Printable View
Thanks, but it was that I wasn't sending the \0 in my script :P lol.
But I am having another problem. When I send lots of data, rapidly to the flash socket, some of it is not sending until something else happens, like I close the socket, or move the character again. How do I properly end the send line? (\n or whatever, for example)
Just a guess, but you might need to flush the stream/connection. You ought to be flushing after every completed message.
I'll give that a try.
Thanks. Oh, by the way, anyone know why I can't connect when I'm online, but it works fine when I use localhost on my local pc? the listening initiates fine, but it just doesnt connect. i heard about some security issues with flash, could this be related? the server is at the same path as the flash file.
MySocket.Connect("myhost.com",3982) - just says it cant connect
MySocket.Connect("www.myhost.com",3982) - nothing at all
MySocket.Connect("http://www.myhost.com",3982) - nothing at all
If you are certain the server is running on your remote host then run the client in the stand-alone flash player. If it works there, you are hitting security issues. Otherwise it's something else (firewall, server broken, etc.)
Webgeek, what do you mean by this? How do I "flush" the stream/connection?Quote:
Originally posted by webgeek
Just a guess, but you might need to flush the stream/connection. You ought to be flushing after every completed message.
*edit*
One more question, what is flushing, and what does it do?
*edit*
- Mike
$socket->autoflush(1);Quote:
Originally posted by webgeek
If you are certain the server is running on your remote host then run the client in the stand-alone flash player. If it works there, you are hitting security issues. Otherwise it's something else (firewall, server broken, etc.)
I think johno18 quoted the wrong message from me :)
MikeRoGT: Most underlying socket implementations queue up data to be sent in buffers. When you "flush" the buffer, you are telling the socket to drain and send all it's data. In general, you want to do this when a message has finished being created by the server. The specific details can change depending on the socket implementation you are using. For instance: non-blocking IO techniques look a bit different then their counterparts.
Have fun!
lol. im used 2 the quote being at the top of the message. sorryQuote:
Originally posted by webgeek
I think johno18 quoted the wrong message from me :)
MikeRoGT: Most underlying socket implementations queue up data to be sent in buffers. When you "flush" the buffer, you are telling the socket to drain and send all it's data. In general, you want to do this when a message has finished being created by the server. The specific details can change depending on the socket implementation you are using. For instance: non-blocking IO techniques look a bit different then their counterparts.
Have fun!
Hey Jobe,Quote:
Originally posted by jobemjobem
Hi M@dster,
...............................
---------
Oregan Server
---------
I really don't have much to say about this one. All I can do is point out a few things:
1) This is a free open-source server.
2) As a free open-source server, you pay nothing but at the same time you should expect to get no support or guarantees in return. You should consider yourself warned that if you find a hideous bug after you have launched your kick-ass application, you might be up a creek.
3) Conclusion If you are a Java guru and are familiar with server development, then this could be a dream come true.
................................
I am a bit of a Java hacker and I am looking for more information about this product before I make a decision as to which server I am going to use in my game. Do you have a link for this project? I have looked over all those described above execept this one.
Thank you for your help.
As Jobe and I are the developers of ElectroServer, I don't think we will be in a position to give you much information about a competitors product. With that said, I do want to mention that ElectroServer has an extensive set of capabilities accessible from Java (everything Actionscript plugins can do plus a LOT more). Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
Hello Michael,
As I mentioned I am still looking at each server so I wouldn't have much questions until I start doing indepth research. Right now I am focusing on getting a list of what are my options before moving on. You website already answers all of my initial questions. I must say that I am impressed with E3.
If you do have information about Oregan Server, I ask you to share. If my funding falls through ( its a non-profit project ) then Oregan Server is going to be the only option that I have apart from writing one myself which I anticipate would be more annoying than difficult.
Thank you for your help.
-t
Hey, new poster:D
I was wondering if there is any possible way to make a poker-table game for around 8 people. If anyone has one they've seen or any tips to build one, can you post or e-mail me. Thanks.
hengjack: I'm glad to hear that you like the server. If it helps, we have discounts available for educational and non-profit use. Feel free to contact Jobe or I for more information.
Ballaholic: What you are describing is a turn-based game. This is pretty straight-forward. To keep it secure, you will want all the card dealing and scoring logic to occur on the server rather then on any of the clients. We have several articles/details that talk about this in detail on our site at http://www.electro-server.com Feel free to also contact either Jobe or I for more information. Thanks!
Iv actually written a desent socket server in flash useing phpsockets
If you guys are intrested in you can find it here:
http://www.avataur.com/server.txt
Iv been haveing problems with it dieing, and havent beenable find the bugs.
I use simpleXML in PHP 5 in the live version of that to handle xml.
