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[jshackles]

Idle Master has been working great all day, but now starting to act weird, skipping games after only dropping one card, etc... But I'm at work and the fact it ran almost 12 hours without issue is amazing. Such a great app.

I wonder if the influx of new cards and badges will affect the market. If Idle Master ever works for Russian Steam I'd bet it would .

I'm not 100% certain, but it sounds like maybe your session data may have changed at some point between when the program started and now. This will cause Idle Master not to be able to get the card drop info and automatically move on to the next game (since the list is compiled when the program starts). In this condition it will cause a new game to launch every 15 minutes. I'll see if I can get some code in place to check for this condition.

Very cool, thanks for this!

I believe I'm set up properly, but it keeps saying:

"Sleeping for 15 minutes"

After locating card drop opportunities. Is that okay?

Yep, that's normal. Steam should now show that you're "in-game", which means you'll be getting card drops. Idle Master will check every 15 minutes to see how many card drops you have remaining until they're all dropped, then it should automatically move on to the next game.

 

[An-Det]

Yes it should show that you're in game. Something definitely went wrong. It sounds like the steam-idle.exe process didn't kick off correctly.

Must be. I extracted the folder to a different location and tried it again, no dice. I just watched the video tutorial you added to see if I did something different, the command prompt opens but the second popup saying "you're now in-game" doesn't (so I'm just seeing this), so it loops the first part indefinitely. Probably not relevant, but I'm on windows 8.1.

 

[The Cowboy]

Question.
Is there a way to bypass a game?, i have a lot of games (45 left now) and its currently running Awesomnauts, and its taking forever with this game (the card drops for this are hours each), I've tried closing the app a few times to see if it would jump to a different game, but every time its this one.

I've had Awesomenauts running for over 8 hours now, and i have 1 card drop from it.

 

[jshackles]

Question.
Is there a way to bypass a game?, i have a lot of games (45 left now) and its currently running Awesomnauts, and its taking forever with this game (the card drops for this are hours each), I've tried closing the app a few times to see if it would jump to a different game, but every time its this one.

I've had Awesomenauts running for over 8 hours now, and i have 1 card drop from it.

Yeah, Awesomenauts is the worst. If you update to the new version, there is a blacklist.txt file. Simply put the Awesomenauts appID (204300) in that file and run start.exe. You should see "Awesomenauts on blacklist, skipping game" and it shouldn't idle it at all.

 

[The Cowboy]

Yeah, Awesomenauts is the worst. If you update to the new version, there is a blacklist.txt file. Simply put the Awesomenauts appID (204300) in that file and run start.exe. You should see "Awesomenauts on blacklist, skipping game" and it shouldn't idle it at all.

Neat, nice one matey.

Edit.
And working like a charm .

 

[ScoopEE]

Hmm, having trouble displaying as "in-game."

Logged into Steam and it's loaded. Just seconds ago, downloaded the newest version and configured the settings but it just sits, no "in-game" state.

There were two executables available at first "start.exe" and "steam-idle.exe" but when I run start, the latter file disappears. When nothing happens, I quit that file and when I re-run, I get errors, likely because steam-idle.exe is no longer there.

Any ideas?

 

[jshackles]

Hmm, having trouble displaying as "in-game."

Logged into Steam and it's loaded. Just seconds ago, downloaded the newest version and configured the settings but it just sits, no "in-game" state.

There were two executables available at first "start.exe" and "steam-idle.exe" but when I run start, the latter file disappears. When nothing happens, I quit that file and when I re-run, I get errors, likely because steam-idle.exe is no longer there.

Any ideas?

the steam-idle.exe application is simply disappearing? Like it's removed from the folder completely? This sounds like the work of your anti-virus program (or something similar) perhaps.

 

[ScoopEE]

the steam-idle.exe application is simply disappearing? Like it's removed from the folder completely? This sounds like the work of your anti-virus program (or something similar) perhaps.

It does get triggered by AV, but I allow it to run. But yeah, completely removed from the folder. I'll look into it some more to see what might be nabbing it!

EDIT: Okay, restarted Steam and all seems to be a-okay! Even better, it's idling cards for Garry's Mod which I could never ever get to run anyway for some reason.

THANK YOU!

 

[Xamtheking]

Is this Windows only?

 

[electroflame]

Is this Windows only?

Right now it's Windows only. There are plans I believe to either do a Mono port, or switch it entirely to Python for it to be cross-platform.

 

[Xamtheking]

Right now it's Windows only. There are plans I believe to either do a Mono port, or switch it entirely to Python for it to be cross-platform.

Alright
I'll go cry on my Macbook then
Best of luck

 

[L.O.R.D]

thanks for the update

how i can put a game in a black list ?
some games i want to collect the cards myself without the program
the game is ORION: Dino Horde

just to put 104900 in the blacklist files or
ORION: Dino Horde appID (104900 )

 

[jshackles]

thanks for the update

how i can put a game in a black list ?
some games i want to collect the cards myself without the program
the game is ORION: Dino Horde

Simply open blacklist.txt and enter the game's appID (104900) then save the file. The next time you launch Idle Master, it should say that you're skipping that game. If you want it to skip multiple games, just put each game's appID on a separate line of that file.

