Thank You All Very Much :D

[Aerig]

Thanks to all the help I received both here and, even more so, on the IRC channel I finally got the server built and running using MingW (after having already tried cygwin and MSVC 6).

It was a BIG buzz when I finally fired up the client and got logged into the server running on my own machine. Well worth all the hassle and frustration

FYI:

Cygwin does not appear workable because of the difficulty of getting a mysqlclient library (and I did try for two days on just that)

MSVC 6 can apparently not compile the PS source code at all and, to judge by the number of errors I got when I finally got there after working around various problems in cal3d, cel and CS, I\'d definitely say that even trying was a waste of time.

Under MinGW, all of them compiled at first attempt, after making very sure to follow the PS guide for compiling under MinGW to the letter, with nothing worse than a few warnings.

One possible problem is that MySQL might be installed (on Windows) in the Program Files folder and that is definitely a problem. Better to uninstall and reinstall in to c:mysql or the same folder on a different partition.

Failing to haveMySQL installed in an accessible directory resulted in PSSERVER.EXE terminating with these errors

Could not find field string!. Exiting.
src/server/database/mysql/dal.cpp:360: failed assertion \'false\'

Another potential problem lies in the fact that the CVS version did not like the file ./art/world/NPCroom.zip that was in the CVS that I used. Copying the npcroom.zip file from the distributed game solved that problem.

Following that one I tried typing newacct a/a at the server console to create a temporary account to login on. (I\'m paranoid and did not want to risk using the preinstalled accounts before I knew the server worked.) This caused a problem because the secons a should have been encrypted with MD5 before I typed it. (So I used a preconfigured account after all).

Personally I think that, since the serverconsole is not that likely to be overseen by anyone except a trusted sysop, that the console should accept an unencrypted password and encrypt it itself.

Finally, a suggestion.

I managed to muck up the server by copying the art and data files from the game forlder to the folder where I built the server. Optimistic I agree, but I noticed something while trying to work out a better way to do it.

In the file planeshift.cfg, there are entries like /this/art/.../... It would probably be very handy for people not that sure of what files to copy where if /this/ could be replaced with the path to the game.

Very specially, thanks, in no particular order, to Feran, commandBlue, Cad, acraig, lynxlynxlynx, Arianna, josePhoenix, Jorrit and anyone I missed out for the help they provided along the way.

Without them I would probably still be sitting looking at warning and error messages and wondering if I would ever get the server up and running.

[bitula]

--\"MSVC 6 can apparently not compile the PS source code at all and\"

Hey, I\'ve managed to compile it
Although it took me almost 3 hours to rewrite more than 50 source files and headers. And an other 3 hours to update the project files. Meaning I have a full functional VC6 version with ALL projects functional!!! It builds a stable client and server!!! I would like to share my rewritten source someway, so it be incorporated into the cvs. This would allow less cvs diffs after update. These are all syntax patches, like VC6 compiler doesnt allow redefinition of local variables within the same block or access of protected enumerations from outside the object (and some 10 more issues). But I\'m sure that the fixes are compatible with the linux compiler used by developers. If someone needs the source and the updated projectfiles/workspace I can upload it somewhere or email them on the weekend. I\'m 100% sure that I Intend to contribute to the game within some months. Till then I\'m just studying the source.

[Aerig]

Nice work on compiling it.

I had to hack some of the code in the CS image libraries just to get as far as starting PS ... ie I changed 3 lines

But when I saw about 200 errors on the PS compile I decided that my C++ was not up to it. Basically cos the only C++ I know is C  

Had I known that someone had a build of the current source I would have been asking them to link it for me so I could download it (though I am quite happy with how effortless the MinGW compilation was).

With any luck one of the devs will read this and ask you to send them the source so that they can make a diff file and insert conditional compilation clauses round your changes.

[AryHann]

It\'s a pleasure to help, I just would like to be more helpful in these situations, but I have a quite small experience and it is more bounded to MSVC 7.1 so, when I try to help for other versions I usually just ask questions without giving any useful suggestions.

I hope I haven\'t made you waste time, and I wish you good luck ;-)

Ary

[Aerig]

No time wasted I learned a lot in the process, even a very small bit about how to hack around errors in C++

[altair]

Originally posted by bitula
I would like to share my rewritten source someway, so it be incorporated into the cvs. This would allow less cvs diffs after update. These are all syntax patches, like VC6 compiler doesnt allow redefinition of local variables within the same block or access of protected enumerations from outside the object (and some 10 more issues). But I\'m sure that the fixes are compatible with the linux compiler used by developers.

Send me an email or catch me on irc and we can discuss.