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Introducing Mercurius! Stats and Analytics for Forge

Guest Mr. Flamegoat

By Guest Mr. Flamegoat
in Site News (non-forge)

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Guest Mr. Flamegoat

Guest Mr. Flamegoat

Posted
Posted

Announcing Mercurius

 

Mercurius has been around for a few months now, while we've been collecting data, testing, and in general doing our best to handle the immense amount of data that this community generates.

 

Today, we're announcing that Mercurius will be merged into the Forge installer and will be included by default with Forge from 1.11 forward.

 

What is Mercurius?

 

Mercurius collects data about your current client/player/server sessions and reports this back to our central stats server for processing.

 

Is there any personally identifiable data?

 

Absolutely not. Access logs have been disabled for the API ingest and your IP address is not stored with stats data. We have no way of knowing who a row of data belongs to.

 

What data do you transmit?

 

SessionID - Several versions of this exist, including a Client Session and a "Play Session". Generated when you start your client, and a unique ID generated when you start a world or join a server. Generated with random unidentifiable information.

InstallID - This is a unique ID given to a modpack installation, constant through the life of that installation.

Modpack - Name of the modpack you're playing (as indicated by the modpack developer)

Forge Version - The version of Forge you are running.

Java Version - The version of Java you are running.

Minecraft Version - The version of Minecraft you are running.

Start Time - Sent with Client start and Play Session start.

End Time - Sent with Play Session (not currently sent with Client exit)

Installed Mods/Versions - A one time packet sent with the information of all mods installed and their status (enabled/disabled) and their versions.

 

How often do you transmit data?

 

When starting the client, the initial packet is sent to stage the statistics data for your session. Upon starting a world, a similar packet is sent (you may make changes while in the client before starting a world). The client pings every 5 minutes to let us know that you're still connected and sending data. When you stop a world, a small STOP packet is sent to let us know you've exited your world.

 

The largest packet is the initial packets sent that include the modpack information. This should have little impact on your bandwidth, even after long and frequent play sessions.

 

Can I opt out?

 

Absolutely. You can opt out globally by turning the snooper settings off in Minecraft which sends information back to Mojang. Out of courtesy and respect, we've decided that this is something we will absolutely respect as well. Additionally, if there is certain information listed above that you would prefer not send us, you can opt out invididually. Because we value the reliability of our statistics, some options aren't available for you to opt out of indvidually, and do require you to opt out globally.

 

I have more questions!

 

Ask here! I'll be adding questions to this post as we go and I look forward to the feedback (good and bad).

 

Can we see the data?

 

The current front end for Mercurius is a bit bare, as we process stats and we roll up what we have, crank out new SQL statements, caching systems, etc, but you can see the current public iteration here: https://mercurius.minecraftforge.net/

 

We have a few more features that we're currently working on but until those are a bit more polished, we're holding off on making promises or announcing anything.

 

Also, the main page is in EARLY alpha, and some of the stats may not match up, as I'm pushing updates fairly regularly to make things more accurate. Also, taking into account opt-outs, etc, not all counts will be consistent across all fields.

 

Currently we're tracking specific modpacks that have included Mercurius, so these numbers will vary wildly as we roll out further.

 

 

larsgerrits Reality Controller

larsgerrits

Posted
Posted

It's sad to see so many people still using 1.7.10...

 

But I like the idea! This is a good thing to see how many people use which MC version, and which Java version (seriously, 1 guy is already using Java 9...).

  • Like 1

Don't PM me with questions. They will be ignored! Make a thread on the appropriate board for support.

 

1.12 -> 1.13 primer by williewillus.

 

1.7.10 and older versions of Minecraft are no longer supported due to it's age! Update to the latest version for support.

 

http://www.howoldisminecraft1710.today/

LexManos Reality Controller

LexManos

Posted
Posted

One of the main goals of this is to determine what Java versions are used by players. This will allow us to better determine what versions we should care about supporting.

If, for example, after we get a bit of data and we see like <1% is using Java 6, Forge will probably drop support for Java 6 reguardless of what Mojang does. Gracefully with a 'update your java here, or downgrade Forge' message but none the less. It will help us figure out what is best to move forward with.

 

Right now, the stats are extremely biased, as Mercurius is only in some FTB packs, and a couple personal packs. Most of which have other mods that force Java 8. We are working twards getting this packaged/installed with the normal Forge installer so that we can get the best dataset we can.

