Well after days of complications, Vizzed Board is back for good!

Well we had some complications with the current server so instead of fixing it, I decided to transfer to a new server. Well the new server had some complications and so I decided to revert back to this server. I've decided that instead of migrating to a new server in the future, I'll just get a 2nd server and place the database on the 2nd server. I can't possibly describe how many difficulties I went through but I've invested about 50+ hours on these problems over the past few days.

Anyways, Vizzed is back for good and nothing was lost. You can go back to posting and playing games like usual.

As a bonus to make up for the 3 days worth of down time, RGR Games will be free, 0 Viz, for the rest of summer (even if it'll cost me a ton of extra money, I feel I owe it to you guys).

For more information, questions, feedback, etc... refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13982

I've just spent the past 3 days (and 20+ hours) optimizing the site to increase performance and speed. Unfortunately this required me to spend most of my Saturday working on this, however it was definitely needed since the site was starting to get real slow and the SQL Server kept crashing due to so much database strain and I wasn't going to put something like this off to the side. I'm sure everyone has noticed the huge increase in site speed (note: the RGR game pages were taking up to 5 seconds to load before, now they're well under 1 second - in other words, about 10 times faster)



All games are free for the next few days
That's right, all games are free to play for the next few days. I'm making some DB changes and therefore I can't allow any data to go to or from the DB that involves purchasing or selling games. This means that while the games are free to play, you wont actually be purchasing them when you go to play them. Also because of this, you currently cannot sell your games that you have.

For those who are tech savvy, here's exactly what I did: Currently I have 1 DB table dedicated to keeping track of all the games that every user owns. The problem with this is that there's over 300,000 rows which means that every time a user goes to a Game page, it has to search through all of those rows to see if the user owns the game. What I plan on doing is making a table for each individual system. One of the reasons why the game pages are a lot faster now is because I removed the script that searches these rows, just until I've got a DB table for each system. I'm hoping to have everything taken care of by Monday, which means games are free until probably around Monday.



Improved RGR Search
A lot of Google Bots would get stuck or lost in the RGR Search engine which would cause a little strain. Basically they'd end up on pages that would display no results. Here's what I did to prevent this:

When you go to search for a game, Tetris for example, the systems that have the game 'Tetris' would be clickable and let you view only Tetris games for whatever system you clicked and all other systems are dimmed but if you click them, it just takes you to the system but it wont try to display tetris games for that system since the dimmed systems don't have tetris games; same thing applies for the letters.

Another nice new thing I've added was that if your search results return nothing, the RGR will try to make a recommendation. So for example, lets say someone tried searching for Pokemon games for the Atari 2600, since none exist, it would give you recommendations of Pokemon games for other systems.

This also increases my Search Engine rankings since Search Engines will be finding and displaying good pages in the RGR instead of bad pages with no results.



Other Optimizations
I did optimize various other pages which included the Message Center, RGR Pages, Index, and a few other things.



For more information, questions or comments regarding these updates, please post here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13899

Click Here to vizzit the Vizzed Ebay Store

Most of you probably have seen by now that Vizzed recently opened up a store on ebay and is giving out 500 Viz for every US $1 you spend in the store. The store is about half way over so be sure to take advantage of this offer and the below offers:

Most of the Games in the store have dropped in price between 25% - 50%

Also, Pokemon Cards have been added to the store!

For more information about the store, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13422

I've just added 1200+ Nintendo and Famicom games (famicom games are listed under NES). The RGR should now have just about every single Nintendo and Famicom game ever made, I was surprised at how many Nintendo games were missing and I've also had a ton of requests to add more Famicom games. What is the Famicom? Well it's basically the Nintendo in Japan. You can find the newly added games here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/index.php?system=nes&sort=id

I've also added 2000+ Atari 2600 games. I was surprised at how many games were missing. This update also includes a bunch of hacks. You can find the newly added games here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/index.php?system=a2600&sort=id

Atari 2600 games are now 1 Viz. Since the games are so small, it was silly to even charge 5 Viz. Plus a lot of games suck. Another reason for this is that there's been a lot of people who have bought Atari 2600 games, didn't like them, rated them a 10 to get some of their Viz back, and than sold it (which results into a full refund). Well now that the games are only 1 Viz, you don't get any Viz for rating them or selling them.

