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Misc User Apps - Another chatnet client

Smong - Thu Dec 25, 2003 5:54 am
Post subject: Another chatnet client

I have decided to release what I have so far as a Christmas present to you all. It requires JRE 1.4 from http://www.java.com/en/download (correct me if I'm wrong).

http://toktok.sscentral.com/files/chatnet.zip

Known bugs

Last line shifts 1 pixel up when a new line is printed
You can only send chat on channels up to 9
Connecting to a dud server will hang (use ctrl+c or killall -9 java)

Missing features

No profiles
No up/down arrow key repeater
Links are not clickable

Apart from that I think it has all the other stuff.

Message to the rookies:
It only works with Asss servers. You can run it using "java chatnet" (use a command prompt, batch file, make a shortcut, whatever).

pixelsoft - Thu Dec 25, 2003 8:25 am
Post subject:

looks nice, but ... what file do i have to open? i can't see any *.exe

SuSE - Thu Dec 25, 2003 10:01 am
Post subject: Re: Another chatnet client

Smong wrote:

Message to the rookies:
It only works with Asss servers. You can run it using "java chatnet" (use a command prompt, batch file, make a shortcut, whatever).

pixelsoft - Sat Dec 27, 2003 2:01 pm
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...
that confuses me

Smong - Sat Dec 27, 2003 4:35 pm
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If you have make, you can also use "make run".

@pixelsoft
Make a shortcut to any of the files, then right click on the shortcut and edit the target to "java chatnet", then click on "apply", the target should then change to "C:\WINDOWS\java.exe chatnet" (without the quotes).

Cyan~Fire - Sun Dec 28, 2003 12:18 am
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If you have JRE installed (which you should), the java directory should be in your path.

Depending on your version of Windows (WinNT-based) the MS VM can be in \system32 also.

Btw, pixel, Java doesn't have .exe's, since it's made to be cross-platform (and other things). Therefore you have to run the .class file as an argument to the virtual machine (java.exe). Hopefully that wasn't too confusing

Smong - Thu Jan 08, 2004 2:46 pm
Post subject: update

I've added a zone manager where you can ping zones (for player count), set your name, pass and auto commands. You can't add or edit a zone yet (you have to edit zone.dat by hand).

myke - Sun Jan 18, 2004 6:02 am
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:~\ i can run java applets on sites but not on my comp :'( lol

Cyan~Fire - Sun Jan 18, 2004 12:34 pm
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You can run them on your comp. You could use microsoft's VM (\system32\java.exe) or use Sun's VM (which I recommend).

Once you get a VM, just type (in start -> run or a command prompt) java.exe [class name].

myke - Mon Jan 19, 2004 2:16 am
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::ahem:: as i said nope

Cyan~Fire - Mon Jan 19, 2004 10:47 am
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You're not in the right directory apparently. You have to either go to the right dirctory (using 'cd') or type the full path after 'java'.

Grelminar - Tue Jan 20, 2004 2:40 am
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You might want to consider packaging it as a jar file, which lets people run it with "java -jar file.jar" from any directory. Also, Sun's JRE (and probably others) sets up windows file associations so that double-clicking on a .jar file runs it, which makes it just as easy to run as an exe. You can put data files and all sorts of stuff in a .jar, although this application probably doesn't need anything beside the class files.

Smong - Tue Jan 20, 2004 8:23 am
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OK, it's now in a .jar file. You still need chatnet.conf and zone.dat outside of the archive. Developers that don't know how to pry inside a .jar file are not yet ready to handle what's inside.

v024
* Added an option to ping all zones on start-up (023 pinged by default)
* Updated included zone.dat

Cyan~Fire - Tue Jan 20, 2004 4:34 pm
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WinRAR can extract .jar files just like a zip for the noobs.

(You should have it anyway for the RAR format.)

Smong - Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:38 am
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So when they double click the .jar it doesn't execute, it opens?

(I find .zip is the most common format for compressed files on the internet, any .zip program can extract from .jar. Lets not turn this into a winzip vs winrar discussion.)

