Plea for master server and GS protocol information (updated)

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               I'd like to try my hand at making a solution for both the problem of the missing master server and for Gamespy taking down their servers for NWN (1 and 2).

I've already seen the information about the Gamespy protocol which is on other pages, but it's no use to me since it's incomplete.  All of the information is on how clients connect to get a list of servers.  There is no information on how servers connect to become listed.

Also, I have no information on how servers or clients are supposed to communicate with the master server.

If I can get the information I need, I'll attempt to write a solution for both servers.  I believe I can make it possible for several people to run different servers, yet have all of those servers share information transparently so that it won't matter which "master" server or "gamespy" server a nwn server or client connects to.

If I can do this, it will give us a multiple-redundant system so that the failure of any single server will not bring down the whole system, and server owners and players will be able to switch to a different "master/gamespy" replacement pair and continue to play, with full functionality. (I have some ideas on how to make this easy).

So if anyone has the above info (how servers talk to the master server and gamespy server), please PM me.

Examples would be great.

Edit:  I won't be running any replacement servers.  I intend only to provide the program(s) for someone else to run.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Melkior_King, 22 décembre 2012 - 07:45 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               First, you might want to contact elven at NWNX.org to see if he can provide more information.

Second, if you've already looked over elven's material and that's still not cutting it, you might want to dig around ALuigi's website or see if you can find clues from some of the other GameSpy-affected game communities which have already (apparently) worked out solutions.  Flight Simulator X and...there are at least a few others which were recently shut off and worked out a switch.

This is all under the assumption that the people who have the information you need might not necessarily read this forum regularly.  Good luck, and thank you for helping!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 18 décembre 2012 - 02:25 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_eeriegeek]

               I referenced this in my post HERE, but the best master server protocol documentation I'm aware of is in the source for Skywing's implementation of the master server. The packet readers start HERE around line 619. Elven has an earlier incomplete packet description in ruby HERE. I am not aware of any good definitions of the gamespy protocols.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par eeriegeek, 18 décembre 2012 - 03:43 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               The NWNList page does not exist.

I'll have a good look at the other pages and see if I can translate them.  I understand programming principles so I should be able to figure something out.

But I still need a clearer explanation, if anyone has one.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Melkior_King, 18 décembre 2012 - 04:14 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_AlgernonsGhost]

               When you talk about making a master server replacement, do you mean for player ID and password authentication?

If so, while I applaud people's desire to replace the master server in that function, I think it is perhaps not the best idea to do so. What we are likely to end up with is a number of different master services rather than one centralized location, and at the end of the day, none of those will be housed by any of the software developers orginally involved in the game.

How will the different services share player IDs and passwords? Will players trust some random guy running a server with their email, ID, and password stored on it? I'm sure you and others intend to keep the players' trust safe in this, but as a player, DM, and PW owner myself, I still wouldn't use an "unofficial" service for ID and password authentication.

As far as switching to multiple redundant MS account/password servers owned by a number of different people goes, I'd be even less likely to use that. It's too many eyes on sensitive data, and too many entry points for a security breach.

I think that ship sailed when the BioWare master server went down, and we shouldn't be looking for a community-wide replacement. Security is better handled by the server owners when players join their worlds through methods like Funky Swerve's CD Key database system (CD key is the best identifier of all), and other local account/password systems that have come up since the BW MS went away.

I'd say keep the focus of energy on GameSpy listing replacements (like your boards.net site, Visavant's and Skywing's listings, etc.) and improving the client with features like auto download of HAKs and things like that.

And, lol, if I misunderstood, and you weren't talking about password and account authentication, then please ignore all the paragraphs above. This is only my honest opinion, and neither intended as a slight to anyone's intentions, nor as a match to a flame war.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               @AlgernonsGhost:
I'm intending that the "master server" replacement(s) would only save a user name and a hash code related to the password for that user name.  All other information would be ignored and would not be saved (apart from the player's online/offline status).  There would be no automatic password resets.  Players who lost or forgot their password would have to contact the server admin.

A config file would be used to point to other replacement servers.  When a player logs in or out of one server, that server would contact all others in its list to tell them the player status.

The list of user names and password hashes would be created dynamically on a first-come-first-served basis on login.  If two networks became joined and there were duplicate user names, the earliest created name would be retained.  Players who had their accounts removed would need to contact the DMs of the servers they played on to have their toons moved to a new account.

It would be up to the NWN community to keep the servers in one network.

But I should point out that having more than one replacement server is just an option.  Since connections between servers must be manually configured, the NWN community can decide to have a single server.

I'd like to integrate both servers (master and GameSpy replacement) into a single application.  It would be far more efficient and easier for whoever runs the replacement servers.

The GS replacement would behave in a similar way.  It would only interact with other servers if it was configured to do so.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               Bump