How To Make Your Own CavernCam

As of version 2.0, the CavernCamUploader has a built-in screen capture utility. For those of you who wish to continue using 3rd party screen capture tools, I've included instructions for the following tools:

• FRAPS: has a trial version which only captures BMP files (which is not supported by the uploading software or the applet)
• smartision ScreenCopy: open source (and hence free)

Before you begin, you will need the following:

• Java Run-time Environment version 5 or greater.
• The URL of your own website where you can upload the images
• FTP access to your website (i.e. an FTP address, a username and a password)

1. Create a directory on your local computer where your temporary captured images will go, e.g., C:/Temp/urupics

2. Download CavernCamUploader.zip and unzip it.

• Click the '...' button next to "Local Image Directory" and select the directory that you created in step 1, e.g., C:\Temp\urupics
• The default image size is 800x600. If you want to change this, enter new values in the "Image Width" and "Image Height" fields.
• If you want to specify an image that is shown while the CavernCam is not uploading, click the browse button next to the "Away Image" field and select a file.
• If you want to use the built-in screen capture utility:
  • Check the box marked "Perform screen captures".
  • If you will be running in windowed mode, you will need to specify the offset from the top-left corner of the desktop where your UruExplorer screen will appear. Set "Left X" to 5 and "Top Y" to 25.
  • To specify the image quality of the screen capture, move the slider until you get the desired percentage. Note: 100 means the image is captured perfectly - but the file size will be large.
• In the "FTP Site" field, enter the FTP address of your site.
  • For Earthlink web hosting: ftp-dom.earthlink.net
  • For Comcast users: upload.comcast.net
• In the "CavernCam Directory on FTP site", enter the directory on your web site where the pictures will be uploaded.
• In the "Username" field, enter your FTP login username.
• In the "Password" field, enter your FTP login password.
• If you do not want your password saved the next time you run this utility, uncheck "Remember Password"
• To specify how long to wait in between uploading images to the FTP site, move the slider next to "Upload interval (seconds)" until you get the desired amount.
• To upload the image date to your web site, check the box labelled "Upload Image Date".
• Click OK when finished. This will save your settings for the next time you run the tool.

4. Next, a dialog will appear asking you if you want to create and upload your CavernCam web page. Click Yes, and the Web Site Creator will appear.

• In the "CavernCam Web Site URL" field, enter your web site directory's URL. The field currently contains an example URL - just modify it to match your own.
• Enter your title in the "Web Site Title" field
• In the "Refresh Interval (seconds)" field, enter the amount of time that the applet should wait before refreshing the image in the user's browser.
• If you do not want links to these instructions to appear in your web site, uncheck the box labeled "Include links ..."
• Click the "Create And Upload" button. If all goes well, it will tell you that your web page successfully uploaded. Note: this also uploads the applet class to your website.

5. Exit the CavernCam Uploader.

1. If you are using the built-in screen shot capability of CavernCamUploader, go on to step 2. Otherwise, launch and configure the image capture software.

• FRAPS instructions:
  • On the Screenshots tab, click the "Change" button, then select the directory where you want the screen captures to be saved, e.g. C:\Temp\urupics
  • Check the box marked "Repeat screen capture every ? seconds", and set it to 5 seconds. This will automatically capture your screens once you hit the hotkey, e.g. F10. NOTE: the free version of FRAPS does not have this feature enabled, so you will need to manually hit the F10 key when you want a screen capture.
  • Minimize the FRAPS window - it will show up in your taskbar.
• ScreenCopy instructions:
  • Choose Settings from the File menu
  • In the Settings dialog, on the Save options tab:
    • Check the box that says "Save only when using AutoScreenshot"
    • Click on the open folder icon next to the "Screenshot Filename" field and choose your screenshot directory, e.g., c:\temp\urupics
    • After you select the directory, add "\uru<%num>.jpg" to the end, e.g. "C:\temp\urupics\uru<%num>.jpg"
  • On the Window selection tab:
    • For fullscreen URU players: Leave it at "Whole Desktop"
    • For windowed URU players: click on "Use window by caption", and enter "UruLive*" (without the quotes)
  • On the Hotkeys, note the selected key for triggering Auto Screenshot. By default, it is CTRL + F9.
  • By default, smartision ScreenCopy will play a camera shutter sound when it takes a picture. If you want to disable this, go to the Sounds tab, and click None.
  • Click OK to dismiss the Settings tab
  • Choose Minimize from the File menu

2. Double-click CavernCamUploader.bat. Click on the "Start Uploading" button. If all goes well, it will open an FTP connection and wait for the images to come.

• If not, it will tell you what field you need to correct; choose Settings from the File menu and correct the appropriate field.

3. Minimize CavernCamUploader.

4. Start Myst Online : Uru Live. Make sure you are running at a resolution of 800x600 - that is what the applet is configured for. You can run either windowed or fullscreen.

5. If you are using the built-in screen capture feature, skip this step - it has already begun capturing the screens. Otherwise, once you're in the game, hit the hotkey to begin the screen captures.

• For FRAPS, the default is F10
• For ScreenCopy, the default is Ctrl-F9

6. To check that it is working, visit your web page in your choice of browser. The screen should refresh every 5 seconds or so.

7. When you have finished, click the "Stop Uploading" button. After a short pause, the button will change to say "Start Uploading".

8. If you want to upload an "away" image, choose "Upload Away Image" from the Tools menu. Note: this item will be grayed out until you specify an away image in the Settings form.

9. To exit, choose Exit from the File menu.

ScreenCopy Users: You can adjust the time period between screen captures by clicking on the Advanced Mode checkbox on the main window, and specifying the interval in the "Interval (seconds)" field. By default, this value is 5 seconds.

• If you receive an error message about uploading, you may need to restart FTP sessions in between uploads. To enable this:
  • Choose Settings from the File menu
  • In the FTP Settings section, check the box labelled, "Restart FTP Session between uploads", then click OK
  • The next time you start uploading, CavernCam Uploader will use separate FTP login sessions per upload.

If you have any problems, please contact me.