Modifying Our Client

Now as the deadline for the MV submission to GDC is coming up, so I'm ramping up as much as possible. Today I put up a preliminary patch and loading screen. I will detail the steps I went through to do this, so they can be updated by our art team.

I created a patcher screen 640x480 @ 72 DPI in jpg format. Then created a 1024x1024 load screen in dds format. I copied these files to their proper places (/patcher_images/tempImg.jpg) and (/Textures/loadimage.dds).

I then built the manifest file:
valerie@starscream:/usr/multiverse/bin$ sudo ./build_manifest.py /home/valerie/fi_alpha_assets

Then I removed the old asset repo:
valerie@starscream:/var/www$ sudo rm -rf fi_alpha_assets

Then copied the new asset repo to the webserver:
valerie@starscream:/var/www$ sudo cp -r /home/valerie/fi_alpha_assets .

Then I backed up the asset repo:
valerie@starscream:/var/www$ sudo tar cvf fi_alpha_assets.tar fi_alpha_assets

Then when you start up the mv client on your local machine, you will see the new files.

I also updated the world_patcher.html:
body { background-image: url(http://76.16.47.80/fi_alpha_assets/patcher_images/tempImg.jpg); font-family: arial,sans-serif }
td,div,p,a,font,span {font-family: arial,sans-serif }

.tl {padding: 0; width: 4; text-align: left; vertical-align: top}
.tr {padding: 0; width: 4; text-align: right; vertical-align: top}
.bl {padding: 0; width: 4; text-align: left; vertical-align: bottom}
.br {padding: 0; width: 4; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom}

.caption {color:#000000; white-space:nowrap; text-align:center}

.form-noindent { border: #C3D9FF 1px solid}

.mv.label { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; }
.mv.value { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; }
.mv.button { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; }
.mv.remember { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: smaller; }

.errormsg { color: red; font-size: smaller; font-family:arial,sans-serif; }
.statusmsg { color: white; font-size: smaller; font-family:arial,sans-serif; }

.h3-header-text-color { color: green; }

Future Items for Research:
phpBBCode
Creating a Launch Pad
Load Screen Name
Splash Screen
Theme Music
Photoshop Plugins from Nvidia

With the move and everything going on in the last 2 months, things have been hectic, but it has not stopped progress!

Last weekend I configured apache and set up the multiverse asset repository to allow external access to our new alpha world. Foxman created the alpha world, and we have it up and running on the server. I had a few routers die in the last two weeks, so that caused some mayhem as well.

Now our job is to make the alpha world look like the playable demo we want for January!

Crazy

Things have been crazy here, so I'm just getting back into things.

Today I set up apache on our server so that we have our assets and world going. As usual I need to change a local variable with t he following command:

export DEFAULT_MV_PROPERTYFILE="fiMultiverse.properties"

MV Sample World

I started a sample world on our server, and connected to it from my desktop. My next step will be to create a world using our art, then register it with MV in a private fashion so the team can work on it.

List of items to do:
1) Add our custom art to the Asset Repo
2) Create world using world editor
3) Move to server and restart using the new world.
4) Connect to and test client.
5) Register world for external use.

Multiverse 1.0 Linux Install

This will be our first install of Multiverse (MV) on the Forever Interactive server. I started out by installing Bitvise Tunnelier and cygwin on my windows desktop so that I could work comfortably on the server in my office. I typically use Tunnelier at work, so I'm comfortable with it, and will use it for the time being. I used cygwin a long time ago, but I have forgotten most of it so it will be a renewal process.

The first step in the MV server install process is to install a current version of the JDK. I also used he linux based MV instructions as well as a reference. They seem to be using a Redhat based distro, and we are using Ubuntu, so I had to modify accordingly. As usual, I use apt-get.

I downloaded the MV install and mysql, and edited a few configuration files. MV also has special notes just for Ubuntu users.


And here is the server up and running.

Couple of useful commands:
./multiverse.sh -v start
./multiverse.sh status
./multiverse.sh stop

cd $MV_HOME/logs/
grep ERROR *.out

Additional good forum links:
Trouble with Ubuntu 1
Trouble with Ubuntu 2

FI Server Setup

Forever Interactive

Now that the OS is installed, I need to set up the computer for use. Over the next few days, I will go through my notes of things that need to take place to better improve the server.

