SirAndy wrote: »

It's from a Lib that is part of several AddOns that's called "LibCustomTitles".

It's a hack that some players came up with that allows them to have custom titles for themselves that replaces the ZOS titles when you see that player in-game.
.....

It occurs to me that "some players" discovered a security vulnerability which they could exploit, because it looks to me as though the "title" which is being "customized" is the User Name for their game account. They wouldn't be the same "players" who are running a character as a "bot" while gathering crafting materials, would they? I wondered why "Launig" seemed so familiar.

Also, I don't recall "title customization" as a feature which is disclosed on any of the ESOUI.com "information" pages for any add-ons that I use. Maybe I will find out what happens when I search for, find, and delete that lib from the add-on installations on my computer.

Ratzkifal wrote: »

My guild master recommended an addon to me (that she scripted herself) and since I installed it she has the title "Councilor" on my screen. xD

Funny you should mention it, because I saw a player character which had the title "Councilor" some time within the past 36 hours or so.

Sigh.

This is part of LibAnnyoingUpdateNotificationInGame

The "a" is the API level
The "t" is the time
The "d" is whether it has told you that some of your addons are out of date

The purpose is to remind you to update your addons after an update. It is a community creation by Ayantir

lordrichter wrote: »

Sigh.

This is part of LibAnnyoingUpdateNotificationInGame

The "a" is the API level
The "t" is the time
The "d" is whether it has told you that some of your addons are out of date

The purpose is to remind you to update your addons after an update. It is a community creation by Ayantir.

Examining LibAnnyoingUpdateNotificationInGame is .... interesting.

Thank-you for your reply. I have always had the impression that the "update notification" message that has been displayed from time-to-time originated with the ZOS game software.

The "annoying" part of its name is correct, because I frequently check ESOUI for add-on updates. The "notification" is not displayed because an add-on installed in the ESO Addons folder on my computer has been updated by its author and made available on the ESOU website. The notification is displayed because one or more installed add-ons are currently outdated. Usually, the reason that an updated version has not been installed is that an updated version has not been released by the add-on author. In my experience, out of the five add-ons in the ESO Addons file on my computer which install this library, pChat has always been the last to be updated by its author.

Thanks again for clearing this up.

Ayantir wrote: »

Launig was created by me. I assume the entire responsibility.

It has been coded in order to remind users to update their addons because a part of userbase simply don't do it.
I know it, I have some addons which automatically sends data to me in background.

Launig is also a library, not an addon, It don't have access to its own savedvar. So I used the only savedvar which is available at anytime, ZO_Ingame. Others libraries does this.

....

With time, I've smoothly lowered the number of popups which appear on screen to remind you to update. And I can guarantee you that this popup works because we now have lot more users asking for updates than before and we also have some new authors taking care of old addons.

It now pop 15 days after an API Bump, and is shown each 40 days.
Which means that this warning is shown ~3 or 4 times per DLC.

And while people complain, I did myself asked ZOS to change the original problem of addon update, the annoying ZOS behavior of Addon Manager which disable all addons which are not up to date.

This change should come at next update (u17). And if change is done, I should lower again the frequency of that popup.

Thank-you for the information. I understand your intentions. ZOS should be the origin of the reminders, but they have invested only the least amount of time and effort possible to create the software that we see and use.

So many add-on developers such as yourself have done wonderful and excellent work!! Personally, I doubt that I would want to play TESO without the available add-on modifications to the user interface, and other aspects of the game client. They make TESO far more easy to play and make its game client easier to use efficiently.

Thank-you, again, for persuading ZOS to allow "outdated" addons to be used, at least as an option for the player to enable or disable as they choose. In my experience, more than half of the addons which become out-of-date continue to function without any evident problems. All that is needed is a change in the addon source to identify that it is usable with the current game version.

Ayantir wrote: »

For the titles, it's my way to give to myself a gift for the thousands of hours* I've spent coding, alone and without any recognition. If you're not happy with this, ask ZOS to send me a teeshirt**, I'm wearing XL and ZOS have my name and my postal address. It was also a way to protest against the absurd tiny amount of titles which were available ingame when I created the lib.

Have I criticized you for creating either LibCustomTitles or LibAnnyoingUpdateNotificationInGame?

If you read the OP and message #4 in this discussion, then I hope that you recognize that my only concern about the content added to ZO_Ingame.lua has been whether it signified exploiting a security vulnerability in the game software.

Frankly, it seems to me that you are as easily offended personally by what you perceive as criticism of your work, as I am easily alarmed about whether a player is exploiting flaws in the game software either (1) to give themselves an advantage, or (2) to give themselves access to my in-game bank account and/or to my characters

In that regard, I do not especially care whether LibCustomTitles enables someone to give their character(s) titles which are not available in the ZOS software. Of course, the titles available for a character from ZOS reflect that the player-character has satisfied some criteria to receive it, such as an Achievement(s), or, perhaps, that the player has bought a Homestead with Crowns.

Considering the amount of time and effort that you contribute to developing and maintaining addons, making a library that can be used to award your characters (and/or the characters of other add-on developers) with "custom "titles" is understandable. And I do know from experience just how much creative thought, time, and effort are required to do what you do, if only because I formerly maintained an addon for World of Warcraft Paladin tanks. Lua is not the best programming language that I have ever used. .....

However, please be aware that when a player sees that another player's character has a title which they've never seen before, or have not seen very often, they might begin to wonder how they can acquire that title for their character, too. When they learn that it is a "custom title", they might begin pestering the ZOS developers to make "custom titles" an actual feature of the game. That could be an interesting can of worms.

Or, after seeing a "custom title" the player could begin to wonder whether the game software has been "hacked", i.e., compromised. It does not matter much that such a "hack" doesn't confer a competitive advantage to the player whose character has the "custom title". It does matter that the software has enough design flaws and bugs that seeing a player character with an "unobtainable" title lessens the confidence of other players in the integrity of the game software.

For better or for worse, so far the ZOS Crown Store doesn't allow a player to directly purchase a gift for another player. As far as I know all items, such as a Crown Experience Scroll, are "account bound". But sometimes I attach GP to an e-mail message which I send to another player who is an add-on developer.

That said, I forgive your tirade at the end of your post. Of course, I have reported goldfarmers and botters to ZOS. Maybe you need to get a life, or at least take a holiday once in a while.

Your sympathetic friend,

--- Shadowshire

SirAndy wrote: »

Shadowshire wrote: »

However, please be aware that when a player sees that another player's character has a title which they've never seen before, or have not seen very often, they might begin to wonder how they can acquire that title for their character, too. When they learn that it is a "custom title", they might begin pestering the ZOS developers to make "custom titles" an actual feature of the game. That could be an interesting can of worms.

I think it's worth mentioning that at least with "Destinations" and "AwesomeGuildStore" you can just delete the "LibCustomTitles" sub-folder within those AddOns with no ill effects since neither AddOn actively uses the Lib, they just load it when the AddOn loads.

I can't speak for any other AddOns that include "LibCustomTitles" but i would be surprised if anyone actually actively uses that Lib, it's probably save to delete for most of them.

For what it may be worth, I have removed the LibCustomTitles folder from every add-on installation that had it in my ESO Addons folder. So far I have not noticed any adverse effects with regard to using the respective add-ons. From Ayantir's description, the effect of LibCustomTitles is irrelevant to any operation of the game software per se, so I don't expect any problem to emerge.

EDIT: alternatively, maybe I will add my player-name and the names for my respective characters and their "custom title" to the data that is recorded in one of the LibCustomTitles.lua files and copy it to at least one add-on, which should suffice. .....