Guild Launch News
RELEASE: Version 4.5 - Multi-Game Features & Game Tools
Guild Launch Version 4.5 is a large feature release containing alot of feature additions for a ton of different games as well as new functionality like the completely redone Wiki that is a great upgrade for everyone. So, read on and enjoy!
Version 4.6 will include some new widgets, some forum moderation enhancements, and general site permissions enhancements.
Guild Launch Version 4.5 Release Notes
Major Feature
EQ2 Roster Imports - Beta Release
We've added the ability to import EQ2 rosters from EQ2Players.sony.station.comp. You will need your guild id from that site to run the import, there are instructions for how to find that ID on the import form under your guild roster.
This import will create the ranks it finds on the roster and will assign them to the characters.
You can also import basic tradeskill info using this page. That info will appear on the General Info page of the character profile.
This functionality is currently in Beta status since it is very new and we can't possibly test every guild and every permutation of the external data. Due to the beta status, we have turned off the synchronization option that would delete characters. Once we are sure the core functionality is working as intended we will add the synchronize option in. Until, manual removal of characters from your guild site (as you do now) is required.
Note: Currently the only way to get race off the EQ2Players site is by parsing the player page. This page appears to be blocked by sony so we are unable to parse it and update race info at this time. We'll look for solutions for this and hopefully update the functionality when we have a workaround. We think the current functionality even without race info imports is useful.
Everquest 1 Note: The XML for guilds on the EqPlayers site seems to also be blocked when we try to access it with our servers. We're working on a workaround for this also since the XML format is identical and it wouldn't be any effort to do EQ imports also, but without access to the data our options are limited.
Class Icons for Everquest and Everquest 2 and Lotro
We have added class icons for Everquest and Everquest 2. We got these icons from accepted sources of those icons. If you see any missing, let us know.
We've also updated the Lotro Icons. This change was hotfixed in the last week.
Wiki Revamp
The old, slow Wiki has been replaced by a new, simplified, far more performant Wiki. The new Wiki uses a WYSIWYIG editor for basic page creation and supports a simplified Wiki syntax for easy page interlinking. This new Wiki is not intended to compete with MediaWiki, the idea is to provide a simplified streamlined way for our users to create interlinked pages quickly and with minimal knowledge of code. This new Wiki uses the basic wiki linking syntax of double square brackets like this: [[Page Name]] to create links to new pages. And as is standard wiki practice, if the page exists the existing page is linked to, if it doesn't exist then the page to create it is presented.
There is a new content right on the permission groups settings to allow user to edit Wiki pages. Site admins by default can create and edit pages.
These wiki pages are private to each guild and only editable by the guild they are created by.
These changes simplify the Wiki greatly and should make it far more usable. The old wiki will be accessible from a link at the bottom of the new wiki for a couple of weeks so you can migrate content.
Game Tools
A new primary navigation item called "Game Tools" has been added. This area contains a list of compiled tools for many games. Currently we have data for Wow, Aoc, EQ1, EQ2, Eve Online and Warhammer. We'll be adding more later. If you have an idea for a tool that is appropriate in this area please email support@guildlaunch.com and let us know.
We will be adding this item by default to all new guilds, but if you have an existing guild we did not want to add it since we didn't want to disturb your primary navigation. You can add the section by going to the Template Tab in the admin area and choosing the Primary Navigation link on the left and then choosing it from the default links.
Game Tools is also a selectable section for widgets to be displayed. If you had your current widgets set to display everywhere then they have been added to this section. Any widget set to display only in certain sections will need to be added to this section if you would like them to display in the Game Tools area also.
New Templates
Call of Duty - A Call of Duty - Modern Warfare template has been added
Everquest - An Everquest I template has been added. Another one is planned.
Featured Guild
A new featured guild has been added to the Top Guilds are on the Launchpad site at http://launchpad.guildlaunch.com/
Feature Enhancements
Custom Application Layout Enhancements
The layout of the page that displays your custom guild application to users has been enhanced. The questions are now above the input boxes and are given more room before the question wraps. This gives a generally more pleasing look to that page particularly if your questions are very long.
