Posted in Computers & Tech / Software / Freeware
Author: unclebob Total-Replies: 10

Game Maker 5 (not sure wether they have updated it yet), is one of the worst programs ever made. You can make any sort of 2D game, it comes with three game (Pacman, 1945, and Street Race) they games are good and you can add in your own cheats if you want. you don't do any of the scripting yourself. all you do is pick a sprite (picture) set it as an object and give it commands (if i press this button, this object does this, etc.) Sure it's easy enough to use, but if you ask anyone who does C/C++ programing they will tell you that it's Sh*t. It also deosn't come with many help functions.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Programming / Game Programming
Author: MajesticTreeFrog Total-Replies: 15

um, lets see, go learn C++ and opengl. At that point the rest should be rather obvious, either in terms of execution or in terms of the next step. Warning: this will be time consuming.


You might also try python. Its very easy to learn, but I don't know how suited it is to gamemaking. Probably good enough....so go learn that instead of C if this is all you plan to do.

Posted in Others / Gaming / Text Based Games
Author: toofast Total-Replies: 6

If time isn't a problem from you then start learning PHP & MYSQL, then start the work. But i warn you that a browser based online game is not so easy to do. You need a lot of time and knowledge for that. I was attracted by text-based games too, and using my skills i started making one. It tooks me 3 months to finish it and thats why im here. I need a good hosting with cron jobs allowed for the game.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Programming / Game Programming
Author: HellFire121 Total-Replies: 21

check out www.gamedev.net for some tips, also i would recommend you go get a book on programming. (Be warned.. some are over 1000 pages!)

Posted in Computers & Tech / Hardware Workshop
Author: banjosforpeace Total-Replies: 9


This happened to me playing Return To Castle Wolfenstein (OpenGL). After a few minutes the whole computer would shut down without a warning. I got a new hard drive, did a fresh install of XP Pro, installed all of my software, updated the OS and all of my drivers along the way, then installed RTCW. I never had the problem again.

Either the OS and registry were getting buggy over time or I had a conflict with the drivers (and configuration) that I couldn't pinpoint. The fresh install on the exact same hardware and almost identical hard drive took care of it.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Hardware Workshop
Author: roggle Total-Replies: 19



I think it's also to do with Nvidia not having to spend a lot on facilities to actually produce their card and distribute them. Just sell the blueprints to them, get a sizeable profit without having to risk sales being bad in a certain area. Kinda like a franchise if you now what I mean.

Opening/closing factories/distributing is a huge amount of work by itself so it's not surprising that they choose to outsource it.

By the way, what are you using the graphics card for? Just a warning but the 9250 is really the bottom of the lot and can't really play modern games properly.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Hardware Workshop
Author: ratchetclan4 Total-Replies: 36

sometimes my computer switches itself off at any moment without warning it just instantly turns off i don't know if its when i run some programs or not cause if
i try to save something on windows movie maker it turns itself off and the turn on button won't work until i switch it off from the back and then back on anyone know whats wrong?

Posted in Others / Gaming / Online Multiplayer RPG Games
Author: iGuest-SideWinder Total-Replies: 14

About PvP
Entropia Universe

Hi.

This is in regards to..Jingyi's slandering of the PvP system.

First off NOT all the PvP zones are lootable and the ones that are lootable have big red warning messages come up. And you can't wander into there, you have to buy and take a toxin shot. When you walk in there, you agree that you can be looted. There are arena's and zones that you can't loot people in, so for a PvP experience in Entropia, go to them.

Just please don't slander something you have no idea about.

~SideWinder.

-reply by SideWinder

Posted in Others / Gaming / Online Multiplayer RPG Games
Author: Lancer Total-Replies: 18

Lolz... you guys think Maple Story is just a game hmmm?

I dunno who suffers from more need of a "get a (real) life" reality check here...

1. the woman who went psycho at getting virtual divorced in an online game.
   
2. the husband who complained to the police when she murdered his online virtual character as revenge.
   
3. the police who dragged her 620 miles to arrest her for it.
   

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_...n_avatar_murder


Story brought to my attention from Saint Michael on Trap17 forums.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Programming / Game Programming
Author: Arbitrary Total-Replies: 4

Okay, I'll go through what you want one by one.

