Minikloon

**The Zap Client** Zap is an attempt to produce a flexible client with powerful customization possibilities while keeping the simplest front-end available. It's meant to be used with any Eclipse Cloud exclusively and its parts are interchangeable, including the graphics engine and sound system. Data is directly streamed from the server and the client is also directly instructed how to behave by the server so the plugins may be kept server-side only. This simplifies the end-user work to get its plugins up and running.

 Cloud is my C++ succession to the quondam Mirage Source edit Eclipse Evolution. Eclipse Cloud offers, amongst it's astonishing features, a plugin system that lets you customize your game and offer a true unique, tailor-made experience to your players. **__________________________**    **__________________________** **Project History** Cloud has inherited from a quite charged back-story. The idea of a plugin-based engine first emerged in my spirit while programming the [Micro Engine](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,67909.0.html). I thought about how harsh is the life for starting game developers using Eclipse Engine. The initial reason of creating an Online RPG engine was for training purpose and the sources soon became saturated because of the lack of thought putted in the design. Hence the project stopped not too long after it's creation. Self-Quote about the Micro Engine : > “writing up code everywhere and not be organized, get lost in my own work, struggle with the server’s code organization (Not OO, D:) and then come back to work and need to read everything I did recently to start working…. It’s crap.” The Micro Engine was quickly replaced by the ancestor of Cloud, and you can now see by yourself how the core is coming along. **It's still in a heavy development phase.** **__________________________** **Quick features :** > - Easy to use plugin system. > - C++ means more efficient than VB6. > - Total control over your creation without the need of editing the sources. > - Interchangeable client. > - Open Source like any Eclipse (And free, as in free beer!) > - Multi-platform, runs on Linux without trouble. **__________________________** **Overview** Cloud isn't written using Visual Basic 6, mind you. This means it needs to create it's own framework to work around. Since the whole thing is based around plugins, there's not many features included directly in the initial download. An Eclipse Cloud project usually turns around three major concepts : Plugins, Configs, Content. The "Core" handles those three things by itself, for the plugins to use. Plugins are dlls loaded using the Pluma ([http://pluma-framework.sourceforge.net/](http://pluma-framework.sourceforge.net/)) library. You simply download the plugins you wish to use (Maps, skills, characters, NPCs, pets, whatever you want!) and put them in your server and client directory. That's a blast! Configurations are XML files edited by you to, as self-explaining it may sounds, configure the plugins you use. On first startup they will spawn in the right folder for you to edit. The content is the maps setup, images, GUI and texts your specific game is using. In the long term, the engine will try to improve the workflow of creating a game with Eclipse. **__________________________** **Even More Teasing** Even better, the whole client will also be interchangeable. Eclipse Cloud's basic plugins will be bundled with a basic ‘Framework’ for a general 2D ORPG. But if someone’s arsed to create a 3D client (_That’s illusive btw, sorry!_), he could use it with Cloud. The content is directly streamed from the server to the client when the client needs that said new content. For example, if the player joins reach a map where the biome is different and thus need another tileset, it'll download the tileset just before arriving to that new biome. The plugins have total control over the clients. They can instruct them to show IDzed sprites with a named image resource as they want. They can also take input from the clients, obviously enough. The networking part is all abstracted away from the plugin writers. But, I'm not gonna tell out features that I didn't design properly yet. molyneux **__________________________** **Notes on the engine architecture** The engine relies on a client/server solution. It follows Object-Oriented programming paradigm. Cloud is the class that represents the main application and its logic. There are two basic threads running from the main() function, the logic thread (Cloud) and the network thread. The latter is used by the logic thread to send and receive information and is also handling connections. The version of the network layer shipped with the engine is using RakNet as a network library. There are several other singletons, besides of Cloud and the NetworkLayer. - The ConfigHandler is a manager class that loads XML configuration files using the RapidXML library. The plugins will be able to pick up fields from the config handler to let the end-user configure the plugins without touching to the sources. - The PluginHandler is the manager class that loads dynamic libraries (plugins) using Pluma. - The LogManager, well, log data into a file. _Take note that this section is a work in progress, as the Core expands._ **__________________________** **Download** Everything about download can be found here : [http://www.minikloon.freemmorpgmaker.com/](http://www.minikloon.freemmorpgmaker.com/) To download specific files, remove the !!README!!.html in the url. :embarrassed:

