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!

[NTLDR]

Originally posted by desi
yes plz .. i've been waiting for last 3 days now i think :

Not everyone is here everyday you know

And if you install the hack correctly then everything will work fine.

[JaZz0r]

Have you tried reading though the posts on this thread? Other people had the same problem you're having and I'll bet that, with a little investigating, you can find out how to fix it yourself.

[futureal]

Hi guys,

I apologize for not being around as much. I am really getting hammered on this CMS thing I am working on, it needs to be done ASAP and based on the feature-set that was requested, it grew much larger than I thought. Anyway, I think I am coming close to being done with it, and then I can get back to the Arcade.

Regarding the seperate thread: I want to make a separate thread because the Flash games & Flash development really have nothing to do with the hack itself, they are a separate entitity. Also, I would like to keep a list of all the games that people have modified to make work with the arcade.

I will get to some of these support questions to the best of my ability as time allows.

[futureal]

Originally posted by desi
great hack futureal

installed without any errors but now when i go to the CP

General Options
Modify Game Data

i'm not able to make any changes from there ... i try to update game options it doesn't do it ...

I have never heard of this problem before. I can only assume that something was installed incorrectly. You say the Options don't get updated.. what happens? Are any messages displayed?

also except me noone is able to se the game info .. all they see is links to Visit the Arcade | Games to Play:

i checked my proarcade file and this is what i see

// access check (here for future expansion)
switch($action) {
case "arcade":
case "scoreboard":
case "topscoreboard":
break;
case "play":
case "gameover":
if (($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 2) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 5) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 6) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 7)) {
show_nopermission();
}
break;
default:
// if no action specified, go to arcade page
$action = "arcade";
break;
}

any ideas ?

You need to check three things:

- the arcade itself must be active (from General Options)
- each game must be active (from the Modify Game Data)
- your users' groups must be listed in the switch statement quoted above. there are numerous posts in this thread addressing that issue

If all of those have been checked, and you are still having a problem, I confess that I am at a loss.

The new version already has a MUCH nicer access control system in it.

[futureal]

Originally posted by scottct1
I just installed this hack (my users are already loving it!)

I do have 2 questions though.

1) What was the code on the /forum/index.php for? I am not seeing anything displayed on the index.php page? Am I supposed to see something?

2) I am not seeing the champ for each game listed as champ in their postbit. I have gone through everything twice and can not get this working.

It's not a big deal but I thought i would ask these questions.

The code on /forum/index.php is to display a list of the active games. If it is not appearing, then you likely haven't modified your forumhome template to include it. If I remember correctly, the instructions on how to do this are included in the install file.

On the Champion system, it is known to me that there are problems with this. It has been redone for the next version, and all I can really tell people is to hang on and bear with me. It will work better, I promise!

[futureal]

Originally posted by Sebastian
I need to know what this means, This happens when I run allgame.sql

"Error: 1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'username=$username&s=$session[sessionhash]&highscore=$highscore"

mysql v4.0.4 pro

I am unsure why this could be happening. When I run allgames.sql on either of my servers, it installs perfectly. You can get around this error by adding the games manually to the CP; I know it's a pain, but it definitely works.

I am trying to simplify the game setup system for the next version. It should be, at the very least, a little bit better.

[futureal]

Originally posted by Crinos
Working excellently in my forums, except for one thing: people whose usernames have an apostrophe in their names seem to be causing some database errors...

For example, if I had a user named "Thor's Hammer", I will get the following errors:

snip

Just a heads up Excellent hack...

There needs to be an addslashes(...) in the query; I found that bug, actually, and corrected it for the next version.

Thanks!

[futureal]

Originally posted by BigJohnson
When should we explect the new version you think?

All I can say is, it will be out when it's ready, and not before.

I will be posting the .FLA files soon. Just have to package them up in some meaningful way along with basic instructions.

As far as the next version goes, I need to do a few major things. Mainly a conversion script from the old version (to preserve the data) along with better instructions for certain aspects of the hack. Maybe even a mini-FAQ for it to get around some of the commonly asked questions.

[futureal]

I hope I got to everybody's questions, I'm sure I missed one or two in there though. I should be around more often to provide a bit better support. I apologize again for the delays!

And for those who have sent me PMs, I really would prefer to handle support in this thread. I will try to get to the PMs as time allows.

Thanks.

[Sebastian]

Thanks futureal, I used phpmyadmin and it seem to work now..

Little problem with the game icons, in the admin cp for each game I upload the icon and nothing gets displayed, It just refreshes the page but doesn't actually upload the icon. any other way of adding icons to each games?

Also, what would cause the game not to load? It stays at "opening page" in the browser stats bar, like it's trying to load the flash game but never loads it.

thanks for support.

[zefman]

excellent work futureal thank you very much !

i have installed this hack on a 2.2.6 vbulletin, with no problem !
(but with the manual method, the vbhacker method doesnt work on my host site, but only on my local testing board)

only a bug for the moment in the games inself, a problem with 22th level of the breakout, the bullet passes through the top bricks, and ..game over

[aibon]

i'll be willing to check out the flash issue with netscape.
i cant see anything, because netscape7 jumps to a nonexistent url. some other bug in the movies. need the fla files, someone can post them here? if the problem with the post method makes trouble (haven't heard yet of this issues myself) i could think of a another method for making the sending via get secure. i.e. check the referer or just allow this for localhost or stuff like that. should be nop prob.

[milkmycow]

on my forum www.milkmycow.com/forum/proarcade.php the game files never load once you goto them, they just stay @ a black screen. any ideas?

my games are in forum/games/ dir and in the admin its set to all games from /games/

aim - retardkeith please im me

[Mijae]

Damn nice hack, all I need now is a way to add more games. Cant wait for more :P

[desi]

ok guys .. my appology.. but i really needed to fix this hack cause my forum members were eating my brains off ...

well as suggested i've checked everything .... all the games work fine for admins only ...

but when i try to activate the game... i just doesn't do it ..

i have checked the code over and over again ... but its all as in the install text ....

cheers