Which version have the bigger player base?

[ptr0x]

Hi,

I'm a programmer who worked for some years reversing an old mmorpg called WYD2 and as such this is not a "gimme the candy" kind of topic.

I'm looking toward working with this game possibly creating a server in the near future.

As the last time I've played the game was almost a decade ago I'm completely lost about the news and the current state of the game.

The first question that came up to me as I saw all those seasons was which version of the game have the bigger player base. If I remember well I played in the 97d version.

Also, if I may, could anyone tell me if the client->server communication protocol is well documented in the community somewhere (I mean, packet structures, packet encriptation, data structures, etc)? Are people using crack&patch in the server files or are there stable server emulators?

Thanks in advance for the help. I'll try to help the community where I can if I decide to stay here. If anyone have more knowledge to share and want to chat you can reach me at skype andre.scos@hotmail.com

[MentaL]

[abysel]

RZ was famous for it's content for many years but slowly the new coders/devs generation did not continued the free releases of files for MU.
The old pro coders retired and made room for the new generation. They continued the works done but organised in teams and started selling their work. So most of the "good" content is not free anymore.
MU is very old and uses "ancient" methods.
If you really wish to do something it will be very hard alone + there are these new servers with 1-2 years of existance that call themselves "long term".
I am working with 1 very good friend on oir little community on a season3 episode 1 server that is trully long term since 2008 with no db reset. We are doing it for fun and we have a fair number of players....we do everything in a team of 2 , he is coding and im designing. What else can i tell you....the game has an antique engine...antique files and etc...newer versions are easyer to develop and files are a lot more understandable but we are old timers that enjoy the pleasure of a old version with unique custom features...what webzen did to the new versions is called " rape".
If you really want to get in this world of MU online then you need a lot of documentation about it...it's not easy but if you played the game since 2003-2004 you would understand why we love it.
We fixed all the possible bugs in this season 3 and we are constantly trying to improve the game. Soon we will be opening a classic server, we are going back to our origins with a distinct approach that we hope to change the face pf this game and make it playable as it should have been done from the begining and focus heavily on the end game content.
I suggest you read as much as you can in the PC development and PC releases forums. You will get a hang of it and start understanding how it works. There are many tutorials and videos in RZ if you have enough time to spend here.
If you wish to give a helping hand to this community for free ...probably no one will aid you...everything is now payed and there are few times that code/develop for money. Free content is disapearing slowly and alone you will probably drop it and find something else to do.
Sorry for the long post...hope you got my point and also sorry if i offended anyone but this is the truth.
Peace !

[ptr0x]

Well...

It's kinda disappointing that the MU community took the exact same road as the WYD2 community... I can remember very the the first text about reversing I read I found in this community almost a decade ago, was a tutorial explaining how to load a custom dll in executables haha. Good old times...

I appreciate your answer @abysel. 'll take a look at these RZ files to see if I can do something.

About the player base though, do you have any idea of which version have the bigger player base? And specificly about that very old versions (97d and such), you think there are people looking for servers with that old kind of servers?

I would love to chat with you in private, could you add me on skype? Or whatever instant messenger you are using (;

[Bigman]

They continued the works done but organised in teams and started selling their work. So most of the "good" content is not free anymore.

I take my time, which worth money, and put it into a product that is used by other person to generate profit (hundreds/thousands of dollars monthly, for the successful servers).

Now, you tell me, why shouldn't i gain something from that profit that this person is making over my own time? why would i give anything free?

So yes, (almost) nothing is free anymore.
But all of this started at the moment that the private servers started making big money from donations / $ shops.

If you remember the old private servers (frienzmu, muonline.gr, etc) - they used their own files, never shared them, and made a profit from it - the regular mu community always had the most shitty, bugged, and old versions of mu.

Now, the latest (yes, 1:1 version from official kor) season is much more accessible for everyone to get (buy). why? because organized teams which are being paid for what they do, do not lose interest.

[ptr0x]

I take my time, which worth money, and put it into a product that is used by other person to generate profit (hundreds/thousands of dollars monthly, for the successful servers).

Now, you tell me, why shouldn't i gain something from that profit that this person is making over my own time? why would i give anything free?

So yes, (almost) nothing is free anymore.
But all of this started at the moment that the private servers started making big money from donations / $ shops.

