The Grand Multiplayer Thread

Hey Everyone,

Over the past couple of weeks, i have been experimenting with different servers. If you want to know what i think about the ones that i used (Unity, ElectroServer, Fortress) then please read on!

First, Electroserver:
For those of you who want a quality server with not that much if a learning curve, GO FOR THIS ONE! You can build lobbies and multiuser games in a heartbeat. Fairly full featured, great for people interested in multi-user environments! Good job Jobe!!!!! A Little Overpriced, in my opinion

Unity:
Im fairly impressed. Learning curve is about medium. I would recommened that you learn XML, Java, and a couple other languages before tackling this big mammoth of a server. Its fairly chep too, compared to competitors

Last, Xadra Fortress,
HUGE learning curve. If you can dedicate time, Go for this one. I wouldnt recommend it for beginners. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING WITH THIS PUPPY!!!! Also, i would recommend reading the manuals a few times, just to get a good grip on it. VERY EXPENSIVE. Also, for the free version, you get 50 free connections at the same time, compared to 5 with electro server.

Here is the key i will use to rate the servers:
1.)Newb
2.)advanced developer
3.)PRO!

Unity - 2 and 3
Electro Server - 1-2-3
Xadra - 3

Remember, these are just my opinions, so dont get all heated up if i messed up!

Have Fun!

Quote:

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Originally posted by Ed Mack
Sockets
This is the fastest and best method. It requires that you have some sort of server sitting listening on some computer. This is usually a program of some kind, and typically requires more programming knowledge than the polling method. This can be acheived with Java, PHP (requires uncommon special settings)...

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Does anyone have any examples of sockets implemented using PHP? I found some good Perl examples (written by vaykent) via the sticky at the top of the XML forum.

Is there some performance issue with Perl or PHP? Is favoured the moock java server better?

The best example I have seen of a successful PHP socket implementation is Kyled, a frequent contributor to this board. I would ask him. He's very helpful.

Here is his gaming site:


http://www.gecko-games.com/

http://www.flashkit.com/board/showth...44#post2218044

A thread I had posted long ago that contains a php socket server.

There is a spot in there that tells you how you can check to see if you can support socket servers with php.

Socket servers only accept tcp/ip connections, not udp.

notes: if you run a swf on your local machine, you can define the IP/dns the socket can connect to, else for running the swf from a server the socket in the swf can only connect to the server it is located on by using "" as the ip.

For those people who think the variables need to be sent in xml format, they do not! Stop giving people the wrong information.

Sorry not to have posted earlier but I'm way too busy at school, and working now and then on my game.

attached is a FLA, that connects to a socket server. Its crude but is decent enough.

Hmmmmm.

Im in a little dilema. ElectroServer or Fortress? I say to myself every 10 seconds. Xadra's Fortress is so powerful, yet expensive. What do you guys think is the better buy? Im having a hard time. I want to EVENTUALLY make a multiplayer game kind of like the Diablo Interface, with trading, dueling, etc... What do you think would be the best to start programming with, after doing all my test results of power, etc.... im stumped by the tie between these 2.

Don't ask me, I'm a Unity whore :) The next version will have a lot more in the way of built in API, so don't totally forget about it.

rpgprogrammer,

I have never used Fortress, but from what I understand it is mega-powerful. But with mega-power comes an enormous learning curve.

ElectroServer on the other hand is very easy to use and is medium-level at power. But it was design ONLY for Flash chats and multiplayer games. It is also less expensive.

ElectroServer is good if you expect to have a normal level of activity. Fortress is good if you need special functionality or if you need to support the whole planet playing at once.

They both are fast. They both will run on any server OS.

That is my quick comparison having never used Fortress, but being the owner of ElectroServer.

Good luck finding the solution that is best for your game!

Hey Jobe,

I just started programming with Electroserver again, and i just said screw fortress! Electroserver Rocks! Good Job making it!!!!! i absolutely love it!!! I cant wait to finish my game, with ElectroServer and all!

-Steven.

Glad you like it that much!

