NWN Gamespy Server Replacement Project

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               1. hosts file edit is the main method which works right now, as reported by users. I have not tried this.
ie
http://www.neverwint...lders_hosts.htm

199.193.152.27  nwmaster.bioware.com    # SkywingL's substitute listing server

2. The above is a stop gap, a NWNx plugin for linux and windows is in development. This will allow the ip address to change, hoping the above works. ( the people doing this just completed NWNCX, and this will take time, once completed it will be the primary means PW's use to do this )

3. The method of doing this is open, anyone can step up to the plate and code it themselves. ( I can send you working php examples that includes enough detail so you can recreate in any language )

4. nwnlist.com has an error on it's register page, hopefully they can fix this, and then it will be much easier for some people.

5. Those wanting to set something up on their servers, I can provide a php class which should be able to be integrated with any system with php installed, so it registers upon starting the server. I can provide the code in php, and help you test it, but I'd need you to setup how it's called and help me test it. ( there are nwnx features that let you run command line scripts when you start the server up )

Not perfect, but generally this is how things are before the various issues are resolved while the community makes it work. nwnlist.com's registration seems the easiest method right now, except for it not working, but my testing and reporting of issues has not had a response yet. Part of having a community of unpaid volunteers is that things can often take a while to get fixed until after real life is dealt with first.


Methods i know of
* NWNCX ( Virusman who you know ) and NWN2 Client Extender ( similar project, NWNCX is largely based on this ), extender projects by those involved heavily in NWNx, and the API was developed by the author of xp_bugfix - most of what is happening now is porting the system which is fully working for NWN2 so it also works for NWN1.
* A NWNx plugin is being developed for NWN1, one already is installed for NWN2 which autoupdates called xp_bugfix, which is almost universally used, using the API. This should be the preferred method for PW admins using NWNx ( generally all the established worlds use this for one reason or another )
* http:\\\\www.nwnlist.com ( registration does not work ) Just lists the sites and is using the API.
* NWN2 server monitor desktop app, http://nwvault.ign.c...r.Detail&id=295\  and is using the API, looks like NWN2 only
* isleclostridia's website -> http://www.isleclost...stnwns1html.cgi ( using the API )
* http://nwnserverlist.com/ ( this is who i did the php class for originally, and they report it's working, and users seem to say they are much faster now, not sure how they are using the API but they said they are using it. Is probably the most established with links from Gog.com )
* http://nwnserverlists.boards.net/ which is manual
* Game Ranger - not sure how this works but remember seeing it at one point
* xFire - you discussed, crowdsourced data from xfire users, manual, requires using their windows program.
* Visavant http://www.nwncore.net/ - he has agreed to partner with skywing, but has yet to launch, hoping he gets his server up.
* Neverwinterconnections is planning their own system, using hosts file edits like skywing is doing now, saying "so it's redundant", but technically this makes no sense as anyone choosing one or the other, disappears to the one not chosen, unless they also use another method in addition to hosts. This is the simplest method though for non technical users.
* Vault, there is a field to enter ip address ( manual )

My app which is still in development also will address some of the issues in its role of "handholding" the user to make things easier. ( Gamespy and launching is actually only in my app to facilitate version checking of the custom content the user has installed, so I can get the latest and greatest for that user ). I have quite a few experimental solutions though already in place ( patching the hosts file, registering with the API when you direct connect, listing the PW's and launching them with any required haks and files partially working )

Those using the NWN2 Client extender actually add servers to the list just by direct connecting, similar to xFire, adding this feature to NWNCX would really help round out what is listed.

I also did a php class, which I can send folks, which can help others know how to drop this into their apps, or easily add a register feature to their systems. ( has example raw headers which should help people recreate in other languages too.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par painofdungeoneternal, 04 mars 2013 - 08:38 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               Thanks Pain, wow this is getting incredibly scattered and complicated, but I think I got the info I needed for my unified information post. Which is what we really need. One single source of all of the alternative to GS, with clear instructions on how to use them (both for players and aDMins.) Which hopefully can be stickeyed in all the places people would be looking for this type of info (e.g. here and in the PW forums on this site, on the facebook group, on gog.com [and any other distributors of nwn1], on neverwinternights.info, ect...

I will try to disseminate this info the best I can, but it will take others as well (both updating the post I make), and making post in places I miss (like nwnconnections, neverwinternights.info, ect..)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Sadira of Tyr]

               Thank you for this
 
I will send it to our server admin, and perhaps he can make it work.  He knows more about this kind of stuff than I do. I got lost after just a few paragraphs, lol.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

painofdungeoneternal wrote...
Its called NWNCX, basically download, uncompress and place in your application folder - and it's already released. Then launch the game with it's provided exe file. After that the game interface works like it used to, I can't see an easier way of doing it ( lot easier then xFire ). After that the technical issues are actually more on the developers and the PW admins to make sure everything is listed.