If you remember the old private servers (frienzmu, muonline.gr, etc) - they used their own files, never shared them, and made a profit from it - the regular mu community always had the most shitty, bugged, and old versions of mu.

Now, the latest (yes, 1:1 version from official kor) season is much more accessible for everyone to get (buy). why? because organized teams which are being paid for what they do, do not lose interest.

Linus Torvalds and many other rich ppl disagree (:

I understand you though. It's almost an inevitable end when ppl start to think that way, at the end no one will share their stuff and the community dies.

Think that ppl like me who work with programming for a lot of years could help and improve the community in the case there's one. How many overall improvement you could have as community if the mindset were different?

Ofc I'm not trying to change your way of thinking about this. I understand why you do it this way but I just dont think this is the best way to work.

[drakelv]

You can always code your own files and put all your improvements you want to add there. There are plenty of sources available to start.

[ptr0x]

You can always code your own files and put all your improvements you want to add there. There are plenty of sources available to start.

Could you suggest a stable source without too much modifications in the gameplay to start with?

I found some options but as I'm new to the community I can't know which files have bugs, modifications, etc.

[abysel]

About player base i dont know...some ppl like old seasons such as our season3 and others like newer seasons but the real MU players remember the good old days.
We can chat if you wish, i can't rly help you with many infos about server side though, i am more into graphic deaign, 3d modeling and stuff like that. It's the client side.
You can add me on skype sure : abys_l2
l is lower case L.

[ptr0x]

About player base i dont know...some ppl like old seasons such as our season3 and others like newer seasons but the real MU players remember the good old days.
We can chat if you wish, i can't rly help you with many infos about server side though, i am more into graphic deaign, 3d modeling and stuff like that. It's the client side.
You can add me on skype sure : abys_l2
l is lower case L.

Added (:

[drakelv]

Could you suggest a stable source without too much modifications in the gameplay to start with?

I found some options but as I'm new to the community I can't know which files have bugs, modifications, etc.

It really depends on Season you chose, there are good s9 and I think s8 sources which dont require any modificiation in game play, if you want to go above that you will have to choose one and develop the features of new seasons, crack, unpack/patch game clients and do tons of research. After a while you will give up and understand why nobody does it free.

[ptr0x]

It really depends on Season you chose, there are good s9 and I think s8 sources which dont require any modificiation in game play, if you want to go above that you will have to choose one and develop the features of new seasons, crack, unpack/patch game clients and do tons of research. After a while you will give up and understand why nobody does it free.

I already understand the reasons why nobody is doing it, trust me (:

I just rather live in an open source world (:

[Dope Boy One]

RZ was famous for it's content for many years but slowly the new coders/devs generation did not continued the free releases of files for MU.

Old good days..When everything was for the glory.

The old pro coders retired and made room for the new generation. They continued the works done but organised in teams and started selling their work. So most of the "good" content is not free anymore.

This is true too, but in other terms it's something that should happen anyway..

As Bigman said

I take my time, which worth money, and put it into a product that is used by other person to generate profit (hundreds/thousands of dollars monthly, for the successful servers).

And like it or not, it's not a lie.

in my personal view, mu is dying but not really dying.. same with files, files should be free..But how everything to be free when people spend hours,days,weeks,months to make this files..Even if is poor code or next level files..
The problem is, there is more servers than users right now.. There is tones of forums/facebook group, where you can find servers, top100 websites e.t.c
Maybe i'm wrong in both situations, but it was better before when everything was there, and forum was like a hell spam place, but the result is thousands of servers out there with 2-5-10 online e.t.c

MU is very old and uses "ancient" methods.

[Erick Mota]

You can always code your own files and put all your improvements you want to add there. There are plenty of sources available to start.

Do you know of any 97d sources available? For someone starting in this community, it can be pretty hard to find them.

[drakelv]

I don't know any 97d sources and I don't think there were ever full 97d gs source released. But it should not be hard to downgrade season 2 source to 97d .

[ptr0x]

I don't know any 97d sources and I don't think there were ever full 97d gs source released. But it should not be hard to downgrade season 2 source to 97d .

And what about the "official" 97d build? Is there such a thing?

How people made the patches in the files? Direct in the .exe or through dlls?

I'm looking for any basic release with no fixes or modifications.