Birth of Legends

First of all, this weekend I will be gone for most of it so, yeah, updates will be slower. The server is coming along, it's more of the networking part that I'm having trouble with as not all my computers like each other. For website stuff, I will be trying to work on that as much as I can today. For the more wiki-like atmosphere, it's coming. Making blog software, which is realyl nice by the way, into s fully functional wiki takes a bit of work. Though this way it should all look better. I'm not sure how much I really want to open up to everyone, because of porblems we've had recently with spam on the forums, but I'll work on it. Maybe we'll just have usernames that are the same as on the forum. So, enough talking from me, I know I forgot to say something, but I'll just edit this post later.

-Mark

[EDIT:] I know what I forgot. Yes, comments immediately show up, as in within one second. The reason you don't always see it though is because our helpful browsers don't automatically refresh, so you end up not seeing them. Either hit the refresh button, or just wait a while. In the future I will add some javascript so that it automatically refreshes the page. But that probably won't be today. [/EDIT]

[EDIT2:] Guys, when making links in posts remember that what comes after the href needs to be in quotes. [/EDIT2]

So, I haven't posted in a few days so here's my update on what's up. The server needs windows to be reinstalled on it but Jon forgot to give me the license key and it's at his work so I can't do that until tomorrow. I'll do something graphical today that looks cool so you guys can have something to see or do. I'll also see if I can get the server to work temporarily before tomorrow.

Second order of business, Eric has nominated Tronjheim as the name for the third Dwarven city. Post your thoughts on the name. If no one has any big objections by the end of tomorrow then I'm going to use it.

-Mark

Ok, so I was looking more into how it might be possible to use the server without fixing the OS, and I got close. I could connect to it though I wasn't able to stay connected. I think the problem is that I didn't open one of the ports in the firewall, as I can't come up with any other explanation. But, I'm also in lack of time to fix that now, and I'll be reinstalling the OS tomorrow, so there really isn't any point in me doing that. If everything works we'll be online on wednesday. Oh, and a breakthrough on the messed up head on the main character; it's not a problem with the mesh nor the skeleton, it's a problem with the animation file. I figured that out today by accident when I saw that the login animation worked perfectly. So I'll work on re-exporting them. Until tomorrow, vote at the post below. A dwarven city is in your hands.

-Mark

Today I was still unable to find the cd-key for windows *cough* jon *cough* so I've been playing around with textures. Also, I'll try re-exporting the animations tonight to see if I can fix the main character. So, the server won't be up tonight. But I'll keep updating everyday with word on the progress. Oh, also, remember that old bad looking map of the continent of BOL? Well, it's getting a new makeover by green_eggs_and_spam. He should really pick a shorter name, but oh well. I've seen a preview of the map and it looks amazing. I was going to post a sketch he sent me but I'm too lazy, mwuhahaha. One last thing, I can officailly post here on the main page, or any other page for that matter, from school. Sadly though, I like my programming class and there is this new city bus that allows me to not go to school early and still be on time, so I'm not sure how well I'm going to be updating the site from school.

-Mark

p.s. As a last reminder for the 5 and a half hours left on the vote, vote using comments two posts down.

Ok, the server isn't fixed, so I spent some time today on other improvements. First of all the character's head bug is fixed!!! I'll put up a patch later on. Proof of this can be seen here and here. Also, I figured out what was wrong with the texture loading, and have begun recoding some stuff that way. Now the new characters that you haven't as of yet been able to use can load their textures correctly. I think that after the server is finished being a pain I'll make an update that has npc guys walking around. One final thing that has been fixed, though I haven't finished integrating it yet, is the screenshot function. No longer will your screenshots be taken upside down. So that's about it. I didn't post this sooner because my internet was down for a little bit. Hopefully it will be up the rest of the night though.

-Mark

The stuff below in italics is old. I just think that having three posts in one day might be over doing it. Anyway, here is the long awaited head bug fix. Just read the readme that comes with it to know what to do. If for some odd reason that doesn't work then tell me, and I'll get right on it. And, if your like Nick and don't like to post comments then email me at support@birthoflegends.com. Or, you could also post on the forums. Server update; I'm still awaiting that magic number, though I've been assured that I'll get it by tomorrow. Today if I have time after calculus homework and Dune reading I'll put up some screenshots of new characters with textures, though I don't know how that will all go yet. Until then.

