Times of War Development Team

Zaei, that is an amazing idea! May I extrapolate?

Perhaps the player could choose what general areas into which to place his or her research, and set percentages of income on, such as:

- Weaponsmithing
- Fletchery
- Armour Forging
- Medical Theory (more HP)
- Education (better morale, new strategies)
- et cetera

I think this could really be useful! Great idea!

Why didn't I thnk of that? (Jorj says as he walks away)

I like it Jorj =).

Z.

The server is currently running on port 50 and is unconfigurable (ie hard coded). Im currently making a win32 application for both server and client allowing that to be changed, its gonna be a sample application that works with a userdatabase etc. The server can be operated on a specific ip or on any available.

I didnt quite understand that IE plugin. Do u mean so they can type the address and it will log on to the server or what ??

The other thing, can any of you access planet-source-code.com coz for me sites take ages to load when they didnt before ??

He means that, on a web page, we can have links that, instead of http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxxx, we can have tow://xxx.xxx...., and a plugin can catch clicks on that kind of link, and launch the game.

Z.

I had an idea (with Jorj) a while back on something else, we could issue a "Classic RTS" MOD that would have everything like it is in other games (eg. houses let more units be created, research normal, etc.). However we would release this after so people will be able to play the new rules too, and get to like them :)

Oh and by the way I'm still looking on how to do that plugin, if anyone can find out for me I'd be thrilled ;)

We dont even need a plugin. I found the article in the MSDN earlier, and its just a set of registry settings. I tested it out as well. Here is how it works:

Code:

---

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
  [tow]
    (Default) = "URL: TOW Protocol"
    URL Protocol = ""
    [shell]
      [open]
          [command]
            (Default) = ""c:\Program Files\Times Of War\tow.exe" %1"
    [DefaultIcon]
      (Default) = "c:\Program Files\Times Of War\tow.exe"

---

Square backets denote a key =). The %1 at the end of the filename passes the url into the program.

Z.

Would this not also ned then the Url Protocol in CLASSES_ROOT/TOW/ to be "tow" or "tow://" or something similar?

Hey Zaei, I made a short proggie but all I am getting when I go to a place such as tow://127.0.0.1:50/ is Page Cannot Be Displayed and Invalid Syntax Error in the Titlebar.

I'm at skool now so not actually working.

I shall add a protocol to allow u to enter a standard ip or a tow address. I gotta think how this should be done coz we want some kin of structure to it.

normal connecitons:

http://ip/

ones from IE can be

tow://ip/

I shall add in some command line params for conenction to games etc and using specific ports so access can be done thru a firewall.

I have also decided to put it all up into one dll called divnetwork.dll

I shall get a demo and the seperate library with source into a zip to zaei to add to the engine.

Straight from MSDN:

Code:

---

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT]
    [note]
        (Default) = "URL:Note Protocol"
        URL Protocol = ""
        [DefaultIcon]
            (Default) = "notepad.exe"
        [shell]
            [open]
                [command]
                    (Default) = "c:\windows\notepad.exe %1"

---

allows note:// protocol.

Sounds good, Psy, though I will do the tow:// address parsing in the main application.

Z.

so you dont want me to make it parse the urls, just make it connect to the url specified in the function call ?

that registry stuff will need to be added via the installer program, once its working can u export the keys to a .reg file and mail it to me please.

Code:

---


#include <string.h>
#include <iostream.h>
#include <conio.h>

void main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
        if (argc < 2) {
                return;
        }

        char m_temp[80];
        char m_url[80];

        strcpy(m_temp, (argv[1] + 6));

        for (int b = 0; b < sizeof(m_temp); b++) {
                if (m_temp[b] == '/') {
                        m_url[b] = '\0';
                        break;
                }
                else {
                        m_url[b] = m_temp[b];
                }
        }
       
        cout << "Passed Url: " << argv[1] << endl;
        cout << "Parsed Url: " << m_url << endl;

        _getch();
}

---

:D

This will take an url such as:

tow://127.0.0.1/

and turn it to

127.0.0.1


I'm thinking all urls to connect to should be passed to the net module as a tow:// ??

p.s i got the registry done so dont worry over it =)

Yeah, the main game will take the tow://, and strip out to just the IP, and port, and use those to connect.

Z.

ok, i will leave as is.

Sweeeet!!!!!

I'm sorry I just had to say that, its just plain cool :cool:!
That works awesome.

