AlphaLobby Alpha 0.06.10 - Page 4

AlphaLobby Alpha 0.06.10

Discuss development of lobby clients, server, autohosts and auto-download software.

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MidKnight
Posts: 2652
Joined: 10 Sep 2008, 03:11

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.1

Post by MidKnight »

make a 'show server window' checkbox!
or allow /j $local

Either way, seeing server traffic is great, and it's good to be able to inject your own stuff into the stream.
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.1

Post by Axiomatic »

Thats a really good idea, the only problem is how to still show MOTD, SERVERMSG, and BROADCAST without it getting buried by other stuff (all the server log is display those messages). I was thinking about posting those messages to every opened chat/channel/battle window, but then what happens when a user isn't in any?

I guess MOTD and SERVERMSG aren't particularly important, and BROADCAST can be shown in a message box. Server log could probably be hidden by default too, at the moment its just clutter that most people ignore.

Any changes aren't going to make the next release; I have to make sure everything works properly before I start adding more functionality.
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bobthedinosaur
Blood & Steel Developer
Posts: 2700
Joined: 25 Aug 2004, 13:31

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.1

Post by bobthedinosaur »

Cool. I'll be sure to test it on my rigs when I get some time to get you some tested feedback.
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03

Post by Axiomatic »

OK a new release is done, quick disclaimer:
I don't need any bug reports unless its easily reproducible; and I know there are a lot. Though I haven't seen any crashes in what little testing I have done. Suggestions and comments are certainly welcome though.

heres link: http://springfiles.com/system/files/dow ... by0.03.exe

Here's a screenie of singleplayer. Those buttons represent bots and can be dragged around. Yeah it looks pretty bad but its functional.
AI options aren't supported yet, it will only use defaults.
Image
Last edited by Axiomatic on 24 Jan 2011, 15:50, edited 1 time in total.
Satirik
Lobby Developer
Posts: 1688
Joined: 16 Mar 2007, 18:27

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03

Post by Satirik »

crashes everytime i join a BA Chicken
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03

Post by Axiomatic »

Satirik wrote:crashes everytime i join a BA Chicken
thanks.

Problem was in trying to use the same structure to hold users as bots; the dll name for a bot can be longer than the max username so it ends up clobbering the rest of the structure.

EDIT:
fixed
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.1

Post by Axiomatic »

MidKnight wrote:make a 'show server window' checkbox!
or allow /j $local

Either way, seeing server traffic is great, and it's good to be able to inject your own stuff into the stream.
This is done now for next release.

Although its not particularly good for debugging, if you crash you can't see log. And it has to be disabled by default because rich edits are fairly expensive. It would take a second or so to log in if it printed all the initial messages.

I print everything to stdout in debug builds, its not really an option for release though.

Image
Pako
Posts: 174
Joined: 12 Jul 2009, 18:57

Re: AlphaLobby RC1

Post by Pako »

Axiomatic wrote: And it forces you to remember flag+cpu combinations because its not precise enough for the lobby to do for you.

Using cpu to identify lobbies is a hack too; but for smurf detection, tracking user ids is a much better solution.
I don't actually care since I have been using QtLobby for last year and it doesn't even show the CPU in player lists. It is funny how lobbies even put that info there.
Anyway most experienced players knows who 3.8 GHz from Australia is and that is sometimes the only way to notice him.

For getting a lobby version there could be a simple client protocol extension like replying a "!version" PM message with "/me Using alplhlobby Vxx, Spring Vxx".

You could also make any protocol extensions with similar manner. If there would be a "Play 8v8 BA DSD" button in the lobby pressing it would say "!PlayBADSD8v8" at #playnow channel and after 10 of these strings in last 15 minutes from different non-ingame players then someone automatically starts the BA DSD game and says "!GameBADSD8v8 MyHost", but before that came Basic and said "!GameBADSD8v8 BasicsHost" so the players went there instead.

Wombat wrote:bombas cpu is not 1.8... i feel offended u dont know who pwns u >>
Sorry but I am never wrong and I know that neither Wombat or bomba has ever beaten me on 1v1.
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby RC1

Post by Axiomatic »

Knob isn't 3.8 GHz anymore fyi.
For getting a lobby version there could be a simple client protocol extension like replying a "!version" PM message with "/me Using alplhlobby Vxx, Spring Vxx".
Extending the protocol on an ad hoc basis isn't a good idea imo. Adding lobby version to the player list would involving sending a pm to every other user. We'd end up with far too many extensions, mostly poorly documented and of questionable value, that were inconsistently supported by the 3 major lobby clients.

