An Idea

[jdg916]

A question for the tech guys; I'm curious if it would be possible to play the game locally on your own computer, using it in place of the server needed to login? Teaming with other would obviously be out of the question if this is possible. Would like to fly/ss/sj/tp across Atlas again.

[Colette]

While I can't speak for the tech guys... I'd advise patience.

They've already cracked things sufficiently to give us "Icon," so we have access to the game's character creator, under the two month mark. That's very encouraging.

[LadyShin]

Honestly...I'm doubtful that it's possible without either rewriting the code in the game to point to a certain IP address as a server..or rewriting it to be single-player.. and/or removing the requirement for the NCSoft loader to execute it.

Cracking is one thing...making actual revisions is another..and has certain legal consequences...I'm sure..? ???



Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU  8)

[TonyV]

The thing is, there has to be a server on the other side of the client connection obeying its API to tell the client stuff like what map you're on, where you are, where the camera is, etc.  That really is the hard part, as writing even something as simple as just a server that allows you to walk around an empty map is a monumental task, let alone anything that would allow you to use powers, fight villains, etc.  But make no mistake, there are people working on it.

[General Idiot]

Even to do it locally you'd need most of the server functionality in place anyway. All it would need from there to be a fully functional server would be more power and reliability to run thousands of players rather than just one, and an internet connection with the required bandwidth. Everything else you'd need regardless even in a local server, and you're not going to get the client running without the other half of that equation.

[Colette]

Another idea.

"...there has to be a server on the other side of the client connection obeying its API to tell the client stuff like what map you're on, where you are, where the camera is, etc.  That really is the hard part, as writing even something as simple as just a server that allows you to walk around an empty map is a monumental task, let alone anything that would allow you to use powers, fight villains, etc.  But make no mistake, there are people working on it."

Okay, that's that. But in the meantime, let's assume our people will be successful, given time.

Right now, we have the Icon program, we have access to our beloved character creator. How difficult would it be to have some of our artistically-minded folks editing the costume graphics files?

For example, a lot of the "patterns" are at a lower resolution because they were created at game release. Let's assume we will actually manage to create our own server. Is anything stopping us from replacing the costume graphics with our own? What's stopping us from taking over "Sexy Jay's" job, and creating and sharing whatever costumes we want? We could also reorganize things a bit.

I myself would love to contribute to such a project, if I knew what programs were necessary and where the graphics were stored. That would keep a lot of us busy and happy.

[Nebularian]

WOW.  I hadn't thought of that.  And I suppose, as long as they are simply private things now...even some Iconic symbols/costumes could be added.   What a thought.

[Colette]

Hmm.. concerned about that. I was a part of the graphics editing group that created custom skins for the old Freedom Force game. Several of our sites like the Skindex had C 'n Ds served up from Marvel. And now Marvel's owned by Disney. Probably best not to tick off Disney just now, yes? Time Warner either.

Still, glad you dig the idea.

I wonder if we could tidy up some of the animations too?

[LadyShin]

Hmm..btw - NCSoft's official EULA:

2(f) Additional License Restrictions - You acknowledge You will not directly or indirectly:
(i) reverse engineer, translate, adapt, disassemble, decompile, or reduce to any human-perceivable form, any Software or parts thereof;
(ii) copy, distribute or reproduce any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof;
(iii) modify, or create a derivative work of, any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof; and/or
(iv) sell, sub-license, rent, lease, grant a security interest in, borrow, lend, loan, network or engage in any activity that could in any way transfer or provide others access to any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof, including but not limited to any serial code number, access key or the like.

Also...let's not forget the lengthy ...

8. PROHIBITED AND IRREPARABLY HARMFUL ACTIVITIES CONCERNING NCSOFT You acknowledge that You may not, without signed written consent from a legally authorized representative of NCsoft, do any of the following:
(a) Misappropriate, violate or infringe any third-party IP right;
(b) Use any NCsoft IP right except as permitted under this agreement;
(c) Use, or provide others with, any software related to the Game, including any automation software (a.k.a. "bot") or software designed to change or modify operation of the Game;
(d) Use, or provide others with, any "hack," "cheat," "exploit" or "mod";
(e) Use, or provide others with, any service related to the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) any service that interacts with the Software; or
(ii) any service that that would change characteristics related to a Character ID, such as increasing the level of a character (a.k.a. power-leveling);
(f) Engage in any activity prohibited under Section 0 above;
(g) Knowingly affect Service, Content or Software via any bloatware, malware, computer virus, worm, Trojan horse, spyware, adware, crimeware, scareware, rootkit or any other program installed in a way that executable code of any program is scheduled to utilize or utilizes processor cycles during periods of time when such program is not directly or indirectly being used;
(h) Be a party to any commercial activity related to the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) providing or obtaining any Item; or
(ii) use of Service, Content or Software at an Internet café, cyber café or computer gaming center;
(i) Use, obtain or provide data related to operation of the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) software that reads areas of computer memory or storage devices related to the Game;
(ii) software that intercepts or otherwise collects data from or through the Game;
(iii) software that redirects communications from any Software or Service; or
(iv) software not provided by NCsoft which creates or maintains any communication to the Software or Service, including but not limited to any software that emulates the Software or any part thereof as well as any server that emulates the Service or any part thereof;
(j) Violate any law or governmental regulation related to the Game;
(k) Violate or infringe the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including but not limited to 17 U.S.C. §§1201 et seq., in any way such as circumventing any NCsoft technological measure intended to effectively control access to the Service, Content, Software, or any other NCsoft IP right, circumventing any protection afforded by an NCsoft technological measure to any NCsoft IP right, or engaging in any trafficking related to the foregoing;
(l) Institute any arbitration or other proceeding against NCsoft except as permitted under this agreement, including any legal proceeding in court or before an administrative agency;
(m) Provide anyone whose Account was terminated under Section 3(c) any access to Service, Content or Software; or
(n) Help others violate this agreement.

