Ok, now I know there are quite a few of you program types running the different possibilities for CoH. "Ad hoc" servers able to be run by individuals and character data save to client HDD would be the "perfect world" to most of us. With the ability to use your characters on different servers when playing with others.
But looking at that it leads to my question of a server and client on the same local system. This would give CoH portability and a LAN feature would allow others to join via an IP (i.e. Like Diablo 2). With this, and remember I'm no programmer; I'm just theorizing, there would be several items that, to me, would require multiple servers and my not be possible (initially) due to the size of these "local servers".
Here's my GUESS of items that wouldn't (initially) be in a stand alone CoH due to them needing their own "server".
1. Ouroboros
2. Wentworths
3. In game mail
4. SG bases
5. AE
6. The Incarnate Trials
7. The Arena
8. PvP zones
9. No Hami Os (not a server issue)
Now I may be way off, and I'm sure CW, GP and some of you others can set the record straight, but I look at these as things NOT in the original game so as the DEVs added these they also added servers for them. At least that's my take.
The perfect scenario of ad hoc servers my not be possible, and if it is, it will require lots of effort on individual parts. To me a stand alone "Issue 1" version with the I24 Beta content would be a great start and keep the game alive for so many of us. As we will all be starting a level 1 again I think the "vanilla" version would be a great thing.
I invite comments and input/facts from any and all.
EA
I would certainly like this, the problem is all the calculations the game made were server-side, and we don't actually have that data. I would totally support a stand-alone CoH. Even if it was just me, myself and I in the game, it would be fantastic...
Heck, I am stoked that Codewalker may allow me to enter into a completly barren Atlas Park!!! I need to have a uterus installed so I can have his babies..... :o
Don't know about having babies... but I can make cookies ! OMG, a stand-alone version would be incredible ! It would be like the good ole days and entire weekends would be lost to playing, street sweeping, flying, jumping, drooling... squeee!!
*Rereads OP*
Ah, i'm guessing this is based on having an early (Issue 3-ish) copy of the server software.
Yeah, i don't think it's an issue of things like PvP zones having new "servers" so much as having to write all the code to implement anything that was added after Issue 3. Pretty confident all zones, regardless of PvP or PvE were instanced the same way. Rewriting the server software to act as a single player game running on a home PC would be nice, but quite the task even without adding all the code to support anything added after Issue 3.
Personally i wouldn't be interested in playing the game solo circa Issue 3 or 4, but to add back in all the features that a studio of 15+ developers spent more than five years creating in a smaller time frame would be... challenging.
Better to get a copy of the game servers as they existed at shutdown and work with that. Preferably legally.
QuoteNow I may be way off, and I'm sure CW, GP and some of you others can set the record straight, but I look at these as things NOT in the original game so as the DEVs added these they also added servers for them. At least that's my take.
Pretty sure that is not the case. It would complicate things badly for no real reason. You're also assuming that any replacement server will follow roughly the same progression - which is quite far from truth.
Keep in mind though that the changes needed for a standalone version would pretty much exceed the work needed for producing a substitute server.
Well when I say stand alone I don't mean CoH only. I'm guessing there would be a second device/program that would be the server. Now if it's small enough to all individuals to run it, maybe. I would be willing to build/buy a server for that single purpose. I'm a bit of an addict to CoH.
EA
I'm the first to say I don't have any definitive idea of what's going on under the hood with CoH, but for a very general idea of what goes into an emulated server, which is what you'd need for this, look at what the SWGEmu and AXClassic teams are up to.
I'd buy a stand alone-Diablo-style of COH even if it were just Battlenet servers. Heck, I'd buy a desktop version that only I could play. It wouldn't be the same, and it might make me have a sad, but . . . . I'd love to be able to play. Even solo.
Honestly, 90% of my COH playing was solo so....
BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!
Quote from: TigerKnight on May 27, 2013, 12:09:21 PM
Honestly, 90% of my COH playing was solo so....
BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!
