New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Hi,

I just made a web page capable of starting a few Dominioins II games from my server. Come and try, start a few games :-D

It's made from Perl, IO::Pty, Apache, Perl::CGI and mysql --- all running on a Hardened Gentoo Linux.

Please be gentle with my server --- it's quite small, and can only handle so much. I'll be asleep the next 8 hours or so, but afterwards I'll certainly help with any trouble you spot :-)

I know the game options are really lacking, and so is the fact that everybody can start a game. Be patient, and it will come! Oh, and help would be nice, too. If I distribute it, it will be GPL'ed (it uses mysql, which I believe is GPL).

Here's the link:Dominions II Game Server

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Looks nice. Did you check out the server threads here? such as this one?

You went with starting a full service tcp/ip game. Nice setup. The community thanks you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I was going to try and go the other way. Some sort of web-based upload of the .2h file is about the only hangup I think. Then it would be easy to provide a web-based download of .trn files. That would allow a "host at midnight" run thru all the game files. Alot more games could be done on one machine but its taking a long time to iron out.

[ February 14, 2004, 23:01: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Did you want us to merely test the game-starting functionality, or attempt to break the server?

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

How are you going to get past the temp-file crashes?

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I havent had that on a linux machine. Just on Windows. But if it did happen it wouldnt be hard on linux to check for it and reload

[ February 14, 2004, 23:31: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I tried to test it. But I got this error message when I tried with port 6677 and later with port 16563. (0 vp, 0 req vp, map aran)

-------------------
An error occurred while attempting to launch game:

You must specify a valid port

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yeah, I did check out the server threads, and will do so again now that I have the basic setup. To get some more ideas. And you're all welcome --- thank me by playing with me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I chose the TCP/IP setup over the mail-based setup simply because I liked the feel of a TCP/IP server. A mail-based server would be able to handle a substantial load, though, so that would be great, too! I think my little server would be able to handle perhaps 5--10 TCP/IP game before becoming too slow.

Also, I think it is perhaps a bit more challinging to make a mailbased server. If I did, I would base it on a sendmail clone and a CGI webpage. Then I would have each game have it's own (maybe virtual) mailbox, or maybe filter on subject. When the server has run I would simply email the turns back. This would require a registration of email addresses, hence the CGI-page.

I won't be implemented this anytime soon though. But I'll certainly help if I can & if somebody want to do it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">My fault. I only allow ports between 2300 through 2400. This is to make it easier to understand my firewall logs. This should have been written in the error response.

I'll update the page soon. I wanted the port to be a dropdown selection in any case.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

OK, to reply to the rest of the replies in one fell swoop:

The server is not too hard to break.Only the dominions II part should break. I have a change in my head which should make it much harder to break, but that would have to wait.

I don't know what the tempfile problem is (Gandalf writes that it is a windowsthing), but restart of the server is certainly possible if it become an issue. It would actually be the same change as above, funny enough.

Enjoy!

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

OK, I'm feeling stupid this morning.

I started a game, and the site tells me it's fine, running on port 2350 and all...

But I cannot find an IP address to connect to. Did I miss something, or is there, somewhere, a Dominions 2 server that's accepting connections, only nobody knows where?

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You may be feeling stupid, but not as much as I do http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif The IP is now on the page (it's 80.161.86.108). Somehow I figured that people would know it's mosehansen.dk since that is where the webpage is served from. And that is wrong in so many ways...

Sorry for the inconvience... I have already joined your game, BTW. It's me playing Man. And I'm no good at this game, BTW, but I will learn :-D

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I joined as well, as Abysia. We can do a few turns if you like (I wasn't really looking for a new MP game, but since we're both in Europe and it's sunday anyway... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I joined as well, as Abysia. We can do a few turns if you like (I wasn't really looking for a new MP game, but since we're both in Europe and it's sunday anyway... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Wow, THAT was a fast game. I thought the victory conditions were "standard", and didn't check the VPs... (Is there a way on your server to use non-VP victory conditions?)

For those at home: Esben and I played a 7-turn or so game, which he won waaaay before we made contact because he had 3 VPs out of a total 6 on the map... thing is, he started with 2, and I with only 1... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I was thinking that creating an actual account for each game might be simplest. Creating a game123 would allow for a game123@ email address, and a game123 upload directory, and a www.gameserver/~game123 web directory for game info. So far there isnt alot og game info you can put there but I was thinking "if you build it then some will come"

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

The idea with one account pr. game is wonderful for play-by-email games. But I wouldn't want to do that from a CGI-interface: Creating accounts must for obvious reasons involve at least a sudo root operation. I would never let a CGI-script anywhere near that kind of power. Perhaps a chroot'ed approach could be found allowing for the one-accout-for-each-game approach.