Okie doke.  That answers my question and have already grabbed the Vault DL.  It's the virusman one, right?

I must check to see what version of the runtime library is installed on this machine.  May need to pay a visit to the MS DL site to get it.  (This an ancient machine with ancient components run by an ancient operator.)

The file named "patch.exe" makes me nervous though.  I see no patch details file so will pass on that and stick to the loader exe.  The rest of the compilation appears to be for other uses.  I need no bells and whistles for my own use.

Thanks for the exposition, pain.  Muchos gracias!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               Up to you, basically both make the game load the DLL, which does all the work. Once patched, or using the exe loader, you just need to upgrade the various DLL files. Like you, I prefer not to touch the exe file unless I have to, and think the loader is the preferred method, and how it should be routinely described.

But if you want to launch the game from the toolset you have to patch the actual exe, or you might be using other tools ( like a play button in something like steam, or some other integration ) which can't be made to use the loader. Also on some systems you have to run the loader as an administrator, which might be inconvenient. Having options is always a good thing, even if they are ones I probably will never use.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               I have a question about this perhaps someone could answer. According to
http://www.neverwint...lders_hosts.htm

"To get listed with a couple of existing services, add the following lines to the end of the file, save, and restart nwserver.exe.

199.193.152.27  nwmaster.bioware.com    # SkywingL's substitute listing server
198.23.165.35   nwn.master.gamespy.com  # Visavent's gamespy replacement"

My question is, if a server does this, will that mean people just using the default game (not one of these custom loaders like nwncx) will not be able to see the server in their GS history list after direct connecting once?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               Has no effect, right now the nwmaster.bioware.com and nwn.master.gamespy.com don't exist.

All this is doing is routing the messages the server process used to send to the new system. This ONLY needs to be done by PW Admins, or DM's hosting lan games.

History is visible regardless of anything you are using, or how the hosts file is changed, regular players should not have to host edits at all, except perhaps to remove the delay when you first connect ( which nwncx fixes ).

There is one solution which posts the servers in a format you can copy paste into your history, go to http://nwnserverlist.com/  and click on get this servers ips at the top, paste that into your ini file as instructed and thus you can populate your history easily.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               I see. Well I can tell you this. According to:
http://www.neverwint...lders_hosts.htm

"To get listed with a couple of existing services, add the following lines to the end of the file, save, and restart nwserver.exe.


199.193.152.27 nwmaster.bioware.com # SkywingL's substitute listing server
198.23.165.35 nwn.master.gamespy.com # Visavent's gamespy replacement"

Our server has been experiencing some major issues recently. Most recently, we had a mass boot of all players according to the nwn server log. The exact same time stamp in the fire wall log shows a connection to:
198.23.165.35

Needless to say neither I, nor our current owner/host were too thrilled about this.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 01 avril 2013 - 03:24 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               Didn't I help you get listed? This only updates the listing if your ip address changes, the API server will keep listing your PW once it starts listing it. If you are listed you don't have to do this. Ideally PW's can avoid this technique and use a NWNx plugin once it's developed, if they are using NWNx.

Are these issues only after you changed your hosts file? Have you changed it back and seen it stop showing the issue? Are you validating the player cd keys - i seem to remember a setting to do that, which I'd imagine is complete nonsense at this point? Are you using the nwnx network plugin?

I know other PW's are doing this, and reporting success, so can't see why this would be happening to you ( I think this is the main method PW's in NWN1 are listed due to the known issues ).

Try just using, like how i first posted.
199.193.152.27 nwmaster.bioware.com # SkywingL's substitute listing server

Visavent's is not up, not yet working, and not even sure if it's ever going up. ( i only used the link to get skywings and to show where i got it from )
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               SkywingL's IP was not the culprit as far as we have been able to determine, Visavent's appeared to be. Glad to hear admins routing game spy requests to skywing's doesn't preclude default users from access though.

Yes you did help us get listed initially Pain, since the self registration link is non-functional. Thank you again for that. Although despite your listing we were dropped from their list not long ago, until our host made the host file edit.

I am not a big fan of an exclusive "boys club" in fact I feel kinda like an idiot having endorsed something that can negatively affect servers.

I will have to gracefully (if that is even possible at this point) bow out of being the testing dummy for this stuff from here on out though. Not to mention an advocate for players and other aDMins . Our owner/host is not too happy with the current state of affairs, nor am I, and our players deserve better.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 10 mars 2013 - 06:41 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               Exclusive Boy's Club? huh? What is this exclusive club you are talking about? There is absolutely nothing exclusive about this -- generally new things like this have a learning curve for everybody.

