Greetings! I am the administrator of a large, members-only vBulletin 3.6.8 forum that is part of a subscription based website. We've many dedicated members, and they love our forum. And, after hours of discussion, we have decided that a chat room would enrich our community. Do any of you have any suggestions as to what we should look for? We anticipate anywhere from 50-500 chat users at any time. I'm looking at these solutions right now... but they all seem 'cheap'. vBulletin Chat Module for 123 Flash Chat Server Software FlashChat - Customizable Flash Chat Room and Live Support system for your PHP/MySQL-enabled website. Try it now! https://blueimp.net/ajax/ We are NOT afraid to spend some real money on a premo solution, so suggest the best. Thanks, friends. Pat
I've been happy with the FlashChat software; my users do experience getting kicked out of the room occasionally, but I think that has more to do with my cheap hosting than the software itself.
Interesting, thank you! For you and others: Do you recommend an entirely new hosting server specifically for the chat room? Dude! I just saw a banner for "SemiAutoRifles.com". I see that I'm in good company! Our membership site is completely focused on concealed carry.
Flashchat is not designed for this sort of numbers, even on a dedicated server i would expect it to crash long before you got to 200 users, nevermind 500. Im not sure any http/web based chat would handle those sort of numbers.
I defer to Paul's superior knowledge of the script, though I did have one evening where we had about 30 people in chat at once with few problems.
Regardless of how many members "say" they are going to use it, only about 5% - 15% will use the chat room at any given time. Right now my forum has 142 logged in members on it, and 9 are in the chat room - and that is about average. How ever many logged in members you have, expect an average of 5% - 10% to be using the chatroom. And that is a rough estimate based on how many people use the chat room on my site. I personally use flashchat, and it does ok for the number of people that use it. ==== EDIT ==== I had to look up the name of it, but stay far, far away from the Flasherize chat room. About a year ago I bought it to replace flashchat, and within 24 hours my members were begging to get flashchat back.
Well, you don't really want all your members in the chat room all the time; if it works too well they'll stop posting and hang out in there. So by that logic something like FlashChat is perfect.
I wonder if you disperse the huge amount of users into different chat rooms, will it reduce the strain and help reduce problems?
No, at least not for Flashchat. The only thing that would reduce strain is less connected users Not wanting to get too technical, but web based chats like FC have to poll the server every few seconds. In the case of FC, the default is every 3 seconds I believe. So if you have 90 users connected, thats at least 30 http requests a second (in the unlikely event they were all evenly spaced out) each one hitting the SQL database a fair number of times. All that on top of your normal traffic. Its enough to bring many dedicated servers to their knees, nevermind normal hosting accounts.
At a certain point you will have to do that because if you have 500 users in the same room the text chat area will scroll (because everyone is typing) faster than anyone can read the actual messages. You guys could use the AVChat 3 video chat software which has a vBulletin integration kit!
I would like tell you that vBulletin Chat Module for 123 Flash Chat Server Software has been updated to work with vBulletin v4.0. And its new download URL is here: http://www.123flashchat.com/download/vbb_mod_for_123flashchat.zip Of course, for the vBulletin v3.x, we also keep another download url for you: http://www.123flashchat.com/download/vbb3_mod_for_123flashchat.zip I hope you could choose the 123 Flash Chat.
If you have that kind of numbers you might check out a FlashChat server. I believe they even have hosting you can purchase. They also have a trial you can download and test out. Of course the more users you have the more it cost. You might even look to hosting for chat service. Something like Pro Chat Forum.
use "dreams chat box" found on the org. I've seen 30+ people on it at one time with no problems... just my 1 penny.
Today, I have a good news to share with all my friends! 123flashchat has released a new version of vBulletin Chat Module, and it's free, the details as following: Mod Name: Free vBulletin Chat Module Mod Version: v2.0 Work With: vBulletin v3.x and v4.0 Description It can add a live chat room to vBulletin seamlessly, multiple skins and user integrated. A chat room makes vBulletin more interactive, it will boost traffic as well as revenue to your vBulletin, and will increase vBulletin user loyalty. Chat features Users integrated: User database of vBulletin can be fully integrated to Chat. Mutiple Skins: Nine skins are available to fit in your forum. Lobby and private chat. Admin Panel: Two ACPs: You can define what kind of chat status to be listed on vBulletin, the open mode of the chat window, the server mode, etc. in the vBulletin ACP, and customize the chat room in the chat Admin Panel. Other features: Avatar, smilies, flash emotions, post-notifier, etc. Download vBulletin Chat Module for vBulletin 4.0 http://www.123flashchat.com/download...3flashchat.zip for vBulletin 3.x http://www.123flashchat.com/download...3flashchat.zip vBulletin Chat Demo 123FlashChat Demo Site vBulletin Integration Introduction So what the module can add to vBulletin? It adds a chat button which links to a fabulous chat room, with multiple skins and multilingual support, written in flash or HTML/Ajax, and a visual setting panel, etc. Recent changes: the backend management is enhanced. 1. Chat Button Firstly a chat button will be added to the top menu of vBullentin as the chat room entrance. 2. Auto-login After installing the module, the vBulletin user database will be automatically immigrated to the chat room and auto-login will be enabled.Therefore vBulletin users may click the "Chat"button or directly choose a chat room to enter, without being asked to login again.3.Custom Settings in vBlletin ACP Enter vBulletin ACP and you will find "123FLASHCHAT" tab in the left menu,click it to enter the setting panel of the module: You can change chat window size, language and a proper skin to match your vBulletin.Nine skins options are available: 4.Chat Admin Panel Except the vBulletin ACP, the chat admin panel is also imported here for your convenience. Please be aware that the admin account here might be different to that of the vBulletin ACP.
I dunno, cometchat has always been my friend, I have seen it with over 100 at a time, server got a tad slower after they followed some optimization tips provided free... * Via my HTC EvO 4G *