As for storing game info, I use a mysql database. In there, I can do pretty much anything I want, without comprimising security. I could, e.g. store a backup for .2h files if I wished...

Another thing: Maybe it's just Sunday, but interest in this server has been quite low: Exactly one game has been created. For the current load, TCP/IP is DEFINITELY the way to go. Much easier to build/adminster than mail, and any server could run less than 5 games without sweating.

In the same vein: Feel free to pass the address of the server on to anywhere you think appropriate. The server has a limit (of currently 3), so there's no risk of overloading the server.

Also, if somebody have a pet option they just MUST have, please, don't hesitate to tell me. I havn't played all that much http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Finally, response will be slow from me for an hour or so. I have a different kind of experiment underway: The making of filled chokolades.

Thanks for your interest in my little project http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It is ...

1. early Sunday (in the US) with many religious types in church,

2. Post-Valentine's day,

3. a 3-day weekend in the US that some adults use for mini-vacations.

Give it some time. Your server hasn't even been running publically for 24 hours yet.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">True enough. Actually Ive done it in the past without sudo using a passed file as a work around. CGI creates a file with the account info. CRON reads it, checks it for possible abuse info, then creates the account with the info. But in general it is considered a thing to avoid.

Of course it wouldnt be much to a system to go ahead and make 100 or so such accounts then just roll the games thru them as needed.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well pros and cons. SQL has its own drawbacks. Even in security. But then everyone should tends to know and handle the problems for their favorite softwares which is really the right way to go.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">When I saw the memory load it required I was scared away from that direction. But later I got up the nerve to start 2 games at the same time and saw that it handled librarys well. Most of what it loads does not get loaded for each server.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Regarding the low load & Valentine: Good point. I hadn't thought about either Valentine holidays or religious types http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Well, we'll just have to see what happens. However, before designing and implementing a server that could handle 100's of games, I would still like to see whether there is demand for 10's of games :-)

Cute idea with "order" file and a "fulfillment" cron job. That seems better secured than using sudo http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Mysql has some nice & easy security feautures that I like http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif But as you say, each to their own. You can certainly do anything ýou can do with databases with files, and it' seasier to do mail<->file than mail<->db.

An objective description of the SQL language would be an epithet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif At least the interface between Perl and Mysql is better than say C/C++ and DB/2.

Thanks for your interest... the chocolates are going through a 2nd cooling now.. next comes the bottom, and then it's back to coding http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I've uploaded a new Version of the hosting site. Most game options are now availble, though there's probably bugs. Report any you find here, please http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'll be gone working and visiting most of tommorow (2004-02-16). And now I'm going to get some sleep.

'night!

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Can't create a game, no error message or anything.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I just tried starting a new game, and it doesn't seem to work: the game isn't reported as created, and there doesn't seem to be a Dom2 server at the address and port requested.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Well, no. The problem is that "capitalvp" is on by default. I'm just now updating my scripts to accept most of the game options provided to the textbased server, but I'm not done yet.

But playing with VP seems to so much more fun?

Well, anyway, thanks for the game! While short it was long enough for me to finish implementing another feature: The web page now shows a listing over the players that have not yet moved this turn. Also, I'm preparing a (short) comment field for stuff like: "Start this game at 5 players, please!"

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I believe you must have forgotten some part on the site: I see the same interface as before, with no more options. That may be why we cannot start new games.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Something must have gone wrong when I uploaded. Fortunately, I had the beta laying around on the server, so I've now really upgraded and tested the site.

I created a game on urgaia, 10 VP to win, 10 VP total and (I hope I checked this) one extra pr. capital. The game launched succesfully, and if anybody joins, I will start the game tommorow evening (local time, but very close to GMT).

Again, sorry. From now on, no more just-before-I-go-to-sleep upgrades.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I belive "No nation select when resuming" is a pointless switch for a server. It might be useful for clients who want to connect quickly, but they have to specify it on their computers anyway.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">OK. I wasn't sure what it did, and decided to include it. I'll remove it.

