Major Additions - Chess

Chess for vbulletin.

This mod turns an existing forum into a forum for playing chess in. Members can then play games against each other as easilly as posting a new post in a regular forum.

NB: the beta version of this dosn't enforce the rules of chess so illegal moves are possible - this does have the advantage of allowing handicap matches and variations on standard chess rules.

beta

This mod is a beta mod, this means that i have all the functions working on my board however there may be unforseen problems and conflicts on different vb setups. I'm 95% confidant that there are no major isseus left in the core code, the only issues that may arrise are from the new ajax features. If this is a problem for you, you can disable the ajax features in the admin cp.

Demo

A live demo can be seen here: http://www.giveupalready.com/forumdisplay.php?f=349 (running v1.0.1 till i've time to upgrade it)

Screenshots

Screen shot shows new UI

Version History

1.1b (beta): current version
- improved user interface (if you've changed the chess template you will need to revert/apply the changes manually)
- back/forward buttons for local moves (unsaved. Full backward/forward movement will be added in a later version)
- highlight for currently selected square.

1.0.1b (beta):
- fixed a couple of misisng TABLE_PREFIX's
- fixed table spacing issue

1.0b (beta):
- forced quick reply to be enabled.
- added reset board link + javascript to reset the board without reloading.
- ajax posting of moves.
- board updates itself every 10 secs via ajax.
- added option to flip layout of board.

0.2b (beta):
- added some javascript to update piece replacments instantly.
- templates are now fully phrased.

0.1b (beta):
- added faq entries to product file
- (hopefully) improved compatablity with vbseo
- modified instal instructions to avoid potential javascript problems.
- changed version numbering scheme.

beta:
- re-exported product file to contain all the settings fields.

alpha:
- changed image paths to allow for customised images.

Known Issues

- Table sizes are inconsistant
- If min post length is greater than 7 moves wont post without a comment.

Compatability

This mod was written on vb 3.6.0 and has been tested on 3.6.7 compatablity with other versions is unknown. Reported working on 3.6.8

Instalation

1. Backup your Database
2. Upload images into your images directory.
3. new for v1.0b Upload Chess.php to your main forum directory.
4. Turn your board off.
5. Create a new forum, browse to it and make a note of its forum id.
6. Disable Html, bb code,smilies,[img] code and post icons in this new forum
7. Import the chess product
8. In the vbulletin settings change the forumid to the new forum you created. You can also change the piece colour to better match your forums style.
9. (Optional) Create a link forum to point to the chess faq which explains how to play.
10. Turn your board back on
11. Click installed.

Upgrade from < 1.0b

1. Backup your Database
2. Upload Chess.php to your main forum directory.
3. Import the chess product (allow overwrite must be set to yes)
4. Check the new settings are set to your liking.

Upgrade from 1.0b

1. Import the chess product (allow overwrite must be set to yes)

Support

As all of my boards have been upgraded to vbulletin 4, I am no longer actively maintaining any of my vb3.x mods. Free support for all of my 3.x mods is being removed from the 31st of March 2010 after this date, I will only be offering paid support for 3.x mods; downloading and usage of the mods will remain free but unsupported.

For support of 3.x mods, please pm me as I won't be checking the threads very often.

Liscense
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

You may modify this software to suit your own purposes but may only distribute said modifications within this thread and with my approval.

Credits

Images were modified from icon files downloaded from http://www.enpassant.dk/chess/grafeng.htm

Checkers

Untill i get arround to coding and releasing a checkers game you can play checkers using this mod using the following instructions provided by one of my forum members:

(b8,b8)(d8,d8)(f8,f8)(h8,h8)(a7,a7)(c7,c7)(e7,e7)(g7,g7)(a1,a1)(c1,c1)(e1,e1)(g1,g1)(b2,b2)(d2,d2)(f2,f2)(h2,h2)(c8,bR)(e8,bR)(g8,bR)(b7,bR)(d7,bR)(f7,bR)(h7,bR)(a6,bR)(c6,bR)(e6,bR)(g6,bR)(b1,wR)(d1,wR)(f1,wR)(a2,wR)(c2,wR)(e2,wR)(g2,wR)(b3,wR)(d3,wR)(f3,wR)(h3,wR)

Just copy the code when you are making the first post. Simple as that.

