Tool - Others - F95Checker [WillyJL]

If I had to define F95Checker in one word, that word would be "Essential".

It is simple and very practical, it hardly gives any problems and if it does, they are solved in a short time by the developer.

5 stars very well deserved.

Does what it says, even keeps track of unread notifications and has color styling/theming. Can't really think of anything I would add except maybe import/export support and the dev has already mentioned that's for in the future.

Thank you very much for making this tool.
Will make my life soooo much easier and saving me a butt load of time.
If ever you're going to add a way to support this (e.g. buymeacoffee.com) I'll be sure to do so

Using Version 10.2 on Devuan 4 Chimaera with Python 3.9.2.
Using Version 9.5 on Devuan 4 Chimaera with Python 3.9.2.
Using Version 8.5 on Devuan 4 Chimaera with Python 3.9.2.
This tools just works. (after a long time it works again on my system)
A previous version (8.3h3) ran even for more than a week without any issues before i closed it. That means it should be stable even for systems with a long uptime.

PRO:
(not really formulated for a list)

• This tool is helpful for a big library of games (like mine) cause it shows what i downloaded and played so far (separate check-marks for each). It's able to show what games have updates (and shows change-logs if the thread has them), if the game is complete/onHold/abadoned and you can see the version in the list.
• The UI is clean, easy to use and can be colored to fit your desktop theme (Qt5-based). It even shows the header-pic (even animated ones) of the game-thread on the Refresh button if you hover over a game in the list to remind you visually about the game.
• You can import various things into the list like your watched and/or bookmarked threads from F95 and (untested) from your browser.
• You can keep notes for a game, for example cheats you found in the thread or what way you were playing with your latest save.
• You can add own labels, even with a symbol to show it in short
• The login-feature to grep the cookie data works fine
• It prevents you from accidentally deleting an list entry (9.5 not tested yet)
• The Author/Creator is active and works with the people to fix bugs and make improvements (additional points from me for making it OpenSource) (Had even enough impact to initiate creation of an API for checking to reliefs F95s servers)

CONTRA:
(I tried to see both sides here, User and Coder.)

• No automated Refresh if the tool is NOT in background mode (Not sure how that would work without creating too much windows over the night) lets say: with a new tag (ai-cg) and a change to the API it's better to don't get that many popups again (and those were only manual refreshes, so be glad)
• Six hardcoded browsers (Can be changed in code but not with the UI) no hardcoded browsers anymore (at least on linux. Found my default FF and i changed it to another manually via UI)
• Doesn't read your game-folders (You have to manage your list by yourself) - still valid but it can now read your favorites and watched games from F95 and your browser. And you can even issue a path to your collection
• Add by title with the search bar isn't that reliable (can be avoided by using URLs) (V8.3h3) (not tested it that hard with 9.5 10.2, but it shows a list of found items to select what was meant. will strike it if it finds all my games without issues)(still not tested, i'm lazy)
• Doesn't cook coffee (Well, no software so far does that )

As I had to do a fresh system installation, I can now say the login-system works. As this tool has moved away from .json to sql3 i had to login again. It should ask to login on the first interaction with F95 (for example a refresh, even with an empty list) (I didn't try to uncheck the "Keep me logged in" as it seemed to be pointless doing that)

Background-mode is now not tested and works fine , but seems to work(10.2 is too new, could only catch an alert for now)(Only a minor icon-glitch on my system)(Throws an error popup in BG mode if you have a deleted game in the list that isn't converted to custom yet)

EDIT: I update this review sometimes with new information. My latest used version will be keept in the first line so you can see what version I'm writing about

Great tool, has a clean interface and extremely convenient to use.
Especially the background mode is such a good idea, makes you wonder why did nobody else think of this? Also the developer is ready and willing to assist everyone and while the tool is relatively bug-free, WillyJL is still there if you have problems.

This tool is very convenient, I was able to get rid of my spreadsheet and keep track of the games all in one place. Consolidating my lists helped me realize how many duplicates I had. I love that this tool does not allow duplicates and has a simple user interface. I also appreciate how quickly the developer responds to posts and requests.

Thank you for this awesome tool application.

Very useful tool for checking updates for multiple games. The ability to check for updates with just one click instead of checking each games' respective threads one by one is great. The other features are useful as well, It is user friendly and it looks good.

Oh boi this saves alot of time to go back and fort for news and stuff,

Cant go back from my old way were i just open tabs and keep them there for more news and updated, how long have I not seen this kind of magnificent beast.

Hope others would appreciate that this kind of dedication that you give and thank you.

With one word, useful.

With 3 words, useful as fuck.

I just realized i can review this, i would've done it already if i realized it sooner. Probably deserves more than 5 stars since i could give it 5 several versions ago.

OP is a great guy who listens and values ideas, and tries his best to fix that annoying bugs.

ps. It definitely deserves that sweet sticky spot, don't sell yourself short

This is a great tool that keeps me up to date with games without a ton of overhead and configuration needed. It runs quickly and provides me with exactly the information I need to stay up to date with all the games I'm playing.