 

And I just want to reiterate that user privacy is of UPMOST importance to us in this project and we have taken great care to make sure no personally identifiable information is sent anywhere. As well as giving you all of the options we can to allow you to control either you even report things or not.

  • Like 1

I do Forge for free, however the servers to run it arn't free, so anything is appreciated.
Consider supporting the team on Patreon

LexManos Reality Controller

LexManos

Posted
Posted

No, the session ID is a randomly generated number based on nothing.

https://github.com/MinecraftForge/Mercurius/blob/master/src/main/java/net/minecraftforge/mercurius/helpers/DataHelper.java#L9

It has absolutely nothing to do with your account information or well anything...

It's just a random number so we can gather stats like average play length.

I do Forge for free, however the servers to run it arn't free, so anything is appreciated.
Consider supporting the team on Patreon

  • 5 months later...
LexManos Reality Controller

LexManos

Posted
Posted

We are still working on the backend and getting it all together. Sadly its a slow process as there arnt many people working on it. We're trying to bring on another person but ya, it's slow.

The other side of this, is we don't really collect much data. So there isn't much to actually show.

The only real important thing this has shown us so far is that J8 is by far the java version of choice.

Which is what allowed us to decide to force J8 for 1.12+. Minecraft following suit is just bonus reason to do it :P

If you can think of a metric that you'd like to see on the public front let us know and we can consider it, If we have the data.

  • Like 1

I do Forge for free, however the servers to run it arn't free, so anything is appreciated.
Consider supporting the team on Patreon

Bektor Dragon Slayer

Bektor

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, LexManos said:

We are still working on the backend and getting it all together. Sadly its a slow process as there arnt many people working on it. We're trying to bring on another person but ya, it's slow.

The other side of this, is we don't really collect much data. So there isn't much to actually show.

The only real important thing this has shown us so far is that J8 is by far the java version of choice.

Which is what allowed us to decide to force J8 for 1.12+. Minecraft following suit is just bonus reason to do it :P

If you can think of a metric that you'd like to see on the public front let us know and we can consider it, If we have the data.

I guess the usage of the Java Version would be interesting. So Modders can see how many people are using which Java Version for modded Minecraft.

Developer of Primeval Forest.

larsgerrits Reality Controller

larsgerrits

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Bektor said:

I guess the usage of the Java Version would be interesting. So Modders can see how many people are using which Java Version for modded Minecraft.

 

You can already see that, it's the "Java Versions by Install" at the Forge Mercurius sited linked in the OP.

Don't PM me with questions. They will be ignored! Make a thread on the appropriate board for support.

 

1.12 -> 1.13 primer by williewillus.

 

1.7.10 and older versions of Minecraft are no longer supported due to it's age! Update to the latest version for support.

 

http://www.howoldisminecraft1710.today/

  • 1 month later...
TamasHenning Tree Puncher

TamasHenning

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Exevium said:

Besides Java version and PC specs, what other data are you collecting?

 

*puts on tin foil hat*

 

PC specs are not collected. The only thing that's captured is the OS itself. Beyond that RAM allocation, mods and their versions. Unique session ID's are generated via PRNG and hashed. These are per game install and per game launch and never directly attributed to a user.

 

Full source is on Github if you want to dig into specs :)

  • 9 months later...
tfff1 Tree Puncher

tfff1

Posted
Posted

What happened with this in the end?

I'm quite interested in having a look at some of these stats, but the website seems to be down.

DaemonUmbra Reality Controller

DaemonUmbra

Posted
Posted

Mercurius is installed as one of Forge's libraries, still doesn't seem to have a public panel yet but it does have an endpoint that it's posting the data to.

This is my Forum Signature, I am currently attempting to transform it into a small guide for fixing easier issues using spoiler blocks to keep things tidy.

 

As the most common issue I feel I should put this outside the main bulk:

The only official source for Forge is https://files.minecraftforge.net, and the only site I trust for getting mods is CurseForge.

If you use any site other than these, please take a look at the StopModReposts project and install their browser extension, I would also advise running a virus scan.

 

For players asking for assistance with Forge please expand the spoiler below and read the appropriate section(s) in its/their entirety.

Spoiler

Logs (Most issues require logs to diagnose):

Spoiler

Please post logs using one of the following sites (Thank you Lumber Wizard for the list):

https://gist.github.com/: 100MB Requires member (Free)

https://pastebin.com/: 512KB as guest, 10MB as Pro ($$$)

https://hastebin.com/: 400KB

Do NOT use sites like Mediafire, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or a site that has a countdown before offering downloads.