For future reference, you can find a game's appID by visiting it's game page on the steam website. The URL for Orion: Dino Horde is http://store.steampowered.com/app/104900/ the last part the game's appID.

 

[L.O.R.D]

Simply open blacklist.txt and enter the game's appID (104900) then save the file. The next time you launch Idle Master, it should say that you're skipping that game. If you want it to skip multiple games, just put each game's appID on a separate line of that file.

For future reference, you can find a game's appID by visiting it's game page on the steam website. The URL for Orion: Dino Horde is http://store.steampowered.com/app/104900/ the last part the game's appID.

thanks
i was gonna ask you for multiple games
i put TF2 on the black list file and this what happen

the appID for TF2 is 440

 

[jshackles]

thanks
i was gonna ask you for multiple games
i put TF2 on the black list file and this what happen

the appID for TF2 is 440

Do you have card drops remaining for TF2? If you don't, you don't need to put it on the blacklist. The program only checks the blacklist if it finds that that game has card drops remaining.

If you leave app 440 in the blacklist.txt file, then spend $9 in-game (to get another card drop) then it should skip that game the next time you run Idle Master.

 

[L.O.R.D]

Do you have card drops remaining for TF2? If you don't, you don't need to put it on the blacklist. The program only checks the blacklist if it finds that that game has card drops remaining.

If you leave app 440 in the blacklist.txt file, then spend $9 in-game (to get another card drop) then it should skip that game the next time you run Idle Master.

oh thanks
i didn't know about that
thanks again

 

[MattyH]

Edit:Fixed It

 

[weemadarthur]

Will you ever have a setting of choosing to exclude games from the idle list? Some of them I want to get naturally.

 

[Amzin]

Will you ever have a setting of choosing to exclude games from the idle list? Some of them I want to get naturally.

That's what most of the past dozen posts have been about with the newest version there's a blacklist.txt file, put each game you want to exclude appid on a line and it will exclude them when you start it.

 

[Mavromatis]

When are we getting a version that checks http://steamlessness.appspot.com daily and starts the game for 5 mins for play it for first time? It's the same mechanism, grab the page with whatever, find play for first time, copy app_id, profit.

 

[electroflame]

When are we getting a version that checks http://steamlessness.appspot.com daily and starts the game for 5 mins for play it for first time? It's the same mechanism, grab the page with whatever, find play for first time, copy app_id, profit.

As much as I like that site, it's frequently incorrect with what games require playing. In theory I suppose you could scrape the AppID from the Play button, but I've had instances where that tried to launch the incorrect game.

It also takes a while to update, so unlike your Badges page on Steam, you can't go back and check it when you're done to see if any more games need playing, as the games you've already played will most-likely still count as "not played" on the website.

 

[Deaf Spacker]

Okay this is pretty neat, I'm running it now so I'll leave it overnight.

 

[Damaniel]

Got it running without too much trouble. 211(!!) games to idle...

 

[The Boat]

To answer my own question, no it appears not to work on 32-bit Windows. Working ok now on Windows 7 64-bit. I don't remember needing to install any additional versions of .NET ( I think I have 3.5 and 4 on here).

My browser, Firefox, also had 2 pipe characters (0x7c) in the cookie content field (for steamLogin) so I manually edited those back to the pipe "|".

Appears to be working now.. fingers crossed.

Damnit. My PC back home is 64 bit, but this laptop is 32 bit.

 

[jshackles]

So - a small update (in preparation of a larger one) but I've added two basic sorting methods to Idle Master. This changes the order in which games are chosen to be idled.

The default option (sort = "") means that the list of apps to idle isn't sorted at all.

There are currently two accepted values of sort:

• mostcards - (sort = "mostcards") Idle Master will prioritize games which have the highest number of trading cards
• leastcards - (sort = "leastcards") Idle Master will prioritize games that have the least number of available trading cards (this option is ideal if you're looking to maximize your booster pack eligibility)

This is basically just prepping for the upcoming sort option "mostvalue" which will prioritize the games with the highest card values.

Damnit. My PC back home is 64 bit, but this laptop is 32 bit.

I'm working on getting a 32-bit compatible version together, but might be early next week before it happens. In the mean time, someone on Github compiled a start.exe executable that's 32 bit compatible. I've known that user for a while now so I assume that his compiled exe is trustworthy, but as always use your own judgement about these sorts of things.

 

[The Boat]

I'm working on getting a 32-bit compatible version together, but might be early next week before it happens. In the mean time, someone on Github compiled a start.exe executable that's 32 bit compatible. I've known that user for a while now so I assume that his compiled exe is trustworthy, but as always use your own judgement about these sorts of things.