FYI: While I coded all of the ActionScript stuff you see in the examples and wrote the documentation, I did not make ElectroServer. Electrotank has 3 primary employees, myself being one, Robert Firebaugh and Mike Grundvig being the others. Mike Grundvig does all of our server-side programming and he built ElectroServer.

Talk to you later. I'm off to hit the slopes :-) my one-a-year ski trip!

I'm also making a multiplayer game and since i know a little about PHP i am using it. i make the flash game send the variables to a PHP which saves them in a .txt. then the other flash game opens the .txt file and gets the varialbe. the problem is that this is slow so u cant use it for a action game. i am currently working on a strategy game simelar to chess. if anyone has an other idea, pleas tell me

Hi ilhos,

If you can use a database instead of a text file then you would most likely increase your speed and decrease bugs. With a text file only 1 person can edit the file simultaneously. With a database, even a simple one like MS Access, you can have dozens to thousands of simultaneous access/edits.

I thought MS Access dbs were generally quite limited in terms of similtanious users? Do yourself a favour and play with mySQL :)

Ed Mack,

Yes MS Acess is quite limited. It will allow somewhere aroud 20 simultaneous database hits. Usually that equates to several hundred people simultaneously using what ever app is connected to that db, and thousands of people registered to use it. So compared to text files it is ligh years ahead.

But if someone has time to to learn how to use a real DB like MySQL or SQL Server, then that is *definately* the way to go. MS Access isn't even really considered a database by some people. They call it a file. But a file that has extended functionality.

Of course the debate of databases can go on to even deeper levels, but I'm typically a front-end guy because our server guy takes care of all the server stuff. But he doesn't like MySQL because it is open-source, which means it is not gaurunteed to work and there is no official support. But its free. Where as SQL Server is expensive, but is gauranteed to work and has official support. We use SQL Server.

Hopefully Ihoss will choose a solution that will end up being enough for him/her though!

Yeah, I see your point, it was exactly that 20 user limit I was referring to... I guess it really depends on how your application works and how much publicity it will receive.

As far as MySQL - Open Source goes, I'm a lot more inclined towards open source. If a problem is found, a patch will be there in record time, this is tried and tested. Also, I haven't seen many examples of really poor open source software. Some 0.1 releases may be buggy, but things like MySQL and Apache are a lot more stable. Also, security is taken a lot less lightly, as there is no obscurity to hide behind.

As far as support, I just don't agree. With open source things eg. MySQL there is usually a huge base of users willing to help, in many chatrooms and bulitin boards, and you can talk to people with a lot more in-depth knowledge (ie. developer or someone with good groundings in the source) than you do with propriatory software. Many helpdesk numbers are useless, this isn't too unusual. Though, you can get paid support for some open source products via resellers eg. RedHat Linux

guys what do you think about this server?

http://www.livePros.com/devCenter

Its a service, nothing to install, free flash source code, free development.

Dan

The server test seems a bit confusing.

Id like to see the server in a real environment.

Nugget

hey, jobemjobem

When i said it went slow, it was because u have to load the php file form the server. is there any client-side scripting which could save files in a database or as a text file?

Ihoss

There may be some scripting sitting around somewhere that does what you want. You just have to search for it on free scripting resource sites. Either that or write it from scratch, or hire someone to write it for you.

Back before I was teamed up with a great server-side scripter, I used to find most of my scripts here:
http://www.aspin.com
Then I'd fool with them until they did what I wanted.

Today I made a little client for LCDproc ( http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/ ) to run my lcd, and decided to create the script in php and run it on my linux box.

The command line version of php (quite often will be installed) is brilliant, definitly in the league of writing perl scripts to do jobs. Anyway, this caused my to have to look at php's socket functions, and I found a great tutorial: http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/P...ing/page1.html

Anyway, that url is a must for anyone wanting to make a hassle-free socket server. Of course php isn't as low level as Java or C, but it's got the booty ;)

Please note that you will need terminal acess to your site to run these scripts (I think php has a feature to let it automatically start running socket servers under certain conditions, I'm unsure about them though).

hey everyone... :D
just a quick question.
Is Java any good as a server? (Mainly with fast processing off data)
thanx!
Stevz!