Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAddon Spotlight: Curse Client updater
by Matthew Porter 
Oct 14th 2008 at 1:30PM
Well, BlizzCon is over and while there were few surprises, I'll
have a review and analysis of interface and addon news from BlizzCon in a special Creamy GUI Center tomorrow. In the mean time we have the big 3.0 patch today to deal with. So this week on Addon Spotlight we'll take a look at how to securely and safely update your addons using the Curse Gaming Client. Let's get to it!
Safety First
When updating addons for a big patch, there's some important safety precautions you should be aware of. Most importantly, stick to the major websites that host addons, such as Curse Gaming, WoW Interface, and WoWUI. Sure there's still a potential for addons hosted on these sites to have a virus or key logger, but it's a safer bet than a random website. And to be on the safe side only download addon updaters from their hosted websites, and try to avoid addons with executable files in them. Also it's not a bad idea when doing a major update to run a virus scanner afterwards. There are some pretty good free ones, and as far as paid scanners go I recommend NOD 32. It has a small memory footprint and doesn't bog down your system while still offering protection. (Just my personal preference, I'm not affiliated with them in anyway.) Finally, before doing a major addon update it's a good idea to make a backup of your addon and WTF folders. Even if these backups aren't compatible, they're still useful in keeping track of what addons you used, and how you had them configured.
Housekeeping
While we learned at BlizzCon that there shouldn't be any major compatibility issues, updating addons for the new patch is a good time to do some housekeeping. Look through your addon folder and see if there's some you don't use and can toss out. Also take a look at competitor addons to see if there are any new features you might like. You might be missing out on a new favorite because you were stuck in a rut. If you're not completely happy with your interface now is a good time to rebuild it, a few weeks before Wrath hits, so that everything's tuned perfectly for your adventures in Northrend.
Time to Update
Now that we've trimmed the fat and checked out new alternatives we're ready to update. The safest bet here is to do it by hand, which of course is a big task when you're an addonaholic. That's where updaters step in to help you out. I regularly used the Ace Updater, which is unfortunately no longer in development. The Ace Updater was a labor of love by its authors, it worked for Ace addons only, and while it had its quarks, it got the job done pretty darn well. They have now partnered with Curse Gaming and endorse their addon updater, so that's what I'm test driving for today. Mac OSX players will have to wait a little longer; a compatible program is being made, but isn't released yet.
So what's the early verdict on the Curse Client? Good but not ready for prime time. The Curse Client is now getting the full attention of its developers and is an ongoing project. This is good news as it has a lot of potential to be a great tool to addon users and developers alike. It's usable with every addon hosted by Curse, not just Ace addons, but if your favorite addon's author doesn't upload to Curse you're out of luck.
So far with my short time testing it, there are a few main problems
with the Curse Client that keep it from being the perfect updating solution. First, it won't automatically update all your addons for you, forcing you to update each yourself, unless you're a premium member. I know bandwidth for hosting all these addons isn't cheap, but the whole point of one of these updaters is automation. If it takes an ad banner inside the client to give us that option I'll deal. (Just make sure the ads don't contain key loggers.) Premium membership starts at $2.99 a month with plans that reduce the starting price as you prepay, with the longest being $19.99 a year. Not expensive by any means, but do we really need yet another subscription service? Ultimately that's up to you to decide. I will say though that I applaud Curse for having an addon author's reward program, and subscribing to the premium Curse Client supports that program. It would be nice to know how much of the subscription income goes toward that program as that could be a deciding factor for signing up.
Another issue I encountered with the Curse Client happened when an addon is spread over multiple folders; the automatic updating was a little wonky. Sometimes it works, and sometimes just the main addon folder is updated. Finally, some addons just didn't show up in the client. At first I thought this problem was just limited to addons not hosted by Curse, but after some detective work I realized that wasn't the case. It's still a mystery! More testing is needed. Next I'm going to try rebuilding my addon folder solely using the Curse Client to see if performance is improved. (Keep your fingers crossed!)
Despite the flakiness encountered, the Curse Client is still a helpful tool in our interface arsenal, and I recommend giving it a shot. I really think (and hope) that as more people use it and give feedback it'll improve just as the Ace Updater did. If it doesn't improve all is not lost as there are still a few alternatives out there, such as the WoW Interface UI Manager and WoW UI Updater. Expect to see those featured soon, and another look at the Curse updater a few months down the road. Have fun with patch 3.0 and look for my BlizzCon interface wrap up and analysist later this week!
