Couple of quick questions here please...
" First we want to make sure the installer can update our servers hotuk.ini... I hope you have a good one in there."
1: How we know if in fact have a "good one in there" ?
"Right, that was easy. Now we copy over any and all updates replacing files as we go... after all, these are supposed to fix bugs, so we hope they don't introduce any."
2: What updates have you implemented and would you please share these updates and fixes?
The thread title is "How to install ANY server repack with the Personal Priston Tale installer", both of the lines you picked out are related to the "ANY server repack" part of that title, as opposed to the "Personal Priston Tale installer" part of it.
Many repacks have, or have had updates to them posted here, either further down the thread or on a new thread (especially if the updates are not by the original releaser).
The hotuk.ini you use can either come with the Repack you are implementing with the installer, or you can take one from these forums. There are several threads devoted to understanding various aspects of the server hotuk.ini, and several very good examples in the RFT thread. However, you should be aware that that thread pre-dates, and for the most part has been replaced by, the Releases, and Tutorials sub-forums.
The jPT server we use was leaked (probably as a client someone figured out how to make work as a server) and so we have no documentation in any language for any of the configurations or any of the features. Hotuk.ini is particularly "open" in it's interpretation of the configuration lines... as compared to an XML file or a Windows .INI file... it's much more like a *nix .RC file. Without documentation or source most Unix-heads would say "it's pointless trying to use this" but that's what we do.
There are only 2 methods of understanding the file.
- Put commands and parameters in and see what changes.
- Trace the code which reads it, and see what it looks for, and what it does when it finds something that it thinks looks right.
Some of the comments in the old RFT hotuk.ini examples are not accurate, they seemed to work but later analysis has proven that, either the command only works that way under certain circumstances, or it is actually more powerful than that and can produce more varied and useful results than those examples suggest.
It's also worth mentioning that it's not only possible to change what the server reads from Hotuk.ini, and what it does with what it reads... but it's considerably easier to do that than many of the other changes we regularly make to our servers. I've not noticed any major changes in any of the releases here on RZ, but I've made servers myself, and seen other developers customising the server hotuk.ini to the point where it wouldn't accept any command listed anywhere on RZ, and no command that it will accept would work on any other server... In fact, the one I made didn't even read from a file called "hotuk.ini". The point of
that on a private server, is that if someone hacks into your server and steals your files, they are going to have to start learning again from scratch, because everything they think they know about PT servers doesn't apply to yours.
(Sadly, file theft from Private Servers is rife in the PT community)
Some people seem to think that because we are developing a server that was never officially released as such, is undocumented and has no official support, it's okay to steal from each other.
As I say, I suspect that the base of our "server" is actually an early test client. Since all the clients have some code in them to support "*MODE SERVER" in their hotuk.ini... the current ones only support it in it's Korean form, and then only to the extent that if it's set they exit immediately, but if you look at a recent thread where we have been attempting to resurrect a v1.66b EPT client, you can see that it will run most server functions perfectly well, and may also note that on an x86 XP based system, most of the server releases here will operate as a reasonable Game.exe. XD I suspect that an early jPT test client performed so much of the "*MODE SERVER" operation, that it wasn't difficult for someone to figure out what files needed to be in place and what they should contain for it to act as a fully functioning PT Server. If that is the case, the "leak" was official and completely legitimate, all-be-it unintentional. Nobody hacked into the official servers and "stole" their files, we just used our heads and figured out how to make the client they give away for free act as a server, rather than writing a server emulator from scratch.
There have been two attempts at writing a "server emulator" for PT, one in VB6, and one in C++. The VB6 version was reasonably successful (similar in % complete to WoWEmu before commercialisation killed that and the open MaNGOS development started) and the attempt to convert it to C++ was going quite well when the "official" jPT server release was posted. That killed all development on the other two. Everything since then has been based on the jPT 4096 server. That's is why I feel comfortable saying "ANY server repack".
In actual fact, anything based on the VB6 or VC++ code can't be installed with my installer, and doesn't use a hotuk.ini or MS-SQL.
Vormav has also produced a modification which works (more or less) with MySQL which would be problematic to implement, but it wasn't around when I started this thread.
lelejeau is also heading an attempt to write a new server emu, and I believe (s)he would prefer to write it in C#, but is struggling with the "login server" encryption.
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