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!

[E]

Originally posted by Lanigironu


Do you have FLAs for any of those? I'll modify them.

of the flash games I have all the files, the other games are java in which I have the files also. Its all hosted by my site, just some of the miniclips are from other sites but i have the orignal files.
Which all ones you want? Ill d/l them and post each one here for ya. I don't mind sharing them at all.
Peace
E

[kmfdm_kid2000]

Well, I only read the first page, and it's a great idea...This is a shot in the dark, but wouldn't it be nice to play Head To Head Tetris w/ other members??

[zootsuit]

This looks wonderful. I can't wait for it!

[futureal]

Originally posted by xxxsaint
Is there a way to make it also put a crown beside their champion title that is inserted below the user title ? I've added the crown-addon for tetris and that keeps everyone fighting over it , the crown graphic.

My personal preference for my own forums was to have a text label rather than a crown -- I think that having crowns for all the games would just clutter things up like crazy. But I did plan on adding that feature at a later date. Most of the code is already in place, you'd just have to extend it to use a graphic instead of a line of text.

One I get this beta out, I will look into adding that.

[Apok2002]

Just a quick side not, forgive me if it's "off topic". But in Tetris, I have some members who have pretty much mastered it, with scores around 200,000. To make it fair to other members, I have to reset the scores via myphpadmin every other week or so to let them have a go at the Leaderboard. Is there an easier way? And if these other games will have a difficulty cap like Tetris, perhaps there should be some other way of resetting the scores instead of going into myphpadmin?

In any event...those master Tetriticians requested more levels (level 10 is the last level available). Don't know if there is anything that can be done about this...has anyone else experienced a slight "problem" w/ this difficulty cap? Is it possible to add on more levels? Also, what about the new games' cap? Will there be one?

Maybe it's not a big deal because I'm in the minority here. I run a gaming community, so of course these guys are going to eat up these games quickly. hehe If so, then it's understandable as it's "not the norm".

[-=Sniper=-]

Apok2002, thats a good point!

something like this maybe could work! when user selects to play a game, say Tetris, they get a high score, say above 100,000 they are enterd into the Pro leaderboard, if less, a beginner leaderboard? get what I mean?

look forward to the hack! considering I already have the arcade hack, I will convert to using this one...I have my reasons !

[NuclioN]

a flashmaster could edit the patern of the stones in a way that the leader of the highscore table will experience strange behavior of the stones, fitting in eachother. A quick vertical turn or so, just enough to find waterloo around the 90.000 score. A new tetris leader will emerge and law and belold...he/she's getting the same problems.

[Ninth Dimension]

I think that a number of diffrent flash files are available in johns original tetris thread that can be downloaded and used with johns system - I dunno if any of the variables have been changed in this new one or not?

[futureal]

Apok2002: The ability to reset a scoreboard is already a planned feature, but not in there yet. Depending on how much time it takes me to rip the code and templates out for the install instructions, I may or may not have time to add it for this Beta. It *will* be in the final hack.

Ninth Dimension: The five games that will be "released" along with vbProArcade are:

Tetris
Breakout
Pacman
Snake
Space Invaders

Tetris is a modified version of the original vbTetris, Breakout was found open-source on flashkit and heavily modified by one of my admins, and the other three games were found on some programmer's website (the URL is on the games) and modified by myself to work with this hack.

[JJR512]

I hate to be a pain in the ass, but I'm wondering if you could estimate an approximate time frame for the release of the first release? Nothing definite; just a scale, like a few days, or a week, or a few weeks.