   QBasic Multiplayer?    
  I'm working on game engine programming in pure* QB 7.1Does anybody have information that could help me include multiplayer capacity without dialing directly from modem to modem over a phone line?  I'm not a technical person right now, but I've got 12 years experience creating software and graphics with computers, programming mainly in QB and older BASICs.  I'm willing to become technical if that's what it takes to implement multiplayer capabilities.My present game creation website is 648.ontheweb.com/gamesMy personal website is drew.ontheweb.comThanks for any info!DREW* Presently it's all pure QB, but since my goal is to create games rather than to program in pure QB, I'm happy to implement non-QB items to allow, in this case, for multiplayer.[edited by - Drew648 on November 20, 2002 10:38:05 AM]
  I was once a QBasic programmer myself and always wondered about that issue. However, as far as I know, only direct connections (modem or maybe LAN) can be achieved in QB. There was once someone claiming that he had accomplished TCP/IP connection through a Windows slave module, but I don´t think you would like to use it since you said "pure QB". If you would like to find this, I recommend that you ask on a QB forum (such as www.hulla-balloo.com/vplanet)CheersThere are 10 kinds of people: those who know binary and those who don''t  ;  Sockets...Is that what I need to look into?  Can QB interact with "sockets"?Thanks again for info you can provide,DREW648.ontheweb.com/gamesdrew.ontheweb.com  ;quote:Original post by Drew648  Sockets...Is that what I need to look into?  Can QB interact with "sockets"?Thanks again for info you can provide,DREW648.ontheweb.com/gamesdrew.ontheweb.com I really have no answer to this.. but i can''t help but wonder.. why?lolBut hey !  I''d be interested to hear if you succeed.  QB is a fun language ;  My guess for the best way to go about it would be to get a simple program which creates a connection, another one which sends stuff over that connection and another which closes the connection. Then, store the machine code for them somewhere. It might help if you know ASM here as there will probably be variables you want to change. Then POKE it into memory and run it when necessary. I haven''t used QBasic for a long time now though, so I might be talking crap  Trying is the first step towards failure.;  Ever consider Visual Basic?  ;  It sounds like you''re coming along with programming quite well. Now is the time to move away from QB. Trust me on this.Download a free C++ IDE and get a book (look in the "Books and Software" section of this site for suggestions) on programming C++. It''s quite a jump from BASIC to C++, but if you''re programming games, it is your next step.One caution: it may seem like quite a step back. Expect to not be able to do graphics stuff for quite some time. But it sounds like you are competent enough that you are pushing the limits of QBasic, and that is the time to make the move.Good luck.    Don''t listen to me. I''ve had too much coffee.  ;  "Now is the time to move away from QB."I don''t totally disagree (although I would hate to do it - I know, I''ve tried!), but in my present case, I''m doing things on an almost nonexistent budget."...it sounds like you are...pushing the limits of QBasic..."Yeah, I plan on continuing that.  When I hit a wall, I chip through it.  I''m gonna do it before I learn it can''t be done.(%"My guess for the best way to go about it would be to get a simple program which creates a connection, another one which sends stuff over that connection and another which closes the connection."This is my guess, too!******Where can I find these programs?  What are they called?  ;quote:Original post by Drew648  I don''t totally disagree (although I would hate to do it - I know, I''ve tried!), but in my present case, I''m doing things on an almost nonexistent budget.  Then get a free compiler. Dev C++ is a popular choice. Borland also has a free command line version of it''s compiler, and a free "personal" edition of its Delphi compiler. Microsoft offers the free "Introductory Edition" (it''s on their website somewhere, it also comes with a lot of C++ Beginner books) of Visual C++ as well as the extremely inexpensive Academic licence (note though that the Introductory version will not allow you to distrubute your apps and the Academic can only be bought by students).;  One possible solution to your problem: under unix at least, there''s a handy little program called netcat. It can be set in client or server mode, and basically just inputs and outputs data. I don''t recall whether QB can open programs as pipes, but if it can, then you could use a Win32 port of netcat for network stuff.    Don''t listen to me. I''ve had too much coffee.  