I found a bug in v024, it has been fixed in v025 (not yet uploaded). It only occurs when the biller sends a staff message (a case of the server stuffing the whole message into the name field instead of using the name and text field).

myke - Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:05 pm
Post subject:

Cyan~Fire wrote:

You're not in the right directory apparently. You have to either go to the right dirctory (using 'cd') or type the full path after 'java'.

still get the same error...i was just showing what error i get

Dr Brain - Wed Jan 21, 2004 10:34 pm
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what does "echo %classpath%" give?

That error was with a "cd" right?

Smong - Thu Jan 22, 2004 3:33 pm
Post subject:

v026
/priv now implemented
sheep bar fixed
?away with 1 character message fixed
some fixes to make it compatible with asss-1.1.7's billing.c quirks
added option to .conf to set console log level

Edit:
@Dr Brain that gives me 'Echo is on' or something similar.

Cyan~Fire - Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:32 pm
Post subject:

Nice job, looks pretty professional!

One thing:
If you try running it without a chatnet.conf in your directory, you get all sorts of exceptions (can't quit or connect to any zones).

Smong - Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:47 pm
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v027
Fixed errors when no chatnet.conf or zone.dat is present (but it's a good idea to have them).
Fixed all types of message being logged when log levels are set to blank (none).

Edit 24/01/04: A bug has been identified in v027. In the .conf don't put white space around the keys. Fx: section:key=value is OK, section : key = value probably won't work. A fix has not yet been uploaded.

Smong - Mon Jan 26, 2004 3:08 pm
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v029
.conf whitespace bug fixed
implemented :: repeater
text in the input area is coloured depending on message type
added ' as team chat

Smong - Fri Jan 30, 2004 4:39 pm
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v032
fixed :: repeater taking '100% CPU' when no names in cache
added experimental disconnection detection (yay)
fixed 1 character ?chat messages throwing exceptions
added ?log [<file.ext>] command (liito request)

Edit: Bug fix only effecting people that have v032.
v033
fixed 'experimental disconnection detection'

liito-orava - Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:10 am
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I love this chat client. Now it just appears that all the asss zone's are down. :/

(Still waiting for the day when wine runs Continuum).

CypherJF - Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:59 pm
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not all... hyperspace is ASSS

liito-orava - Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:21 pm
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Ahh, is it connected to SSC biller - if so, any possibility you could give its ip and port, since it seems to be difficult to find those.

ExplodyThingy - Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:25 pm
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Right click on the zone, IP there, TCP PORT should be 2 or 3 above that port listed.

liito-orava - Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:29 pm
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The thing is, that I only have one pc and im running on linux atm, so no Continuum for me

Smong - Mon Feb 16, 2004 5:05 pm
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Sorry about this. The ChatNet port has been changed to the same port as the server. Until this is confirmed and I release an update to the client you will have to manually edit the ports in zone.dat to that of server port - 2.

Grelminar - Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:05 am
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Oh, sorry. I probably should have told someone about that when I made that change

. I guess you figured it out anyway.

Smong - Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:33 am
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v034
set chatnet port to server port
added color to player list
updated zone.dat

Mine GO BOOM - Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:26 pm
Post subject:

Well, since it is hard for me to keep the Chatnet Protocol section up-to-date, Smong, you want to go ahead and do it?

Set you as moderator in there, so feel free to edit the protocol outline, and add links to chatnet clients, such as yours.

Jason - Tue Feb 17, 2004 5:55 pm
Post subject:

Smong, have far do you plan to go with your chatnet client? And by that I mean, are you going to continue development of it indefinitely, implementing as many new features as the server capabilities will allow? Or are you pretty much done with it?

I'm asking because I've been thinking about developing my own chatnet client for awhile now. However, I'd be doing mine just for the learning experience, so it wouldn't be anything special for quite some time. By the way, thank you very much for sending me your source. It helped me clear up a few misconceptions, and if I do start seriously working on a client, I should be able to start off on the right foot now.

Anyway, if you're going to continue working on your client, I think I'm going to say to hell with making my own client, as it would seem superfluous. I'd rather find some other way to contribute to the community. Perhaps I could start looking into Python more heavily and see if I could write an ASSS module or two. Who knows?

