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!

[Tigga]

Originally posted by futureal
The time is (right now) pulled off of the server and stored in the database in server time. I have not yet added the code to adjust for user's timezones, although that will be rather easy to do.

Ok, so that means that if a user made a high score at say 3:37 pm, then the server time changed, the time they got their high score would remain 3:37 pm, right? Just curious about that because the user we think might be cheating made a couple of scores that were too close together to be right, but it seems it could be possible since I know the server time has changed a couple of times, thus the times he made those scores could be off.

[futureal]

As it stands right now, changing the server time would not affect old scores, it would only affect new scores. Like:

- Server time is 1 PM
- User plays game at 1:30 and its recorded as 1:30
- Server time goes back an hour
- User plays game again and its recorded as 12:35

Now in the database, it looks like the second game finished before the first game.

Once I add the code to compensate for a user's time zone, it will take the stored time as the server time, and then calculate the viewing user's GMT offset with that.

[situledi]

ok.. i have a question

first af all thanx for this great MOD, and sorry for my english...

well, i want to restrict, b/c some new registred members play game before posting (to say "hi everybody.. what a beautifull forum with nice people.... lol )) incredible ...

so i make some modifications in proarcade.php:

if
(
(
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 2) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 5) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 6) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 7) and
($bbuserinfo[usergroupid] != 8)

) and
(
($bbuserinfo[posts] < 5)
)
)
{
show_nopermission();
}

break;

so registred user need a minimum of 5 posts before playing...

my question is.. there is a way.. for posts by day? or creating a new thread? something to help peple to not forget there are in a forum?

well i hope u understand my mind.. thanx in advance

[Scrooge]

I did the code the way you suggest Futureal. I'm not sure if that is still part of my current problems or not though.

The only games that work for me are Snake and Space Invaders. Any idea why the others wouldn't work?

Also, the Champions does not display. I tried the method mentioned earlier about putting it in postbits, but that doesn't seem to work either. If I put it in postbits shouldn't I also need a template called champions_postbits or something? (Don't laugh, I am a newbie )

Thanks for any help.

[futureal]

Originally posted by situledi
so registred user need a minimum of 5 posts before playing...

my question is.. there is a way.. for posts by day? or creating a new thread? something to help peple to not forget there are in a forum?

You could do things like that, but they would require additional queries. To get a user's posts in a day you would have to select from the post table where the userid is the user's and the date is today's date. For threads you'd have to check threadid to see if it was started by a particular userid on a particular day, and so on.

Basically, you would just have to add any conditional information to the code just as you added your post check above. You may want to display a message to the user as well, such as "You must post at least XX times each day to use the Arcade."

[futureal]

Originally posted by Scrooge
The only games that work for me are Snake and Space Invaders. Any idea why the others wouldn't work?

If a few games are working but others aren't, in means there is a problem in the Game Configuration. Check to make sure that the filenames (*.swf) are correct, the game names are unique/correct, and that the games are active.

Also, the Champions does not display. I tried the method mentioned earlier about putting it in postbits, but that doesn't seem to work either. If I put it in postbits shouldn't I also need a template called champions_postbits or something? (Don't laugh, I am a newbie )

The Champ System should work "as is" with no modifications, assuming that your user's titles are being displayed in postbit (which is the vB default). Once again, make sure that the Champ System is enabled in the General Options and enabled for each game that you'd like to see it on.

[Scrooge]

If a few games are working but others aren't, in means there is a problem in the Game Configuration. Check to make sure that the filenames (*.swf) are correct, the game names are unique/correct, and that the games are active.

Checked all of the above multiple times, and it is correct. I tried just running the flash to see if it was the hack or the actual game too. The working titles (Snake and Space Invaders) work, but even if I go directly to the others they don't work. Maybe I uploaded in ASCII when it should be binary or vice versa? I checked permissions to and they working and non-working have the same permissions.

The Champ System should work "as is" with no modifications, assuming that your user's titles are being displayed in postbit (which is the vB default). Once again, make sure that the Champ System is enabled in the General Options and enabled for each game that you'd like to see it on.

This may be the problem. I have a couple of User Title hacks, one allowing users to change titles if they have made a donation for example. Maybe the conflict is there?

[VietPDX]

i don't know if this an old or new bug ...but basicly i have a website for vietnamese and one of my member has this nick " be' P" ...and the program just give error. I look through the script and notice you didn't add in addslashes for username. I did some tweakin and now it's perfect now. I don't know if you already did or going to fix that bug or not, but i just want to let u know :bandit:

ENJOY

[Scrooge]

I uploaded the game files again and they work now! Don't know if it matters, but I uploaded in binary this time.

[Fuitad]

I am begging you, please make the arkanoid game able to disable music