Apple II games are now 5 Viz. Not a big drop in price but they went from 7 Viz to 5 for similar reasons to the Atari 2600 price drop.

For more information regarding the new games and price drops, or if you want to leave feedback, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13632



3 new little features for the RGR Search engine.

Random Game
You can now have the RGR randomly pick a game for you by clicking the 'Random' button. It randomly picks a game based on your specifications. For example, if you type in 'mario' in the search box and click 'Random', it'll randomly bring up a game with 'mario' in the title. If click to display only game boy games and click 'Random', it'll randomly pick a game boy game. And of course if you have no specifications, it'll randomly pick any game in the RGR.

First Game
This is for users who are impatient or in a hurry and want to go directly to the game they are searching for. So if I wanted to search for 'Moto Roader' and wanted the RGR to take me directly to that game, I type in 'Moto Roader' and click '1st' and I'll be brought to that game automatically. Now there are some games with the same title as others, the RGR will randomly return either the one with the most views or the one with the highest rating. Just like the 'Random Game' feature, you can adjust your specifications. For example, I can click 'Sega Genesis' and than type in 'Bomberman' and it'll direct me to the 1st 'Bomberman' game the RGR finds for the Sega Genesis.

Country Origin on Search Results
Search results now tell you which country that specific game was released in. (U) = USA, (J) = Japan, (UEJ) = USA, Europe and Japan, etc. This will help you to avoid games released in certain countries. I also made little flags to represent which country each game is from.

For more information regarding the new features, or if you want to leave feedback, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13575

July VCS has Begun, and this will be the first VCS that I'll be handing out awards to the top 3 participants (using the Awards feature which will be available at the end of the month).

For more information and what the VCS is, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13556

You interested in earning 1000's of Viz for very little effort? Record yourself playing Retro Game Room games, you're already playing the games, why not earn tons of Viz while playing? Here's what you do to earn the Viz


Instructions

1. Record yourself playing a game in the Vizzed Retro Game Room. Your video can consist of short segments of your favorite games, a walkthrough, a commentary review or simply just showing off gameplay of your favorite game. Do whatever you want, just as long as the video consists of you playing a game (or multiple games) from the Vizzed RGR.

You'll need screen recording software:
I recommend CamStudio since it's free. Camtasia is probably an even better program but it costs money but it does have a 30 day trial.

2. You'll upload your videos to youtube to your own account. In the description of the video, at the very beginning of it, paste in your referral link. So for example, if you choose to play Pokemon Emerald in your video, go to the Pokemon Emerald game in the Vizzed Retro Game Room and copy your referral link from the page and post it into your youtube description. This way, every time someone clicks your link in your description, you'll automatically get 100 Viz per a person who clicks it and even more if that person signs up or registers.

Title of Video Recommendations:
The title of your video should use as many keywords as possible. So for example, if you're playing Super Mario Bros for the NES, your video should be titled something like 'Play Super Mario Bros for the NES FREE'.

That's it, your done. Read on to see how you earn Viz from this and what the rules are.


How do you earn Viz from this
As you already read, you earn Viz when your link is clicked. You ALSO earn Viz based on the amount of views your video gets. So for every 1000 views you video gets, you'll be given 1000 Viz (maximum of 10,000 Viz per a video). So as soon as your video reaches 1000 views, reply to the below thread posting a link to it and you'll be sent the Viz:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13317

Your video description MUST have a link to vizzed otherwise it does not qualify for the Viz.


Any Questions?
Please respond to this thread with any questions you may have:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=13317
This offer has no deadline.

Vizzed Board is now hosting the Final Fantasy 7 NES Upgrade Project, a team dedicated to taking the FF7 NES remake and upgrading it's graphics, music and a few other things to make it more like the Playstation version.

If you have some graphic talent, 8-bit composing talent or rom hacking talent, please apply for the position here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=12838


If you're interested in knowing more about the project, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=12837

The more support we can get, the sooner this upgraded game can be released! So if you don't have the talent to apply, please tell anyone you know that does have the talent.

