Ace of Spades
PySnip Linux Setup
This is just a small guide on how to setup PySnip on Linux. If you want to set it up on Windows, there is already a featured server here.
This guide assumes basic experience with a terminal and your distro’s package manager.
Since Ubuntu seems to be the most common distro, I’ll provide instructions that use apt-get. If you use a different distro/manager, please refer to your package-manager documentation for the appropriate commands.
First, install the dependencies:
sudo apt-get install python2.7 python2.7-dev python-setuptools python-twisted mercurial gcc g++ zope.interface sudo python -m easy_install cython sudo python -m easy_install pil sudo python -m easy_install jinja2
Next, you can install screen if you’d like:
sudo apt-get install screen
Another optional feature is pygeoip, which will allow you to use the /from command, showing you where individual players are located geographically.
Next you need to either clone the repository using Mercurial.
hg clone https://code.google.com/p/pysnip/ cd pysnip sh build.sh
If you don’t want to clone the repo, you can download an up-to-date zipped archive of the source here. Just download and extract as normal.
Next you need to edit the configuration:
cd feature_server nano config.txt
Make sure you change your admin password from the default one.
Finally, run the server:
sh run_server.sh
Or if you are using screen:
screen sh run_server.sh
For help, please refer to the Google Code page or visit the Build and Shoot forums.
Build and Shoot, PySnip, and More
Only a tad bit late on this one. Figured I’d post about it though.
Build and Shoot
In light of Jagex pushing out Ace of Spades 1.0 and abandoning 0.x, danheeze, izzy, and myself have decided to make a new community called Build and Shoot. We’re aiming at giving the Voxlap version of Ace of Spades a solid home. So far things have turned out quite well.
Master Server
The other week, I reverse-engineered and re-implemented the master server. That means game servers can connect to our master server to be listed on our serverlist. It also means that we are completely independent of Jagex, which is always a plus. At the time of writing this, we have over 60 servers using our master server.
Since the protocol is exactly the same, server owners don’t have much to do in order to use our master server. To see how to use our master server, please view this thread.
Currently, it supports 0.75. We will likely be adding support for 0.76 RC10 as well later on.
PySnip
Along with everything that has been going on, pyspades has been made closed-source. I have put together a forked version, dubbed “PySnip”. It’s been slightly modified in some areas and is designed to work with our master server. All maps except for random and classicgen have been removed to slim the download size down. All the previous maps can still be downloaded here.
Jagex’s master server has been down for quite some time now and I’m not sure if it’s going to come back. If they do put it back online, I might add the ability to connect to multiple master servers by declaring them in the configuration file like so:
"master_servers" : {
"enabled" : true,
"hosts" : {
"184.172.204.137" : 32886,
"199.195.254.202" : 32886
}
},
More information here: https://code.google.com/p/pysnip/
If you would like to join Build and Shoot and play Ace of Spades Voxlap, please visit http://buildandshoot.com.
Spadille 1.5 – Fashionably Late
Wanna know something that makes you feel like a dead-beat?
Feels bad, man. It’s been far too long since the last Spadille update. Let’s change that. This update is long overdue and hopefully the amount of changes/new features will help compensate for it.
Game Updater
One of the most requested additions has been a game updater. Recent versions of Spadille have shown that a new version was available, but only served as a link to the Ace of Spades homepage. Now updates can be downloaded from within Spadille.
Game Settings + Keybinding
Ace of Spades 0.60 Beta added configurable controls via (rather arcane) scancodes. This utility will make changing controls much easier. Simply find the game action you want to change, and select a key from the drop-down list. Some of the key names may seem a bit cryptic, but every possible key is on there.
A standalone version of the this utility can be found here.
Screenshots
The screenshot functionality got a pretty big overhaul. The screenshot mechanism was re-written from scratch for better reliability. Users reported slow load times when dealing with large quantities (250+) of screenshots. Screenshots are now cached to reduce memory allocation as well as increase load times (not to mention better multi-threading). Last but not least is screenshot uploading. With a single click, you can upload screenshots to Imgur for easy sharing.
