[RELEASE] X3RPM - Remote Property Manager v0.8 - New Author

The place to discuss scripting and game modifications for X³: Reunion.

Moderators: Moderators for English X Forum, Scripting / Modding Moderators

What do you think!

It's awesome, keep making new releases!
28
93%
It's okay.
1
3%
The old version was fine.
0
No votes
I wouldn't use this anyway.
1
3%
I just don't care.
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 30

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

[RELEASE] X3RPM - Remote Property Manager v0.8 - New Author

Post by Doomed498 » Sat, 1. Dec 07, 04:34

After finding this project and seeing how cool it was, I couldn't help but wish that it could do everything that could be done in game (well, excluding missions and probably other things too, so not quite everything). As there hadn't been any new releases for a while, I decided that I'd have a go at implementing them myself.

My goal is to allow the user to do pretty much anything that can be done in game, over a web browser (except for BBS missions and stuff like that).

For more details on what X3RPM is, see the original thread http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=104941 (And yes, I have gotten permission off nuclear_eclipse to release this, in fact most of the credit goes to him, for his awesome work.)

X3RPM is available to download here: http://www.doomed.profusehost.net/x3rpm.html

Post any bugs or feature requests (within reason...) here:
http://trac2.assembla.com/x3rpm/wiki

Just create a new ticket - give as much details as possible.

See below for a list of changes.

I've also made a little utility for anyone who wants to use X3RPM on the same machine that X3 is running on. It's a bit of a hack, but it works...

I should note that I managed to forget the default username and password!
Default username: x3rpm
Default password: password


README:

Code: Select all

****** X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management ******

Created by: John Reese (Nuclear_Eclipse)
Modified by: Doomed
Current Version: 0.8 - 30/11/2007

***************************************************

DISCLAIMER:
I have not tested X3RPM for any extended period of time and cannot be responsible for any undesired consaquences.
As with everything, use at your own risk.

NOTE: 
Any statements on the performance of X3RPM are based on my experiences alone.
My computer is fairly old now, so you may get better performance if you've got a better PC.

My PC Specs are:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2.16GHz
Gigabyte K8NF-9 Rev 1
1GB DDR400
NVIDIA 6600 256MB @ 365/565
200GB Seagate 7200.8 SATA

***************************************************

(This is all taken mostly from original readme):

What It Is:

X3RPM is a remote management utility that allows a
user to view statistics, property lists, galaxy and
sector maps, and more from any web browser with 
access to the internet.  The ability to remotely 
command and manage ships and stations is also a 
major feature of the RPM suite.  All information is
updated live from the current X3 session, and is 
fed to the website for instant updates.

X3RPM utilizes two technologies to deliver content:

    * Apache 2.0.61
    * PHP 5.2.4

It creates a web server on the host machine, which listens for connections on port 7800. It then uses php pages to communicate with special scripts in X3 to deliver live information.

As of version 0.8, X3RPM no longer requires the user to run a 'X3 RPM Host' command on a ship. X3RPM is now an AL Plugin and can be turned on and off through the AL Plugins menu (Options->Gameplay->Artificial Life Settings).

NOTE: The property, universe, and sector pages require a running copy of X3 in order to function.
The Statistics page only requires the game to have run with the X3RPM plugin activated to display statistics.

***************************************************
NEW Features, as of 0.8

- X3RPM converted to AL Script - No longer need to run a command on a ship
- Allows X3 to run while minimized - use X3RPM on the same computer as X3 (See further down, under "x3hide")

- Ability to trade with stations
- Statistics are now live
- Added Race Ranks to statistics page
- Universe Map now highlights all player ships, including those that are docked
- Player Ship is highlighted as green on universe map

- Change and preview CSS themes through X3RPM
- Change X3 Directory through X3RPM
- Friends list - Username, email and address to their X3RPM page. Show your empire to everyone! 

