Greetings & Salutations

[GandyDancer]

Hello to all.

I was going through a bunch of my older games and came across my old CD of RT Deluxe. I loaded and started to play it. Remembered how much fun it was. Well one thing lead to another and I bought and downloaded a complete set of RT plus SM Railroad's. Two comments, one SM's Railroad's is a joke, I am not into cartoons, although I could see how they would go that direction in order to sell more copies to parents to give to their kids. Second, I thought I got a deal by getting the RT games from Steam. Never used Steam before, never will again. I do a fair amount of development and research so I have things running on my machine that most would not. Steam just does not play well with them.

So now on to the things that I do. Basically, I am unemployed. No surprise there, why I have all the time to look at old games. In my past life I was a software architect, mostly SQL database and PC related. For fun I test games, normally in the Beta phase. Over the past 40+ years of working, I have done a lot of things, but that is for another story.

Currently, I am working on a scenario for RT 1.06. I would port it to TM but I am having issues with the graphics on TM. (Big white numbers appear above the buildings and bridges, vary with view distance from 0 to 4. Obviously, I have it installed wrong, or something, not taking the time ATM to investigate) I'll look into it later on. I need to update drivers and such before I attempt to figure it out.

Well that is about it for me. Back to working on this scenario.

GandyDancer

[Blackhawk]

back to the world of railroading. Hopefully you'll get your graphic problems with TM figured out so you can give that a try one day. Good luck with your 1.06 scenario. As for Steam, I never liked it when it was first created. It has improved some over the years, but I still don't like it. I'd rather own the cd in my hand, and I don't feel like waiting hours for a game to download on a dsl connection.

[GandyDancer]

Thank you Blackhawk, glad to be here. I agree with you download times on DSL can be really bad, why I went to cable. I hope to have first cut of this scenario done later this week. God willing and the creek don't rise. Give it a quick Alpha test and then release it for testing, see if I can get my brother to look at it (Have to get him to play the game to begin with though). Then I'll work on TM.

GandyDancer

[Hawk]

Have you seen this thread Gandy?

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2236

[GandyDancer]

Hawk,

Just looked at thread. Close to the issue that I have but mine is slightly different. TM actually runs and the resolution and graphics seem to be fine. What I am seeing is a number showing up above the buildings. If I click on a building the arrow has a 0 above it. As I zoom in and out the number above the buildings change as does the graphics for the buildings. Closer I zoom in the lower the number. I believe that it is a reference number associated to which graphic pic it is pulling to display. But as I said before I'll test this out after a bit. I have a few things I will have to figure out first. BTW, I run an ATI video card 4870. I am an AMD fan so I have a quad AMD processor with Vista 64.

What I will have to figure out is what language this was written in. Not that I want to play with the code but so I have an idea of configuration and where that is dealt with. But I am getting ahead of myself. That and this is on the wrong thread for the forum. To much to do on that scenario, LOL. Just now getting the Historical timeline in place. Next will be tweeking the map, then the multiple ways one can lose the game as you stroll through time.

I'll go into TM and take a screen shot so it everyone can see when I start looking into this. And not to worry, I will port the scenario over to TM when I get it working.

GandyDancer

[OilCan]

Welcome GandyDancer. There's plenty of room for software architects in this forum! Are you able to build searchable web databases? like a searchable database for the maps on the archive pages? If so, I'd like to bring Hawk into this discussion and see if we can't entice you to do just that: build a searchable database for the RT3 and TM maps.

[GandyDancer]

Oilcan,

Depends upon what database you want it to be in and where it will be stored. The actual database record and layout is not that big of a deal. But storage gets to be an issue if you do not have a lot of free disk space. Also, the database would normally have to reside on a server accessible by the web page that you want to use for the delivery. Most SQL databases have the ability to store Binary Large Objects so the total map could be contained in a single cell. So, we are back to which database is available. I can actually design the entire thing, and I can most likely do the SQL database part as well. Just need a Web guy to code the interfaces.

GandyDancer

[Hawk]

Right now I'm running a text based database to run the download counter. It's an old CGI script and I would like to update it to something more 'modern'.
I was told by the developer of this script that it would most likely crash at about 10,000 downloads because the script couldn't write to the text file at a rapid rate. Luckily there's only been consistency with the downloads and not a bombardment all at once. So far I've managed to keep it alive through about 752,515 downloads, in three separate set ups.
I do have MySQL available, and at this time, storage isn't an issue on the server I'm on. Bandwidth is running fine as well, but not as optimal as storage.

To try and build a search engine with the way things are currently set up might inject some interesting problems.
I would like to write some php script to make things easier, but I just haven't had the time to dig into it as I would like to.
I'm fairly well versed in html and css, but beyond that I'm pretty much a newbie.

So - was that any help?

BTW! I like your username. Reminds me of the old days when I was a kid.

