WSGF Medals for Steam [Chrome/Firefox Extension]

[jchuckdev]

Hello All,

This is my first time posting to this forum. I hope this is the correct place for this.

I have created an extension for Google chrome (my first chrome extension!) that embeds WSGF rating medals into a games steam store page. I buy most of my games on steam and I found it time consuming to be constantly looking up games on WSGF to see if they had good multi monitor/wide screen support.

The extension injects a content script into the steam store page that pulls the name of the game and builds a URL to its page on WSGF (e.g. http://www.wsgf.org/df/borderlands-2/en/). This URL is then used in a YQL query to pull back the two rating medal images. These are then inserted into the steam store page.

Since technically this is a form of screen scraping, I wanted to post it here first to make sure that this was OK with the Admins. If Admins approve, this is something i would (eventually) like to publish in the chrome app store (free of course). In addition, I felt that, many people could help me test this thing. For the most part it works. Dirt 2, Dead Space 1 & 2, Skyrim are all examples of ones that work. The naming conventions for games on this site is somewhat inconsistent with steams naming convention. I tried to fix most of these with regular expressions, but there are still some that don't work.

e.g.

Steam name: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
WSGF url: http://www.wsgf.org/dr/Amnesia-dark-descent/
> This works.

Steam name: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
WSGF url: http://www.wsgf.org/dr/witcher-2-assassins-kings
> Doesn't work. Too difficult to fix with regex.

Steam name: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition Deluxe
WSGF url: http://www.wsgf.org/dr/elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion
> Doesn't work. Too difficult to fix with regex.

I have a few ideas on how to handle these weird conner cases but I haven't implemented it yet.

Currently, If my script can't find the game it prints a "not found" message where the medals would normally appear. I have also added a search bar that will open a WSGF search for that game in a new tab. This way if something doesn't show up that you know is on WSGF, you can easily search it.

Anyways, if do try this, could you report back any games that you know are on WSGF whose medals don't load on steam. I will try to fix as many as I can. Please report back bugs/weirdness that occur. Also, ideas/improvements are welcome. If anyone is interested in the source code please let me know.

I have uploaded the crx to my google drive: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_ZUZJqAIdYDcEhPdG4wZzZoaTQ

To install:
-Download wsgf_medals_for_steam_pkg.crx from download link above.
-Open url: chrome://chrome/extensions/ (or go to Settings > Extensions)
-Drag and drop the wsgf_medals_for_steam_pkg.crx into the extensions page ("Drop to install" message should appear)
-Go test this thing out on your favorite steam game's store page.

Thanks!

Screenshot:

[fodder]

I downloaded this and am starting to use it. I will report back how it goes after a bit.

[Delphium]

At first, I think this is quite a cool extention, but then I start to have mixed feelings for this...

I buy most of my games on steam and I found it time consuming to be constantly looking up games on WSGF to see if they had good multi monitor/wide screen support.

Although, I know it has been before been a bit time consuming specially with the site slower than it is now since the migration took place, so with better site performance this should not be as time consuming as before.

I am not a fan of scrapping the site, if we where to support it then I think an xml/rss feed would be better, stick the game name, the 2 grades and a link to the report on our site, this would also reduce server load and bandwidth.

However this is my concern, the WSGF is a large resource of information, sadly this does cost us a fair amount each year, which for the best part is covered by Skipclarke, with help from member donations and largely from advertising on the site.

If this plugin was used with steam, negating the need for users to visit our site, even if just to check the grade of a title, then this reduces the overall revenue that helps pay for the site to run, without revenue we cant run, so the plugin would cease to function.

However the WSGF is a very supportive community and we pride ourselfs on supporting a number of projects that help the gaming community overall, this could infact bring more traffic to the sites if the plugin went viral bring more attention to WSGF.

Deep down I personally would like to support this project, but I would suggest waiting for Skipclarke - the founder/owner/bill payer if he is happy to support this, bearing in mind that the plugin would be costing us money in terms of bandwidth and load while not really brining any revenue back into site, or worse potentially reducing existing income.

I also reconnise that this being a chrome extention would only work when someone is already familure with out site and uses chrome to browse steam rather than steam to browse steam, which I would expect to be a fairly small percentage of users.

I hope you can see the conumdrum we face in doing this, but by all means we are pleased to discuss and we are extremely gratefull for you raising this with us rather than not.

I am going to remain optimistic that we could help here, but I wish not to raise hopes untill the chief has spoken.

EDIT:- this post - http://www.wsgf.org/news/2h-2012-donation-drive - is relevent to what I am saying about revenue.

Thank you.
Delph

[CrackerJackMack]

I've got an idea that could be win/win. Let me see if drupal can do what I want.

