HUGE socket problem.

[Poser]

Ok I have a major problem i been coding my game and it was all going well till i got into the making a server and database part for it. I have the client and stuff coded now i need the server coded which i can code the functions of the game but i have NO clue were to even start when it comes to making a database and adding sockets to forms so on. I ran my own WoW server at one point in time and i have ran a few 2dMUD servers. I know that on the WoW it used SQL and on the 2dmuds it had a form that loaded out of folders such as Images, Room, Items, Players, ect. I was told to use sockets since sockets are supireor to trying to run winsock since its not realy part of .net. I have a vb 2010 txt book called step by step i have been reading and using but i cant seem to figure out anything when it comes to the sockets part and database stuff. I guess my question is can anyone dumb it down for me to were even a noob like me can understand it? I know its a lot to ask for and im not asking anyone to program it for me because i REALY want to learn how to do it but i kinda need a .net sockets for dumbies or something. If anyone has the spare time to teach me i would greatly appreiciate it. Ty.

[honeybee]

WinSock was a control used in the VB6 days to do socket programming (read: network programming).

There are two actions (generally) to network programming: Sending data (transmitting) and receiving data (listening). You have to open a separate socket to perform either transmitting or listening. To open a socket you need to assign it a port address which is free.

Read up any resources on network / socket programming to know the basics of how it's done.

For developing a game your focus should be to make the socket programming as efficient as possible, at the same time as reliable as possible, so there are no packet losses.

How to design a database is a question independent of the socket programming. Depending upon what your needs are you can decide what you want to store in the database. A few things I can think of are the list of players registered with your server, games in progress and each player's status in the game (inventory, abilities and so on).

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