Just looking for help

[sessho111]

Hi, I was forward here for help and what not. I've tried my best not to post anything here, for fear of being bit by someone just because of my noobish talents. However, I'm at the point I cannot progress with my server anymore, and willing to accept any criticisms from the community if it means I can get help. So, here goes ^^;

Before you even say it, I have read each topic very well concerning some of my issues. Some, I even followed straight down, step by step, and still having problems. If you tell me to go over it again, I definitely will (I would have anyways) but I have a feeling I'll just run into the same problems. ><

The list is somewhat extensive, and I feel it wouldn't be appropriate to address them all in one topic. However you want to approach this is up to you. I already feel very insecure posting this as is, and I'm afraid of the responses I'll receive. So, yeah. That's my story and everything. If I already did something wrong, you can just delete this >< but I'm just asking for help. Thanks~~ @_@

[MentaL]

[Tsukasa]

Quite a number of these problems are related to the client you're using. From what you describe, you're using mrNickname's client, right?

You should get the original Thailand client, patch it up to 584.04 (not newer!) and grab a 584 hexed executable from the Release section. It'll take care of most interface problems and fixes most of the club issues you describe.

If you want an English UI, you should use chreadie's English UI PAK file (either by repacking it into a projectg584th*.pak or by creating your own updatelist with QuickPatch).

As for the rest...

• Cadies cauldron doesn't work, see the ToDo list.
• The ring problem is probably related to CHAR_EQUIP_SAVE, see the release section for an updated procedure.
• Server crash with personal shops is probably the result of improperly edited IFF files. Use original IFFs as the base for editing (to make sure you don't pull strange errors with you all the time) or revert to the original 584 pangya_th.iff for both server and client (if you just want to test whether that'll fix it). There might tables involved as well (I'm thinking Pangya_Item_Typelist here, don't pin me on that, though!).
• "Cannot install client to a seprate computer/receiving "please update" notice - cannot distribute client worldwide" - see Common Beginner Questions, you need to add registry entries.
• "Need to figure out where to find the "Title"" - if you're talking the badges like "Happy Birthday", "Winner" or "GM"... they're part of skin.iff. You can use /giveitem to get the title or use TSU_AddItemToUser.
• "Cannot figure out how to remove shop from Lounge in a specific server" - should be settable through the channel flags, don't have the value at hand right now. Anyone?
• "Cannot figure out how to add events" - again, read the Common Beginner Questions. Currently that's not possible. It's for sure you'll need to fill a few tables and push out a client update for the UI to activate it - but that's about all we know at the moment.
• "Unable to understand how to add new items to the existing .iff file" - see this thread, that's pretty much the easiest explanation available right now. If you need more in-detail help or don't understand a step, please create a new topic or add to the existing one, describing where you're stuck.
• For the background, I'm not sure whether you mean the seasonal theme (like Halloween, christmas etc.) or the 3d animated background. If you opt for the latter, see this thread. Music and particle effects are meh... dunno.
• "Cannot successfully modify and save items in game via FileXplorer through mean of .iff files" - I advise every passionate user to do this for ~5 items manually before resorting to FileXplorer. Since you want to add items to the IFF anyway, the best way to get an overview over the file structure is by manipulating the values directly. Learning by doing, trial and error. :)
• "Unable to successfully use the GM Tool Pangya" - in case you didn't already check it, read the pinned GMtool_cmd thread in Development, it contains a lot of practical examples you can copy & paste to test them out. Again, without knowing the details, there's little we can do.

If you need help on a few of these points, you should provide us with more informations what exactly is going wrong - otherwise it's hard to diagnose and help.

[sessho111]

You make it sound like a genius, and that I can do this all in one night ^^; Some of this sounds self-explanatory, and others I just want to hit my head with a rake for some of the easiest things I overlooked. Just as a quick check list, I'll go through what was mentioned...

- I appreciate the help, and I'll redownload the TH client. (Don't ask, I just do) If I need any more help with this section, I can just ask, right?