[GeneralAdmission]

Neat idea and thank you very much for the contribution. I'll let the admin team handle the discussion of support/approval, but seeing this renews a wish I've had for a long time: to see WSGF certified images being used by devs/pubs to promote their games on homepages, store listings, and even box art. Our annual awards program is perfect for special achievements and recognition, but if the WSGF could become the de facto display certification standard for PC gaming in general, that would be awesome for everyone. Devs get another means of advertising the quality of their game, customers get ready assurance of the technical soundness of the game(s) they want, and we would get exposure to a fantastically huge audience of internet eyeballs. I've seen several Steam pages with awards images attached, so I have to believe this is in the realm of the possible. No idea what it would take to accomplish.

[skipclarke]

jchuckdev,

First off, THANK YOU for your interest and willingness to donate your time and abilities to the WSGF. And, a DOUBLE thank you for coming to the community and asking first. Delphium summed up the situation pretty well - it's a balance between getting the site out there, keeping it relevant in the minds of gamers, and making it accessible.

I do like the idea. I would ask that as a default we put in some sort of link back to the game's Detailed Report so people can easily get information on the game's support, any gaps there-in, and any fixes we have. I understand how people would want quick access to the info in the medals, but I also want to get them quick access back to the WSGF.

In general, I think it is something that we want to support. I would look to Delphium and CrackerJackMack on what they can do on our end to: 1) help serve you the data, and 2) ensure we keep the load light on our end.

Again, thanks for your interest and help, and for being a great example of our community.

-Skip

[Firmar]

Thanks for extension. It would be nice if this feature was added to Enhanced Steam, it has a lot of users according to Google Play.
Maybe someway include alternative\additional names on game pages? Any ® | II \ 2 etc. | HD | F2P | GOTY that could appear in the title.

[Delphium]

If the OP of this thread or the Enhanced Steam plugin wishes to continue down this path then we are still open for discussions on how to go forward and support this.

[Firmar]

or the Enhanced Steam plugin

I've asked him about WSGF Medals feature as part of Enhanced Steam:

I'll take a look, but the general consensus on their forum is that they don't want people scraping their site like that because of the cost of bandwidth with little to no benefit for them. But I'll keep this in mind.

I think he needs some kind of permission from admins. (=

[Delphium]

I have provided my feedback in the Steam thread.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... tcount=108
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... 511&page=8

Hello.
Any chance of collaboration with folks from [url="http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=24976"]WSGF[/url]?
They have vital info about widescreen\multi-monitor support, but their extension have some troubles with games that contain additional characters in title and don't match with one in wsgf database.

I'll take a look, but the general consensus on their forum is that they don't want people scraping their site like that because of the cost of bandwidth with little to no benefit for them. But I'll keep this in mind.

Hi, I am [url="http://www.wsgf.org/forums/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=26620"]Delphium[/url], one of the WSGF admins.

I would like to reignite the flame on this subject, first of all thank you for respecting our wishes not to scrape the site, we appreciate this and we feel that there is a more efficient and solid way of achieving this without page scrapping.

WSGF is a very supportive community and we pride ourselves on supporting a number of projects that help the gaming community overall, we would like to open discussions with you for going forward to implement this feature in an efficient manor.

Allowing us to provide you with the data you need in simple XML form that would not only lower bandwidth required from us, it would also lessen DB queries to SQL.

While in turn this means that you would require less page scraping, making it much easier for you to implement and work with if and when we make changes to our pages (as we have been recently)the XML format will not change so the tool will continue to work, using the XML will also return results a lot quicker for users of this steam extension as there is a reduced overhead.

Images from medals etc could be locally cached in the tool, with us providing a text grade via the XML, again improving performance.

One idea is to add the steam app number to our game detailed reports so that this could be used for matching against titles etc reducing errors such as "Starcraft 2" vs "Starcraft II" just as an example of potential name matching issues.

So with the WSGF ethos of supporting community projects, and in the interest of the Steam Extension users and WSGF users whom are asking us to integrate with you... lets talk and make things happen

Regards
Delphium
WSGF Administrator.

[Firmar]

Delphium,
Wow, that even better what I was hoping for. Thanks.

One idea is to add the steam app number to our game detailed reports

Exactly! This should do the trick.

[Delphium]

SteamID field has been added to our Detailed Report input forms and I have setup the XML data output...

