FlashQuake Demo Player + SDA = idea

2009-12-08 07:29:16 am

I'm posting for Stubgaard or whoever as an idea.

I've been playing around with the FlashQuake engine (Play it now in Flash) made by Michael Rennie and have created detailed compiling instructions for it (instructions). And I've played with the source and made a couple of derivative packages like X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse (play it)

It stores the pak0.pak of shareware Quake within the quakeflash.swf itself:

Code:

		private function init(e:Event = null):void 
		{
			removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
			// entry point

			_sound = new Sound();
			_sound.addEventListener( SampleDataEvent.SAMPLE_DATA, sampleDataHandler );
			//_soundBuffer = new ByteArray;
			
			//init swc
			_loader = new CLibInit;
			_swc = _loader.init();
			
			//If we havent already got a config.cfg saved in the SharedObjects, then we load the embedded one.
			//This will override some default controls from default.cfg inside the pak file, which 99% of users will change. 
			//(WASD keys, as well as Always Run).
			fileSupplyDefaultEmbedded("./id1/config.cfg", EmbeddedDefaultConfig);
			
			var pakFile:ByteArray = new EmbeddedPak;
			_loader.supplyFile("./id1/pak0.pak", pakFile);
			_swcRam = _swc.swcInit(this);

			stage.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onFrame);
			stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, onKeyDown);
			stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, onKeyUp);
			stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, onMouseDown);
			stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, onMouseUp);
		}

Seems to me that if the FlashQuake ActionScript 3 stuff were modified to use files in the directory on the server instead of embedded in the Flash itself, an SDA demo viewer could be made.

Something like speeddemosarchive.com/flashquake_demoviewer?name=/quake/demos/ER/bliz_031.dz&map=/quake/maps/blitz_1000.bsp

Or something that effect.

The caveats would be:

1. The FlashQuake would need to have all the registered Quake models and sounds (but no maps at all) in the embedded pak0.pak, obviously. Possibly not legal but this gets into the gray area of whether or not a media viewer is or isn't fair use.

2. Obviously the FlashQuake engine should be modified to solely play demos and rip out the ability to play Quake. So it would be a pure demo viewer.

3. The ActionScript 3.0 would need to be modified to find the file out of the URL and download it.

But the theoretical final product would be a web-based Flash Player / demo browser of SDA's Quake demos.

I'm not familiar with Flash or ActionScript so I'm not sure of the modifications required or how to do them, but I'm just giving you the idea because obviously you have some talented people here and maybe even some that would know how to do this.

Baker
http://www.quakeone.com

Thread title:

I'm posting for Stubgaard or whoever as an idea.

I've been playing around with the FlashQuake engine ([url=http://www.silvergames.com/game/quake-flash/]Play it now in Flash[/url]) made by Michael Rennie and have created detailed compiling instructions for it ([url=http://www.silvergames.com/game/quake-flash/]instructions[/url]).  And I've played with the source and made a couple of derivative packages like X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse ([url=http://www.quake-1.com/docs/flashquake/XMenRavages.swf]play it[/url])

It stores the pak0.pak of shareware Quake within the quakeflash.swf itself:

[code]		private function init(e:Event = null):void 
		{
			removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
			// entry point

_sound = new Sound();
			_sound.addEventListener( SampleDataEvent.SAMPLE_DATA, sampleDataHandler );
			//_soundBuffer = new ByteArray;
			
			//init swc
			_loader = new CLibInit;
			_swc = _loader.init();
			
			//If we havent already got a config.cfg saved in the SharedObjects, then we load the embedded one.
			//This will override some default controls from default.cfg inside the pak file, which 99% of users will change. 
			//(WASD keys, as well as Always Run).
			fileSupplyDefaultEmbedded("./id1/config.cfg", EmbeddedDefaultConfig);
			
			var pakFile:ByteArray = new EmbeddedPak;
			_loader.supplyFile("./id1/pak0.pak", pakFile);
			_swcRam = _swc.swcInit(this);

stage.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onFrame);
			stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, onKeyDown);
			stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, onKeyUp);
			stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, onMouseDown);
			stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, onMouseUp);
		}[/code]

Seems to me that if the FlashQuake ActionScript 3 stuff were modified to use files in the directory on the server instead of embedded in the Flash itself, an SDA demo viewer could be made.

Something like speeddemosarchive.com/flashquake_demoviewer?name=/quake/demos/ER/bliz_031.dz&map=/quake/maps/blitz_1000.bsp

Or something that effect.

The caveats would be:

1. The FlashQuake would need to have all the registered Quake models and sounds (but no maps at all) in the embedded pak0.pak, obviously.  Possibly not legal but this gets into the gray area of whether or not a media viewer is or isn't fair use.

2. Obviously the FlashQuake engine should be modified to solely play demos and rip out the ability to play Quake.  So it would be a pure demo viewer.

3. The ActionScript 3.0 would need to be modified to find the file out of the URL and download it.

But the theoretical final product would be a web-based Flash Player / demo browser of SDA's Quake demos.

I'm not familiar with Flash or ActionScript so I'm not sure of the modifications required or how to do them, but I'm just giving you the idea because obviously you have some talented people here and maybe even some that would know how to do this.

Baker
http://www.quakeone.com

Lag.Com

2009-12-08 10:42:33 am

sda loyalist

Hmm, it's a good idea. I just tried downloading the zillion prerequisites but Alchemy just doesn't want to work, so I can't compile it (or the samples). I'm sure I'd be able to figure out modifying it, if somebody else can compile.

Baker5

2009-12-08 10:52:08 am

Quote from lag:

Hmm, it's a good idea. I just tried downloading the zillion prerequisites but Alchemy just doesn't want to work, so I can't compile it (or the samples). I'm sure I'd be able to figure out modifying it, if somebody else can compile.