- I was already aware of the Cauldron issue
- I'll check back on the rings later
- I wasn't entirely sure if this is true or not. I'm just basing this off of Chaos's client. I'll give this a shot soon.
- I'll get on that last (maybe)
- Omg, how could I been retarded to overlook that. I'll check that soon.
- Would appreciate it if you could at least give me a hint to where I should turn off the shop. ^^;
- I skimmed over the questions thread again for the billionth time, and if your referring to the "wants" question, I'm not looking for any event, I'm just looking for what program I need to activate them or files I need to mod to activate. I'll figure out how to start them on my own from there. Or, you just going to say no? ><
- I'll definitely give that a shot.
- Thanks for the latter part, I'll try that soon. But I totally forgot the other part. It would be nice to remove it and set it back to default.
- -_- Sadly, I already knew this answer. I'll try it out.
- Work, work, work... and I thought the GM program was just a shortcut. Alright, I'll rely on that, then.

I will not say I need help with any of it just yet. I have more information now, and would like to be trapped in a corner before spamming for more help. But, I would like to know particularly how to start the room with just myself in the server. This would be extremely helpful, and less stressful for my CPU.

Also, I've notice I can add Cookies/Points to other users, but when I try to input it to UID:1 it tells me I cannot insert duplicate key in object. Mind filling me in?

Thanks, and sorry for such a messy response.

[Tsukasa]

You make it sound like a genius, and that I can do this all in one night ^^; Some of this sounds self-explanatory, and others I just want to hit my head with a rake for some of the easiest things I overlooked. Just as a quick check list, I'll go through what was mentioned...

Actually, most of this stuff is dead simple (even the IFF editing - it's not hard, just time consuming if done manually). It's just a matter of learning where to look. :)

- I appreciate the help, and I'll redownload the TH client. (Don't ask, I just do) If I need any more help with this section, I can just ask, right?

Of course.

- I wasn't entirely sure if this is true or not. I'm just basing this off of Chaos's client. I'll give this a shot soon.

I'd rather not base my setup on Chaos' files. They have a bunch of unique problems you really don't want to deal with.

- Would appreciate it if you could at least give me a hint to where I should turn off the shop. ^^;

As I said, I'm pretty sure it's a channel-type setting in the Game-server's server.ini. Unfortunately I don't have a complete list of available types, so I don't know the exact value.

- I skimmed over the questions thread again for the billionth time, and if your referring to the "wants" question, I'm not looking for any event, I'm just looking for what program I need to activate them or files I need to mod to activate. I'll figure out how to start them on my own from there. Or, you just going to say no? ><

I can only repeat what I already wrote. The event management consists of two parts: One database part and one client UI part. While we could probably show the necessary UI elements for an event in the client with a little modification, there's still the database part we don't know how to control yet.

- Thanks for the latter part, I'll try that soon. But I totally forgot the other part. It would be nice to remove it and set it back to default.

If you're using the normal (as in: not repacked) client, you should have a sane and consistent UI.

- Work, work, work... and I thought the GM program was just a shortcut. Alright, I'll rely on that, then.

Currently, Management Studio is the best way to manage a server (as many here already noted). Just write the queries you need once (i.e. rate adjustments, angel wings event etc.) and save it for later re-use.

I will not say I need help with any of it just yet. I have more information now, and would like to be trapped in a corner before spamming for more help. But, I would like to know particularly how to start the room with just myself in the server. This would be extremely helpful, and less stressful for my CPU.

Good initiative!
If you're talking starting games with just 1 user - that's not possible. For normal VS games you need at least 2 players and for tournaments you will need at least 4. If item testing is what you're after, family mode is probably your best shot.

Also, I've notice I can add Cookies/Points to other users, but when I try to input it to UID:1 it tells me I cannot insert duplicate key in object. Mind filling me in?

Yeah, shame on me. It's possible one of the procedures can fail miserably. You can manually set the Pang by editing Pangya_S4_TH.Pangya_User_Statistics and adjust the "Pang" value for a given UID.

