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!

[John]

Originally Posted by futureal

Yes, it is progressing quite nicely. I'd say it is about 80% complete, as far as release-worthiness. There are alphas going out to a select few people who are helping to test it in a live environment before I release it here.

When the other arcade came out, it seemed like 99% of those who were waiting for mine decided to bail, so with the pressure off I decided to go back and change the base table structure and re-do all of the code from scratch. The finished product is really quite good. I really do think it's superior to the other arcade in many, many ways; not a dig, just taking pride in my own work, I think. In a few areas I recoded things two or three times before I was satisfied with how it worked.

And here's me thinking that you always maintained they were completely different things, which they are in my opinion.

The way the v3 Arcade is made is *completely* by design. There are no mini-leaderboards, not game icon uploaders, etc. Everything is focused on what the user would want to see, and do. (I've tried to cut down on including pointless features!) There are no hideous query loops. The code is fairly clean. The next release (which is already in testing) is fully phrased and the coding is absolutely flawless. (As well as some new original features, naturally.) It's simply a matter of preference. I prefer mine, you prefer yours - there's nothing wrong with that.

When you say you think yours is superior, are you referring to the coding? I hope not... not meaning to have a dig, but I've been told that your latest vb2 proArcade release was very poorly coded. If you've found something at fault, I'd be interested to hear it.

[Dart1337]

Originally Posted by John

And here's me thinking that you always maintained they were completely different things, which they are in my opinion.

The way the v3 Arcade is made is *completely* by design. There are no mini-leaderboards, not game icon uploaders, etc. Everything is focused on what the user would want to see, and do. (I've tried to cut down on including pointless features!) There are no hideous query loops. The code is fairly clean. The next release (which is already in testing) is fully phrased and the coding is absolutely flawless. (As well as some new original features, naturally.) It's simply a matter of preference. I prefer mine, you prefer yours - there's nothing wrong with that.

When you say you think yours is superior, are you referring to the coding? I hope not... not meaning to have a dig, but I've been told that your latest vb2 proArcade release was very poorly coded. If you've found something at fault, I'd be interested to hear it.

and the battle is ON!

[trackpads]

Originally Posted by John

And here's me thinking that you always maintained they were completely different things, which they are in my opinion.

The way the v3 Arcade is made is *completely* by design. There are no mini-leaderboards, not game icon uploaders, etc. Everything is focused on what the user would want to see, and do. (I've tried to cut down on including pointless features!) There are no hideous query loops. The code is fairly clean. The next release (which is already in testing) is fully phrased and the coding is absolutely flawless. (As well as some new original features, naturally.) It's simply a matter of preference. I prefer mine, you prefer yours - there's nothing wrong with that.

When you say you think yours is superior, are you referring to the coding? I hope not... not meaning to have a dig, but I've been told that your latest vb2 proArcade release was very poorly coded. If you've found something at fault, I'd be interested to hear it.

Do mod authors normally start arguments in other mod authors threads?

[Dart1337]

Originally Posted by trackpads

Do mod authors normally start arguments in other mod authors threads?

Only the resident "unappreciated" coders.

[futureal]

Wow, congratulations on the lack of class there, John. Not once have I come into your thread and said anything bad about your hack. And I'd love to hear about all the "useless" features of vbProArcade.

NO ONE has seen my latest incarnation of the vB2 arcade, and there was nothing wrong with the coding of the old ones, either. There was a single query loop that I had not worked around because at the time there were all of five games. Instead of saying "I've heard this..." why don't you point out the parts that are poorly coded, hmm?

Your coding is far from flawless (in fact, nobody's is flawless, and anybody who says their code is flawless is simply showing their ignorance). Look no further than the way you are having people modify Flash games.

The last thing I want is to start a war with you; I see no reason why you should have come in here and posted that.

[Areku]

C'mon guys, u're supposed to launch hacks to help us, the users, build better communities, not just to showcase your programming skills in a deathmatch...

Why not putting a common system to make flash games (the mother of the arcades anyway) compatible on both systems/hacks?

[PixelFx]

Future Let me know if you need me to test

[AshAbed]

great hack.. I installed it on a german forum and everything works fine but the games wont load, it stays as a white screen where the game should show up
any ideas on how to fix it? thanks!

[futureal]

Originally Posted by Areku

C'mon guys, u're supposed to launch hacks to help us, the users, build better communities, not just to showcase your programming skills in a deathmatch...

Exactly. It's not a contest. I don't care if 5 or 50 or 500 people use a hack of mine, I'm still proud to write it and happy to have it for my own use.

PixelFx: Sorry I haven't been on IM, I'm in Florida doing race coverage. I'll be back home late Monday.

AshAbed: In the Admin CP, try removing the preceeding slash in the location of the arcade games. That usually fixes it.

[Logician]

Originally Posted by John

When you say you think yours is superior, are you referring to the coding? I hope not... not meaning to have a dig, but I've been told that your latest vb2 proArcade release was very poorly coded.

I have installed Futureal's arcade hack to many boards and it works fine. Its code is clean and I didnt run into any bugs in his hack. It would be unfair to call it "poorly coded".