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 games are compiled in Flash MX, and it transmits the score data using the HTTP POST method (sending the data through the HTTP header). There is a slim possibility that you have an older or incompatible version of the Flash Player, but I'm not sure how much of an issue that could be.

If it's going back to the arcade main page, then it means that the arcade is not getting the post-game information at all. Definitely some sort of browser/flash player issue then (if the script is called with no variables, it defaults to the arcade main page).

Maybe try upgrading your Flash player?

[eckels2]

I've got the latest flash player, same problem.

cleared all temp internet files. Deleted all cookies. logged in fresh. same problem.

I don't know if this'll matter any, but the link that it says it's linking me to in the status bar is afterblur.com/vb/proarcade.php No extended variables, or anything, just a direct link. I don't know if the other superfluous information would show up in that link, but... it doesn't.

are there any dependancies on linking the user to the comments page? Like, does the script check for something before linking, that I might not have?

[futureal]

Originally posted by eckels2
I don't know if this'll matter any, but the link that it says it's linking me to in the status bar is afterblur.com/vb/proarcade.php No extended variables, or anything, just a direct link. I don't know if the other superfluous information would show up in that link, but... it doesn't.

Since the variables are being sent from the game to the script via POST, nothing should show up in the address bar -- that is the difference between POST and GET. If it were GET, you would see something like:

proarcade.php?var1=something&var2=something (and so on)

are there any dependancies on linking the user to the comments page? Like, does the script check for something before linking, that I might not have?

I'm not aware of any dependencies. I wish I had a good answer as to why this might be happening. Since it works for the majority of users, I'm not sure where to look for a "fix" or even for the problem.

My guess is that it has something to do with the getURL() method in Flash's ActionScript not doing something correctly (say, headers getting corrupted, or something similar) but I honestly have no idea what I could do to isolate this.

Perhaps somebody out there more experienced with Flash might have an idea on this?

[Tigga]

You rock Futureal! I've got the games installed and working great on my site now. My users love them! I can't wait to see this once it's complete!

[eckels2]

The user that I said had the same problem, said he had the problem on other boards with this hack as well. So there's gotta be something....

[futureal]

I will keep thinking about it to see if I can come up with anything. I don't have any ideas at the moment, though...

[ZiRu$]

well....i just installed it.....no errors BUT the games do not show up when i go to...

proarcade.php

i'm guessin i missed a query? i installed it once by manual then again by vbhacker...no luck

so it gotta be a query....cant find it though

[futureal]

It looks like the games are not set to active. Go to the Game Options in the Admin CP and make sure each game is individually set to active.

If that isn't the problem, then... I dunno. Check the arcadegames table and make sure that the games are installed into that correctly.

[wolfe]

of where it says url to games in the arcade options i had to change it to


http://www.myurl.com/forums/games/

or they were just comeing up black screen or white screen not loading

[mewgood]

Hm.. I got no errors now, but I still can't see any images after I upload. All I see is broken images..
Help pLEASE