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)

[imported_silkroad]

Originally Posted by Carnage-

I've updated with the version from my dev board. It includes a much cleaner UI and a couple of other features i was working on.

No legal move enforcement, however i've been convinced that this is a necessary feature and will include it in the vb 4 version of this product (and provide a backport to this version)

Thanks. We will try the next release and comment

EDITORIAL COMMENT BELOW:

OBTW, we are not going to upgrade to vB 4.0.

We have not found the recent Jelsoft upgrades to add much value, so please make sure your next major release also works with the older versions like 3.7 and 3.8, please. Thanks. We will not upgrade to 4.0 anytime soon, unless there is a "killer app" in the release, and we have not found any of the releases over the past few years to have any "killer app" and they simply cause us a lot of work with little to no benefits

[imported_silkroad]

Originally Posted by Carnage-

Really, what i'd like to do is redo the whole of the javascript, this mod was written before I'd learn about js frameworks like yui and jQuery.

Speaking of YUI and jQuery, please do not hard code your static content like Javascript and images into your mod. (Not that you have... I don't recall).

In other words, please make your mod "CDN Friendly" (Content Delivery Network Friendly), like YUI. We serve our JS and images from a CDN.

Some coders hard code the paths to these scripts and images into their PHP code, which makes it hard to serve the static content via a CDN. Our CDN currently serves around 110 GB per week;

Last Week Data Trans: 110.33 GB 
Last Week Total Hits: 21,451,665 
Last Week Hits/sec: 35

We have used both Amazon CloudFront and SimpleCDN Mirror Bucket. Because of the features of SimpleCDN, we ported from CF to SimpleCDN, FYI.

[Carnage]

The idea is to move the mod to a more MVC design approach where it'll be possible to load/unload the modules required for the features. Some or all of the improvments will then get backported into this mod.

As for vb4, I myself was 50/50 on upgrading, but having seen a small snippet of the code in darrens blog, feel as a developer it'll be worth upgrading.

Currently, the image paths are controlled by settings however teh javascript is hardcoded into the template. This is something that I intend to change, however for the time being its easy enough to copy the none dynamic parts (eg the function defs) to a separate file and include it in the page if you need to.

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by imported_silkroad

PS: It does not work to argue with our users when they don't like something. They are smart enough to know what they like and don't like. Most board-jockeys learn early that listening to their members/users is the key to success.

As long as you're not giving into the whim of every user who doesn't anything all of the time. With 80k users, the vocal majority aren't necessarily larger then the group that's doing just fine.



When you do put in the "forced rules" option, if it's at all feasible, would you provide an option to turn enforcement off? Thanks.

[imported_silkroad]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

As long as you're not giving into the whim of every user who doesn't anything all of the time. With 80k users, the vocal majority aren't necessarily larger then the group that's doing just fine.

Wow! That's a huge leap in thinking to go from "listening to users" to "giving into the whim of every user" LOL.

[imported_silkroad]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

When you do put in the "forced rules" option, if it's at all feasible, would you provide an option to turn enforcement off? Thanks.

Carnage has already stated (repeatedly), it will be an option.

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by imported_silkroad

Carnage has already stated (repeatedly), it will be an option.

I haven't been reading this thread up until this most recent update. So I wouldn't have caught any repeated statements.

Originally Posted by imported_silkroad

Wow! That's a huge leap in thinking to go from "listening to users" to "giving into the whim of every user" LOL.

It's a fine line that can very easily be crossed. Users can want a lot of things, that doesn't instantaneously mean it's a good idea. The best ideas in history have always been the ones that nobody ever new they wanted.

[willy888]

I have this error on the top of page when make post

Warning: implode() [function.implode]: Invalid arguments passed in [path]/showthread.php(2167) : eval()'d code on line 132

[realdx]

please, evolve this to the classic Naval Battle game!!

[Texas_Dawg]

When I try to post a move on the game in my chess forum, I get this message:

Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.

Anyone know what is causing that and how I can fix it? Thanks.