I've started experimenting with creating my own socket servers using Java, and I find the polling-vs.-socket argument ironic because all the Java examples I've seen use polling on the SERVER side. While polling on the client side leads to lower performance (low update frequency), polling on the server can eat up your CPU while effectively doing nothing.
Ok, I'm probably not being clear about this, but most Java examples tend to have a while(true) or equivalent section which just repeatedly checks the state of the socket buffer, waiting for data. This method works, but will eat up 25% of my CPU usage even though my server activity is completely idle. On principle alone, this is unacceptable. I'd like to write (or use) a socket server that is completely event-driven (perhaps this is accomplished with Java exceptions?) and will not burn cycles just waiting for something to happen.
How does ElectroServer (or similar product) deal with this? Does anyone have a Java example that doesn't poll the socket? Help! Thanks!!! :)
High-end, scalable socket servers use non-blocking sockets and the java.nio libraries. In a nut shell, nio lets you use a selector object which tells you when there is data to read on a socket. If you register all the sockets for your clients with the selector, you do not need to poll them or dedicate a thread to each (to make a blocking call). Check out this resource (you have to register for free with IBM first)
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...HW02&S_CMP=EDU
Jamesj3k nailed it exactly. ElectroServer uses the Java NIO libraries and a sophisticated callback model. I won't get into detail, but we use a selector thread to read in data as it arrives and then pass that into a thread pool to handle aggregrating messages and determining when messages have completed. Honestly, with all the socket servers out there, I wouldn't bother writing my own. I started ElectroServer back when none really existed and it has simply grown from there. Either way, have fun!
I'm writing one because there are no cheap ones that use NIO and it is a good learning experience. When I finish, I plan to sell mine for very cheap ( ~$50 for unlimited use ).
Whatever makes you happy :)
A word to the wise: Look out for the NIO inconsistencies between platforms. Make damn sure that you start by supporting no JDK/JRE older then 1.4.2. We (Ron Hitchens and I) learned the hard way that there were NIO bugs before then.
Ok, so let's say I take your advice and want to use a pre-built socket engine like yours to run my games. Well I need to be able to re-sell these games to clients, which means potentially re-selling the server-side components of your product. Do you have licensing options for this scenario, and if so, what is the cost?
We do and I'm sure our competitors do but this is probably inappropriate for this forum. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in the details. Thanks!
Cool, thanks for the help! I love coding and like tinkering, so I'll let you know if I decide to not create my own system. I'll likely want to create a modular system tailored to my own needs, but I'll definitely let you know if I need something pre-built!
Mmm... this sounds a little weird to me, since most of the basic socket servers examples out there are based on the old blocking java.net libraries.Quote:
Originally posted by infinite_fish
Ok, I'm probably not being clear about this, but most Java examples tend to have a while(true) or equivalent section which just repeatedly checks the state of the socket buffer, waiting for data. This method works, but will eat up 25% of my CPU usage even though my server activity is completely idle.
A typical while section could look like this:
Since the readline() method is blocking (stops the execution of the thread until data is received) the application will stay idle until some data is read from the socket, then it will process it and go back to idle.PHP Code:while (!quit)
{
String msg = data_in.readLine();
if (msg == null) quit = true;
if (!msg.trim().equals("EXIT"))
{
data_out.println("Data read: <b>"+msg.trim()+"</b>"+EOF);
data_out.flush();
}
else
{
quit = true;
}
}
If the examples you've found are sucking 25% of the cpu when doing nothing then there must be something wrong in that code!
Here's a link to an article I wrote some time ago that might interest you:
http://www.gotoandplay.it/_articles/.../xmlSocket.php
And here's a whole section in my website dedicated to multiplayer games in flash >> http://www.gotoandplay.it/_articles/multiplayerCentral
Also here's a must read for all those interested in developing with the latest java.nio package >> http://gee.cs.oswego.edu/dl/cpjslides/nio.pdf
Hope it helps :)
Lapo
This hurts the brain....
I'm trying to understand this but...Looks like I need my friend to take a look at this.
Forgive my ignorance, but do you put other kinds of code directley into flash or in the webpage you post it on?
hi
here is a free solution:
http://swocket.sourceforge.net/
Swocket is a cross-platform modular XML Socket server framework implemented in Python with the intention of being used to communicate with Macromedia® Flash® 5 content but is easily usable with other platforms that support the same flavor of XML Sockets.
---
does anyone know what's going on with xandra?
their site www.xandra.com seems to be down.
IIRC Xandra is no longer made. Unity is in the same boat. Colin Moock, at least temporarily, has moved onto other things. Several other servers (both commercial and otherwise) have come and gone since this thread started. Many open source servers have been created as well, most have fallen by the wayside. It seems that everyone thinks they can create their own server but none of them ever seem to last. Makes me feel old ;)
--Multiplayer thread!!! Rise from your GRAVE!!!--
I have not read this entire thread, but most of it seems to be about realtime and the socket method.
