posted
There is a bug with the messaging window. If a player types /a<space> then another player or the same player can type something or do a /a and it will appear right behing the /a<space> on the same line. Many /a<space>s can be lined up in a row and its infinite unless someone types like "w00t" or "/a does something"
-------------------- SoV: Exalted Devout Oracle | World Developer | The Black Guard Outside is just a prank older kids tell younger kids at Internet Camp Posts: 9479 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Arcadia needs a /reload function. A lot of empires/maps travel back and forth for empyrion via aim, and you have to leave the server for them to show up on lists.
-------------------- SoV: Exalted Devout Oracle | World Developer | The Black Guard Outside is just a prank older kids tell younger kids at Internet Camp Posts: 9479 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
When you try to close WoS it says "Leaving so soon?" so you dont close right in the middle of something, I've accidently closed in the middle of empyrion games and it messes everything up, could something like that be added to arcadia?
-------------------- SoV: Exalted Devout Oracle | World Developer | The Black Guard Outside is just a prank older kids tell younger kids at Internet Camp Posts: 9479 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Can we get the gossip channels like we have in WoS? It would really help in team games like empyrion where you don't need to keep an extra window /im ## open.
-------------------- SoV: Exalted Devout Oracle | World Developer | The Black Guard Outside is just a prank older kids tell younger kids at Internet Camp Posts: 9479 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
You should make the ability for someone to develop thier own TOYs, like make it so we can do something like WoS...make our own games
[Well, if you have the hard-core programming skillz to write a toy, you don't need to be bound to Arcadia, you can get straight into code development, either via c++ for standalone executables, or even java for a 'just in time download from web page' experience. I'm afraid I am too fearful to allow others to put their executable 'inside of mine' as it were, as I would then feel some responsibilit if they turned out to be evil. I believe I have earned my own reputation as not being evil, and would not like to have that contaminated. -s]
A small release, mainly to support customized GamePad buttons in synSpace (you need to upgrade arcadia first, and then synSpace)
* Various BugFixes
* the numPad 5 key should stop being chat-gobbled by toys upgraded since .. well.. some time. Empyrion probably.
* Customized GamePad button mappings.
synSpace Options Dialog now has a 'customize' button which invokes a dialog which lets you map the (up to) 32 windows gamepad buttons to the (six or so) synSpace action commands.
Note: you have to enable/specify gamepad use FIRST (via the 'Control Prefs' screen) and THEN do the customizing. It will remember separate customizing for each of your gamepad slots, so if you have multiple gamepads, or move them around...
The screen is pretty boring:
Top section has 32 lights to show you which buttons are pushed. You need the button # to do a mapping, so this is how you determine that.
Then there is a list of buttons (32 total) showing their current function. TO change a function, select a button from the list, then use the drop-down combo to assign it to a function.
For most functions you can have redundant mappings, but there is a concept of 'unique' functions which can be mapped to only a single button. (in synSpace those are the 'modifier' buttons CTRL and SHIFT and woe be to you if you don't map them at all.)
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
I posted this idea a while back, but it was deleted with the rest of my posts.
Introduce a "Limited TOY Concept" where arcadians can create TOYS along a theme - the basic components are there, so all that arcadians need to do is specify stuff like what type of game, the rules, what it looks like, etc. The custom TOYs won't be very advanced, but it will provide the freedom that arcadia so desparately needs...
Mainly this is to extend the timeout, and add the lua support DLL, but also fixes a slew of small bugs since last release (for example, in the player list when a toy asks for a field to be colorized, it was coloring one field to the left.)
This is a mandatory update since without it, TurnAbout will crash and burn and offer to email your memory to microsoft
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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More stuff to make TurnAbout more powerful, but also a fix for a long outstanding bug having to do with font sizes on desktops which are set to 'large font'
I will be releasing matching versions of ALL the toys, so that text looks nice (well, the same) on all desktops.
It's the night of many releases!
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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Anyway, fixes the above glitches, plus adds support for sound effects/music in TurnAbout mini-games (why should I have to have changed Arcadia for that? Because I am a big silly dummy.)
