Getting started - Just give up?

[starvingeyes]

I'm a flash game designer and this is my first attempt into multiplayer games. I come from the design side of things and I'm trying to see if I can get this stuff to work.

My problem is that it just seems to me that some of this stuff is over my head, and there is nothing in the documentation anywhere that helps me understand the basics....such as, yes I can get these examples to work on my computer with the server running and such, but what the hell am I supposed to do when I upload these to a website? I guess I'm supposed to get a Virtual Private Server thing, but then how do I install SmartFoxServer on that?

If I'm asking questions this dumb, should I just give up and not even try?

Jason
starvingeyes.com

[patso]

A good way to start is to found a good book about Action Script and Flash. This is absolutely required. The good thing of SFS is that it supports AS for server side extensions so you create client + server code without the need to know anything apart from Flash and AS.

[grizzly]

I think some tutorials would be good to have in here anyway..I read a lot of books about actionscript, yet I cant find a way these questions:
http://forums.smartfoxserver.com/viewtopic.php?t=1952

[didibus]

Hum, so what is your problem exactly?

You got the example working?
That mean you think you'd be capable of making a full multilayer game that would perfectly run on your computer with the server installed on the same machine running it locally?

So your only problem is you don't know how to make it publicly available?

All you need is a hosting company that gives you enough freedom to install SmartFoxServer on it or get a hosting company that already offers it. Then just change the IP address of your client to point to it and upload your client on a normal web server just like you upload a normal flash game and voila!

[starvingeyes]

how do i change the ip address of my client? what's a client in this case?

Jason

[Asphalt]

I'm in the same boat as starvingeyes - I'm a Flash Designer/Developer with 8 years experience using Flash and Actionscript, but when it comes to setting up servers I'm completely lost. It would be great to have some sort of walk-through tutorial about how to set up a Virtual Private Server account and modify the settings to get SmartFoxServer working.

I realize that the exact steps would vary from host to host, but I'm sure there are some general settings to watch out for.

Surely whichever hosting company provided this type of tutorial would have an influx of VPS account sign-ups.
MediaTemple...hint...hint...it would be great to have a tutorial about setting SmartFoxServer up on your servers...

[Lapo]

Setting up the server is fairly easy provided that you have a good-enough environment where to install it to.

Now what is "good enough" ?
You need to be able to have full admin rights/control over the server so that you can install/remove new applications and start them.

Usually Dedicated Servers offer this level of control, but also VPS (virtual private server) do, at a fraction of the cost of the former.
Just make sure to choose a VPS configuration that supports enough RAM to run the OS and the other apps comfortably.
The bare minimum is probably 256Mb but if you want to make something serious with it we definitely recommend 512.

Installing:
Installing SmartFoxServer on a Windows or Linux VPS is as simple as doing it on your desktop PC.
If the server runs Windows you can usually connect via RemoteDesktop and perform the installation in a few seconds with the provided installer.

If you run Linux you can access the machine via SSH terminal, execute the SFS installer and you're ready to go.

Post Install:
After installing you will probably need to configure the firewall (if present) by adding a rule that allows traffic on TCP port 9339

that's all