Okay, I've thought up a syntax:

Code:

---

Times of War Address:
tow://127.0.0.1:50@password/towservername/

---

It's kind of like an IP address, it lets you have the port, the IP, and the password all there. A great thing about this is it lets you have web listings and true web integration so that administrators can easily make up server pages. The last variable after the / is the hostname, if its not there it'll connect to the first gameserver seen there. If it is, it will attempt to connect to the ToW Server app with that name (admin customizable). Let me know what you think.

Explain, Sas. i dont get it =).

Z.

It's like FTP access with all of the info able to be passed through the web address. About the multi-server things, since there is an app spawned to make the server (correct me if I'm wrong), there could, theoretically, be more than 1 server on one machine (or on computers LANNED together to 1 IP, more than 1 on the network).

OK, makes sense =).

Z.

I have a request for you guys. Could you all post EVERY attribute of a unit that you can think of? I want to start planning unit file loading, and I want to know what kinds of options to include. I want everything from speed, hit points, mana, spells, equipment, etc, etc. Same for buildings, too.

Do we want to load upgrades from files as well? If so, list those here as well.

Oh, and Sas. Can you implement a download counter on all of the files? It will be helpful to see how people like TOW =).

Z.

Aaargh! I just spent about 1/2 an hour writing the attributes and I accidentally clicked the back button, arghhh!

I think the protocol should be:

tow://username:password@ip:port/

this will be better (its just like ftp)

i didnt quite get the admin thing and server address.

I dont think we should have that coz u can only have one server on a port so i dont think it would make that much difference, i think it shud be tow://username:password@ip:port/gamename/ that would be better, no ?

Grrr, vBulletin pissed up my protocol:

Code:

---


tow://username : password@ip : port/gamename/

---

its pissed up the : but basically there is no space next to it, so where it has " : " its actually just ":"

hey, attached it a little program i made :D

if u setup the thing with internet explorer try this with my protocol :D and your data :P

The networking dll shall be ready soon. The actual engine will need to have a class within it which will contain the protocol. I need to add some more stuff to allow it to be used properly and set stuff so it cannot be directly accessed etc etc.

Shall be done soon hopefully. 1 week max !

Take your time with it. What I would like for yo to do though, is to make it a real component. It would be great if you could wrap everything up into 2 classes, the Server class, and the Client class. Export both from the DLL. Then, what I would want is to have a Connect() method, taht takes an IP, a port, and a "NetSession**", or some such. The session object then actuall controls the data transfer and stuff. You could also create some other classes, such as DataSession, for map, or media transfer, etc. All of these should be exported from the DLL. Perhaps even wrap them all up into a single class that creates Clients and Servers =). I know its asking a lot, but the idea is to make it as high level as possible =).

Z.

i will create two classes that go on top of the network class, then i will create enother that goes ontop of that that creates client and server. im not sure bout getting the data session and net session thing done. i'ts working at the moment and i guess its a case of structuring it. The current structure:

Code:

---


dnm_socket->
dnm_status->
dnm_client -> dnm_client -> dnm_network
                                        -> dnm
dnm_socket -> dnm_server -> dnm_network
dnm_client ->
dnm_status ->
dnm_thread->

---

I shall have to draw some stuff up on paper and see whats what.

Sorry I haven't visited this thread in a while.
If you guys still need a person, check out my post in Project Requests. Its new, you cant miss it.

O BTW: I woulden't touch 3d Graphics. I'm sure I could do them if I spend alot of time on it, but my other job takes to much time right now and it would take me probably a year per model

I can however help you guys out with the concept art. I will post some samples later, right now I gotta run.

Check out my other post, I got some music samples on there.
If you wanna get a hold of me, Email me, or give me some kind of forum I can go to where you guys communicate other then VB. (Your emails dont work)

Laters

We communicate here for the moment, and it will probably be that way all the time.

Heh, well Invitro I've emailed you :).

And Psyvision, the parser works perfectly.
And Psyvision, the parser works perfectly.
And Psyvision, the parser works perfectly.
It doesn't get any better than this.

:D

Hey sorry I forgot my email address is a little outdated and I never got anything. Anyhow, I just updated it so email me at
[email protected]

Thanks

yeah i tried to get the parser to work as best as possible, there may be a few errors with it but just for the moment i made it as best i could. if NEone wants the src let me know.

Zaei - I was thinking to have like a dnm_protocol class that contains the protocol. or as you put it *DataSession*

That sounds just fine, Psy =). Keep up the good work on this!

Z.

Im also making up a little mock webpage that will have a table of servers/ip/gamename and a Go button, u select the one u want, click go and it shud launch the parser :D

Hey does anybody have ICQ here? It would be alot easier talking over ICQ

incase you do... my uin is 802604

I still need that list, guys =).

Z.