June 2010 Competitions have started, you can earn up to 10,000 Viz in each.

Here's this month's competitions:

Final Fantasy VII Master Screenshot Competition
Get further into the game than anyone else.

D-Pad Hero 2 Highscore Competition
Have the highest score in this game at the end of the month.

Close Call Screenshot Competition
Take the best screenshot of a close call situation.

10,000 Viz is awarded to 1st place in each competition, 2,500 Viz is awarded to 2nd and 1,000 Viz is awarded to 3rd. Anyone can compete, the more the better!

You can now view and rotate 3D models of the game boxes for all the systems. This has been an on going project for the past 4 months now which I've put 100+ hours into. I probably wouldn't have began this project if I would've known it would have taken so long but I'm very happy with the outcome. I put a lot of time into the tiniest detail to get these things to look as real as possible. They aren't perfect but they add a nice touch and I really wanted to "wow" the user - it's also fun being able to see the original box and it's content on the front and back.

Here's a few good examples:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/game.php?id=3387 - Genesis Box (these were the hardest)
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/game.php?id=9066 - Nintendo 64
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/game.php?id=10643 - Game Boy Advance

You can rotate the 3D models, view the back, view the front and there's also an 'Enlarge Box' button which gives you a bigger view. Scroll down about half way down almost any game page, you'll see the 3D models on the right.

Some systems are missing boxart graphics while others need better resolution box graphics. I'm looking to hire a few people willing to help me add boxart graphics. Anyone interested, please reply to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=12650
Only requirement is that you have a lot of free time over the next few weeks. Also reply to that thread with any feedback you may have.

Vizzed has a facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vizzed/120725987944823?v=wall

Please add Vizzed to your page. If vizzed ever goes down for a long time, I'll be sure to post announcements and updates on there.

Here's how you can earn Viz:
I will give you 10 Viz for each person you suggest Vizzed to on facebook (no more than 10,000 Viz per a user and a minimum of 10 users). There's a feature that says 'Suggest To Friend', simply click that and click on all your friends to suggest them to it. If you suggest vizzed to 100 friends, that's 1000 Viz - easy! Just be sure to let me know how many friends you suggested the Vizzed page to by replying to this thread here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=12321

The Vizzed RGR Plugin now supports screenshots so you can now take screenshots of your games by pressing F6. To retrieve your screenshots, on the page of the game, go about half way down the page and to the left you'll find a link that says 'Click Here to Retrieve, Add or Update your Screenshots', simply click that, give your screenshot a description and it'll be submitted.

To celebrate this new feature, I've got 2 competitions, both you can win 25,000 Viz.

Funny Screenshot Competition
Cross Screenshot Competition

Failed Newbie Quiz? Simply PM me, Davideo7, and I'll reset it so that you can retake it. Remember, you get up to 400 Viz for taking the newbie quiz and it allows you to post (and you get around 10 Viz per a post you make).

The Plugin we released a few days ago had problems with it but we have fixed those problems and have re-released it. Download it here
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=8676

For those who didn't know, the new plugin supports save states for NES, GBA, SNES, Genesis and 32X. More info here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11561



I'm very sorry for the trouble this has caused some of you. Even though the problem is fixed I still want to make it up to some of you so for anyone who had to suffer the problems for the past few days, please send me a PM letting me know that you were a victim and I'll compensate you 1,000 Viz.



The Vizzed RGR Plugin now supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color games! More info here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11618

The new plugin is out and now supports Save States for GBA, Genesis, NES and 32X. The previous plugins already had SNES save states.

Download Vizzed RGR Plugin V1.1 here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=8676



For information on recovering lost save states that you may have made before Vizzed RGR V1, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11561

Want to earn a quick 900 Viz? Than go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11329

Doing this will help out vizzed a lot so your help will definitely be worth it.

Turns out some of the games weren't working after the transfer and some people were unable to load or save their games. This should be fixed but if not, please report any other problems that you might be having that has come up after the server transfer a few days ago in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11194

The server migration took longer than expected (full details here) but everything is finished being transferred and we are of course on the new server

The new server is over twice as powerful which means that the site will be able to handle over doubled the traffic, we shouldn't have to upgrade again for the rest of the year. Also the new server has file mirroring which greatly reduces the chances of files getting corrupted such as your save files. And the other big change is that the disk space of the new server is over doubled which means I've got more space to add more games in the future.