As for the cookies, there are several ways of doing it, two of which have been documented in the Common Beginner Questions. Both methods can fail, if you manually want to adjust the value, edit INI3Bill_DB.TAccountMst and set a row's value for CookieAmt to the target amount.

[sessho111]

You should get the original Thailand client, patch it up to 584.04 (not newer!) and grab a 584 hexed executable from the Release section. It'll take care of most interface problems and fixes most of the club issues you describe.

Alright, I spent most of the bloody day trying to figure out how to make it work. I downloaded the client from the release topic 584.04 and the server crashed. I downloaded and installed the Thailand server itself, only to realize I had no idea what to do with it. Two hours well spent. Then I tried using the same client and everything provided in the topic, and it continues to crash. I even scrapped all of my work until now just to see if that would work, and again, it just crashes.

I'm not entirely sure what is so great about the 584 client, when the 582 worked just the same. I'm not seeing a difference here, and would really like some insight on it. Furthermore, I have a headache to what I'm going to assume is something trivial, and that I'm just making this harder than it seems. If you can come back to help me on this, I'd appreciate it. -_- Thanks~

[Tsukasa]

Alright, I spent most of the bloody day trying to figure out how to make it work. I downloaded the client from the release topic 584.04 and the server crashed. I downloaded and installed the Thailand server itself, only to realize I had no idea what to do with it. Two hours well spent. Then I tried using the same client and everything provided in the topic, and it continues to crash. I even scrapped all of my work until now just to see if that would work, and again, it just crashes.

I don't know what the problem is here. There's no difference in setting up a server with 584 or 582. I've played around with the files quite a lot but only provoked crashes when I was re-engineering the database's missing SPs. Since you don't provide any information what you did, there is no way to help you. I can only guess you provided the server with an invalid pangya_th.iff file.

If you followed terrorofdeath's tutorial, you should be fine. Just replace the pangya_th.iff in both the Game and Login server directory with the recent one from the PAKs. Ignore the client in his tutorial, though.

For the client crash, people usually don't replace the wangreal.dll with the newer version, causing the client to crash. It's indeed a stupid mistake, especially since fasa2008 mentions it in his release thread and people still ignore it.

I'm not entirely sure what is so great about the 584 client, when the 582 worked just the same. I'm not seeing a difference here, and would really like some insight on it. Furthermore, I have a headache to what I'm going to assume is something trivial, and that I'm just making this harder than it seems. If you can come back to help me on this, I'd appreciate it. -_- Thanks~

It adds support for new club effects, newer special item effects and a new version of wangreal.

You will see the changes if you try to use a high-powered IFF with all the latest and coolest stuff. Try it on 582 and 584 executables - 584 will give you the expected bonuses and animations. That's the reason people always try to use the latest executable - it guarantees items work as expected (although we're out of the loop for a few weeks now).

If you're interested in what actually changes, you should read the TH patch notices.

Again, you don't give any information what exactly you did - making it impossible to help.

Here's a short guide to make the client work:
- Install the 580.05 full client
- Install the 580.05_to_584.04 full offline patch
- Replace the wangreal.dll and ProjectG.exe with the one from fasa's topic.
- Hex the ProjectG.exe to your needs (custom updatelist path, server IPs, UCC/Ghost/Guild paths, etc.)
- If you want to include cool stuff, copy the additional PAKs to your new client directory, rename them to something sane (like project584thSess0001.pak and so forth) and run QuickPatch to create a matching updatelist. Alternatively you can also repack the latest PAK (should be projectg584thf.pak). Don't modify any IFFs at this point.
- Test it.
- ???
- Glory!!

Once the client starts (as in: You see the login window), start working on the server.

For the server - as mentioned - go with terrorofdeath's guide, test it and if everything's peachy just replace the IFFs when you're done. If you install additional procedures or features that are not mentioned in terror's tutorial, please do so one by one and test after each one to ensure you get a rough idea what could be causing the problems.

