Capricorn Project Development (Server Emulator)

[RanEnRui]

Hey everyone! Some of you may know me as 'SiLo' (or Erik) from the PlanetDA forums, DAHelp forums, or even the deprecated Capricorn forums themselves. I've decided to move the project development news to these forums instead (RageZone) since it seems like the perfect environment. Yes, I am also the same 'SiLo' from the Malaysian Dark Ages.

Who am I? For those that don't know me, I've been working with a good few people in reverse engineering the Dark Ages client, server, and how they interact (communicate) with each other. With that knowledge I have been working (on and off) on a server emulator for the Dark Ages client. Many of the DA tools you have listed here in this forum are made by me as well (Sapphire, EPFTool, and DA-Mapper). I am also the lead developer for the Capricorn project, which Foubar (Justin) has taken over a lot of the work as of late. I am also working on my own version of 'Capricorn.'

Why work on a server emulator for such an ancient MMORPG? The answer is quite simple: why do you still play games on emulators like the SNES and Genesis? They are still fun! Just because the graphics may not be "next-gen" or jaw-dropping 3D, they still have much potential in the areas of game play although unfortunately the current game management is rather poor.

What progress do I have and what do I have to show for it? Currently, I don't have very much since I've started the program from scratch but I do plan to work on it quite diligently as it has always been a deep aspiration of mine. I know a great deal about the client and server, it's just a matter of programming it (again).

What language do I use? I prefer the .NET languages, mostly C# (version 2.0). I use Visual Studio 2005 for my programming, although I do plan on converting to Visual Studio 2007 once it is released and convert the server to the C# 3.0 specification.

How can you help? Well, there are many ways to help. The main way to help is doing some of the "dirty-work" that I do in figuring out packets and how they work exactly (what data they contain). It may be somewhat difficult for people to help me with this at the moment unless they know the encryption and/or have programs to help them examine the decrypted data. I plan to release some programs so that people can "sniff" the Dark Ages packets easier and figure out what they mean. If you are a developer, sharing your tools or even developing new tools for this project would be a plus!

Can you help me with (insert something DA-related here)? It depends. My current account is not active (paid), so I can't log into the game. As far as emulation knowledge goes, drop me a PM or email and I'll be sure to get back to you. It's always good to see others interested in working on similar projects!

What are the primary goals of this project? Right now, my goal is to create a server able to emulate every function that the current live servers support. Once I emulate the live servers with near-perfect accuracy, then I'll work on new features such as player-run shops and trade skills. While I will be emulating the functionality of the server, I may or may not initially emulate the game's content exactly (maps, monsters, skills, et cetera) depending on how it comes along.

When can we expect an update? While I can't promise anything due to my work, school, and personal schedule, I will really try to make a weekly update. Although I really do appreciate that so many (possibly hundreds) are interested in my developments on this project, please refrain from contacting me solely to question my progress or what I plan to add as this is the reason I decided to come to the forums -- centralization of information. Once I get back in the groove of this perhaps I'll be able to do it consistently every certain day of the week. I know some of you know my history of this project has almost been vapor ware, but I really am trying to commit myself 110% to this and get some kind of working public release in the future. :)

Releases:

1. Capricorn Base Server Software [9.27.2007] (DOWNLOAD LINK)

This is the code for a very basic server that is mostly just to act as skeleton code for future developers. It will listen, accept connections, pretend to create a character and reject login attempts with an error message. It uses the basic 'NexonInc.' encryption method (pre 5.51) because that is all that is really required.

It is written in C# 2.0 using Visual Studio 2005.

[MentaL]

[Xeross]

Hope everything goes well this times =) You'r a good Dev SiLo, about weekly updates I think it may be hard for you with School work Going out to get drunk or whatever lol but if you can accomplish this It would be great for the Community hehe.

[drgn11]

hey are you looking for .net developers to help with the project? because i can help greatly if you'd like.

i can also code tools to help other helpers like you mentioned, Like packet sniffing and what not.

I have been coding in .net for awhile and have accomplished many projects, For DA i have made a fully functional hunting bot using your own capricorn reference librarys, if you want to see my work visit na.statezero.com for an overview of the hunting bot.

i am also a php/asp developer so if you needed a backend site coded for handling user registration or any of the sort, i can do that also.