You're a gentleman and a scholar.
EDIT: It runs, but I get an error setting cookies and finding badges. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Axass]

I'm working on getting a 32-bit compatible version together, but might be early next week before it happens. In the mean time, someone on Github compiled a start.exe executable that's 32 bit compatible. I've known that user for a while now so I assume that his compiled exe is trustworthy, but as always use your own judgement about these sorts of things.

The download inside your link is dead, at least for me. The program won't start on my PC, I presume it's due to it being 32bit.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Thank you very much jshackles, this is a awesome idea and works like a charm for me!

 

[thefil]

Thanks, this is really cool. I am pretty poor because I'm moving and this might let me buy the Dark Souls II DLC and Necrodancer.

 

[chixdiggit]

From the comments on the video somebody is getting an error:
"Finding Games that have card drops remaining Error reading badge page "

 

[thefil]

Is there also a way to sell cards automatically for just under market value?

 

[corrosivefrost]

Is there also a way to sell cards automatically for just under market value?

No. That's against Valve's ToS.

You're a gentleman and a scholar.
EDIT: It runs, but I get an error setting cookies and finding badges. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

Sounds like you've not got the correct values in your settings.txt.
Did you use Chrome or Firefox to get your values?
Also, can you tell me the exact error you're seeing?

It could be something to do with the cookies being invalidate by restarting Steam (Jshackles said something about this in the Steam thread at one point, but I'm not super familiar with the concept there... if that seems to be the problem, I would log out of Steam in your browser then log back in and check the value of sessionid and steamLogin cookies again).

 

[Aizo]

Thank you! Now I don't have to play some of those crappy games I got for free just to sell their cards.

 

[baterism]

I have been using this for 2-3 (not 24hr/day) days and net around $7. I found out some games I have never heard about before.

Thanks jshackles for this gem.

 

[Erekiddo]

Anyone have a grid image for this? I want to place it into my Steam games page.

 

[abracadaver]

Can you get banned for doing this ?

 

[NeOak]

Can you get banned for doing this ?

Did you even read the thread?

 

[corrosivefrost]

Did you even read the thread?

Did you even have to ask?

 

[Sordid]

Wow this is great, seems to be working fine here...

Idle Master needs to idle 295 games

it's going to take a while though! Thanks jshackles/Stumpokapow

 

[Faabulous]

Now you just need to make one that sells all cards!


I jest, thanks for this mate! Really awesome!

 

[BPoole]

I've had it running straight for 24 hours now wihtout any problems. I've already made $4 and have another $3-4 dollars still in the market with 38 games still needing to be harvested for cards.

Edit: I also noticed that it gives me cards for games that I do not even own, but they have had free weekends. For instance, I do not own S.P.A.Z., but I got cards for it since it had a free weekend at one point.

 

[hannuraina]

any plans to add a debug log? so we can troubleshoot any issues

also, i was having trouble getting this to work on windows 8.1. i needed to run the command prompt as admin. hopefully this helps someone

 

[Cheddahz]

Idle Master just randomly closed on me and now when I try to start it, it won't do anything

 

[Milchmann]

I wrote a small Python script, that should do idling on all platforms. It's not a complete program, but just idles in Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 for a few seconds.

I would appreciate a few tests on different platforms, especially on OSX. If it works well, maybe jshackles could reuse some stuff.

You can download it here: https://github.com/mlstnr/idle_test

 

[Aaron]

This makes me feel dirty, but I can't stop. The thrill of the final card countdown, and the mystery of the next game to be purged of its cards....

 

[Altazor]

I'm working on getting a 32-bit compatible version together, but might be early next week before it happens. In the mean time, someone on Github compiled a start.exe executable that's 32 bit compatible. I've known that user for a while now so I assume that his compiled exe is trustworthy, but as always use your own judgement about these sorts of things.

this one seemed to work for me, thank you jshackles!

 

[Bacardi151]

This makes me feel dirty, but I can't stop. The thrill of the final card countdown, and the mystery of the next game to be purged of its cards....

This.

Also i finally got to this game

and i am not sure how to react =/

I know i can have the app exclude it, but not sure if i want to, lol.

 

[Axass]

The download inside your link is dead, at least for me. The program won't start on my PC, I presume it's due to it being 32bit.

Nope, it was my provider blocking MEGA... now it works like a charm. Thanks for creating it!

 

[Volcynika]

There a way to directly skip games currently? Mine keeps on having issues with launching Payday 1, so it just tries to do that, then stops.

 

[Deaf Spacker]

There a way to directly skip games currently? Mine keeps on having issues with launching Payday 1, so it just tries to do that, then stops.

You can blacklist games.

Simply open blacklist.txt and enter the game's appID (104900) then save the file. The next time you launch Idle Master, it should say that you're skipping that game. If you want it to skip multiple games, just put each game's appID on a separate line of that file.

For future reference, you can find a game's appID by visiting it's game page on the steam website. The URL for Orion: Dino Horde is http://store.steampowered.com/app/104900/ the last part the game's appID.