Brian

Yeah, just popping in to say hello. I haven't been very active for quite a while and I have searched the forum but haven't seen this mentioned yet. What types of compression will be implemented in the game? For example, map compression, network compression, etc. This is an important topic since massive amounts of data need to be transfered for online games. The complexity of a game like 0AD requires large amounts of bandwidth to transmit all the data. This data includes unit types, unit locations, player resources, map events, and it must all be done in synchronization. To minimize out of sync errors and allow more players to play on a single map a good compression scheme has to be utilized to make it happen. I think that 7zip could be used for this problem. It is free and open source and Ykkrosh has mentioned how he likes it on many occasions. I also like it and think that adding a 7zip .dll to be utilized by 0AD could be the solution for this problem. The game engine could use 7zip dll to send compressed data streams regarding current in-game information as mentioned above. Also, most importantly, I feel that maps should be compressed when sent from user to user. This would allow the easy and painless transfer of custom made maps. The game engine would use 7zip to heavily compress the maps before sending them to the client requesting the map. Upon receiving the map, the client would decompress the map on its end and then allow the user to start the game. I can't tell you how many games I have played where maps have been transfered inefficiently by not utilizing compression methods. The time it took to download some of these maps was horrendous at best and at many times I would simply choose not to join a game that was playing on a map that I didn't already have. I know that this may not be a issue that is on the top of your minds right now, but it is an important issue that needs to be addressed and looked at. From what I have heard basic network testing is currently being done with the game and I feel that this needs to be looked at before designing the network portion of the game engine. If not done early a complete re-write of the network portion of the game engine may need to be done based on its original design. Going at it from the beginning is the best way to solve the problem of integrating good compression schemes with the network portion of the game engine. I thought that this was an important issue to bring up. -Brian ;-)

Desmond and I saw it. It is the funniest movie i have ever seen. Go see it now! -Note: This probably isn't a movie you want to bring girlfriends to, or children. It almost has an NC17 rating, but it made the R.

Screw that, i can't get enough of this stuff. I mean, it is simply the best. I need more! More i tell you. I am going to download all the albums from all of those artists. So there. jk

Are you 1337? If so, please explain how 1337 you are and why you think you are that 1337. If you don't know what i am talking about, then you aren't 1337. I had to bring up the 1337 since it hasn't been brought up before.

Yes, you heard me. Phishing has been officially outlawed in California. Phishing in case you didn't know is to, "...solicit, request or induce a consumer to provide personal information by using e-mail, Web sites or the Internet to fraudulently impersonate a legitimate business." So basically the passing of this law means less of those fake PayPal emails that request you to input your account number and password because an "invalid transaction" has occured. Then when you look at the web address, you notice that you are on a site like: "http://157.145.14.1/requestinfo.htm" So you know that the site is fake because it is in no way in any shape or form the PayPay domain. I got a few emails myself and i input bogus information cursing them out and telling them they were worthless and that they would get what's coming. Good times. I just think it is wrong to prey on people just because they aren't computer savy. Here is the full article on it(it is short): http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3553271

Yes, i am glad i got some serious discussion going on here. So you guys now understand where i am coming from when i say scn to rms converter.