Thats not to say you can't extend the protocol, but it needs to be done centrally, as it was for account IDs and script passwords. Adding a lobby version field would certainly have merit. Another issue is that the "team" field is only 4 bits, so you have to ignore it to host a game with more than 16 players; It might as well be removed and let comsharing be a mod/engine option. Then you would have 8 bits for ally and you wouldn't have to hack around the protocol to host a huge game.
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aegis
Posts: 2456
Joined: 11 Jul 2007, 17:47

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.2

Post by aegis »

a moderately important protocol update addressing both of those issues is in progress.
klapmongool
Posts: 843
Joined: 13 Aug 2007, 13:19

Re: AlphaLobby RC1

Post by klapmongool »

Axiomatic wrote:Its not just about performance either, I'm writing the lobby I would want to use. Starts up instantly, never loses responsiveness, and doesn't ever get in the way of the one thing i want to to: get into a game.
Awesome, I'll certainly try this one.
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knorke
Posts: 7971
Joined: 22 Feb 2006, 01:02

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by knorke »

if you type
/j #bla
it really joins "#bla" instead of "bla" ie you must not enter the #
in other lobbies you have to enter the # so that should probally be changed. or #bla and bla should just join the same channel.

the bot thing works nicely except that its ugly and wip of course.
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by Axiomatic »

Agree that # should be ignored if its before a channel name.
A big problem with channels is its possible try to connect to a channel that doesn't exist, and it will happily open a window and look as if it connected successfully. I decided that its best to open channels and the battle-room as soon as a user asks to join, rather then when the server responds, but there does need to be some indication that joining failed.
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MidKnight
Posts: 2652
Joined: 10 Sep 2008, 03:11

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by MidKnight »

Just copy the regex the server uses to screen valid server names and pass any /j commands through it before opening a new tab. :-)
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by Axiomatic »

My main concern was just if someone did "/j maain" or something, there is no indication that there is a typo in the channel. However I've discovered that it creates a new channel with this name, if a join actually failed then the server will send a "JOINFAILED" command for me to handle. The only intentional 'mistake' someone might make is doing "/j #" instead of "/j".

I looked at server source. It won't allow any non-alphanumeric characters except '[' or ']'. IMO, it's not worth checking since the server does it anyway and if the rules were ever relaxed, I would have to modify the lobby accordingly.

EDIT::
Changing my mind on this, things are much better when it doesn't open a new window and close it 500ms later.
slogic
AI Developer
Posts: 626
Joined: 17 Mar 2008, 19:03

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by slogic »

I think it is a good habit to position application window in the center of desktop for the first run.

F1 is not working though accelerator key is written in menu :P

PS. Have you tested you application with high DPI settings? In single player mode i can move starting point behind the text bar on the left and so unable to drag it back.

PPS. You may want to disable "Change username"/"Change password" menu items until connected to the server.

Also can you add an option to disable login dialog popup on startup. User may wanna play SP only game.
Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by Axiomatic »

All your points are good. This is why it's still alpha; I haven't really spent much time polishing things.

The initial position of the window is supposed to be default position for new windows. As far as I know, only dialog boxes are supposed to be centered initially. I intend to restore the previous window position on start, so this shouldn't really matter soon.

No Alphalobby is not DPI aware. I'm still running winXP so I can't really do anything about it atm, I tested it on win7 and the window was obviously stretched; ie it looked pretty horrible. However, since things are currently sized relative to the default font size, I don't think I need to do much more than call SetProcessDPIAware(). I won't do it until I can thoroughly test it though.

I'm not sure about having a configuration option to disable the login box on start. In my opinion, configurability is just a way to avoid making difficult choices for the user. If the login box is annoying I would rather hide it for everyone rather than add an option.

The current version of Alphalobby is sort of buggy unless you are just joining multiplayer games. Hosting, single-player and bots are all WIP. Adding those features forced me to generalize a lot of stuff so I've had to rewrite a lot of code; I'm aware that plenty of stuff simply doesn't work.

Thanks for the feedback, and reminding me to fix the 'F1' shortcut xD.


EDIT:
http://springfiles.com/system/files/dow ... 0.03.4.exe

F1 shortcut fixed.
Start positions can't be moved off map.
Lots of fixes for singleplayer and bots.
ai options work.
now restores old window position.
Some menu options grayed out when not connected.
slogic
AI Developer
Posts: 626
Joined: 17 Mar 2008, 19:03

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by slogic »

Nice. But... i think under Windows 7 / Vista there can be troubles with saving alphalobby.conf near .exe file if Spring is installed at Program Files (it is read-only by default). Safe position in user profile folder.

And looks like in singleplayer tab there is no visible scrollbar in open listbox for map selecting.
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Axiomatic
Posts: 68
Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 04:17

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by Axiomatic »

Drop down boxes show scroll bars now, not worth updating download just for that though.
You are right about saving configuration files in 'program files' being incorrect in win7. I thought that it would be best to save into the Spring directory simply because thats where SpringLobby and SpringSettings are saved.

PS: What is with using that ancient windows theme; your state-of-the-90s screenshot is painful to look at.
Satirik
Lobby Developer
Posts: 1688
Joined: 16 Mar 2007, 18:27

Re: AlphaLobby Alpha 0.03.3

Post by Satirik »

Axiomatic wrote:I'm still running winXP so I can't really do anything about it atm
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