Yes, Astahost has PHP, MySQL and Apache. Those are pretty much the basics for the type of site that you're trying to make. Well, the best way to learn is to try new things. Just have a goal in mind, do some research, implement what you've learned from your research, and you'll have learned a lot.

Well, of course. But for what you seem to want to be making, I don't think so. It's far far better to use PHP in this case, especially since Astahost does support it and all.

Realtime? Okay, AJAX, AJAX, AJAX. That's all I can so. Here are some relatively good tutorials for Ajax-learning: http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp and http://www.tizag.com/ajaxTutorial/ and http://www.xul.fr/en-xml-ajax.html . You could, I guess, just skip most of the "explanation" fluff in the beginning that marks every single tutorial.

Okay, first things first, email. That's pretty easy nowadays, just used the ubiquitous PHPMailer (http://phpmailer.sourceforge.net/). They have examples on their site on how to use it, and their class basically takes care of all mail-related worries.

Next, the forum. It'd be rather pointless to go and make your own forum (why reinvent the wheel?) as you have lots of other things to work on anyways. phpBB (www.hpbb.com) is heard of everywhere, but I've heard that the forum garners many security risks. (I'm not sure how the newest version's going though) There's a lot more out there; just Google. Then, of course, you should also think about the type of forum you want; do you want replies to be flat or threaded? Do you want themes? Image attachments? So on and so forth.

Then, the chat system. I'd also suggest that you find some previously implemented chat system, especially something that seems established. Implementing it yourself, is, once again, a not-so-great use of time (unless you think you could somehow learn something while doing it. But you'll learn plenty just by working out the AJAX you'll have to use to make the game work in real-time.) You could probably Google for the chat system; some recommendations: http://phpopenchat.org/, http://hot-things.net/, http://www.pcpin.com/, http://www.phpfreechat.net/, and http://www.x7chat.com/

Finally, the message system. That you'll be able to implement fine once you learn enough PHP and learn a bit more about databases. The same goes for the user login/registration system. Though I might warn you to read up about security--this article (http://www.securiteam.com/securityreviews/5DP0N1P76E.html) might help identify what you'd want to fight against. PHP's addslashes works nicely for this purpose. Read up on Javascript injections too (nexodyne.com/showthread.php?t=14736).

You know, you'd probably want to make it free for unlimited access at first. It won't be the easiest thing in the world to actually get people to come, and not many will want to pay five to ten dollars for some game they've never tried before. At least suck them in and make them addicted before charging the money. They might not get into the game with all the restrictions you've placed on non-members, and they probably won't even feel that there's something good to get out of it.

Oh, wait. Now you'd need something really secure to handle credit-card style payments. Umm...I'd seriously say don't touch this yourself until you're really experienced with PHP. You don't want a bunch of security holes that you'll have to patch up later. Google for more info.

Ack. SQL statements are the bane of my existence, I swear.

You might want to pick up some sort of PHP framework for this site of yours. It would be very very helpful to keep things organized as you start so that you won't find yourself with spaghetti code like I did at first. Try CakePHP (cakephp.org), it makes a lot of this database trouble waaaay easier. I'd still suggest you learn about SQL statements and not just entirely depend on CakePHP, but it'll be very helpful once you're ready to make something complicated.

CakePHP takes advantage of the Model-Controller-View. Basically there's a Model that accesses the database, a controller that has most of the business logic, and a view that displays the data. It also has a really nice security component called sanitize. Sanitize can check for alphanumeric characters only, prepare it for sql statements with PHP's addslashes and so on.

CakePHP also has a great scaffolder; it gives you functions such as add, view, delete and edit for every single database. You can always read more about it if you Google "cakephp scaffolding". Then there's also Cake's bake.php. Bake basically generates the PHP code behind the add, view, delete and edit functions and lets you edit them for more functionality. That's a good part of a project done.

Before I found Cake, my PHP code was a mess (of course, that was also the first time I'd coded a major project). With Cake's forced structure, it was a lot neater. If you do get around to using CakePHP and need help, you can always ask me. Though there's always the IRC channel and Google Groups, both of which are very helpful.

