Technologies to Add

From Flashpoint Datahub
Revision as of 15:01, 17 June 2021 by Childishbeat (talk | contribs) (Links now changed to hyperlinks up to MrSID)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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 #plugins-chat channel in our Discord.

Please add new technologies in alphanumeric order.

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

Atomic 3D / Neutron Viewer

Downloads

Examples

BitPlayer (BitMagic)

bitmagic.com (archived)

About

BitPlayer is a standalone player able to play BitMagic content, which is based on Flash or Shockwave. It downloaded games (BitGames) or BitFlicks (animations) from the internet on a daily basis. Advertisements were downloaded as well. All of these were stored in BM files, which contain an SWF for Flash-based content, or a DCR for Shockwave-based content.

There were around 2000 BitMagic files in its short life, of which we have only been able to save a little less than 500.

History

bitmagic.com.au, bitmagic.org, content.ao.bitmagic.com, download.ao.bitmagic.com, download.us.bitmagic.com, www.bitmagic.com

You might have to search for BitMagic for most of these links.

Michiel Frackers Interview - Co-founder, Co-founder flash website, animators website, more info, linkedin profile, about book by cofounder, more info 2, website were player could be downloaded, blog talking about various inside happenings

Downloads

BitMagic should be good for the next release. However, items currently cannot be fully curated in the Curate Tab, since they can't be played directly, so no screen shots, etc. via the Curate Tab.

Examples are included in the download.

Tools

  • bitmagic_converter - Extracts the Flash or Shockwave file embedded in a BitMagic file and shows metadata such as name, creator/note, and edition (usually a date, presumably the date it was published)
  • minimagic_extractor - Extracts BitMagic BM files from Minimagic EXEs. Minimagic was a way of packaging up a BitMagic animation as a standalone executable.

Curation Tutorial

The curation tutorial is available at BitPlayer Curation.

Castle Game Engine Web Plugin

GitHub page

Downloads

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:

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

Examples

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

Problems Encountered

Sometimes throws this error:

FreeHand Error.png

All three buttons make the plugin stop working.

Google Native Client

Downloads

Examples

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:

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"

HotSauce

About

A 3D viewer for MCF files, which are similar to sitemaps.

Downloads

Examples

igLoader

Downloads

Examples

MrSID

Wikipedia article

About

An image compression plugin mainly used for orthophotos.

Downloads

o2c

Downloads

Examples

Notes

OCX files are used, but trying to run these as an ActiveX Control gives a "Registry Failed".

O3D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O3D

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 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

Opal Player Plugin

About

https://web.archive.org/web/20001207154700/http://www.cai.com/products/opal/prodinfo.htm

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

Downloads

Examples

Panda3D Plugin

About

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda3D

Downloads

Examples

Problems Encountered

Has a huge number of runtime components that are downloaded and installed on demand. They are listed here: http://runtime.panda3d.org/contents.xml

The runtime components are all available from this open directory: http://runtime.panda3d.org/ (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 https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Linux_Support#Pipelight for more information.

QuickTime VR

About

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickTime_VR

Downloads

Examples

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

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.

Sense8 WorldUp

Downloads

Examples

Squeak

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

Examples

Visviva Animation Player

Interactive animation player, available as web plugins and standalone player.

Downloads

Examples

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.
  • Requires DirectPlay

Wildpockets

Examples

WildTangent Web Driver

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

Examples

Tulip 3D

(Note: It's unclear whether these two links reference the same plugin or two different plugins with Tulip in the name)

X3D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X3D

Downloads

Examples

Problems Encountered

Flux Player 2.1 loads indefinitely under TheWorld 3.5.03

XVR

Information

Could potentially be considered just another ActiveX control?

Downloads

Examples

Notes

The sample at https://web.archive.org/web/20051223071519/http://www.pureform.org/virtualGallery.htm (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.


Technologies Already Included

Added in Flashpoint 8.1

Pulse3D

https://www.sandyressler.com/about/library/weekly/aa122000a.htm

https://lostmediawiki.com/Pulse_3D_(lost_3D_web_plugin_content;_1999-2001)

Pulse3D was previously called "Platinum VRML."

Downloads

Available from MICD2001_11_NR2.iso here: http://archive.org/details/MICD200111/

https://bluepload.unstable.life/p3d.zip

Installer: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/516027726851735632/705092816220717086/PulseStuff.zip

Netscape version: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/516027726851735632/705175471926673468/PulseNetscape.zip

Examples

http://www.learningfriends.com/download.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20030705212152/http://www.digitalproducer.com/pages/protozoa.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20040204091717/http://launch.pulse3d.com/harvard/index.htm

https://archive.org/details/Pulse3DPWSPWCPW3Files

https://archive.org/details/www_02_2002

pulse3d.com CDX search

pulsenetwork.com CDX search

dotcomix.com CDX search

muppetworld.com CDX search

barbie.com CDX search

Nutrisystem.com CDX search

Notes

Browser plugins (at least the NPAPI one, didn't check ActiveX) seem to look for Pulse by using ShGetFolderPathA to find CSIDL_FLAG_CREATE | CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES if that function exists (and if not, looking at a Registry entry).

Some files seem to need a command sent to the plugin (for example, Fozzie needs "play obj=Dummy01 pkg=assets/fozzie/Package2.pws transition=0.30 heading=yes behave=joke"). The NPAPI version of the plugin looks like it relies on LiveConnect, which might not be supported in Basilisk.

