I've continuously been asked whether or not this project is still alive. I'm trying to clarify the situation:
1.) I (bwgypyth) am no longer working on disassemling the protocol or creating a free server.
2.) xbadc0de succeeded in understanding the protocol (encryption and checksumming) and was able to create a minimal server. If anyone doubts this drop me an email (bwgypyth@gmx.net) and I will send you a screenshot to prove it (I'm not going to put the screenshot here). He visits from time to time #lotroemu on EFnet, but never shared any code with me. As far as I know he built the server in C++ on Windows and ported it over to Linux as well.
I am unwilling to redo the same work he did. If anyone is able to continue the project: He is. I can only hope he is going to share the code with us at any point in the future.
I'll still be monitoring this blog and will visit #lotroemu more often, but it's hard to do so working on two jobs 14 hours a day.
Hi all,
AntwortenLöschenso a "little" statement from myself too to clarify some more things:
yes, i managed to understand the encryption and checksumming, but it used around 2MB of datatables extracted from my official gameclient, thats why i never released that code.
Fortunately with the help of a few people on IRC all this tables became obsolete on the latest version and i was able to use math/datfile based tables for all the calculations of the packet mechanisms.
Unfortunately the surrounding code for offering a private server is a total mess (since i didnt had much time to clean up, but wanted to integrate working multiplayer code [so people see each others movements!] which was "glued" to the existing code).
The linux port was just a small proof of concept (based on the old client extracted datatable code) and wasnt able to do anything useful, since i didnt implement datfile reading on linux. That renders this experiment quite useless, since the whole game mechanics is packed inside those datfiles.
Having a PServer where you are able to run around is fun, but gets boring after 1-2 days. Especially because the current code is unable to check for any mesh-collision etc, so you are running around on the basement mesh, walking through houses, trees, fences, even water! The movement and collision mechanics necessary to perform proper action here are really complex, i never got them working in any way.
At best times four people where interested and more or less active on the project - using four different coding languages! That was very annoying and we never came together ... not the best start for such a big project!
So yes, i have a working PServer, i can run around the whole world (even with friends since multiplayer is working), be able to change certain properties of the characters and the world, but thats it. No gaming mechanisms are implemented, no quests, no bosses, even no fighting/playing, etc. That would need a really big team of people interested in finding out the mechanisms within the datfiles, besides the already above mentioned mesh-collision handling.
And like bwgypyth im out of time ... there would be a massive amount of neccessary work to do, not possible for one person, not even for four ...
Thats the actual state, the project is on hold here at my side, but the interest is currently gone.
post it anyway?
LöschenIts a shame you collectively didn't release the cleaned up checksum/dat files code so others could benefit from it. Instead I guess I get to write unit tests for helper.dll and black box reverse engineer it.
AntwortenLöschenThat or I get to go relearn enough x86 assembly to reverse engineer what the UAC2 code checksummer is doing.
xbadc0de was the one who got far enough for that to be of much help, but he's too stubborn to release it, or so I've read.
LöschenCould this be used to reduce lag by filtering the endless sea of buffs/debuffs before the lotro client gets the packages?
AntwortenLöschenHi all,
AntwortenLöscheni currently got back my interest on this project and im spending my (small) spare time on some cleanup and improvement of my latest code. Infact i made alot of progress on a certain type of packets, so i am now able to properly set up health/power of my character, spawn props and mobs and set them up for later action. I even managed to understand the setup of the actionbar icon-buttons and their handling.
Why do i tell you this? First, because i want to ask if there is still interest around to get back in action again for a PServer, and second, because with the recent findings im now able to start experimental command scripts by a simple touch of a key or a mouseclick (on the action bars) whithin the client which makes testing much more comfortable.
This would allow people, who are not that interested in the lowlevel handling of the server, to start building up experimental command scripts and test around of their effects.
But i want to ask if there is still interest in this project, since if there arent enough people around im not going to start the hard task of writing a documentation on the complex script possibilities nor cleaning up the code even more so i dont have to be ashamed of it when supplying some sources :-D ...
So, what do you guys say about it ? Please answer only if there is even a small chance of real contribution to the project.
P.S.: This has/had nothing to do with being stubborn or something, i just dont like releasing anything with which im not comfy on my own ...
I'm most certainly still interested in this, and have been since release.
LöschenWelcome back xbadc0de!
LöschenOf course I'm still *very* interested in the project. I really like to see the pserver moving forward, even though I massively lack the time. Is there any way we can help you towards the goal of releasing the pserver and even better the pserver code?
Best wishes,
bwg
Still interested!
AntwortenLöschenJcairn
Hi, I am also interested in the project. Personally, I would love to replay SoA, because that was when the game was perfect for me.
AntwortenLöschenWhat would be the ultimate goal for the emulator? Implementing SoA or going beyond?