Anyways, good luck in your endeavors. :-D

Posted in Computers & Tech / Programming / Game Programming
Author: remy Total-Replies: 53


Yeah, Java is pretty good with programming games. Be warned, Java can be a pain...because it requires a lot of actual code, but once you get the hang of it, its more or less a breeze.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Hardware Workshop
Author: Rudy Total-Replies: 54

There are so many problems you could have burning a CD that does not relate to Nero or the cd burning software that it will make your head spin.

A lot of us upgrade our OS but forget that the hardware when developed was meant for the current OS when the hardware was manufactured. So we end up with half updated systems.

Then there are the products that barely meet the legal required standard that we buy cheap and expect to perform miracles.

So what really could be the problem?

Anything form buffer under run problems with the cd-rom, poor quality cds, not enough hard drive space to write the data to for transfer, or incorrectly configured software. And the list goes on and on.

Always read warning messages and look closely at the errors, they always tell a story.

Posted in Others / Gaming / Other Game types
Author: tezza Total-Replies: 7

Huge List of Free Games!

Here it is, one of the most comprehensive listings of free internet, obtainable games!

MMORPG:

-Fairyland (like Ragnarok): http://www.fairyland.com.my/
-Adventure Quest (try it, requires Flash 6): http://www.battleon.com/
-Priston Tale (Asian RPG): http://www.pristontale.com/
-PlaneShift (very nice graphics): http://www.planeshift.it/
-Dark Eden (now doesn't require a Korean ID): http://www.darkeden.com/en/
-Faldon (small scale MMO): http://www.illusorystudios.com/
-Dransik Classic (may be free, not sure): http://www.dransik.com/classic
-Mu Online (looks like Diablo 2): http://www.muonline.com/
-Build Your Own Net Dream (complicated name for a multiplayer game builder): http://www.byond.com/
-Fung-Wan (or something, it's Chinese): http://fwo.edenii.com/
-Runescape (like UO): http://www.runescape.com/
-Conquer (I think its a MMORPG): http://www.conqueronline.com/
-Space Federation (kind of like Master of Orion): http://www.spacefed.com/

FPS:

-Cube (looks very good, worth a try): http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/
-Wolfenstein Enemy Territory (basically RTCW, free to play online): http://enemy-territory.4players.de:...p=getit&lid=68t
-America's Army (yeah, the one from the Army): http://www.americasarmy.com/
-Hidden and Dangerous (I love this game): http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=3825
-Marathon (redesign of the original): http://source.bungie.org/ The data files are available here: http://orbitalarm.bungie.org/downloads/alephone.html
-Wulfram (tank based shooter, online play): http://www.wulfram.com/
-Blackshades (randomly generated love, Linux and OS/X only): http://wolfire.com/blackshades.html
-Tribes 1 (yes, the full thing): http://www.fileplanet.com/files/140000/140246.shtml
-Tribes 2 (again, the full thing): http://www.fileplanet.com/files/140000/140247.shtml
-Kkrieger (only 96 KB, and has amazing graphics): http://theprodukkt.com/

Puzzle:

-Bontago (addictive puzzle game): http://www.allwest.net/~sanderso/
-DROD (check it out): http://drod.net/
-Chromatron (mirror game): http://silverspaceship.com/chromatron/
-Laser Tank (tank puzzle game!): http://pages.globetrotter.net/lasertank/ltank_en.html
-The Timmy's Picross (remake of the classic): http://www.thetimmys.com/flash/picross/
-MadMaze (old game from Prodigy): http://pages.prodigy.net/rdbrownmsb/MadMaze2/
-Clickomania (remake of old Mac game): http://www.clickomania.ch/click/ (Win/Mac), http://klickety.sourceforge.net/ (Linux)
-Enigma (addictive puzzle game): http://www.nongnu.org/enigma/

Strategy:

