CGZM Missions

[johnsojc]

I was (again) poking around in the code and it appears (at least to me) that the reason the GZ Calibration missions don't work is that they must be preloaded into the database. Then clicking the scope button retrieves the mission data and runs it like any other marker mission except it keeps track of the scoring and time. Assuming I'm not just imaging what I've tried to understand, and if I'm right, does anyone have the mission data and a procedure to load it into a DIRTSAND system? Can DIRTSAND handle this type of minigame data?

Oops! Even user marker games are broken... that explains a lot. I'll keep looking (especially if someone would like to give me hint where to look ).

[Lyrositor]

I think the Writers' plan is to move such things away from the server and into the client. That would be why DIRTSAND can't do this.

[johnsojc]

For some reason I'm failing to see the advantage of that... then again, I don't know the plans or the reasoning behind them.

[Branan]

The plan for all the current special-case things is something like:

1) Move back to client, implemented with standard notifies and all that sort of thing
2) Write a generic system on the server for implementing scripting server-side
3) move the scripts to the server, and tell all the clients they're not the gamemaster
4) fix the server to ignore any attempts by the client to control other clients.

This will give us a nice framework for handling game scripting, and (hopefully) give us slightly better security.

[johnsojc]

Sounds like a plan. My only request is document... document... document... Crawling through some of the code is like an archeological dig in a garbage dump at times.

[Deledrius]

Sounds like a plan. My only request is document... document... document... Crawling through some of the code is like an archeological dig in a garbage dump at times.

Don't we know it!

Sadly, everyone who dove in to take care of that for us... has never come out. The rest ran screaming before they even got near.

[Luna]

Sounds like a plan. My only request is document... document... document... Crawling through some of the code is like an archeological dig in a garbage dump at times.

Don't we know it!

Sadly, everyone who dove in to take care of that for us... has never come out. The rest ran screaming before they even got near.

I'm still planning to do something on that matter but I just can't seem to find the time.

[johnsojc]

In my experience (dated as it is) if you do not slow down enough to document the code as you go, it never gets done. 6 weeks later you go back and wonder just what were you thinking of when you wrote it. Part of the problem for a third party is to try to figure out just what was intended, or understanding code well enough to figure out what it all means. I used to loathe API documentation (until I needed it for something).

This is not a criticism, just an observation.

[Deledrius]

I think we can all agree on that.

Unfortunately it seems Cyan had less resources or interest in doing so than we'd all prefer, and now it falls to all of us to document it after the fact. At least it's not entirely un-commented code: some of it is quite useful and insightful, some of it less so.

[johnsojc]

I especially like comments like: "This won't do this or that but we'll get around to fixing it someday..."

Now back to my painful 3 hour upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Some 200+ packages removed... 1464 new packages to install. I wonder if my little dirtsand server will survive... when in doubt, RECOMPILE!!!

(And moss, you are next on my hit list )

Oh, yes... Upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS breaks DIRTSAND very well! Something about libstdc++ followed by a core dump.