C# Pirates offers a Silverlight 2.0 Beta 1 based playing field on which you can watch your player fight against other players. The Silverlight playing field uses .NET WebServices to communicate with the C# Pirates server. However, you can be reassured, we do not execute the code from other players on your computer. The Silverlight playing field just visualizes the progress of the match.
In case you have never used Silverlight 2.0 on your machine before we want to provide a short overview what happens when you start the Silverlight playing field for the first time (see Installation - Three Simple Steps). Additionally you get a short introduction how to use the Silverlight playing field of C# Pirates (see How to Use the Playing Field).
Installation - Three Simple Steps
Step 1 - Download Silverlight Runtime
If you start the Silverlight playing field and you do not have the Silverlight 2.0 runtime you will see the following screen:
To install the Silverlight Runtime click on the "Install Microsoft Silverlight" logo. You will be asked to download and run the installer for the Silverlight runtime. Click on "Run" to download and execute the Silverlight installer.
Depending on the system you use you may receive a security warning. Make sure that the Silverlight Runtime is signed by Microsoft. If it is start the installer by clicking on "Run":
Step 2 - Start Installation of Silverlight Runtime
Now you have downloaded the Silverlight Runtime the Silverlight Runtime Installer starts. The beauty of the Silverlight runtime is that installing it is very simple. You do not have any advanced options. Just start it by clicking on "Install Now". A few seconds later you will see a message telling you that Silverlight has been successfully installed.
Step 3 - Start Silverlight Playing Field the First Time
After you have successfully installed the Silverlight 2.0 Beta 1 runtime you can start the Silverlight playing field of C# Pirates. When you start it the first time it will take a short amount of time to download. We have built a loading site from which you can say how far the download has progressed.
The Silverlight playing field is cached in your computer's temporary internet files folder. Therefore subsequent starts will not have to download the playing field again. However, if you delete your temporary internet files or whenever we deliver a new version of the playing field you will have to download the program again.
How to Use the Playing Field
After you started the Silverlight playing field it is in detail mode. In this mode you can watch the games in all details. You see all the shots and use this information to think about strategies how to enhance your computer player.
Silverlight Playing Field in Detail Mode
The points represent the percentage of games each player has won.
On the bottom right side you can see the "Ranking" button. Use it to switch from detail to ranking list mode. In this mode it is hard to follow each shot. On the other hand you see an overview about all the players and the points they got during the match. If you want to get back to detail mode click on "Close".
Silverlight Playing Field in Ranking List Mode