Items done or noted:

• Control + Alt + F1 = Switch to text mode
• Adding new users
• Setting up SSH
• ifconfig to find IP address
• Ensuring the system clock stays on time with a cron job

I have set up an IRC server for internal use. I had to read quite a few sites to fully/learn understand what I needed to do. I still have a few ToDo's here, but the basics should be ok. I was also able to test the IRC server internally and externally.

Links Used:
IRC help
Tutorial on setting up identd/dcc
XChat
IRCD-Hybrid
Ubuntu IRC server instructions
Ubuntu Classroom
Ubuntu server setup information
Ubuntu feisty fawn information

Catch Up Time

I just went out of town on business for WaMu in Seattle, and due to the wonderful world of flying I effectively lost three days of time. So now I have a pile of work to do to catch up, and on top of it all we are knee deep in the middle of a move.

After catching up on WaMu emails, I am going to work on Uberworlds. The project is quiet at the moment, and once I catch up on all of my duties, I should have one less project to deal with. Next I'll work on the FI server, but since there are a ton of boxes and what not in the living room, I'll need to work on that first.

Uberworlds
Since it has been a bit of time when I last worked on this I am figuring out where I left off. I left notes to myself, but I'm not as organized as I would like.

Silversage Quest Implementation
I started off by creating a new druid for testing, Hawte, I leveled her to 10 using /imm gimme PLEVEL 10. She has no quests so I need to pick those up. After that I'm going to check the spacing and new lines in the quest dialogs and clean that up. Each time I enter the game I have to switch to Hawte's character. I'm using my new immortal commands CmdListQuestObjectives (/imm LISTQUEST) and CmdFillQuestObjective (/imm FILLQUEST). I need to also add a command to selectively fill quest objectives and possibly delete or un-fill them.

To improve the output of /imm LISTQUEST I have added a new color for game text in the UI.


Enabling Developer Mode - Once in the game client, hit Ctrl-Tilde and type: $pref::developer = 1; *Note: You only have to do this once, the preference will be saved. Ctrl-F10 opens the GUI Editor and Ctrl-F11 opens the realtime Zone Editor.

For Visiting the Camp, I need to fully check out the entire quest because when I implemented it, it was the first time I have ever done quest implementation in MMOWorkshop, and there may be issues. I also need to add all the cross zone quest implementations. For the quest completion portion on another NPC, I'm using A Quick Tour to compare getting objectives from other NPCs.
This one is slightly different since it ends in an escort quest objective, but I will look into that later. For now I will make sure the quest works by talking to and getting an update from Scout Theon in the other zone.


I was able to complete and test the Scout Theon portion of "Visiting the Camp", and place Scout Theon in The Silver Plateau. The next update I will finish up the Captain Rodkim quests.

Quests worked on:
Captain Rodkim - Life of a Soldier
Captain Rodkim - Visiting the Camp

Forever Interactive Server 3

I have a temporary RAID 1+0 setup using Ubuntu Linux. I am waiting on the last hard drive to come in to fully set up the server, but I have documented the install progress at the FI Wiki.

Below are pictures of me in our new Ubuntu setup using GNOME.


Next steps are detailed in the "To Do" section of the wiki, but basically when the final hard drive gets here, I will install it, redo the install steps, configure the server (setting up processes, security, etc), install backup services, install Multiverse and get all users set up for use.

Forever Interactive Server Part 2

For the past week I have been reading several books (see below), and just getting up to date knowledge on this Linux server. My goal is to have this be well done enough to last us for a while, provide good data security and integrity and save us costs.

Here are shots of the partitioning:

Next I will set up the software raid array.

Books used:
Ubuntu Linux Bible
Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional
Hacking Ubuntu
Linux All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Degunking Linux
Configuring and Administering Linux ReferencePoint Suite

I will use information from this book for some of our teammates:

Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks: A Pain-Free, Project-Based, Get-Things-Done Guidebook

Forever Interactive Server Part 1

For our first server, we decided just to buy the parts and build it ourselves. Before I came on the team they discussed purchasing a server from Dell or one of the other pre-made companies, but I can build a similar PC for a lot less so we can use the money to do other things. We were able to build this system for around ~$1600.

Here are the pictures in progress:





I put a basic version of Ubuntu Linux on the server to make sure the hardware was properly configured. Now the next task will be to design the partitions and prep the server for raid configuration. The current config just has all four drives mounted serially. Once thats complete I will have to secure Linux, patch any existing software, and add new software.