In fact, I want to redesign the "New Game Section" to add some more descriptions and help for all the options... but first, I want to have AI's :-) And more stats http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Stats such as which nations are close to winning by VP would be VERY nice, if you can manage to extract them from the file. It is so easy to forget going to the right ledger page each and every turn, in order to see whether anybody else is close. (And to remind you that it is a VP game)

Which means that you can lose without expecting it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Of course, I would prefer if the GAME displayed an "You: x/maxVP Strongest enemy: y/maxVP" on the main game display all the time when playing a VP game, or second-best, displayed in line 1 of the monthly progress report, and likewise with dominion or province victory condition, but that is a different issue - and one that would make such games slightly more approachable. Having the enemies progress towards winning conditions hidden away in the second tier of a submenu has always seemed cruel and unusual punishment to me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

"I hadn't thought about either Valentine holidays"

It's why I was not here at least, to give you my heartfelt thanks for doing this for the dominions 2 community! You are a saint!

My comments
-Would it be possible to set a force-hosting schedule? For instance, I want to start a game that forces a host Monday - Friday at 11:55PM, no force on weekends.

-Custom maps please? Pretty please? It's not so hard to download them, especially when people are going to spend weeks/months stareing at them. (and I designed all my maps for balance with multiple people, since I am sick of computer opponents, and I really want to get feedback about some big games on them)

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Re VP points: Definitely worth looking into. I'm not sure how much info can be extracted, but I'll try :-)

Custom maps: Point me to any, and I'll install them. I'll also make uploads possible once I've figured out how to do it without comprimising security totally. Anybody knows where dom attemps to load maps from? Only /usr/local/games/dominions2/maps?

And yes, the force host options are still missing. They will appear, probably tommorrow. I just have to design a bit of HTML first (and I'm not home tonight)

Thanks for your appreciation! The host is running 3 games right now without (apparrant) harm; I'll try to raise the limit to 10 :-D

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Try these MAPS

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Custom maps are on illwinter's site:
http://www.illwinter.com/dom2/maps.html

"Only /usr/local/games/dominions2/maps?"
Yes, only from there.

" the force host options are still missing. They will appear, probably tommorrow"

Holds breath http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Actually there are environmental variables for things like maps and mods. You can keep all your maps seperate which for someone planning to host games I would highly recommend. Its too easy to forget (at least for my old brain) which ones came with the game, which ones players have to have downloaded, and which ones are half-working Versions of my own projects.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I see all the games have crashed, apparantly due to clients upgraded to 2.08. I have just upgraded the server. It seems to work, but who really knows?

As for the stat file, it does not appear to be generated(?!). I can only find the first statfile which states something like

Statistics for game 'TestGameGamma' turn -1

Man played this turn
Arcoscephale played this turn

This is what it writes every turn :-/ What I'm I missing?

Oh, if some of you want a game restarted, drop me a mail/private message, and I'll restart the game where it left off...Doing this from the web page is also on my todo.

Finally, it appears that IllWinter has made game options availble for starting AI, so apparantly no map hacking is neccessary. Those options should appear soon, in the next few days.

I'll also have to find out how to make games without victory points. I'm guessing requiredVP=0, totalVP=0 and captitalVP=off should do it, but some bug in my scripts prevents me from trying this.

Well, goodnight, I should have been sleeping hours ago...

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

The statfile really doesn't list anything more than what turn it is, which player submitted their turn and which are computer controlled.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Ive been requesting more info in the statfile. Such as scoreboard, even if its just numbers in a text file. Maybe the pretender list and the heros list. Maybe a printout of who owns what province. I can see some nice "game progress" displays being made from it.

But at least we got --preexec. A directory view of the game dir will show who does then turns and who doesnt. A backup can be made. I can even set the game to shutdown instead of processing (in order to do an upgrade)

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I started the "Zombies" game on Esben Mose Hansen's server, but I can't join it or the test beta game.

Is there a problem with the server?

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">What Version are you using? What is the symptons? What IP address do you use? What port#

Anybody else have problems? I'll run some test when I get home, but I had no trouble yesterday night.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

I have patched to 2.08. I tried ip address 80.161.86.108 and port 2302 for the "Zombie" game. I receive the standard failure message that no server can be found.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Strange, I cannot reproduce this. Try using the dns name for my server: "dom2.mosehansen.dk" That should rule out mistyping. Also, try pinging the my IP from your box. Can you do SSH? I could probably set up a sshd listening to port 2400 or something. With a bit more work I could have a telnet server, but I dislike having telnet on my box

Please, can anyone but me connect to the Zombie game? Nothing seems to be wrong on my end; so I need more data. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I use nothing but telnet. Its not a problem unless you have reason to mistrust other machines in direct network to you at your end.
Its also a big moot point if you have standard email and ftp running.

