Hi guys!
Over at http://www.projectdarkstar.com/wiki/doku.php/eclipse_sgs_and_jmonkeyengine I tried to start a tutorial about how to setup Project Darkstar, Eclipse and JME. Maybe this is helpful for others, so if anyone wants to join, I'd be happy to get some help with it.
I already set it up in my Eclipse and I created an External Tool entry which I want to share on that page. I bet you have other useful hints for the tutorial. 
Do you have a working jME + Darkstar demo, you should setup a SVN or CVS, on https://www.dev.java.net/ or http://code.google.com/hosting/createProject and post it up.
I have access to the jME Contrib project (which I was hoping to use to host jME tutorials and extensions but haven't), so if you have something working maybe you can host it there?
https://jme-contrib.dev.java.net/
Not yet, I'm working on a simple demo app that shows the channel communication of Darkstar. It is a simple JME app with FengGUI on top where you can send messages from one client to another. Maybe I can finish it on the weekend, I have to find my way through fenggui before… 
I'll be happy sending you the finished demo to include in jme-contrib, but opening my own project on Google Code is something I want to do for a long time now, to host my own demo apps for several things. When I'm done, I'll post a note here.
I'd offer my assistance, but alas you are using the wrong networking engine. 
Hehe, I'm not only for the networking, but for the whole Server stuff. I think it's a good way to really get a prototype running. Darkstar helps you a lot to concentrate on the actual gameplay first, I think. That's why I wanted to try out the API with simple bits of demo and tutorial apps. The Server Tutorial PDF is a great source of information if you're new to Game Servers and the background of MMOs in general.
You could include a weblink section with a link to your JGN or others of your fabulous projects.
heh well I think your using the right technology of course
The reason I'm porting my NWN loader is because Im actually working on a basic OLRPG engine ontop of Darkstar and JME.
Gonna be a bit til I have anything useful other then parts though.
So you run Darkstar differently then I do under Eclipse.
I just run the Kernel as my main.
Ive never set up an "external tool", what are the advantages?
Well, mostly it is because I want to run the client and the server logic from within eclipse. So I set up the SGS with my server AppListener as an External tool and after running that (i get the output on a console, too) I can start my client and debug it. Don't know if there is another advantage, but I never thought about running an SGS internal class as my main…
I use external tools wherever it is possible, because it eliminates the need to remember this *.bat and that *.sh, if you're using real external/non-java tools.
edit Oh, and you can run different properties easily, because I set up my external tool to use the current selection from the Project Explorer. So I can click Hello1.properties and run it in SGS and after that click Hello2.properties and run it.
jeffpk said:
heh well *I* think your using the right technology of course :P
Of course you do, but that's only because you never took my challenge to try JGN. ;)
Yeah, unfortunately everyone knows by now that we're both biased...such a shame. :)
jeffpk said:
The reason I'm porting my NWN loader is because Im actually working on a basic OLRPG engine ontop of Darkstar and JME.
Gonna be a bit til I have anything useful other then parts though.
Are you going to be releasing the source for this project? Jokes aside (I know, it's hard to believe I have that ability), I'd be very interested in seeing what you come up with.
desertrunner said:
Well, mostly it is because I want to run the client and the server logic from within eclipse. So I set up the SGS with my server AppListener as an External tool and after running that (i get the output on a console, too) I can start my client and debug it. Don't know if there is another advantage, but I never thought about running an SGS internal class as my main... ;)
The advantage I see is that I can debug into the Server app code.
I just have two RUN configs. One for the client and one for the server.
darkfrog said:
Are you going to be releasing the source for this project? Jokes aside (I know, it's hard to believe I have that ability), I'd be very interested in seeing what you come up with.
Absolutely my intent.
JK
Ok, I will try this when I do more of your ServerTutorial apps. It's definitly worth including it in the setup tutorial.
The class to run is something like com.sun.sgs.kernel.impl.Kernel
Pass it the app config file as its one parameter