February 19, 2009

Client Update

My Magic server is now up and slightly reliable. To test it out, start up my Java Client (now hosted locally), change your name, and enter 68.76.146.11 for the server IP.
If you cannot afford to have your browser lock up, DO NOT do this.
More info below the fold...

There are several issues I have yet to figure out how to solve.
On my own PC, connecting to the server via its external IP, using the web-hosted client, I have nearly perfect performance.
Yet, on my wife's computer sitting next to mine, strange things happen. Usually only one deck in the decklist appears. Her client occasionally drops its connection for no apparent reason.
Meanwhile, on a friend's computer in another state, all the decks loaded fine, but the game also lost its connection.
Invariably, when this happens the browser's Java virtual machine enters some sort of locked-down state. This generally freezes the browser window, and possibly all parts of the browser. Unless you are using Chrome, you have to entirely kill and restart it.
If you would like to restart the server remotely, just send the text "RESTARTTHYSELF" to it, either as your name at the login screen, or in-game.
The server will immediately restart, and come back up. Be sure to restart your browser as well, as it will no longer by synchronized with the server.

If you have a few minutes to kill and want to help me learn my java/c++ distributed apps, please experiment with what you can get it to do and let me know in the comments section.

Key things I'm interested in:
- What state/city you attempted to log in from.
- If you saw at least a screenful of decks to choose from.
- How many players you attempted to start the game with.
- If it "crashed", and what you did last before it crashed.
- About how many actions you were able to do before the crash.
- Any suggestions about user interface.

Thanks!

Posted by Moore at 10:34 PM

Server is LIVE!

After some virtualbox action, things seem to be working now. The server IP is 68.76.146.11, but don't blame me if it kills your browser!

Posted by Moore at 07:01 PM