Notes:
1. When you jump a piece, you must also double-click on the piece that you jump to get rid of it. If you write out the code manually, just write the code twice. [ex: (f4,f4)]

2. To get a king piece, use the same code as you would to promote a pawn.
[ex: (a1,bK)]

3. If you double jump, please put in the full syntax and not just the finishing move. This will help your opponent see all the jumps that you made.

Custom Images

You can add image sets by uploading a gfx for each piece identified by its initial into a new directory within the /images/chess/ directory and then changing the image settings in the admincp.

If anyone has any custom image sets that they can legally distribute pm me a link and i'll link to them in this post.

Feature requests
- Leader board
- Other games (checkers, monopoly,risk, go)

[Hugo Holbling]

Originally Posted by Hugo Holbling

This works okay in 3.7.0 except for the following error every time a game is viewed: [snip]

I figured out that this mod was conflicting with the reputation part of Paul M's "Display Unread Posts". Switching this off and only displaying the unread posts lead to the error disappearing. I don't use rep so this mod now works fine for me on 3.7.0.

[RedeemedWarrior]

glad it worked man

its a great hack that 3.7 needs

[ZeK005]

Excellent mod.... i was looking for a good chess game for vBulletin or ibproarcade but only with negative results.

This works well in my forum, is vBulletin 3.7.2 PL1

I will rewrite the code to improve the game a little because it is still incomplete. The mod can't check if the move is legal. I will work in this.

You can view the mod working in vB 3.7.2 here http://megaunder.com.ar/showthread.php?t=2487

PS: Sorry for my bad english :S

[Deepdog009]

Originally Posted by ZeK005

Excellent mod.... i was looking for a good chess game for vBulletin or ibproarcade but only with negative results.

This works well in my forum, is vBulletin 3.7.2 PL1

I will rewrite the code to improve the game a little because it is still incomplete. The mod can't check if the move is legal. I will work in this.

You can view the mod working in vB 3.7.2 here http://megaunder.com.ar/showthread.php?t=2487

PS: Sorry for my bad english :S

*****************************************

ZeK005,,,
Great job...
Keep the ball rolling:up:

[Carnage]

i've been toying with a few improvements to this mod on my Dev board. Mostly under the hood changes thou.

I can confirm that it works on Vb3.7, as my own board runs it on that.

This mod is supported, however i only check this board infrequently, so if its important you need to contact me on my own forums as is noted under Support.

ZeK005: if you want to add an option to enforce legal moves, feel free; I could add a hook location or two to allow you to create it as an addon, if you let me know where you want them.

It'd be good if it could be controled by an additional option with three selections:
allow all moves
allow legal moves only
thread based move legality.

Where by the last option would allow a parameter to be specified to enforce legal moves or not.

I have purposfully not included this feature myself, as i've never believed it to be nessisary: your home chess set dosn't do it, yet you can still play chess. Enforcing rules also prevents derievitive games being played or as has happened a couple of times on my forums, a thread that ended in a controversial draw sparked another thread between two members who were arguing as to if white could have forced a win from their position. This custom setup would have had to be done move by move if legal moves were enforced, instead the moves posted already were simply copied into the first post of the new thread.

[parash]

Great I installed it Thanks m8 for your reply

[john102774]

Good stuff! Just installed it on VB3.7.3

[ruger]

Anyone try this on 3.8+?

[cnbcad]

what would be cool is replay arrows under the board; rewind(goes back to beginning of game) forward and back and fast forward (go to last move)

[Carnage]

ruger: none of my boards have yet been upgraded to 3.8 so i've not personally tested it; however there is no reason i know of that should prevent it working on 3.8 If you try it, let me know how it goes.

cnbcad: i'll sum up what i've already said about this, the arrows to go back and forward are partially implemented on the dev version; however thats not ready for release yet.