-Warring Factions (Goon-made, so you know its good): http://www.war-facts.com/
-Wazzal (single player space privateering game): http://www.monkkonen.net/wazzal.php
-Shattered Galaxy (Real-time, a lot like StarCraft): http://www.shatteredgalaxy.com/
-Pirate Wars II (Goon-made): http://www.piratewars2.com/login_form.php
-Allegiance (GREAT looking spaceship game): http://www.freeallegiance.org/
-Steel Panthers (turn based WW2 game): http://www.matrixgames.com/games/WorldAtWar/main.asp
-Space Merchant (space trading game): http://merchant.shareplay.com/
-Star Kingdoms (similar to Warring Factions): http://www.starkingdoms.com/
-Megamek (BattleTech Board Game): http://megamek.sourceforge.net/
-FreeCiv (Civ 2 clone): http://www.freeciv.org/
-Warpath (Conquer the universe!): http://www.synthetic-reality.com/warpath.htm

Side scroller or Top Down shooter:

-Soldat (cool online play, very worms-esque): http://www.soldat.prv.pl/
-Notrium (single player top-down survival game, like Crimsonland): http://www.monkkonen.net/notrium.php
-Crimsonland (top-down shooter, free to play, but you can "register"): http://crimsonland.reflexive.com/crimsonland/
-FaceWound (Goon-made, so you know its good): http://www.facewound.com/
-GunBound (online play, very addictive): http://www.gunbound.net/
-Survival Project (interesting Asian game): http://english.spgame.com/
-rRootage (fly spaceship!): http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/rr_e.html
-Grand Theft Auto (yes, it's free now): http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/gta.htm
-Continuum (multi-player Asteroids!): http://www.subspacedownloads.com/?act=file&fid=5
-Warning Forever (I honestly don't know what this game is about): http://www18.big.or.jp/~hikoza/Package/wf102.exe
-Liero ("some sort of ******* child of SOLDAT and Worms"): http://helios.et.put.poznan.pl/~sskowron/liero/
-Scorched Earth (a lot like the classic Bomb): http://www.classicgaming.com/scorch/
-Hot Persuit (like Spy Hunter): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/...aypursuit.shtml
-N (ninja platformer): http://www.harveycartel.org/metanet/downloads.html
-Half-Life: Codename Gordon (the long awaited 2D HL): http://www.pha****er.com/cs/files/codename_gordon.zip

Adventure:

-Kings Quest (there are other games here too): http://www.agdinteractive.com/
-NetHack (single player RPG): http://www.nethack.org/v343/downloads.html
-Angband (similar to NetHack): http://www.thangorodrim.net/
-The Ur-Quan Masters (another space game): http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
-Ancient Domains of Mystery (like NetHack): http://www.adom.de/
-Progress Quest (try it): http://www.progressquest.com/
-Betrayal at Krondor (old school RPG): http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php******116
-Beneath a Steel Sky (I remember this game, play it!): http://www.scummvm.org/
-Out of Order (in the vein of old school Lucasarts games): http://outoforder.adventuredevelopers.com/
-The New Adventures of Zak McCracken (or something, fan made remake of old Lucasarts game): http://gamershell.com/news_BTheNewA...esofZakMc.shtml
-Dink Smallwood (like Zelda): http://www.rtsoft.com/dink/
-Elder Scrolls: Arena (granddaddy of Morrowwind): http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloa...loads_games.htm
-Graal (Fantasy/old world RPG): http://www.graal2001.com/

Other:

-Tactics Arena (online only tactics game, like Final Fantasy Tactics): http://www.tacticsarena.com
-Hattrick (manage a soccer team): http://www.hattrick.org
-Stepmania (home version of DDR): http://www.stepmania.com/stepmania/
-Darksigns (hacking game): http://www.jqb.netglob.com.pl/darks...staller_091.exe, then patch with this http://www.jqb.netglob.com.pl/darksigns_patch_0.92.exe
-Button Men (online version of a dice game): http://www.buttonmen.dhs.org/
-Babylon 5: I've Found Her (space sim): http://ifh.firstones.com/
-Stair/truck Dismount (great time killer, good physics): http://jet.ro/dismount/
-Orbiter (space flight simulator): http://orbit.m6.net/
-Legends (APPARENTLY its some remake of Tribes 1): http://hosted.tribalwar.com/legends
-Noctis (space picture thing game): http://www.anywherebb.com/
-Pokemon NetBattle (online Pokemon game): http://www.netbattle.net/
-Decker (based on the Matrix from Shadowrun): http://www.caro.net/dsi/decker
-River City Hacky Sack (cool game): http://www.somethingawful.com/rchs/
-Megamek (adaptation of the old Battletech board game): http://megamek.sourceforge.net/idx.php?pg=main
-Starships Unlimited (shareware, but fun): http://www.apezone.com/
-One Must Fall 2097 (old but cool fighter): http://www.omf2097.com/
-Cybots (online bot game, SA already has a clan going): http://tasman-studios.com/cybots-be...&rsm=X982246113
-Silver Knights (3D mech shooter): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/...erknights.shtml
-Tong (Tetris + Pong = Tong): http://www.nongnu.org/tong/
-Vantage Master (engrish RPG): http://www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.html
-O2Jam (DDRish, I guess?) http://o2jam.e-games.com.my/