Yep, same here. For the first year I played I soloed purely out of shyness, but after a while I joined up to some things. Turns out I
liked teaming with people, and for the next year while I still had nearly unlimited playing time I teamed plenty... but then some things changed and RL got much busier. I was wearing out the 'brb' and 'afk' keys on my keyboard (not to mention my system is only so-so and too much activity would lagbomb me), and I felt it was unfair to teammates to be so unreliable so I just kinda stopped teaming. After that 90% of my ingame time was spent doing things where it didn't matter if I stepped away for ten or twenty minutes; tailoring, base editing, auction housing, jumping around admiring the scenery, street sweeping. Certain missions if I knew they didn't have ambushes or patrols.
I would highly miss being able to talk to others while I did those things, without a doubt. And I'd miss not being able to tackle Giant Monsters on most of my alts anymore. But still, getting back 90% of what I did would make me gloriously happy, especially compared to the current level of 0%. And if I needed to run the server side of it on another system, so be it. I have a second computer. It's not fantastic either but I'm sure it can handle that much.
Long story short: I'll save the world all by myself and I'll
like it! Just gimme the chance, coach!
Quote from: Energy Aura on May 18, 2013, 04:27:51 AM
Ok, now I know there are quite a few of you program types running the different possibilities for CoH. "Ad hoc" servers able to be run by individuals and character data save to client HDD would be the "perfect world" to most of us. With the ability to use your characters on different servers when playing with others.
But looking at that it leads to my question of a server and client on the same local system. This would give CoH portability and a LAN feature would allow others to join via an IP (i.e. Like Diablo 2). With this, and remember I'm no programmer; I'm just theorizing, there would be several items that, to me, would require multiple servers and my not be possible (initially) due to the size of these "local servers".
Here's my GUESS of items that wouldn't (initially) be in a stand alone CoH due to them needing their own "server".
1. Ouroboros
2. Wentworths
3. In game mail
4. SG bases
5. AE
6. The Incarnate Trials
7. The Arena
8. PvP zones
9. No Hami Os (not a server issue)
Now I may be way off, and I'm sure CW, GP and some of you others can set the record straight, but I look at these as things NOT in the original game so as the DEVs added these they also added servers for them. At least that's my take.
The perfect scenario of ad hoc servers my not be possible, and if it is, it will require lots of effort on individual parts. To me a stand alone "Issue 1" version with the I24 Beta content would be a great start and keep the game alive for so many of us. As we will all be starting a level 1 again I think the "vanilla" version would be a great thing.
I invite comments and input/facts from any and all.
EA
You're mixing things. Those things are not "huge", they were separated on different servers because they were different activities altogether and that the "main server" already had its hands full moving the players and powering combat everywhere else. It would easily be integrated into the solo server as separate threads (and later put into different servers, though that brings complexity in that the servers need to know each other more than threads coexisting in a process)
1. Ouroboros doesn't need be a separate server, it was a regular zone, with (only) a special clickable that brought up the ouroboros interface, which allowed you to "contact" (feature already in game) ouroboros version of classic contacts, which asked some questions and put you into TF/SF mode (another already existing feature), or just with another icon in the status bar. Needs just more rewriting of contacts, as ouroboros introductions were not part of the classical Story Arcs, but then, it's all copy-paste from regular contact SA.
2. Wentworths should really be left closed, as it wouldn't be needed for yourself alone, right (except for one-time TP power) ? Anyway, again it's just another interface to implement, and a thread to put in the server for this interface to communicate with (the thread will answer interface questions such as: what is my pending inventory, is X on sale on the market (for every X in existance), what were the last sale prices...), nothing heavy. Database could be light because of the limited population. Maybe notifications, but it would just be a new combat channel the "Wentworth thread" would send something to when a transaction of yours got completed.
3. Same, very easy. It's just a button on the UI for a doackable UI, and notifications for email arrival (I don't remember if it generated a log message or not)
4. Ah, those are quite complex. Requires loading a whole map out of the "base thread", editing it, exchanging with the inventory (another thread), upkeep, power/control, layout, new currencies, crafting, and I forget some (base raids, base hospital, teleporters and beacons...)
5. A quite complex UI, but very simple data exchanged (of which we have the format, since we could save SAs client-side). However, instanciating the map according to this data is going to depend on how adaptable/dynamic the regular game engine will be. I think we miss too much data to reimplement this verbatim anyway (mob placement, front/middle/back category, spawn points type and number (object, hostage...), ...), but the mechanics of the UI is simple, and there is another variation of TF Mode (and a hook to change the AE holographic contact while in this mode).