Quote from lag:

Hmm, it's a good idea. I just tried downloading the zillion prerequisites but Alchemy just doesn't want to work, so I can't compile it (or the samples). I'm sure I'd be able to figure out modifying it, if somebody else can compile.

I'll see if I can do something to make it a hell of a lot easier in the coming days.

It is rather painful to get setup initially, particularly on Windows with Cygwin. On OS X, it took like 30 minutes.

I have some ideas to make this easy.

lolfu

2009-12-08 11:55:52 am

genius idea, go for it!

Baker5

2009-12-10 01:15:56 pm

Some derivative info from a tip from the FlashQuake developer:

I guess supposedly some code like this would enable a FlashQuake-based engine to get a demo from an external URL:

Code example obtained from:
http://www.adobe.com/livedocs/flex/3/langref/flash/net/URLRequest.html

However, I am quite Flash-retarded and don't know exactly how the mechanics of this works or how it could be integrated in the code in the first post.

Code:

var myURLReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
myURLReq.url = "http://yourdomain/users/jdoe/test01/_rsc/Automated/AssetCaching_rsc/test01/rsl.swz";
myURLReq.digest = "3B0AA28C7A990385E044D80F5637FB036317BB41E044D80F5637FB036317BB41";
var myURLLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
myURLLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.BINARY;
myURLLoader.addEventListener("complete", onC);

myURLLoad.load(myURLReq);

function onC(e) {
    var someLoader:Loader = new Loader();
    addChild(someLoader);
    someLoader.loadBytes((ByteArray)(myURLLoad.data));
}

But the point is that this is completely possible.

Some derivative info from a tip from the FlashQuake developer:

I guess supposedly some code like this would enable a FlashQuake-based engine to get a demo from an external URL:

Code example obtained from: 
http://www.adobe.com/livedocs/flex/3/langref/flash/net/URLRequest.html

However, I am quite Flash-retarded and don't know exactly how the mechanics of this works or how it could be integrated in the code in the first post.

[code]var myURLReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
myURLReq.url = "http://yourdomain/users/jdoe/test01/_rsc/Automated/AssetCaching_rsc/test01/rsl.swz";
myURLReq.digest = "3B0AA28C7A990385E044D80F5637FB036317BB41E044D80F5637FB036317BB41";
var myURLLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
myURLLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.BINARY;
myURLLoader.addEventListener("complete", onC);

myURLLoad.load(myURLReq);

function onC(e) {
    var someLoader:Loader = new Loader();
    addChild(someLoader);
    someLoader.loadBytes((ByteArray)(myURLLoad.data));
}[/code]

But the point is that this is completely possible.

dex

2009-12-11 01:07:13 pm

Invisible avatar

Admittedly it (the FlashQuake on Quaddicted) is rather slow for me (though maybe that's just something on my end), but as far as the 'demoviewer' idea goes, it's definitely and surely worth toying with. I'll see if I can make everything regarding compilation work out fine today or tomorrow if I don't find the time.

Baker5

2009-12-11 03:32:52 pm

Quote from dex:

Admittedly it (the FlashQuake on Quaddicted) is rather slow for me (though maybe that's just something on my end), but as far as the 'demoviewer' idea goes, it's definitely and surely worth toying with. I'll see if I can make everything regarding compilation work out fine today or tomorrow if I don't find the time.

Just remember ... a dedicated demo player doesn't need any maps in it.

That's a large reason why it is slow. It comes with start, e1m1, e1m2, e1m3, e1m4, e1m5, e1m6, e1m7, e1m8 embedded in it.

A standalone Flash demo player would load far faster.

dex

2009-12-12 09:26:32 am

Invisible avatar

I don't mean loading, I mean the actual gameplay (sounds are minimally delayed and framerate is low).

honorableJay

2010-01-01 11:26:33 am

The Dork Knight himself.

Definitely an interesting idea, but as a viewer, here are a few of the things I'd like (btw, I have no idea if this will look like the quake flash player you linked to or not)

The window size is way too small. Unless someone is using a resolution of 1024x768 or lower then it'll be hard to see much.
If possible, try to load up GLQuake instead of the software renderer. I know I'm nitpicking, but the pixelated look is so 90's Smiley

The lagged sound will most likely have to be fixed. I'm not sure if it's just a bad setting in the cfg files that load, or if it's just Flash adding in processing lag, but my sounds are lagged about a second behind the video. Unlike Dex, I'm getting very good framerates (somewhere around 100-120). I was going to test snd_mixahead but apparently there is no command like that in the flash Quake.
Another maybe aspect would be an option to go fullscreen to watch a playlist of demos. Let the user choose a bunch of options and have it setup a demo loop an go fullscreen at the click of a button (this also assumes that going fullscreen is an option).

Definitely an interesting idea, but as a viewer, here are a few of the things I'd like (btw, I have no idea if this will look like the quake flash player you linked to or not)

The window size is way too small. Unless someone is using a resolution of 1024x768 or lower then it'll be hard to see much. 
If possible, try to load up GLQuake instead of the software renderer. I know I'm nitpicking, but the pixelated look is so 90's :)
The lagged sound will most likely have to be fixed. I'm not sure if it's just a bad setting in the cfg files that load, or if it's just Flash adding in processing lag, but my sounds are lagged about a second behind the video. Unlike Dex, I'm getting very good framerates (somewhere around 100-120). I was going to test snd_mixahead but apparently there is no command like that in the flash Quake.
Another maybe aspect would be an option to go fullscreen to watch a playlist of demos. Let the user choose a bunch of options and have it setup a demo loop an go fullscreen at the click of a button (this also assumes that going fullscreen is an option).