Mirage Engine
SOX instead of Winsock - Printable Version

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SOX instead of Winsock - William - 20-12-2006

Server Side:

-Delete the mswinsock control from the project

-Delete it from the control list too

-Add the sox.ocx

-Name it Socket



frmServer.frm:



delete or comment out the code you have for the old socket,

Socket_Accept

Socket_DataArrival

Socket_Close



Now make a new Socket_State sub(go to the topleft combo box thing in the code window and select socket)



The state sub is called everytime the state of the socket changes

0 = close

1 = listening ‘server thing

2 = Connecting ‘Client thing

3 = Accepted ‘Server thing, Sox automatically accepts connections

4 = Connected ‘Client thing

Code:
Private Sub Socket_State(ByVal Sox As Long, ByVal State As Long)

    If Sox  0 Then 'not the main listening socket

        Select Case State

             Case 3

                 Call AcceptConnection(Sox)

             Case 0

                 Call CloseSocket(Sox)

        End Select

    End If    

End Sub

That should make sense now.

Now make a new DataArrival procedure.



Private Sub Socket_DataArrival(ByVal Sox As Long, Data As Variant)



End Sub



Inside add

If IsConnected(Sox) Then

‘sox is the internal array index, no more control arrays, but you should know that if you read the readme Tongue.



Next add



Call IncomingData(Sox, data)

End If



You will change the incomingdata sub later



It should end up looking like this..

Code:
Private Sub Socket_DataArrival(ByVal Sox As Long, Data As Variant)

    If IsConnected(Sox) Then

        Call IncomingData(Sox, Data)

    End If

End Sub



Private Sub Socket_Error(Sox As Long, Proc As String, Area As String, Code As Long, Abbr As String, Desc As String, DescEx As String)

    'MsgBox "*** Error ***" & vbCrLf & vbTab & "Sox: " & Sox & vbCrLf & vbTab & "Proc: " & Proc & vbCrLf & vbTab & "Area: " & Area & vbCrLf & vbTab & "Code: " & Code & vbCrLf & vbTab & "Abbr: " & Abbr & vbCrLf & vbTab & "Desc: " & Desc & vbCrLf & vbTab & "DescEx: " & DescEx & vbCrLf & vbCrLf

End Sub

If you want you can add that, don’t need to, I commented it out on mine.



Next: Incoming Data Sub

Change the header to look like this

Sub IncomingData(ByVal Index As Long, ByVal Data As Variant)



Comment out or delete this:

'frmServer.Socket(Index).GetData Buffer, vbString, DataLength



Add this, it converts the data to a string

Buffer = StrConv(Data, vbUnicode)



Scroll down in that sub and fine this:

' Check if elapsed time has passed

Change the line below it to this:

Code:
Player(Index).DataBytes = Player(Index).DataBytes + UBound(Data)




Next go to the AcceptConnection sub

Code:
Sub AcceptConnection(ByVal Index As Long)

Dim i As Long



    If (Index = 0) Then

        i = FindOpenPlayerSlot

        

        If i  0 Then

             ' Whoho, we can connect them

             Call SocketConnected(Index)



        Else

             frmServer.Socket.Close (Index)

        End If

    End If

End Sub

Make it like that



In Sub CloseSocket

Comment out where it closes the socket, kind of stupid making it close the socket since its getting called once the socket has closed.



Change Function GetPlayerIP to

Code:
Function GetPlayerIP(ByVal Index As Long) As String

    GetPlayerIP = frmServer.Socket.RemoteHostIP(Index)

End Function

Find ' Get the listening socket ready to go

Comment out both of the 2 lines under it which set the remotehost/port



Comment/delete were it loads/unloads the sockets, you don’t need to do that anymore, its done internally.



Find frmServer.Socket.Listen

-Change it to

frmServer.Socket.Listen frmServer.Socket.RemoteHostIP(0), Game_port (might need to change it to 127.0.0.1, I’m not sure)

Go to Sub ServerLogic

Get rid of that forloop which checks to see if it should close the socket



Go to Sub UpdateCaption

Change it how you want, figure it out.

Go to Function IsConnected

Add

Code:
If Index >= frmServer.Socket.Count Then

        IsConnected = False

        Exit Function

    End If

This is to avoid an error if it checks a socket which isn’t there.

Code:
If frmServer.Socket.State(Index) = 3 Then

        IsConnected = True

    Else

        IsConnected = False

    End If

Now change the other if statement to this…



Find .SendData (data here)

Change it to frmserver.socket.sendstring i/index(depending where it is), data

If you want to change this senddatatoall sub you can, you don’t have to though

Go to sub senddatatoall

Change it to

frmServer.Socket.broadcast data

- Xlithan - 20-12-2006

SOX vs. IOCP?

