New lobby

Post by SJ » 06 Aug 2005, 02:08

I have looked a bit at the new lobby Betalord has been working on and it seems both quite stable and have the features of the old one, so if none of the other alternative lobby projects comes up with something that seems better in a few weeks we will likely switch to using that as the standard one.

Post by **jcnossen** » 06 Aug 2005, 13:28

Exactly which lobby is that, do you have a download link? I've searched for it but I couldn't find anything.

Ace07 · Post by **Ace07** » 06 Aug 2005, 17:34

Do what you have to do SJ. Our lobby beta will be released when we feel it is ready, and more importantly: it will be cross-platform. I haven't had the time to try any other Lobby clients actually, and I really wouldn't have been able to anyways. I can't test most of the lobbies currently released, because they were all coded for straight up Win32.

FoeOfTheBee · Post by **FoeOfTheBee** » 06 Aug 2005, 20:16

A stable lobby would be fantastic. Lobby bugs and crashes are the number one frustration for players right now.

I don't think Ace07 should stop working on the cross-platform client, but having a cross-platform client will only be useful when the linux port is done. So it's a long-range goal.

Unless Ace07 is just a few days away from a useful stable release, I think we should use the most stable lobby available. Nothing prevents switching to another lobby in the future.

Post by **Betalord** » 06 Aug 2005, 20:17

Exactly which lobby is that, do you have a download link? I've searched for it but I couldn't find anything.

That's because I haven't made it public yet. I only showed the "work-in-progress" version to SJ so far, but I have just put it on the web so you can check it out:

http://users.sentvid.org/~tomaz/TAS/

TASClient.zip includes new unitsync.dll which you'll have to copy over existing unitsync.dll in your spring folder (just rename the old one - you will still need it to play with current lobby).

It is still not finished but hopefully I'll finish it in 2-3 days (have to implement unit disabling and unit syncing, for which I am still waiting for FNordia to finish unitsync.dll).

If you find any bugs please tell me about it. Currently there is an issue with the server if you run the server on the same computer as you play, you won't be able to host a game (but other players from LAN can host it and you can join it). This is due to socket.getInetAddress().getHostAddress() returning "127.0.0.1" address and not the real local address. I have a solution for it but it's not really elegant, if anyone comes up with any good solution please tell me about it.

Ace07: SY can still switch to your lobby once it is finished, but meanwhile they can settle with mine. We both put quite some effort in our lobbies, so perhaps we can make a compromise: as far as I know you only made GUI and no really network implementation so far, you could consider using my server with your lobby client. This way both our clients can be used with same server and players can choose which one to use. Those running linux will choose yours, those running windows will have a choice. I wrote server in java so it should run on linux and most other systems. It will also save you quite some time writing your own server. I used plain-text protocol, easy to debug and to implement on the client side.

Neuralize · Post by **Neuralize** » 07 Aug 2005, 13:10

Some lobby improvement suggestions:

-Let the host be able to construct the alliances, (Team, and Ally Team). It gets really annoying when people don't know how team up correct, or refuse to listen to you.

-Spaces and other characters allowed in game names.

-Goats, lots of goats.

Ace07 · Post by **Ace07** » 07 Aug 2005, 17:32

We already have a protocol that is currently being implimented. I would use your server, but me and Cory have it under control I think. We will just keep working to keep the system as top notch as it can be. Thanks for the offer though!

NMDANGE · Post by **NMDANGE** » 07 Aug 2005, 17:47

I went to try out the client but it complains about not being able to find zlibwape.dll. Is there some other library I need to download?

Torrasque · Post by **Torrasque** » 07 Aug 2005, 19:18

NMDANGE wrote:I went to try out the client but it complains about not being able to find zlibwape.dll. Is there some other library I need to download?

It is in the Spring folder.

Post by **Betalord** » 08 Aug 2005, 12:32

Ace07: At least consider looking at the server code and the protocol. I have written 300+ lines of protocol description and notes to make it as easy to implement as possible. It's a robust, plain-text, simple to implement protocol, and as far as I've tested it, quite stable. I know you are eager to write your own but that also means it won't be possible for users to use both our clients interchangeably, unless one of us does complete rewrite of his client and, in my case, abandoning a month of work on the server.

