The Grand Multiplayer Thread

**EviPuppetMaster** · 03-19-2003, 12:17 AM

thanks for the tips jobem

yeah we have already started tinkering with aquaserver so that messages are only sent to groups of users, so that you at least only have to deal with messages relevant to your own game! hooray for open-source

the approach we are currently leaning towards is to classify all events as

- critical: meaning that the event cannot be executed until all the clients have received and acknowledged the event
- non-critical: the event can be executed immediately but notification still has to be sent to all clients, ack is not required
- local: the event does not have to be communicated to the other clients

so a critical event would be something like attacking another player's units, they have to have ~not~ moved their units since you sent the attack order, otherwise your attack message has to be rolled back.

a non-critical event would be the completion of a new unit. eventually they need to know about it but it is not time-critical for the other clients to know

and a local event would be choosing to build a new unit... the other players don't need to know about it until it is complete

critical events therefore are the only ones that we need to care about latency for. and hopefully there won't be THAT many of them. (even a person clicking and dragging at a huge rate might generate one of these only once every 5 seconds or something). it depends a lot on how we design the gameplay too as to how often they occur.

our current idea for approaching the critical events is that they'll have to be acknowledged by each player before they are executed by any player, including the originator. to handle this we were thinking that when a player generates the event, it is shown as a ghost and some sort of message pops up 'mobilizing forces' or whatever while the message is sent and acked. once it has been acked by all the players then it can be executed... and if it's rejected then it gets cancelled. this allows us to (fairly) gracefully back out because nothing has actually been executed yet. and the player can be informed that 'communication lines were down, order cancelled' or something. and hopefully the delay would never be more than a couple of seconds...

this is where we could modify the server as well, it could handle the final ack of critical events, not sending it until an ack is received from all players, and cancelling it if one player rejects the event. this avoids the problem that would occur in pure flash of a massive cascade of rejection messages that would have to be sent to all the players.

thoughts anyone?

Ihoss · 03-20-2003, 08:21 AM

This may sound really stupid to some of u but what is XML, and do i need a special server to use it?

**japangreg** · 03-20-2003, 10:45 AM

XML Tutorial: Jucy Studios

Ihoss · 03-26-2003, 07:42 AM

2 more questions:

how do you use sockets in flash?

how do you get variables from MySQL?

**Ed Mack** · 03-28-2003, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by brutfood
i2thicko.com here!

I'm just trying to get some new stuff working online - So I have a stupid question.

How do I run a socket server? How do I set it up so it always runs? Do I use cron to start it up every midnight? To test it on my own computer, I just opened a terminal window and run it - I have (unix ssh) terminal access to my host, but I need to ensure that I not only tell it to run - but it keeps running.

Well, once you ftp the files onto the server (NOT in html directory, or in a private one!), you can connect to it, and then move to the directory with the files. Say it was a java class file named "Server.class" you would use this:

java Server &

The & forks the process, basically making it run in the background without your terminal. That should be fine. You could go further and create a script (Perl, PHP, bash ect...) that would periodically check the process is still in existance (say some freak reboot), and fork a new one if required, if you are inclined that way.

**raticat** · 04-25-2003, 08:36 PM

Hey, heres a few more questions:

I have been trying to get this dam iis working on the INTERNET(I have it working on local host) to test a multiplayer game. I have everything installed I think but now I am the ONLY ONE who can view the pages through my ip address. My friends cant :S Any ideas why?

And another question, how can I change my ip to be static(if I can)?

Thanks for any help,
Cheers,
Matt

**Ed Mack** · 04-26-2003, 03:21 PM

Originally posted by raticat
Hey, heres a few more questions:

I have been trying to get this dam iis working on the INTERNET(I have it working on local host) to test a multiplayer game. I have everything installed I think but now I am the ONLY ONE who can view the pages through my ip address. My friends cant :S Any ideas why?

And another question, how can I change my ip to be static(if I can)?

Thanks for any help,
Cheers,
Matt

Unsure about the viewing your site thing, If you can see it elsewhere I can't see why others couldn't (bar a deny list or something)

Your ISP has to assign you a static IP, but most want. Many permanent connections have static IPs though (cable, ASDL ect..)