-Mark

This is my first post from school. The security now has more holes then ever, which is awesome. I forgot to bring my files with me, so I can't upload a patch from here. You'll just have to wait until I get home. But don't worry, you'll get correct head action by 4:00 pm my time (I'm thinking). Until then...

[Edit:] The voting has ended. The third dwarven city will be called Tronjkrahm. Case closed. Now I'm going to "pretend" to continue my schoolwork. [/Edit]

First of all, I have another monitor now so I don't have to use remote desktop within remote desktop (which was a cool concept but also a real pain). I've had no luck reinstalling windows so far on the server, which isn't as cool. Basically, whatever is causing the weird error messages also causes the windows cd not to be able to run setup. I've checked on another computer so I know it's not the cd, so I'm currently coming up with a plan to remedy that. On another not so cool note, shortly after fixing the screenshot thing (in BOL) the code stopped compiling (now has messages which I know I caused but I'm not sure how). So, that may or may not affect things depending on how fast I'm able to fix it, but it's still a pain. So, in case anyone asks I officially hate servers and networking code. It seems that whenever I get close to getting it all to work something big decides to crash. It will be fixed though, eventually.

-Mark

I've figured out a way to fix the server. Basically, I'm going to have to reinstall windows twice, first using an older version and then using the right version. This will take longer then I would've liked but already this has taken too long. While I wait for it to compile I'll work on graphics for BOL, so that there can be more content released in the server test. I'll report back in a few hours as to my progress.

-Mark

Ok, good news. I've finally managed to get a clean copy of windows on the server. Now I just need to reconfigure everything, fix the MySQL tables, etc. I don't feel like doing all of that tonight but the configuring should be done tomorrow. Then I'll just need to figure out a few networking things before I open it back up to the public, but if all goes well that will be done within the next two days and then you guys can start flinging snowballs at each other to see if I've gotten this to work or not. Until next time.

-Mark

p.s. Here is a preview of another snowball type that you may see around during the test.

Ok, so I've almost finished the configuration. MySQL and PHP are both setup and seem to work. The server applications though haven't been able to connect. I'm not certain if windows is blocking the port or whether I've messed up with the login settings, so I'm not sure how long it will take for me to fix that. My last problem is that IIS headers are getting in the way of the php scripts. There was some way to turn them off but I forget, and will have to relearn it. So, I'll give another update once I've figured out those.

-Mark

Ok, so I figured out what was wrong with the MySQL thing, and it all works fine now. The last problem is what to do with the dumb IIS headers. I wish there was an easy way to turn them off, and there still might be, but I haven't found it yet. Because of these headers the client is getting very confused when it first accesses the php scripts to see if it can connect or not. If anyone knows how to turn off IIS headers then please tell me, because I really can't remember what I did the last time.

-Mark

I haven't had much time at the computer today so the server isn't up. Though I don't think it really matters since the people I talked to couldn't play tonight even if they wanted to. Apache is installed and works but I haven't gotten php and apache to talk to each other yet (simply I just haven't yet had the time to). Once they work properly again everything will be ready. One last note is that I still haven't been able to figure out the wierd code crisis, and I can no longer compile the client. I tired opening a different version as well and it appears to me that visual studio is having a spasm. So, sadly there will be no penguins for at least a few more days.

-Mark

Well, progress has been made. I finally got apache and php to talk to each other after some more googleage. Now, for some reason the php scripts are "working" but keep sending back empy responses, which I think means that I killed them somehow. So, I'll look over them and see what can be done. I don't plan to let other people play until tomorrow though.

-Mark

Luckily, nothing was actually wrong with the scripts. It ends up that I hadn't configured php.ini correctly, I forgot the little extension_dir variable so it couldn't find the right plugin and therefore couldn't talk to mysql. Though of course, as things have been going, that isn't the end of the problems. Somehow the wrong cookie is being sent back to the client and it isn't able to continue the connection. I bet that I just put in the wrong address in the config.php file, or something small like that. I'm going to tackle the visual studio problem again today because I'd like to have a few more bugfixes in this release, along with updated in-game messages and stuff. So, I'll post back later tonight and see how it goes.

