vbProArcade Beta 2

vbProArcade Beta 2

1/5/03: Beta 2 released
9/12/02: Beta 1.03 zip updated to include safe mode fix
9/3/02: Beta 1.03 released -- small bug fixes, see below
9/1/02: Beta 1 of vbProArcade has been posted. Please see below for installation instructions.


Background Information

vbProArcade is a fully-customizable Flash arcade add-on for vBulletin, complete with game-by-game scoreboards, forum integration, a "champions" system, statistics, and more.

This is an extensive hack that is still in BETA form, and I don't recommend installing it if you are not willing to work through potential issues and future updates/upgrades! I am working on making the installation instructions as easy as possible, but it will probably be some time before it is perfect.

Watch this post for updates as they happen, and check out screenshots from the list below. If you would like to see the hack in action, you may visit my Shadows of Namek forums. You will need to register to play, but you can view the scoreboards and the arcade itself as a guest.


Credits

This hack materialized thanks to work and help from a number of people and forums. Here they are:

• Original vbTetris Hack by Erwin Loh
• Original vbTetris Leaderboard Hack by John Warwick (john.eovie)
• One of my users, Simon Steel, for work on Flash coding/recoding
• The users of one of my forums, Shadows of Namek, for their extensive testing of the system
• And The Kryptonian for pre-release and release candidate installation testing.

Games

So far, there are FIVE GAMES that work correctly with this hack. They are:

Breakout
Pacman
Snake
Space Invaders
Tetris

All five .SWF files are included in the release archive.

There is now a Flash Games Development Thread for the purpose of modifying existing games to work with vbProArcade, or for creating new games to be compatible with vbProArcade. If you have a game that you wish to see modified but don't know how, post the .FLA source in that thread and hopefully somebody can assist you.


Installation Instructions

Download the file attached to this post, unzip it and familiarize yourself with the contents BEFORE doing anything.

There are TWO separate files worth reading, the Documentation and the Installation Instructions. I recommend that you read both BEFORE doing anything else.

Once you have done this, the instructions to be followed are contained in vbproarcade-install.txt. Follow them as precisely as possible. If you encounter an error somewhere, it is likely that you missed a step or made a small error. Please double-check your work BEFORE posting about problems here.

And it cannot be said enough: read that file before you do anything, and if you are unsure of something, please post your question(s) before attempting to install the hack.


Problems and Fixes/Workarounds (as of 1/5)

• None

Known Bugs/Limitations

Here is the list of stuff that I know does not work. I will be working towards correcting these bugs BEFORE adding new features for the next release.

• Netscape will allow you to play the games but not record scores
• If a user uses the "Back" button to go to the game screen, and does not refresh before playing, the score will result in a Security Violation. This is by design.

Screen Shots for Beta 2

Here is the list of posts from this thread that contain screen shots for the new version. Check them out!

• Main Arcade Screen: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...106#post292106
• Game Screen: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...107#post292107
• Game Over Screen: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...109#post292109
• Scoreboard: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...110#post292110
• Top Score Board: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...111#post292111
• Admin Modify Game: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...112#post292112
• Who's Online Display: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...113#post292113
• User Detail Screen: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...811#post337811
• Admin Score Editor: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...736#post338736
• Champ System in Postbit: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...745#post338745
• Modify Games in Admin CP (contracted): https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...858#post389858
• Modify Games in Admin CP (expanded): https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...859#post389859

Upcoming Features

This is the stuff that is in progress for future release:

• Complete Admin Panel Scoreboard Editor
• Additional integration with vB
• Even better Who's Online screen

Some have emailed or PM'd me asking if I would accept donations for my work on this hack, and yes, I certainly will, and any and all support is greatly appreciated. With over 2,000 lines of original PHP code, in addition to HTML and Flash work, I have spent a great deal of time developing and debugging the source for this, and it is a great feeling to have people like it so much that they want to give something back.

All donations received go directly back into supporting my websites and my design activities. You may click here to donate via Paypal. Note that donations are by no means required, and not donating does not mean you won't get support for the hack.

Last but not least, thanks for checking this out!

