Development Updates

[johnparker007]

50 minutes ago, niallquinn said:

Thanks, link doesn't seem to do much, "problem loading page".  Or will it take a while for DNS lookup to catch up?

Thanks JP.

Hmm that's odd - it works if I go to the link from Tor browser, or from my mobile phone with only mobile data enabled (no Wifi) -  so I thought that meant it was properly 'live'.  Maybe it is the DNS stuff catching up like you say... if it's still dead in a day or two I'll have to look into it - ta for the heads up!  

It should currently look like this (screenshot from Tor browser):

(arcadesimulator.net forwards to arcadesimulator.duckdns.org that then links the remote browser to the new server in my office)

EDIT: just checked on a random site that checks how your website looks on different screen resolutions (so another external computer accessing the ArcadeSim server) and that appears to be correct, so I think you're on the money @niallquinn, it must be down to the DNS servers taking their time to propagate it out across the net:

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by johnparker007

[Zippy]

1 hour ago, johnparker007 said:

Hmm that's odd - it works if I go to the link from Tor browser
 

Hmmm running a Pirate simulator are we.............

.........tut tu naughty naughty

[johnparker007]

lol it's just to get an 'outside line' into my PC to check for server connectivity, though I've heard there are herbs and the like on there  

Edited June 11, 2021 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

To be honest, I think Tor's the only one that's reliable for this from mucking around so far - I keep deleting and reinstalling the backend (wordpress + sql DB) and then after it should be working, my mobile phone over 4G data still says 'Can't find localhost'  whereas the Tor browser, it's always reflecting what I'm expecting to see.  I guess Tor does no caching, which makes things slower, but at least you're seeing a realtime live copy from 'outside', uncorrupted by caching issues. 

I bet @slasher can do this stuff in his sleep  

[Zippy]

1 hour ago, johnparker007 said:

lol it's just to get an 'outside line' into my PC to check for server connectivity, though I've heard there are herbs and the like on there  

On here too lmfao

[slasher]

On 11/06/2021 at 22:43, johnparker007 said:

 

I bet @slasher can do this stuff in his sleep

Some of it haha!

All working here btw. If you can't get it, reboot router and clear browser cache.

Like the cherry favicon

Edited June 13, 2021 by slasher

[johnparker007]

2 hours ago, slasher said:

Some of it haha!

All working here btw. If you can't get it, reboot router and clear browser cache.

Like the cherry favicon

Thanks for letting me know it's working at your end bud   

Should look like this for people now, if not, then as slasher says - try clearing your cache as I screwed the first couple of attempts up!



Site at: http://arcadesimulator.net/
 

[depdawg]

18 hours ago, johnparker007 said:

Thanks for letting me know it's working at your end bud   

Should look like this for people now, if not, then as slasher says - try clearing your cache as I screwed the first couple of attempts up!



Site at: http://arcadesimulator.net/
 

Worked fine for me.

[johnparker007]

First tests of a Launcher/Downloader/Patcher system - not actually working yet!  ... and I've a lot of file reorganisation to do when I do get it working... but it will mean I can push out small (filesize) patches every week or so as I add/improve things.  Then when users launch Arcade Sim, it'll auto-patch itself to the latest version if there's a new one on the server, without them having to download the whole thing again.  

(this will all work offline, it'll just silently fail to find the server and start up as normal).
 

 

[johnparker007]

Managed to get a bit further with the Installer/Patcher system - but unfortunately only by intentionally breaking various things that we need, to get past the errors! 

So next I need to try figure out quite a few problems, but at least it's installing something...

(I do have this working fine in an 'empty' project, the primary issues are currently down to native plugins and streaming assets).

[johnparker007]

Big thanks!!! going out to @Reg and @slasher, who have both massively stepped up, and each offered to help with hosting various bits of ArcadeSim's online infrastructure  

So now, arcadesimulator.net is hosted on Slasher's server, and the large installer/patcher files are hosted on Reg's desertislandfruits server.

It's a really big help, so thanks very much guys! 

In terms of an update, still plugging away at this installer/patcher stuff - there's been a lot to do, and still a lot to do - but making good steady progress on it  

- the installer/patcher queries arcadesimulator.net to find out where the fileserver is (currently DIF), and then downloads/installs from there.

- the installer/patcher now stops on errors, but will allow game startup if the network simply isn't available (so once you've installed on a laptop, you'd be able to play out and about, without needing an internet connection to start up)

 - have reduced the install size from around ~2gb installer/~2gb game down to around ~170mb installer/~350mb game.  There's quite a bit more to do here such as reimplementing the 3d character controller, and creating the attract mode codec, among other things for further fixing of resource duplication/inclusion issues...

Still need to work on stuff for initialising some save data, packaging as a windows .exe installer, other misc bits and bobs... getting there though  

Here you can see it downloading/installing from DIF servers (after retrieving the DIF server address from arcadesimulator.net server).  At the end I disable my internet connection to show it still starting up offline:

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by johnparker007

[serene02]

Massive thanks to Reg and Slasher  

Nice work JP

J

[johnparker007]

Made good progress on figuring out this 'Windows Installer' lark (the thing end users will initially download), here's a demo of the current windows installer (as a Setup.exe type installer):

Some minor issues, in terms of the files that the patcher/updater creates don't get removed when uninstalling again from Add/Remove Programs... but I've just made a note, and will fix that at some future point as a low priority issue.

[Jamesy4]

Not too bad this, as I quite like the development that has come along with it.

I have downloaded it, installed it and had a mess around with it, went to create a arcade and added some machines, saved it, but for some reason won't let me play or move around or that.