NMDANGE: you've probably figured it out yourself by now, you have to put .exe in spring folder.

I've just updated server and client (same link as above), made some changes:

-fixed lan host issue (now player who is running the server can host too)
-added simple syncing based on hashing mod's file (still waiting fnord
to finish unitsync.dll)
-added ability to change team colors
-added kicking
-added forcing team/ally number
-added account registration
-fixed some bugs

-Spaces and other characters allowed in game names.

All characters are allowed from the beginning, did you even try it?

-Goats, lots of goats.

Can you translate? :)

Michilus_nimbus · Post by **Michilus_nimbus** » 08 Aug 2005, 13:59

This is what i get if i try running server.bat:

"Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: TASServer"

Post by **Betalord** » 08 Aug 2005, 14:08

This is what i get if i try running server.bat:

"Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: TASServer"

This is because you didn't run server.bat, you probably did "java TASServer.java" which is wrong, you should use "java TASServer" or better, use the .bat files.

Post by **Tim Blokdijk** » 08 Aug 2005, 15:03

Betalord wrote:Ace07: At least consider looking at the server code and the protocol. I have written 300+ lines of protocol description and notes to make it as easy to implement as possible. It's a robust, plain-text, simple to implement protocol, and as far as I've tested it, quite stable. I know you are eager to write your own but that also means it won't be possible for users to use both our clients interchangeably, unless one of us does complete rewrite of his client and, in my case, abandoning a month of work on the server.

...

Well, it's not that smart to work on something for a month and not tell anybody while other projects are running in parallel.

Cory is doing the net code so he needs to take a look at your code.

Post by **Betalord** » 08 Aug 2005, 15:20

Well, it's not that smart to work on something for a month and not tell anybody while other projects are running in parallel. Rolling Eyes
Cory is doing the net code so he needs to take a look at your code.

Actually, I've sent server code to Ace07 on July 12 (1 month ago. Server was already more or less finished back then) and explained the situation, I've also notified SYs for my intention to work on new lobby before I actually started working on it. I wasn't working in "background", but I didn't post on forums, since I didn't want to make a fuss about it before it's done.

Michilus_nimbus · Post by **Michilus_nimbus** » 08 Aug 2005, 17:20

@Betalord
Actually, I did run it with the .bat files you included.
The only thing I changed was the pause to see what the errormessage was.

Code: Select all

REM press CTRL+C to stop server
java TASServer|tee TASServer.log
pause

The client looks splendid, though!

Post by **Betalord** » 08 Aug 2005, 23:08

Michilus_nimbus: you are saying you run server with .bat and still get that error message? Are you sure you've put all the files in the same dir, *.class too? Or perhaps you've crated a shortcut to .bat file (this way working dir could be the one where shortcut is located, not server, which is default)?

Ace07 · Post by **Ace07** » 09 Aug 2005, 02:54

Tim Blokdijk wrote: Well, it's not that smart to work on something for a month and not tell anybody while other projects are running in parallel.
Cory is doing the net code so he needs to take a look at your code.

He did notify me, but I wasn't interested in that. I wanted to see what Cory's netcode looked like first. I would rather work with Cory myself, and there is nothing wrong with how many clients are released. What is important is when the game is complete and ready to go into an actual release. Right now, its more important for people to be able to play with a stable client.

Michilus_nimbus · Post by **Michilus_nimbus** » 09 Aug 2005, 13:51

Betalord wrote:Michilus_nimbus: you are saying you run server with .bat and still get that error message? Are you sure you've put all the files in the same dir, *.class too? Or perhaps you've crated a shortcut to .bat file (this way working dir could be the one where shortcut is located, not server, which is default)?

No shortcut, every file is in the same directory.

Post by **Betalord** » 09 Aug 2005, 14:12

Try copying all files from TASServer folder to c:\, then run it as:

c:\>java -cp . TASServer

Also note that Java file names are case-sensitive ("java tasserver" would not work, "java TASServer" would)

Michilus_nimbus · Post by **Michilus_nimbus** » 09 Aug 2005, 15:43

Jup, it works now.

Spring RTS Engine

New lobby

New lobby