My server provider does not let us do very much, so I could probably not get a socket solution running through them, but my game is turn based, and since I already know php/mysql and xml, polling seems like a good solution for me.
I would like some advice, but first, my gametype: It is going to be concurrent turn based (planning stage, then all pieces move at once, then another planning stage) with NPCs initially being handled in php serverside with phase 2 maybe seeing if I can do AI clientside if I can come up with a totally non-random solution or some way to seed all client RNGs the same.
What is faster to store/access gamedata? Flatfile or mysql database?
This probably ties with the next question, but if there is a game with 5 players, and each of them is querything the server every 5 seconds, is that too much? Our site gets a decent amount of traffic already, and almost EVERY page on the site is dynamic, so a few of these games is going to be nothing, but if it gets popular maybe it could be an issue?
From a dev standpoint, I would greatly prefer mysql as I already have a pretty good understanding of optimization and proper indexing.
How often should the clients poll for new data?
The responses would be pretty simple during planning. Basically a binary done/notdone for each human player. Once all human players are done a larger response would arrive containing all the other player's moves (human and computer), as well as anything that might require a random roll (so all players stay in synch). I was thinking every 5 seconds? Is that too fast?
Is chat feasible in a polling environment?
I suppose this all depends on the answer to how often do I poll, but do you think simple text chat would work okay for players to chat while a slowpoke is making their move? I think I could keep data transmission minimal by having the server provide an incremental ID number to each chatline and then just send new lines to a requesting client when needed.
Would anyone with any applicable knowledge/experience care to offer any suggestions or common pitfalls I might miss? This is my first game in flash (made some AWFUL VB games years ago) and certainly my first network game.
I am so glad I read this original post. I was beating my head around issues of getting a server to handle sockets and had never even considered the concept of polling a database. It's brilliant. Like a faster version of play by email!
I've written a large blog post that covers a lot of the problems with polling and such here:
http://mikegrundvig.blogspot.com/200...-to-avoid.html
In general, HTTP polling is not nearly as good a solution as it sounds.
Ah..hah....
You just want to sell me your fancy schmancy server code!!! :yikes: I see through you like a movieClip with _alpha = 0!!!
Just kidding, thanks for the response, I'll check out the blog post! And here I thought I was on to something too :(
Unfortunately it is really my only option as I can't run a socket server and can't really afford decent server software if I could. Plus I would have to learn it, and server speach and packets and all still really alien to me.
Read the blogpost, and agree with the pitfalls you pointed out.
I don't know how to do the store data in memory trick in php, or even if it CAN be done in that language.
Since the chat would be just between the players (probably 6 max in my game), and nothing else needs to happen with any urgency, I think I could get away with a 5 second poll delay.
Let me bite though, I have been to the electroserver site way back when I first was working on this game an briefly again a few days ago. In between these visits I have become a webmaster for my wifes site hosted by the ultracheap plan available at lunarpages.
What server requirements would I need to run something like electroserver? Please remember you are speaking to a real newb when it comes to servers and the lingo. Could it run on a shared server for example? What server features/options would need to exist?
Any box that can run the Java VM can run ElectroServer (or any of our Java-based competitors). Most virtual environments can run it as long as you can install software and run a process in the background.
Can anyone explain the basic concept for flash games? I have alot of flash knowledge...I am the guy who created Maple Story: Papulatus on newgrounds... but anyways, I have flash media server 2. I have it kinda figured out, like how to call functions from the server and how to call functions from the client to the server... I just don't understnad how I could have one client->server updates then if I want another client trying to find out where another location is, how would it find it? o_O
I want to know how I could save data on the server, and if that is possible, then how do I access and distribute the data?
I think I'll post in this thread rather than making a new one, seeing as though it's relevant to my problem.
I want to be able to make just some small, simple multiplayer games, and get them working. However, I don't want to be paying a monthly fee of $20 to keep up a virtual private server. If possible, I would like to be able to just the leave the game online, without worrying about the server cost building up or having to eventually abandon the game. Is there ANY way I could get multiplayer working for free, and without using my own computer as the server?
Thank you very much for the reply. This is just the thing I'm looking for! =D I'm only looking to upload small, useless games, so it doesn't matter that much if anything happens to them, or if the site eventually gets closed down for copyright infringement.Quote:
Originally Posted by Incrue
And as far as i know, besides nonoba theres also
http://www.come2play.com/dev_inner.asp?f=1
http://www.whirled.com/
http://developers.iminlikewithyou.com/
just for the fun of posting to a thread that's been alive for 6 years, here's a little news: the "unity" project never actually died. in fact, it has evolved significantly, and been reborn as "Union". see www.unionplatform.com. happy (multiuser) coding!
oh em gee its colin moock.........