Thanks for everyones patience during the transfer. I know I had originally said it'd only take 12 hours but ended up taking 36 hours.

If anyone notices any problems that may have been caused from the transfer, please report them ASAP in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11155

Any time between now and Thursday there will be some down time, possibly up to 12 hours. No data will be loss.

Vizzed is migrating to a more powerful server which will be literally over twice as powerful. The reason for this migration is that the Vizzed traffic is expected to increase rapidly during the next few months and since the CPU usage is already getting near 90% during peak hours, now is the best time to do the migration.

Any questions, please post them here:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=11108

Well as you can all see, the New Board Experience has launched!

If for some reason you're still seeing old graphics, simply press Ctrl + F5, because you're browser is probably caching the old graphics. You may need to do this for multiple pages.

What's new on the New Experience?
-Chat Bar
At the bottom of every page, you'll see a chat bar which lets you chat with your friends, tells you which friends are online and also lets you either create or enter a user created chat room and chat with others (this is based on the cometchat plugin I purchased but spent an entire day alone modifying and working on). You can disable the plugin in the edit profile page, or you can simply make it so that it appears on the index only.

-All new graphics and scheme
Completely updated graphics and a new design which makes navigating the site easier and quicker

-Friends list
You can add users to your friends list but either going to the Control Panel and than to Friends List, or you can add them from their profile

-Status Bar
Below the banner you will see a status bar which now shows who is also on that page for every single page

-You now get 100 Viz for coming to vizzed board each day (before it was 50)

-Help Links
This isn't finished yet but I plan to make terminology that users are unfamiliar with clickable links (as you can see, the word 'viz' is a clickable link in most areas which now takes you to a page telling you how to earn it and what it is

-Optimization
Many pages have been optimized so that they put less strain on the server and also make the page load faster

-About Us page
Gives detailed information about vizzed from general information, credits, privacy policy, disclaimer and some history

-Updated Index
Gives a little more information, has a google search and also encourages users to bookmark the page

-Viz Center
Gives you your referral link (like before) but also shows your Viz count, has a donation button and has a link you can click for more information

-Etc



Please report any problems you may have with the new experience in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=10717
but PLEASE be specific and detailed. It's not quite finished but I figured it was far enough along to go live.

All you have to do is place your referral link on any website or email it to anyone and you'll earn Viz!

Post your referral link on any website, your facebook / myspace / twitter profile, email it to people, post it on youtube, post it in your signature or bio of another message board, etc... or tell your friends about (if your friend signs up without a referral link, on the registration page they can choose your username as the person who referred them and you'll still get credit).

You can find your referral link near the top of every page directly above the message center. The referral link takes the person to the same page you got your referral link on.

Here's how much Viz you get from referrals:
-For every person with a unique IP who visits your referral link, you earn 100 Viz
-If a person you referred registers, you earn an additional 400 Viz
-If the user you referred makes a post, you earn an additional 500 Viz
-You also earn 5 Viz for every single post the person makes that you referred

You can see a list of all the people who you referred that signed up by going to your profile; you'll also receive a notification.



BONUS PROMOTIONAL OFFER - Earn $ Cash $
US $10 - If you refer at least 25 people to the site who sign up, you will be awarded $10 Cash
US $25 - If you refer at least 50 people to the site who sign up, you will be awarded $25 Cash
(remember, this is in USA currency)

Promotional Offer Rules:
-Only users who sign up using unique IPs count. So in other words, users who sign up using your IP or at your location do not count.
-The money will be paid either thru Paypal or I can order something online for you equivelant to the payout (which includes the shipping cost)
-You can choose to have extra Viz instead of Cash. $10 payout would become 10,000 Viz and $25 payout would become 25,000 Viz
-The most each individual user can earn is $25
-This offer is good until July 1st, 2010 or until I've paid out a total of $100, which ever comes first
-All the Viz you earn is automated but to get the Cash payout, you MUST PM me once you've referred the number of users for a cash payout