First, we are $35 dollars left for the ownership of a 20 gig Ultra DMA 66 Hard drive for GameBox!!! help us out by sending in a couple bucks either to
lord__demios@yahoo.com (two _'s) on paypal or snail mail by sending it to:
LD's Project 2.0
2811 Brookburn RD
SLC UT, 84109 USA.
Now for the bits you want to hear about.
Take a look at this:
24.20.100.130/test/test.cgi
This script does many things. It is self contained meaning it doesn't use anything other then it's self to generate the data you request.
The main page is dynamic so that on loading, it checks to see what the status of currently running games are. I hope to add a new button on the already running part that will allow you to see who is currently in a game. Now the "Start Server" list is basically the following.
NOTE, none of the "Start Server" buttons are on, I have disabled them in this phase of testing.
Descent 3 = Full version of Descent 3. By default it will run a standard Death Match level. The customize button won't take you to anything because I'm still learning most of the command line/ini file options. I hope to add the Descent 3 demo to this list, but at this time it's install is not working right and I have other games that NEED to be done soon.
The HalfLife's = Full version of HalfLife with Standard DM, the mod Counter Strike, and the mod TFC, or Team Fortress Classic. There are no options to customize the TFC or classic DM because of the time it would take to finish those off. But when the Counter Strike custom is finished, I hope that getting the other two going will be just changing a few lines of code. The buttons for customize won't take you to any page because I am still learning the command line/ini file options.
Quake 3 demo and Full = Well, they are both Quake 3 in Demo and Full versions. These two games will have the customize option soon after I finish the UT's. I am learning currently how to do all of the new mods and other additions to Q3 on a Linux server.
The UT's = Well, we want to run Unreal Tournament (UT for short) in many forms because that is the most popular game played. I will discribe each option because of this popularity.
UT Demo Standard Maps.
Well, this will run by default a standard server like I ran back a while ago. It will cycle through just the demo maps and will change game mods also. (aka, go from deathmatch to insta-gib with a level switch). The customize allows you and a buddy/group to play on your fav level with your fav mod.
UT Full Standard Maps
For those of you who don't like downloading new mods or maps, this is the one for you. Same as above, but with the full version weapons and mods. No mods will ever be installed onto this one. This is to keep people able to play games even if they are on those 56K or less connections.
UT Full Multi-New-Maps
This is like the above, but with new maps and new mods. I am currently working on making it so that you can upload maps directly to the server, and it will automatically update the page and map rotations on the server. All maps and mods used on this will be downloadable from the web page. (Faster download then in the game) If you have a new mod or map that you want on this UT, then you will be able to upload it using another page. The mods/maps will have to be in the form that I request, if it means unpacking a zip file then so be it. The default game will run through random maps and random mods, so it's best to have all of them downloaded in advanced. But, there is a reason we have the customize button on it. If you don't want to wait for downloading all the maps, or you don't have the space. The customize option will allow you to select the map, mod and other options to make the game fit your needs.
All of the UT Customize buttons do work, but the submit button has been turned off/broken on purpose so that I can test it as needed. Feel free to play with them, and report any
problems to me.
This script is extremely dynamic on all of the parts it loads. (Ok, Extremely for me, I haven't coded perl in many many months).
The script so far is about 544 lines of as optimized code as I know how to do. There is still quite a bit of work to add to the code, but I wanted you guys to see what was done.
Now for the business end of things.
I myself can't manage more than one game with school/work/and other projects to do. I have given the "ability" of managing Quake3 to Bphantom. Now I will be the head of this
project and what I say will be final, but I listen to reason, and most of you know that I'm pretty good at using other's suggestions. I myself will manage UT because that is something I have the most experiance with. As for HalfLife and Descent 3, well I will need some help.
I need two people (one for each game), that knows linux enough to be able to move around, and understand the structure. They also need to have some experiance coding. It really
doesn't matter what language, but if you know perl that would be great. And you need to be willing to learn and maintain that game. Brad and I are still going to have to work out user access to the games, but we hope that some of you guys out there would like to help. I guess there is another requirement that just hit me. You need to be in the IRC chat or willing to be in there. Most of the users are from there and this is how we get told problems quickly and with plenty of people to test the fix.
I also want to let you know about why it's taken so long to get this far. I have just left my old job. It was taking all of my time, and I wasn't getting paid. I also have to finish up some jobs for people before they leave back to college. The last thing is my parent's company is moving, so I have been "allowed" to help them. These and the fact that school starts in a week are why I haven't gotten more done. I'm sorry about that, I just have to ask that you understand.
Last order of business. Your suggestions and comments. I have to have these to know what needs to be changed, what options you want, and to judge how much work I really have left to do. I really need you guys to look over the customize sections because changes now are easy. When gamebox is running, I don't want to be changing anything to great.
Now I close this update with the request that you do post. Even if it's a "Looks good to me" sort of thing. I need to know what you guys think!
LD
[This message has been edited by Lord_Demios/TMR (edited 08-15-2000).]
GameBox Update
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Linear Mode