Cyan~Fire - Tue Feb 17, 2004 7:33 pm
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Current SSCX-A Hyperspace IP + Port:
216.34.65.183:7704

Dr Brain - Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:07 pm
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Thats SSCX-A Hyperspace. We haven't been on SSCI for a while now.

Cyan~Fire - Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:06 pm
Post subject:

Oops

Corrected.

Smong - Thu Feb 19, 2004 1:19 pm
Post subject:

@Jason
You can go ahead and make your client if you like. A bit of competition would be good and I think my client is pretty much finished.

Stuff I would like to see is:
Tabbed chat
news.txt (with server module to send it)
Secure messages (anything so a simple proxy can't just pick-up the ASCII)

As for Python, I don't know any and it would be good to see someone developing Python modules for Asss. I would also like to see a chatnet client written in C/C++, or at least something with a native binary, not Java.

Cyan~Fire - Thu Feb 19, 2004 5:56 pm
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Hmmm maybe I'll try one in C++. That is, if Jason doesn't do it in C++.

Anonymous - Thu Feb 19, 2004 6:29 pm
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what's so wrong w/ subchat oh wait you're talking ASSS chat... nm

lol...

Jason - Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:10 pm
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Go for the C++ based chatnet client, Cyan. I've got a lot to learn in that language before I'd be capable of writing my own client. Plus, I've been doing a lot of reading concerning Python so I think I'm going to head down the ASSS modules route. Maybe at some point over the summer I'll start in on a Java chatnet client, but Smong's is pretty sweet as is.

Cyan~Fire - Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:25 pm
Post subject:

Alrighty then.

Still gotta finish my project I'm working on now, though :'(.

pixelsoft - Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:33 am
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Tabbed Chat and reding news.txt in the chatnet client would be great.
or... well, here are some useless suggestions:

- seeing banners next to the name
- set the own banner
- Nick-Notify List, like...
You add 'pixelsoft' to your notify-list, and when he goes online, it says "pixelsoft is online."
- Probably the most difficult thing: the Directory-Server...

edit: btw, i still don't know how to open it

i'm just stupid.

Cyan~Fire - Fri Feb 20, 2004 5:50 pm
Post subject:

Get in command prompt. Get to the directory it's in. Type 'java -jar chatnet026.jar'.

pixelsoft - Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:14 pm
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aah thanks.. but what's the command prompt?

Oh Cyan, your avatar is so awesome.. The Dark Side Of The Moon!

i love pink floyd

Cyan~Fire - Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:52 pm
Post subject:

pixel wrote:

but what's the command prompt?

:'(. It's that little DOS window. Get to it either through (Win9x/ME) Start -> Programs -> DOS Prompt, or (Win2000/XP) Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt.

Then you'll see a DOS window. You can use cd [directory] to get in the directory of your program. For example, my chatnet is in C:\Program Files\Games\Continuum\Chatnet. So, I'd run command prompt, type 'cd "C:\Program Files\Games\Continuum\Chatnet". Then, you'll see your current path in the prompt. Then I'd type the 'java -jar chatnet026.jar'.

pixel wrote:

Oh Cyan, your avatar is so awesome.. The Dark Side Of The Moon!
i love pink floyd

liito-orava - Sun Feb 22, 2004 6:25 am
Post subject:

I'd love to see more java applications, since they can be run on any platform that supports java.

pixelsoft - Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:14 am
Post subject:

thanks cyan.
i was in the right directory(i'm 100% sure, c:\ss\apps\chatnet\chatnet, that's the folder, where files like chatnet.class, chatnet.conf etc. are), and then typed "java -jar chatnet026.jar" but it says it can't find the file...(attachment)

Smong - Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:13 am
Post subject:

If you installed the JRE correctly you should be able to double click on the .jar file and it will execute. Anyone wanting to add this to the windows files types can use this:

Quote:

"C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\bin\javaw.exe" -jar "%1" %*

(change the version numbers and install path if needed)

The '026' is the version number, so you may have to replace that with whatever version you have. The early versions weren't packaged in a .jar file so that could be why it couldn't find the file.
If you do another screen shot do 'dir/w' in the command prompt so we can see what else is in the current directory.

pixelsoft - Sun Feb 22, 2004 11:36 am
Post subject:

hi Smong, thanks for your help, but..
sorry, i can't find any *.jar-file, not in the chatnet-folder and not in /src.

where can i download the newest version?

