unknown

Longs aren't native to windows, I'm not even sure what that means.. Most versions of Windows are 32 bit. Longs in vb6 are 32 bit while integers are 16 bit meaning integers require a tiny bit of additional processing while longs can be used immediately. In VB.NET integers were converted to 32 bit.

@Ertzel: > Also, the only way to get vb6 is by buying it, or using "other" ways (aka illegal downloads) **that we can't direct you to over the forums since it is against the rules. > Suure we can.. > > http://lmgtfy.com/?q=vb6+download**

Search for rarity or rare across all client source files. Search for exp across all server source files. There is a way to do this within vb6.

Ctrl-f rarity Search for green, replace with pink Ctrl-f exp Change equation to better suit your needs

@Robin: > @unknown: > > > It's so much more convenient and fast to just script it in > > My point still stands. Short sightedness. > > I'm not going to sacrifice speed just because some kids want it to be more 'convenient'. > > Game development isn't convenient. If you code it in the right way it won't sacrifice speed. This is an engine, there's a tradeoff between convenience and speed/memory. That's why there are object editors, map editors and all sorts of other junk in the client executable that don't need to be. It's more convenient to use these tools while the game is running just like it's more convenient to write small code snippets while the game is running.

It's so much more convenient and fast to just script it in… I see it as similar to an in-game map editor. Sure, we could have an external map editor and just create an update whenever there are new maps but that's a lot more work.. Imagine you forget a wall or something on a map, the dev has to fix it and everyone has to update again. Back to scripting, what if there are bugs in the compiled version.. Imagine you are adding the trivia code & you screw something up and don't realize it until production. It could have just been a simple script fix but instead it's going to be another update. For little things like that, I'm convinced scripting is better..

A scripting engine is useful for quick updates.. Say you have like 20 people on your server and you want to run some special event (like a trivia that reads from a giant txt file on the server). I think it's kinda silly that you have to take the server down, recompile the server and put it back up for something that simple. Sadscript was implemented poorly but I still think scripting engines have their purpose.

@Stephan: > VB6 uses malfunctioning UTF-16 strings, so that's already a reason why bytecode would be smaller. But, the actual fact is that you transfer more numeric data than actual literal data and numeric data should always be sent in its own binary format and not as a literal. Yeah I understand when transferring numeric data you don't want to send the numeric data as a string. In Odyssey, there are different methods for converting numbers to chars and appending them to the resulting packet. If you just use a packet.converttobytearray() method on a string in VB.NET or some other language you're still going to have this problem..

Huh interesting… I guess that makes sense

Everyone always says sending byte arrays is more efficient.. Does anyone actually know why? Whatever you send is going to get converted to binary anyways.. A byte representation of a string is going to be the same size as it's string equivalent when converted to binary unless you do something to it (like compress it)… So am I missing something? Can anyone explain why this is faster?

No ddunit.. It loads downloads into a subdolder based on server name. There's nothing that's impossible to program in this. DFA is right, it won't work if no one participates lol.

@Ddunit: > @unknown: > > > Well you didn't really explain what a master server was you just said master server so I think a lot of people misunderstood.. > > > > If it's somthing that stores active server name/ips & sends them off to a client than it makes a lot of sense. It would be very useful to have one app to play every active eclipse game. > > And each time we want to play a different game, we have to use different graphics, which means we'd have to either download the graphics each time, or use the same graphics. > > Or we could use databases to store our graphics, but someone would've to code a new engine and way to load graphics. > > Even if we did use database to take care of graphics, the loading time for each maps would take ages. If you have custom graphics/engine you need a link to those graphics or engine files & the 'master' client could download and extract it.. It could be in zip format, and ideally you have a different folder within the master client application for every different server. The master client could function like an updater for every specific server.. If there is a newer graphics.zip or engine.zip for a specific server it should download & extract it. So essentially from within the master client, here's how I see the use case working.. * On load connect to master server and retrieve server names, graphics, urls, ips, ports * Click a server from the server list to play * The master client checks checksum of ./servername/graphics.zip with server graphics.zip URL * If the checksums don't match download+extract the graphics.zip & when finished play * If the checksums match then play

Well you didn't really explain what a master server was you just said master server so I think a lot of people misunderstood.. If it's somthing that stores active server name/ips & sends them off to a client than it makes a lot of sense. It would be very useful to have one app to play every active eclipse game.

I think having a list of active servers in an application form makes sense… When you click to play a server it can download all the resources for the server (IE custom graphics / executable). The list should indicate whether a server is online or offline.. Maybe even have chat?

Your missing the point… VB6 offers _very_ limited OOP. Developers are not encouraged to make their own objects, VB6 doesn't even support inheritance a fundamental building block in many design patterns. When people write things in VB6 they usually end up with gigantic modules of code which is the opposite of OOP. Because of this, Eclipse & Mirage code is so vastly different from modern day code that it is useless to try & move it to a new language line by line it'd make much more sense for it to be rewritten.


VB.NET and VB6 are two completely different languages.. It's easy to go through everything in the VB6 code and convert it to VB.NET. The problem in doing that is you neglect the biggest advantage of .NET which is OOP. If Mirage/Eclipse were to ever exist in another language it would have to be rethought, and redesigned to work with OOP.

Thanks for the post Bit, pixel art takes a long time it's nice to know someone appreciates the hours of my life I lost :P More to come in the future!

Just keep working on it, you'll get it. All of them are usable & the portal looks very cool.

If you host the mysql server on the machine hosting the server, speeds are nearly identical to flat files.. A use case for a mysql db would be the ability to login to the server, forums, website with all the same user/pass & have access to all the same data (so on the forums your avatar could be your in game sprite). Another reason for using a SQL based database is queries. ``` SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE Name LIKE %bob% ```is much cleaner than searching through all the users with the string bob in it.. There's a reason for it, idk if that reason justifies the cost of creating it.

Since there has been a lot of talk of stealing pixel art lately I just want to update this to say where I started with this pot.. http://www.rjanes.co.uk/tutorials/introduction_to_pixel_art.php I read through that tutorial (which is fantastic for the beginner) & made the pot from scratch with a custom palette, line art & shading based on recommendations and by looking at the pot from that tutorial. Sorry for double posting or whatever, just wanna get the word out that I'm not some stealin creep ;)

Yea but you know what I mean.. Or@cle isn't going anywhere anytime soon and even if they did there are too many lines of Java code written for all support to die. Java isn't owned by some small company with a couple hundred developers using it. Java is open source, and very community oriented. It's like night & day between Jabaco & Java.

Kusy you are a genius… Thanks shockwave, it took a long time to do.. I have a newfound respect for pixel artists.

I just meant, you should use the best tool for the job.. The differences in java & vb6 syntax should be a non issue since they are both easy. Any good programmer would just use java instead of some proprietary product that might die off.

Anyone who thinks that easier syntax makes coding easier is not a very good coder… Use real Java instead of some proprietary project ;)