[BlackDeath]

03-10-03 at 07:59 AM Zhin Jio said this in Post #1019
I didn't manage to browse through 68 pages of responses, but I figured I'd post up my experience. Had no problems with installation. Only minor tweaks:

1) the .php and .swf files in the zip were all had permissions of 600, which meant the webserver couldn't deliver them. Once I chmod'ed 'em, they all worked.

2) The path to the swf files took a bit of working out. Maybe the admin description should indicate what the path is relative to. Also, starting a path with / typically means its coming off the root directory, which these clearly are not.

Very minor issues, but all else seems to be working well. Thanks for the great hack.

- ZJ

YOU ARE EXACTLY CORRECT SIR!!! this was my problem as well. i am still having a problem though. it's not showing up on my admin panel. everything works fine. the games work, the high scores are done correctly, but the admin part isn't showing up on my cp? any suggestions????

[BlackDeath]

Today at 08:57 AM BlackDeath said this in Post #1071



YOU ARE EXACTLY CORRECT SIR!!! this was my problem as well. i am still having a problem though. it's not showing up on my admin panel. everything works fine. the games work, the high scores are done correctly, but the admin part isn't showing up on my cp? any suggestions????

nm, i got it. it seems i didnt edit the admin/index.php. i know i did but i guess it didn't save or something. it works fine now. you need to put your graphics in your games folder, and your game folder in your root directory. and chmod all the php files you added.

[chad777]

I just moved to a new server and now when I try to upload the champ icon and or thumb to add a new game it won't upload.

It acts like it does then it don't show up ...

Any ideas?

[Darnell 0216]

Yesterday at 05:29 PM dstruct2k said this in Post #1067

Well, you could try to reverse the Arcade Pass hack...

But honestly, I think it's stupid to award cash for high scores... Maybe it could be like a lottery... The top 3 players from each game at the end of the week would get their names into a draw, and whatever name is randomly picked wins a cash prize!

It would be cool, but could also get hard to code. Anyone that's interested in this plan, PM me and we can discuss how we'll start.

I see. well we wanted to do it the coding way so we could be lazy, lol. The lottery idea was a fallback plan and I guess we'll do it that way.

[Strider Xero]

A data mismatch has been discovered between the game and the arcade, normally as the result of a cheating attempt. This attempt has been logged, and the score invalidated. If you feel that you are receiving this message in error, please contact the system administrator.

i wasn't cheating i was playing nicely when in level 2 i got 5000 score........and that came up.

What's the deal with this and how can I fix this??

[BlackDeath]

Today at 05:37 AM Strider Xero said this in Post #1075


i wasn't cheating i was playing nicely when in level 2 i got 5000 score........and that came up.

What's the deal with this and how can I fix this??

yeah, some of my users are getting this as well.

also, i have a major problem. for some reason, my cookies aren't being saved anymore. i am not the only one having this problem and i've tested it on 3 different machines. all the same problem. it happened after i installed this hack. please help!!

[futureal]

Hi guys,

I am back. Didn't mean to be away for so long but life has been kicking my ass lately. I haven't just been ignoring vb.org; ask the users of my own forums, they are full of complaints for me as well.

New bugfix version is being tested. Look for it soon.

[BlackDeath]

futureal! check your email dude. i need your help!!

[futureal]

03-20-03 at 07:33 PM Zhin Jio said this in Post #1069
If I use IE, scores post just fine, and it sends the user to the proper URL after the game finishes:

http://pebkac.trippy.org/forums/vbproarcade.php

However, when I use mozilla (latest version and latest flash), it forwards instead to:

http://pebkac.trippy.org/vbproarcade.php

which doesn't exist. Is this back to browser compatibility? Is this what the 'Known Bugs' is referring to?

Anyways, wonderful hack. I just use IE when I'm playing the games, and all is well.

This has to do with how mozilla does not handle POST data correctly from Flash's ActionScript.

What is happening is that the forum gives control to the Flash game, the user plays, and then the Flash game returns control to the forum. This means that the Flash game has to know where to redirect to in order to keep the script going.

I haven't been able to get Flash to communicate the URL correctly with Mozilla-based browsers. If anybody knows a solution to this, I am happy to hear it.

[Littlebit]

"If anybody knows a solution to this, I am happy to hear it."
Ditto. It effects netscape and IE on Macs