Hi. You will first need to create an actual installer. This can be done with Inno Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php), a software I always used myself without any trouble. Run the installer creation wizard to remove the hassle of scripting the whole thing. The only thing you might want to script is another step to run Eclipse's Library installer. See the documentation about that, or, if you're having trouble, say it out loud. ;) Then you will want to create an autorun. That autorun script will be put [on top of your Windows list showing up when inserting a CD](http://www.dailycupoftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/screencapture004.png). Create your autorun.inf file using any text editor, such as notepad. You can follow this tutorial here : http://autorun.moonvalley.com/autoruninf.htm. What you want to do is to link your autorun with your installer. Then simply put both your installer and autorun in the CD, USB key, DVD or whatever. I hope you'll get through it. Good luck, Minikloon. EDIT@Yami : ikr?

Hi. Hosting your game online will need you to rent a VPS or dedicated machine (Not needed). You can rent VPS (Virtual Private Server) on various websites for various prices depending of the machine's configurations and bandwidth available. You can safely run an Eclipse Server with the lowest configuration available on any services, with the prices around $20 by month which, when you think about it, is really cheap. :embarrassed: Take a look here where I give recommendations about VPS : [http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,71552.msg768973.html#msg768973](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,71552.msg768973.html#msg768973) I don't recommend hosting with a personal, since that's the worst security you can get ever. Free hosting means no up-time guarantee. I'd use this in last resort only. Have luck, Minikloon.

Hi. First you thing you might want to do is download a copy of your chosen version's IDE (Integrated Development Environment). I will suppose you want to learn VB6, since the Eclipse Engine is using that version. To download Visual Basic 6, which is a software by Microsoft, you'll need to find a friend, a co-worker or someone who has a valid copy. VB6 isn't supported by Microsoft anymore, so it's not for sale. You can also download it somewhere, like on a P2P network. Here's Robin's tutorial to install Visual Basic 6 : [http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,68399.0.html](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,68399.0.html) Then, there are plenty of resources on internet. You might first want to read an 'A to Z' kind of tutorial. [Here](http://www.profsr.com/vb/vbintro.htm) and there are two of those type of tutorials. Those will mostly get you around using the software and creating simple programs. Talking of programs, here's a tip : Try to complete them fast and don't aim to high. If you don't complete your ideas while you're a beginner, it's completely normal, but it might discourage you a bit. Results boost moral. You'll probably need to learn more about programming in general, object-oriented programming concepts, take a grasp of bytes and data typing, but no more to then pickup most challenges you wish. Here are random resources : - Programming in VB, printable : [http://hsc.csu.edu.au/sdd/core/package/solution_package/tutorials/visualbasic_tutorial.pdf](http://hsc.csu.edu.au/sdd/core/package/solution_package/tutorials/visualbasic_tutorial.pdf) - VB6 on MSDN : [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788229](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788229) - VB6 wiki on vb6.us : [http://www.vb6.us/](http://www.vb6.us/)

Hello. To everyone's regret, there's no such vocabulary as 'free' on the Internet, especially when talking about hosting. If you don't have any budget to invest in your game, you'll need to host your game home. That's a dilemma every amateur game maker face. Windows VPS hosting starts as low as $20 a month and can go up to hundreds of dollars. You don't need to put that money in your game while in development. You can create graphics, mod the engine a bit (write to the source code) and create content (maps, spells, classes) without hosting on the web. Try hosting the server on your computer while in the creation phase. Then, after finishing your game, if you think it's worth it, reconsider paying for hosting. Here are three hosting companies I had good experience with. Google their name (No referral, see?) : - KickAssVPS - Arvixe - VPS.net - ServerFFS I wouldn't recommend asking for hosting from someone you don't know on the web, unless you can have daily backups of your server. Also, hosting on your personal computer will never assure you to have a 24/7 game. You might also want to considering monetizing your creation after putting it online. Advertisements on the side of your website's Armory, on the game's loader or offering the purchase of online goods or membership… That can pay the hosting for sure! It's up to you to decide if your game is worth it, you know? :embarrassed: Good luck!