ICQ: 73533782
MSN: [email protected]
YAHOO: richardcaunt
AIM: PsyVisionMan

Sorry Zaei - Cant help with the list, not my area.

Can someone download the following attached file and then goto:

http://timesofwar.members.easyspace.com/index.vbd

and let me know if the thing shows.

Hey Igor, I was wondering if maybe you could post a song or 2 your working on just so I can see what standards I gotta meet for this project. I also wanna have an idea of where we stand with the music.

Please can someone download the attached file and then goto:

http://timesofwar.members.easyspace.com

And tell me if it works, you will need to have the second parser that i made setup correctly or else the "tow://" wont work

Thanks

Zaei - heres what i have thought up:

the engine has two classes in it, CProtocol and CSession. CSession contains whether its server/client, username, password, server ip, port. And the protocol is pretty obvious.

you then call:

network.StartSession(Session, Protocol);

And it will run from there, below is listed the other classes the module now contains:

CClient
CConection
CLog
CModule
CNetwork
CProtocol
CServer
CSession
CSocket
CSplitter
CThread
CWinsock

If you go to the Times of War website (our group is called Crystal Rain Entertainment):

http://www.crystal-rain.com/

You can go to the Downloads section and download the 4 songs he's done as Mp3 format (converted that way through ModPlug Tracker).

Rich, whenever I click on Go with a username and password and a game highlighted, the parser program just spits out "Error" and ends.

'Error'

Or

'Error - Could not parse'

If its the first u have the older parser. Look back thru the recent posts and find the latest one called Command.zip.

If its the first then i dont know why, its working fine here.

Yea I have the latest one and it still gives me that error.

That is 'Error' not 'Error Could Not Parse'.

hmm, lookin at the src that cud not be the latest coz the only erros given are error could not parse and error not enough params.

i have re-attached the latest one.

Can u plz post the excat username/password, servername/port/game name as seperate "lada" and i will try it. its a problem with the data ur putting in the parser, atm it will only work if its all one word, NO SPACES !

Almost flawless now, the only problem is you've switched the GameName and Port around, making it like this:

http://Sastraxi:[email protected]:TOWGame/50/

instead of

http://Sastraxi:[email protected]:50/TOWGame/

And also, once you close the ToW Window, you can't select another game and go into it, you have to refresh the HTML page.

Both problems fixed.

Heres the new ocx:

..how come these are MIDI Files.... does Igor make all these using MIDI?....
I mean it dosen't sound bad, but I thought he was using something else.

Heres what im working right now...
Their not done, but it gives u an idea of what im doing.

Everything i do is synthesized through a few pieces of hardware I got... so it sounds like reall instruments, or close somewhat. I never use midi, only to communicate to different hardware... thats about it. I'm trying to make these as much ambient sounding as possible... tell me what u guys think, and let me know what I need to change.

Perhaps a title screen of some kind?
http://members.shaw.ca/alek.m/Project1.mp3

This would be great for a cave like environment.
http://members.shaw.ca/alek.m/Project2.mp3

Igor, perhaps u could let me know on what ur using, maybe I can help u out, or vise versa. Also, some of these MIDIS kinda sound familiar... are all these made from scratch, or are peaces riped from other songs?

Okay one more - it would be better if the item in the list stayed selected if you clicked on the Username or Password, because as of now it doesn't and you have to click it last to be able to press OK.

Since you seem to have all the equipment that many of us (cough ME) would envy one for, perhaps you could sequence these on your external synthesizer?

And if you want the MIDI sources for that let me know, I have 'em all.

Thanks a lot Invitro :)

Im not too sure where Igor is atm.

I will try to sort things Sas.

And as far as I know, they're all from scratch. Igor's actually a composer, and a great one at that- where do you think you heard them before?

I just downloaded the 3 midis of the page.. are those the only ones we got so far?
Or are there more.. if you wouldent mind, send them to my mailbox.. ill do my best to convert them somehow.
I just woulden't feel right if these were someone elses work and we redid them and ToW would get the credit... im kinda big on that, cause i know how hard it is to make good music. Thats why I would kinda like to know if these midis are made by someone else or not? ... maybe then we can give partial credit.

PS: I dont have that much crap, I just use it to the full extent. ;)

Oh and Invitro and Igor, you guys should get together. At the moment, Igor, I believe, is having problems with his Internet. One last note, we're hoping to implement Dynamic music (the tempo and beat and actual song changes dependant on what's happening in the game).

They both sound great!

LOL, the number of posts in the last few mins.

Sounds like everyone is working hard.

Keep At It !!

There are 4 and one in the making, that only Igor has. I'll see if I can persuade him to give it to me too :)

I'll send'em over.