Actually, when i said that it could be converted to code, i was thinking in sections. For example, the game engine would read the map and divide in by the tiles on the map. It would then get the objects on each tile and average elevation of the tile. It would then rearrange the tiles as well as objects on the tiles, such as trees, eye candy, etc. Once it re-arranged the objects on the tiles, it would then re-arrange the orders of the tiles themselves, such as placing a tile with trees on it next to the other tile with trees on it to create a large forest. The image above represents a scenario. In it, there are trees(green), gold(yellow), and water(blue). When the game would read the map, it would divide it into the tiles shown and record the objects on each tile. When the game would save the info, it would create a list: 1: 2: 3: //Generated by the scenario to random map script converter 4: 5: [scenariodata] 6: tree.types = "redwood,pinetree2,etc." //lists all trees found on map 7: pinetree2.number = "600" //number of pinetree2 8: redwood.number = "100" 9: water.area = "2154" //total area of water on the map 10: water.touchesSides = "True" 11: water.touch.perimeter = "100" //perimeter of water when it is touching the edges of the map 12: water.touchsides.number = "2" //water touches the left side and right side of the map for two 13: [/scenariodata] 14: 15: [Tile.A1] 16: elevation.average = "30" //average elevation of tile A1 17: [/Tile.A1] 18: 19: 20: [Tile.A2] 21: tree.type="redwood" //type of tree, could be listed like above or like this 22: redwood.number = "5" //number of trees on that tile that were redwood 23: tree.type="pinetree2" 24: pinetree2.number = "20" 25: elevation.average = "15" 26: [/Tile.A2] 27: 28: 29: [Tile.A3] 30: water.area = "10" 31: elevation.average = "5" 32: water.JoinedToAdjacentTile = "True" //this is true since the water goes on to tile 4 33: [/tile.A3] 34: 35: [Tile.A4] 36: water.area = "120" 37: water.JoinedToAdjacentTile = "True" 38: elevation average = "5" 39: [/tile.A4] 40: 41: The code above would then allow the game to place tile A4 next to tile F5 because they are both water tiles with an adjacent water tile. The same could be done to preserve large forests etc. A tile with gold would not initially be placed next to another tile with gold unless the random map script engine decided that it had no other choice, so it would determine the tiles with resource placement last. The town centers would be given a distance around them to prevent other town centers from being placed too close. The distance and other parameters would be loosely followed by the random map generator, but it would attempt to generate a map with parameters as similar to the above as possible. It would be hard, but it would be possible. I may write something like it someday and maybe you guys could then integrate it into the engine. This would give amateurs the ability to create random map scripts which i feel is real important. At least i did back in the day. Do you see what i am saying?

What i would think would be really cool is a Random Map Script generator. You make a scenario and you want to convert it into a basic random map script that keeps the basic triggers(time delays, lighting effects, messages, trigger for a specific generated unit death, etc) and also creates the random map script based on the buildings, trees, specific units, terrains, eye candy, mountains, and water to land ratio. I just think it would be neat to be able to convert advanced scenarios into a script that changes the rules every time you play your scenario. Things just don't get old that fast then.

I am hur.

That is by far the best mugshot i have ever seen Desmond. Here is a pic of me in deep thought. http://img323.imageshack.us/img323/3758/me...lymedium7hv.jpg

I tried to set my computer up as an FTP server but failure only occured. I tried several times but to no avail. I had port 21 forwarded and computers could connect to my FTP server. The only problem is they didn't get a response. So it looks like the computers can send messages to the server but the server can't send messages back to the clients once the connecting computers connect because they seem to time out. I checked i and i know that the FTP servers use port 21 for incoming and 20 for outgoing usually. Maybe my router is being retarded. I tried some passive modes too by setting the IP of my router into the passive field but that also didn't work. I don't know. Maybe i just can't create a server. I am using Cerberus FTP server.

I guess i could do that, but it would be very difficult to do especially with all the firewalls/routers and other security measures people have these days. Windows Messenger file transfer didn't even work for me because i had a router but they fixed that with the newer MSN Messenger. Plus I am new to programming and messing with an internet protocol would be difficult to me. I made this utility to improve the functionality of the MSN Messenger file transfer.

I see your point because i have trillian too, however, the best messenger for the MSN Messenger network is still MSN Messenger. It is newer in design and with the MSN Messenger Plus plugin, it has to be the most powerful messenger program out there. The Plus program can be found at: http://www.msgplus.net/ Detailed info about what the Messenger Plus plugin does can be found here: http://www.msgplus.net/features.php It has cool features added to it like Boss Protection(hit a specified hotkey and messenger disapears ), auto accept feature(automatically accepts files from specified contacts while you are afk), Enhanced Notifications, Custom Sound send feature(allows you to send 10 second audio clips to people on messenger with the click of a button), and POP3-Email association. It is free but comes with an optional sponser program. Just say don't install the sponser program when you install it.

Yup, Desmond and I got in trouble for launching model rockets. I was pretty pissed. @CH Now i know where you live because Uppy says she remembers when you were under the bridge. Therefore you must know her in real life so therefore you must also live in Washington State. I think i just did.

Hmm, 95 degrees F (35 C) outside at 5:30PM according to my atomic clock which has a wireless thermometer that i put outside. My room is a nice 72 degrees F (22.2 C) Yum.

Thanks Desmond. I feel that the General Chat audience will be able to enjoy this program.

