Hi Ive been looking about for Cameras / Security Cameras for my server as I would like to place some around my servers to catch players in the act. They don't seem to be much plugins like that well there is for the original minecraft server but not for bukkit. Any of you guys know any good ones or is there one in the making or can it just not be done ? Thanks
http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/read-first-what-can-plugins-do.22780/ Read the stickies before posting please.
Ask if he understands it would require Spout and Spoutcraft first before assuming he demands vanilla.
Fair enough, but if you are going to indirectly bring that up, then you should at least explain the implications of using Spout and Spoutcraft: Spout: Spout is a server plugin that introduces major changes to the way that Bukkit works in order to allow things like more complex inventory events and the modification of packets being sent to the client. This, on a basic level, makes things like invisibility, disguises, and plugins that require inventory management (like chest shops) much easier to accomplish. On another level, if clients on your server have Spoutcraft then Spout will be able to send them messages to make them act differently. This allows your server to, among other things, show players new blocks and videos. Unfortunately, if a client doesn't have Spoutcraft installed, then all new blocks will register as stone (I think this is true, but it might have been changed). Also, because Spout makes such major changes to the server, it's probably the slowest plugin to update. If you are relying on Spout, then you will, on most occasions, have to wait a bit after each Bukkit update before you can actually update your server. Also, if I recall correctly, Spout is probably the leading plugin in compatibility issues because of how much it changes. (If I'm wrong here, please correct me, but I believe all of the stuff I've explained here is current information) SpoutCraft: Spoutcraft is a client mod that lets clients change based on messages a Spout server sends them. The problem is that, at the moment, very few people have Spoutcraft, so, in your situation, very few people will be able to see these security cameras. You have the option of requiring all players to have the mod when they join your server, but I can guarantee that this will lower your potential player base. As you might have guessed, I really don't like either of these mods, but that's only until they've been developed further. Obviously these aren't major problems. I'm sure you can live with a player seeing TVs as stone blocks, and if you want to update your server more quickly, then there's no problem with just losing the TVs for a couple days. So yeah, technically your idea is possible. Still, even though the above poster said that it was, it's still a very complicated addition to the game in comparison to things that have already been added. Even with Spout, I'm not positive it can be done. But, if you're fine with everything I've explained then I'd say revise your post to explain your willing to use Spout, and see if anyone is up to the challenge. For Developers Who Are Up To It: Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about this in Spout's current state. Yes, it's possible with a client mod, but I'm assuming that modification uses a ton of stuff only available in the client code (ie, the actual code for rendering the game, which a server has no need to use). Still, despite not having access to an actual renderer (which might make the task much easier) you should be able to figure out all of the blocks in that area (using math that I really don't want to think about this early) and figure out a way to put together an image based off that information. Obviously this wouldn't give you the most Minecraft-like view, but I'm wondering if you can make use of some stuff from DynMap in order to render an image. Anyway, I've never developed a plugin that uses Spoutcraft integration, so I'm not exactly an expert in that area, but those are my two cents.