[GandyDancer]

Hawk,

MySQL is ok, we can do that. It is not one of my best but that is ok, it is free. Don't worry about the speed, the indexing and stored procedures will handle the majority of the work. As far as uploading, since the database would contain the compressed binary of the map, it would be a matter of doing a select statement and then loading it into the transfer buffer. Not quite as simple as it sounds, but not that difficult either. Send me a text list of the elements you want to have in the database, what is currently in the database now and it's structure. We can start with that, I'll download and set up MySql here and begin to get the tools that I need.

[Hawk]

As I mentioned in my previous post, all the data currently is in a flat text database and not in MySQL, and it's in 3 different flat text databases.

[GandyDancer]

Hawk,

Yes, I understood that. But, you said you have MySQL available. I am assuming, that the text database is delimited in some manner. Also, that you know the structure of the tables of that database or can get it. With that information, I should be able to make a porting routine to move the data directly from the text database into a new MySQL database for storage. If I keep the column names the same and the old record index keys intact, there should be minimal code changing needed. I would like to make it so that you simply point to the MySQL database and it just goes. But as I always tell people looking at a pie in the sky, "Hold your hands out in front of you, wish in one, crap in the other and see which one fills up first", so I might get my hand dirty.

Going back over your original msg I gleaned that you might not be looking for a database to store information but a better method to deliver it. So, if on the other hand if you are looking to replace the CGI scripts by moving to Java based system or something that is along the lines of an Apache webserver that is an animal of a different color. That will take me a lot longer to do as I am just now getting involved with Java. Although this would be a nice project to learn that language.

[Hawk]

I would like to use MySQL as the storage for the data and get rid of the CGI script I'm using, or at least work in conjunction with it and just do away with the flat text database.

When you say minimal code changes, bear in mind there's over 800 files available on this site - 800 links is a lot of changing.

If you'd like to have a look at the script itself, you can download it at this link: http://www.proxy2.de/scripts.php Scroll down to find 'Top Downloads 2.0'.
That may help give you an idea of what would need to be done.
I'm not all that interested in the GUI display part of it. I rarely use that anyway.

If you need a copy of one of the flat text files just let me know and I'll PM it to you.

Edit 1: I just had a peek at your profile. I'm 59 and was born in Akron.

[GandyDancer]

Ok, I have downloaded the CGI script. If you could send me the code that you are running that would be helpful as well. I obviously missed something along the way so, let me look at what you have and then I can formulate some questions. The actual datafiles are not really needed. How they are layed out is what I need to know.

[Hawk]

I think we were both posting at the same time.

I added a little to my previous post while you were posting.

I'm pretty much running that script as is. I'm not sure what you want when you ask for the code I'm running as it's in that script, or I'm misunderstanding you.

I'll send you a PM as soon as I post this.

[GandyDancer]

Yep, we crossing paths. I'll wait a bit and look at what I have and what ever you send. Other than that, we might be getting ahead of ourselves.

[Hawk]

we might be getting ahead of ourselves.

Oops! I just went back and read why we started talking about this and it was only for a search-able database, not converting the CGI script to MySQL.

You're right. We are getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

[GandyDancer]

LOL, not a problem, why don't we approach this like I would any development project. Lets put everything on the table, figure out what is needed in total, then lay out a design, tweek it to make sure it meets the needs and covers all the wants needs and desires, put together a high level design, then a block flow, label the pieces parts into managable sections, then work on each section. When we are done, you'll have a nice shiney new system. We can look for input from who ever wants to get involved. The more the merrier. LOL

P.S. CGI scripts can't be converted into SQL. But it can be converted into other languages. PHP being one of them.

[Hawk]

PHP would work.

You really don't have to go to all this trouble, although you seem to be able to do something that I've been trying to do for a couple of years.
I've searched and searched the Internet for a PHP script that would do this, but all I found were far more than I wanted or needed, and/or they required that all downloadable files be in the same directory. That would present a problem.

I bought a couple of books on MySQL and PHP but just haven't had the time to read them and learn.

BTW! You have another PM from me.

[Wolverine@MSU]

..... label the pieces parts into........

Couldn't help butting in, but my wife, who is from Canton, Ohio also uses this phrase (pieces parts). Is this a regional colloquialism? She also says stuff like "The garden needs watered" or "the toilet needs fixed", which I have come to learn is a common regional phrasing (I would say it as: "The garden needs to be watered" or "The garden needs watering").

[GandyDancer]

Two answer both posts, first for the "pieces parts" thing, I picked that up when I was in SC. Worked there for a number of years on a contract to develop software for a company there. Not sure about the other statements or whether or not they are regional. I have heard what you described, but I have heard it that way mostly in the South. Better check around, there might be a confederate flag hidden somewhere.

As far as the other, I have lots of time on my hands at the moment. No job ATM. So I spend a whole 15 minutes a day looking for work and sending out resumes. The rest I spend writing a RT3 1.06 scenario and playing the game some. As with most people my age, I am a lazy old fart, so I do as little original work as possible. I am a firm believer in kindergarten 101, cut and paste. The database part is the easiest for me to do. The other would be new for me as well, but the advantage I have is that I do code in other languages, none of which are web enabled.

Well going to look at the PM. I'll be around all day, as usual. Oh and normally for me I would type in pieces/parts but I keep missing the /. Just getting to old.