Actually this is also a pre-test for some new code which will hit the next release of WoS, so please verify you can still play on line and if you use telnet, then that you can still use telnet and it still remembers your old 'phone numbers'
Also, please be on the lookout for any possible breakage of sound/music in the other games (like noisy mister empyrion)
This was mainly to support the TurnAbout API, but there was some bogus font handling which could actually have crashed you.. under the proper circumstances.
This push includes other fixes which I had been holding off on since they were not adequately 'important' One side effect is you will now see the player info columns which are populated by the turnAbout style (instead of always seeing "Life Points")
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
There's a bug that has to do with a MIX server: When you enter a MIX server with MaxAFK rule activated, exit, and enter other server without MaxAFK (Actually, I've witnessed this on Solo Channel, so I'm sure it will happen online too), you will get a "message from admin" after being inactive for the designated amount of time.
Example: Enter Uncle Dan's Arcadia Server (MaxAFK=30), then exit. Enter Solo Channel, and leave Arcadia alone for 30 minutes. You get the message from an "admin".
[Holy cow, good catch! This explains a few other mysteries as well, I think. Well, not as many as I thought. I think you will find this only happens when you go to solo mode. Still, good catch. This explains the mystery of the 'sticky toy selection' -s]
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
So Dan, why don't you have Mix send a packet to players when people disconnect? Most of the time when people 'mysteriously disappear' mix knew about it nearly instantly, due to the nature of TCP.....
People disappearing mysteriously and reentering before other people see the time out, often messes with the state of the games.
If the master in empyrion disappears and returns prior to the timeout, they retain masterhood, and any running game gets reset.
In synspace if a player disappears, returns prior to the timeout, and launch a ship, the other players see them as having the same stats and they did previously. So if they now REALLY have 1 weapon upgrade and 5 engines, but before they left they had 6 weapons and 0 engines, when they hit you they do 6 weapons worth of damage....
posted
I have a cool idea for a toy... it would be like colaboration and synVideo put togather you could paint a picture (using paintbrush, pencil, crayon, spray can, colors) and you could paint it in a time limit like 2min. then judge whos paining is the best each round.
Warpath can't work with Vista since the telnet fails on it . I wanted to play Warpath earlier, too.
[ This is fixed in A55, and the problem was that Vista changes the value returned from a couple of their socket functions (from a numeric dotted ip address to a DNS-resolved host name) -s]
-------------------- SoV: Exalted Devout Oracle | World Developer | The Black Guard Outside is just a prank older kids tell younger kids at Internet Camp Posts: 9479 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I may sound like nitpicking, but in a face filename, if there is a category that is an extention of another category, then Arcadia seems to get confused and create a non-existing category with nothing in it.
This is better explained with an example. Suppose you had a face named "game.mario.bowser.bmp" and another named "games.mario2.mario.bmp". In the latter face the category names are partially same as the one in the former, but is longer, and this seems to confuse Arcadia a bit.
In this case, under the GAME directory, there would be a category named S (since there is an extra s in the "games"), and under MARIO there would be another category named 2. Of course there's nothing in both categories.
Not that it's a big deal and it would fix anything, just thought it was funny.
[o my, that is interesting... fixed in NEXT release (A56) -s]
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
Unfortunately, I didn't notice that bug report above, so it isn't fixed in A55
---
ARCADIA A55 RELEASE NOTES
This release comes with a shiny new network layer and matching MIX server (be sure to use this server when hosting Arcadia games)
This fixes lots of little issues with regards to peer to peer file xfers and hosting MIX servers behind a NAT/Gateway/Router. Yuo may find that you are now 'fetchable' for the first time (assuming you can set the port forwarding in your router if needed)
Also, this is the first Vista-Friendly release. If you have additional Vista Issues, please let me know.
When using Vista, you will generally need to:
1.) say "yes" when it asks you if it is oK if Arcadia/MIX use the internet
2.) make sure you have no more than one Firewall running. (I had THREE)
3.) probably set that firewall to a setting like "allow incoming connections to programs after asking the user if it is OK" as opposed to "accept no incoming connections" (at least if you WANT to be fetchable and/or run your own MIX server)
4.) I still don't understand Vista user security features. It seems kind of chaotic as to when it decides to block you from modifying/creating files. I finally turned it off, since I am the only user anyway.
