Development Blog
A ThinClient TaleDecember 14, 2009, 01:46:40 PM by NushioMost of you have heard of the fabled "ThinClient", but I don't think half of you understand what it is or what it does.
The purpose of this is to attempt to explain its process in layman's terms.
First, a bit of history, as in, the "Why".
PokeNet (formerly known as PokeGlobal) used to use a Java Web Start file to manage its updates.
While that all worked well for updating the game, it also meant that regardless of how small or big a change we wanted to make, every single player would have to download the whole game every time we pushed an update.
We're talking about 30-50MB of data.
This made the process painfully slow for us (We had to upload a *lot* of different files, signed with our keys), and for you (As you had to download everything again, even if only 1 tiny text file was changed).
With that problem in mind, I proceeded to create what's known as the ThinClient. But first, I had to modify the way the Game Client loaded everything. Before this, we packaged a 30-50MB file with every single resource on it. After, we hand out a ~300KB file, and some resources and some libraries, each independent of each other.
With that out, I proceeded to create the ThinClient.
The ThinClient is supposed to be an "OS-Agnostic" way to Install or Update your game easily. This means that it should work on Linux, MacOSX and Windows, though at the time of this writing, only Windows and Linux are supported.
Instead of downloading all 50MB of images, sounds and code every time we update, we just have you update the one or ten things that we've changed. We proceed to verify that you do have the newest files, and finally, we load the game.
Installing and Updating is done now (With some quirks here and there), but Game Loading wasn't working for entirely technical reasons. The Game didn't know where the resources are located.
As of this moment, I'm rewriting the GameClient code to find the files. And after that, it's on.
ThinClient is coming.5 comments | Write Comment 5 hour struggle!December 12, 2009, 12:24:53 PM by SienideI've got good news to all those who suffer from bugged Pokemon, like to host customized private PokeNet servers or help develop PokeNet!
I just spent 5 hours merging the ShoddyBattle databases, Pokemon Online Revolution database and item dropping database into one giant xml file known as 'pokedex.xml'. This means not only will it be easier to edit Pokemon information but it will also fix up the contradictions between the ShoddyBattle databases and the POLR databases. Now everyone will have nice bug-free Pokemon!
You'll also be glad to hear that the information in the database is now fully up-to-date with Pokemon Platinum Version.3 comments | Write Comment Recent map and Pokemon additions and some interesting facts.December 09, 2009, 08:27:12 AM by DrawigHello players of PN,
I bet you are wondering how far Kanto is? Everything from Pallet Town to Mt. Moon and the Pokemon League is done. The next step is to add Route 4 and Cerulean City.
What new Pokemon await us in VV so far?
So far we have following new Pokemon:
Staryu, Corsola, Chinchou, Rhyhorn, Diglett, Pikachu, Marowak, Shellder and their evos.
And here are some interesting facts:
Catch an Arbok at level 10 on Route 3! Catch a Sandslash at level 10 inside Mt. Moon!
That's it so far. Stay tuned.
A ThinClient TaleDecember 14, 2009, 01:46:40 PM by NushioMost of you have heard of the fabled "ThinClient", but I don't think half of you understand what it is or what it does.
The purpose of this is to attempt to explain its process in layman's terms.
First, a bit of history, as in, the "Why".
PokeNet (formerly known as PokeGlobal) used to use a Java Web Start file to manage its updates.
While that all worked well for updating the game, it also meant that regardless of how small or big a change we wanted to make, every single player would have to download the whole game every time we pushed an update.
We're talking about 30-50MB of data.
This made the process painfully slow for us (We had to upload a *lot* of different files, signed with our keys), and for you (As you had to download everything again, even if only 1 tiny text file was changed).
With that problem in mind, I proceeded to create what's known as the ThinClient. But first, I had to modify the way the Game Client loaded everything. Before this, we packaged a 30-50MB file with every single resource on it. After, we hand out a ~300KB file, and some resources and some libraries, each independent of each other.
With that out, I proceeded to create the ThinClient.
The ThinClient is supposed to be an "OS-Agnostic" way to Install or Update your game easily. This means that it should work on Linux, MacOSX and Windows, though at the time of this writing, only Windows and Linux are supported.
Instead of downloading all 50MB of images, sounds and code every time we update, we just have you update the one or ten things that we've changed. We proceed to verify that you do have the newest files, and finally, we load the game.
Installing and Updating is done now (With some quirks here and there), but Game Loading wasn't working for entirely technical reasons. The Game didn't know where the resources are located.
As of this moment, I'm rewriting the GameClient code to find the files. And after that, it's on.
ThinClient is coming.5 comments | Write Comment 5 hour struggle!December 12, 2009, 12:24:53 PM by SienideI've got good news to all those who suffer from bugged Pokemon, like to host customized private PokeNet servers or help develop PokeNet!
I just spent 5 hours merging the ShoddyBattle databases, Pokemon Online Revolution database and item dropping database into one giant xml file known as 'pokedex.xml'. This means not only will it be easier to edit Pokemon information but it will also fix up the contradictions between the ShoddyBattle databases and the POLR databases. Now everyone will have nice bug-free Pokemon!
You'll also be glad to hear that the information in the database is now fully up-to-date with Pokemon Platinum Version.3 comments | Write Comment Recent map and Pokemon additions and some interesting facts.December 09, 2009, 08:27:12 AM by DrawigHello players of PN,
I bet you are wondering how far Kanto is? Everything from Pallet Town to Mt. Moon and the Pokemon League is done. The next step is to add Route 4 and Cerulean City.
What new Pokemon await us in VV so far?
So far we have following new Pokemon:
Staryu, Corsola, Chinchou, Rhyhorn, Diglett, Pikachu, Marowak, Shellder and their evos.
And here are some interesting facts:
Catch an Arbok at level 10 on Route 3! Catch a Sandslash at level 10 inside Mt. Moon!
That's it so far. Stay tuned.