 

What to provide:

...for Crashes and Runtime issues:

Minecraft 1.14.4 and newer:

Post debug.log

Older versions:

Please update...

 

...for Installer Issues:

Post your installer log, found in the same place you ran the installer

This log will be called either installer.log or named the same as the installer but with .log on the end

Note for Windows users:

Windows hides file extensions by default so the installer may appear without the .jar extension then when the .log is added the log will appear with the .jar extension

 

Where to get it:

Mojang Launcher: When using the Mojang launcher debug.log is found in .minecraft\logs.

 

Curse/Overwolf: If you are using the Curse Launcher, their configurations break Forge's log settings, fortunately there is an easier workaround than I originally thought, this works even with Curse's installation of the Minecraft launcher as long as it is not launched THROUGH Twitch:

Spoiler
  1. Make sure you have the correct version of Forge installed (some packs are heavily dependent on one specific build of Forge)
  2. Make a launcher profile targeting this version of Forge.
  3. Set the launcher profile's GameDir property to the pack's instance folder (not the instances folder, the folder that has the pack's name on it).
  4. Now launch the pack through that profile and follow the "Mojang Launcher" instructions above.

Video:

Spoiler

 

 

 

or alternately, 

 

Fallback ("No logs are generated"):

If you don't see logs generated in the usual place, provide the launcher_log.txt from .minecraft

 

Server Not Starting:

Spoiler

If your server does not start or a command window appears and immediately goes away, run the jar manually and provide the output.

 

Reporting Illegal/Inappropriate Adfocus Ads:

Spoiler

Get a screenshot of the URL bar or copy/paste the whole URL into a thread on the General Discussion board with a description of the Ad.

Lex will need the Ad ID contained in that URL to report it to Adfocus' support team.

 

Posting your mod as a GitHub Repo:

Spoiler

When you have an issue with your mod the most helpful thing you can do when asking for help is to provide your code to those helping you. The most convenient way to do this is via GitHub or another source control hub.

When setting up a GitHub Repo it might seem easy to just upload everything, however this method has the potential for mistakes that could lead to trouble later on, it is recommended to use a Git client or to get comfortable with the Git command line. The following instructions will use the Git Command Line and as such they assume you already have it installed and that you have created a repository.

 

  1. Open a command prompt (CMD, Powershell, Terminal, etc).
  2. Navigate to the folder you extracted Forge’s MDK to (the one that had all the licenses in).
  3. Run the following commands:
    1. git init
    2. git remote add origin [Your Repository's URL]
      • In the case of GitHub it should look like: https://GitHub.com/[Your Username]/[Repo Name].git
    3. git fetch
    4. git checkout --track origin/master
    5. git stage *
    6. git commit -m "[Your commit message]"
    7. git push
  4. Navigate to GitHub and you should now see most of the files.
    • note that it is intentional that some are not synced with GitHub and this is done with the (hidden) .gitignore file that Forge’s MDK has provided (hence the strictness on which folder git init is run from)
  5. Now you can share your GitHub link with those who you are asking for help.

[Workaround line, please ignore]

 

larsgerrits Reality Controller

larsgerrits

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, DaemonUmbra said:

it does have an endpoint that it's posting the data to.

Mercurius isn't currently sending anything over. They shutdown the servers for various reasons, one of them being costs.

 

4 hours ago, DaemonUmbra said:

still doesn't seem to have a public panel

It had one, however that has also been shut down.

Don't PM me with questions. They will be ignored! Make a thread on the appropriate board for support.

 

1.12 -> 1.13 primer by williewillus.

 

1.7.10 and older versions of Minecraft are no longer supported due to it's age! Update to the latest version for support.

 

http://www.howoldisminecraft1710.today/

LexManos Reality Controller

LexManos

Posted
Posted

Yes, it was shut down due to progress on the front end not being made. And the server costing way to much to run.

It however served its purpose, to some extent. It gave us the stats we needed to know that <J7 was pretty much useless. 

But then Mojang bumped to J8 in 1.12.2, which means we could as well. So whatever..

But ya it was a experiment, it failed due to many reasons.

If you still have it installed it doesn't send any data anywhere so you're good. 

I do Forge for free, however the servers to run it arn't free, so anything is appreciated.
Consider supporting the team on Patreon

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