Firefox 52 and Runscape in Linux

I did my normal upgrade and forgot that Firefox 51 was the last version that supported the Java plugin.  When I got to launch RS it didn't start.  I checked to see if the Java client was there and I got a clue bat that Java wasn't there any more.

 

Not a problem as Jagex does have a Windows client and I downloaded that and then installed WINE.  Once that was there I launched file manager, navigated to my folder where I downloaded the client and clicked on it.

Nice part is that it added the game to my menu bar and launched without a problem.  I did have to modify the default settings in the client to what I like to play with, but, that was only 1 minute of work.

So far it seems to be fairly stable and CPU runs in the 20-30% range so that is a good thing there.

Bot-busting and rewarding good players

It has finally happened.  Jagex, the makers of Runscape are now getting around to nuking the bots who are making game play almost impossible for F2P in many areas (and some P2P) and distorting the market by making materials cheaper than they should be.  They are also rewarding players who didn't bot with bonus experience points (XP) for a variety of tasks for the week starting October 25.

It was overdue, but, I can understand why it took so long.  They had to determine a way to detect the bots reliably and then figure out what they needed to change in the game code to flag them.  I am very happy that they got around and kill the bots as I was looking at something else to play as I couldn't get much done with the bots.  A lot of players probably will be upset at getting banned, but, from my point of view 'do the crime do the time' and that means you get banned for breaking the rules of the game.  They also don't realize that the 'bot' they buy may also have other code that will steal information (like banking, password, etc) or make their machine into a spambot.

I know that for some people that working on skills is a long, hard and boring process.  There are ways to relieve the tedium of game play.  I normally work on a skill 30-60 minutes and then switch to another skill.  I also try to work on skills that feed other skills.  For example I woodcut yew.  I then fletch the logs into longbows and string them.  Once I am done I sell the bows and buy more bowstrings.  This is actually paying for itself and I have over 16,000 bow strings already for future work.  Another example is that I mine gold ore.  Once I get a good supply I then smelt the ore and then make amulets and then I sell them to buy teak planks for house construction.  Another hint is I play penguin-hide-and-seek each week and apply the rewards to what ever skill I want.  I normally get 35k of experience a week from playing one hour.  My next to last hint is the 'Jack of all Trades' aura, you can use that once a day and the reward amount depends on your skill level.  My last hint is that you should also check out the shattered hearts distraction as you can redeem your stones once a week for a nice bit of bonus XP.  I normally get 1 million to 1.5 million XP per week doing all of the above and working on all my skills and I spend maybe two hours an evening playing.

Bots and scammers

For the last bit I have noticed that I am getting private messages from obvious bots to go to a site for 'GOLD'.  Obviously that is a scam looking for your credit card information.  If you get that message ignore it and report the user.

I have also seen spam bots in Yanille advertising the new RS 3 Beta site.  As far as I know there is no BETA runescape.  I won't give the name of the site as I don't want to drive traffic to their site.

1. The people who are advertising are normal players and not Jagex.
2. I checked the WHOIS information and it is registered in Los Angeles and not to Jagex.
3. If Jagex truly has a new version it would either be mentioned on the website or a secure email sent to players on the site and not advertised to everyone.  The point of a beta is a controlled run to see how it works and get feedback from the players.
4. The java certificate is not signed and therefore it is not Jagex!

Don't go to the site advertised as all they are wanting is your userid and password.  Once they get they get that they probably will wipe out your account, or, turn it into a spam bot and you lose absolutely everything!

I also reported it to Google safeweb as something that should be blacklisted.  If it works and enough people report it then Google Chrome and Firefox (and maybe other browsers) will flag the site as unsafe and give those people who don't know any better a second chance before entering their log on credentials.

It has been too long since we have published something here.  School has started for Zelda and she has not been on as often as she wanted and work for me limited my free time to play too.

There has been a few nice changes if you have not been on for the last few months.  There is a beta of the Adventurer's Log and it has a lot of potential.  The other is now you can change your name.  Tomt1960 was less than original and I changed it to Grandpa TomT.  I did that as I am a grandfather (since May 2009) and I thought it would be cool to let everyone who plays runescape that I am a grandfather.

On the skill side of things I am slowly bringing up my combat levels (89 Att, 89 Def and 88 Str).  The latest achievement diary (Ardougne) is done to level 3.  I have only one task left for Elite and that will take a fairly long time as I will need level 93 summoning to finish that off.

There have been hints on RunescapeTwitter about upcoming things posted on November 6th and Mod Nancy has a short blog on her idea for court cases which I am following. 