Are you an addon-addict? Is your User Interface a living work of art? Welcome home, my friends! Every week, Addon Spotlight profiles a different addon, brings you mod-related news and dishes out free addon advice. See out what's been said and done in the addon community by checking out past features or our addon and UI directory.
have a review and analysis of interface and addon news from BlizzCon in a special Creamy GUI Center tomorrow. In the mean time we have the big 3.0 patch today to deal with. So this week on Addon Spotlight we'll take a look at how to securely and safely update your addons using the Curse Gaming Client. Let's get to it!Safety First
When updating addons for a big patch, there's some important safety precautions you should be aware of. Most importantly, stick to the major websites that host addons, such as Curse Gaming, WoW Interface, and WoWUI. Sure there's still a potential for addons hosted on these sites to have a virus or key logger, but it's a safer bet than a random website. And to be on the safe side only download addon updaters from their hosted websites, and try to avoid addons with executable files in them. Also it's not a bad idea when doing a major update to run a virus scanner afterwards. There are some pretty good free ones, and as far as paid scanners go I recommend NOD 32. It has a small memory footprint and doesn't bog down your system while still offering protection. (Just my personal preference, I'm not affiliated with them in anyway.) Finally, before doing a major addon update it's a good idea to make a backup of your addon and WTF folders. Even if these backups aren't compatible, they're still useful in keeping track of what addons you used, and how you had them configured.
Housekeeping
While we learned at BlizzCon that there shouldn't be any major compatibility issues, updating addons for the new patch is a good time to do some housekeeping. Look through your addon folder and see if there's some you don't use and can toss out. Also take a look at competitor addons to see if there are any new features you might like. You might be missing out on a new favorite because you were stuck in a rut. If you're not completely happy with your interface now is a good time to rebuild it, a few weeks before Wrath hits, so that everything's tuned perfectly for your adventures in Northrend.
Time to Update
Now that we've trimmed the fat and checked out new alternatives we're ready to update. The safest bet here is to do it by hand, which of course is a big task when you're an addonaholic. That's where updaters step in to help you out. I regularly used the Ace Updater, which is unfortunately no longer in development. The Ace Updater was a labor of love by its authors, it worked for Ace addons only, and while it had its quarks, it got the job done pretty darn well. They have now partnered with Curse Gaming and endorse their addon updater, so that's what I'm test driving for today. Mac OSX players will have to wait a little longer; a compatible program is being made, but isn't released yet.
So what's the early verdict on the Curse Client? Good but not ready for prime time. The Curse Client is now getting the full attention of its developers and is an ongoing project. This is good news as it has a lot of potential to be a great tool to addon users and developers alike. It's usable with every addon hosted by Curse, not just Ace addons, but if your favorite addon's author doesn't upload to Curse you're out of luck.
So far with my short time testing it, there are a few main problems
with the Curse Client that keep it from being the perfect updating solution. First, it won't automatically update all your addons for you, forcing you to update each yourself, unless you're a premium member. I know bandwidth for hosting all these addons isn't cheap, but the whole point of one of these updaters is automation. If it takes an ad banner inside the client to give us that option I'll deal. (Just make sure the ads don't contain key loggers.) Premium membership starts at $2.99 a month with plans that reduce the starting price as you prepay, with the longest being $19.99 a year. Not expensive by any means, but do we really need yet another subscription service? Ultimately that's up to you to decide. I will say though that I applaud Curse for having an addon author's reward program, and subscribing to the premium Curse Client supports that program. It would be nice to know how much of the subscription income goes toward that program as that could be a deciding factor for signing up.Another issue I encountered with the Curse Client happened when an addon is spread over multiple folders; the automatic updating was a little wonky. Sometimes it works, and sometimes just the main addon folder is updated. Finally, some addons just didn't show up in the client. At first I thought this problem was just limited to addons not hosted by Curse, but after some detective work I realized that wasn't the case. It's still a mystery! More testing is needed. Next I'm going to try rebuilding my addon folder solely using the Curse Client to see if performance is improved. (Keep your fingers crossed!)
Despite the flakiness encountered, the Curse Client is still a helpful tool in our interface arsenal, and I recommend giving it a shot. I really think (and hope) that as more people use it and give feedback it'll improve just as the Ace Updater did. If it doesn't improve all is not lost as there are still a few alternatives out there, such as the WoW Interface UI Manager and WoW UI Updater. Expect to see those featured soon, and another look at the Curse updater a few months down the road. Have fun with patch 3.0 and look for my BlizzCon interface wrap up and analysist later this week!
Are you an addon-addict? Is your User Interface a living work of art? Welcome home, my friends! Every week, Addon Spotlight profiles a different addon, brings you mod-related news and dishes out free addon advice. See out what's been said and done in the addon community by checking out past features or our addon and UI directory.Filed under: AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
MentalPower Oct 14th 2008 2:00PM
You really should not use WoWMatrix. Some authors just don't want their AddOn distributed anywhere other than where they originally upload it to. That's their prerogative and their right under copyright. Some authors have asked WoWMatrix to remove their addons from their service and the WoWMatrix people have so far refused to do so. Its a really sad state of affairs.