[RanEnRui]

Hey Dean, I've seen a few of your projects and I'm really impressed with your work, you've accomplished a few things I had been trying to but was often sidetracked and unable to complete. :)

I think I have your MSN but I might have lost it over time or during one of my cleaning sprees. You can add mine and message me just to be sure. I'd definitely love to have your help on this and/or related tools.

Good to know about the web development since I really don't know much except ASP.NET (and hardly anything awesome at that).

EDIT: As everyone may have noticed, my original post here now has what I have complete as of these last few hours of starting the recode. :)

[Tsukekun]

Thanks for creating the thread here Erik.

[cloakedmapl]

hehe its a new age! projects are flowing everywhere, good luck erik I didn't know until you just put this up and told me about it

[drgn11]

Hey erik, it probably dosnt matter at all; but what client will be used for the server? because i was using some old validation packet to force login,

e.Socket.Send(writer.ConstructList(new byte[] {0xAA, 0x00, 0x05, 0x02, 0x04, 0x4A, 0x61, 0x7C }));

anyway i have been working on a packetwriter class, but i have some questions to go over with you whenever you get on msn

Also what tools do you currently need to propel the project?

[RanEnRui]

Over the last day or so I have updated a good bit of the code I posted here. I hope to release an update Monday night (10/01) that should contain some new additions like the PacketWriter (already finished), BinaryHelper (already finished) and XML databasing (in progress). The code is now (for the most part) fully documented.

The newest and most recent client will be used (currently 7.15). While I have not had a working server since 5.51 (or maybe it was early 7.0x), I think the packets should remain nearly the same or at least very similar in structure. I do know that there have been some changes (such as the login packet) and dialog packets that will need to be update. This is really what I need most right now, a "Data Visualizer" type of program that resembles my older one like this:



In the above picture, I can highlight a piece of a packet and it will show me the various (possible) ways of representation. Obviously in this example, it is an ASCII string of the spell name, "mor beanniach". Also, you'll notice the 'Split' ability, which lets it take a big packet that contains more than one packet and separate them.



This was the updated version that I had made (and lost forever somehow), it was able to define packet structures, parse them, and display them in a neat tabular form like this. (See below for how they were defined.)



This is the packet definition (structure) editor window. Here is where you can set how to parse the packet and such. All this program needed was proxy/trace support and it would have been GOLD.

As you can see, I'm trying to (re)research the packets to see what their structure/effects are.

[ADSF]

lol i remember you silo (resurrected from myda). good luck on the project, too bad i'm useless lol.

[drgn11]

I've started to work on a proxy, currently only with trace support,






Will post source when i finish hooking in the rest of the functions

[RanEnRui]

Good news and bad news!

The bad news is that I underestimated the amount of work necessary to get the server to some kind of working level, so I might not have another update for a few days at the most. In more bad news, my current web host (university) is experiencing issues and I am unable to upload anything.

The good news is progress is coming along nicely and a few others like Justin and Mop have greatly helped my packet research by giving me old code and backups of my Packet Visualizer program that I posted above. Between these two things, my progress can be expedited a good bit.

I'm debating on whether I will release future versions of the source or binaries (executables) as Justin pointed out to me that doing so will definitely create multiple servers and divide the DA population. The real issue is that this is a community game and I want everyone to stay on the same server really. The issue isn't about me being "stingy" or "selfish" about the project, I just want all of us to be together on the same server. :)

[Xeross]

It all depends... we could have main server, hosted here on RageZone where everyone gather and still be able to mess around on our own private one, everyone that knows DA abit know its a community-based game and I think we all will try to gather on the same server even if the server is released.

You could have a server with everything done (Spells, Mobs, Npcs, etc) and release the working emu, but empty, you know, if you want something done doit yourself lol, I spoke with Justin about this and I told him the same thing.

[Elementus]

I've been waiting forever for SiLo to post here, especially since the Capricorn forums when to crap.

[Naywenne]

This is awesome, Silo! Keep up the great work. And I'd keep the source confidential. We would have 50 servers with 3 people on each, I think.

[Xeross]

Nice Release =) atleast it shows some progress, not like a old Mod/Dev I know anyhow still alot to do.

Good job.