Technologies to Add: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:20, 19 July 2021

This is a list of web game technologies that we hope to support in the future. If you'd like to help us add one of these technologies to Flashpoint, please join the #plugin-chat channel in our Discord.

Please add new technologies in alphanumeric order.

Here are some places to find more technologies to add to Flashpoint:

For plugins which have been successfully added to Flashpoint, see Technologies to Add/Added Technologies.

Unsorted

Technologies to be researched and then given dedicated sections.

Logo	Name	Links	Formats
	3DMLW	3dmlw.com	.3dmlw
	ActiveVRML
	Animated Widgets	https://web.archive.org/web/19961107040704/http://www.progtools.com/animplug.html
	Astound Web Player	golddisk.com astoundinc.com https://www.heartlight.org/worshipslides/index.html http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/oldconfer/html/pbl/cr.html	.asn
	buro Zicht
	CambridgeSoft ChemDraw	cambridgesoft.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChemDraw	.cdx
	DevalVR	devalvr.com https://web.archive.org/web/20080316030329/http://www.devalvr.com/	.dvl
	EMBLAZE
	GLView	home.snafu.de/~hg/	.wrl .3dv
	HyperStudio	hyperstudio.com http://web.archive.org/web/20001117175800/http://hyperstudio.com/resource/hsplugin/samples.html	.stk(?)
File:Hyperwave logo.png	Hyperwave
File:MBed logo.gif	mBed
	mPire	mfactory.com	.mpl
	NoteWorthy Composer	noteworthysoftware.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoteWorthy_Composer	.nwc
	Pixound
	TurnTool	turntool.com	.tnt
File:VHSB logo.png	VHSB	http://web.archive.org/web/19970616135450/http://www.paragraph.com/vhsb/mhsv/download/	.wrl .mus
	VReam	https://archive.org/details/moving-worlds	.vre .vrw
	Winds3D	awingsoft.com	.exe

Atomic 3D / Neutron Viewer

Downloads

Download page (archived)
Different versions

Examples

Lost 3D model of a nuclear power plant

Castle Game Engine Web Plugin

GitHub page

Downloads

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/442282445098844177/712673109303623760/cge_3d_viewer.7z Prebuilt binary and example]

Examples

The download in Downloads contains an example.

Problems Encountered

Can't find C:\Program on PATH.

Exception "Exception":

windres failed, cannot create Windows resource

Further notes

No precompiled builds are available yet. As such, you may have to download any of the following files to compile the plugin:

Lazarus (it may be best to download the version with the highest version number)
Free Pascal (included with Lazarus, but linked to separately just in case)
Castle Game Engine

Chime

Wikipedia article

Downloads

Installer and demos

Examples

The installer page links to demos.

Problems Encountered

Crashes a majority of the time. The Basilisk and Flashpoint cache must be cleared.

Flatland Rover

Downloads

Examples

FreeHand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_FreeHand (please note the article makes no mention of the plugin, but it appears to arise from that)

Also called Shockwave Graphics Player, or, like the other Shockwave plugins, just Shockwave.

Downloads

DLL

Examples

All the sites with the icon here. Please note you have to click on the categories. These examples have been saved:

- https://web.archive.org/web/19970727140308/http://www.inlink.com/~terryl/fairgounds.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/19990209093802/http://www.woodmagazine.com/cusserv/shockwave/horsehok.html

Problems Encountered

Sometimes throws this error:

All three buttons make the plugin stop working.

Google Native Client

Downloads

Slimjet 10, Used by oshaboy for testing
GCC and Clang toolchains for Google Native Client (should be useful because some NaCl have been lost in binary form but still exist in source code form)

Examples

Bomberclone
Bastion Demo (some assets are lost)
SuperTux
Doom

Problems Encountered

"[6708:11872:0517/190417:ERROR:nacl_process_host.cc(215)] DuplicateHandle() failed" on Chromium 40
.nexe ~~and .pexe~~ files get downloaded by the browser, but don't start.
~~Slimjet 10 can't see the PNaCl compiler plugin when running through a proxy. (See chrome://components)~~ (That was because the compiler was not in the user folder)

Grail

Wikipedia page

Downloads

SourceForge

Examples

Official demos

Problems Encountered

~~"TclError: Can't find a usable init.tcl in the following directories:" error when trying to run Grail~~ Solved.
"An exception occurred during applet loading : exceptions.TypeError: compile, argument 1: expected string without null bytes, string found" error on all official Grail demo applets, except for Clocks, Play A Sound File, Demos Similar to Common Java Demos, Show Grail's Applet Exception Handling, Calendar and A Little Joke. Grail can't decrypt gzipped HTTP packets.
"An error occurred in a callback function : audiodev.error : no audio device" error if trying to play a sound in Play A Sound File. It's possible the audio files don't exist where they originally existed.

