[Showcase] Devilian - server emulator - (Client 2017 - Version 40.1.15.7) - development

[SofaRitze]

Devilian – Server Emulator Development Project​

Devilian officially shut down in Europe and North America in early 2018 and has never been brought back online in these regions under another publisher.

Several years ago, I already asked around on this forum if anyone had access to the original server files, but unfortunately, without any success. Devilian was such an amazing game, and I was genuinely disappointed that there was simply no way to experience it again.

I had previously been looking for a working game client, but recently discovered that Devilian was still in my Steam library and, surprisingly, I was actually able to download it!

The client is version 40.1.15.7 - Live-US, which, based on my research, dates back to 2017. This is the version I'm currently using as the foundation for developing a server emulator.

Thanks to additional information I've received, I can now confirm that the final Trion Worlds build was version 40.1.15.7-B. This update only introduced English voice assets, while the game binaries remained identical to those in version 40.1.15.7. (Thanks to Murasama for this information | Post #4)

Since the Steam depot I downloaded most likely contains this final release, I can now assume that I'm working with the latest version of the US/EU client before the shutdown in early 2018.

Although finding detailed information about Devilian has been extremely difficult, especially since so much content has disappeared from the internet over the years, these new findings have helped clarify the client's version history considerably.

Current Development Progress​

Completed:
(Everything has been implemented and tested in a multiplayer environment with two or more players.)

• Fully decrypted and decompiled the game client
• Successfully launched the client without the Glyph Launcher (Trion Worlds)
• Implemented the login server, including server and channel selection
• Implemented the character server, including character creation and character selection
• Implemented the world server and spawn
• Implemented Sycing between multiple Clients
• Implemented Movement and Navigation
• Implemented NPC's and Monsters/Enemys
• Implemented Combat and Skills
• Implemented Devilian-Form
• Implemented Loot, Inventory and Equipment

Currently in Development:

• Economy, Trading and Crafting
• Quests and Character-Progress
• Dungeon and Groupdungeons/Matchmaking
• Chat, Friends, Groups and Guilds
• PvP
• Add Localizations from EU to US Client
• Add Assets from Thai/KR to the US Client
• Research Thai/KR Client for the different Tutorial/Pro-Log Map/Story and maybe implement it, into the US Client
• Further network packet analysis (still ongoing)

I'll share screenshots and videos as development progresses, whenever I have the time.

Source Code and Availability​

For the time being, I won't be releasing the source code or the emulator itself until the core infrastructure is in place and most of the essential server-side functionality has been successfully emulated.

I'd like to reach a certain level of progress and stability before making anything publicly available. I hope you can understand and respect that decision.

Discord and Community​

If there's enough interest in the project, I'll set up a dedicated Discord server in the near future.

That would give everyone a place to ask questions, share ideas, discuss the project, and follow development updates more closely.

Looking for Additional Resources​

If anyone still has resources related to Devilian, I'd be extremely grateful if you could share them!

I'm particularly interested in newer game clients, whether from the US, European, Korean, or Thai versions of the game.

Any additional files, documentation, or other useful resources could potentially help with the development and reconstruction of the server.

Big thanks to Murasama for the entire Ressources | Post #8

Final Words​

I really hope Devilian still holds a special place in some people's memories and that there are others out there who would love to see this game become playable again.

It's a pretty ambitious project, and there's still a long way to go, but I'm excited to see how far I can take it.

Hopefully, there are still some Devilian fans out there!


Showcase Videos:

Login, Character and world entry:

 

[SofaRitze]

World Server ist working now, too. After Spawn, Movement and some Basic Skills are working, I will upload a video for the showcase.

 

[SofaRitze]

First Video Showcase with Login, Character and world entry.

 

[Murasama]

Looks good! To date, besides the Chinese developer for a mobile game that originally utilized recreated Devilian assets in Unity for their mobile game

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where they created a basic emulator to capture in-game flyovers for their promo footage, no one had even tried to get any of the game clients to get to the basic character creation lobby and just being able to run around the game world, working). Last Trion build was 40.1.15.7-B (the binaries are the same from 40.1.15.7; it was an english voice asset update). The Steam depot you were able to download is likely this final release.

Am a former Devilian player (KR, Thai, NA/EU; NA was the main region I played on though). I still have the last Thai (GoodGames) game client as well. That might be useful only for some modified graphical assets (there were a few different character faces specific to KR/TH for example while Devilian form assets were not as censored). The Thai version mirrored the KR version of the game (Trion's version if you recall implemented different gear progression and some differences in content/game play especially in its PvP design where they also added non-Devilian form PvP) and is probably too problematic to focus any time on.

