Opinion from Community

image · #1 03-29-2009, 12:14 AM

I wanted to suggest an idea I had to try and make a possible different approach to the issue at hand.

Some people have suggested a WoWEmu like alternative where servers handle their own login servers and I would like to see what people think of this design.

1) run your own public server with unlimited users, but a limitation of 3 world servers per login.
2) a statistics site which will post the login server name, a short description, the active users/zones/players (and worlds within).
3) There will be a limitation that will require your login server to connect to the main statistics, however there will be a large gap of time that they can be disconnected between each other and the login server still function.

Aergad · #2 03-29-2009, 12:20 AM

Im for it personally 1 world server 3 50 doesnt matter to me im not planning on hosting other peoples servers on my personal setup but I like your idea none the less

The only drawback i see is whether or not the current emu staff would agree with this and setup the site and statistics server, seems to be dependant on what athey say in that reguards unless you setup or someone else volenteered to setup the statistics aspect of it

other then that one little hiccup i say wholeheartedly yes

image · #3 03-29-2009, 12:22 AM

Most of this was already programmed into the base login server, we had Master/Slave/Mesh servers, just needs to be updated.

Aergad · #4 03-29-2009, 12:25 AM

well then by all means lol

I just hope that this doesnt turn into something that is totally dependant on the emu staff to maintain or be able to stop its progress by not putting the site up here for the stats

devn00b · #5 03-29-2009, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aergad

The only drawback i see is whether or not the current emu staff would agree with this and setup the site and statistics server, seems to be dependant on what athey say in that reguards unless you setup or someone else volenteered to setup the statistics aspect of it

Image and myself could run the site and statistics server.

Aergad · #6 03-29-2009, 12:28 AM

I guess what im saying is is there a backup plan to the stats site being here at the main emu site or do you have a plan for if they dont want to go this route

EDIT:

thats what i was getting at lol

If you guys need any help with the stats aspect lemme know im also trying to come up with a way to transfer players characters to new accounts

image told me i need to get with you about that part though cause your the DB guy

Aonelyn · #7 03-29-2009, 12:43 AM

I support this.

**trevius** · #8 03-29-2009, 03:30 AM

If there is going to be a Private Login Server option for what are currently considered Public servers, IMO, it shouldn't rely on anything other than itself to work. A centralized status list would be nice as an option, but shouldn't be required IMO.

If possible (and I am sure it is), there should be a way for players to log into their current Public accounts and set a password while in game through the Public Login Server that will let them use that same password to authenticate to that same account from the Private server. Preferably, people should set a different password than what their public password is, but just in case they don't, the passwords should be saved to the database as MD5 if possible. It also might be good if admins had a way to set a temporary password for accounts. Then, if the LS is down and someone needs access to one of their accounts, but hasn't set a password yet, if the admin trusts that they do actually own the account, they could set a password for them. And, after they log in with the password the admin set for them, they could change the password again.

Then, when someone tries to connect to a server through the private LS connection, they would just use the password they set and still be able to access their characters from their Public account. The only issue with a system like this would be creating new accounts while the Public LS is down, but that isn't too much of an issue.

It would also be great if all servers had the option to be connected to both the Public LS and the Backup Private one at the same time so their players could use either, or easily switch to the backup if the public was down.

Actually, after checking the source, there is already a command called #setpass, which would let admins set their own password. It would just need to be modified so that players can use it as well, but only for setting their own passwords (not everyone's password like the command is set to do currently).

If a statistics webpage was set as an option, it would be really nice to have a decent customizable config in it. The config could include an optional webpage/forums link that link directly to the server's website/forums from the status page. Also, it would be good to have a setting for entering the host name of the server. And, that too would have a link from the status page that could generate exactly what to change your host.txt file to to use that particular server. I am sure someone could even write a simple batch file that would let people pick which server they wanted to connect to and it would simply automatically change their host file for them. It also might be nice if there was a way to add a brief description of the server to the status page (maybe from a mouse-over or something) that would be limited to 250 chars or so. That description could also be saved in the config file as an option. I am sure other features could be added to make a really cool status page, but those are just a few I can think of off the top of my head that would be really useful.

