S4 Private Server Network

[DigitalSlash]

Hello.

There were many people on this forum, that wanted to create a private server however most of them failed. But as we all know, S4 is slowly dying. If we want to keep that game alive, we need a good open source private server. A while ago, Pinki announced on Twitter, that he currently he cannot work on the private server anymore but that he maybe will make his work open source. For many he was the big hope, but without him its the rest of us who have to keep S4 alive and work on where others stopped or S4 will die in the hands of Aeria like Gunz 1 did before, a mental father of S4. And once S4 is dead, the community will forget S4 and so they will forget about private servers, too.

I see many people interested in making a p server, but after almost 10 years of S4 I see no running p server alive. Things have to change now or maybe we will never get one. Without doubt we had several really good hackers, like pinki and I have greatest respect for them. But the weakpoint of our community is, that we couldnt work as a real open source project yet, which means once the main programmer quits then a project dies and the next one has to start from zero. We also have to keep younger hackers motivated, that do not have the knowledge yet, but therefor the desire. Under right guidance it will be maybe them, who keep S4 alive in the far future.

With this thread I want to start a new movement in the S4 private community, that follows the following codex:

- Make your work open source
- Provide documentary of the S4 architecture
- Do not create software, that hurts official S4

Use this thread to gather and discuss the next steps. I propose we

1. Gather developers
2. Share our knowledge and write a guide. Also provide general p server tutorials for new comers
3. If pinki released his servers by then, then work on on them. If not update FagNet or maybe write a new project from scratch
4. Look for a way to pay the server. S3 died because the server were not paid and it didnt have many players. I suggest we work with donations.
5. Advertise the p server among core players of S4

By that S4 finally may become, what it should have become.

Mods can edit this in the future:

EMULATOR PROJECTS
FagNet
FagNet is the first working and most popular private server emulator coded by wtfblub for S4 League Europe Patch 9. Written in C#.
Original version:

Wizzardo aka huenato's version:

TempestCore version:


GodNet
GodNet is a FagNet S4 League Emulator implementation purely written in NodeJS.


FagNet rewrite in VC++
This is an attempt by Decrypted to rewrite FagNet in Visual C++ and improving the game client.


Pentaleague
Pentaleague is a work-in-progress emulator written in C++ based on the ENet network library.


NetspherePirates
NetspherePirates is the second experimental work-in-progress S4 League server emulator for Patch 26 (Season 1) by wtfblub. Written in C#





PLAYABLE PRIVATE SERVERS
ArchieZone S4
A FagNet-based private server with as many compatible or unreleased weapons/maps/skills as possible.




USEFUL TOOLS AND INFORMATION
Resource tools
All 6 resource tools created for S4 League in one archive.


SCNReader and SCNPatcher
3D Model reading/patching programs written in NodeJS.



SCN XeNTaX thread
SCN models format research in XeNTaX.com by Seyren.


Massive collection archive
Various FagNet builds, tutorials, tools, entire clients and more put together for backup purposes.


Patch list 2008-2013
The complete list of downloadable patches from the official European servers, starting from October 2008 to August 2013


S4 Portable
S4 Portable allows you to play a modded FagNet client offline/in single player. Useful for experiments, and to possibly improve the Patch 9 client.


FagNet Tutorial


CONTRIBUTORS
wtfblub aka -PinkiWinki- -> developer of FagNet emulator, NetspherePirates emulator, and various Resource tools
Deverixz -> possible server hoster supporting Linux (or Mono)
dokayhan -> possible server hoster
rabi3bluber (programmer in training)

ArchieZone team:
jazzy348 -> server hoster with DDoS protection
Domarije -> patcher/launcher developer
Shanzenos -> client modder

Pentaleague team:
-> C++ & Reverse Engineering
-> C++ & Reverse Engineering
-> GFX & Modelling
-> SQL & Webshit[/QUOTE]

Special Thanks

WAZAAAAA... - For updating this thread

[-PinkiWinki-]

Originally Posted by DigitalSlash

If not update FagNet or maybe write a new project from scratch

Waste of time. I'm going to make my stuff open source and i'll still work on it but not as active as before.
The reason why it takes so long for me to release it is because i used some libraries i'm not able to distribute so i have to replace them with other solutions.

Originally Posted by DigitalSlash

Look for a way to pay the server

A VPS for like 3$/month is already enough. S4 is not a serverbased game so the server wont need much resources.