Unfortunately back during the time the game service was active, no one built any packet capturing tool to log game play data for those critical game systems which would help with the server side emulator code. And it's been 8 years since closure where my own memory of how the game worked, has faded.

I have a very small amount of information at

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that I never got a chance to add the actual detailed information I really wanted to while it was still fresh in my head (that included the information that the Devilian KR site on Inven had for the game). I do have that Inven KR Devilian site captured as translated webpages (again, some of those systems and items are relevant to KR/TH' gear/progression system) and covers 4 areas; battle, character, item, and system.

I can make that available since portions of it are applicable (including the talisman card system sans the few special cards that were added for the Trion version which were part of the Obsidian founders pack). Am in the process of reducing my usage of Discord; thus I can just dump whatever info I have here on RZ.

 

[SofaRitze]

Looks good! To date, besides the Chinese developer for a mobile game that originally utilized recreated Devilian assets in Unity for their mobile game

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where they created a basic emulator to capture in-game flyovers for their promo footage, no one had even tried to get any of the game clients to get to the basic character creation lobby and just being able to run around the game world, working). Last Trion build was 40.1.15.7-B (the binaries are the same from 40.1.15.7; it was an english voice asset update). The Steam depot you were able to download is likely this final release.

That's incredibly valuable information! Until now, I honestly had no idea whether this was actually the final version or if Trion Worlds had released any additional updates through the Glyph Launcher afterward. Thank you so, so much!

Am a former Devilian player (KR, Thai, NA/EU; NA was the main region I played on though). I still have the last Thai (GoodGames) game client as well. That might be useful only for some modified graphical assets (there were a few different character faces specific to KR/TH for example while Devilian form assets were not as censored). The Thai version mirrored the KR version of the game (Trion's version if you recall implemented different gear progression and some differences in content/game play especially in its PvP design where they also added non-Devilian form PvP) and is probably too problematic to focus any time on.

I would be incredibly grateful if you could possibly share the official Thai client! Whether it's for technical resources that could help with reverse engineering or simply for the graphical assets, it would definitely be interesting to combine some of those assets with the US client.

The challenge, of course, will be figuring out how to "replace" those assets in the original client without actually modifying the original client files themselves. However, that's something I'm already working on. Currently, the client is launched and controlled entirely through an external launcher using a loopback/bypass mechanism, and I've already implemented a working feature that allows additional content to be injected through packages.

Unfortunately back during the time the game service was active, no one built any packet capturing tool to log game play data for those critical game systems which would help with the server side emulator code. And it's been 8 years since closure where my own memory of how the game worked, has faded.

I can definitely relate to that. A lot of my memories of the gameplay have faded over the years, and I certainly can't remember every single detail anymore. However, I've actually been going through old YouTube videos, gameplay footage, Let's Plays, and streams to specifically research individual features and mechanics, trying to reconstruct as much information as possible. So far, that approach has been working surprisingly well!

That said, I would be incredibly grateful for any additional information or resources you might still have!

I have a very small amount of information at

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that I never got a chance to add the actual detailed information I really wanted to while it was still fresh in my head (that included the information that the Devilian KR site on Inven had for the game). I do have that Inven KR Devilian site captured as translated webpages (again, some of those systems and items are relevant to KR/TH' gear/progression system) and covers 4 areas; battle, character, item, and system.

I've actually already come across that website of yours, as well as your newer blog containing the migrated content. And I have to admit, your blog was actually one of the things that motivated me to start this project in the first place!

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If you still have the backup or snapshot of the KR website, that would certainly be a huge help!

I'm also not ruling out the possibility of integrating features from the Thai client that weren't available in the US version, as long as they make sense within the overall game design.

My goal is to build a modular system that allows everyone to decide for themselves how they want to experience and play the game. It's entirely possible that we could eventually support both the Korean/Thai and US versions side by side.

I can make that available since portions of it are applicable (including the talisman card system sans the few special cards that were added for the Trion version which were part of the Obsidian founders pack). Am in the process of reducing my usage of Discord; thus I can just dump whatever info I have here on RZ.

That would be an enormous help, and I would genuinely appreciate it if you could make those resources available, as long as it doesn't cause you too much trouble.

This project is truly a labor of love for me. Devilian was a game that kept me completely hooked for months, and bringing it back to life and seeing this project through to completion is something I care deeply about.