***************************************************

Features:

- View game statistics
- View a list of player-owned property
- View a map of the currently explored universe
- View sector's listing of ships and stations
- View detailed information for stations, including
    monetary data, products and resources, docked
    and owned ships, and more.
- View detailed information for ships, including
    pilot, sector, homebase, performance stats, 
    freight bay contents, current command status, 
    docked, and owned ships.
- Change station and ship names and settings
- Give commands to ships for just about anything

- View X3RPM from any internet capable PC
- No need to have X3 installed on remote systems
- Compatible with any X3 modification or galaxy

- Allows for changeable layouts and themes a la CSS

***************************************************

Limitations:

- Finding ships can be troublesome if the ship 
  changes sectors.  Limited  searching is in place,
  but if the ship has moved more than a couple
  sectors away since the last update, returning to
  the property screen will be necessary to locate
  the ship once more.


***************************************************

Planned Features:

- Decent documentation

- Some form of signature on statistics page

- Improved sector map display (Possibly some sort of representation using tables, similar to the universe map)

- Station/Complex building

- Some form of shoutbox/forum for users to communicate with.

***************************************************


Known Issues:

- Property Screen is INCREDIBLY slow to update with a reasonable sized empire.
	Mine takes over 15 seconds to load (and loading is unreliable) and    my
	empire is only tiny compared to other people's.
	This is due to the sheer amount of information being transferred from X3.

	Hopefully the next version should contain a workaround for this.

- Error message containing:
	"Warning: unlink(C:/X3REUNION/log07999.txt) [function.unlink]: Permission denied in 						C:\X3REUNION\x3rpm\htdocs\inc\func.php on line 86"
	or similar.
	This is due to the way Windows handles file protection, as explained here:							http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=1294333#1294333


***************************************************

Installation:

- Extract the .rar contents into your X3 Reunion
  folder.  You may move the 'x3rpm' folder to 
  anywhere you prefer at this point ONLY.

- Run the 'x3rpm/x3rpm-install.bat' file to create
  a service for the X3RPM program to start on its
  own when windows starts
  (Alternativly, create a shortcut to the "x3rpm-start.bat" file
  and run it instead, to avoid having to make a service,although
  making a service is easier).

- Run the 'x3rpm/x3rpm-start.bat' to start X3RPM
  (This is only required the first time, or if you
  specifically stop the X3RPM service later)

- Open up your router/firewall/NAT for port 7800

- browse to http://localhost:7800 or from outside your home network, http://<youripaddress>:7800

- If you have X3 in a non-standard directory (other than C:\Program Files\Deepsilver), you will have to change
  the X3 directory. X3RPM will display errors that a file cannot be found, but ignore them and navigate to
  the settings tab. There you can change the X3 directory.

- Now you're done!

***************************************************

Using X3RPM:

- You must have the X3RPM service running to use
  X3RPM.
- Make sure you have properly set X3RPM to point to your
  X3 directory
- Start X3
- Make sure that X3RPM is activated in Artificial Life Settings
- You're done.  You can now view your X3RPM pages
  from a different computer.
- The default username/password combination is
  'x3rpm'/'password' - You can change the password
  via the 'x3rpm/x3rpm-change-password.bat' file,
  which will then require a restart of X3RPM.

***************************************************

x3hide:

DISCLAIMER:
This program is still fairly untested - use at your own risk.

When running X3RPM on the same computer as X3, you will find that the only way for the not static pages to work
(ie, pages that are not the statistics page) you have to have the window focus on X3. Otherwise the game will pause
and X3RPM will not work. This seperate utility written in C, allows you to run X3 in the background so you are free to 
do other things (like use X3RPM).

Instructions:
 - navigate to the x3hide folder and then run the "open cmd" batch file
 - at the command prompt, type "x3hide hide"
 - X3 will quickly minimize and restore a couple of times, then disappear from the taskbar
 - Although you can't see X3 in the taskbar, remember X3 IS STILL RUNNING, it's just in the 	background
 - When you want to close X3, go back to the "open cmd" batch file and type in the command 	prompt "x3hide show"
 - X3 will return to the taskbar and you can close it normally.

NOTE:
Using x3hide is the same as playing X3 constantly, that is it uses all the resources that X3 would while you were in game.
This means that the computer become slow or stop responding completely. For this reason, it is not recommended to use this
on older computers. On my computer, the slowdown is quite noticeable, but is still very usable. Your experience may differ and I cannot guarentee that it will function as you wish.

