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!

[powelly]

My members can't stop playing the Arcade!! Their ALL addicted! Thanks man

[The Wedge]

was anybody able to add new games to the hack and if so what games???

[Zelda-King]

I have Snake, Breakout, Pacman, Tetris, Space Invaders, Simon Says, Hexxagon, Roulette, Plasma v2, XSnake, XBreakout and Word Drop. The files are available in the games development thread for this hack.

[sabret00the]

stupid question i know but how do i uninstall the queries? i basically just wanna reinsert them as i can't get any additional games to add

[futureal]

03-23-03 at 05:17 PM Erwin said this in Post #1085
If futureal is around, I wonder if he wants to move this hack out of beta into Full Releases.

Nah, it is definitely still beta. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved before I'll consider it worthy of a "Full Release" status. Most of the issues should have been resolved by now and I take full responsibility for releasing incomplete and buggy code and not fixing it in time.

I think we will see a "Full Release" yet, though.

I will try and answer some of the individual questions here.

[futureal]

Today at 08:34 AM sabret00the said this in Post #1094
stupid question i know but how do i uninstall the queries? i basically just wanna reinsert them as i can't get any additional games to add

If you just want to reinstall the games, you can just re-do the arcadegames table.

You would execute:

DROP TABLE arcadegames;

And then re-run the query that creats the arcadegames table and inserts that data into it.

[futureal]

03-23-03 at 10:31 PM PixelFx said this in Post #1088
Futureal, awesome hack,

I've got it installed with vbhome/vbulletin 2.3.0 beta release 1 so far, and everything installed awesome, there were graphical issues, but very easy to fix.

My community loves it, I've got 8 games installed with beta 2 so far I'm looking for Donkey Kong, I found the swf after reading all 22 threads on arcade 1, and then all 73 posts in this threads here.

What would need for Donky Kong to run? aka Hash and Scrore setting?

this is an example of what my site looks like so far with your awesome script.

http://www.bael-zharon.com/forum/proarcade.php

If all you have is the SWF, it will not work with the hack. You need to get access to the source itself (the .FLA file) so that you can add the necessary information to the game to interact with the arcade.

Check out the Flash Games Development thread in this same forum (Beta Hacks) for more information on how to convert a game to an arcade-compatible format.

[futureal]

03-23-03 at 05:13 PM midnightz said this in Post #1084
Hi all,

I have seached but cant find - anybody got a lil newbie guide for adding more games

Please hehe

midz

Yesterday at 10:41 PM The Wedge said this in Post #1092
was anybody able to add new games to the hack and if so what games???

You should be able to find more information on adding additional games in the Flash Games Development thread, located in this same forum (Beta Hacks).

There are a few games in there that were not included with the original hack, and they all look pretty good.

[futureal]

I will have more answers for you all later. I am at the office right now and should probably get back to work.

Thanks for all your kind words!

[Fi_InCogNiTo]

After a game, the page redirects to http://proarcade.php/

It doesn't include the bburl in front. Anyone know why? I read most of the posts on the thread, but it's so long heh

I use msn explorer and internet explorer browsers.