News Archive

Do to an unfortunate series of events involving piracy of SFA resources, the SFA Public Alpha is no longer available and, pending UT feeling generous, doesn't look like it (or the Beta) will ever be made available. UT's announcement:



So, it looks like everyone will just have to hunker down and wait for the final release. Don't feel discouraged though, cause UT is still working diligently. Keep visiting the SFA forum to keep up-to-date on its progress.

Due to issues with unstuffing and using the Full install on a Mac (probably due to it being stuffed on a PC) I have removed the Full install for the time being. It will return once UT creates the archive himself. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The full install of Alpha 3.0 for Mac has been uploaded to the server and is available from the Downloads section. Enjoy.

On another note, I've just converted the posting system to using bbcode. That should stop explodies from occuring .

(Oh, and I added smilies ).

I've just finished negotiating with Eternal Light Studios (thanks Xerex) and the Starfleet Adventures site is now being hosted by them. And, we've got enough web space to host a full SFA download too! Once I get the download tracking figured out, you'll be able to download SFA in once single package rather than the 8 parts from the ASW server .

The site is now XHTML 1.1 compliant and uses CSS exclusively for layout. I'm currently working on implimenting bbcode for the posting system. Will allow for slightly less explodies.

The site is currently in transition to the new xhtml and css layout design. The gallery is currently fscked up, but alas, it is time to leave work. I'll fix it up tonight/tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Okay, I was going to say face-lift, but the site should (if all goes well) still look the same once I finish with the update. Basically, I'm just going to convert the site to XHTML 1.1 and CSS from HTML 4.01 and tables like I did with my website. Its going well, but unfortunatly, its time for sleep now. More work will ensue tomorrows at works probablies.

I've made a minor update to the site (see the badges just under the side nav bar). I've also finally updated my personal website - Planet Pouganis. I've changed the name from zap2vap cause Pouganis is cooler. If you hadn't guessed from visiting my site, its based on the layout and code I wrote for this site. Just changed the menus and color scheme.

Yay! Its my Birthday today! I'm 20 now. And the site, despite the lack of updates, still seems to be popular! YAY! So yea, just wanted to let you guys know that I'm still here watching the site, waiting prone for anything to explode.

The hit counter exploded for some reason. It reset to zero. I think it may have to do with freepgs moving all their user files to a new hard drive. Whatever the reason, I got it set back relatively close to where it was before it exploded thanks to Ace from the ev-nova.net forums - that would be over 8,000 hits. I think the site is sorta popular .

I've been adding more bloopers as I've received them, moved the screenshot of the Federation class vessel up a bit to be in the TOS era ships rather than TNG era, and added the new Vigilance class to the ships list in About SFA.

Nothing real big, but the site is growing in popularity. Over 7,000 hits!

There's been a surge in Blooper submissions in the last week, mainly Blaster Happy, but there are several new Bloopers! Check 'em out!

We just went over the 5,000 hits mark! WOOOHOOO!

I've updated the ships section to reflect UT's new all ships image and added a few more bloopers.

UT - based on the about 100 hits per day, I'd say someone has to be reading the FAQ .

I keep adding things to the FAQ page. I begin to wonder if anyone reads it.

I added the link to the already-converted-for-windows dowload of SFA in the downloads section and updated the welcome screen.

I also added a link to my new webcomic in the links section: >Segmentation Fault_.

I've added a new feature to the website: Guest login. Now the public can see how the SFA site works behind the scenes. But Guests can't change anything. The posting script does not work for Guests. So if you're interested, just click the "Login" link at the bottom of the page and enter "Guest" in the name field. No password required.

Also added a few new bloopers .

EDIT: I've also commented just about all the site's code. All I have left is the rest of the managing script *sigh*, which just so happens to be the largest script. I'll do it later .

SFA now has its own forum at EV-Nova.net! The Links section has been updated by none other than UT himself. He's also added more links to Star Trek sites and his personal site (he added it to the end though, so I bumped it up to the top ).

Jebus, we're almost at 2,000 hits! Woohoo!

EDIT: Updated the links across the site to the SFA thread to point to the forums instead and added an announcement on the welcome page.

Blooper Reel updated .

I've added a new Blooper to the Reel courtesy of Kaszeta. This one is quite humerous I must say. When I get to a computer with image editing capabilities, I'll circle it on the image. For now, you've got to find it .

Okay, I may have stomped the hit counter bug. I simply test right after it reads if from the database and expands the data to make sure it did it right, and if not it does it again and again until it gets it right. We'll see. Also did a bunch of efficiencizing and cleaning up so that its easier to follow. Got mores to go though.

Wow, this site is popular, 15 hits in the last 30 mins! YAY!

Okay, so I guess my solution didn't fix the hit counter. It still seems to explode randomly. I'm not sure why. I'll have to investigate.

The Public Alpha 3.0 build of Starfleet Adventures is now available! Links have been added to the Downloads section and a notice has been added to the Welcome screen. YAY!

I hate commenting code...but since I've had a few requests to see my code, I've decided to go ahead and start commenting it so that people can get a glimpse into the twisted pseudo-logical mind of mine and see how this site works. I've finished commenting my functions script, the index script, the login script, and the posting script.

1. I apparently almost broke the database system I'm using...but no fear! I fixed it .
2. I recieved some new screens for the Blooper Reel courtesy of CiM...YAY!
3. Lastly, I updated the hit counters to use semaphore files (it just means that it uses a similar file with .lock appended to the end which is used for obtaining writing permission to the file). This should fix the occasional problem of the hit counter blowing up.
4. Also updated the banner switching system to use a simaphore file to avoid the unpleasentries experienced with the hit counter.
5. A minor thing, but I updated the site style slightly to add a border to the news posts and the faq posts. Whatchya think?
6. Added some more links to the post script for easier navigation.

