Using external tools to haul profitably: Difference between revisions

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==Using EVE-Central Effectively==

~~[[File:MarketUploaderWindow.png|200px|thumb|right|EVE-Central Market Uploader]]~~

Consider the following two points before you embark on your first hauling adventure:

The first thing you should do in order to take advantage of EVE-Central is to install the free [http://dev.eve-central.com/contribtastic/start market data uploader client] called Contribtastic! This program runs in the background while you play and scrapes market data out of the game's cache, uploading it into the EVE-Central database. As of version 2.0.2 (October, 2011), Contribtastic! is only available for Windows machines. You can technically use EVE-Central without using (or even installing) the market data uploader, but you will be somewhat at the mercy of the "freshness" of the EVE-Central database. By seeding the database with local data from the system you start in (as outlined below), your odds of encountering out-of-date market information go down dramatically. When you run Contribtastic!, you'll need to make sure the cache folder location is set properly (sometimes it resets for no reason). To change the cache folder, go to the File menu and select ''Locate cache folder.'' You want to select:

~~C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\CCP\EVE\c_program_files_(x86)_ccp_eve_tranquility\cache\MachoNet\87.237.38.200\<3xx>\CachedMethodCalls\~~

<UserName> is the username of the currently logged-in user on the computer. For the directory marked <3xx> above, there will be several folders with three digit numbers starting with a 3 inside ...\87.237.38.200\, you want the highest numbered one.

~~With that out of the way, consider~~ the following two points before you embark on your first hauling adventure:

* You will increase your likelihood of finding quick, zero-jump trade routes if you start in a high-sec system with lots of stations. This does not have to be in a [[Trade Hubs|trade hub]] like Jita, Hek or Rens. In fact, trade hubs tend to have higher turn-over rates in their markets, making the EVE-Central database frequently out of date for these systems. If you are starting an Amarr hauling alt, consider a system like Penirgman which has 19 stations and is close to the Amarr starting areas. Zero-jump trade routes won't necessarily be the most profitable per trip, but the trips are very short.

* Make sure your hauler alt always has enough capital to buy trade goods in sufficient quantity. For hauling consumer and industrial goods, you'll need about 10M ISK to start carrying near-full loads. If you don't have that amount on hand, don't worry - you can carry partial loads and you can earn the necessary capital over time. You'll always want to keep a buffer of ISK in your wallet that is sufficient to fill up your cargo hold if you can. Keep this in mind when you find yourself with enough money to add modules to your ship that increase its capacity, or upgrade your ship altogether. If you spend a significant portion of your ISK on the modules and/or new ship, you won't have enough left to be able to use the added volume. For those that are starting an Amarr hauling alt, your first upgrade to your Bestower will likely be four Expanded Cargohold IIs (~2M ISK) which will increase your cargo capacity to just over 13,000 cubic meters.

~~=== Seeding the market database using the market data uploader ===~~

Now that you're ready to do a hauling run, the steps you need to follow to take advantage of the EVE-Central database in order to maximize your profits are outlined below. If you're using the market uploader client, you'll want to start with this section. If not, skip to the section called '''Selecting a trade route''', below. All of the steps in this section are optional.

~~'''1'''. Start the EVE-Central market uploader program, called "Contribtastic!" Make sure cache folder is set properly (see above).~~

~~[[File:EVEMarketWindow.png|200px|thumb|right|EVE Market Window]]~~

~~'''2'''. In EVE, open the market window (fifth button on the [[NeoCom|NeoCom]]). In the upper-left, set the Range Filter pulldown to ''Region''. Select the ''Browse'' tab.~~

'''3'''. Select items that have high trade volumes, meaning that people are frequently buying and selling sufficient quantities to fill your cargo hold. If you are new to hauling and don't know what to choose, just use the list below. As you get more comfortable with the game and the market, feel free to modify the list below to suit your instincts and experience. A good list of market items to review includes, but is not limited to:

* Ammunition & Charges

** Hybrid Charges

*** Standard Charges

**** Large - click on all eight variants

**** Medium - click on all eight variants

**** Small - click on all eight variants

* Manufacture & Research

** Ore & Minerals

*** Minerals - click on all eight variants

** Planetary Materials

*** Processed Materials - click on all 15 variants

*** Raw Materials - click on all 15 variants

* Trade Goods:

** Consumer Products - click on all 21 variants

** Industrial Goods - click on all 13 variants

~~Doing all of this clicking can be a pain, but you can do several trade runs and make some real profit before needing to repeat this process.~~

~~By clicking on each item to get the detailed market report, you will create files of current market data in EVE's cache on your computer which Contribtastic! can send to the aggregated database.~~

'''4'''. In the Contribtastic! window, force a scan of your system for market data files by selecting ''Scan Now'' in the ''File'' menu - this will upload the most current data to EVE-Central. These scans happen regularly without you having to manually request an upload like this, but you want the data you've just generated to be available before you proceed to the next section. It's a good practice to manually force a scan every time you are about to search for trade routes.

