Client Issue Custom items.pak seemingly not implemented correctly

Hello staff,

The other day I was having a look at the client files, namely items.pak, and noticed a few things.

Following premise:
1) The Gamez client uses a custom items.pak file, which lives under \GamezAION\Data\USA\Items
This items.pak file is characterized by containing the 3 main item xml files and having more lax restrictions for items. AAC checks for any modifications to the items.pak in this folder and repairs the client if a change has been detected. (probably checksum of the whole file). Either this file is still used, or this is a relic from the US-Client days and the admins were too lazy to clean house. (this is bad hygiene if so, please don't do that)

2) Should files from 1) be unreadable or missing, it defaults to \GamezAION\Data\Items
This is the "global" items.pak that the game defaults to when an incomplete or otherwise corrupted items.pak is found and cannot be used. This is usually then overwritten by the items.pak you see in 1).
This is also checked for modifications by the AAC and has way more files.

The Problem:
I've noticed is that some items that are present in client_items_misc.xml are doubly present in the client_items_etc.xml file with conflicting <can_deposit_to_account_warehouse> flags, which may result in unexpected client behavior. See below for more an example.
These may not be the only flags confliciting, but the only flags I checked.

There are also other inconsistencies, for example interchanging usage of "TRUE" or "true" (FALSE, false), which is bad practice. Please use consistent uppercase in the flags to avoid unexpected client behavior and double check your .xml files before you push them. (especially if you lock the user out of fixing your mistakes themselves)

As example:
client_items_misc.xml

Code:

<client_item>
    <id>188053691</id>
    <name>wrap_coin_named_drop_df4_01</name>
    <desc>STR_WRAP_COIN_NAMED_DROP_DF4_01</desc>
    <desc_long>STR_WRAP_COIN_NAMED_DROP_DF4_01_DESC</desc_long>
    ...
    <can_deposit_to_character_warehouse>TRUE</can_deposit_to_character_warehouse>
    <can_deposit_to_account_warehouse>TRUE</can_deposit_to_account_warehouse>
    <can_deposit_to_guild_warehouse>FALSE</can_deposit_to_guild_warehouse>
    ...
  </client_item>

client_items_etc

Code:

  <client_item>
    <id>188053691</id>
    <name>wrap_coin_named_drop_df4_01</name>
    <desc>STR_WRAP_COIN_NAMED_DROP_DF4_01</desc>
    <desc_long>STR_WRAP_COIN_NAMED_DROP_DF4_01_DESC</desc_long>
    ...
    <can_deposit_to_character_warehouse>true</can_deposit_to_character_warehouse>
    <can_deposit_to_account_warehouse>false</can_deposit_to_account_warehouse>
    <can_deposit_to_guild_warehouse>false</can_deposit_to_guild_warehouse>
    ...
  </client_item>

As a little suggestion on the side, I suggest making all normal in-game coins and medals tradeable/depositable to at least account warehouse. (not including Honor, Cera Medals, Gamez Coins).
I understand that tinkering with the items.pak can be really tedious, so please reach out to me if you need help with items.pak or other client-related things.

Best regards,
Mystia

 

Absolutely not. Some items appear more than once for a reason; we have custom items that don't exist in the AionCodex database (ex; gamezcoin, pvp/kaldor/akaron etc). In the past, we used to modify the itempak and share it with the community (\GamezAION\Data\Items), but those were different times. Now, we handle things differently, as you may have noticed.

None of the above changes cause unexpected client behavior, or crashes. Additionally, we don't need to publicly explain how we choose to implement the custom changes in our itempak.

Massive changes take about a minute with python scripts, but thank you!

 

Thanks for your reply, Noyah.

First off, I apologize if my rather direct wording made you feel like I demanded a public explanation. This was not my intention - I merely wanted to offer advice because I had a feeling that there was a possibility that something might have slipped through the cracks.

My initial post might have been a bit unclear. The main point I was trying to make is that, for example:
-188053691 is listed in client_items_misc.xml as being depositable in the account warehouse
-the same item ID is listed as not being depositable in the account warehouse in the client_items_etc.xml file
→this currently results in the item 188053691 not being storable in the account warehouse in actual gameplay (on my client).

For comparison, the item IDs 188053692 and 188053693 are both storable despite having the same distribution of attributes across files as 188053691.
I think you might understand how this may make someone who experimented with .paks on his own client and localhost server as a hobby a little curious if such perceived inconsistencies emerge.



Your reply made it more than clear that this behavior is indeed intended and not a mistake, so this matter is resolved for me.

Thanks for putting up with me and have a nice day,
Mystia.