So unless we aren't meant to do anything like that yet until a final version? I can see this being the next big project that will be grateful amongst the community!

Keep up the good work!

[johnparker007]

8 hours ago, Jamesy4 said:

Not too bad this, as I quite like the development that has come along with it.

I have downloaded it, installed it and had a mess around with it, went to create a arcade and added some machines, saved it, but for some reason won't let me play or move around or that.

So unless we aren't meant to do anything like that yet until a final version? I can see this being the next big project that will be grateful amongst the community!

Keep up the good work!

lol you were fast - I only had that download up briefly for my own testing to make sure things were vaguely working over on my test machine (my local ArcadeSim server box) - I took the .exe down soon after to avoid confusion, as I realised people might try to use it!

And yeah, that part isn't working yet (the save file system stuff, which in turn needs new UI, which in turn needs me to learn how to do 'anchored UI' so it'll work on resolutions other than 1920x1080p and then redoing all the UI so far.

Yes - all the functionality will ultimately work on end user machines, but everything requires so much work/rework/refactoring, it'll be a while yet... also;

"So unless we aren't meant to do anything like that yet until a final version"

There won't really be a 'final' version, the plan is to update with patches.  So when you start it up, it will patch both the Launcher and/or the 'Game' (the main simulator program and assets) automatically when it finds a newer version on the server.  In theory once things have settled down a bit, then the patches shouldn't be too large.

Edited June 22, 2021 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

If it's anything it's more like a pre-pre-pre-alpha lol   But for those technically curious folk, the current build can be downloaded from the webserver Download button:

http://arcadesimulator.net/

(Windows Defender will show a popup with a Don't Run button, you need to click 'More Info', then Run Anyway button - it's because it doesn't recognise my .exe so is being cautious in case it's a virus).

Keys are WASD for movement. 

There are some debug keys for changing some light settings:
- and +
[ and ]
, and .
and R

This is purely a tech demo at this point!  Most stuff doesn't work, isn't written yet, there are plenty of bugs!

So please can I ask, no bug reports or anything yet   ...as they will be of no use, as this is so early in development.  I just thought it'd be good to get a slightly usable build uploaded for those who just want to see the machines rendering etc on their own machine, now I have the webserver/fileserver - many thanks again to Slasher and Reg for that.

I just tried it with the default (only) arcade it comes with that I made tonight in about 3 minutes   But it just about coped on an old AMD Phenom II, with and AMD 5800 GPU - though fans were whirring quite audibly!

P.S. @Jamesy4 In theory, if you want to try this, you should just be able to launch Arcade Simulator from your Windows start menu (if it's still installed), and after some progress bars and restarts - it should auto-patch itself to the latest version.  Seemed to work for me at least, though the Arcade Simulator process wasn't full-screen, so I had to press Alt-Enter to get it full screen again.  Though I think I knocked the keyboard, so it might have been me that caused that in the first place.

Edited June 22, 2021 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

(Can't edit above post, but just remembered, as well as WASD for movement; hold left shift to move faster).

[Reg]

@johnparker007 simply put, stunning to walk around and have a look there - this really is a great looking demo.

I wish that @Wizard was alive to have seen what you have created - I really do.

Think that we came from something like this...

...to an enviorment where you can walk around.

Great work sir.

[jabbathehut]

All I can say is wow.How soon will we be able to play one machine.

Looks amazing 

[Jamesy4]

@johnparker007 I thought so, as to why nothing was able to do much as you explained in your post but that is a great job that you are doing in your development and I applaud you for creating something which in the long run a lot of the FME Community people will enjoy.

As @Reg said, if @Wizardwas still alive he would of loved this!

[johnparker007]

Thanks guys   Yeah I wish Chris could've seen this too, even though he was more into the low level emulation side of things, I think he would've been interested in it.

 

5 hours ago, jabbathehut said:

All I can say is wow.How soon will we be able to play one machine.

Looks amazing 

It will probably be quite a while yet, I know this probably seems strange, since there were videos of me playing machines ages ago, but nothing works currently since redoing the rendering systems (to make them fast).

I might get (some of) these test machines going, but I have plans for redoing a bunch of the conversion processes (will make conversions hopefully faster/less painful in the long run)... plus I need to redo how the machines in general exist - as I think it needs to be a 'download on demand' system.  So if someone wants to download arcade sim, and just play in a small arcade with 20 different machines in - they only download those machines (automatically) to their local library when they first load that arcade.  There will be an option to 'sync entire library', so people who want to play offline can ensure they have all the machines installed from the server in advance.

All this stuff is for the best in the long run, always good to get the big structure work sorted up front on projects of this scale - so a more patience I'm afraid  

Before then I expect to be chipping away at some smaller bitesize parts for my weekday evening tasks, such as developing attract mode codec (reduces filesize and improves performance), and then changing to a linked asset... then I'll do a patch so everyone will have that update.  Also have a fix planned for a lot of the flickery overlapping lamp issues (not blended lamps like game logos) which I may get in before the big structure changes(again I'll do a patch when I get that fix working).

[serene02]

Huge project, thanks for continuing on this.  Really look forward to getting involved

J

[Zippy]

I know I am thinking well ahead but have you or intend having security measures on your project?

Zippy 

Edited June 23, 2021 by Big J

[slasher]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

I know I am thinking well ahead but have you or intend having security measures on your project?

There will be a moody arcade owner that has your photo and will ban you for looking similar to it on account that you fraud the machines... or something

[johnparker007]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

I know I am thinking well ahead but have you or intend having security measures on your project?

Zippy 

What security measures do you mean @Big J?