Again, these steps are optional—EVE-Central will still work most of the time even if you contribute nothing to the database yourself. There are lots of other players contributing data. However, by contributing your own data from the region you're in, you drastically diminish the chance of the EVE-Central database being stale. Plus, it helps everyone else and is a generally nice thing to do.

For dedicated haulers, you can save some time here by adding all of these items to your market quickbar by right clicking the item and selecting ''Add to Market Quickbar''. Then you can simply load your quickbar and click down the list before forcing a scan. Easy!

===Selecting a trade route===

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'''4'''. Open your cargohold and drag the items to be sold into your station hangar. Right-click the items to be sold in your station hangar panel and select ''SELL THIS ITEM''. Check one last time that the buying price is the same as what you expected from the EVE-Central data - if it does, execute the sale. (If it doesn't, you may want to sell it anyway if it's still profitable. Use the Wallet/Transaction tab to find the price that you bought the item, if you forget. Be extremely leery about using the Advanced selling option to set your own selling price, as this will apply a broker fee, in addition to the usual sales tax, that can further erode or eliminate your profits.)

'''5'''. (optional) If you're using the Contribtastic! market data uploader, search for the item you just sold in the market window and click on it to bring up the market details. Alt-Tab over to the Contribtastic! program, and do another "File/Scan Now" to EVE-Central, so that it has the most current information.

'''5''' There is no 5.

~~'''6~~''' There is no 6.

'''7'''. Go back to the '''Selecting a trade route''' section and repeat for the next few trade runs. If you're using the Contribtastic! market data uploader, every half-dozen or so trade runs, go back to the ''Seeding the market database using the market data uploader'' section to upload refreshed market data on all your target trade items.

'''6'''. Go back to the '''Selecting a trade route''' section and repeat for the next few trade runs.