Cyan~Fire - Sun Feb 22, 2004 12:13 pm
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http://www.sscont.net/smong/download/chatnet.zip

pixelsoft - Sun Feb 22, 2004 12:23 pm
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thank you it works fine

gj Smong!

pixelsoft - Sun Feb 29, 2004 4:35 am
Post subject:

Anonymous - Sun Feb 29, 2004 10:27 am
Post subject:

This is because I only check for the newline character at the end of the line. So if you go back and edit a spelling mistake and hit enter, not much will happen (unless the mistake was in the last word typed). Only the first line gets processed by the server anyway.

I can do two things here:
1. No change, but the chat area only updates what was sent, not what was typed.
2. Hitting enter anywhere on the line makes all present text get sent as one line only.

BTW, there is a bug in sending "team messages. The fix will be released when this new line thing gets solved.

CypherJF - Wed Mar 03, 2004 3:28 am
Post subject:

Hath saved my life. 5 stars to you

.. too bad its ASSS only :/

as my HD crashed, i had to resort to running linux off of a CD :X and so I was able to use ChatNet to talk to fellow SSC peeps through Hyperspace

yey!

Smong - Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:31 pm
Post subject:

v035
auto commands are now sent through the internal command handler (so you can do stuff like ?namelen=2 straight away)

v036
fixed sending remote freq messages

v037
fixed <return/enter> anywhere on the input line (pixelsoft)

linux screenshots:

D1st0rt - Thu Mar 04, 2004 6:12 pm
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rofl, quickening XD

Qndre - Fri May 07, 2004 5:26 pm
Post subject:

The client wrote:

Connection refused (TCP)

It's because...

Smong wrote:

It only works with Asss servers.

Why do you use TCP instead of logging in using UDP like a normal client would? Is it more complicated? Would give you the opportunity to log in @subgame2 as well!

Smong - Fri May 07, 2004 6:19 pm
Post subject:

'Chatnet' is a TCP protocol specifically for chatting in subspace without the need of a game client. Currently only asss supports the chatnet protocol. By using ASCII over TCP it is relatively easy to write a simple chat client on a variety of platforms and languages. It also saves bandwidth because only the text is sent to and from chatnet clients (as opposed to position packets).

It may be possible to make a bot that acts as a proxy for subgame servers. But I won't be making one of these.

Quote:

Connection refused (TCP)

May also be given if you are connecting to the wrong port.

Qndre - Sat May 08, 2004 6:52 am
Post subject:

Smong wrote:

'Chatnet' is a TCP protocol specifically for chatting in subspace without the need of a game client.
[..]
It also saves bandwidth because only the text is sent to and from chatnet clients (as opposed to position packets).
[..]

Quote:

Connection refused (TCP)

May also be given if you are connecting to the wrong port.

I don't think it saves bandwidth because TCP has a three-way-handshake on the hardware layer which you can't bypass. UDP on the other hand doesn't have it:

TCP handshake wrote:

C2S: Hey - I gonna send you a packet! (SYN)
S2C: That's OK! (ACK)
C2S: 'DATADATADATADATADATADATA'
C2S: Here you have a checksum! (SUM)
S2C: That's my checksum! (SUM)
C2S: Sending packet is over! (CLOSE)
S2C: OK! (ACK)
C2S: Hey - what about the next packet! (SYN)
[...] (next packet)

UDP on the other hand wrote:

C2S: 'DATADATADATADATADATADATA'
C2S: That's my Checksum! (SUM)
[...] (next packet)

Dr Brain - Sat May 08, 2004 9:25 am
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Haha. Yet again, Qndre is clueless.

If you don't mind losing data, yes, UDP is much better.