***************************************************

Uninstallation:

- Turn off X3RPM in the Artificial Life settings
- Run the 'x3rpm/x3rpm-stop.bat' and 
  'x3rpm/x3rpm-uninstall.bat' programs
- remove the 'x3rpm' directory
- remove 't/447850.xml' and 't/447851.xml'
- remove all *.nuke.rpm.* scripts
- remove al.rpm.main script and setup.nuke.rpm

***************************************************

Compatibility:

- Uses 447850.xml and 447851.xml text files
- Uses 7850 and 7851 text pages
- Uses log07850.txt thru 07999.txt log files

- Should work with most mods and scripts fine.


***************************************************

History:

 - v0.8 - 2007-11-30 - First release
	- Now uses Apache 2.0.61 and PHP 5.2.4
	- Converted to AL script
	- Settings screen - change CSS and X3 Directory
	- Universe screen now highlights all player ships and playerships is highlighted in 		green
	- Added friends list (based on sqlite)
	- Added Race Rank
	- Statistics are now live
 
 - v0.7 - 2005-12-08 - nuclear_eclipse Public release
 

***************************************************

Last edited by Doomed498 on Tue, 4. Dec 07, 13:10, edited 1 time in total.

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Mon, 3. Dec 07, 13:18

Comments anyone?

John_hmstr
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed, 23. Nov 05, 13:55
x4

Post by John_hmstr » Wed, 5. Dec 07, 18:12

Thought this was an amazing utility back when nuclear_eclipse started it and I am very glad someone has taken up the reigns to continue developlent.

keep up the good work doomed,

_hmstr

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Fri, 7. Dec 07, 10:18

John_hmstr wrote:Thought this was an amazing utility back when nuclear_eclipse started it and I am very glad someone has taken up the reigns to continue developlent.

keep up the good work doomed,

_hmstr
Thanks! It's a pretty interesting project I've learnt quite a bit out of it, nuclear_eclipse sure has done some good work though. I'd like to have another release in the next couple of months but I'm not sure if I'll make that. I'm toying with rewriting the web component in Python, so I guess I'll see how that goes. I almost gave up on the whole complex building thing too, however after seeing Cycrow's Custom Gui project had the ability to manipulate input, I'm starting to think it might be possible.

There's quite a bit I want to do with this, I just wish I had more free time to do it.
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

pacothelovetaco
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue, 18. Jul 06, 02:55
x3

Post by pacothelovetaco » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 21:55

I am really looking forward to trying this out but I have one question. Will this work with the Xtended mod? Been searching for an answer.

Guardian004
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri, 2. Nov 07, 02:03

Post by Guardian004 » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 22:01

Iv never really tried Nuclears release, but I think I'll look at this one. :roll:

Good job!

User avatar
Sandalpocalypse
Posts: 4447
Joined: Tue, 2. Dec 03, 22:28
x4

Post by Sandalpocalypse » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 22:24

Old school :)

Reminds me of the old marketing material for ww2 online, heh.

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 01:59

pacothelovetaco wrote:I am really looking forward to trying this out but I have one question. Will this work with the Xtended mod? Been searching for an answer.
It should work fine with any mod, although I haven't tested it with Xtended. It worked with Roguey's Mod fine though.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been away the last week.
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

pacothelovetaco
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue, 18. Jul 06, 02:55
x3

Post by pacothelovetaco » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 02:26

Doomed498, I so badly want to try this mod but I cant get it to install. I have tried many times and searched all over the forum for answers. I cant find what I am doing wrong. I followed the instructions: installed to the right folders and opened the port but when I go to http://localhost:7800 there is nothing there. If I launch the game and go to the AL options there is no option for turning on the feature. My X3 directory is not Deepsilver. I found a file in x3rpm/htdocs/inc/func.php that had the wrong path to my X3 directory and corrected it but still nothing.

I have the XTended Mod installed, could that be the problem? What am I missing?

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 03:04

pacothelovetaco wrote:Doomed498, I so badly want to try this mod but I cant get it to install. I have tried many times and searched all over the forum for answers. I cant find what I am doing wrong. I followed the instructions: installed to the right folders and opened the port but when I go to http://localhost:7800 there is nothing there. If I launch the game and go to the AL options there is no option for turning on the feature. My X3 directory is not Deepsilver. I found a file in x3rpm/htdocs/inc/func.php that had the wrong path to my X3 directory and corrected it but still nothing.

