Battlegrounds Games

heruca · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:10 am Post subject: BRPG v1.0.6b beta released

BRPG v1.0.6b is now available for download. It is to be considered in beta status for the time being. If nothing major is found to be wrong with it in the next week or so, I'll take it out of beta and it will become the default BRPG download. And if something is wrong with it, I'll fix it and re-release it.

This is a full install, not a patch. This update is mostly bug fixes, but there are also a few minor things worth mentioning:

• Encounters saved after loading a server-based map now retain the URL, so that when players connect to the GM, they get the map from the server rather than via the slower peer-to-peer transfer.
• The chat log can now be edited
• Added an Audio Icon to the Objects folder (useful for attaching audio clips to)

The format for Encounters has changed since v1.0.6. Files created in older versions of BRPG will need to be updated before they can be used. Failing to update them will result in errors or failure to load. The format for Deployments has not changed.

As usual, see the included ReadMe file for more details.

Download BRPG v1.0.6b here:
(be sure to get the right one for your platform)
http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/BRPGv106bWin.zip
http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/BRPGv106bMac.zip

heruca · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:16 am Post subject: Loading maps from a server

I'm reposting this info because a number of people will never see the original post, but I want everyone to see these instructions:

v1.0.6 [and higher] includes the much-requested ability to download maps from a server. Since this is not yet covered in the User Manual (which badly needs an update), I'll explain here how it works. Much of this information was posted elsewhere on the forum, but is repeated here for the benefit of users who do not visit the forum regularly.

This new approach to loading maps in online games is in addition to the standard peer-to-peer map transfer feature, but has several important benefits:
1. There's no 2MB limit on map size.
2. JPEG compression (or other compression) is retained (this makes a HUGE difference).
3. There is no longer the bottleneck of the GM's upload speed.
4. It's actually easier to code and performs more reliably.

The only downside is that not everyone has server space for storing images, but I'm sure there are many free solutions to this.

This new map loading feature is making its debut in v1.0.6, but is still in a rudimentary form. By that, I mean that there is no interface for it yet. The GM simply types in the map's URL in the chat input field after the code "map=" (sans quotes). For example, you might type "map=http://www.myserver.com/mymodule/dungeon-level-2.jpg" into the Chat window's text input field. When you hit RETURN, the map quickly loads into every connected client, including the GM's.

Performance is really fast, particularly when compared to the old method of transferring maps. In my tests, I've gotten maps to load within a few seconds after hitting the Return key (but I haven't tried it yet with a full-size 40 x 40 map).

Of course, typing in long URLs is a major hassle, and very prone to typos, so I've added support for pasting URLs into the Chat window's text input field (presumably URLs which you've copied from a browser window, or a Notepad file). In fact, you can now use Cut, Copy, Paste, and Select All in the chat input field, using the standard keyboard shortcuts for your OS. These editing commands should also come in handy during regular text chatting, of course.

Eventually, I will see about adding an interface for this new map loading feature. Ideally, one which allows you to see thumbnail-sized previews of the available maps on the specified server/s.

Full Bleed · General Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 499

You forgot to mention the nice turn animation you added.

I like it!

It doesn't work so good when you hit the button 2 or 3 times in rapid succession and I still would really like to either have half-steps that work without other keys, be able to set our own degree of turn per click, and/or have 360 degree available with the turn buttons/mouse. But I do think having the animation in place is a nice polish feature that shows you're headed in the right direction.

Smile

heruca · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:38 am Post subject:

Hasn't the turn animation been in there since around v1.0?

Full Bleed · General Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 499

heruca · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:09 am Post subject:

Were you by chance using a white semi-transparent grid before? Wink

Yeah, it's probable that something I changed in v1.0.6b is just making the animations run smoother. See if your CPU usage has dropped.

Full Bleed · General Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 499

Omnidon · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject:

Uploaded to the alternate mirror.

Battlegrounds: RPG Edition - Windows
v1.0.6b BETA Demo
http://allinyourmind.net/brpg/BRPGv106bWin.zip

Battlegrounds: RPG Edition - Mac OS X
v1.0.6b BETA Demo
http://allinyourmind.net/brpg/BRPGv106bMac.zip

MrJamela · Cannon Fodder Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 4

I'm testing out the 1.06b demo right now.....

There seems to be an issue with snap to grid and the Hex overlay. As I move, I'm not snapping to the hex grid.

Jaime

Full Bleed · General Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 499

heruca · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject:

Snap-to-grid worked well in hex mode until I added the zoom feature. I'll get it working again eventually. Hopefully soon, so I can play GURPS. Smile

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

I grabbed a copy of 1.06b to test in trial-mode. Everything seemed to go pretty well setting it up on my Mac - then I decided to set up a test Mac to connect to it as a player. The player side wasn't so good.

• The map did not display right - it had horizontal strips missing
• Fog of war did not function correctly (vision, and lighting not working right)
• THEN it went into having many many Director script errors

(Basically, it didn't work.)

This was all on a gigabit switched local network. Both Macs running OSX 10.4.9.

heruca · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:03 pm Post subject:

Welcome, Tryll.

The peer-to-peer map transfers seem to be unreliable in v1.0.6b. Hopefully I can fix it in the next release. Have you tried loading a map from a server instead? It's much faster and very reliable.

