Arcanum Multimatch

[Crypton]

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Video from game, connecting to server, playing:

 

 

 

 

 

New MatchMaster v0.2, now including a getting server info, it took me almost whole day to reverse this packet (332 bytes):

 

 

MatchMaster, very simple now:

 

 

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Hey everybody

 

What about playing Arcanum online again? We all know that multiplayer is not well designed, and its a bit crappy, but who remember playing it back in 2001, might feel a bit nostalgic and want to play it again... like me playing that with 56Kb/s modem

 

I had this idea a year ago, but I've started to working on AA, and then I've completely forgot about this... a week ago, I've decided to continue on making arcanum playable online again.

 

Some of you plays Arcanum via Hamachi right? Its good replacement, but your server will be hidden unless you share server info with others.

 

So whats is this MultiMatch pack? Its a replacement for a Sierra's original Arcanum multiplayer client - MatchMaker. Sierra's client is no more working, since Sierra servers are down...

 

 

This MultiMatch pack contains:

 

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MatchMaker replacement library, it replaces original arcanum client which is located in mm_won.dll.

This replacement library has all functions exported and implemented, but many of them are not finished, since I had no time to finish it.

 

Its written in Visual Studio 2008, and I've coded that in C++, this is my first C++ app after long time, so its a bit lame, you may check source codes for criticism

 

Whats included:

-Implementation of all matchmaker functions, including func params

-Creating new accounts

-Logging in/out to your account (md5 for pass)

-Creating and registering new game

 

Whats missing:

-Chat server, rooms and its features

-Message of the day showing

 

Known bugs:

-Its using WinSocks with blocking connection, so it may freeze game sometimes.

-Many more?

 

What can be added?

Chat features (as IRC chat, its possible, I checked that), MOTD, patch downloading, callback implementation.

 

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MatchMaster is master server, this is where all players connects together, when you create a new game, everybody who connects to this server will be able to join to your game.

 

Its written in Qt, it has a simple GUI made in Qt Designer, and you can compile that to run under Linux as well.

Thanks to radzh for kicking me trying this, I think that I'll start lovin Qt some day :D

 

Whats included:

-Basic implementation of master server

-Disabling registrations or allow to connect anybody without making new account.

 

Whats missing:

-Server remove command, when somebody disconnects, server will stay registered

 

Known bugs:

-Its using WinSocks with blocking connection, so it may freeze server sometimes.

-Many more?

 

What can be added?

A lot, for example banning, checking if server is still active, getting info from server, like number of players, module name, server settings and so on...

 

... PHP script for showing server list at websites and so on...

 

... I have a lot of ideas for features, but I'm lazy to write them all :D

 

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GrandMaster its a dedicated server, so it provides a server without need running game. This app is in very very alpha stage, so I'm not going to release that yet, since I've started to research arcanum packets only yesterday.

 

There will be also possible to increase may number of players from 8 to XX

 

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I've decided to release this pack partially unfinished with hope that somebody might be interested in further development.... :P if somebody will be interested in development, I'll release this publicly.

 

Also I wanted people to test it, because I've tested this on localhost and via LAN only, but it should be working via internet as well, its only need to run MatchMaster on computer with Public IP address.

 

So if somebody is able to test this on public IP, god bless you and PM me

 

Now I'm going to read some article about how to stop using smiles so much :D

[Алекс фон Малых]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! it is very good!

[Woratiklis]

Very good idea! Well done!

[Crypton]

Thanks guys ;) Do somebody of you have a public IP address ? I need to test MatchMaster, its that app on screenshot.

I just need that you run this app, then I'll create a new game, and we will see if MatchMaker is able to connect to MatchMaster.

[Saruman]

Hello, Crypton!