Yes a headless API is by definition not usable by non-programmers until a programmer provides a user interface, but being a programmer is not exactly exclusive. There are many people in this community who can do it to various degrees, very few PW's do not have a coder of some sort, and there are many projects in various stages of completion and quality. This is something which is open to anyone, with visible source code you can review, with the only limiting factor being a willingness to learn. For those not willing to learn, they have to wait for members of the community to step up.

( i actually implemented all of it for my own app, just using google and links here in the forums describing it, the other sites and systems are just fellow community members, can't get more open than that, and just told skywing after the fact -- It was actually the first SOAP API I've used. About the only issue i reported was how it was dealing with foreign accents, which is just not material. Once I am happy with my apps quality, even more players will have access. Note I am actually a graphic designer, who is doing this because after 2 years of saying what should happen, nobody stepped up to do it, hence i am doing it myself. )

As for players deserving better.

Better requires effort, if you want things better, it involves stepping up to the plate and making things happen - which isn't always smooth, and without people doing things like you did, it just does not happen.

What you did is something to my knowledge is reported to have worked for other PW's, who were able to figure it out on their own. I posted it as such...

1. hosts file edit is the main method which works right now, as reported by users. I have not tried this.
ie
http://www.neverwint...lders_hosts.htm

199.193.152.27 nwmaster.bioware.com # SkywingL's substitute listing server

I included a reference and noted I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS. I am not running a PW right now, I am writing an application, and went and gathered the information I have on the subject, since you seemed to want to put out all the known information. Other PW's actually stated they did this here in this thread, but never posted exactly what they entered. I only posted all this because it seemed helpful in response to you, and I am actually not affiliated with Skywing except being in the same community and sending him PM's via the forums. And this has no effect on player favorites or history - not sure how I would know it randomly kicks all your players, but then I don't actually know what happened either.

It could be some other issue at the same time, or if there is some conflict only present on your PW which is causing your issue, but most other PW's are already on NWNCX which I assume is due to them deciding to be a guinea pig and put this exact same text into their hosts file. As it is, since generally the only way i seem to be able to get things happening, I will probably have to start my own NWN1 pw just to test this, and sort out what the issue is. Kind of a moot point though, since Visavant has never actually completed his project, nor does he seem active.

Generally a PW when putting up new things, even ones that are fully tested, inform the players prior and ask for reports of issues -- if there is a problem they undo it, and generally do all this with support of the players who understand this is how they get new features. The leading PW's will do this a lot, and have a product better than their competitors because of it, and be the first ones having the new features in the community.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Knight_Shield]

               My servers are listed and I didn't change host file.Someone mustve added them threw the website.
 
-------------my opinion -----------------------------

  Shouldn't it be called the Skwywing Launcher ?  maybe virusman laucher?

 I think the word patch scares people.The first thing my few players asked me ....what's it going to do to my files lol
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               Perhaps, but then that assumes I named Never Launcher after gamespy went down. The gamespy game listing is just an aspect of my app, designed to ensure I can install anything needed on whatever server they click play - entirely aimed at "ease of use" for the end user.

I actually was originally using gamespy directly, and the only thing which works similarly ( with out me devising an entire system of tracking servers ), is the API skywing did. Everything else is closed and proprietary, which is great for end users of that app, but it ends up being more closed than gamespy ever was if I cannot integrate it fully into my app, and eliminates options for those who dislike exe's and dll's and loaders and patchers ( or the opposite and eliminates NWNCX if it's all web based ).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Melkior_King]

               So far as I can see, none of the "replacement" services allow me to simply redirect GS calls so servers are listed and displayed as they used to be.  All I want is a service which gives me the same functionality as GS.  So far, I haven't seen anything which does that.

I could write it myself but nobody seems to want to tell me the protocols used by servers to register with GS.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_painofdungeoneternal]

               

Melkior_King wrote...

So far as I can see, none of the "replacement" services allow me to simply redirect GS calls so servers are listed and displayed as they used to be.  All I want is a service which gives me the same functionality as GS.  So far, I haven't seen anything which does that.

I could write it myself but nobody seems to want to tell me the protocols used by servers to register with GS.

Not sure what is to tell, if you could do it, you would have already sorted that out. ( hint it's called wireshark and IDA pro )

There is no more gamespy, the protocols are still being sent through as they were before. ( replacing the hosts file allows you to point them at skywings service. )

The still in development NWNX plugin will let it automatically register as the server starts up. ( all of this is already implemented in NWN2 )

There is no way to make it work the way it used to be, the game is aimed at an ip which is deliberately blocking this, you'd have to fix both the client ( like NWNCX has done ) and the server ( via hosts file or sending a new custom message ) both to aim at a new server. By the time you replace both server and client, trying to recreate the old system exactly is a lot harder than just creating a new and modern system ( gamespy isn't even very good to begin with ), not to mention there is a reason those who can recreate it cannot post such since they seem to get letters from lawyers when they do so.