**madmental** · 05-17-2003, 04:03 PM

hello...
jobe? or anyone else to that matter. I donwloaded your ElectoServer.
I installed it and ran one of the sample aplications, the dont_fall.swf. Now it works =]...but...Im using IIS, and I have has asp forums chatrooms etc working, but when i try to get it to open the swf it wont work...

Now I thought maybe it was cuss I shouldnt use IIS and that electroserver had its own settings for stten up your machine as a server, but i couldnt find these settings, and Im so puzzled...

Can you help? did any of this make sense? do you need more info??
pleeaase help me, il be very greatful =]

**madmental** · 05-17-2003, 04:24 PM

about IIS...ok are you using a router? are you using a network IP to access you files e.g 10.0.0.7 instead of 127.92.104.24???

There is an ip script that will update a page with your ip everytime it changes, i suggets you do a search in google.com if you cant find it then I'l get the link for you (*may take sum time though*)

if you are using a router then you need to configure the virtual server...

Also if you are behind a firewall or on a network then you will need to have your pages on the network server...

I wont say anymore incase you arnt behind a network or a firwall or indeed on a router, i sum times blabble, and its hard to get my message across

**thape** · 06-12-2003, 07:08 PM

here's an excellent example made by jarod tarbell, using unity 2 (harmony) from colin moock and derek clayton..

http://www.randominterface.com/flash...simpledraw.swf

thape

**lgs** · 06-14-2003, 02:17 PM

okay....
this stuff is confusing...
i would like a tutorial for making multiplayer games.
also, what is xml, php, perl etc.?

**captfc** · 06-14-2003, 03:31 PM

Here ya go, I'll give you a leg up with your scripting...

http://www.php.net/
http://www.perl.com/
http://www.xml.com/

**kyled** · 06-14-2003, 05:21 PM

http://www.flashkit.com/board/showth...hp+game+socket is a link to an oild post that I put up that had a php socket server, and a fla to connect with it, also some other info about it for thos looking into using PHP.

Php And Perl are scripting languages that you can use on a server. XML is a form of basically sending data in a "special" format, although with flash, you dont have to worry about xml, even though the command is called xmlsocket or some darn thing like that.

**lgs** · 06-16-2003, 04:10 PM

where can i learn all these complicated languages?

**thape** · 06-19-2003, 11:34 AM

Originally posted by lgs
where can i learn all these complicated languages?

unity is great to develop multiplayer games with.. there's a unity developer's forum on http://www.randominterface.com/forum

thape

**Beatcow** · 06-19-2003, 04:13 PM

For electroserver:

Im trying to install the AS and it says open install.swf in archiveC. Wheres that?

**m_andrews808** · 07-25-2003, 03:21 PM

ello all

maybe someone could help me with my problem:

I've set my home computer up as a server and have CommServer running on it. I also have my domain associated with my home ip. When I view my multiplayer game in a browser using my ip address in the url everthing is fine and dandy (to external peeps too) if I goto the same page but use my domain in the url my game fails to connect to CommServer. Anyone got any ideas?

ps if you're interested in setting up your own server but not sure where to start try here: www.firepages.com.au

they've bundled together php, MySQL and apache and preconfigured the package, all you have to do is download, install and you're done (almost)

**thape** · 08-14-2003, 08:29 PM

Originally posted by thape
unity is great to develop multiplayer games with.. there's a unity developer's forum on http://www.randominterface.com/forum

thape

this forum for Unity and Flash Open Sound Control moved to http://www.randominterface.com/forum

**centaurii** · 08-18-2003, 03:05 AM

i posted a thread on 'backend and...' about beta testers for my multiplayer shoot m up.
I based it on a server-side java server i wrote myself and i need testers to check it in 'real conditions'.anybody here ?

must be online between 8am and 11am or 2pm and 4pm around GMT+1

??

hope to hear from you soon

My Msnmessenger: heptane@hotmail.com or Y!messenger : 'madeinrouen'

Cu

**centaurii** · 08-18-2003, 03:10 AM

does anybody have a WORKING link to a multiplayer game in flash ? a one that WORKS with correct GAMEPLAY and useable LANTENCIES ????

xxx

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