We really want to head down this road? O.o

[JaguarX]

Hmm..btw - NCSoft's official EULA:

2(f) Additional License Restrictions - You acknowledge You will not directly or indirectly:
(i) reverse engineer, translate, adapt, disassemble, decompile, or reduce to any human-perceivable form, any Software or parts thereof;
(ii) copy, distribute or reproduce any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof;
(iii) modify, or create a derivative work of, any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof; and/or
(iv) sell, sub-license, rent, lease, grant a security interest in, borrow, lend, loan, network or engage in any activity that could in any way transfer or provide others access to any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof, including but not limited to any serial code number, access key or the like.

Also...let's not forget the lengthy ...

8. PROHIBITED AND IRREPARABLY HARMFUL ACTIVITIES CONCERNING NCSOFT You acknowledge that You may not, without signed written consent from a legally authorized representative of NCsoft, do any of the following:
(a) Misappropriate, violate or infringe any third-party IP right;
(b) Use any NCsoft IP right except as permitted under this agreement;
(c) Use, or provide others with, any software related to the Game, including any automation software (a.k.a. "bot") or software designed to change or modify operation of the Game;
(d) Use, or provide others with, any "hack," "cheat," "exploit" or "mod";
(e) Use, or provide others with, any service related to the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) any service that interacts with the Software; or
(ii) any service that that would change characteristics related to a Character ID, such as increasing the level of a character (a.k.a. power-leveling);
(f) Engage in any activity prohibited under Section 0 above;
(g) Knowingly affect Service, Content or Software via any bloatware, malware, computer virus, worm, Trojan horse, spyware, adware, crimeware, scareware, rootkit or any other program installed in a way that executable code of any program is scheduled to utilize or utilizes processor cycles during periods of time when such program is not directly or indirectly being used;
(h) Be a party to any commercial activity related to the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) providing or obtaining any Item; or
(ii) use of Service, Content or Software at an Internet café, cyber café or computer gaming center;
(i) Use, obtain or provide data related to operation of the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) software that reads areas of computer memory or storage devices related to the Game;
(ii) software that intercepts or otherwise collects data from or through the Game;
(iii) software that redirects communications from any Software or Service; or
(iv) software not provided by NCsoft which creates or maintains any communication to the Software or Service, including but not limited to any software that emulates the Software or any part thereof as well as any server that emulates the Service or any part thereof;
(j) Violate any law or governmental regulation related to the Game;
(k) Violate or infringe the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including but not limited to 17 U.S.C. §§1201 et seq., in any way such as circumventing any NCsoft technological measure intended to effectively control access to the Service, Content, Software, or any other NCsoft IP right, circumventing any protection afforded by an NCsoft technological measure to any NCsoft IP right, or engaging in any trafficking related to the foregoing;
(l) Institute any arbitration or other proceeding against NCsoft except as permitted under this agreement, including any legal proceeding in court or before an administrative agency;
(m) Provide anyone whose Account was terminated under Section 3(c) any access to Service, Content or Software; or
(n) Help others violate this agreement.

We really want to head down this road? O.o

I hope not but I have my parachute ready just in case.

AIRBORNE!!!

[Arachnion]

Hmm..btw - NCSoft's official EULA:

*legal snip*

We really want to head down this road? O.o

NCSoft wronged us all by shutting down *our* game.

As long as we don't do anything for profit, or something that is blatantly violating their IP, we'll be fine.

Relax, 8)

[Colette]

Thank you, Dylan.

LadyShin, NCSoft's EULA is void. It expired the day they shut down the server. It's of no more consequence.

We are already modifying the game, as the "Icon" program proves. If you're that concerned about the intellectual property rights -- in today's climate?!  :o  -- of that douchebag company, well you don't hafta download it. :: Shrug. ::

[Little Green Frog]

A question for the tech guys; I'm curious if it would be possible to play the game locally on your own computer, using it in place of the server needed to login? Teaming with other would obviously be out of the question if this is possible. Would like to fly/ss/sj/tp across Atlas again.

Yes, but you will still need a server of some sort. It will just be operating on the same machine as the client, but there's no way around the client-server architecture.

[Colette]

Once the techies have the game working, perhaps they could modify the game to do this. I expect that's for later, though, given what Tony's saying.