My only real concerns at the moment are the legal aspects. Providing an emulator or private server based on the original client, along with a custom launcher, would probably not cause any major issues on its own, at least that's my assumption.

However, the biggest challenge is that very few people still have the original client, or even have the game in their Steam library, which would allow them to download it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any external, official download sources that are still working and that I could simply point people to.

I've actually already contacted KRAFTON regarding Devilian, since they appear to be the last known rights holders. Unfortunately, I haven't received any response so far.

I even proposed several options, including purchasing the necessary licenses or potentially obtaining a license specifically for a non-commercial project, which would allow me to legally operate a server. Sadly, as mentioned, I haven't heard anything back from them.

Yesterday, I did some more research into the client, and I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered that someone had uploaded the entire Gamebryo 2.6 SDK, including its source code, to GitHub just four months ago! This is the very engine that Devilian is based on!

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I haven't been able to determine whether this was an official release, but considering that the uploader has published 48 repositories over the years, I'm hoping everything is legitimate.

Naturally, this is an incredibly valuable discovery for me, as it could make reverse engineering the client significantly easier, help me understand its internal functions and mechanics directly, and potentially allow me to reuse certain engine components for future content.

And who knows, perhaps the newer version of the engine, which has also been made available on GitHub, could eventually open up possibilities for updating or improving parts of the original client itself!

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Even if this probably isn't some massive breakthrough, it's still an incredibly interesting discovery and definitely something worth exploring further!

Once again, I really want to thank you for all the information you've already shared. I truly appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to your support and any additional knowledge you might be willing to contribute!

 

[Murasama]

I'm actually surprised (relatively speaking), how there are still folks who played this back in that 2015-2018, that still remember this game (and how nothing that came after it, ended up filling that hole). I've sort of moved on past gaming as well (except for my offline setups of ArcheAge and TERA), but Devilian similarly has that special place even though it had all of these flaws and was never completed by Bluehole Ginno (the other continent and Shaman class that was being worked on).

Game preservation has really come to the forefront due to a lot of different factors (gaming industry shenanigans, stop killing games, ML decompilation, etc) which is great to see (and seeing this project even if it is a start, is really awesome).

The Thai client won't be a problem (I just need to pull the PC it is on out of storage; I need to do that anyway to grab some other files off of it including the Inven KR archive - I also have a lot of the press kit assets from Xunlei Games for the never launched Chinese version; the Kyran/Death Scythe class was initially developed for CHN/TH respectively, was then brought to Trion's version as the Tempest). Just a small example of things I never got around to documenting.

Thanks for the info about the Gamebryo SDK's! Going to grab those.

Legal... that will always be a sticking point. Clean reverse engineered or from scratch server emulators aren't usually a target versus the redistribution of the game client (more so if done in a turnkey fashion like how a publisher would do it where if you have a launcher that downloads and installs it). Many projects don't use the brand and also make sure not to bundle the game client (where the bulk of the intellectual property is located). Krafton won't respond to such requests or licensing proposals. Krafton's corporate legal is chaos defined and most of them probably have no idea that Devilian was something that existed. PUBG is their primary concern for obvious reasons..

Devilian (as I've written) is encumbered with a lot of TERA assets though; a few of which they've used in PUBG as well. With TERA 2 looking to be something they are actually working on (still a head scratcher which many of us were skeptical about) initially with just 3-4 people before the official job postings on the Krafton site popped up; they are uncharacteristically quiet about it. But I highly doubt they have people who have remained with the company through its evolution post-PUBG that understands those links. And unless TERA 2 (whenever it does actually launch) is wildly successful, it is difficult to see them being interested in taking that heavy handed approach.

Early on (when the initial official server binaries for TERA ended up being leaked, Krafton was very aggressive with takedowns of those files). But that ended up being a whack-a-mole experience where they eventually took a hands off approach including not acknowledging a majority of the private server presence (the one exception was maybe one of the first ones that ended up transforming into a heavily monetizing/heavily modified version since it had newly created cosmetic assets that was obviously leveraging the official core assets); that private server went offline last year after rumors of them having received a C&D (but to my knowledge, there was never verifiable proof this had occurred).

The more I thought about it, I now understand why they continue to have TERA console running. It's about maintaining that active presence of that brand while the bulk of the business operations and customer facing aspects are being handled by Microsoft and Sony (whereas there are far more headaches trying to self-publish the desktop version across various regions); Krafton just does some lower maintenance "updates" to that console version. And now with TERA 2 being an active project, it is not known how they will look at these developments with TERA (fairly active here on RZ) and by extension, Devilian which is far lower on that list (but is the game that current Krafton CEO CH Kim worked on prior to Bluehole acquiring Ginno Games).