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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After testing this out in 3 servers with different versions of mix with Behogogotz, I found that when either me or Beho picked a toy, the other person (who wasn't mod) couldn't see that the toy was picked and just stayed on the toy selection screen.
Now testing this with another Arcadia on my own PC..there doesn't seem to be a problem, and since no one else seems to be only, I can't check if it's just a problem with me and/or Beho.
edit: forgot to mention, but we switched mod before selecting the toy..and that appears to be what caused it. x.x
Like Zep stated above, the "double mod" has been occuring in every server we entered. Although some other reasons could be possible, we suspect the culprit is most likely to be the new Arc.
I don't know if this would help, but here's a little screenshot of Emp:
At around the same time I took this picture, I had about two people being disconnected from the server even before I saw their name.
Oh, and another bug report about the "Server Home" button:
It only functions after a toy is loaded (probably has something to do with "Toy Home" button)
It seems to remember the home URL inherited from other server
When in case above, the "Server Home" button is clickable in other servers with no home URL set... even if it is invisible
[Hmmm...my code is SLIGHTLY newer than yours, and I can't duplicate the above. I don't recall changing it though... my test case
1.) get a list of MIX servers 2.) read the rules to see which ones have "url=blah" 3.) visit a server with or without the url rule 4.) note button state, test button 5.) use the left most 'door' button to leave server to pick new one <repeat>
And when I do that, the Server Home button always appears as expected.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:...the "Server Home" button is clickable in other servers with no home URL set... even if it is invisible
The url buttons are visible and invisible when I'd expect them to be....however, the area where the buttons WERE are still clickable, and bring up the old url. I can only assume this means you are just pushing the buttons to the back (lower z index) and thus they are really still there.
1.) get a list of MIX servers 2.) read the rules to see which ones have "url=blah" 3.) visit a server with the url rule 4.) note button state, test button 5.) use the left most 'door' button to leave server to pick new one 6.) get a list of MIX servers 7.) read the rules to see which ones have "url=blah" 8.) visit a server without the url rule 9.) click where the button WAS, but no longer is, and you should still get the webpage.
[hmm, this still doesn't happen for me. When you fetch the mix server list, it nulls out the previous url, if any. When you click on the button, it looks at the url, and if it is empty, it ignores your button click. Now, if one were.. I dunno.. using telnet maybe, I could see the old url not getting wiped maybe. but otherwise this still makes no sense to me.
Well, let me separate this into two bug reports:
1.) button not visible/invisible when it should be. 2.) invisible button can be pressed successfully to see previous web page.
Do people feel BOTH of these bugs are repeatable, or just one? Because I can believe my (slightly newer version than yours) may have fixed one, but not both. And yet, I experience neither, but I don't use telnet, and I am not saying anyone else does, just that I could see the telnet path leading to a stale url being left around.
UPDATE:
Apparently I fixed #2 (for both server and toy home buttons) after pulling 55 together. But the bug is not that it really opens the previous web page (url was wiped) it is that it is like pushing the 'show web panel' button which just redisplays the IE window with whatever it had on it. You can demonistrate this by navigating to some random page, then 'return to game' then click on invisible server button. This is also why the page appears to load instantly.
I am pretty sure I must have just fixed the 'can click on invisible button' (server or toy home) after pulling the A55 release out for testing. So I can understand why I am not seeing that one (and in fact I can dupe it by installing A55 on another PC)
But displaying the button doesn't make sense to me...
quote: Oh, and another bug report about the "Server Home" button:
It only functions after a toy is loaded (probably has something to do with "Toy Home" button) It seems to remember the home URL inherited from other server When in case above, the "Server Home" button is clickable in other servers with no home URL set... even if it is invisible
Even with my copy of A55 on another PC, I cannot duplicate "server home button only appears/works after the toy is selected"
Oh... actually.. please try this:
"Whenever you feel a button is visible/invisible inappropriately", try minimizing Arcadia then bringing it back out. Perhaps it is a screen repaint issue.
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
The bug grego speaks of can be duplicated like so (if not clear from Zep's post.):
Arcadia Copy #1 connects to an empty server. Arcadia Copy #1 takes mod (if not already so.) Arcadia Copy #1 does nothing, does NOT pick a toy. Arcadia Copy #2 connects to the same server. Arcadia Copy #1 makes Arcadia Copy #2 the mod. Arcadia Copy #2 picks a toy. Arcadia Copy #2 is now in the toy. Arcadia Copy #1 is still on the toy selection screen, completely oblivious to Arcadia Copy #2's selection.