6. Simply instances, but quite complex scripts, and unique UI per trial. And the TUT (though simply bypassed by replacing with a regular contact)
7. Tied to PvP in general. Simply changing the characters allegiance should be sufficient, depends on the allegiance system in place.
8. Apart from the PvP-safe countdown and zone events, nothing difficult either. Confusion could be tricky. Power differences are already coded in the power effects (lots of "if target == player") so nothing hard here if the engine is compliant enough, and not using a different power database.
9. I guess you're fearing about The Hamidon not being in the game because it needs too many players, but if the RSF and STF are here, Artificial HOs can be IG.
I would add:
10. What of the tech introduced in issue 21 for Atlas Park / Mercy Island, where you had different versions of the zone based on what mission you had accomplished ?
11. What of the crafting system ?
12. What of the events, such as the Rikti Invasion, Zombie Outbreak, christmas event... ?
13. Cimerora ?
14. Praetoria ?
15. Bill Z Bubba ? (sorry, only for the rhyme)
15. Veteran Rewards ?
Does that answer anything ?
Be sure to check An old post of mine. (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,4982.msg46676.html#msg46676)
Should something come out, I'm 100% behind keeping things vanilla (at least a base client,let the changes go from there). While I know some people get enjoyment out of have *Uber* characters that decimate everything, I feel the path to getting to that point is the most fun. Kinda like a high level Super Reflexes character. It starts terrible, but when you hit the end, you often find you can run with the tanks.
While people are free to do what they want, and if they want to cheat, I say go for it, so long as it doesn't bother others.
Long story short: Keep the drop rates normal. While it's exciting to see purple enhancements, the amusement wears off if that's all that drops. The two last big*ish* private servers on PC for Phantasy Star Online were kind of ruined for some players, as one server that took donations were secretly handing out top end gear in exchange leading to a rift in that community and the other just outright has a enhanced drop-rate.
If we ever do see a private server I'd hope that it plays as close to live COH did as possible. The only change I'd hope for is that the global ID be the unique identifier and names be free to choose/non unique. That was always a pet peeve of mine in COH and on a private server where its only ONE server that everyone's cramming into, name choices would disappear ridiculously fast. Better that players can have the character names they WANT and be identified with their global if possible. If not I can deal with it... I'll take coh back with or without so long as its playable.
Quote from: Botzo on May 29, 2013, 02:30:06 AM
Long story short: Keep the drop rates normal. While it's exciting to see purple enhancements, the amusement wears off if that's all that drops. The two last big*ish* private servers on PC for Phantasy Star Online were kind of ruined for some players, as one server that took donations were secretly handing out top end gear in exchange leading to a rift in that community and the other just outright has a enhanced drop-rate.
YEah I think it wouldnt hurt to up the drop rate of purples a little. On a server that may be gone any moment due to various reasons hey, might as well allow those that never got opportunity to get purple drops due to not being as lucky as people who got drop after drop after drop after drop and had to watch those people get multiple drops while they put in just as much time and grind into and still empty handed at least for once, be able to get something after these years.
If I was a person looking to at least wanting to see what it's liek for once to be the powerful purpled out person and never got that chance in the live game but have server choices of one, that is just like the live game and one where the purple drop chances are greater, I'm going to go where the chance is greater. For many who experienced purples many times over, it's no big deal to them and of course they look favorable on the live drop rate. It worked in their favor but they forget that there are many who wasnt so lucky and with a private server are itching to get a taste for some even if it mean replacing pacing of the turtle drops with automatic purple if there is a server that would offer that.
Well I'm hoping that they would develop the I24 Beta as the release for the additional stuff that was coming out. If they did then the Paragon Store would have everything for sale and then you could buy (Beta store was free).
This would allow you to get the Paragon Reward points, as well, to get your auto stuff as well. This would allow players to run up guys or max out as they felt like it. Would cater to the Min/Max got to have all the STUFZ and the crowd who are actually playing through.
In addition it might help curb any hacks that players would try to use (as you can get whatever you want) thus making it better for everyone.
I also want to see what the Blaster changes would be like. After all my main was a Blaster...