Download Spadille 1.5
Complete Change Log
- Filters are now tri-state (neutral, enforce, ignore)
– Added support for third-part game modes (TDM, TOW, 1CTF, R1CTF, Kraken, Babel, Arena, IRPG, IPower)
– Added searching by map name
– Added searching by country
– Added key mapping to game settings
– Added JSON support
– Updated GeoIP database
– Fixed some obscure country names
– Updated game settings for 0.75
– Server browser redesigned
– Removed in-game name dropdown
– Improved memory management
– Added game mode column
– Added map name column
– Updated serverlist parsing
– Added support for server ports
– Removed connect dialog from localhost connect
– Joined servers are now immediately appended to recent listing
– Fixed bug with software/favorites column not remaining sorted
– Added search delay
– Added option to remove borders from screenshots
– IRC link opens Quakenet webchat if IRC client is not found
– Added search character limit
– Local pings can now be preserved between refreshes
– Improved search (multiple word splits)
– Removed clan prefix option
– Made country flags optional
– Fixed possible infinite recursion bug with Pyspades serverlist updating
– Attempting to join multiple games now kills first instance (optional)
– LOTS of refactoring
– Added global blacklist integration
– Added proper in-game name truncating
– Update downloading is now asynchronous
– Update downloading can now be cancelled
– Added proper error handling for failed update download
– Fixed bug when toggled columns are cut off on right
– IP column is now hidden by default
– Added country column/removed country flag from IP column
– Added checking for local server when attempting to connect to localhost
– Fixed bug with dialogs not remembering “do not show again” when cancelled
– Implemented screenshot cache
– Added more functionality to tray menu
– Added proper AoS installation checking
– Added feedback form
– Completely redesigned mod manager/added more functionality
– Mod manager now loadtime dispersed
– Added server logging options
– Removed filter counts
– Added option for HTML encoding/decoding
– Added server language options
– Added client language options
– Completely redesigned map manager/added more functionality
– Fixed bug with inproper map save filename format
– Fixed bug with saving corrupt maps
– Added quick match button
– Redesigned about dialog/updated credits
– Made hit indicator disabling dynamic
– Added support for float-based mouse sensitivity
– Added new “first run” dialog
– Column sort direction is now consistent between runtimes
– Fixed bug with non-fixed ping strength indicators
– Added menu option to refresh individual server data
– Added option to join server on middle-click
– Sever URLs are now case-insensitive
– Added icon for vanilla servers
– Added direct connect button to main window
– Ping strength indicators are now color-coded
– Updating pings now only applies to visible servers in list
– Redesigned converter
– Added automatic refreshing disabling after set number of failed attempts
– Added error reporting
– Added option to clear error log
– Adding automatic detection for new game install
– In-game name checking is now dynamic
– Game version checking is now dynamic
– Error log viewer is now dynamic
– Missing GeoIP database now prevents further execution
– Added option to upload error log to Pastebin.com
– DDFontMake now included with installer
– Added create new map option in map manager
– Added option to periodically sync with global blacklist when hosting server
– Rewrote PrtScr hooking mechanism
– Added server counts in tabs
– Added option to backup mods
– Automatic refresh is now only disabled if server connection is successful
– Added option to close to system tray
– Removed deprecated Deuce name check
– Only successful joins are added to history
– Spadille now overrides “server full or misconfigured” error/offers retry option
– Added image uploading/online library to screenshot manager
– Improved game version detection reliability
– Added option to launch Spadille on system startup
– Added option to format title of Ace of Spades client
– Added drop-down list to direct connect for recent connection
– Added game updater
– Added support for direct connect using server URL without prepending aos://
Ace of Spades Key Mapper
Recently there have been a lot of people asking how to map controls in Ace of Spades. For those who don’t know, Ace of Spades allows controls to be configured via scan codes by editing the controls.ini file located in the installation directory. Within the file, there is a URL that links to a scan code chart. For the most part, this chart will suffice, until you realize that Ace of Spades uses DirectInput scan codes, which can differ from those on the chart.
An example of the controls.ini scancode format:
move_forward = 0x11
move_backward = 0x1F
move_left = 0x1E
move_right = 0x20
To help alleviate the problems people were having and to make things easier (and to satisfy my laziness), I threw together a key mapper. This was originally part of Spadille 1.5, which while writing this has yet to be released as I’m waiting for Ace of Spades 0.75 Beta to move out of RC, but I figured a standalone version will do for the time being.
To use it, just start the program and locate your controls.ini file. It’s designed to work with any version of Ace of Spades.
If you find any problems, you can either comment on here or on this forum thread. A response through the forums will likely be faster.
The program can be downloaded on the Projects page.
Spadille 1.4.9 – Ready for Ace of Spades 0.60 Beta
It hasn’t been long since the last update, but since than Ace of Spades 0.60 Beta has been released with some new file formats and a bunch of cool new features.
I was hoping to add more stuff in this release, but kind of had to push it out due to the amount of messages I’ve received about bugs with 1.4.8 because of new INI formats and lack of support for new 0.60 features such as windowed mode and mouse sensitivity.
Download: http://nateshoffner.com/projects/spadille/
Change Log:
- Fixed bug with incorrect installed version format
- LocalHost and external IP are regarded as the same server on join
- Attempting to open duplicate server console brings current one to focus
- Added support for new KV6/WAV files for 0.60 in mod manager
- Increased screenshot capture speed
- Fixed bug with screenshot collisions
- Fixed bug with multiple columns trying to fill to right
- Added option to show server name in title of windowed mode
- Ping filter now associated with filtering method
- Added option to toggle ping strength indicators
- Extendened screenshot funcationailty to windowed mode
- Added option for mouse sensitivity in general game settings
- Added option for windowed mode in general game settings
- Redesigned config editor/changed to general game settings
- Redesigned Spadille settings dialog
- Fixed missing mod manager buttons
- Fixed bug with mass ping update requiring two attempts
- Re-added URL column (hidden by default)
@NateShoffner
Recent Posts
- A Well-Deserved Apology March 2, 2013
- C# – Reusable Portable Application Settings January 24, 2013
- Aaron Swartz – Making Progress Without Being Demanded January 12, 2013
- C# INI Reader/Writer January 2, 2013
- PySnip Linux Setup December 22, 2012