I have the XTended Mod installed, could that be the problem? What am I missing?
I think I've found the problem. When I packaged X3RPM, I forgot to include the script which registers X3RPM as an AL Plugin. This is my fault, sorry for the inconvenience.

You can download the script here

At least I think this is the problem, if this doesn't work, let me know.
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

pacothelovetaco
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue, 18. Jul 06, 02:55
x3

Post by pacothelovetaco » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 06:02

Okay, that fixed most of it. Once I downloaded the script and put it in the right place, and rebooted, the setting showed up in the AL menu. I also got a website through port 7800. However I noticed that my statistics where not loading. I tracked the problem to the path that points to my X3 folder. Like I mentioned before, I edited the x3rpm/htdocs/inc/func.php file to point to C:/Program Files/EGOSOFT/X3 Reunion (the default install location for my copy). I then went into the settings section to make sure the path was correct but this was listed instead: C:/Program Files/EGOSOFT/[]Reunion ([] refering to unrecognized symbol or something). It looked like it was not recognizing the "X3<space>" in "X3 Reunion". I moved everything out of ../X3 Reunion and into ../EGOSOFT and that fixed the problem. Statistics load fine now and it works great. If you want I can create a ticket for all of this in Trac so you have a record. Let me know.

Now that its working I have two questions:
1. Can I play with SETA on?
2. Is it possible to save your game while playing through the browser?

And again, great work. Kudos to you and nuclear_eclipse.

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 06:19

pacothelovetaco wrote:Okay, that fixed most of it. Once I downloaded the script and put it in the right place, and rebooted, the setting showed up in the AL menu. I also got a website through port 7800. However I noticed that my statistics where not loading. I tracked the problem to the path that points to my X3 folder. Like I mentioned before, I edited the x3rpm/htdocs/inc/func.php file to point to C:/Program Files/EGOSOFT/X3 Reunion (the default install location for my copy). I then went into the settings section to make sure the path was correct but this was listed instead: C:/Program Files/EGOSOFT/[]Reunion ([] refering to unrecognized symbol or something). It looked like it was not recognizing the "X3<space>" in "X3 Reunion". I moved everything out of ../X3 Reunion and into ../EGOSOFT and that fixed the problem. Statistics load fine now and it works great. If you want I can create a ticket for all of this in Trac so you have a record. Let me know.

Now that its working I have two questions:
1. Can I play with SETA on?
2. Is it possible to save your game while playing through the browser?

And again, great work. Kudos to you and nuclear_eclipse.
Thanks for the compliment!

I won't get you to make a ticket in Trac just yet, I'll wait and see how this goes first.

To address this problem, the surrounding php code. The directory is meant to be changed from the settings tab.
As an example, here's what my func.php looks like for the x3_directory() function, where you changed the directory:

Code: Select all

function x3_directory () {
	return "C:/Program Files/Deepsilver/X3 Reunion";
}
Maybe you could try copying that over yours and see if that works?
If you can't get it to work, could you post from function x3_directory () { to } as well as the error message, so I can see what's going wrong?

Also, to answer your questions, you can use SETA fine with X3RPM and there is no specific "save game" function through the browser, however if you have the game set so that it autosaves in stations, you can just direct the playership to a station and it will save when it docks.

Hopefully we can get this problem sorted!
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

pacothelovetaco
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue, 18. Jul 06, 02:55
x3

Post by pacothelovetaco » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 06:44

Thanks for the quick responses.

I will definitely test this path issue for you, unfortunately it will have to wait till tomorrow. I will let you know then.

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 06:50

Okay, sounds good. I'll try and be as quick in replying then! :D
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

heifi
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri, 10. Feb 06, 12:45
x3ap

Post by heifi » Thu, 17. Jan 08, 22:35

finally i got the server to work (had some problems because i'm not allowed to open ports...). but i cannot see my universe etc when the game is running, i get the message: rpm host offline. statistics are updatet and the al plugin is running... any ideas what could be wrong?

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Fri, 18. Jan 08, 00:55

heifi wrote:finally i got the server to work (had some problems because i'm not allowed to open ports...). but i cannot see my universe etc when the game is running, i get the message: rpm host offline. statistics are updatet and the al plugin is running... any ideas what could be wrong?
Normally when you alt-tab out of the game, the game pauses in the background so you can't use X3RPM and X3 on the same computer, however the program that comes with X3RPM, x3hide allows you to use X3RPM with X3 running in the background.

