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!

[Apok2002]

yup futureal deserves mad credit for this one

Yup, I'm forseeing a popularity that rival's Lesane's Store Hack.

Go Futureal!

(btw...don't let him play on your arcade though....he'll put an impossible Pacman score on it that just can't be beat...which is why the real reason I want the admin cp ability to reset the scores.)

[Audionuts]

hehe..true his record still stands in my forum...lol

[mewgood]

great
finally it works for php safe mode
GReat JOB

[futureal]

Originally posted by Audionuts
hehe..true his record still stands in my forum...lol

Yea I finally got the top spot back at my own site, 85K or so.

[Angelus1753]

This is an awesome hack.... can't wait for the full version

[Tigga]

I'll challenge anyone in Tetris. I've got 577,000 on my board.

[Dark Jim]

Lol you think that's much, on my forums someone got 1.5 million.

[Tigga]

Yah... I thought I was doing good since the next highest score was about 166,000... Then of course someone else comes on there and scores 871,000. Guess I've got my work cut out for me.

[futureal]

I think the top score on mine is 1.67 million by someone.

The problem is that after the game hits 1000 lines on level 10, it resets. I've had a few unhappy users from that.

Once the hack itself is done and released, then we'll start worrying about getting all the games in order.

[Tigga]

Does anyone know how secure the script is and how hard it would be to edit the high scores? As I said above, I'm using this to make a little contest on my site and giving away free tickets to an event we're doing (worth $25 each) to whoever has the highest score in each game. One member has the highest score on each game and there's a couple of things that look a little suspicious... Ex - making a high score in one game, then another 4 minutes later... He beat my original Tetris high score of 127,000 by a few thousand, then when I managed to get 577,000 he came back and beat it by almost 300,000 4 hours later. He also doesn't appear to have played the games much, so that's why I'm a little suspicious. Is there a way I could maybe check my log files or something and see if someone other than myself has been in the server? Also, one of my users pointed this out on the board... "there's a problem inherant with having the game and the score-reporting client-side". Anyways, if anyone can help with this it would be much appreciated.