Hello. The colours are found in different locations trough the sources. I guess that if you want to change them in the chat you might as well want to change them in the map. Unless you really just want to change the colours in the chatbox, but then you'd have even more than you need anyway. ;) Note that you can modify the color with any valid color function. The one I'd personally prefer (As those numbers mean something to me) is RGB(r, g, b) ([http://www.chennaiiq.com/developers/reference/visual_basic/functions/rgb.asp](http://www.chennaiiq.com/developers/reference/visual_basic/functions/rgb.asp)), simple enough isn't it? :cheesy: There's also QBColor(color), as referenced here : [http://www.chennaiiq.com/developers/reference/visual_basic/functions/qbcolor.asp](http://www.chennaiiq.com/developers/reference/visual_basic/functions/qbcolor.asp). QBColor's constants are found in the modConstants file and goes as follow : > ' text color constants > Public Const Black As Byte = 0 > Public Const Blue As Byte = 1 > Public Const Green As Byte = 2 > Public Const Cyan As Byte = 3 > Public Const Red As Byte = 4 > Public Const Magenta As Byte = 5 > Public Const Brown As Byte = 6 > Public Const Grey As Byte = 7 > Public Const DarkGrey As Byte = 8 > Public Const BrightBlue As Byte = 9 > Public Const BrightGreen As Byte = 10 > Public Const BrightCyan As Byte = 11 > Public Const BrightRed As Byte = 12 > Public Const Pink As Byte = 13 > Public Const Yellow As Byte = 14 > Public Const White As Byte = 15 In the modText file at line ~56 there's the comment ' Check access level , in the Sub DrawPlayerName(ByVal Index As Long). This function is meant to draw the player's name as you see it on the map. You will see this code under the comment : ``` If GetPlayerPK(Index) = NO Then Select Case GetPlayerAccess(Index) Case 0 color = RGB(255, 96, 0) Case 1 color = QBColor(DarkGrey) Case 2 color = QBColor(Cyan) Case 3 color = QBColor(BrightGreen) Case 4 color = QBColor(Yellow) End Select Else color = QBColor(BrightRed) End If ``` I guess it's pretty intuitive. :P (Do not forget the else statement if you want to edit admin's color.) Regarding your chatbox problem… It's located in file modHandleData at line ~ 2073 in the Sub HandleSayMsg(ByVal Index As Long, ByRef Data() As Byte, ByVal StartAddr As Long, ByVal ExtraVar As Long) function, who's job is to write player's stuff in the txtChat form, also known as "Chatbox". It's exactly the same code as above. Also note that the Sub AddText(ByVal Msg As String, ByVal color As Integer) subprocess found in the modText file at line ~283 does as different job from HandleSayMsg one, as you can judge by it's arguments. The latter is solely used to declare stuff on the chatbox, as the message of the day. It has a color argument but if you're planning on a chatbox mod system or whatever, built it in the HandleSayMsg to keep the remaining of your sources clean. Hope you learnt some and **HOPE I didn't say shit about your sources, Robin.** :embarrassed: :rstar: :rstar: :rstar:

Then you might want to start using Eclipse Origins. You will get told several times that Eclipse Evolution is defunct and bare with me, it's true. Also note that you will get no support for EE nor ES (And even less for any older… ;D) Here's the official tutorial to install it : [http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,68360.0.html](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,68360.0.html) Regarding your problem, the most probable reason is that you didn't portforward correctly. There are numerous tutorials on the forums, here: [http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,51684.msg543498.html#msg543498](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,51684.msg543498.html#msg543498) and here (More complex, mind you) : [http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,58333.msg617132.html#msg617132](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,58333.msg617132.html#msg617132) and on the very helpful [http://www.portforward.com/](http://www.portforward.com/) website, where you can find tutorials for pretty much ALL network setup. If you still can't figure out your problem, you might want to use Hamachi (see [https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi2/download.aspx](https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi2/download.aspx) for download, see this [torough guide](https://secure.logmein.com/welcome/documentation/EN/pdf/Hamachi2/LogMeIn_Hamachi2_GettingStarted.pdf) if you're having a hard time.) Now you have plenty of documentation, don't you? ;) If that doesn't solve your problem, simply specify it's source a bit more.

Hello. You can start the admin panel by typing '/admin' in the chatbox in pressing enter. The menu is pretty intuitive. You can create a map simply by warping the another map. The sample map provided by Origins is #1, so warping to map #2 will do the trick. Then you can edit the #2 map with the map editor and link it with map #1 in the 'Map Properties' menu. Good luck!