To use both on the same computer, navigate to the x3hide directory and open the "open cmd" file. Then just type:

Code: Select all

x3hide.exe hide
The reason only the statistics update, is because that they can be viewed without the game running and everytime you alt-tab back to the game, they update. Everything else is live and requires the game to be running in the background to view.

Hopefully this fixes it for you.

Note that although X3 will be removed from the taskbar, it'll still be running. When you're done playing, simply enter in the same window:

Code: Select all

x3hide.exe show
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

pacothelovetaco
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue, 18. Jul 06, 02:55
x3

Post by pacothelovetaco » Fri, 18. Jan 08, 02:56

Doomed498,

I think there might be something going on with this function. Here is what happened. I started with a clean install so the directory path was set back to its default "C:/Program Files/Deepsilver/X3 Reunion" location. Once it was running I went to settings, typed in my path, clicked "change directory" and it changed my path to "C:/Program Files/EGOSOFT/X3 Reunionion". Retyped and then hit the button again and the same thing would happen. I still had to go into x3rpm/htdocs/inc/func.php afterwards to correct the path. After that it worked fine. I was using Firefox 2.0 just in case that had something to do with it. But once again it is working excellent. If you can recreate this situation I would say its a bug.

I played with it on my iphone today and everything seemed to be working fine. If I get really bored I have something to do while I am out and about.

Last thing, after I ran the 'x3rpm/x3rpm-install.bat' I had to restart my computer. FYI for those that went to localhost:7800, saw nothing and thought something was wrong. Like I did.

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Fri, 18. Jan 08, 03:23

pacothelovetaco wrote:Doomed498,

I think there might be something going on with this function. Here is what happened. I started with a clean install so the directory path was set back to its default "C:/Program Files/Deepsilver/X3 Reunion" location. Once it was running I went to settings, typed in my path, clicked "change directory" and it changed my path to "C:/Program Files/EGOSOFT/X3 Reunionion". Retyped and then hit the button again and the same thing would happen. I still had to go into x3rpm/htdocs/inc/func.php afterwards to correct the path. After that it worked fine. I was using Firefox 2.0 just in case that had something to do with it. But once again it is working excellent. If you can recreate this situation I would say its a bug.

I played with it on my iphone today and everything seemed to be working fine. If I get really bored I have something to do while I am out and about.

Last thing, after I ran the 'x3rpm/x3rpm-install.bat' I had to restart my computer. FYI for those that went to localhost:7800, saw nothing and thought something was wrong. Like I did.
I think you're right, there's something wrong with the function that sets the directory.
Also, with regards to restarting the computer, it shouldn't be necessary if you run 'x3rpm/x3rpm-start.bat'. I think I need to outline this more at some point.

Ah, just trying to change the directory now, my directory change function is screwed. It worked when I tested it last time, I must've changed something without thinking about it!
Okay, I think that instead of patching this, I'll just try and pick up the pace on version 0.9. It'll use the database for configuration instead and should avoid these sort of errors.

Hopefully the next version will be more bug-free compared to this one. It'll be a complete rewrite on the web side of things, so this bug shouldn't affect it.

I think that I need to do a lot more testing before I release the next version though. You wouldn't be interested in being a beta tester would you?

I apologize for this inconvenience, the whole install process could've been made a lot smoother.
Thanks for being so patient though and helping make X3RPM better!
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

pacothelovetaco
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue, 18. Jul 06, 02:55
x3

Post by pacothelovetaco » Fri, 18. Jan 08, 04:58

No worries, I am just glad I got it installed and working.

When you release 0.9 I am willing to see if I can find time to do some testing for you. You let me know.

Doomed498
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun, 11. Dec 05, 09:11
x3

Post by Doomed498 » Fri, 18. Jan 08, 05:00

pacothelovetaco wrote:No worries, I am just glad I got it installed and working.

When you release 0.9 I am willing to see if I can find time to do some testing for you. You let me know.
Okay thanks, that'd be good.
X3RPM - X3 Remote Property Management | Thread | Site

Post Reply

Return to “X³: Reunion - Scripts and Modding”