69 replies to this topic

[rcthelp]

My optimism was badly placed. Practically all of those 'lost' files were older than my backup.

So I have about 3 months work to repeat.

[Woodpecker]

My optimism was badly placed. Practically all of those 'lost' files were older than my backup.

So I have about 3 months work to repeat.

You won't have to work it all out again, and that'll save you a lot of time. Sometimes I've had to build most of a track from memory, such as translating the Ocean Park Giant Dipper back into rct1. It was actually easier to do it that way rather than piece-by-piece as I could compare what the screen showed with what my memory showed.

As far as backups go, I am an obsessive saver. Shockwave 2 has well over 40 files associated with it. This includes all the tweaks during construction, running it in a moneyless park, building a pay-per-ride park to test it in (and saving after every ride was built), then several for each of the overnight soak tests. Then I saved the track design at least 7 times as well.

I'm not saying you should save your ride exchange as often as I do, but I'm a bit suprised you didn't make backups once you started making real progress. Still, at least you've got some of your old files back!

Edited by Woodpecker, 07 September 2009 - 11:18 AM.

[rcthelp]

Rather than repeat some of the old things that I lost in the server crash, I've been adding some new features instead.

Viewing a member's profile:

 ridexprofile.png   18.71KB   10 downloads

On the right, you will see the 5 most recent rides that the member has uploaded.
On the left is a link that will show ALL the member's rides.

Use this feature on yourself, to list all your uploads, and easily find them if you want to edit them.

Viewing member lists:

 ridememberlist.png   12.96KB   9 downloads

Here you can quickly see which members have uploaded rides, and find their rides in the Exchange by clicking on the linkl.

[Woodpecker]

Excellent. That will save so much time trawling through the exchange for one forgotten ride!

[rcthelp]

Continuing the theme of 'under the covers' functionality, the new permissions sytem is now fully implemented. Forum admins can specify Exchange permissions by group, with a few mouse clicks.

 ridexpermissions.png   14.19KB   7 downloads

This may not look like much, but it's a huge saving in coding complexity compared with old Exchange, and offers much greater flexibility in the future.

[Luketh]

[rcthelp]

Finally, the code for filtering and listing rides is now complete.

 listingcomplete.png   14.27KB   12 downloads

From the top highlighted rectangle downwards ...

• A tab for the Ride Exchange
• Navigation/breadcrumb trail
• More sophisticated page turning.
• Jump to rides that begin with a letter
• Sort with a single click (the bold one is the current selection)

The code for saving the search/filters is complete, but the forms themselves got lost in the server crash. At least I have the screenshots here to remind me what they looked like, and I'm in the process of rebuilding them.

[Woodpecker]

That's brilliant. Are you close to where you were before the crash?

[rcthelp]

Regrettably no. I have lost all the upload code which was all almost entirely new when compared with the old code, and all the completely new Javascript to dynamically change the lists of ride types when people include/exclude versions of the game from the search lists.

I've also lost all the skins for the advanced filters and user control panel settings, and the code to handle the user control panel settings.

[rcthelp]

Here is the previous version of the Ride Preferences settings.

On these screens the settings are stored permanently for you if you are a member, and you may change them at any time.

This was the version of the screen before the server crash, here's the new version, which I believe it is a slight improvement. The settings shown are the defaults unless you change them.

 defrideprefs.png   17.48KB   10 downloads