Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Star Wars Galaxies Emulator Test Server Hits Alpha

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the star-systems-through-slippery-fingers dept.

CoffeeHedake writes "The SWGEMU (Star Wars Galaxies Emulator) Team has successfully run their first Alpha stage test of a reverse-engineered version of Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies server software. An announcement was made on the SWGEMU bulletin boards that something special would be shown in their IRC channel at 12:00AM EST Today. A hosted video montage of the successfully connecting the SWG client to an emulated server, loading a character, zoning from one area to another, and other huge leaps were shown in the clip." Read on for more information, including links to the video clip. CoffeeHedake provides a pointer to the forum and current announcement, and links to the video at several mirrors:

CoffeeHedake continues "This all comes after much very bad press for SOE, after completely changing the game mechanics of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. The game has had a rocky history, with nerfs and bugs abounding, but the latest 'NGE' or New Game Enhancement patches have led to the detrimental decline in player population. SWGEMU was formed with the hopes of allowing players to 'roll back' their experiences to a Pre-'Combat Upgrade' state of the game, months before the ill-fated NGE was implemented."

"The SWGEMU will allow private, emulated game servers to be run by anyone with the hardware and bandwidth to support the load, possibly allowing customized environments, and game mechanics, as well as a 'dungeon master' control of the server, possibly even over a LAN."

"News has spread, even throughout the Sony Online Entertainment forums of SWGEMU's latest success. No word from Sony, as of yet."

5 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. How To Resolve Links! by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Informative

    You might notice that if you click a link with a swgemu.com base, it redirects you to Crayola, Teletubbies or Lego's site. This is because of how the hosting service is implemented. Almost all the swgemu sites I go to require me to cut and past links into the browser and to make sure they are preceded with http://./ So for instance, paste "http://forums.swgemu.com/viewtopic.php?p=24081#24 081" into your browser and you should see the linked forum.

    This is, of course, with the exception of the screenshots hosted by gamerspace or the video (which really just seems to be a transition of the stills). Note, I'm not sure if the YouTube video is the same as the one from the mirrors, I'm still downloading that.

    I should also point out that the forums are tightly moderated as swgemu is not looking for trouble with legal issues regarding SOE. I think they've had tangles with them in the past and don't enjoy discussing it. I don't actively post on swgemu but am thrilled by the idea of what they are trying to create. The concern by SOE is not only stealing paying customers but also the fact that if this is open sourced, then anyone will be able to see the reverse engineering work which means a whole lot more attempts on hacking the servers.

    Most importantly, there are no dates set whatsoever for this project. I am just sitting back and waiting for hopefully a chance to play a game I once knew and loved. A game that exists no more. Pre-CU SWG.

    I guess it had such a huge client that most of the functionality had to be sitting on each client machine and the server required some interaction. Hopefully this reverse engineering provides a stable alternative. If you'd like to contribute, help them with the datapack done in a Wiki format! If you're interested in development for the team and know C/C++, check out this post.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:How To Resolve Links! by daranz · · Score: 2, Informative
      You might notice that if you click a link with a swgemu.com base, it redirects you to Crayola, Teletubbies or Lego's site. This is because of how the hosting service is implemented. Almost all the swgemu sites I go to require me to cut and past links into the browser and to make sure they are preceded with http://./ [.] So for instance, paste "http://forums.swgemu.com/viewtopic.php?p=24081#24 081" into your browser and you should see the linked forum.


      Actually, it seems like they redirect you if you send an invalid referer (one from an external site). I have no idea why they do that (fear of slashdotting? attempts at secrecy? attempts at being funny?). You can disable sending any referers at all (set network.http.sendRefererHeader to 0 in FF), or use something like the refspoof extension to get around it more eaisly.

      Of course, not sending a referer works only until they start requiring valid referers... Most sites don't implement such a scheme, though, as it's a pain in the ass for everyone.
      --
      This is a sig. It is appended to the end of comments I post.
  2. Re:Sick 'em Sony... by joranbelar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Lawyers make use of the Defense Contract Management Agency? Perhaps you mean the DMCA ;)

  3. Re:In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Sony Online Entertainment != Sony Computer Entertainment

  4. Re:I'll give odds by Alkrun · · Score: 2, Informative

    "there's always going to be some kind of coding they can provide SoE."

    That's my point though... their code was of "script kiddies" quality. I'm not trying to sound like too much of a jerk, but any developer that wants to go take a look at that code will back me up. It was a bit scary.