I may upgrade one of my Dom2's later. I will try to remember to check your server

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Strange, I cannot reproduce this. Try using the dns name for my server: "dom2.mosehansen.dk" That should rule out mistyping. Also, try pinging the my IP from your box. Can you do SSH? I could probably set up a sshd listening to port 2400 or something. With a bit more work I could have a telnet server, but I dislike having telnet on my box

Please, can anyone but me connect to the Zombie game? Nothing seems to be wrong on my end; so I need more data. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I can connect to it.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Okay, maybe it is just me then.

Any advice on what I can do to ensure trouble-free connection to network games?

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Thanks for testing my box. It is appreciated http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I was gettting nervous for a while there.

As for connection trouble: Start with pinging my box, that is take a command line and do

ping mosehansen.dk

You should see some pings, nice and easily. Dependent on your ping program, you may have to press ctrl-c to stop it.

Then, do you connect to the internet via. a router? Some of these needs to be reconfigured to allow outbound connections. I'm not sure why some routers are configured like that, but many are. Maybe it is a Windows thing(?)

Re Telnet: Well, this box is hooked directly to the internet, so I guess I can't exactly trust all other computers on its net http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif ) And the problem with telnet is that it sends e.g. passwords in clear text. That I do not like. Standard mail does not have that problem, and no, I do NOT run an FTP server. I run HTTP (apache), HTTPS (apache), HTTPS/WEBDAV, SSH and IMAP/SSH. No password unencrypted for me, thanks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Besides, SSH serves all my needs very well.

Now, for the remaining options....

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I can connect all right (in fact, I am connected right now).

I thought you said something about adding a comment, but there is no text field for that. It would be nice to know if each game is supposed to start at some time, or if they're all just test games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not that big a net. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif That would die at the first hop. Just the net at your house.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I know. Its my job to know. But telnet vs ssh isnt nearly as cut-and-dried as most would be led to believe. But the difference isnt usually worth a debate.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

====================== 1=================
FIRST OF ALL: I'm having an electrician(?) over tomorrow to check our cabling (it's an insurance thing, long boring story.) I don't know what he'll do, but he may possibly kill the power. I do now own an UPS. I'll restart all running games as soon as he's out of the door. This will happen around noon, GMT. I'll post when it's over. 

Now, for todays comment & problems:

======================= 2 =================
Re Comment field: Yes, there is the beginnings of support for that. I'll finish it tommorrow.

In the meantime: If you create a testgame, or regret how the game turned out, drop me a message in these fora. Then I'll kill the game. Also, all the game named either TestGamexxx or BetaYYY are testgames, made during development. Join these at your own risk!

================== 3 ======================
BUT: I seem to have a problen. I've just added backend support for AI and hosting times. The hosting times work fine, but the server just ignores any AI. Can anyone get these options to work? If somebody do, you please post the command line used?

================== 4 =====================
I promised no more Last-minutes updates that weren't tested to a minimum. So I'll not be updating the frontend tonight. Tomorrow is a bright new day, though, and at least the hosttime and comment field will appear.

================== 5 =======================
If you want to contact me (quickly, e.g. to kill/restart games), try Jabber: mesbenh@jabber.dk I also own an AIM (MesbenH) and an ICQ (search).

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Success!

Using the desktop shortcut with command switches I joined no problem.

Now, why would I be able to join this way, but not the "long way," i.e., starting the game, choosing network, entering i.p. and port manually.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Great! Shall we start the game, then?

As for stating it the long way: Try using the dns name, dom2.mosehansen.dk. Just enter it where you entered you the IP number before. This is a better way in any case. It rules out a mistype...

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

The server is up again.

I'm very sorry, but the "Zombies" game died http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif No matter what I did, dominions did not want to resume --- it startet all over. My test game resumed fine :/

The server should now be up in the foreseeable future. I'll experiment a bit more with resuming games.

Sorry about this.

Re: New & raw web based Dominion II game server
 

Okay, I will start another game soon.

What does the "upload time" option do?