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!

[futureal]

The champion of each game is stored in the arcadegames table, I believe. Look for a field called something like championid...

[Savage Dragon]

I am not sure if this has been asked before so if so sorry. I was wondering how I could go about makeing the game high score boxes below each other instead of side by side in pairs of two. Any help with this would be appreicated, thanks

[futureal]

That would require modifying some of the display code in proarcade.php, along with the related templates. I haven't seen anybody ask to do it before.

At some point in the future, I may include a 1- or 2-per-row display option...

[Littlebit]

futureal,
I was wondering if its possible to give us the modifications to take out the security features that are making the Mac users unable to record scores. None of my users are web savvy so I don't believe we would have any problems security wise and am willing to sacrifice this to be able to offer all of my users ability to have their scores recorded.
If this is a difficult thing, I understand...but if it isn't...

[Darkmeteor]

I have a little problem.

When I load a game, the page is loaded, but IE keeps on loading the flash. The game is never loaded, always loading.

Also the games works fine if I just type the url to the SWF in the address bar.

Thanks for helping :banana:

Edit : sorry, I'm dumb like a banana

for the path to games, I had /games/

This was confusing me, I tought the script handled the path from the forum directory.

I've set /forum/games/ and everything works fine now.

Thanks for the great hack

[Erwin]

Edit : sorry, I'm dumb like a banana

LOL! That's the quote of the week.

[futureal]

Yesterday at 09:06 PM Littlebit said this in Post #1294
futureal,
I was wondering if its possible to give us the modifications to take out the security features that are making the Mac users unable to record scores. None of my users are web savvy so I don't believe we would have any problems security wise and am willing to sacrifice this to be able to offer all of my users ability to have their scores recorded.
If this is a difficult thing, I understand...but if it isn't...

Part of Beta 2.1 will be an admin option to remove the gamehash security. BUT, I don't think this is what is preventing Mac users from using the arcade... I think the problem is still in the Flash/browser interoperability.

I have yet to get my hands on a Mac to test it out.

I will give you more info as I find it.

[Darkmeteor]

How to change the timezone of the arcades please ?

I tried to change

PHP Code:

$currenttime = time(); 


to

PHP Code:

$currenttime = time() + 25200; 


but then the time of each game for an user get really high in the user's details. (like someone played pong for 1300 minutes instead of 4 minutes)

[Baptizer]

Hello:
How exactly do I change the text color of $vpachamptext? I tried adding <font color to the postbit around the $vpachamptext but that did not work. ANy help would be great.

Note: The current color is RED....BLOOD RED!

EDIT: SORRY GUYS. I WAS MAKING THIS WAAAAY TOO HARD. THE CONTROL PANEL ON THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!(Which is where the option was to change the text color).

Thanks again for the continued support, futureal!

[PixelFx]

Futureal and Guys, (hall of fame, arcade addon)

Something I would like to see if possible in beta 2.1 is a Highest score system, that tracks the highest score for that given month at the end of the month for each game.

Aka

John Deo got 2,399,999 points in tetris for the month of april
Some One got 2,400,000 points for Tetris for the month of may

then have the option to set your score points for all games for the next month to zero.

that way new players and members new to the forums have a chance to set a months' worth of new score records for each game, and still see what hall of fame records are to try and beat.

that make sence?

Also I'd love to add a working addon for the arcade jackpot system, that would work for beta 2.1

I'm going to make a simple php system for the hall of fame, but as I'm newer to php/vb hacking, most scores would have to be added manually to start.

what do you guys think?