Well that’s one problem solved. I’ve got the new NDS up and running, but it’s so slow that I’m wondering if I should try and get the 2.0 SDK working again. The game still works fine using the Test Mobiles.

Got to still try and get this SymbianOS = -36 error out of the way though.

Outstanding Tests in addition to this are;-

1. Attempt to play a Bluetooth game with Bluetooth switched off.
2. Client controlled break during InterPhace transfer (they select cancel).
3. Server controlled break during InterPhace transfer (see above).
4. Client and Server loose their connection due to two players walking out Bluetooth Range during InterPhace transfer.
5. Same as above but during GamePlay.
6. Client Receives a Text during InterPhace transfer.
7. Server Receives a Text during InterPhace transfer.
8. Client Receives a Phone Call during InterPhace transfer.
9. Server Receives a Phone Call during InterPhace transfer.
10. Client Receives a Text during Game Play.
11. Server Receives a Text during Game Play.
12. Client Receives a Phone Call during Game Play.
13. Server Receives a Phone Call during Game Play.
14. Alter the InterPhace Generation to Transfer InterPhace Screen.

Once these tests are complete, then I have a working Alpha.

I can head in my head a huge “I told you so!” Uninstalling the SDKs, The NDS, Wireless Tool Kit and Java itself seemed to be no problem and then reinstalling the whole thing. Am I going to have to reinstall the NDS 2.2 In order to get things working again and try with the new 3.0 prototype instead?

That’s one day lost.

Oh Sod It.....

I'm taking the plunge. Off with the old SDKs and development tool kits. Should I unpgrade java from 1.4.03 to 1.4.??.

Apparently upgrade to 1.5 is not recomended.

Another Step Back....

Well so much for the Custom UI working. I’ve just noticed that the SDK says that the UI parts in question don’t work on the series 60 Phone. I’ve tried the Flashlight and Vibrate functions but the Vibrate doesn’t work and the flashlight just looks crap. Looks like I’ll leave it out for the moment.

Re-fixed this but with the player id being set wrong after a game but I’m having problems on the replay of a game.

Also looking at the Dialogs to handle the Bluetooth setup and play, they are going to need an overhaul. They look don’t look professional. Some of the dialogs are heinous as well. The formatting is all over the place on the phones. (Although they do look fine on the Emulator!?!)

It appears the Symbian0S -36 Error occurs at the same time as an Exception on the client. I’ll put more debug in to see if I can solve it but I’ll admit I’m not confident.

The other news is that Nokia released a new SDK and a new Development Kit for JBuilder. Last time I upgraded, it knocked back development for almost a month so I’m a little apprehensive. I’ll give is a go by the end of the week after I’ve got some of these bugs out of the way.

Bug Fixes ?

I’ve put the Backlight and New Vibrate functionality in. I’m using the Nokia custom classes for this but as it’s limited to the classes which already restricted by the Nokia full screen class. Still not working the way I want but further testing will sort it out.

Work has started on the timeout and the aborting functionality. It’s quite simple really. Both the Client and the server have two counters. These count down with every game beat. If a move is sent or received, they are reset to they’re maximum value and it starts all over again.

If the output counter runs out then a time packet is sent and the counter is reset. If the input counter doesn’t receive a game packet from the opposing player within 1500 milliseconds it assumes the connection has been lost, (as the standard Bluetooth timeout is twenty seconds).

The other is the issue of an interruption to the game. Be it Phone call, message, I’ve coded up a call to abort any currently playing Multi Player game. Still got to alter the code for the map transfer but I’m almost there. Testing is going to be fun with people sending me Text messages or calls while I’m playing a game.

Just got to put in the Bluetooth active check and that should solve that embarrassing bug. Just sent a test to some of my friends to see if they can help me test the game.

Two major bugs have now been fixed. The first playing piece didn’t seem to work correctly with any player. Found out it wasn’t initialised properly in the Multiplayer Game. The client game now closes down properly. However, I’ve got to put in the timeout and the Back Screen light before I carry on with multiple game testing.

That’s if the Personal Life lets me.

Well, I’ve received a replacement phone and I now have two nokia’s to test with. The nokia 6600 and the nokia 3230. O2 didn’t have any 6630’s in stock and the one I really want, the 6680, wasn’t released. Still it works for the purpose of the game.

After a lot to tweeking, I’ve finally got a successful test run using the emulators. There are still a few things to put in though.

1. Timeout. Just something to ‘ping’ the connection and make sure the players are still connected during the lifetime of the game.
2. Interruptions – Suppose your playing a game and someone phones or texts. The game has to handle this interruption. Mostly by aborting the present multiplayer game. The others can handle the pause
3. Back light – One of the things I’ve really got narked about is on the 3230, the screen goes dark after only a couple of seconds. I’ve got to put in code to make sure the screen stays light.
Sounds. This has still got to be implemented.
4.Bluetooth catch. – The 3230 falls over if the Bluetooth is not enabled. The old 6600 used to enable Bluetooth if you needed it but this doesn’t seem possible.

Still, it’s progress and I think it’s time to update the website with a few new features. The WAP site has been constructed but I’m looking at a way to incorporate this into the present WEB Site.