 

Well I've got a static public IP and I have Arcanum multiplayer server running on my computer almost 24/7. I've been providing a server for those who want to play Arcanum online since the late march, there's even a subforum called "Арканум. Игра в Интернете" dedicated to Arcanum's multiplayer and my server. Too bad you haven't noticed or haven't enough skills in russian to read it. Anyway, you can count me in as long as you can wait for me till monday, 13 (I'm currently on a short trip to Italy and will return to Moscow on sunday). I can also share my experience as a server and a player, if you're interested. There's also a small group of people registered on this forum including myself that is developing a multiplayer mod that would be actually interesting to play even after a period of time playing it (not like this half-baked vormantown mod). Maybe with your more reliable and easy-to-use Arcanum multiplayer client and and server our work isn't vain ;)

[Crypton]

Hi Saruman :P

 

I know about that forum section from radzh, but yes, I was unable to read that :D (atm I'm learning your lang a bit, it should be "easy" for me because we have a bit "similar" lang.)

 

It will be great if you could test that MultiMaster, because then I can fix that if it will be not working correctly, and then I could release that here, with source codes.

 

So thank you for offer, I'll wait till you have time for test

 

See you later...

 

EDIT: Please can somebody move this thread to that subforum "Арканум. Игра в Интернете"? I've placed this thread in wrong subforum... thank you :P

[Алекс фон Малых]

Of course, I am ready to begin testing , where to download MatchMaster v0.2?

 

ie the modified DLL file

[radzh]

Man, that's great! It's kinda revival of a dream.

 

If only we could make a MMORPG out of it...

[Алекс фон Малых]

If only we could make a MMORPG out of it...

что у всех за извращенное желание сделать из Арканума ММОРПГ?!

[radzh]

If only we could make a MMORPG out of it...

что у всех за извращенное желание сделать из Арканума ММОРПГ?!

Да он рождён для этого.

[Crypton]

Hi radzh :P Yep, it will be nice if arcanum will be like MMORPG, but I'm not sure if people will like it, for examle, look at AA thread, many guys says to forget about multiplayer, and when you look at TA, where I've asked same question a year ago, Arcanum as MMORPG, it has been criticized as well.

 

Anyway, I think that it will be great so later, we could turn our new engine into MMORPG, or maybe we should think far, and start creating MMORPG engine, which can be easily switched to singleplayer mode.

 

PS: I've forgot to tell you about our new website, so here it is:

http://arcanum.game-alive.com or http://www.game-alive.com

http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/

 

Creating that all by my own? hell I've completely forgot about AA :P

[Woratiklis]

If only we could make a MMORPG out of it...

что у всех за извращенное желание сделать из Арканума ММОРПГ?!

Да он рождён для этого.

 

а за чем делать из арка ММОРГ? обясни на милость radzh?

 

Crypton

 

The good site, was pleasant to me, I wish development a site

[Crypton]

You wish to help with coding that site? Cool, but do you have some experience with that ?:P I mean, can you show me some of your sites?

 

I can send you original template, so you can work on site on localhost... if site will be good, we will replace old site with yours.... or if you show me your work, I'll send you a ftp info for arcanum2 subdomain, so you could edit that directly.

 

AA site is written in PHP5, and its wordpress hybrid = its used only for writing posts, and they are shown on main site.

[Afon9]

Меня очень заинтересовало это видео можете объяснить о чем вы разговариваете?

[Saruman]

Crypton написал аналог WON сервера, к которому Арканум должен подключаться при выборе опции "Интернет" в меню сетевой игры. Разница между нашим "дедовским" методом и ВОН-сервером такова: жмешь "Интернет" - оказываешься в меню, во многом аналогичном меню "Сеть", только еще есть опция чата, которая кстати насколько я знаю, реализована у Crypton'а не была.

 

Суть в том, что при создании своего сервера через меню "Интернет", ВОН-сервер запоминает твой IP-адрес, и все другие игроки, подключившиеся к ВОН-серверу через меню "Интернет", смогут при выборе "Поиск игры" увидеть твой сервер и его IP-адрес. То есть WON решает проблему рассылки игрокам-клиентам своего IP.

 

Однако, если хочешь серверить игру, нужен внешний IP. Зато он может не быть статическим. Но так или иначе, для того, чтобы WON-сервер оправдал себя, его нужно "раскручивать".