[except in the case of accidental double mod, which is the bug to be fixed someday... sommmmmee dayyyyyy... I'm not sure I consider this a bug... It depends on what the 3rd person to enter the server sees. Hopefully they see the second guy as mod and the original lazy guy gets what he deserves :-) -s]
posted
Well, I haven't tested it, but if you need more incentive, it may be the cause of another bug.
The bug where the mix server list shows that toyX is being played on serverY. Upon entering serverY, you learn quickly that it is not toyX but rather toyA.
[edit] Confirmed. Reproduction Steps:
Arcadia Copy #1 connects to an empty server. Arcadia Copy #1 takes mod (if not already so.) Arcadia Copy #1 does nothing, does NOT pick a toy. Arcadia Copy #2 connects to the same server. Arcadia Copy #1 makes Arcadia Copy #2 the mod. Arcadia Copy #2 picks a toy. Arcadia Copy #2 is now in the toy. Arcadia Copy #1 is still on the toy selection screen, completely oblivious to Arcadia Copy #2's selection. Arcadia Copy#1 picks a different toy than Arcadia Copy #2 picked. Arcadia Copy#2 leaves. Arcadia Copy#3 gets to the server list and sees the toy #2 picked. Arcadia Copy#3 enters the server to discover it is actually the toy that #1 picked.
And you are right, it could be caused by lag too. If someone is mod and picking a toy, a second person could come in, be so laggy that they don't see you, and steal mod, thus causing the same condition.
Posts: 2675 | From: Washington | Registered: Dec 1998
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Anyways, I was playing synJet on one server, and then Empyrion on the other server.
Then I noticed that I'm hearing the synJet missile sounds for default missile weapon sfx. I did a research and found out that both were playing the file "missile1.wav"
So my guess on what's happening here is that Arcadia seems to get confused when it tries to play the wave file of the same names between two toys.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
not sure I followed that... do you mean you were playing both at the same time(2 copies of arcadia) or that you played one, then the other, and Arcadia mis-cached files?
That sounds reasonable, though I would have thought my cache would include the full file path, which would vary with toy, but perhaps not.
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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quote:not sure I followed that... do you mean you were playing both at the same time(2 copies of arcadia) or that you played one, then the other, and Arcadia mis-cached files?
Sorry, my head must've been asleep at the time.
So I managed to reproduce the bug, it seems to happen when you play one toy, then leave server WITHOUT closing Arcadia, and play the other toy. Follow this procedure to reproduce it:
1. Join a server 2. Pick synJet 3. Let Arcadia actually play the sound (i.e. fire a missile) 4. Leave server WITHOUT closing Arcadia 5. Re-join a server 6. Pick Empyrion 7. Play the sound again (i.e. shoot a Bazooker) and the missile should sound like the one in synJet
...And this also worked the other way around, and both in multi and solo. You should actually let Arcadia PLAY that sound to see this glitch, not just pick synJet and leave.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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* miscellaneous bug fixes (but NOT including the sound re-use issue.)
* Another pass at solving the accidental double mod issue.
* found another spot where if the port it wanted was already in use, it would fail (in this case it would fail to set the current toy info on the server list)
* adds support for toys to open diary pages (so you can see who sent a particular synVideo file more easily)
* adds support for toys that want to accept dropped files (so synVideo can be told to send a jpeg simply by dragging the file into the window)
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
I've *accidentally* found yet another cute bug... which isn't very important (and Dan wouldn't be able to reproduce it... unless he saves an archive of older versions)
Anyways, take an outdated version of Arc with no toys installed (I do this so when I enter an Emp server I don't have to be lagged by idiots playing 7 uberbots), pick an account and log in, at which point you are asked if you want to download any toys. Dismiss it, and attempt to enter any MIX server, and you will be asked to update to the latest version. Choose no, log off and log in again.
When done correctly, you will be prompted to update your Arc, although when you click yes, you will be taken to the "fetch toy" window, just like when you click "yes" when you're asked to download a toy.