Collections:

-Game Tunnel (random collection of games): http://www.gametunnel.com/html/modu...p?name=GT_games
-The Underdogs (where old classics go when they don't sell anymore): http://www.the-underdogs.org/
-PopCap Games (mostly puzzle games): http://www.popcap.com/
-Virtual Apple (old Apple 2 games): http://www.virtualapple.com/
-Megagames (most of which are already posted, but some new ones): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/...freegames.shtml

For all of your text-based gaming needs, go here: http://brasslantern.org/ Games available here: http://baf.wurb.com/if/index

If you are having problems running old games on your new computer, use DosBox.
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/

Please guys add to the list. So we can help keep people busy. Enjoy your playing.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Operating Systems / Windows (All Versions)
Author: Herbert Total-Replies: 19

Day One with Windows Vista.
I just installed the Windows Vista "business" version I got through my school, and installed it on my desktop, and so far have had no problems whatsoever. I've been on an OS binge, trying out several flavors of Linux and windows trying to see which combination I want to keep for awhile. I'd been using Windows 2000 for the longest time, but I figured it was time to upgrade and keep up with the times.
First thing was installing Windows Vista. The installation has been extremely "dumbed down" from the Windows 2000 version, giving the administration hardly any need to enter input while it's installing. Just booted from the dvd and it pretty much handled itself for the most part. Reading through the new license agreement was rather scary, just because they sound like Big Brother with all the information they warn you that they will be sending to Microsoft and that if I don't like it to shut up and turn off the computer.

So past that, I entered my license key and all that and it pretty much took as long to install as Fedora did the night previous. (OS binge, I've been going through a few every day ) It took quite awhile to "configure" stuff, and preparing the desktop took awhile, but once everything was set, and it only needed to reboot once (which is amazing considering how many times the older windows versions needed to reboot) I was presented with Windows Vista's GUI for the first time. The first thing I noticed was that the GUI looked a lot more like the Linux distributions that I had been tinkering with for the past few days. The default mouse pointer is a little stubbier than the old ones I remember...

First thing that happened, before I even had a chance to click the new "start" menu, was a popup saying it was automatically downloading a whole bunch of security and windows patches. Once done, that required one restart, but I must say, that's a lot better than the older windows versions, which had you downloading patches for patches and making you restart a dozen times!

Overall the new GUI is very swank. The new start menu is rather odd, and I had to change it back to the "Classical" settings because I don't like how they set it up. Instead of a tree-line menu interface with the start menu, you click "all programs" and instead of a collapsible tree, it simply opens up in the same popped up menu, forcing you to hit a Back arrow instead of simply moving your mouse. Thankfully, they kept a lot of options available to get "Classic" views back, which I did in most cases because the new stuff simply wasn't efficient in most cases. Stuff is there, but harder to find, buried under a pile of menus.

Once I had everything looking aesthetically the way I wanted it, I got right on to downloading Firefox, Winamp, and Norton Antivirus.

I haven't had any time to try installing any games, but I'll be sure to post a review on that once I get on that. I have newer ones such as Half Life 2, and old ones such as the original System Shock (made for DOS, but we'll see how I can get around that!).

I'm happy to see that DirectX 10 is already installed. I'm really psyched for the game "Alan Wake" from the makers of Max Payne. Unfortunately, it's required to have windows vista installed so I'll probably stick with it till then, though the release date has not yet been announced.

Posted in Computers & Tech / Operating Systems / Windows (All Versions)
Author: James_K Total-Replies: 32

[note=szupie]Copied from http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,...,1940819,00.asp[/note]