Additionally for some projects WoWMatrix creates *way* too much of a bandwidth drain which forces them to block WoWMatrix and other such downloaders. Remember those projects that have their own website depend on donations to keep that website running, and a program eating up a large chunk of bandwidth will only serve to drain their resources and shutdown.
MentalPower
Lead Developer for the Auctioneer AddOns project and Norganna's AddOns Administrator.
Julemand Oct 14th 2008 2:08PM
there was a long post thread about this exact problem on wowinterface, but sorry to say most people seems to not care if wowmatrix is a bw thief or if the authores wanted there addons there, as long as they did not have to work to update there addons
Sukrim Oct 14th 2008 2:50PM
Well, what about updating addons via BitTorrent then? This would not strain the servers that much, Checksumming is built into the protocol and it would clearly be easier to update addons that way than parsing websites and "stealing" bandwidth... maybe suggest that to the WoWMatrix people too!
John Oct 14th 2008 2:02PM
Be careful with the Curse updater. The Ace updater worked because it updated ACE addons from the Ace site. Curse tries to update ALL addons from the Curse site. It does so by installing the latest version that Curse has to your system.
The problem is that Curse isn't the most popular site amongst mod authors, and they frequently don't keep the latest version of their mods on Curse. The Curse updater, however, doesn't check version numbers - it just installs the most recent copy from the Curse site. That sometimes means that it will install and older version over a newer version if the author hasn't updated Curse. The last time I used it, it downgraded three of my mods, resulting in errors, features that I'd come to rely on disappearing (as I was using a version I year older than before the update), in the end forcing me to go through my entire mod library and manually check every one to see which had been downgraded by the client.
Curse has already stated that they have no ability (IE - no right) to go out and update the mods on their site themselves, and have to rely on authors do do so. Unless this is resolved, or Curse finds a way to update by version number to prevent breaking new mods by 'updating' them with older versions, the Curse updater needs to be approached with a great deal of caution.
Beli Oct 14th 2008 2:03PM
As everyone else has said, wowMatrix ftw!
highlights of the program:
1. Windows, Mac, Linux support
2. 1,500 + addons supported.
3. 1-click updates all of your addons!
4. Built in search for new addons
basically, it has everything you could want... You open it up and it scans your addons. You can then browse all the addons to find more (or search for something specific). click on a tab to view all of your current addons - it'll show you which ones are out of date! If you want to update one particular addon you can select it and update it, or just click the "update all" button to see all out of date addons updated. If you leave the program open for a few days, you don't have to close and reopen it - just click the "check availability" button to have it check and see if any of your addons are out of date.
You guys really should endorse this addon manager - I don't think you could make one that was better or easier to use.
Teresa Oct 14th 2008 2:04PM
Be careful with WoWMatrix.
Used it yesterday to update my mods, and it 'updated' Xperl. It updated the main folder, and deleted EVERY SINGLE MODULE that makes xperl work. I had to uninstall Xperl completely, then reinstall it via WowMatrix to get the modules back as you can't just install modules via WowMatrix's addons section.
Also, it deletes libraries necessary for some addons: Fubar_MoneyFu stopped working as WowMatrix deleted one of the needed libraries.
Always double check the addon to make sure things worked correctly.
Xtyle Oct 14th 2008 5:32PM
Not tryin' to start things, but did WoWMatrix remove your lib/addons? ... or did you tell WoWMatrix to do so?
I use both Xperl and MoneyFu. I've not seen this behavior. Not to jump on the fanboi train, but this may have been just an isolated occurrence. The tool is unarguably solid. Perfect? no... but solid? definatly.
Hope you get your addons straightened out.
/hattip
Teresa Oct 14th 2008 5:36PM
Still on default settings it did this yesterday around 1pm est. :(
I immediately put in a ticket about the issue, so they may have fixed it since then.
But yeah.. To get them to work had to install the correct lib for MoneyFu (BugSack told me which one was missing), and had to uninstall Xperl, and reinstall to get it working again.
moroni Oct 14th 2008 2:05PM
Will you do an addon spotlight on wowmatrix and other non-curse alternatives? i would much rather support the authors website than curse any day.
anjldust Oct 14th 2008 2:06PM
FYI: A lot of addon authors are pulling their addons from WoWMatrix. It doesn't properly credit the authors, provide links to the addon itself so the authors can properly support it, steals bandwidth, and uses ads to profit off others' works.
