Cooperative Editing

From Platinum Arts Sandbox Free 3D Game Maker
Revision as of 10:49, 29 June 2008 by Mike (Talk | contribs) (Quick Windows Guide (see below for more extensive info))

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This is a guide that requires some knowledge of networks. Please make sure you meet the following criteria before engaging in a coop edit:

  • You know where the program was installed.
  • You prefer to help create interesting work and help out instead of destroying other people's work. There is no undo in Coop edit so edit responsibly.

Quick Windows Guide (see below for more extensive info)

Click server.bat in your Sandbox folder. That is the server. Then load up Sandbox. You can connect to your own server by typing /connect localhost in the console, which you access by hitting the ` key above tab. Your friends will have to type /connect YOURIP (for example /connect 255.255.255.255) in their versions of Sandbox. To put the server into coopedit mode you'll have to load a map like this /coop house or /coop village for example. To quickly find your ip you can go to sites like this [1]. If you have a router you might need to forward 28785 and 28786 UDP.

Starting the server

There are many arguments that can be passed to the client. The list is a brief overview of them

  1. -c sets the maximum amount of pople you'll allow to connect
  2. -i Sets the IP used for the server
  3. -m sets the masterserver
  4. -n sets the servername, as it'll appear in guiservers
  5. -o sets wheter mastermode 2 and 3 can eb activated or not
  6. -p Sets a password for he who wants to take admin
  7. -u set the upstream bandwidth
  8. -d The standalone server executable automatically does this. but you can also run the game as a server if you add -d at the end

Linux

To start a linux server, it's actually more effort than the other platforms. first open up a shell, least so you can monitor progress. I'll assume you have little experience and will be quite verbose. You may need to see the Howto on compiling the source

  1. cd to where PAS is installed. eg cd ~/PlatinumArtsSandbox
  2. considering you compiled it yourself, type ./bin/native_server
  3. before hitting enter, add any arguments you want, eg ./bin/native_server -c8 -p"password" -n"Hirato is great"

You should get a few messages about the masterserver not replying etc, they can be ignored, just launch the client as well and you're set for some multiplayer editing action.

Mac OSX

Windows

How to up a windows coopedit server. After you launch the server be sure to scroll down to the "connecting" section to learn how to connect to your server.

  1. Open up 'My Computer' and go to where you installed PAS, eg C:\Program Files\PlatinumArtsSandbox\
  2. To load a default server click server.bat
  3. To set server options right click server.bat, and click edit. You should see notepad open with something similar to this.
    1. bin\sandbox.exe -d -c4 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
  4. If you wish to set a password, or a name, add the appropriate -p and -n lines and then save eg
    1. bin\sandbox.exe -d -c4 -p"password" -n"Hirato Is great" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
  5. After you've made the changes you want then click server.bat

Connecting

Now that you have succeeded in starting up your server, it's time to get on there with some friend. PAS does not yet have a masterserver so the server gui will prove useless. Now depending on how you wish to connect, you have two methods. First enter the console by hitting the ` key, which is above tab.

  1. type /connect ingame, eg /connect 127.0.0.1 Your friends will have to type /connect ip where ip is your ip address. Example /connect 99.999.999.999 You can find your ip address by going here [2]
  2. type /lanconnect ingame, this'll connect to any server on the network

Once in you can use T to talk to other players.

Note, You cannot connect to servers that aren't connected to your network, so the 192.168.0.0, 172.16.0.0 and 10.0.0.0 range of IPS are all you can connect to. You can connect to servers that aren't in your network if you forward port 28785 in the UDP protocol. forwarding 28786 is also recommended, but that is used to communicate with the masterserver, and PAS has yet to receive one. Note only the server has to forward the ports for the connection to succeed. Port forwarding is often referred to as Pin Holing in certain guides.

if you did forward the ports, and are finding some trouble connecting, check your iptables in linux, and your firewall settings in windows

Cooperative etiquette

Considering the people on the server behave and know what they're doing, just follow the below rules to enjoy yourself. Not that we can do anything about them being broken of course

  • When connecting to a server, it's considered polite to ask for the people to send the map so you can work on a current copy instead of wrecking someone's work.
  • Also don't destroy someone else's work. If you'd like to change something already made just ask.
  • Share your knowledge, this is the only way newbies learn new tricks
  • Offer to help out, improve textures and correct mistakes and suggest improvements. The whole point of multiplayer collaborative editing is to build maps together.
  • Avoid getting upset, not that there's anything to throw a hissy fit at anyway, cept maybe for that cube that doesn't want to turn into a pentagon
  • DO NOT use the very smallest cubes to do big edits (use G+scroll in editmode to adjust)