Idle Master version 1.4.1 has been released. This release includes the following changes:

• Fixed a bug that caused users badge pages not to load correctly.
  
• Updated dependencies and localization.

This release is available for download from www.SteamIdleMaster.com and is also available on Github[github.com]. The source code for this release is also available on Github[github.com].

You can update your existing Idle Master program by overwriting it with the files from this release.

Before anyone gets too excited, this is just a bugfix release that adds no new features. I doubt I'll be adding any new features to the program, but this was an easy bug to fix and it was affecting a lot of users so I decided to do a maintenance release. This doesn't mean the project is less dead, just on life support.

In light of the upcoming Steam Marketplace changes next week, I’ve decided to discontinue working on and supporting Steam Idle Master. As someone who is unable to use the mobile authenticator, having trading cards put on hold for 15 days prior to being listed in the market makes the proposition of selling them a difficult one. As most of you know, the value of each card can fluctuate wildly in that amount of time.

This, bundled with additional security measures Valve has put in place are a good step forward in that they make Steam more safe for its users. For me personally, the cost of this safety is inconvenience. For people in my position who are unable to use the mobile authenticator, this effectively makes idling for and selling Steam Trading Cards a futile effort.

Idle Master started out as and always has been a hobby project. My personal attitude towards it has always been “It’s something I built for myself that I find useful, others probably will too”. The first part of that statement, however, is no longer true.

Going forward: I will be updating the Idle Master homepage so that the “Download” button links directly to the portable version of Idle Master. The homepage will remain online for the foreseeable future, but I’ll be adding a statement to the site that the program has been discontinued and is no longer being supported.

The source code for Idle Master is and will remain available on Github under an open source license.

Finally, I would like to say “Thank you” to all of Idle Master’s users and fans. Without you, a project like this couldn’t have been as successful as it was. For those of you who this security change won’t affect: happy idling in the future!

Hi everyone, just a heads up that I'll be doing another 24-hour Extra Life gaming marathon - today! I'm starting in about 30 minutes!

You can read all about it here.[www.extra-life.org]

I'll be gaming for 24 hours straight, and live-streaming my marathon on Twitch[www.twitch.tv]. I'm hoping to raise $1,000 for my local children's hospital[www.ohsu.edu] and I need your help. Right now I'm only about $250 dollars away from this goal! Click on the link above to see all the details.

For donations of any amount, you get a cool Extra Life 2015 "Enhanced Steam Supporter" badge for your Steam profile for those who also use Enhanced Steam. (Preview Image)[i.imgur.com] Additionally, we've teamed up with IsThereAnyDeal.com to give away over $1,000 worth of games after the live-stream concludes. There are some great games up for grabs such as Rocket League, Act of Aggression, Mad Max, Pillars of Eternity, Killing Floor 2 and more! Just put your Steam profile link in the note with your donation to be eligible.

Let's show people that gamers like us can be a force to be reckoned with. Thank you in advance for whatever you can give, and I'll see you on Twtich!

Steam Idle Master 1.4 has been released. This version should automatically update for those that already have 1.3 installed within the next 24 hours.

Here is a list of changes made in this release:

• Added a new option for idling behavior, where Idle Master will first idle games with more than 2 hours of playtime, then idle games with less than 2 hours simultaneously. This option has been set as the default idling behavior for new installations.
  
• Added additional localized languages: Czech, Dutch, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, and Thai.
  
• Idle Master will now only kill steam-idle processes that have been started by the current Windows user.
  
• Idle Master will now fail gracefully if the Enhanced Steam API server is offline when it attempts to get card values for sorting. Rather than throwing an error and crashing the program, it will now simply use the default sorting order.
  
• Updated the “Idling Complete” message to indicate that no more card drops are available. This will hopefully reduce confusion for some users.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused skipping to the next game or blacklisting the current game to break automation.

A "portable" version is also available for download from http://www.steamidlemaster.com. If you are currently running the portable version of Idle Master, simply download the new portable version and extract the files over the top of your existing ones to update.

You can also force the update by re-running the setup program from the website[www.steamidlemaster.com].

If you encounter any issues, please use the Idle Master discussion board or this thread and I'll do my best to help. Happy Idling!

Steam Idle Master 1.3 has been released. This version should automatically update for those that already have 1.2 installed within the next 24 hours.

Here is a list of changes made in this release:

• Added a statistic page (Help -> Statistics) that will keep track of the total time spent idling as well as the total number of card drops you’ve received to date with Idle Master.
  
• Added support for localization. You can force the interface into a particular language in the program’s settings. You can help with the translation at http://translate.steamidlemaster.com.
  
• Fixed a bug that could potentially show “Signed on as…” without the user actually being authenticated with Steam.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Idle Master to not detect all games from users with more than 4 badge pages.
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause the user to be completely logged out if Steam’s servers were unavailable while Idle Master updated its information. The application will retry every 10 seconds for a total of 3 minutes before being logged off.
  
• Fixed a bug that could sometimes cause games with available card drops that you have crafted a badge for to be counted incorrectly and potentially not idled.

A "portable" version is also available for download from http://www.steamidlemaster.com. If you are currently running the portable version of Idle Master, simply download the new portable version and extract the files over the top of your existing ones to update.

You can also force the update by re-running the setup program from the website[www.steamidlemaster.com].

If you encounter any issues, please use the Idle Master discussion board or this thread and I'll do my best to help. Happy Idling!