-Mark

Ahhh! This wait is killling me! But, sadly it continues. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the server as far as I can tell, so I'm not sure why the client can't stay connected. Oh, wait, I just had an Idea...

Amazing, it worked even though I had the wrong idea! Basically, while typing a few minutes ago I thought that a port was being blocked which was preventing me from actually connecting with part of the client after using the scripts. But, actually, ther server was sending the wrong ip. It was sending 127.0.0.1 of all things instead of the right one. So, I now know where the problem is and how to fix it. But I still won't be opening the server to the world tonight because I promised Jon I'd start making a 3d movie for him and also that I want to fix some more coding things. And about the coding things I've almost totally fixed the visual studio problem. Almost.

-Mark

I finished the configuration thing and the server works as it should now. I'll upload the new files and open it to you guys tomorrow sometime after school. Now, for some food and sleep.

-Mark

Ok, so today is going to be the big day of reckoning. Today I need to configure the server through the router so that it can talk to the outside world. Then, I need to update one of the configuration files so that it talks to you guys through its new public IP. And then finally I'll link you guys to the client. I'll be posting back every few hours until it's done updating you guys on the progress, even if no one is currently reading this :) .

-Mark

[EDIT:] There is a problem with recompiling the demo which I need to fix. It will be up tomorrow, I can almost promise that. [/EDIT]

Sorry guys, I've been getting distracted. I am currently watching Dune, the first mini-series that sci-fi put out, and it's quite interesting. Update on the server; It has a static IP now and as far as I can tell it fully works. Slight problem though, I can't test it with it's IP, only people totally outside my network can. So, I need to figure out a way around that so that I can play too. But I really want to continue watching dune too. So, I may not finish things today, sorry if I don't. I'll post again later.

-Mark

Well, here's the thing; I was hoping to be able to recompile the client to add some really good bug fixes and animations into the online demo. Sadly, that didn't work. The main thing was the login screen from inside the client, as right now I'm using the launcher from another game to launch the demo. But, it's not working like I planned and I may not have time to finish that tonight, so I'm just going to release what I have already done. Post on the forums and here with your results, problems your having, and so forth though I won't be home for a while tonight. The main goal is for people to be able to log on tonight. Tomorrow I'll totally stop the watching of Dune (because I'll be done watching it) and I'll start the great fixing of everything. Link to this online test is here.

-Mark

p.s. I'm unsure whether I can sleep with the server on, so there is a possibility that it will be unavailable after 10:30pm or 11:00pm my time (which is in MA).

Ok, so there really isn't any traitor, but making random titles is fun. It has been reported that I messed up with some dlls and also I think that dlls is what causes the demos not to work on windows 2000 and 98. But anyway, back to reality, there currently isn't a need to update dlls because no one has been able to connect anyway. For some odd reason nothing is actually getting to the server. I'm doing some tests outside my network on a remote computer and will post back with any progress as it comes. I'm sorry that this isn't working, and just so you know it's really bugging me as well.

-Mark

I have so far found no logical reason for the server not receiving incoming traffic, except for one far-out thing. I just so happened to look at the connection settings today and found that the physical address was missing, which is a problem. What's worse though is that somehow without a physical address it can still access the internet and do evrything else just fine. So I'm very confused as to what that all means and I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe I'll have time to work on the situation from school. Until next time.

-Mark

So, the server doesn't like being public. Or, Verizon doesn't want it to. Either way, I seem to have no luck at getting it to work. I'm thinking that I'll have to bring the server back to Jon's house and try it again from there, since his ISP definitly doesn't block the ports. This whole fiasco has been a huge setback for BOL but hopefully it will be solved soon.

-Mark

I don't have anything to say but I feel bad for not updating the site so here is a link to a forum post I just made. Not to worry, it isn't anything serious, just something funny that I "found".

-Mark

Wow, it's become so barren here. So this is to change that. Basically, the server working from my house totally failed, so I have to get it back to Jon where we know it will work as it did before. The bad thing is that this could take a little while because of the lack of times I see Jon. So, it will get to him by Sunday at the latest. In the mean time I'm still working slowly on animation, English projects, modelling, lab reports, and some small movies. So, this and this is what I've been doing (I've done more but these are already on the site right now). And I'm tired of writing.

-Mark