Admin Unclaim/Assign Characters
Admins can now unclaim characters for their users. This will let an admin more readily fix claim errors by the user or their own incorrect assignmentss
Inactive Pools
Pools can now be made inactive. An inactive pool doesn't appear in any of the dropdowns and will not be selected as the default pool when no pool is specified. If you have no active pools and try to access a rapid raid page then you will receive a friendly, but bold, error message and be told that you need to activate at least one pool. All pools currently in the database have been set to active.
Pools are deeply integrated into Rapid Raid functionality. We've attempted to find all areas where the inactive pools should and shouldn't show. If you see any quirks where a pool's data appears where you think it shouldn't, or vice versa, please let us know and we'll fix it. Active pool changes are purely visual, there is no data modification to the raid data.
Note: Widgets may still show inactive pool data for a short time until the new data in the active pools pushes it out.
Doodad Gallery Additions
Alot of art and other doodads has been added to the doodad gallery for you to use in your own creations.
Embedded Pages in Primary Navigation
You can now create a primary navigation item that accepts a link and loads that link into an iFrame contained within your site's template. If you have external tools you want to use this is a great way to set them up.
Viewing of Previously Rejected and Accepted Applicatons
You can now view all previously accepted and rejected applications on the Members tab in the Admin area. The rejected applications have the option to be approved again, but accepted applications cannot be modified they are just there for historical purposes.
Most Recent Post Cache Timing
The Most Recent Post cache timing has been refined so it will release the cache when new posts are made. This means you should see new posts instantly on a page refresh without waiting for the 2 minute cache to expire.
Raid Progression Sorting
The current raid progression is sorted Easiest -> Hardest from Top to Bottom. There is now an option to reverse that sorting if you prefer to see the progression Hardest -> Easiest top to bottom. The option is at the very bottom of the widget settings page.
Wording Updates
Various instructions such as the account info update instructions have been improved so people can more readily find where to perform certain tasks like changing their forum name.
EQ2 Raid Progression Addition
Shard of Hate has been added to the raid progression widget for EQ2.
Section Links Now Contain All Sections
The Section Links area now allows for you to add links for all sections, and allows for the proper previewing of the section links while on the section link configuration page.
WoW Server Status Widget
The wow server status widget has been enhanced to cache the server status in a more appropriate manner. As of now, the server status page is down on Blizzard's site so we were unable to properly test the final changes. We will adjust as necessary after the page comes back up. However, the changes were minor and we don't expect any issues.
Password Resets
The ability to use email based password resets has been added back to the main password reset page. So, you can choose that method or secret questions initially and not have to fail out the secret questions to use email based resets.
Body Background
The full body background of the guild page is now editable. You can provide any URL to use as the background or choose a color.
News Post Title Class
The Titles of News posts on the homepage have been given their own CSS class. This is so they can be styled specifically. The classes are .guildNewsSidebarTitleLink for links when in the sidebar and .guildNewsTitleLink when in the main body.
Bug Fixes
* An error that would cause a person's password to be misset has been resolved
* A minor display issue on the group rights page has been resolved
* Some erroneous Gophers ("/"s) have been removed from the site
* Display issues with subforums in the admin area have been resolved for a few templates
* The Forum Sticky New icon has been added for the Game Wow 2 template
* Some text contrast issues have been fixed in a few templates
* An issue that caused the entry of bios and external links to not work on the character creation process has been fixed
* Some CSS Issues for Next Generation browsers have been resolved
Version 4.6 will include some new widgets, some forum moderation enhancements, and general site permissions enhancements.
Guild Launch Version 4.5 Release Notes
Major Feature
EQ2 Roster Imports - Beta Release
We've added the ability to import EQ2 rosters from EQ2Players.sony.station.comp. You will need your guild id from that site to run the import, there are instructions for how to find that ID on the import form under your guild roster.
This import will create the ranks it finds on the roster and will assign them to the characters.
You can also import basic tradeskill info using this page. That info will appear on the General Info page of the character profile.
