I've released Kokua Bot 0.1, featuring a script that retrieves a TWGS game's high score and daily messages, and creates RSS feeds readable by any RSS reader. This allows you to keep track of a game's status without having to log in. The script doesn't actually log into the game so it can be used to monitor games not being played by the user.

More information and a screenshot at http://www.twdata.org/kokua-bot

Don

Does this grab the data from files in TWGS? If so, this could account for the CPU spike. TW doesn't like when other programs access its files

BTW, the files GAMESTAT.LST and TWSTATS.DAT are generated by the game and show the game settings as well as dynamic values, basically everything you'll see on the startup menu * screen and the in-game V screen.

No, it is an scripted client that logs onto TWGS as a dummy user, pretends to join a game to get the daily messages, gets the high scores, then exits. The text stream is parsed and used to create the RSS files. Parsing the * screen for fig, planet, port, etc. is next.

I basically took my Kokua helper I'm working on and reconfigured it to run scripts in headless mode.

The CPU spike I get is when I use the JTA telnet library to connect to TWGS which affects Kokua, this bot based on Kokua, and even J-TWAT if I remember right. If I run the session through TWXProxy, interestingly enough, things work fine.

I've noticed the CPU spike also.

When using JTA in my own applications to connect to a local TWGS. I've also experience TWGS starting to freeze right after the telnet negotiations have completed. And to completely freeze up once the login prompt shows up. And TWGS has claimed 100% of the CPU.

Now if the TWGS is on another computer. Even if it is on the same lan network. Then there is no CPU spike, and TWGS does not freeze up.

I have assumed that it might have been a problem with JTA. But, if you two have noticed the CPU spike. Then I guess it might a problem between JTA and TWGS, or just TWGS alone.

I couldn't use it. I got this message:
Exception in thread "main" java.util.zip.ZipException: The system
cannot find the file specified
at java.util.zip.ZipFile.open(Native Method)
at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.JarFile.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.util.jar.JarFile.<init>(Unknown Source)