I know this might be confusing, so I might provide visual aid whenever I feel like it.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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When someone enters a server with a specific toy rule set ("Toy=toyNum" rule), but doesn't have that toy, instead of being prompted to fetch that toy, Arcadia shows whatever toy that player has.
For example, when you have fetched only synChess, and enter a server with "toy=synVideo" rule set, it will look as if the server is playing synChess, although everyone else (who already have fetched synVideo) is playing synVideo.
This explains how a lot of idiot comes in saying, "hi, play synCHESS with mi !" even though we're playing something else.
Well, jokes aside, this confuses a lot of newbies and I hope will be fixed soon.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
Yes, excellent catch and now fixed for next release.
You can mitigate this by actually using the toy number instead of the toy name in the server rule.
The issue was that when attempting to resolve a name to a number, it only has the currently installed toys to check against (which is actually not so bad in this case), but the checking code was bogus and in the case of no match would return... probably the last toy in your list of installed toys.
This would definitely have been a source of confusion, and probably increased the likelihood of accidental double-mods (which I think was actually fixed in the last release! I haven't seen any ACCIDENTAL double mods since then.)
-------------------- He knows when you are sleeping. Posts: 10610 | From: California | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
I think a problem with using number is that it's not clearly documented anywhere unless you're smart enough to go looking through the arcadia folder and go "oh, empyrion is toy 4!" (and even then synRTS might throw them off).
Perhaps you should update the MIX page to include stuff like that. The page itself must be 10 years old and could use some updates in graphics and information (like the !! box, how to port forward, and other stuff). Most of the stuff on there you can't even do.
-------------------- SoV: Exalted Devout Oracle | World Developer | The Black Guard Outside is just a prank older kids tell younger kids at Internet Camp Posts: 9479 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:I think a problem with using number is that it's not clearly documented anywhere
If it isn't already, the best place for the number to be shown is in the "Toy Selection" screen - That way people will see it every day or so, and as such, it will work its way into the subconcious, causing it to be easy to remember.
quote:When you try to close WoS it says "Leaving so soon?" so you dont close right in the middle of something, I've accidently closed in the middle of empyrion games and it messes everything up, could something like that be added to arcadia?
Have it triggered by a /exitmode option or something - that feature on permenantly would annoy the heck out of me...
quote:I have a cool idea for a toy... it would be like colaboration and synVideo put togather you could paint a picture (using paintbrush, pencil, crayon, spray can, colors) and you could paint it in a time limit like 2min. then judge whos paining is the best each round.
I'd forgotten about this suggestion. It's brilliant, but I doubt Dan will build it. Jon, build it in TA...
And on a lighter note, save the words "This Arc Emp Sucks" in notepad (without quotes) and reopen it... (yes, I know this is a clone of "Bush hid the facts", but it's more applicable here...)
quote:I think a problem with using number is that it's not clearly documented anywhere unless you're smart enough to go looking through the arcadia folder and go "oh, empyrion is toy 4!" (and even then synRTS might throw them off).
For players (i.e. non-server hosting clients), what numbers are assigned to each toy isn't really important, so that shouldn't be a huge problem.
Only the fairly experienced players would use the "toy=toyNum" rule anyways.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
By fairly experienced players I define "players who have a fair knowledge of how Arcadia works by researching what folders are used to what kind of purposes".
That's quite common if you are a developer for Empyrion or TurnAbout.
It's not like the new newbs would suddenly try to host a server of his own and attempt to lock it to a specific toy.
I said it's not a huge problem because I haven't seen someone whining he doesn't know which toy is numbered which.
-------------------- This signature contains a lot of foul languages. Also racism. Posts: 2227 | From: Yokohama, Japan | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
There's a UI issue there, in that an "experienced player" doesn't HAVE to be a developer, just someone fairly confident who is well known and preferably well liked. They don't even have to be good at any game, just playing for a while. Playing and building are different things.
-------------------- "Carpé Agnus" {GS} Pwnz I like reviving old topics, it makes me feel needed...
{GS} is dead, sorry.
I've finally changed my av! Posts: 2885 | From: Great Britain | Registered: Apr 2005
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. I wanted to play Warpath earlier, too.
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