Hi. Since you didn't have much help with your problem, I've written a small command-line utility that resolve this issue pretty fast. You can download it here : [http://www.minikloon.net/](http://www.minikloon.net/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=6) and in the attachement. Here's a screenshot : [http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/3feb868bf7f6c3e5d72a73eb125a2acd86b906dbc9486fcb12054ff1886fd3c66g.jpg](http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/3feb868bf7f6c3e5d72a73eb125a2acd86b906dbc9486fcb12054ff1886fd3c66g.jpg) Your first image is shipped with the software, but I don't recommend using it, as it's not 100% straight. Also, there might be some missing DLLs. // Couples of edit, software development purpose. EDIT : After messing around with the splitter some minutes, I stress-tested the hell out of it with a 700mb mandelbrot. It worked as expected. What about a 'reconstructor' that builds spritesheet out of smaller images? EDIT2 : I read the original post again and I've figured out I didn't do exactly what you wanted in the screenshot. But you can still use the software with your second green-black image. Simply use the coords x : 71, y : 34 and it works like a charm. :embarrassed: FINAL EDIT : Argh… Your second picture isn't straight.

> Hello, i was wondering if it was possible that on a website, when you hit a start game button, it would execute the .exe for my game. Oviously, they would still have to have the origins runtimes, mabe it could have a check for that, but i was just wondering if it was possible. This can't be done without some non-standard tricks. I remember Battlefield Heroes did have a button on their website, that launched a plugin (Only for Firefox and Internet Explorer) updating the game and launching it. But there's really no point to this. Why not opting for a simple installer instead? Is there a specific reason you want to launch an application from a website? Try http://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/ or http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php. PS: HTA (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms536496%28v=vs.85%29.aspx) is only for Internet Explorer. If you want to use similar technologies, pick up a copy of Native Client (http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/) ;)

Hey. Just a quick reply to up a bit and announce my latest development, named cutely 'Microz'. Jump on my blog to know more about that strange, spooky doo-little name! :P If you have ever dreamed of creating your own, unique MMORPG without that much efforts, I'm definitely here to help. How awesome is that? This means not that much efforts to create a big work. Just like Eclipse, but different. Eclipse is meant for you to work in the sources, this will be easily extensible without the need for coding. Plug 'n' Play would they say. That's because Robin doesn't want to do all the work, **but I want.** :embarrassed: Here we go for this unrealistic announcement, one! Feel the commies minds? :rstar: :rstar: :rstar: :rstar: :rstar:

I'm currently looking into complex things (Everything's relative) about managing multiple maps and map scrolling. The idea behind this development is also to NOT look at Eclipse's sources as it would kill all the fun. But it's getting on my nerves sometimes, like right now. :mad: I'm still working pretty low-level deep in the engine inner-working. Trying to get all of the systems working together while keeping it minimalist. I'll look into adding serious documentation for release 0.2.5 or something. Just a small Eclipse Update. :embarrassed:

I moved the development to my new website : http://www.minikloon.info/ See ya there. :D

Hey sexy! :embarrassed: **?** The networking system is perfect for further development. It's simply threading the network layer so it interacts with the server while the client is running. Kinda lone kid having fun, still… alone. I realized I'm not consistent in my code and that's really lame. I'll review every files to make it clean. I want to work with my network system by adding security. I'm currently going through a new book I bought (Protecting Games, Steven Davis) to find out the best way to get hackers out of my lil' packets. Then I'll work on the authentification so the server will be able to store datas about the users. As of the organization, I'll not be using Sourceforge as it's too much maintenance for a small project. I'll probably release the software under CC BY unless someone tell me it's not a good idea. I found out a nice software named 'HFS' to keep the files online. I'll look into that. Finally, I'm thinking about making a game with the engine once it's out of it's 'minimalistic' phase. Just to get the thing popular. :cheesy: I get a lot of nice features in head, but I'll keep it straight until the engine is easy to use. And yes, that'll take long. But I got a lot of fun developping this. brb next update!