Read all about it here: http://forums.wowace.com/showthread.php?t=14361
and here: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18358
Nikk Oct 14th 2008 2:40PM
As for the Curse Client, yes there is work to be done- but that is coming along nicely. The fact that Curse values the authors of the addons and treats them with fairness and respect should go a long way toward deciding which site to support.
Now, is WoWMatrix easy and all of these other things? Apparently so.
Does it create a very gray legal situation where some entity is stealing bandwidth, not crediting the authors of the very addons it supposedly "provides", refusing to remove addons, even after being requested to do so, and much more- Yes.
*Please* take the time to read some of the comments in the post linked by AnjlDust.
Support legitimate AddOn sites- WoWInterface, Curse, and, to a lesser extent, even wowuidev are much better options.
Happy Gaming,
Nikk
Shadoweric Oct 14th 2008 2:07PM
DO NOT USE WOWMATRIX.
First off read this: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18358
Here's a highlight:
"WoWMatrix makes money off of providing access to addons it doesn't host. WoWMatrix doesn't pay the storage bills or the bandwidth bills for the addons you download through its program. If you're downloading an addon that's hosted on WoWInterface, through WoWMatrix, the file is sent to your computer from WoWInterface's servers."
As to what John said above, this isn't true anymore, since wowace is now part of Curse. Any addon pushed to either wowace or curseforge makes it to curse.com and therefore the curse client. As I'm typing this, I see add-ons being updated for today's patch. Even Omen 3 is already on there, and has been for a few hours.
Tenchan Oct 14th 2008 3:44PM
I read the article and I still don't get it...
"If you're downloading an addon that's hosted on WoWInterface, through WoWMatrix, the file is sent to your computer from WoWInterface's servers."
Isn't that exactly what happens when I go to WoWInterface directly and click download? Why does it make a difference if I use a third-party interface to do it?
xtyle Oct 14th 2008 5:44PM
The issue is, you don't see the advertisements at wowinterface if you use WoWMatrix. You see WoWMatrix advertisements. Therefore... WoWMatrix gets money from something hosted on wowinterface.
Personally, they don't make a dime off of me anyhow. If either company are relying on moneys made from advertisements in their tools, then they're in the wrong business. Dare I say... They SHOULD be charging a fee for these tools anyway.
WoWMatrix is a solid tool. wowinterface/curse are solid sites. /thanks to them all, but if there's a $$ issue between them and wowinterface/curse, that's between them. It's a pissing match that has no winners.
(/hattip and /thanks to the actual developers.)
MassivelyFTW Oct 15th 2008 4:11AM
Someone else who uses nod32! I thought I was the only one.
Kaelten Oct 14th 2008 10:13PM
Guys, you really don't get it about WowMatrix.
Every addon hosting site and author group I've talked to has had sever issues with them draining our collective resources.
End result is that by supporting them you're going to end up causing a lot of harm. There are some very bad potential out comes, lots of wasted resources, and a lot of angry people.
WowMatrix has done NOTHING but hurt the community overall, and they try to profit off of it at the same time while having nearly no bills of their own.
moroni Oct 14th 2008 2:25PM
Tested out wowmatrix and was not satisified with it.
It did not recognize some of the new versions that were put up and I also did not like the gold-related ads.
Thanks for the heads up on it..Wowmatrix has now been deleted from my mac. The quest for another non-curse client continues...
SaintStryfe Oct 14th 2008 4:36PM
To be fair, the gold ads aren't RMT gold sellers, just a gold earning guide. They are not the same at all.
Phantomwolf Oct 14th 2008 2:28PM
The Curse updater just plain blows.
First it wants to install a profiler, to log some of your character information. Nope not doing that sorry.
Second the thing is blind. let me repeat that, its blind. I had 4 addons, 2 ace and 2 not that I know are available on curse and I need to update them. It never said a thing, it never even had the updates, even when I pointed it at the addons in question.
This thing is just garbageware plain and simple.
Your better off and safer doing it manually. To bad The Ace stuff fell in with this bunch, I hope many of the authors take note and at least push out their stuff to other sites with better and more user friendly communities.
The whole idea of having to pay for some kind of premium Download service makes me want to vomit.
Mikk Oct 14th 2008 2:35PM
"Ace fell in with?" WoWAce didn't generate even a fraction of the money needed to support the bandwidth expected by everyone out there as a free service. I know this; I'm a long-time part of the community.
WoWAce is now back to what it was originally about: developing. Distribution sites get to do the distribution. Use the site you like.
Crying about WoWAce supporters not want to dig anymore out of their private pockets to give you your free addon fix will get you nowhere.
Oh yeah.. WoWMatrix. They make money from my work without my permission. As soon as I can get my intellectual property off of there, I will.