The Shot Heard Around Paragon City - SCORE Public Release

[Angel Phoenix77]

So I couldn't post this in the Discord I feel so I wanted to post it here.

I want to say thank you so much to all the devs that made this possible and also, I am so sorry you are facing consequence because of it. I see a lot of people saying what they should and could do on Discord and it upsets me a bit.  Their head is on the line and they are receiving criticism and doubt despite all their hard work.  This brings me to Leo and the Secret Score Server.  I am sorry for my frustration earlier.  You were right.  It was easy for me, us, to say we would have done differently when our head was never on the chopping block.  If COH coming back means ruining one person's life at a time I don't think I want that price to be paid.  Innocous please stay safe! 

Thank you everyone that gave me a weekend of joy I haven't felt in years, I pray it doesn't bring years of misery upon those who gave me this gift.

I agree, and I want to add, thank you to the devs that let me makes some corrections to a mistake I made. As they say in sto "these are not ends, we are not ended. For we are heroes." (Took some liberties .)

[Exxar]

Dunno if this has already been posted, so posting it just in case. Current available information suggests that the person owning the physical server got hit by some kind of... "legal communication"* which scared them enough to bail and delete the whole server. Unfortunately nobody else from the Discord server had those server files (to my understanding) so it will take time to get anything back up. Please take this information with a grain of salt since it's just my current perception of the situation, and not thoroughly verified.

* I deliberately used this term because there is no concrete information as to the nature of the communication that happened. It could be a C&D letter, it could be something else or nothing at all actually legally valid but instead just enough to scare someone who's not a lawyer.

Please don't blame anyone for this situation, not Leandro, not the server owner, not one of the Discord admins. Shit happens, we are all human and make mistakes. The uproar currently going on in the general chat channel of the Discord makes me feel slightly ill.


Addendum: sorry if my previous post contained any profanity, I literally took a c/p without looking at it in detail since I already read it some time ago.

[Vee]

Everybody just Caim down. A C&D had to be expected, or they were kidding themselves. they're writing an update now.

[Castegyre]

Crazy, but action was to be expected I would have thought.

This is the sort of thing that people should plan for the worse and hope for the best. Just be prepared for a long haul and doing a lot of supporting each other. Maybe easier said than done, but better for all in the long run.

[weenus]

It's not uncommon for a company to sit on their IPs like this and sling C&D's at anyone who dares touch them even when the company seems to want to have no plans for it, but is there any knowledge behind why NCSoft is hanging onto this IP for dear life when they really seem to have no interest in continuing with it?

They're not making any money from it, and to my understanding, in 2012 and 2013 there were fairly serious attempts to buy the IP from NCSoft, is that correct?

I'm also curious if more information is known about why Marvel backed out of the MMO genre, it seems like they were interested and had Cryptic working on Marvel Universe Online before Cryptic somehow lost that IP and pivoted to turning it into Champions Online, which happened around the time Marvel kicked off the cinematic universe, not that there is anything notable about that but the timing is interesting.

Is there somewhere online that I can read more about this? Was this well documented at all or has Emmert ever talked about it on record?

[Mister Hassenpheffer]

It's not uncommon for a company to sit on their IPs like this and sling C&D's at anyone who dares touch them even when the company seems to want to have no plans for it, but is there any knowledge behind why NCSoft is hanging onto this IP for dear life when they really seem to have no interest in continuing with it?

They're not making any money from it, and to my understanding, in 2012 and 2013 there were fairly serious attempts to buy the IP from NCSoft, is that correct?

I'm also curious if more information is known about why Marvel backed out of the MMO genre, it seems like they were interested and had Cryptic working on Marvel Universe Online before Cryptic somehow lost that IP and pivoted to turning it into Champions Online, which happened around the time Marvel kicked off the cinematic universe, not that there is anything notable about that but the timing is interesting.

Is there somewhere online that I can read more about this? Was this well documented at all or has Emmert ever talked about it on record?

Seriously.

This needs answering and it's long overdue.

I'm not kidding.

There's probably moving parts there that would give a better road map for a different and more successful approach.

[Angel Phoenix77]

Sounds like some good news might becoming.

Update: Sounds like there wasn't a DMCA. They are still checking the code and getting it ready for distro. The server might be back up.

[Azrael]

Sounds like some good news might becoming.

Update: Sounds like there wasn't a DMCA. They are still checking the code and getting it ready for distro. The server might be back up.

'By the well of the furies...'

'We're not finished yet.'

*fingers crossed.

Need to get i24 stable and distributed.

Er...and keep a back up.

Azrael.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Innocuous/Glory to ArachnosYesterday at 11:47 PM
There is going to be some positive news soon. Wait for me to write a coherent statement.
As of now, we are running on the assumption that there is no DMCA. We have a drive that we are currently verifying on if it's the server binaries. As it stands, it has everything.
There has been some ******* that lead to mass server panic, and an emergency administration and codemod meeting has been called.
We may very well be able to salvage this situation before the next  sunset. No promises. Do not hold this against me.
We have a gameplan. It depends on verifying this code right now. Once it is achieved, we are pushing to get a server back up immediately.
The original goal of the server has been to get a stable i24 for distribution and by the  Well of the Furies we will get it. This chaos was unprofessional on my part (partly from my inexperience),  and triggers were being pulled before we even had the horses at the races.
We will also be futureproofing future development to make sure this kind of *********** will never happen again.