I ended up looking at it this way; considering two major server binary leaks occurred while TERA was still in active service and Krafton ended up not being aggressive (unlike anything to do with PUBG), this being on their radar is like low. Still, keeping that separation of the game client from the actual emulator should be a thing (reducing the use of brand names with the emulator). The ArcheAge emulator project simply calls their emulator AAEmu and has different pieces (clients and important databases, all separate). XLGAMES/Kakao Games KR to my knowledge has never addressed it.

I maintain archives of those TERA clients and VM's with the binaries on a MEGA account. It's discrete but even linked here on RZ's TERA section as a mirror in some of those threads. I think the main download of both server and various client versions has been on Yandex for several years now (besides the Steam depot downloads if someone already had installed it previously on Steam). The Devilian client is far more compact and I can host that similarly as a mirror. Basically, lot of options.

Am unsure about KR law when it comes to length of copyright/trade/service mark but we're coming up on 10 years of non-use of the Devilian brand name (May 2028) and any intellectual property they tried to push back in 2017 (one of those was Devilian form transformation which was the one things the CEO for Bluehole Ginno at the time tried promoting, but fell flat). If same as other jurisdictions, that whole copyright. brand/service mark could end up in the public domain by May 2028.

 

[SofaRitze]

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to share all this information and background! It's genuinely fascinating to learn more about the history of Devilian, the people and companies involved, and especially the situation surrounding Krafton and TERA. There are so many interesting details here that could be really valuable for the project going forward.

And please, don't feel any pressure regarding the Thai client or any of the other files you've mentioned. There's absolutely no rush! We're simply grateful that you're willing to share these resources with us whenever you get around to it. Even having the possibility of accessing some of these old files someday is already a huge help.

The legal and corporate background is particularly interesting as well. It definitely gives us a better understanding of the overall situation and what we should keep in mind as the project moves forward.

At the end of the day, I'm confident we'll find a way to make this project happen, one step at a time. There's still a long road ahead, but I'm really motivated to see where this goes.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and for being willing to help. It's great to see that there are still people out there who remember Devilian as fondly as we do!

 

[Murasama]

Not a problem! It's just great to see a passion project like this suddenly pop up. And it's not an issue getting stuff uploaded with what I do have since I needed to grab that PC for other data not related to this. In the process, I realized more of my brain cells are "abandoning ship"; while I got my other files, the Devilian ones were "missing" because the drive volume it was on was not showing up (first thought was the drive died). After a fair bit of time, I finally remembered the SSD was in my current PC

I also forgot I had most of the Trion livestreams for Devilian (maybe 98% of them) so I uploaded those as well (the inconsistent naming is all Trion). Probably the only ones that might have useful info are those up until Drewcifer was fired when they began downsizing the team around 6-months post launch.

Also remembered Trion had separate clients for NA and EU for some localization mostly related to text (I could've left the assets out but wanted to keep it intact).

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(MEGA)

 

[SofaRitze]

Thank you so much! There's an incredible amount of information here that I probably would have never discovered without your help. I really appreciate it!

The file size isn't a problem at all. I have a pretty fast internet connection, so I can easily download everything and start looking through it.

The livestreams and videos will also be incredibly helpful!

Once the emulator is finished, I'll extract the localization files from the EU client and bundle them into a separate package that can be added to the US client.

I'll also take a much closer look at the Thai client once the US/EU version is fully completed. I'm particularly interested in the assets it contains.

I've also made some significant progress on the server development and discovered some very promising things along the way:

• Monster and NPC spawn data is already included in the client.
• Character stats, skill values, and other related data are fully available in the client.
• Loot tables, item drop assignments, and drop rates are also included in the client.

This has already taken away one of my biggest concerns, especially since loot tables and drop rates are often stored exclusively on the server side. Finding all of this information in the client is a huge relief and will make the server reconstruction considerably easier.

That's actually the part I'm currently working on: implementing the loot system, inventory, equipment, and other related mechanics.

I also found the PathEngine SDK in another repository from the same GitHub user:

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Devilian uses PathEngine version 5.30, while the version available on GitHub is 5.34.

This is incredibly helpful for understanding and reconstructing the navigation-related network packets and their underlying functionality.

I'll continue updating the progress list in the main post as development moves forward.