This functionality is currently in Beta status since it is very new and we can't possibly test every guild and every permutation of the external data. Due to the beta status, we have turned off the synchronization option that would delete characters. Once we are sure the core functionality is working as intended we will add the synchronize option in. Until, manual removal of characters from your guild site (as you do now) is required.
Note: Currently the only way to get race off the EQ2Players site is by parsing the player page. This page appears to be blocked by sony so we are unable to parse it and update race info at this time. We'll look for solutions for this and hopefully update the functionality when we have a workaround. We think the current functionality even without race info imports is useful.
Everquest 1 Note: The XML for guilds on the EqPlayers site seems to also be blocked when we try to access it with our servers. We're working on a workaround for this also since the XML format is identical and it wouldn't be any effort to do EQ imports also, but without access to the data our options are limited.
Class Icons for Everquest and Everquest 2 and Lotro
We have added class icons for Everquest and Everquest 2. We got these icons from accepted sources of those icons. If you see any missing, let us know.
We've also updated the Lotro Icons. This change was hotfixed in the last week.
Wiki Revamp
The old, slow Wiki has been replaced by a new, simplified, far more performant Wiki. The new Wiki uses a WYSIWYIG editor for basic page creation and supports a simplified Wiki syntax for easy page interlinking. This new Wiki is not intended to compete with MediaWiki, the idea is to provide a simplified streamlined way for our users to create interlinked pages quickly and with minimal knowledge of code. This new Wiki uses the basic wiki linking syntax of double square brackets like this: [[Page Name]] to create links to new pages. And as is standard wiki practice, if the page exists the existing page is linked to, if it doesn't exist then the page to create it is presented.
There is a new content right on the permission groups settings to allow user to edit Wiki pages. Site admins by default can create and edit pages.
These wiki pages are private to each guild and only editable by the guild they are created by.
These changes simplify the Wiki greatly and should make it far more usable. The old wiki will be accessible from a link at the bottom of the new wiki for a couple of weeks so you can migrate content.
Game Tools
A new primary navigation item called "Game Tools" has been added. This area contains a list of compiled tools for many games. Currently we have data for Wow, Aoc, EQ1, EQ2, Eve Online and Warhammer. We'll be adding more later. If you have an idea for a tool that is appropriate in this area please email support@guildlaunch.com and let us know.
We will be adding this item by default to all new guilds, but if you have an existing guild we did not want to add it since we didn't want to disturb your primary navigation. You can add the section by going to the Template Tab in the admin area and choosing the Primary Navigation link on the left and then choosing it from the default links.
Game Tools is also a selectable section for widgets to be displayed. If you had your current widgets set to display everywhere then they have been added to this section. Any widget set to display only in certain sections will need to be added to this section if you would like them to display in the Game Tools area also.
New Templates
Call of Duty - A Call of Duty - Modern Warfare template has been added
Everquest - An Everquest I template has been added. Another one is planned.
Featured Guild
A new featured guild has been added to the Top Guilds are on the Launchpad site at http://launchpad.guildlaunch.com/
Feature Enhancements
Custom Application Layout Enhancements
The layout of the page that displays your custom guild application to users has been enhanced. The questions are now above the input boxes and are given more room before the question wraps. This gives a generally more pleasing look to that page particularly if your questions are very long.
Admin Unclaim/Assign Characters
Admins can now unclaim characters for their users. This will let an admin more readily fix claim errors by the user or their own incorrect assignmentss
Inactive Pools
Pools can now be made inactive. An inactive pool doesn't appear in any of the dropdowns and will not be selected as the default pool when no pool is specified. If you have no active pools and try to access a rapid raid page then you will receive a friendly, but bold, error message and be told that you need to activate at least one pool. All pools currently in the database have been set to active.
Pools are deeply integrated into Rapid Raid functionality. We've attempted to find all areas where the inactive pools should and shouldn't show. If you see any quirks where a pool's data appears where you think it shouldn't, or vice versa, please let us know and we'll fix it. Active pool changes are purely visual, there is no data modification to the raid data.
