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]

Originally Posted by Andrew111888

Hmm, I've added some games and only the original five show in the arcade..

It sounds like you may not have made the games active (an option under each game in the Admin CP).

[futureal]

Originally Posted by peterska2

But where and how? (sorry very new to this side of things :nervous: )

Which file are you running SQL queries from?

[Limpkinw]

My users are cheating the arcade simply by editing the url is there a way to prevent this?

Example

http://www.limpkinw.com/forums/proar...abf39dd76dd245

Will submit a score of 1100 in blackjack or if you edit the score variable it will submit the score of your choosing. Can this be prevented?
Thanks

[Andrew111888]

Ah, that fixed it. Thanks

Any idea when a Mozilla/Mac compliant version will be available? No scores for me (mac)

[futureal]

Originally Posted by Limpkinw

My users are cheating the arcade simply by editing the url is there a way to prevent this?

This is fixed in the next version. In the meantime you could add a simple check like this, near the beginning of proarcade.php (must be after the $gameinfo query for this to work):

// security check for HTTP_GET
$strippedvar = substr($gameinfo[scorevar],1);

if (isset($_GET[thescore]) or isset($_GET[$strippedvar])) {

// output some message if desired, like:
echo "Cheater!\n\n";
exit;

}

That should prevent anybody from entering a score variable in the query string.

[Limpkinw]

Cool, woudl there be a way to add the players who try this to a list...or page...just the basic idea and i can take it from there

[futureal]

You have have to add a field to the database somewhere and then add a query to the above code (between the brackets) to insert some information into that field. Or actually, to make it easier, you could just have the system send you an email when this happens. Take a look at this section of the PHP documentation:

http://us4.php.net/manual/en/ref.mail.php

You could include the date, time, user's name and query string in the email, so you'd get all the info.

Hope that helps.

[Limpkinw]

i think i have the query right, and its inserting a "counter" inot the database. Now i am trying to make a page display the cheaters...kinda like the store top 10...Working on it if I get it workin I can post here for evaluation/sharing purposes.

[MaDCaT75]

I got a problem with changing a game's champion text. Whenever I change the text and submit the changes it always goes back to just "t". Any ideas?

[M?uschen]

It is possible only to clear a part of the scourboard ?
I dont want to clear the topscore...

Please help... Thanks Mäuschen.