One may use

http://www.wsgf.org/mgl/xml/SteamID

to get info on a game, example http://www.wsgf.org/mgl/xml/107410

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><xml>
  <node>
    <Title>ARMA 3 Alpha</Title>
    <SteamID>107410</SteamID>
    <Path>http://www.wsgf.org/dr/arma-3-alpha/en</Path>
    <WideScreenGrade>A</WideScreenGrade>
    <MultiMonitorGrade>A</MultiMonitorGrade>
  </node>
</xml>

Alternatively if one was to drop the SteamID entirely it will display the full list of titles with SteamID's, example http://www.wsgf.org/mgl/xml/

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><xml>
  <node>
    <Title>DmC: Devil May Cry</Title>
    <SteamID>220440</SteamID>
    <Path>http://www.wsgf.org/dr/dmc-devil-may-cry/en</Path>
    <WideScreenGrade>A</WideScreenGrade>
    <MultiMonitorGrade>A</MultiMonitorGrade>
  </node>
  <node>
    <Title>ARMA 3 Alpha</Title>
    <SteamID>107410</SteamID>
    <Path>http://www.wsgf.org/dr/arma-3-alpha/en</Path>
    <WideScreenGrade>A</WideScreenGrade>
    <MultiMonitorGrade>A</MultiMonitorGrade>
  </node>
  <node>
    <Title>Star Conflict</Title>
    <SteamID>212070</SteamID>
    <Path>http://www.wsgf.org/dr/star-conflict/en</Path>
    <WideScreenGrade>A</WideScreenGrade>
    <MultiMonitorGrade>Unsupported</MultiMonitorGrade>
  </node>
</xml>

Gotta love Drupal + Views with arguments

Of cause we still need to get all the SteamIDs into the games DR's, I found a steam list http://api.steampowered.com/ISteamApps/ ... ist/v0002/ that provides the titles and app numbers/ID's so we can hopefully automate most of this with a few done manually for anything that does not quite match up title wise.

[Delphium]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... tcount=120
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... st34152470

Using the data that you already have, I've altered the code both on my website and in the development build of the plugin which yields the following results:

[url="http://i.imgur.com/7f3ZWAc.png"]Arma III[/url]
[url="http://i.imgur.com/Qr6OpYN.png"]Half Life 2: Episode Two[/url]
[url="http://i.imgur.com/o1ZPNcu.png"]Tomb Raider: Legend[/url]

Here are some of the things I've noticed and questions I had:

1. Is the heading "Widescreen Certifications" appropriate? If not, what would best describe this?
2. As you can kind of see from the Tomb Raider shot, the "Unsupported" and whatnot icons are a little hard to see on the Steam background, do you guys have more solid icons that could be used?

That should about do it. To keep things as clean and easy as possible, I've included code that only checks the WSGF feed for primary apps and not DLC, so these icons won't show up on DLC pages. You are of course free to include them in your own database, but they probably won't ever be used here.

Thanks again for your help.

Arma III


Half Life 2: Episode Two


Tomb Raider: Legend


Hey, awesome work, it looks good.

Re' your questions...
1. "WSGF Certifications" would be great.
2. I will get some tweaked images for you.

We have updated half of our DB and working still to iron out some matches to hopefully have as many titles as possible matched up with SteamIDs

Likewise, many thanks.

Delphium
WSGF Admin

[Delphium]

You may download this plugin from http://www.enhancedsteam.com/ note that this feature currently only works with chrome at this time.

[LuckyNoS7evin]

Really cool guys works well.

Can I play a little devils advocate here and say although useful I guess it depends how you shop for your games

1. I usually use the steam program store rather than the browser based version
2. I don't usually not buy a game due to it's Widescreen Certification
3. I'm new to triple-wide and wsgf but I use the Widescreen Certification as a tool as the final consideration, or one of the less highly ranked consideration.
4. If I am considering a game and I think "does it do triple-wide" I usually check the detailed reports anyway to look at screenies over a medal

Plugin is fantastic, I'm not saying it's bad, it will even give WSGF a little advertising to those who use the plugin and don't have triple-wide etc maybe getting them to take the plunge. What I'm saying is most people who already know WSGF may not use the plugin as they "have their system in place" and generally people don't like change. Not trying to say everyone on here is like that and I cannot tell as I'm still new. Just my opinion.

[Firmar]

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/enhancedsteam

Group for latest updates.

[Firmar]

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/enhancedsteam/announcements/detail/1621566990916867578

Now WSGF section works in both Chrome and Firefox.
Change topic title to Chrome\Firefox Extension maybe?

[Delphium]

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/enhancedsteam/announcements/detail/1621566990916867578

Now WSGF section works in both Chrome and Firefox.
Change topic title to Chrome\Firefox Extension maybe?

Done

[Firmar]

What about new 21:9 and 4K medals? They also must be included.

[skipclarke]

What about new 21:9 and 4K medals? They also must be included.

I actually just sent over the new WS and MM medals a couple hours ago, right after i posted them here. As we're not yet calculating grades or showing medals on our end for 21:9 and 4k, we'll get to those when more appropriate. I did share with jason all the new medals.

21:9 should be up relatively soon. We have the elements in the forum and the database. We just need ot set up the rules on our end to calculate the grade.