See, i knew you guys would like it. Please take a look at this guys. I spent a while writing up the documentation and i really think you will find it useful and enjoy it. Chris(Lorian), Desmond(King Tutankhamen), and Bobby(CheeZy) liked it. I think you will too. Please check it out. I feel like having this thread moved to General Chat or fun and games because it isn't a technical article and i feel that some people don't even bother coming in here because they are intimidated.

Translation: "I am studying spanish four at my school. My class is mostly learning the language and sometimes the people can speak it very well." That is what i got from it and i did that with my head, not a translater.

So the new version of messenger has you down because it doesn't allow you send many of the common file types. Whenever you attempt to send such a file, the person you are sending it to appears to cancel it because their MSN Messenger does not accept certain file types. Sound familiar? Extremely irritating, yes. How you fix it, simple, rename the file but that is a waste of time every time you need to send a file as well as a hassle. To fix this i made a program. It renames the files automatically once you have received them and it renames files so that you can send them as well. Simply right click the file, navigate to Send To, and then click ASDF Transfer Utilty. A half second later a new file appears in the same location with a .asdf extension added to it. YAY, that was easy and not time consuming. Plus you didn't have to say yes to that retarded Windows, "Are you sure you want to rename this file because doing so could be bad blah blah....." Now all you have to do is drag and drop the newly named file onto the message window. Receiving files is just as easy. When installed, the program associates all .asdf file extensions with itself. All you have to do to rename an .asdf file that someone just sent you is double click it. It is then instantly renamed back to its original extension and you simply double click the newly renamed file as you normally would. Sound yummy? I hope it does. It also has a GUI that you can access from the start menu and quick launch toolbar. The GUI opens and allows you to drop one file at a time onto it. It then copies the file and renames it in its original directory. The original is left in tact and is not modified. A new file with an .asdf extension is created in the same directory though. Same thing goes for receiving files. If you want, you can access an Open File GUI by going into the start menu and by clicking ASDF Receive. An Open File dialogue opens (Default open directory in My Received of course ) and you may select the file with the .asdf extension to rename. Note: ASDF Send is used to rename files to .asdf extension so you can send the file to your contacts. ASDF Receive is used to rename .asdf files back to their original extension once you have received the file from one of your contacts. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as i enjoy it. It makes my file sending and receiving experience much easier. Report any bugs here and I will fix them ASAP. Please take a look at it. Thx Brian http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/megas...edirection3.htm (Comes the help file and .exe installer. 633KB v1.1)

Has mily language, but it has guys blowing a tank up. Very cool. http://movies.collegehumor.com/items/2005/...umor.164198.wmv

Check this out. I found the Hollywood sign. Look at the top of the mountain and you can see the letters because the satellite wasn't directly above them: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Los+Angeles&...10664&t=k&hl=en The Golden Gate Bridge: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=San+Francisc...10664&t=k&hl=en Alcatraz Island: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=San+Francisc...10664&t=k&hl=en

I had several black widows in my hose reel. I took these pictures a few years ago with my old camera so they are out of focus but you can get the general idea. I also took a movie its movement as it walked through the jar. Their bites can be deadly, so if you are bitten by one of these you probably want to go to the hospital. If you have an allegic reaction or are a child, their bites can result in death. In the picture of the black widow in the jar, you can see her fangs and they are huge. They call them black widows because once they mate with the male spider, they sometimes but rarely bite them and eat them, hence the name the Black Widow. http://img26.echo.cx/img26/2906/picture511...lpics1792sm.jpg http://img26.echo.cx/my.php?image=picture5...lpics1822oa.jpg The Black Widow here appears gray in color because i sprayed poison all over it, so the gray stuff on it is poison, my way of saying thanks for being poisonous. http://img219.echo.cx/img219/5056/picture5...lpics1844kp.jpg

K, Mi madre tengo en Norway translates to: My mom i have in Norway. If you want to say she lives in Norway then you say: Mi madre vive en Norway. If you want to say she is from Norway then you would say: Mi madre es de Norway. Spanish is easier than English, don't think that it is difficult because it isn't.

Sitting down is my favorite standing position. Though i would lay down if there was a bed.

Sam: That is also known as suffocation. I sleep on my left or right side. I tend to sleep on my left though since my bed is parallel to a wall and when i sleep on my left side my face is towards to wall so i am not bothered if anyone or anything happens in my room. I also usually sleep with one pillow over the ear that is exposed, that way i am prepared for anything and nothing will disturb my sleep.