Rant time
I also follow the various forums on Runescape and I have a few things

• Future updates are for what you think will happen in the near/far future.  I see too many messages there asking for things that would fit in suggestions much better.
• Comments that are pure complaints that Jagex did something wrong and they should fix it or 'else'!  If you see a problem point out the problem, why it is a problem and make constructive suggestions on how to improve it!  Be patient people, making changes is not easy at times and it takes a lot of time and effort to fix things.
• Too many messages (in my less than humble opinion) saying "this doesn't work... fix it" or "this crashed, fix it now".  If you have a problem please note what browser you are using, version of Java, O/S.  Also, see if you can repeat the problem or if it was a one time thing.  Also if you have multiple browsers check them all to see if you can repeat it.  If you are like me you may be running more than one O/S.  Use the other O/S and browser(s) to see if you can replicate the problem.  The more work you can do ahead of time will make the life of the person assigned to fix the problem a lot easier.

You may not be following my linux blog, but, I have done a few changes on my platform here.  Mandriva just updated their Linux and I downloaded and tried it out.  I had to install Java, but, it was rock solid when I ran it in Firefox.  The HD mode worked without any problems.  I would have upgraded to that, but, I upgraded from Mint 5 to Mint 7.  This distro also didn't have any problems with Runescape and runs HD mode without any problems.  The only thing I had to do was enable the proprietary drive so that the HD mode would work.

Zelda is slowly working on firemaking, but, school takes priority over game playing so she hasn't progressed to far there.  I keep asking for new artwork and when it is ready I will have her update this blog with what she has been doing and showing off her artistic skills.

New graphic mode and a rant

For the last couple of weeks we have been playing the new Runetek5 engine in RS. So far it has been quite nice and my machine has not been used as much by Zelda 400222 as the SD mode is now resizable and it is much nicer on her machine. I like it as it allows us to extend the life of our machines without me buying a new graphic card or buying newer machines so that she can play HD mode. The only thing that we have noticed is that the machine is working a bit harder to process the graphics and when we are at the G.E. on a busy world it gets a bit unresponsive. The first image is in SD mode, the second is HD mode.

One other thing I noticed on the update is if you hit the compass it will point your view to north which is nice at times.

On the rant side of things I have noticed that there are more and more people doing AFK (away from keyboard) magic training in the Lumbridge castle basement. They are deliberately wearing armour that lowers their magic skills and then attack low level spiders. They can then get a lot of air runes and do hours of air blast spells with 0 hits. The effect is that they don't kill the low level spider and they can get a level in magic without any risk and can be away from their machine. While this is not against the current rules it is against the spirit. If you want to train your skill you should be at the machine working. On the rant forums I noted that if they do a new random event that gets triggered after a number of '0' hits that explains how to be more effective in that skill. This would stop AFK training as in a few minutes that random would pop up and then they would have to start again or the system will auto-log them out in a few minutes.

Linux and HD mode

This week I did an update on my Linux/Vista box for Java and the ATI drivers. Every time I do that I try the HD mode of Runescape to see if it works and it does, partially. It usually allowed me to log in, sound was working and I was in HD, but, when I moved the browser screen or went to another session it would white-out the screen and lock. This time the update works and I can run a HD session that I can re-size, move to another desktop, flip desktops and it works. If you are running Linux you may want to check out the JAVA updates and the ATI updates if you are running an ATI video card that supports HD mode in Runescape.

Zelda is also looking forward to using my machine now. The only way we could play HD was to boot to Vista and I didn't like her playing on my machine as she tends to visit other sites that may leave 'surprises' on my machine that I have to clean up. I can now set up a limited profile in Linux and she can play HD mode and surf the web without my worrying about all of those nasty virus/trojans that are floating around out there.

We have done a good number of upgrades to our skills playing. She can now burn elder evil trees, but, needs to get her wood cutting up to cut magic logs. Once she does that she can do all evil tree events. She discovered Stealing Creations and has been playing that as the rewards can be applied to tools that helps her various skill levels. I have skilling up and trying to get all of my skills to at least level 80. The skills I have to get up are:

• Prayer = 72
• Agility = 74
• Thieving = 75
• Slayer = 79
• Runecrafting = 75
• Hunter = 75
• Construction = 74
• Summoning = 74

In the living room I moved one of our older machines and plugged it into the TV as the TV has the connections. The computer is not hooked up to the net (yet), but, eventually I will be getting a wireless router. This will allow us to play USB sticksfrom anywhere in our network of pictures or movies that the kids bring over, or, stream shows from the network on our TV. Zelda is looking forward to this update as she will be wanting to play Runescape on a 26 inch TV.