Added in Flashpoint 8.2

VRML

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRML

Downloads

A list of some VRML players: https://www.vrinternal.com/docs/links.html

Cosmo Player: https://cosmo-player.en.softonic.com/download

OpenVRML: https://sourceforge.net/projects/openvrml/files/

Examples

*; Also contains links to other places containing VRML content.

Problems Encountered
  • Flux Player 2.1 is stuck loading under TheWorld 3.5.03
  • Too many players with variations: Which ones should get included?
  • Live3D: Crashes on page navigation resolvable by using in Netscape 4
  • Cosmo Player: Struggles with large worlds. Direct3D renderer (the default) seems to cause dropped polygons (in Mod Gun and Beat Monk Bash at least) and drifting cameras (in Mod Dance Party) and wrongly rendering textures (in Dilbert animation I Think Therefore I Am). Have been unable to get software renderer to work. OpenGL renderer (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\CosmoSoftware\CosmoPlayer\2.1.1\renderer = OPENGL) seems to work fine on one system, needs testing before any decision to hardcode.
  • Blaxxun Contact 4.4: If a world has sounds but a sound has not played yet, low FPS. This seems to occur in a full install too.
  • Blaxxun Contact 4.4: Some worlds rely on RealPlayer G2. Include in Blaxxun config? Example world: http://www.e-spaces.com/portfolio/ssg/vrml/main.wrl

Tcl Plugin

Downloads
Examples

See https://bluepload.unstable.life/tcl-info.txt for many examples.

Problems Encountered

The Tcl plugin may not load unless these conditions are met:

  1. The page with the Tcl embed has to be the first page loaded by the browser (not counting about:home).
  2. The page must be allowed to complete loading without scrolling the page or moving the mouse over the embed area.

Tested in latest K-Meleon (non-Goanna) version on 2019-08-17.

Burster

Downloads
Examples

Added in Flashpoint 10.0

There were multiple other plugins added to 10.0 that are not listed here, as they never were added to this page.

Adobe Atmosphere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Atmosphere

[Logo Discussion]

Downloads

Latest plugin: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://download.adobe.com:80/pub/adobe/atmosphere/win/2.x/AtmospherePlayer216.exe

Standalone version: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://download.adobe.com:80/pub/adobe/atmosphere/win/sa_player/atmosphere_saplayer.exe

Examples
Problems Encountered
  • The Javascript used by Galleries doesn't seem to work in newer IE. Curation guide might need to specify replacing the gallery's Javascript with code to create the <object> tag. This appears to because of a use of VBScript. VBScript can be reenabled via registry, or it might be cleaner to replace the JS. VBScript and galleries work fine as-is in Flashpoint Secure Player.
  • Some older Atmosphere worlds don't work in the plugin. Newer worlds (including galleries) won't work fully in the standalone player.
  • Low FPS. Can seemingly be fixed by changing "Throttle when not active". Hardware acceleration can be added by editing a text file, but it results in oddities in the tic tac toe world (http://www.it-quadrat.de/ttt/ttt3d/ttt.aer)
  • Cannot point plugin directly at an .aer file, an <object> tag must be used. (This is an original Adobe Atmosphere limitation)
  • Some worlds automatically close chat. Some other worlds put useful information in the chat. The chat open/closed preference is saved, so worlds with chat should probably have some code to open chat embedded.
  • Excessive caching may be a possibility.
  • Stairs are tricky to climb. Could be related to missing avatars? Might want to include default avatar in htdocs.


Alambik Player

Player

http://light.alambik.com/

Examples

http://www.the-demo.com/

Problems Encountered
  • It doesn't work with the proxy, loading from the live web. This was fixed by adding FlashpointProxy.dll (twice).
  • It requests data —‌ specifically, a version number — from the registry. It gives a popup, but clicking "No" allows the application to play. Fixed by using FSP in Basilisk.
  • Using FSP with the standalone player gives "The process failed to start" as a popup, and "An error occured while activating the Mode." in the logs. Fixed with a config file tweak.
  • It requests some tracking files. We will use dummy files.
    • It doesn't recognize the dummy files www.alambik.com/cgi-bin/checking and check.ipcheck.com/cgi-bin/checking. Not really that important.
Support Pack

Details on how to add the Support Pack are in this Discord message.

Curation Tutorial

The tutorial is located at Alambik Curation.

AXEL Player

Download

Browser Plugin: https://web.archive.org/web/20070222181629/http://www.mindavenue.com:80/downloads/AXELPlayer.exe

Standalone Player: https://web.archive.org/web/20061127002450/http://www.mindavenue.com/DB/en/download/updates/AXELStandAlonePlayer.exe

Download links for all known versions: https://archive.org/details/mindavenue-axel-player

Download of plugin files and modified Basilisk-Portable.ini Download

Examples

LiveMath

https://www.livemath.com/lmplugin/

Examples

Rebol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebol

Plugin for a cross-platform programming language. The plugin exists for both IE and Netscape-based browsers, but may be better tested in the former. It seems like most embeds have been written expecting one or the other.

Downloads

http://www.rebol.com/plugin/rebolb6.cab

Examples

http://www.rebol.net/plugin/demos/

Support pack

Xara Plugin

Download Link

https://web.archive.org/web/20010626161633/http://www.xara.com/downloads/plugin/

Example Games/Applications

Website demos https://web.archive.org/web/19970606184251/http://www.xara.com/webformat/gallery/index.html