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!

[xxxsaint]

I was able to get this action-script info out of the snake game :

// Action script...

// [Action in Frame 1]
ifFrameLoaded(45)
{
gotoAndStop(4);
} // End of ifFrameLoad

// [Action in Frame 3]
gotoAndPlay(1);

// [Action in Frame 4]
score = 0;
stop();

// [Action in Frame 37]
Snake._visible = false;
score = 0;
tail = 1;
head = 3;
xv = 0;
yv = 1;
x = 160;
y = 100;
eaten = true;
extend = false;
makeMove = false;

// [Action in Frame 38]
x = x + 10 * xv;
y = y + 10 * yv;
head++;
duplicateMovieClip("Snake", head, 16384 + head);
setProperty(head, _x, x);
setProperty(head, _y, y);
if (eval("s_" + x + "_" + y) || x < 20 || x > 300 || y < 20 || y > 290)
{
gotoAndStop(43);
} // end if
eval("s_" + x + "_" + y) = true;
if (extend)
{
extend = false;
score = score + level;
}
else
{
eval("s_" + tail._x + "_" + tail._y) = false;
removeMovieClip(tail);
tail++;
} // end if
if (Food._x == x && Food._y == y)
{
eaten = true;
extend = true;
} // end if
if (eaten)
{
Sound.gotoAndPlay(2);
eaten = false;
tellTarget("Food")
{
_x = 10 * (random(28) + 2)
_y = 10 * (random(27) + 2)
} // end of tellTarget
} // end if
makeMove = false;

// [Action in Frame 39]
if (level == 3)
{
gotoAndPlay(38);
} // end if

// [Action in Frame 40]
if (level == 2)
{
gotoAndPlay(38);
} // end if

// [Action in Frame 41]
gotoAndPlay(38);

// [Action in Frame 43]
for (temp = head; tail < temp + 1; temp--)
{
setProperty(temp, _alpha, 33);
} // end of for
vpaver = "100B";
snakescore = score;
action = "gameover";
game = gamename;
score_loc = location + "/proarcade.php";
getURL(score_loc, "_self", "POST");

// [Action in Frame 44]
rank = 0;
Input._visible = false;
scoresURL = "snakescores.txt";
loadMovie(scoresURL, "Scores");
stop();

// [Action in Frame 45]
if (level == 3)
{
l = "p";
}
else if (level == 2)
{
l = "w";
}
else
{
l = "s";
} // end if
for (i = 1; i < 11; i++)
{
if (Scores["s" + l + i] < score)
{
rank = i;
i = 11;
} // end if
} // end of for
if (rank)
{
for (i = 9; i >= rank; i--)
{
Scores["s" + l + Number(i + 1)] = Scores["s" + l + i];
Scores["n" + l + Number(i + 1)] = Scores["n" + l + i];
} // end of for
Scores["s" + l + rank] = score;
Scores["n" + l + rank] = "";
tellTarget("Input")
{
_y = 20 * _root.rank + 59.500000
_x = 100 * _root.level - 45.500000
_visible = true
} // end of tellTarget
HS.gotoAndStop(3);
}
else
{
HS.gotoAndStop(2);
} // end if
stop();

now , being a flash rookie - is this enough info to be able to start adding our own games because I really want to add flash casino games in there , I've posted that all over these forums with no luck.

[Da`Nacho]

You can gleam the info from that...

quite bluntly the scores are sent like this:

url/proarcade.php?action=<actionname>&game=<gamename>& <scorevarname>=<scorevalue>

ie to give yourself 33,500 in tetris:

http://www.myforum.com/proarcade.php?action=gameover&game=tetris&tetrissc ore=33,500

From that you can see pretty much how the games are sending the score back to proarcade.php. I wouldn't be posting this except for the fact that I've had everyone putting in fake scores all day. I had one user who even told me he actually recompiled the breakout .swf and changed the breakoutscore = score; line to read a static value and the location variable to match the url to our forum, and then all he had to do was run it and presto.

There must be some way to prevent both of the above from happening.

[theoneandonly]

hey futureal, are you going to add any more games besides the 4 that u released?

[xxxsaint]

well , I have a slot machine .fla , and a poker machine .fla , how would I learn what to do to make those work out ?

[xxxsaint]

seeee , i'm psyched up about it

[Automated]

glad to see i could help! I dont know any flash so i look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

Does anybody have a game we can add yet?

Thanks
Matthew

[Automated]

Originally posted by xxxsaint
well , I have a slot machine .fla , and a poker machine .fla , how would I learn what to do to make those work out ?

download this program (http://www.buraks.com/asv/index.html) and then you will see how it all works but i think xxxsaint has covered it all!

Anybody had any luck?

[TheSonic]

Great hack.

After playing a game, i am redirected to the scoreboard, but Scores ARE NEVER added - all games are still at "0
(New Game!) " What can be wrong?

I dont see the "GameOver"-Screen - i just checked the templates - all are available.

Running 2.2.9

MAYDAY

BTW: Great hack!!

[orca]

Hmm a bit difficult to do a search in this big thread but I have a problem: After playing a game and the game's over I'll be directed to http://www.mysite.com/proarcade.php instead of http://www.mysite.com/forums/proarcade.php. Anyone now where I need to fix this?

[stryka]

I think everyone needs to show some patience...

I know we need to test this out but if you explain to your users that this is BETA and you have no control over future upgrades/releases.... then they might understand the delay etc...

but I am glad that so many ppl have installed this hack and is providing feedback...

and yes... i too can't wait for the next beta release... but it might take weeks, months or days...