Also, be sure to follow the tutorial to the letter. I know, all of you do that... it's just that many problems we get here turn out to be those small little details people (deliberately or unconsciously) ignored in the tutorial (personal favorite: Language setting when setting up the DSN connections).

[sessho111]

Well, I tried, and this is the results:

- Installed the 580.05 full client (two hours later)
- Installed the 580.05_to_584.04 full offline patch (I'm pretty sure of it)
- Replace the wangreal.dll and ProjectG.exe with the one from fasa's topic. I tried all ProjectG's provided
- Have limited knowledge of hexing, so it was more or less skipped.
- Do not know how to use Quick Patch

I tried, and got some foreign notice. All in all, I basically knew it was saying it wasn't going to run. Even tried the one with (No)Multi-Client, and at least it gets to a black loading screen on both before crashing.

I suppose this is the part where you tell me I fail, and I should stop trying before I hurt myself. I had absolutely no problems with the 582 client, and I may believe it would be a lot easier just to resort back to that. I even went over the tutorial once more, and found nothing I haven't already completed. I should know, I spent the past three hours fighting with it just to make it work one night.

If your patience is wearing thin, or tell me that I'm not suitable for this, I'll just go back into hiding and do this myself. I am determined to make it run at near perfection, with or without the help. ><;; You can tell me to use the 582 client now, and try the more updated later, or provide a little more details, crack the whip, and tell me to try again. I thank you for anything you provide anyways~

[Tsukasa]

All I can say is that it does work fine. If you're at the end of your wits, go with 582 - but go with an original 582, not mrNickname's client.

You can update the client executable later on, the important part is that you get a clean IFF from the original TH client.

I'd bet the error message says "Please run the updater"...

[sessho111]

Bit confused with that one. Why not choose mrNickname's client when its available to the public? I'll definitely choose your advice, and go with it. Seeing as how I'm in little position to argue with someone that has more knowledge of this than I.

So, my only options available are choose the already available 584 client, and have hours of fun cursing at it, or choose the 582 client, but as long as it's not mrNickname's and has a fresh IFF file. Which in the long run, seems like more of a headache to me.

So, let's continue with the 584 at the moment. I've clearly given all the information by each step which you instructed me to do, and still manages to crash. How am I suppose to use the updater? I already assume I add the code into Command Prompt? I load it in, accept the overwrite, and still nothing.

Assuming the updater is the last hurdle before sweet victory, how do I use it properly? I apologize for being such a troublesome case. Should have done that earlier, but I think you already know now. >//<

[Tsukasa]

Well, apart from the obvious fact that mrNickname's client hasn't been updated or maintained in ages there are obvious shortcomings.

I'm sure it's a fine setup if you're really really lazy and just want to play VS with 2 friends, however if you plan on maintaining a setup for a longer period of time, consider the following points:

• It's messed up
  mrNickname unpacked and glued together all PAKs from that time into one big one and even threw some of the GB PAKs for translation fun into the mix. The result is a terribly inconsistent UI with parts of the Halloween theme meeting with christmas. Again, this is probably fine if you really don't care but I think it's just... ugly.
• Repacked to save space (and PAK filenames)
  While the basic idea wasn't bad back in the day, we don't need to "save" names for PAK files due to the fact we have QuickPatch. If we want to add more content, there's no need for repacking - we simply create a new PAK and instruct the game to load it. Because of the happy mixing, there might be problems and/or bugs you're not yet aware of. Saving ~100MB isn't worth this trouble. There's also an error that can occur with hexed executables that use the official updatelist - the game expects more PAKs to be present (because the updatelist says so) and may close.
• The IFF files are edited and partially broken
  Some values are fubar'd, some items are bugged. Simply put: Get any other IFF but don't use the one coming with this.
• Go mainline!
  Using the original client + offline patches + a hexed exe + QuickPatch keeps the client pretty close to the original setup in terms of structure and PAKs. You don't have to worry about errors from repacking. ini3 doesn't mess up the updates. It's simply the best base.
• Smaller patches
  You can link people to the normal, full TH client setup and just supply them with a much smaller set of patches for playing on your server. It's better than downloading a 600MB monster every time the server administrators decide to update 1 file.