[Shanzenos]

~

[Deverixz]

I'd be able hosting the server for someone (includes Server, MySql and Web), if the server is compiled for linux (debian) or can be used with mono, without needing donations or sth like that. (just as an idea.)

[DigitalSlash]

Ok I added your stuff. Im not sure about the link to the tutorial though if its against the rules. If yes, I will remove it of course.

[WAZAAAAA...]

Originally Posted by -PinkiWinki-

Waste of time. I'm going to make my stuff open source and i'll still work on it but not as active as before.
The reason why it takes so long for me to release it is because i used some libraries i'm not able to distribute so i have to replace them with other solutions.



A VPS for like 3$/month is already enough. S4 is not a serverbased game so the server wont need much resources.

What made you delete all your tweets?

[Shanzenos]

Originally Posted by Deverixz

I'd be able hosting the server for someone (includes Server, MySql and Web), if the server is compiled for linux (debian) or can be used with mono, without needing donations or sth like that. (just as an idea.)

Ha, that's awful nice of you Deverixz. Well, at the moment ours is taken care of. But hopefully someone else can make use of such an opportunity. I Think this might be a useful thread for everyone to keep tabs on development.

[18.Karat]

Good or **** ?

[DigitalSlash]

There is one topic I forgot to mention. If we got several server softwares, then we would also split the development forces. I know your own software is something like your baby and its fully up to the devs themselves, if they want to work on their very own project or cooperate with someone else. But at least for S4 it would be best if all work on one project. Think about how you could mix your stuff together.

And a similar topic is this: once the p servers are open source many p servers will spawn and this is a problem. Instead of quantity, we need quality. P servers already got lower player numbers. Splitting the p server community into several servers would be a problem. If the servers differ fundamentally, then its ok. But why should we have several servers with same content? Better discuss this matter as early as possible.

[Yoshikox3]

But why should we have several servers with same content? Better discuss this matter as early as possible.

This will happen anyways. And it doesn't have to be same content, you can customize a lot on a server and even make it work differently, if you know how to of course. But if you look at Games, which have a lot of Pservers, those Pservers succed unless they are just utter garbage. There are Pservers coming up with their own Content and that's what people want to see(Well, most of them).

[DigitalSlash]

Originally Posted by Yoshikox3

This will happen anyways. And it doesn't have to be same content, you can customize a lot on a server and even make it work differently, if you know how to of course. But if you look at Games, which have a lot of Pservers, those Pservers succed unless they are just utter garbage. There are Pservers coming up with their own Content and that's what people want to see(Well, most of them).

OK, but what kind of content would justify an own server?

- modded weapons? could be solved via a new kind of weapon limit like OS/gun only
- Language? Could be solved by channels
- new game modes? Could be added to every server without a problem

The only thing that would bother me is, when the modders starts to break canon and people upload their minecraft maps etc. (S4 has a defined style and personally I would even ban everything after the old designers left the game, however I think that would be too harsh and split the community. )

[Shanzenos]

Originally Posted by DigitalSlash

(S4 has a defined style and personally I would even ban everything after the old designers left the game, however I think that would be too harsh and split the community. )

Agreed. Though there's a few things worth it post beta, a lot more of it is not.

[DigitalSlash]

Its still worth a community vote:

- Original S4
- Original S4+stylish content
- Everything

If we would chose the "+stylish content" option, then we would need a quality assurance team.

And another thing to mention is this: balancement. This should be a really hot topic.

- Old balancement
- Current official balancement
- Own balanacement

[WAZAAAAA...]

Originally Posted by DigitalSlash

- Everything

The more the merrier. That one map or costume that you dislike may be someone else's favorite one. Just no red costumes for gameplay reasons, FFS.

Originally Posted by DigitalSlash

- Old balancement
- Current official balancement
- Own balanacement

"Balance" should be the absolute lowest priority. Balancing wouldn't necessarily make the game better, just different. If you really want to tweak weapons and skills, the most we can do is pick the best versions made by the official developers, and focus on fixing troublesome glitches in them. Maybe transform random patterns and damages into fixed too, since randomness is not competitive, but nothing else really.

[DigitalSlash]

Originally Posted by rabi3bluber

[Release]
Digital!,Please Take a look Here:

http://traumatic.es/
Download this project and register then test it

Its just a Patch 9 Emulator without any users on it and I dont think it will survive 1 month. No need to bother at the moment.