Haya comrades! :rstar: :rstar: :rstar: I redid the chatbox. (And some other things… xD) There's plentiful of work needed to be done in the client/server thing. Creating a RPG engine is easy (Or not), but an ORPG engine is hard. I just gotta get time used to new development methods AKA networking. Not that I don't have any experience, but... ... .. :P I think about using SourceForge, but I don't know yet if I'm a serious programmer or just a random script kiddy. I'll think about that later, I got an network schema to brainstorm. PS : Ho and I changed my name! See ya around.

Hey peoples, got some regrets. :P Anyway, I got into some real crazy thing, kinda just [http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-10-Crazy-Projects-in-Dubai&id=1011822](http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-10-Crazy-Projects-in-Dubai&id=1011822). I guess you get it right? If no, that means I'll continue working on tha' Micro Engine, and be sure this time I'll not let you down for some crazy game projects… Sure, I got nothing as of right now for you, but that's just for the sake of passivity. Seriously, there's no reason for anybody amateur such as me not to develop for 'The Public Domain'. It's such a great experience, rewarding and helping others. I've been a bad guy just quitting like that... 'Nuff Said. For now, listen to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdUy70dh8LY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdUy70dh8LY) ! [ PS : @Jeff : I guess IA (Bad guys brain) is more scripting-related. @Marsh : Seriously nice project, but I'm not a quiche eater, I write from scratch. ( :P ). There are also more intelligent reasons available if you download Duty Calls. ] **I apologize for the pause.** EDIT: I lost the latest development version, so I'll need to recode the chatbox. But that's no big matter, as it was sloppy anyway. :embarrassed: I putted that old version for download, but it's not ready for release.

:sad: I'm not working on this anymore, since I'm not working for the public domain anymore and this for personal reasons. Anyway I completed the Client/Server thing. Here's a screeny : http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=825546screeniii.png 0_0 ~~**Have fun with Origins, it's a nice piece of software.**~~ SCROLL DOWN!

Wonderful, I've setted up the basics of the chatbox. It's built in the GUI class and interacts in high-level with stream operators. There's also a config file for the chatbox to choose the font. I've updated the first post with updates to do, but I update the download link, the development version being bugged. Stay tuned.

A'right, **Features :** - Moving around the screen. - Creating maps. - Saving maps. (Loading is buggy :[]) **To be done :** - Client/Server architecture. - Chat console. Yes, there are more features than that and there is much more to be done. But… I don't have much time for organizing myself. Btw thanks Arcas, much appreciated.

Hey there populations! I created a kinda cute & small system looking just like that good old eclipse (Not that much) out there. **Now, it's not what you think!** There are not much features and those features aren't that cool. :rstar: :rstar: :rstar: You might want to look out at the sources. It's written in C++ with the (magic') SFML library. Enjoy some screenies : [V0.1] http://www.hiboox.fr/go/images/informatique/editor,c4cde97b16f811882b21bad2a8db7fc6.bmp.html http://www.hiboox.fr/go/images/informatique/game,7dd64144835e0a107338fdfa5b6b8a06.bmp.html [V0.2] http://www.hiboox.fr/go/images/image-perso/screenie3,02d94afbe29e09a7ebba189379b32847.png.html [V0.2.1] http://www.hiboox.fr/go/images/informatique/buffer,0125396b5cfbef614cf9f5372308a938.png.html > **Features :** > - Moving around the screen in multiplayer. > - Creating maps. > - Saving maps. > - Built-in chat console. > - Fully-working client/server with chat sync. > **To be done :** (_Everythin' else._) > - Inventory support. > - Respect some conventions to keep it constant. > - Multiple Maps. > **? :** > Lua binding. > Editor suite. > Engine functions for game graphics : Particles with SFML SPARK & Animations. > Extensibility.

Thanks Fabio and Thanks Vash. I think your edit is better. I realized my software was only adding 10 to the difference between lvls, making a strange experience trail. Also the diff variable wasn't needed the way it was. (The i loop could have done the job.) TODO: - Ask for the formula and analyze the input. (Headache.) - GUI. I will not do it tho, because I need to continue my learning and will maybe someday come back on this topic and see how much of a noob I was.

If you are the kind of *cough* lazy *person*, here's a pre-coded mix that may help you out : ``` #include #include int main(int argc, char** argv) { char filename[81]; // Algo variables int exp = 0, diff = 0, oexp = 0; // -- std::cout