Notes

Old versions of Python and Tcl/Tk are required. These may work:

Python 1.5.2
Old version of Tcl/Tk
All-in-one packages: Grail.7z, Grail but More Portable

HTML+TIME / XHTML+SMIL

Wikipedia page

About

HTML+TIME (Timed Interactive Multimedia Extensions) was a proposal by Microsoft for including animation and interactivity in HTML.

Downloads

No independent download, added to Internet Explorer in IE 5.5 and removed in IE 9. X-UA-Compatible does not appear to work

DLLs from Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6 are installable: mstime.dll for time2, datime.dll for time
IE11 on Windows 10 with DLLs installed and registry entry seems to have issues with transparency.
IE6 via Utilu on Windows 10 bolds some stuff weirdly.
Ad demos are apparently older HTML+TIME syntax and only seem to run on IE5.5. Can datime.dll be unblocked on Win10 and syntax added to ensure its inclusion into the page? How large would a rewrite into XHTML+SMIL be?

Examples

Registry entry

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Default Behaviors]

# C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VGX\vgx.dll
"VML"="CLSID:10072CEC-8CC1-11D1-986E-00A0C955B42E"

# C:\Windows\system32\datime.dll
"TIME"="CLSID:476c391c-3e0d-11d2-b948-00c04fa32195"

# C:\Windows\system32\mstime.dll
"TIME2"="CLSID:17237A20-3ADB-48ec-B182-35291F115790"

# ???
"ANIM"="CLSID:B1549E58-3894-11D2-BB7F-00A0C999C4C1"
"DA"="CLSID:B1549E58-3894-11D2-BB7F-00A0C999C4C1"

igLoader

Website (archived)
myGamer article

Downloads

Installer (archived)

Examples

Platypus (archived)
Tennis Elbow 2006
Webbed (archived)
Bubble Blitz (archived)
Official showcase (archived)

MrSID

Wikipedia article

About

An image compression plugin mainly used for orthophotos.

Downloads

Window on the UK, Window on the Universe (Volumes 1 & 2) and the plugin installer

O3D

Wikipedia article

About

A proposal by Google for a standard 3D API for the Web. WebGL supplanted it. Google eventually wrote a WebGL version of O3D, but conversion is not automatic and the Beach demo was not converted

Downloads

There are no known found trustworthy downloads, although source code exists. https://www.zhaodll.co/n/20130417/158957.html has been tested and works, but the website is sketchy.

Examples

Sample packs

Opal Player Plugin

Product info page (archived)

About

Appears to be for interactives. Potentially doesn't support Vista.

Downloads

cal.com (archived, doesn't work, FTP)
opal.pascocountyfl.net (archived)

Examples

Bowie example (archived)
opal.pascocountyfl.net (archived)

Panda3D Plugin

About

Wikipedia article

Downloads

Examples

Open directory
Pac-Bat (tested and working on 2019-07-21)
Dice in a Stone Box
A3P - Acquire, Attack, Asplode, Pwn! (tries to install Python and crashes)

Problems

There is a huge number of runtime components that are downloaded and installed on demand. They are listed

here, and are available from this open directory. (backed up at Flashfreeze)

Pipelight

About

Unlike the other technologies on this list, this is not a distinct software platform. Instead, it is a browser plugin that allows Windows-only NPAPI plugins to run on Linux.

See here for more information.

QuickTime VR

About

Wikipedia page

Downloads

Examples

Panorama of Lake Louise Boathouse nr1
Cabinets & Pods
Rewind example
Babylon 5 example (archived)
Another Babylon 5 example (archived)
Yet another Babylon 5 example (archived)

Problems Encountered

Uses the Windows system directory and is not portable.

Notes

The latest version available on apple.com requires Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Service Pack 1 MFC.
Both Apple Application Support and QuickTime are required. Registry entries point to their locations.
Registry files: apple.reg, quicktime.reg
Not all data in quicktime.reg is likely needed.
In Flashpoint, Basilisk is currently configured to disable QuickTime by default to avoid conflicts.
Some of the npqtplugin.dll files may interfere with other video/audio plugins or built-in behavior. It may make sense to have the QuickTime plugin available only when viewing a QuickTime curation. Basilisk's built-in MIME type configuration dialog can also be used to choose what plugins are used for different types of content.