By updater you mean the offline patch? You install the base client, don't run update.exe, install the offline patch 580_to_584, close the updater as soon as it tries to launch, unpack the hexed ProjectG.exe and wangreal.dll (don't overwrite the ProjectG.exe you have in your game directory already but rename the new ProjectG.exe to ProjectG_private.exe or ProjectP.exe!), hex the IP address and start it.

The offline patch is just a WinRAR self-extract archive, so you can also unpack it with WinRAR itself.

[sessho111]

After couple days of frustration, and a four day hiatus due to surgery, this is what I've gotten to this point.
_________________________________________
TH client added 584.04: Done *thanks hvdaedalus for your topic with your similar problem

Ring problem: Still exists *only after logging off now

Personal shop problem?: Still unable to test

Distributing client to others: In process

Titles: Done

Change background: Done

Add/remove items in shop: Still unable to

Add new items into database: Still unable to
_________________________________________

After updating, a couple tweaks seemed to worked itself out. The Guitar clubset no longer crashes the game. However, new problems have arisen. Probably trivial, but still a problem nonetheless.

New pak files do not show up when I place it into the folder. Even after adding the TH iff file into its respective directories, the clubsets I used in mtNickname's client do not show up in the TH client. So now, I cannot inform you if the voice clubs work or not now because I don't have access to do that in the new client. I will keep trying before any replies, but if I can't, would be helpful for a solution.

I know it was mention a couple times in a couple other topics, just don't know where to find it again, but when I try to create a room, it comes up with a message. Now with it being all in a foreign language, I don't know what it says. Overall, it denies me from creating a room.

So, with the .iff problem, I try modifying the items that are already in the file, and save it, place it back, zip it, change it back to .iff, and put it in its respective directories, and everything goes smoothly, up until I actually start the game. When that happens, the game just crashes, and everyone cries. Not quite sure what I'm doing wrong, because I followed the tutorial straight down, and I'm not surprised that it failed. As for adding new items to the files list, I haven't got a clue. It seemed self explanatory like everything else, but turned out to be more frustrating in the end.

The shop keeps prompting me for some password to gift to others. Any idea how to remove that?

Finally, about the bgm and particles on the front screen, do you or anyone else have a legitimate clue as to where they might be stored? I mean, you would think they wouldn't be too buried, considering Japan updates theirs seasonally. If you have a lead, I would like to look into those files. Even if it ends up being a dead end, at least its a start. If nothing else, at least I can get some training in. I'll just consider it homework.

Thanks in advance~

[codyx]

Ring > at the end of the save equip thread you'll find your solution. (aux parts in sql)

Creating a room > beginner questions > update the client version in the database.

For the bg and stuff just check arround in the pak, you'll discover lots of things.

---------------
a tip I can give, to check if your iff file has the correct structure, just launch it in the gameserver. if it fails to load, your pangya_th.iff is "corrupted"

Regards,
codyx

[sessho111]

So, I had a good streak going with the iff files. Which, by the way, I don't know which one I'm using. I just took it from the Login folder. Everything was running smoothly up until I got into the Part.iff file. Any modification, even just for changing the money flag, and the whole file becomes corrupted. Even saving it completely untouched does the same thing.

I am wondering how this can be avoided, because every other iff file had no problems being edited, but this one wants to be troublesome. So, if anyone wants to help, I'd appreciate your time.

[hvdaedalus]

this is the solution to your problem editing part.iff:
http://forum.ragezone.com/f514/tutor...4/#post6298495

[sessho111]

this is the solution to your problem editing part.iff:
http://forum.ragezone.com/f514/tutor...4/#post6298495

Not exactly sure if I'm following your method correctly. I assume I'm suppose to be in command prompt, but I'm getting errors left and right, now matter how I try to word the command. If you could be just a little more detailed through here or elsewhere, I would appreciate it~ =3