What didn't work right with the Fog of War? Can you be more specific?

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

Well, to be honest, I hit so many script errors, I've forgotten the details. Will BRPG generate a log?

So, can you link the instructions for using server-based maps? I only need to put the maps on the server, not tokens or objects, etc.?

Incidentally, I'm a big Director fan, and have written many many projects in Director (mostly using Flex now.) I'm familar with pretty much *all* of the xtras you are using, and I've even used goMU for some projects.

I'd be glad to try to help with some trouble-shooting (or supplying some logs or whatever.)

OK. I can try a remotely served map later today, and try to get more details on the various errors I saw (they were mostly out-of-range errors – which can *always* be avoided with enough error-checking.)

I'm in the process of testing all the available VGT's – particularly those available for Mac.

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

Ah. I see. Remote server loads are via a chat macro. Got it.

heruca · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:07 pm Post subject:

Only maps can be server-based at this time, although in future versions I hope to add the ability to also access other media from a server.

I will be updating the User Manual very soon, or at least supplying an addendum explaining all the new features added since v1.0.

Any idea how I could go about generating logs in Director? Or how I can make it spit out more informative error messages that are actually useful?
I've already got this in the INI file:

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

OK, so since displayFullErrorText is on, that is why I'm seeing details in the alert that pops up. Otherwise I'd only see "Script error". When I test later, if it happens again, I'll get more details (now that we are in a dialogue).

You can also check out "debugPlaybackEnabled"... this allows your message window output to be displayed at runtime (a new window opens.) Then you just log things with "puts" as you normally would. The only problem would be if you are writing anything sensitive there (passwords, license codes, etc.) Note that at any point that this property is set to false, it cannot be reset to true during that run of the application. (A security measure.)

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

And of course you can also generate your own logging mechanism, via fileIO, propSave, xml xtra, etc. Just create a function to add lines of text to the log and write it to a file. Then in each of your key functions, send the results over to your logger.

Or, shell xtra could write it out to the system console.

Plenty of options because you are running a projector, you don't really have any limits on creating files, etc.

For one thing, you might consider having goMU log its results. This could give you some good information on how it is handling your data transfers, and if it is having problems.

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

About the remote server maps... how is this meant to work? Is the URL embedded in the encounter? Since I can't open the chat window before connecting with a client, how do I prepare an encounter? With a local map? But then won't the players try to load that map when they connect and before I type in the map= URL?

heruca · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:13 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the tips.

As of v1.0.6b, if you load a map from a URL, the URL gets saved when you save the Encounter. You need to be hosting a game, even if no one is connected, to get access to the chat window so that you can load a map from a URL. Later on, when a client connects or when you load up that encounter, the player clients will load the map from the server instead of trying to get it via peer-to-peer transfer.

Once you've done at least one encounter this way, it's pretty easy to modify other Encounters to load the map from the server. Just open up your Encounter in Notepad and look for where the URL gets stored. Then modify your other Encounter files to contain the necessary URL info.

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

OK, I've done some testing, and this isn't working here. After posting maps to my web server, and testing them in my browser...

I used the URL method in my BRPG setup. It reloaded my map from the remote source. So far, so good.

I saved the encounter, and connected my test client. It loaded nothing, and stayed on the default grass.

I next used the chat client to send the "map=" command. The player client loaded all my tokens, and went to a black screen (with tokens showing.)

I checked the fog of war panel. Both Fog of war and blackout were enabled.

I unchecked blackout. Nothing happened, I could still see the tokens, and nothing else.

I unchecked fog of war. The player client displays a message that it is loading the map from the peer to peer network. That dialog never goes away, and it never loads the map.

I close the server, shut it down, and restart.

I load the encounter. The map does not load on the server.

I start the server, and issue the command to load the map. The map does not load, I have a black field.

I go back to my browser, and make sure the map still loads OK there. No problems.

My map size is about 1 meg. My OSX firewall is opened to allow traffic on port 1626 to the BRPG MUS.

I guess I'm done testing BRPG for now, unless there is something specific you'd like me to try.

Incidentally, so far, MapTools is the only Mac-based VGT that seems to run without any problems on both client and server. I haven't yet been able to test d20Pro, as they don't have a Mac installer ready. BRPG is certainly the coolest, but I can't seem to get it to work. That means MapTools is coming out on top. Crying or Very sad

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

As you can tell, I'm testing all of these, then I will pick one for my group... and while I need to decide on one soon, I'd rather not rule out BRPG just yet.

Perhaps we could trouble-shoot this if I host a game for you to join? Can you join directly from the authoring environment for debugging?

Another question... do the clients need any ports opened on their firewall?

Does a NAT router need to be configured for port forwarding to the server for outside access? Note that in my case, both machines are inside my firewall, so that shouldn't be an issue for my local tests.

heruca · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:57 pm Post subject:

I'll be happy to test and troubleshoot with you in about an hour and a half, or later tonight, whichever is more convenient for you.

All I can say is that it worked during the iCon demos.

No, clients shouldn't need to do any port forwarding, AFAIK. Just the GM/host has to do that.

Tryll · Sergeant Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 33

Can you provide me a private email address to set up the details?

edit --

An address I can contact you at offlist is what I meant by that.

heruca · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:24 pm Post subject:

Sure:
heruca (at) mac (dot) com