By the way, is there anything else you'd like to see included in the main post? Any additional information, technical details, or development updates you feel are missing?

I'm always happy to hear suggestions and make the project as transparent and informative as possible!

 

[Murasama]

Ah yeah. Lot of data was client side (encryption was broken early on too). It was brought to their attention but the decision makers didn't care. KR, lot of MMO design studios back during those "heydays" didn't care either since the focus was PC bang net cafe deployments, plus the flawed assumption that because KSSN's were required for account creation, people wouldn't hack. When these studios made publishing agreements outside of KR, it was one of those things they would have to deal with after the fact (if at all).

Sort of why I mentioned that for this this particular game, the server side was likely not very large (compared to the business backend parts which is what most of these publishers care more about from being exploited).

I uploaded the Inven talisman card and class skill webpages for the KR version.

Main post looks fine. This is actually re-motivating me to add some of this info to my site (actually, migrating it from Google Sites) since parts of the details are coming out from the cobwebs typing it out here.

Like I remembered something regarding the KR/TH release version. They both had a different starting prologue tutorial which on average, was the first 10-15 minutes before given the portal to the actual starter zone map (Trion's tutorial was made far shorter with a different map instance). I added a video of that (Devilian KR Prologue Tutorial.mp4). Not sure if they removed those assets from the Trion version, but it will be in the Thai client.

The original KR closed beta also had a completely different newbie zone (the assets for those might still be in the client). The map looks like this (plus part of texture for the area of the original floating city before it was streamlined into the Asperon map):

 

[SofaRitze]

Ah yeah. Lot of data was client side (encryption was broken early on too). It was brought to their attention but the decision makers didn't care. KR, lot of MMO design studios back during those "heydays" didn't care either since the focus was PC bang net cafe deployments, plus the flawed assumption that because KSSN's were required for account creation, people wouldn't hack. When these studios made publishing agreements outside of KR, it was one of those things they would have to deal with after the fact (if at all).

That actually makes a lot of sense and explains why publishers had to deal with these issues while the developers themselves didn't seem to care all that much.

It might also be another reason why distributing the client, potentially even a modified version, might be less of an issue than I initially thought. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean there wouldn't be any legal concerns, but somehow all of this makes me feel a bit more relieved about the whole project.

Sort of why I mentioned that for this this particular game, the server side was likely not very large (compared to the business backend parts which is what most of these publishers care more about from being exploited).

At its current stage of development, my server emulator is actually only 15.24 MB (Binary 4,63 MB, Database 8,57 MB, Other Content 2,04 MB) in size without Debug Stuff. Entire Server with PostgreSQL and so on is about 73,93 MB. It's written entirely in Rust.

I uploaded the Inven talisman card and class skill webpages for the KR version.

I've already downloaded the resources and had a look through them. The prologue looks really interesting!

Main post looks fine. This is actually re-motivating me to add some of this info to my site (actually, migrating it from Google Sites) since parts of the details are coming out from the cobwebs typing it out here.

I'm really happy to hear that! Thank you so much for all your help and the information you've shared. It's honestly motivating me even more to keep working on this project.

I'm hoping to have something playable within the next week or two, and who knows, maybe we'll be running a few dungeons together before long!

Like I remembered something regarding the KR/TH release version. They both had a different starting prologue tutorial which on average, was the first 10-15 minutes before given the portal to the actual starter zone map (Trion's tutorial was made far shorter with a different map instance). I added a video of that (Devilian KR Prologue Tutorial.mp4). Not sure if they removed those assets from the Trion version, but it will be in the Thai client.

Once I've finished the emulator, I'll definitely take a closer look at the tutorial from the Thai client and try to get it running as well.

It might actually be worth implementing it into the US/EU version, since the Trion Worlds tutorial feels pretty bare-bones and much less interesting in comparison.

The original KR closed beta also had a completely different newbie zone (the assets for those might still be in the client). The map looks like this (plus part of texture for the area of the original floating city before it was streamlined into the Asperon map):

I'll definitely take a closer look at that as well!

Considering what I've already discovered about the client and the engines it uses, I've actually been thinking about creating and experimenting with my own content once the emulator is finished. I really believe this game has a lot of untapped potential.

Another possibility would be to completely rewrite the client, perhaps even develop entirely new assets, and eventually launch a Devilian-like game that would be less complicated from a legal perspective.

But that's definitely something for the distant future and would require a lot more work than just building the emulator. Besides, game design and creativity aren't exactly my strongest skills anyway.