Well, I’m testing a new integration! I think we need to refine it for Gladys and especially improve Claude’s work a bit!
This time, I’m tackling the Game Servers (GameDig) integration.
I’m going to run my tests on a game I play on a private server (which isn’t mine): ARK.
Let’s see how it goes!
First observation: for now, it doesn’t work. The integration can’t find the server and displays the following message:
“Ark Poucicat: not responding (game, port, requests enabled?)”
Another small remark about the display: when I run the test, the background turns green even though the server isn’t responding. Red should be used to indicate an error or lack of connection. Green should be reserved for successful tests.
Unfortunately, I can’t take the tests any further for now, since I can’t connect the server.
For the green: well spotted, it was a real bug. Version 1.0.1 now displays the result in red as soon as a server does not respond; green is reserved for the case where all respond. Update from Gladys.
For ARK, two questions to move forward:
Is it ARK: Survival Evolved or ARK: Survival Ascended? The integration only reads the first one live. Ascended is only read via the Epic lobby API, which only sees public servers and would receive the address: I left it aside.
What port did you set? For Evolved, it’s the Steam query port that responds (27015 in UDP by default), not necessarily the game port (7777). Try address:27015, or the query port displayed in the Steam server list. As the server is not yours, the host may also block this port: in this case, no external tool will be able to read it.
Perfect, the update worked well for the color change! Indeed, the problem was the wrong port.
However, regarding the server information, the result is not correct.
What is strange is that the server hosts multiple maps. Currently, I only retrieve information from one map. I play on the other map and therefore do not appear in the list of connected players.
Does GameDig only retrieve information from the queried map, or would it be possible to retrieve the players and information from all maps hosted on the server?
This may be a limitation of the server query, but it would be worth checking.
It might be a good idea to add some explanations about the Steam configuration in the documentation, including the information to fill in and where to find it. This could facilitate the configuration for users who want to monitor a Steam server.
For the maps: this is a Steam protocol limitation, not a GameDig one. In an ARK cluster, each map is a separate server with its own query port (often 27015, 27016, 27017…). A read only sees the players on the queried map. The solution: add one map per location in the configuration (up to four), each with its query port. You will have one device per map, and the widget will display all of them.
And good idea for the documentation: 1.0.2 adds troubleshooting on how to find a Steam server’s query port (hosting panel, QueryPort= in the launch line, or the admin) and the case of ARK clusters.
So, with your help, I managed to find the other cards! You just need to add 1 to the port number to query the next card.
However, it’s a shame that we’re limited to 4 cards simultaneously. What if a game has more than 4? I also wonder about managing multiple different games on the same installation.
Regarding the display, I find it still not very intuitive. Currently, two options are proposed:
A display per card/server, depending on the game.
A display grouping the 4 cards/servers on the same widget.
The second option is not very readable and lacks clarity. The presentation should be revised a bit so that the information is easier to understand.
I don’t yet have a precise idea of the best way to present all this, but one thing is certain: in its current form, the display doesn’t really suit me.