But all the packets a chat client would be dealing with are reliable SS packets. That means that TCP is about the same result for much less work.

And because you get a LOT of extra packets, you do waste bandwidth.

Mine GO BOOM - Sat May 08, 2004 10:46 am
Post subject:

Qndre: Each is for its own. TCP is good for reliable data, where speed doesn't matter. If it takes 50 ms or 500 ms for a text message to get sent, it doesn't matter. UDP is for speed, where packet order does not matter.

Mr Ekted - Sat May 08, 2004 3:36 pm
Post subject:

Dr Brain wrote:

Haha. Yet again, Qndre is clueless.

Agreed. TCP is much better for raw chat, and it uses much less bandwidth, especially in an arena with people playing. The SYN/SYN-ACK/ACK that TCP uses to connect is nothing compared to all the shit the SS protocol needs to "connect".

Qndre - Sun May 09, 2004 10:26 am
Post subject:

Mine GO BOOM wrote:

Yes. I for my part don't like TCP very much because it does things, which are done by the hardware and cannot be controlled by my software (like the handshake, etc.)! In UDP there is only header (address, port) and a checksum done at the hardware level. That's why I (for my part) prefer using UDP in network applications. If I need reliability, I can write it at the software level so no need to use hardware-made reliability. But that's just my opinion.

Dr Brain wrote:

And because you get a LOT of extra packets, you do waste bandwidth.

Yes... you're right! There are position-packets checksum-packets keepalive-packets, ...

Mr Ekted wrote:

TCP is much better for raw chat, and it uses much less bandwidth, especially in an arena with people playing.

Right. If you use UDP, you also get the other player's position, etc.!
_
_
As usual, you thought further than I did. So Smong! Congratulations! If you only want an ASSS client (and don't want to use it at subgame2), using TCP is a good idea.

Cyan~Fire - Sun May 09, 2004 11:37 am
Post subject:

Qndre wrote:

Right. If you use UDP, you also get the other player's position, etc.! [...] If you only want an ASSS client (and don't want to use it at subgame2), using TCP is a good idea.

This is a chat only client. Why wiould you want position packets?

Mine GO BOOM - Sun May 09, 2004 3:42 pm
Post subject:

Cyan~Fire wrote:

This is a chat only client. Why wiould you want position packets?

I think he is trying to get a job to continue working on Winamp 3. I'm waiting for him to add a CD/MP3/MP4 player into his client.

Smong - Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:54 am
Post subject:

I fixed the broken images/links in this thread. The problem with attaching here is I'm not sure what the forum does if two people upload with the same filename (don't want people using old versions).

Anyway, I've written an experimental linux zone list downloader in C. It should be useful for linux chatnet users when stats.tw.org is down.
http://toktok.sscentral.com/files/lick.zip

Anonymous - Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:16 am
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hm...unfortunately I can't download it because it is blocked from here

anyway you could mirror it?

Mine GO BOOM - Fri Jun 11, 2004 3:19 pm
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Anonymous wrote:

hm...unfortunately I can't download it because it is blocked from here :( anyway you could mirror it?

Which file?

Smong - Sun Jun 13, 2004 4:37 pm
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Try this maybe:
http://www.subspacedownloads.com/index.php?act=file&fid=1050

Anonymous - Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:20 am
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v039
fixed ?go bug (like ?godmode)
fixed no route to host exception
changed case of some files for java 1.5 compatibility

A new release since some people say it won't open properly (java 1.5 suspected). I changed some of the directory/filename case, report back if it still doesn't work.

Anonymous - Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:29 pm
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actually, it's sun java 1.4.2 that refused to work with chatnet37 on my side.. something about corrupt tarfiles, it said

EdTheInvincible - Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:30 pm
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^^last post by me.. i always forget to log in

Smong - Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:43 pm
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Yes you are correct. The windows side was messed up, it was not a 1.5 specific problem. I think the problem lies with the file manager I use in linux, it must be converting completely upper case directory and file names to lower case - I remade the jar file on windows later on using winzip.

D1st0rt - Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:33 am
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I always had my own build of chatnet