Development Diary #5: Comix Descrambling Fix and Core Improvements (Patreon)

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out with a new update for the alpha version of JAM. As many of you know, it’s a constant "cat and mouse" game with certain sites continuously updating their protection methods to block scrapers. Unfortunately, Comix has been no exception, forcing me to refine our approach once again 😅

Comix Plugin & Descrambling Update

I have completely overhauled the Comix plugin (again...). Since the previous methods were no longer viable, I have deprecated the two old acquisition techniques and rewritten the entire process from the ground up.

What’s new: The new method is near-instantaneous. It no longer requires scrolling or complex viewer parameter adjustments; it simply loads the page and get pages list.

The Trade-off: Please note that for pages requiring image descrambling, you will notice a higher processing time. Since the program now dynamically deconstructs and recomposes these images on the fly, it requires more CPU resources and much time.

Quality Preservation: To ensure the highest possible quality, these reconstructed images are saved in PNG format. Consequently, even if you have "RAW" output format selected, your output folder may contain a mix of WebP and PNG files (the latter being the reconstructed images).

Important: To support this new descrambling logic, I have also updated the core of JAM and several secondary plugins. You don’t need to do anything manually, the Alpha build will detect these requirements and handle all updates automatically upon startup.

Core Improvements & Bug Fixes

This past weekend, I dedicated time to tackling a long list of user-requested improvements and necessary bug fixes:

Extended Retries: I have implemented retry logic for sites utilizing the browser/Python integration. This uses the same retry parameter found in your standard download settings.

Python Wizard Refinement: The configuration wizard is now "smarter", if you try to run it while your environment is already configured, the program will alert you instead of restarting the process.

Automated Server Launch: If your Python server is configured, it will now launch automatically at startup. This ensures that any subsequent browser-based requests are processed much faster.

Browser Control: I have added a new dedicated command under Extra -> Python to launch the browser. Since the browser is now decoupled from the server, it no longer opens by default, giving you more control and the ability to restart the server without opening the web browser window by default.

General Fixes: Various bugs reported by the community over the last few weeks have been addressed to improve overall stability.

Thank You for Your Support

I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you who continue to support this project. Your contributions are the lifeblood of JAM; they provide me with the motivation and the resources to keep fighting the never-ending battle against these site protections and to keep improving the software experience for everyone ❤

Get Involved

If you are discovering this alpha version for the first time and would like to join the testing process yourself, you can find all the necessary information, including the link to download the dedicated launcher, right here in this post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/jam-welcome-to-155669938

We are excited to have you on board and look forward to hearing your feedback as we continue to develop and refine the experience.