=='''What's the payoff?'''==

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ==Using EVE-Central Effectively==
-[[File:MarketUploaderWindow.png|200px|thumb|right|EVE-Central Market Uploader]]
+Consider the following two points before you embark on your first hauling adventure:
-The first thing you should do in order to take advantage of EVE-Central is to install the free [http://dev.eve-central.com/contribtastic/start market data uploader client] called Contribtastic!  This program runs in the background while you play and scrapes market data out of the game's cache, uploading it into the EVE-Central database.  As of version 2.0.2 (October, 2011), Contribtastic! is only available for Windows machines.  You can technically use EVE-Central without using (or even installing) the market data uploader, but you will be somewhat at the mercy of the "freshness" of the EVE-Central database.  By seeding the database with local data from the system you start in (as outlined below), your odds of encountering out-of-date market information go down dramatically.   When you run Contribtastic!, you'll need to make sure the cache folder location is set properly (sometimes it resets for no reason). To change the cache folder, go to the File menu and select ''Locate cache folder.'' You want to select:
- C:\Users\&lt;UserName&gt;\AppData\Local\CCP\EVE\c_program_files_(x86)_ccp_eve_tranquility\cache\MachoNet\87.237.38.200\&lt;3xx&gt;\CachedMethodCalls\
-&lt;UserName&gt; is the username of the currently logged-in user on the computer.  For the directory marked &lt;3xx&gt; above, there will be several folders with three digit numbers starting with a 3 inside ...\87.237.38.200\, you want the highest numbered one.
-With that out of the way, consider the following two points before you embark on your first hauling adventure:
 * You will increase your likelihood of finding quick, zero-jump trade routes if you start in a high-sec system with lots of stations.  This does not have to be in a [[Trade Hubs|trade hub]] like Jita, Hek or Rens. In fact, trade hubs tend to have higher turn-over rates in their markets, making the EVE-Central database frequently out of date for these systems.  If you are starting an Amarr hauling alt, consider a system like Penirgman which has 19 stations and is close to the Amarr starting areas.  Zero-jump trade routes won't necessarily be the most profitable per trip, but the trips are very short.
 * Make sure your hauler alt always has enough capital to buy trade goods in sufficient quantity. For hauling consumer and industrial goods, you'll need about 10M ISK to start carrying near-full loads. If you don't have that amount on hand, don't worry - you can carry partial loads and you can earn the necessary capital over time.  You'll always want to keep a buffer of ISK in your wallet that is sufficient to fill up your cargo hold if you can.  Keep this in mind when you find yourself with enough money to add modules to your ship that increase its capacity, or upgrade your ship altogether.  If you spend a significant portion of your ISK on the modules and/or new ship, you won't have enough left to be able to use the added volume.   For those that are starting an Amarr hauling alt, your first upgrade to your Bestower will likely be four Expanded Cargohold IIs (~2M ISK) which will increase your cargo capacity to just over 13,000 cubic meters.
-=== Seeding the market database using the market data uploader ===
-Now that you're ready to do a hauling run, the steps you need to follow to take advantage of the EVE-Central database in order to maximize your profits are outlined below.  If you're using the market uploader client, you'll want to start with this section.  If not, skip to the section called '''Selecting a trade route''', below.   All of the steps in this section are optional.
-'''1'''. Start the EVE-Central market uploader program, called "Contribtastic!"  Make sure cache folder is set properly (see above).
-[[File:EVEMarketWindow.png|200px|thumb|right|EVE Market Window]]
-'''2'''. In EVE, open the market window (fifth button on the [[NeoCom|NeoCom]]).  In the upper-left, set the Range Filter pulldown to ''Region''.  Select the ''Browse'' tab.
-'''3'''. Select items that have high trade volumes, meaning that people are frequently buying and selling sufficient quantities to fill your cargo hold.  If you are new to hauling and don't know what to choose, just use the list below.  As you get more comfortable with the game and the market, feel free to modify the list below to suit your instincts and experience.  A good list of market items to review includes, but is not limited to:
-* Ammunition & Charges
-** Hybrid Charges
-*** Standard Charges
-**** Large - click on all eight variants
-**** Medium - click on all eight variants
-**** Small - click on all eight variants
-* Manufacture & Research
-** Ore & Minerals
-*** Minerals - click on all eight variants
-** Planetary Materials
-*** Processed Materials - click on all 15 variants
-*** Raw Materials - click on all 15 variants
-* Trade Goods:
-** Consumer Products - click on all 21 variants
-** Industrial Goods - click on all 13 variants
-Doing all of this clicking can be a pain, but you can do several trade runs and make some real profit before needing to repeat this process.
-By clicking on each item to get the detailed market report, you will create files of current market data in EVE's cache on your computer which Contribtastic! can send to the aggregated database.
-'''4'''. In the Contribtastic! window, force a scan of your system for market data files by selecting ''Scan Now'' in the ''File'' menu - this will upload the most current data to EVE-Central.  These scans happen regularly without you having to manually request an upload like this, but you want the data you've just generated to be available before you proceed to the next section.  It's a good practice to manually force a scan every time you are about to search for trade routes.
-Again, these steps are optional&mdash;EVE-Central will still work most of the time even if you contribute nothing to the database yourself.  There are lots of other players contributing data.  However, by contributing your own data from the region you're in, you drastically diminish the chance of the EVE-Central database being stale.  Plus, it helps everyone else and is a generally nice thing to do.
-For dedicated haulers, you can save some time here by adding all of these items to your market quickbar by right clicking the item and selecting ''Add to Market Quickbar''.  Then you can simply load your quickbar and click down the list before forcing a scan.  Easy!
 ===Selecting a trade route===
@@ Line 111: / Line 72: @@
 '''4'''.  Open your cargohold and drag the items to be sold into your station hangar.  Right-click the items to be sold in your station hangar panel and select ''SELL THIS ITEM''. Check one last time that the buying price is the same as what you expected from the EVE-Central data - if it does, execute the sale. (If it doesn't, you may want to sell it anyway if it's still profitable. Use the Wallet/Transaction tab to find the price that you bought the item, if you forget.  Be extremely leery about using the Advanced selling option to set your own selling price, as this will apply a broker fee, in addition to the usual sales tax, that can further erode or eliminate your profits.)
-'''5'''. (optional)  If you're using the Contribtastic! market data uploader, search for the item you just sold in the market window and click on it to bring up the market details. Alt-Tab over to the Contribtastic! program, and do another "File/Scan Now" to EVE-Central, so that it has the most current information.
+'''5''' There is no 5.
-'''6''' There is no 6.
-'''7'''. Go back to the '''Selecting a trade route''' section and repeat for the next few trade runs. If you're using the Contribtastic! market data uploader, every half-dozen or so trade runs, go back to the ''Seeding the market database using the market data uploader'' section to upload refreshed market data on all your target trade items.
+'''6'''. Go back to the '''Selecting a trade route''' section and repeat for the next few trade runs.
 =='''What's the payoff?'''==