Now, for registering accounts through the Private LS and not have it conflict with the Public one, that would be a bit more complex, but I am sure it could be done. One way would be to have a separate table for private-only accounts that would append some sort of prefix or suffix to the account name when used so that it doesn't get confused with Public ones. Either that, or just make it so that Privately registered accounts automatically append something to the name that is highly unlikely to conflict with any public accounts. Or, just require that people using private-only accounts append something themselves for the account to work. So, if you wanted to make a private account named "cleric1", you would actually create an account named "pls-cleric1", where the "pls-" stands for "Private Login Server".

It would probably be a fair amount of work to get all of that working perfectly, but that is the best solution I can think of to make sure that the Login Server is never an issue on the emu ever again.

image · #9 03-29-2009, 03:42 AM

unfortunately I think more for the private route and everyone has their own registration. It is too easy to spoof being another client in this game to trust passing that data back and forth. I think people want the freedom of their own LS too..

MNWatchdog · #10 03-29-2009, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by image

I wanted to suggest an idea I had to try and make a possible different approach to the issue at hand.

Some people have suggested a WoWEmu like alternative where servers handle their own login servers and I would like to see what people think of this design.

1) run your own public server with unlimited users, but a limitation of 3 world servers per login.
2) a statistics site which will post the login server name, a short description, the active users/zones/players (and worlds within).
3) There will be a limitation that will require your login server to connect to the main statistics, however there will be a large gap of time that they can be disconnected between each other and the login server still function.

I suggested something like this months ago and I would love it.

#3 has to go though. Nothing should require a central server to keep it functioning.

Instead, make a new launcher that could pull down current info from a central server, but would still be able to connect to servers it already knows about even if the central info server is down/gone.

Store the servers info in a text file, like EQHost.txt, so the file could be edited manually.

**trevius** · #11 03-29-2009, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by image

unfortunately I think more for the private route and everyone has their own registration. It is too easy to spoof being another client in this game to trust passing that data back and forth. I think people want the freedom of their own LS too..

With the ideas in my post, people could do either one separately or both at the same time. Having more options is more likely to get the best approval rate.

If there are issues with account security, then maybe they can be worked out. If it is so easy to spoof being another account, then I don't see how that wouldn't be a potential issue for any Login Server, private or Public. I am not sure how that would effect being able to use public accounts on a private server. If you are setting a password into the accounts table, you would have to know what that password was to be able to access that same account through the Private LS. I am talking about players setting their own passwords to their accounts while they are actually logged into the server through the Public LS. That should pretty much confirm that they do actually own that account. If there are security issues with that, then maybe they can be worked out somehow as well.

image · #12 03-29-2009, 03:56 AM

Unfortunately the password isn't used all the time to handle your authentication, that is my concern. It is part of how the EQ client works.

**trevius** · #13 03-29-2009, 04:01 AM

The password isn't used all of the time? I don't pretend to know exactly how the LS works, but I know the official public LS will never let you into your account if you enter the incorrect password. Try it a million times and you still won't get in. If you do, that is news to me and there needs to be a fix if possible for it, lol...

image · #14 03-29-2009, 04:03 AM

I don't want to elaborate but pretty much.

Aergad · #15 03-29-2009, 04:09 AM

Ok my two cents here...

That would mean ALL loginservers being connected to a central database with all accounts in it, HUGE security risk one person figures out how to get the info for the db and EVERYONES accounts and EVER private server is vulnerable.

That would be in no way different from just using the public LS. which the point of this is so that people do not HAVE to use it and can have autonomy.

while a launcher to choose a LS is an option.

I see no good comming of emabling all the loginservers access to all the other loginservers accounts other then some wannabee l33t hacker compromising EVERYONES accounts.

ontop of that some people dont WANT to be connected to the public ls at all there are many users of minilogin already. so obviously not everyone wants to be dependant on the current ls or have their server publicly connected to it.