Scratch

About

An online block-based virtual language, currently based upon Blockly, then previously Flash, and before that, Java (Squeak 2.8 for the offline editor). While it is possible to curate Scratch games in Flashpoint using converters and packagers, they are not in their original form.

Downloads

1.4 Offline Editor: Windows, Mac, Linux
2.0 Offline Editor: Windows, Mac
3 Offline Editor: Windows, Mac

Examples

Problems Encountered

Scratch 2 and 3 do not have Linux versions. However, it may be possible to run their respective Windows versions in Wine or use a web version.

Sense8 WorldUp

Downloads

Terasoft website
Sense 8 website (archived)
https://discord.com/channels/432708847304704010/516027726851735632/785218816711983104 Files from the Wayback Machine]

Examples

Metaverse

Squeak

Old Scratch FAQ

Downloads

Squeak 2.8 browser plugin downloads

ThingWorld ThingViewer

Looks like they're intended to be single-asset
Some Javascript mentions possible sitelocks
The installer installs plugins (ActiveX and NPAPI) and a standalone viewer

Downloads

Latest version
ThingMaker may be on this CD

Examples

ThingWorld Football Games
[https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.thingworld.com/* Wayback Machine www.thingworld.com search (filter by .tms)

Tulip 3D

Exstream website (archived)
Tulip Software website (archived)

Problems

It's unclear whether these two links reference the same plugin or two different plugins with Tulip in the name.

Visviva Animation Player

An interactive animation player, available as a web plugin and a standalone player.

Downloads

http://web.archive.org/web/20070214114303/http://www.visviva.com:80/download/webplug/VaeCtrl.CAB Internet Explorer plugin]
Netscape plugin
Standalone player

Examples

Official gallery

Problems Encountered

vaengine.dll seems to use both WSOCK32 and WININIT, but the primary download is via WSOCK32. Flashpoint currently does not support proxying WinSock.
DirectPlay is required.

Wildpockets

Wildpockets Wiki

Downloads

Source code

Examples

SAS: Zombie Assault 3D (Trailer)

WildTangent Web Driver

The SDK is usable from Java, JavaScript or VBScript.
Pages typically launch wthost.exe, which itself uses an ActiveX plugin
FlashpointProxy.dll needs to be attached to wthost.exe. (it's currently attached to webdriver.dll)
A newer version, recommended by WildTangent Discord, doesn't seem to support WinInet.
Most games will need MS Java.
Antiviruses hate anything WildTangent related.
When producing a combined webdriver+Java config, be sure to only have one classpath entry.

Examples

X3D

Wikipedia article

Downloads

List of players

Examples

Problems Encountered

Flux Player 2.1 loads indefinitely under TheWorld 3.5.03.

XVR

Downloads

https://web.archive.org/web/20160513043225/http://client.vrmedia.it/XVRPlayer.cab

Examples

Notes

This sample, linked from personal projects, reportedly has Flash <-> XVR interaction. This might not be supportable in Flashpoint unless Flash can be added to Flashpoint Secure Player or an NPAPI version of XVR is found.

@@ Line 290: / Line 290: @@
 "DA"="CLSID:B1549E58-3894-11D2-BB7F-00A0C999C4C1"
 </pre>
-== HotSauce ==
-* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HotSauce
-=== About ===
-A 3D viewer for MCF files, which are similar to sitemaps.
-=== Downloads ===
-* [https://www.macintoshrepository.org/866-apple-s-hotsauce-technology-project-x- Plugin and viewer ] (viewer MacOS 68k or PPC only)
-* [https://urbigenous.net/library/MCF/ Alternate download]
-=== Examples ===
-* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970527121925fw_/http://www.hdcity.com/sample_index.html www.hdcity.com] (archived, requires a multitude of plugins)
-* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970703020221/http://mcf.research.apple.com/hs/sites.html mcf.research.apple.com] (archived
-* [https://web.archive.org/cdx/search?url=xspace.net&matchType=prefix&collapse=urlkey&filter=!statuscode%3A%5B45%5D&fl=original xspace.net CDX search]
-* [https://web.archive.org/cdx/search?url=mcf.research.apple.com&matchType=prefix&collapse=urlkey&filter=!statuscode%3A%5B45%5D&fl=original mcf.research.apple.com CDX search]
 == igLoader ==