[LightofthePhoenix]

LadyShin, NCSoft's EULA is void. It expired the day they shut down the server. It's of no more consequence.

I think this.  Considering they forced us to press accept every time we wanted to log in while the game was up, they can no longer force us to accept it since we can't log in anymore, and the game technically doesn't even exist anymore.

I'm sure there's some legal mumbo jumbo that makes things more muddy than my reasoning but really... we can no longer press accept even if we want to, for all intents and purposes the EULA doesn't exist for a game that doesn't exist.

[houtex]

In regards to a local server... sure.  You would need two computers, and the server code and whatever else hodgepodging to do that (account server, etc.)  And the client computer, of course.

If you can get a local IP'd server up and running, then it is possible to have a local router to redirect any request to any other server to that local one, and have a lot of fun playing with yourself.  Easy!

/Wait... something about that doesn't sound right.

[Victoria Victrix]

Hmm..btw - NCSoft's official EULA:

2(f) Additional License Restrictions - You acknowledge You will not directly or indirectly:
(i) reverse engineer, translate, adapt, disassemble, decompile, or reduce to any human-perceivable form, any Software or parts thereof;
(ii) copy, distribute or reproduce any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof;
(iii) modify, or create a derivative work of, any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof; and/or
(iv) sell, sub-license, rent, lease, grant a security interest in, borrow, lend, loan, network or engage in any activity that could in any way transfer or provide others access to any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof, including but not limited to any serial code number, access key or the like.

Also...let's not forget the lengthy ...

8. PROHIBITED AND IRREPARABLY HARMFUL ACTIVITIES CONCERNING NCSOFT You acknowledge that You may not, without signed written consent from a legally authorized representative of NCsoft, do any of the following:
(a) Misappropriate, violate or infringe any third-party IP right;
(b) Use any NCsoft IP right except as permitted under this agreement;
(c) Use, or provide others with, any software related to the Game, including any automation software (a.k.a. "bot") or software designed to change or modify operation of the Game;
(d) Use, or provide others with, any "hack," "cheat," "exploit" or "mod";
(e) Use, or provide others with, any service related to the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) any service that interacts with the Software; or
(ii) any service that that would change characteristics related to a Character ID, such as increasing the level of a character (a.k.a. power-leveling);
(f) Engage in any activity prohibited under Section 0 above;
(g) Knowingly affect Service, Content or Software via any bloatware, malware, computer virus, worm, Trojan horse, spyware, adware, crimeware, scareware, rootkit or any other program installed in a way that executable code of any program is scheduled to utilize or utilizes processor cycles during periods of time when such program is not directly or indirectly being used;
(h) Be a party to any commercial activity related to the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) providing or obtaining any Item; or
(ii) use of Service, Content or Software at an Internet café, cyber café or computer gaming center;
(i) Use, obtain or provide data related to operation of the Game, including but not limited to:
(i) software that reads areas of computer memory or storage devices related to the Game;
(ii) software that intercepts or otherwise collects data from or through the Game;
(iii) software that redirects communications from any Software or Service; or
(iv) software not provided by NCsoft which creates or maintains any communication to the Software or Service, including but not limited to any software that emulates the Software or any part thereof as well as any server that emulates the Service or any part thereof;
(j) Violate any law or governmental regulation related to the Game;
(k) Violate or infringe the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including but not limited to 17 U.S.C. §§1201 et seq., in any way such as circumventing any NCsoft technological measure intended to effectively control access to the Service, Content, Software, or any other NCsoft IP right, circumventing any protection afforded by an NCsoft technological measure to any NCsoft IP right, or engaging in any trafficking related to the foregoing;
(l) Institute any arbitration or other proceeding against NCsoft except as permitted under this agreement, including any legal proceeding in court or before an administrative agency;
(m) Provide anyone whose Account was terminated under Section 3(c) any access to Service, Content or Software; or
(n) Help others violate this agreement.

We really want to head down this road? O.o

Already did, years ago.

Use MIDS?  That collected data from the game.

Use Vidiot Maps?  That altered the in-game maps.

Use any of the many tools that told you server status without going through the launcher?  That collected data from the game too.

Use Sentinel?  Ditto.

Using Icon?  Actually exploiting part of the game software AND altering game software.

Used demorecord?  Collected game data.  Using demoedit?  See "Using Icon?"

[Codewalker]

I can do you one better, VV...

Emphasis mine:

(iii) modify, or create a derivative work of, any Service, Content, Software, or parts thereof; and/or

Created a character? You violated the EULA.

[Victoria Victrix]

Jeez, and I forgot Paragon Wiki, which copied over entire parts of the dialogue.

Let's not forget all of the fanfiction out there as well.

You know, given all that...I think NCSoft would actually be hard put to defend its copyright, since they not only didn't defend it before, but actually encouraged violations of their own EULA.

[Primantis]

Thank you, Dylan.

LadyShin, NCSoft's EULA is void. It expired the day they shut down the server. It's of no more consequence.

Not to mention the legal power of EULA's are dubious to begin with..