MU Online Client revitalization

[supron]

wow, i think you decompiled function make effect for dl cape.can you share it?
no effect when add custom cape :(

I made this decompilation about 6 years ago. I don't even have this IDA project or even CPP version. All stuff i have right now is entirely rewritten to C# and unity shaders. But I can give you some insights of how mu handles these effects.

There are few methods that webzen's client use to render it's effects. MU glow can be compared to multiple passes in modern approach. Object is rendered multiple times with different blending options and texture parameters (like dynamic UV coordinates). In example for +13 effect object is rendered 5 times (base texture with color, +7 dynamic layer, +9 static layer, +11 dynamic layer and +13 dynamic layer). It's very inefficient, but makes great effect even on the oldest graphic cards. With modern card this can be easily implemented in one pass with shader.

Regarding cape/wings effects, it depends which effect you need. It's usually billboard texture rendered at specific bone of object. Some items even have additional bones with animations to handle such things. You can find this code by searching for texture IDs in code and placing BP while wearing items. It's not that hard to find actually. Another option is searching for item ID and trying with breakpoints.

@supron: Thanks for your insights. I also think decompiling the main.exe and rebuilding it's engine is a huge task. Writing an own engine nowadays is always a bad idea, since there are a half dozen good ones out there. How did you manage to read the mu client resources? Did you convert all, or did you write code to read them in as-is?

I read them as-is. I tried with conversion, but it's black hole. You will end up with hundreds of issues every time you need newer Data folder from client. Writing code to load BMDs and map files is one time job. Also I can easily create Unity assets with this code, but I think it's worse than dynamic loading. The hardest thing is animation loading. Creating animation clips from code in unity is really painful, since unity lack documentation in this area.

I understand why a larger team could make it worse... I see it at work (~10m LOC, ~30 Devs) every day :D However, this problems are more organizational... I think it's totally possible to work on such a project with more people. It's all about splitting the work in as many unrelated parts and work items as possible, so more teams/people can work on it independently. It doesn't matter for the success if it's open source or not... the fact that closed source projects had more success here, is based on the fact that there are not many serious open source projects here. And that's because most developers here want to make money instead of helping the community

You need public repository for such project, but you can't create it. You need stable platform to handle multiple branches, pull requests and good issue tracking.

Also if you want to use "as it is", you will need to rearrange all the data on the memory, since you can't use VBO because WZ interleaved all data information.

Actually classic VBO layout is very easy to reconstruct from BMD file, and can be done in real time. You have to do it anyway if you want to convert BMD->FBX.

We are loading files to structs in multiple background threads, and creating unity Mesh class in main unity thread. The slowest part is AnimationClip class in unity. You can't create it in background thread, and it's a bit slow (especially SetCurve method). But it's still way faster than webzen's client.

[navossoc]

Actually classic VBO layout is very easy to reconstruct from BMD file, and can be done in real time. You have to do it anyway if you want to convert BMD->FBX.

We are loading files to structs in multiple background threads, and creating unity Mesh class in main unity thread. The slowest part is AnimationClip class in unity. You can't create it in background thread, and it's a bit slow (especially SetCurve method). But it's still way faster than webzen's client.

Yes, but I'm talking about the data as it is. Not how it can be.
If you just read it, it's in a really inefficient format.

We also had the animations converted to FBX.

Just to be clear, when I say "converted" I mean an external exe that runs on all assets of the data folder and output the files as fbx.
We are not creating meshes on unity at real time.

PS: I have attached one old model I had here... Not sure if it was before or after we corrected the animation speed.
Anyway, it is almost the same files, except for the timing.

[]'s

[metallica]

OP would be a dream trying to unified all of mu developers..its a impossible task....but I think that exist one thing that would be helpfull for mu community and its:
Fix the limit 25fps of the main and get at least 40fps playable without lag spike...if all of the team made a reward for a person that do that..for example each 10 dollars o whatever...maybe someone can achieve that.

We as player dont need a complete remake of the client...we only need play a Castle Siege...a arkawar with more than 100 player without lag spikes or playing at 10 fps

Enviado desde mi SM-G710 mediante Tapatalk

[supron]

OP would be a dream trying to unified all of mu developers..its a impossible task....but I think that exist one thing that would be helpfull for mu community and its:
Fix the limit 25fps of the main and get at least 40fps playable without lag spike...if all of the team made a reward for a person that do that..for example each 10 dollars o whatever...maybe someone can achieve that.

We as player dont need a complete remake of the client...we only need play a Castle Siege...a arkawar with more than 100 player without lag spikes or playing at 10 fps

Enviado desde mi SM-G710 mediante Tapatalk

https://www.screencast.com/t/WaSL4silSXE

Our emulator is optimized to work with stable 80 fps. On simple scenes like this (few NPCs and effects) I can have even more (up to 200-250 fps). It's Intel HD 530 card :)

Also this is almost "final" version. We won't add any resource expensive features from this point.

[marecznyjo]

As far as I know, MU is software rendered. Is there a way to decompile the rendering pipeline and try to change some drawing calls to OpenGL or DirectX?

[Doomz]

As far as I know, MU is software rendered. Is there a way to decompile the rendering pipeline and try to change some drawing calls to OpenGL or DirectX?

Nope, the MU Client is using OpenGL. Try to open some of the log files inside the MU Client directory and you'll find a few lines of text initializing OpenGL.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.screencast.com/t/WaSL4silSXE

Our emulator is optimized to work with stable 80 fps. On simple scenes like this (few NPCs and effects) I can have even more (up to 200-250 fps). It's Intel HD 530 card :)

Also this is almost "final" version. We won't add any resource expensive features from this point.

Oh! Sweet! :D

[metallica]

https://www.screencast.com/t/WaSL4silSXE

Our emulator is optimized to work with stable 80 fps. On simple scenes like this (few NPCs and effects) I can have even more (up to 200-250 fps). It's Intel HD 530 card :)

Also this is almost "final" version. We won't add any resource expensive features from this point.

I saw with detail the picture now, its Unity..its another "MU", I was talkin about the actual client, modifying some dll or some function that DRAWS in the main

[marecznyjo]

I believe the main issue would be that MU has mechanics tied to frame rate. One example is attack speed - if your frame drops, your attack speed is dropping as well. Increasing the frame cap would create a lot of issues.

[Daoheart]

I'm willing to help with rebuilding the clients assets/3dmodels ONLY IF we make them all high quality and not as low poly as they are currently.

[wind2006]

加油，加油，加油

- - - Updated - - -

Can you share the shaders?

[SirMaster]

well actually there is my project which is almost finished: Home - Elion Online you can take a look at it :) this is a proof that remake MU online isn't impossible at all, it is up to our willing to finish it.

[marecznyjo]

Checked it out. It's very impressive. You recreated everything with very high detail.

I believe that the server is located far away from Europe. I'm connecting to the server from Poland and movement is very choppy due to lag.

[Wortex]

@SirMaster Please provide some screenshots for those of us who are still interested in this recreation idea

[SirMaster]

Here I leave a few screenshots as you asked :)

In future I might open north america and europe servers(only session servers, since will be the same server Elion).

Thank you marecznyjo for your comment :)

[Kyro]

Here I leave a few screenshots as you asked :)

In future I might open north america and europe servers(only session servers, since will be the same server Elion).

Thank you marecznyjo for your comment :)

Amazing bro nice work