Note: Widgets may still show inactive pool data for a short time until the new data in the active pools pushes it out.
Doodad Gallery Additions
Alot of art and other doodads has been added to the doodad gallery for you to use in your own creations.
Embedded Pages in Primary Navigation
You can now create a primary navigation item that accepts a link and loads that link into an iFrame contained within your site's template. If you have external tools you want to use this is a great way to set them up.
Viewing of Previously Rejected and Accepted Applicatons
You can now view all previously accepted and rejected applications on the Members tab in the Admin area. The rejected applications have the option to be approved again, but accepted applications cannot be modified they are just there for historical purposes.
Most Recent Post Cache Timing
The Most Recent Post cache timing has been refined so it will release the cache when new posts are made. This means you should see new posts instantly on a page refresh without waiting for the 2 minute cache to expire.
Raid Progression Sorting
The current raid progression is sorted Easiest -> Hardest from Top to Bottom. There is now an option to reverse that sorting if you prefer to see the progression Hardest -> Easiest top to bottom. The option is at the very bottom of the widget settings page.
Wording Updates
Various instructions such as the account info update instructions have been improved so people can more readily find where to perform certain tasks like changing their forum name.
EQ2 Raid Progression Addition
Shard of Hate has been added to the raid progression widget for EQ2.
Section Links Now Contain All Sections
The Section Links area now allows for you to add links for all sections, and allows for the proper previewing of the section links while on the section link configuration page.
WoW Server Status Widget
The wow server status widget has been enhanced to cache the server status in a more appropriate manner. As of now, the server status page is down on Blizzard's site so we were unable to properly test the final changes. We will adjust as necessary after the page comes back up. However, the changes were minor and we don't expect any issues.
Password Resets
The ability to use email based password resets has been added back to the main password reset page. So, you can choose that method or secret questions initially and not have to fail out the secret questions to use email based resets.
Body Background
The full body background of the guild page is now editable. You can provide any URL to use as the background or choose a color.
News Post Title Class
The Titles of News posts on the homepage have been given their own CSS class. This is so they can be styled specifically. The classes are .guildNewsSidebarTitleLink for links when in the sidebar and .guildNewsTitleLink when in the main body.
Bug Fixes
* An error that would cause a person's password to be misset has been resolved
* A minor display issue on the group rights page has been resolved
* Some erroneous Gophers ("/"s) have been removed from the site
* Display issues with subforums in the admin area have been resolved for a few templates
* The Forum Sticky New icon has been added for the Game Wow 2 template
* Some text contrast issues have been fixed in a few templates
* An issue that caused the entry of bios and external links to not work on the character creation process has been fixed
* Some CSS Issues for Next Generation browsers have been resolved
Quote:
I so LoL'ed
I have been playing with the Wiki and am finding it really easy atm. Its great!!
Although knowing myself as I do I will probably hit a wall and have to ask for help sooner or later
* Some erroneous Gophers ("/"s) have been removed from the site
I so LoL'ed
I have been playing with the Wiki and am finding it really easy atm. Its great!!
Although knowing myself as I do I will probably hit a wall and have to ask for help sooner or later
Hehe, that was my release easter egg for you Woothdye.
The new Wiki is much, much, much better. Basically, it's usable instead of tedious and definitely more of what we need than the old one. It also provides a much more solid foundation for us to build functionality on top of. I'm glad you like it.
-Stepehn
The new Wiki is much, much, much better. Basically, it's usable instead of tedious and definitely more of what we need than the old one. It also provides a much more solid foundation for us to build functionality on top of. I'm glad you like it.
-Stepehn
bolitash wrote:
The differences are fairly slight. The wiki area is intended to allow easy interlinking to create a set of pages. The wiki is intended to be a content area, whereas custom pages are more for just creating a page of content.
Custom pages are more 'one-off' sorts of pages. You can create content in the Wiki and link to it the same way you would a wiki page though. Using one or the other is a decision based on what suits you.
-Stephen
I have a question, perhaps it should be in a new topic
--what's the difference between a wiki page and a custom page? When I go to create page or list page it lists the same set of custom pages.
