Basic understanding

[creiss]

Hello all,

I know there are tons of startup scripts. But I want to grasp the works

The world binary is the main thingy. It, I assume is unique, will not get launched more than once, handles characters, chat and zoning (not zones). I launch that first with, well, no arguments. For the sake of things, we assume the login works, and don't want to bulge into that

Second, I have zone and eqlaunch. This is where it gets fuzzy. I guesstimate the zone server is not to be launched by me, but is being launched, with unknown incantations by eqlaunch. Each instance of zone holds one zone, which in turn controls everything happening in that one zone. Short: Magic, I dont touch.

Right, so there is eqlaunch. It wants a first argument that its pretty secret about. I am a little fuzzy with all the tutorials but i think its the name of a launchergroup. So you can group several zones into a group, and in turn, have multiple servers handle different zones. Makes sense, if i am still on track here.

So I have a 1 server only, 1 client only setup (for now). Thus, I want to stroll around the world. Obviously I dont and do need all zones. I dont need them all loaded on start, but i do want them to start up when i zone into them. I dont know if this can be done. Back to topic. No matter what name I supply to eqlaunch, world says unknown group.

Wiki to the rescue! Okay, so I have to supply a db-set for each and every zone, all with different ports (which seem to be ignored anyway, according to wiki (why not auto_increment)). I need to hack in each and every zone by hand, even if there is only one launcher? I hope there is a way to set a default one. Or can someone supply me with a sql dump of the zone config?


I guess what I am asking are two things:

First, did i get the server layout right?
Second, anyone got a "easy and cheap as borschtsch"-solution for my "one-server-for-all" solution?


Thanks again for your ongoing patience with me,
much appreciated.

-Chris.
(I am the head developer of an opensource tool, too - and know, after hundreds of support messages, I finally get to know the other side of the helpdesk *rings the bell*)