There appears to be a problem with the hit counter. It just exploded on me a few minutes ago. I temporarily fixed it, but I'll investigate further as to why it exploded in the first place after I get home today. So, please overlook any grotesque stretching of the website which may occur.

Don't know if anyone noticed, but I took the site down for a little while due to a fumbled update attempt. I made the hit counter more advanced so now it records your IP address and the time you accessed the site. It checks to see if your IP address had been on in the last 15 minutes; if it had, then it updates the access time for that IP address, if not, then it adds your IP and time and increments the hits by one. I had tested it out on another server before I added it here, but I forgot about some discrepencies between some of the functions on the freepgs server and the other server I use for testing. Aw well, it appears to be working fine now . This should make the hit counter all that more accurate.

Added a few new questions and answers to the FAQ, as well as cleaned up the occasional grammatical faux pas. I'll be adding the mesh author list to the Thanks section in About Us soon.

YAY! People seem to like the site . And it appears people have figured out the surprise already - if you haven't yet, the banner changes every day at midnight GMT. I've also added a last updated feature (which can be seen on the bottom of the page), added the time to the date field of news posts and screenshots and such, and I've enhanced the hit counter to use IP tracking (it keeps track of the last 10 IP addresses which visited the site, and if your IP address is not on the list, it counts a hit). This will fix the problem of the unrealistic amount of hits that the blooper reel was receiving due to people clicking on each picture from the gallery page. Also fixed a few other oddities, but nothing big . SUCCESS!

The site is now ready for its public release! YAY! More screens are to be added, but I have the okay from UT to let it loose! BOOYA!

I've taken a bunch of screenshots and added them to the screenshots section! The site now is fully featured! Now I just need to get UT's approval! YAY!

Okay, I've screwed around some with the managing script and made it more efficient as well as my database system. Now its time to go install the newest SFA release and start taking some screenshots since no one on the Alpha team seems to be wanting to help with it.

After that, all that's left is for UT to approve everything and then we are a-go for launch!

There are a lot of ships in SFA. I just finished cutting up UT's large pic of all ships, uploading them to the site, and adding them to the database. It only took a couple hours.

Also fixed a lot of bugs found along the way.

Now I just need to get some screenshots for the screenshots section. Alas, that'll have to wait till...not now.

Well, it appears that all there is left to do is add some of the frills I've been wanting to add to the site. I've finished (probably) the gallery and just need to continue adding ships and screenshots. But, its time to sleep now. Its looking like we may have a simultaneous completion of the Alpha 3 build of SFA and the website .

Very very very close now. Everything I have left to do is basically fine-tuning the managing script and adding some features to the main page...including a nifty little suprise .

1. More buggie stomping.
2. Created the picture viewer script and linked the images to it. Also created thumbnails for the images rather than just resizing the large image to decrease load time.

With any luck, I may even get it all done today(well, it'll never be done - there's always more efficencizing that can be done ).

Didn't get a lot done, but I got some bugs worked out and, of course, more efficencencizing.

1. Edited the ships page that UT had written to be compatible with the navigation bar and added "Back to Top" links.
2. Squashed some buggies in the managing script which made the pictures section work oddly.
3. Created the template which is used to create each of the gallery sections.

Now I need to add upload capabilities to the managing script and create the pic viewer script. Soooo very close now.

I've been adding just preliminary text in various locations. Eventually, there'll be more thorough examinations of these things -- or not. Most of my recent additions have been in the About SFA subsections.

Okay, I haven't gotten anything HUGE done since last update, but I have done some efficiencizing and also [hopefully] squashed a little bug with removing all items from a database and trying to start anew which gave UT a heart attack . I'm considering some database reorginizing to allow for some efficiencizing of the managing script. Not sure if I will or not though. I've also got some ideas to speed up my code some (marginaly yes, but in coding, every millisecond counts ).

Well, after a shaky start and my amazing ability to screw up HTML coding, Pougan's wizardry notwithstanding, I finally got a few questions and answers on the FAQ section started. I'll tackle the About SFA section soon.

Its been a while since I last did anything with the site, but the good news is I got a lot done in the last two days:

1. Did a lot of efficientizing. That's the one good thing about taking a break from a project - its what I like to call the "What the HELL was I thinking?" effect.
2. Got the FAQ section working. Now we just need to start adding questions.
3. Altered the login method for the managing script so that only one person can be logged in at a time. This solves the "What if two people edit the same page at the same time?" problem. Sessions automatically time out after 15 minutes of inactivity to avoid being locked out indefinitely. I may change this later, but I'll have to come up with a clever method of solving the beforementioned problem.

Now that the FAQ section has been done, I can start working on the managing of the Screenshots section.

Okay, nothing spectacular, but I switched the database system to using the null character for parsing the data rather than the ~ and |. According to Jacob, the null character is the standard in cases such as this due to the fact that it can't be entered in conventional means, cause it will just be deciphered as a null character. So that's what I'm using now. Nothing enormous, but enough .

Okay. I've made the Dowloads and Links section use the database system that I set up. I've also fixed some buggies I found crawling around my posting code. I'll get to the FAQs section later. I need to eat and then start cramming for a history test on Tuesday. Blah.

Okay. It appears that news posting is working...hopefully. People's can now post...maybe.