- William - 20-12-2006

IOCP wins since SOX is pretty much like winsock, just easier to use if I got it right in my memory.

- Spodi - 20-12-2006

SOX is just a nice wrapper for the Winsock API. Theres a few hacks you want to do on the socket itself to get it prepped for a game engine, though. For example, it sends a 4-byte (long) overhead for every SEND command, which is pretty useless for a game server (integer would suffice), the default send/recv buffer comes at 8192 bytes (you'd be fine lowering that to around 512 bytes easily), etc.

And just a heads up, you cant use IOCP with SOX I believe, so you can't have an IOCP server and SOX client, because of the additional header I mentioned earlier.

- Obsidian - 20-12-2006

Quote:And just a heads up, you cant use IOCP with SOX I believe, so you can't have an IOCP server and SOX client, because of the additional header I mentioned earlier.

'tis true Sad [/code]

- TheRealDamien - 21-12-2006

SOX in my personal opinion is a lot smoother/better... I have tried to add IOCP many times and guess what? Failure after failure... SOX is easy and in my personal opinion smoother and more stable.

- halla - 21-12-2006

I added IOCP fine before but I never tested it with people getting on and so on... so I dont know from that end.

- TheRealDamien - 22-12-2006

Lol trust me... Its a nightmare all on its own.

- Obsidian - 22-12-2006

I've never had a problem with IOCP...

this is a bit easier to add though... but i'm not sure how they compare as far as handling individual players.... but they're both probably far superior to the winsock control...

- SoccerPeter - 03-01-2007

Don't take my word for it, because I don't know anything about SOX really, but someone told me a while ago that it can handle 6000 players easily provided they are on a good enough server machine. Is this true?

- grimsk8ter11 - 03-01-2007

SOX is better ebcause its nicer.

the hacks make the capabilities better to.

it also supports pre-NT machines, IOCP does not.

- Misunderstood - 03-01-2007

If anyone has a working sox client, please send it to me, I want to see if it works. I've been having trouble running MS via wine on linux, it works up to initializing TCP settings, which makes me think its a problem with winsock, I'm just curious if a sox client would work.

- Spodi - 03-01-2007

SOX is built to be almost exactly like Winsock but easier - learn the controls and give a try. :wink:

- Bakekitsune - 25-02-2007

hacks?

also apparently you cant send binarydata with sox because of null.

and were can you download the ocx?

edit: dont worry i think im already using iocp lol

- Boo - 12-04-2007

I was talking to nemesis and this is what he told me.

On his testing when he used IOCP it used 70% of his CPU and when u used Sox it used only 30%.

From this i concluded self explanitory that it'll be way faster to use Sox over IOCP unless your using a 3+ Dual Processor thats badass lol

- Spodi - 12-04-2007

Bakekitsune Wrote:hacks?

also apparently you cant send binarydata with sox because of null.

and were can you download the ocx?

edit: dont worry i think im already using iocp lol

SOX handles data as variants by default, just like the winsock control. You can send as string or byte arrays.

Quote:On his testing when he used IOCP it used 70% of his CPU and when u used Sox it used only 30%.

SOX itself is pretty bloated as-is, and not really made well for games. You should try GOREsock from vbGORE - its a modified version of SOX directed towards faster handling. It takes out a lot of the overhead SOX has, like that extra 4 byte packet header added with every SendData call, plus easier handling for encrypting/decrypting packets.

- Boo - 12-04-2007

well make a good copy/paste tutorial on how to add it into Mirage and we're all good Spodi Big Grin

- Spodi - 12-04-2007

Well it should be the same as adding SOX, but instead of a control its a module. :wink:

- Tony - 12-04-2007

Why did you name your engine vbgore?

Isn't gore an object and action as well?

- Nexarcon - 12-04-2007

Kuja Wrote:Why did you name your engine vbgore?

Isn't gore an object and action as well?
It stands for something Smile

Visual Basic Graphical(?) Online RPG Engine

- Spodi - 12-04-2007

Nexarcon Wrote:
Kuja Wrote:Why did you name your engine vbgore?

Isn't gore an object and action as well?
It stands for something Smile

Visual Basic Graphical(?) Online RPG Engine

Exactly. A huge part of it was that I was trying to find something with very few results to Google so I can track the engine easier. You can type in "vbGORE" into google and most all results are towards my vbGORE. If you try that with Mirage, or Elysium... well, we all know. :wink:

- Boo - 12-04-2007

thats also why I used Eloric Big Grin

But if you can PM me info on how to add that socket i'll be happy spodi Big Grin