like me, ppl that have the same frustration, the same mood, the same 'i dont update, maybe i dont use some addons anymore'.. well, they are wrong.

@kappe: if you don't understand why wowace went to curse, you haven't read the thread you are so eagerly posting in.

what's with the curse bashing anyways? no one forces anyone to use their service. it might not be best service out there and some might not agree with their business model, but hating them? i mean, don't you guys overreact a little? it's not as if they had stolen your wallet or were lying to you or something. get a grip on yourselves.

oh i forgot... it's "teh internet". :rolleyes:

I can't answer for everyone else, only myself ;) Several reasons why I dislike Curse.... their site is aweful (you would figure with so darn many programmers that they would take the time to make the site at the very least W3C compliant, but I suppose they couldn't be bothered) and hard to get around on. The entire site is every web designers nightmare. The pages take forever to load because there is so much unnecessary crap and bloat on every page. You have to make a bazillion clicks to download a single addon. Their reputation for security leaves little to be desired. I will not use their addon installer, for obvious reasons already listed here in this thread. Those are the reasons why I dislike Curse.

However, I had to stop and ask myself a very important question. The addon authors over there have no part in anything I've stated above, so why should my feelings or opinions about Curse as a whole prevent me from using their (the addon authors) wonderful addons? I had no answer to that, so I created an account over there and spent a few hours adding all of the addons that I use to my favorites list. I don't have to use their addon installer and am freely given the choice to manually download... which I will if and when the need arises. When I want to update a broken addon, I can simply log in and go right to my favorites.. bypassing all the bloated pages that I don't care to see.

Now, if they would fix the "lets make them click on a bazillion download buttons before we let them have the addon they need" then I will be happy..... maybe lol. :p


:banana:

I'm not going to mince words. WoWInterface is the only respectable site out there. WoWAce and Curse gaming have absolutely no respect for author rights. WoWAce has shamefully and actively enabled code plagiarizers on more than one occasion. As is obvious from the Times Square like ambiance of their site, Curse gaming cares nothing except about maximizing revenue. They will take every bit of author rights they can get away with without generating too much negative PR. You should have seen their original author release form that they came up with when they redesigned their site. It was absurd. And of course, they do not enforce copyright on the sites they own, even if they agree that violations are occurring.

If you like the add-ons you use, support a site that fully supports the authors that make them. And right now, that is only WoWInterface.

I've seen you state these things before, and because of that it is also another reason why I do not care for Curse. However, the site owners and what they do have no bearing on weather or not I use the addons there. I wish like hell those authors would move over here, but I don't see that happening. I enjoy the custom UI I created with their addons, and I enjoy the other addons I use from there that help make WoW a little more fun to play. Curse is not getting anything from me, nor will they ever.

I didn't like curse because in the past, they had very little security or filters of false authors uploading bad stuff for your computer (tm). There were folks uploading malware with almost the same name as popular addons. There was a rash of them at one point, and I remember reporting every one of them.

I like WowI and Wowace, because they had better screening of authors uploading their stuff. Curse might have cleaned up their act, but with the infinite amounts of people that want to hack your game accounts, I am extremely leery of touching anything automated from them (such as updaters).

that just reads if you made that up to make them look bad. even if they ever had malware on their servers it's hardly their fault. i don't believe, that wowace or wowi did ever "screen" their users more than curse did. i never got malware from curse.

besides... the curse updater is all but automatic. which is kinda annoying for me really. i used the curse updater for a while, but realized, that it didn't have some features i liked and that some of my fav addons where updated very slowly if ever. when i found that i had to manually update half of my addons by hand and only the other half by curse, i started to look around for something more convenient. not to say i missed linux support.

Well in the interest of full disclosure, there have been times in the past where a keylogger would get uploaded and we'd have to go and take it down after the fact.

This hasn't happened in months however due to our now stricter approval processes.

Nope I didn't make then look bad, because it really happened. =P Wowace was pretty strict, since you had to get approval from the admin in order to upload stuff (it slowed down new authors from getting permissions but imo it was worth it). WowI had some but they were faster in getting stuff filtered. Curse lingered with it for a while then got stricter.

I also don't like the updater because it asks for admin rights/privs? when it does it's thing. From what I've read, that opens your computer and thus becomes more vulnerable. I guess they did it that way due to Vista (I use WinXP). I'm not the expert (I know enough to do damage ^_^), but opening my computer up to everybody and their mother, no matter how brief, seems to be a bad idea. I wish they just said move your wow folder from the c: program files to another partition/drive or whatever if you are using vista, rather than asking for admin rights.

We had one incident, two files total, that were on the site for less than 12 hrs, in the over seven years of running our sites.