Server for Forever Interactive Starting Research

https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/forum/installation/Partitioning
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LVMOnRaid

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.html

http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/RaidCalc/RaidCalc.asp
http://www.lascon.co.uk/d008005.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Google Slideshow

http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/slideshow/index.html
http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/slideshow/reference.html#hello-world
http://www.google.com/ig
http://googleajaxsearchapi.blogspot.com/

Spawn Timers Part 2

This weekend I completed my EQ2 guide (yay!). Then I revisited my spawn timer code. This is because all of it seemed to not be accurate. During my testing I hardcoded delay values in mob.py and tested them. (The test results are in the uberworlds wiki). Basically below about 3 minutes or so, the way MMOkit does it's time update, it is very difficult to track accurately completely in its default form. There may be some way to improve this. I am also adding some flags to not check if mobs are already up and if it has the same name as the existing.

Next task for UW will be implementing some quests for Silversage Forest (http://wiki.uberworlds.com/index.php/Quests:_Silversage).

Links Used:
============
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_use_tables
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_tables.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_%28HTML%29#Tables

Thanks Suckas!

Pwn'd.

FTP Setup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FTP_servers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_FTP_servers
http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/

http://filezilla-project.org/wiki/index.php/Network_Configuration

http://www.net2ftp.com/index.php

====
Modeling (unrelated link) http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/phpbb?page=viewtopic.php&p=2015&highlight=#2015
http://www.wraiththegame.com/website/index.php
http://www.garagegames.com/products/172/
http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=6431
http://www.t3h-v.com/folio/corum_construct.jpg

Uberworlds Updating Environment and Spawn Timers

http://tmrc.mit.edu/mirror/twisted/Twisted/2.5/Twisted_NoDocs-2.5.0.win32-py2.5.exe
(Networking code for Python)
http://www.slproweb.com/download/Win32OpenSSL-0_9_8e.exe
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cgi-bin/voidspace/downman.py?file=pycrypto-2.0.1.win32-py2.5.zip
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/wiki/Cookbook
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.2/svn.advanced.vendorbr.html
(Vendor branches)
http://www.prairiegames.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6
(Prarie games forum)

===
I finished the spawn code to work based off of spawngroups.py, but now I am trying to integrate it with the rpgSpawnPoints.

http://wiki.uberworlds.com/index.php/Spawn_times#Spawn_Timer_Usage

Changing spawns for Uberworlds

This assignment is to change the spawn function to have more discreet increments. Currently here are examples of how spawns work:

mob1 = DBSpawnInfo(spawn="Radothe",startTime=20, endTime=6)
mob2 = DBSpawnInfo(spawn="Wild Wolf",frequency=RPG_FREQ_ALWAYS)

The new function should allow
mob3 = RPGSpawnInfo(spawn="Wild Wolf",startTime=20.13.56,endTime=6.24.24)

Allowing detail to the second to be used.

Python:
Install Win32Api Extensions and PythonWin packages.
To exit the interpeter, use Ctrl+Z on Windows, On Unix or IDLE Ctrl D.

To run a Python program in Unix as an executable, use chmod to make your script executable. (chmod +x script.py). Add a line to the top of the program for the location of your python executable. (ex. #!/usr/bin/env python)

Links used on this project:
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/wiki/PopulatorGroups
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/phpbb?page=viewtopic.php&t=262&highlight=spawn+group
http://wiki.uberworlds.com/index.php/Spawn_times
http://www.python.org
http://www.vex.net/parnassus

Interesting Links:
http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp
^ Full model tutorial.

Base64 Encoding

http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-decoder-encoder.asp

Wiki editing and SVN Setup

Today I have been editing my wiki pages so I can document what I am doing.


Links used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tutorial_%28Formatting%29
http://wiki.uberworlds.com/index.php/Development_Setup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet

Completing MMOkit Tutorials

Everything is going much smoother now that I know where most things are. I did run into a few issues though, so I'll record them here in case I forget later.

= Make sure object names do not have spaces in them. If they do the game won't load. It can be fixed by editing the *.mis file and adding a "_" where the space is.
= For the Spells tutorial, there is a missing icon (STUFF/2). Found this by searching for STUFF after I realized things were erroring once I tried to use the spell object and the inventory Icon had no icon.

http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/wiki/Administration
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/wiki/Tutorials
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/wiki/ServerSetup
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/phpbb?page=viewtopic.php&t=8&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
http://www.mmoworkshop.com/trac/mom/wiki/DevEnvironmentSetupWindows

http://stage6.divx.com/PixelPerfect