--what's the difference between a wiki page and a custom page? When I go to create page or list page it lists the same set of custom pages.
The differences are fairly slight. The wiki area is intended to allow easy interlinking to create a set of pages. The wiki is intended to be a content area, whereas custom pages are more for just creating a page of content.
Custom pages are more 'one-off' sorts of pages. You can create content in the Wiki and link to it the same way you would a wiki page though. Using one or the other is a decision based on what suits you.
-Stephen
Hey Stephen, were you able to get the fix in for users to be able to edit the custom pages?
As per our conversation http://support.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=986896&sid=2c9a124310a376656bf7047af89d839b&gid=535
As per our conversation http://support.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=986896&sid=2c9a124310a376656bf7047af89d839b&gid=535
BloodEagle wrote:
Yes. I missed it in the release notes, but that fix is there.
-Stephen
Hey Stephen, were you able to get the fix in for users to be able to edit the custom pages?
As per our conversation http://support.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=986896&sid=2c9a124310a376656bf7047af89d839b&gid=535
As per our conversation http://support.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=986896&sid=2c9a124310a376656bf7047af89d839b&gid=535
Yes. I missed it in the release notes, but that fix is there.
-Stephen
so the wiki "page" is meant to be a link holder (one page)? I.e it has the coding option to link into wiki by using the brackets. i.e.
If it's meant to be an easy way of interlinking pages together.. How do I make a new "wiki" page? on the wiki page, I put content in the editor, I see a new menu pop up on the left, with wiki home page as a link. but that's all.
List & Create pages both display the custom pages, and saving new pages as custom.
thank you as always, for your oober feast replies (and all your updates).. it seems as if you guys have fun and enjoy your work! I like that!
If it's meant to be an easy way of interlinking pages together.. How do I make a new "wiki" page? on the wiki page, I put content in the editor, I see a new menu pop up on the left, with wiki home page as a link. but that's all.
List & Create pages both display the custom pages, and saving new pages as custom.
thank you as always, for your oober feast replies (and all your updates).. it seems as if you guys have fun and enjoy your work! I like that!
The Wiki page is meant to be like a mini website that you can create. Enter something like this in your Wiki and you'll see what I mean:
Quote:
Then when you save that page, click on the "Raid Strategies" link and enter:
This is our Wiki. We have info on [[warrior builds]] and our [[raid strategies]].
Then when you save that page, click on the "Raid Strategies" link and enter:
Quote:
Then save that and click on "Warrior Builds".
Then on that page, enter:
Our raid strategy is to kick ass using our awesome [[warrior builds]].
Then save that and click on "Warrior Builds".
Then on that page, enter:
Quote:
Then save that.
Now click on the Wiki Home link. You'll see that the warrior builds link now goes to the content your created, and you can link into raid strategies and get to the same page. So now you can use the default page as sort of a default overview page and deep link and interlink into alot of custom content much more easily than just using custom pages.
-Stephen
Our Warriors "Have Sword & Board, Will Travel"
Then save that.
Now click on the Wiki Home link. You'll see that the warrior builds link now goes to the content your created, and you can link into raid strategies and get to the same page. So now you can use the default page as sort of a default overview page and deep link and interlink into alot of custom content much more easily than just using custom pages.
-Stephen
Woothdye wrote:
Not right now. But I can put it on the Wiki wish list.
-Stephen
K Stephen I want to be able to put a search function in the wiki just for the wiki. Is this doable?
Not right now. But I can put it on the Wiki wish list.
-Stephen
Woothdye wrote:
We'll keep an eye on page counts per guild. With page counts in the old wiki way under 5 or so per guild, a search function is completely overblown. A good index page will cover all the things you would search for.
If the pages per guild blossoms in the new Wiki we'll revisit search options.
-Stephen
That would make it much more user friendly.
We'll keep an eye on page counts per guild. With page counts in the old wiki way under 5 or so per guild, a search function is completely overblown. A good index page will cover all the things you would search for.
If the pages per guild blossoms in the new Wiki we'll revisit search options.
-Stephen