[Vee]

Even if there wasn't, surely there will be even if NCSoft is willing to license/sell. Not the end of the world.

[Felderburg]

Dunno if this has already been posted, so posting it just in case. Current available information suggests that the person owning the physical server got hit by some kind of... "legal communication"* which scared them enough to bail and delete the whole server. Unfortunately nobody else from the Discord server had those server files (to my understanding) so it will take time to get anything back up.

Hold up. There's no WAY this is true. All the files have got to be massively distributed at this point.

And if they're not... well, this is as good evidence as any that any and all CoH code to run the game needs to be saved in as many places as possible ASAP.

Edit: After reading Leandro's twitter... I think we're good. I just hope that whatever he has that is necessary to set up a server in half a day is "in the wild" now, even if the people that have don't know how to use it.

[Azrael]

Good catch, 5th Horseman.

I've been watching events closely on Discord.

Tensions are high, emotions are raw and nerves are on edge.  Things can get you rattled especially when you're the one taking the risks.  It was a 'heady 3 days.' 

But I suspect this won't be the last of it.

I would have thought they'd have backed up the work and had back ups on everyone of the '30 man?' team.

All the more reason to review protocols and save the work being done and get to that stable i24 releaseas a matter of expediency and find as many mole holes for it as possible.

I'd by happy calling it the holy grail release if it has Servers for Dummies with solo/LAN and server mode. 

Azrael.

[Vee]

If anybody needs to write a psych dissertation on mass panic they'd be well served to cut and paste the hell out of the discord server the past little while. they could have announced that the current measles strain has mutated and the vaccine is no longer effective and it'd cause less chicken littletry, if i may coin a term.

[Exxar]

Hold up. There's no WAY this is true. All the files have got to be massively distributed at this point.

And if they're not... well, this is as good evidence as any that any and all CoH code to run the game needs to be saved in as many places as possible ASAP.

Edit: After reading Leandro's twitter... I think we're good. I just hope that whatever he has that is necessary to set up a server in half a day is "in the wild" now, even if the people that have don't know how to use it.

I know you're assuaged after reading Leandro's twitter, but I'd like to clarify this a bit for others, according to my understanding.

The *I24 source code* is widely public now. That, however, is not enough to run a server or a client (btw both server and client code are packed *together*). As far as I know, several types of asset files are also needed, and those are not yet properly publicly available.

What was running on this Discord server, was a *precompiled* I25 (I24 + Leandro's and his team's modifications) server (aka binaries), joined by the I25 client supplied through Tequila. Again, as far as I know, Leandro was in the process of releasing the I25 source code but it had to be scrubbed of any privately identifying information before being made public.

Why the I24 assets, or the I25 binaries and assets aren't publicly released at this point, I do not know.

[Zombie Man]

With regard to and C&D that NCSoft may (or may not... it's unclear exactly what NCSoft has said or done so far), it all depend on how serious they are; because... some C&Ds aren't serious.

If a company doesn't make a effort to protect their copyrights, they can lose them. And so, issuing a C&D may be a perfunctory gesture that NCSoft's legal department has to make even though there is no intent to chase anyone down for private servers. This gives them legal standing to chase someone setting up a for-profit server, or, for attempting to clone active properties that haven't gone moribund yet.

But, that's a gamble, NCSoft just might be that big an A and ramp up the clamp-down. Though, they haven't done so for a few of their moribund projects.

In short: who knows?

[Wyrm]

If anybody needs to write a psych dissertation on mass panic they'd be well served to cut and paste the hell out of the discord server the past little while. they could have announced that the current measles strain has mutated and the vaccine is no longer effective and it'd cause less chicken littletry, if i may coin a term.

I lectured on this phenomenon last week, including an example of how I paid $5.50/gallon to fill up my gas tank on 9/11.

I knew I wasn't immune to mass hysteria. Apparently, that hasn't changed 18 years, or even a week, later. =)

[Felderburg]

I know you're assuaged after reading Leandro's twitter, but I'd like to clarify this a bit for others, according to my understanding.

The *I24 source code* is widely public now. That, however, is not enough to run a server or a client (btw both server and client code are packed *together*). As far as I know, several types of asset files are also needed, and those are not yet properly publicly available.

What was running on this Discord server, was a *precompiled* I25 (I24 + Leandro's and his team's modifications) server (aka binaries), joined by the I25 client supplied through Tequila. Again, as far as I know, Leandro was in the process of releasing the I25 source code but it had to be scrubbed of any privately identifying information before being made public.

Why the I24 assets, or the I25 binaries and assets aren't publicly released at this point, I do not know.

I was assuaged in that the stuff to make a working server still exists. Whatever else today's incident illustrated, regardless of what actually happened, it clearly proves that the code NEEDS to be released to as many places it can be, even if the people that end up having it don't know how to get it running.

[Vee]

I lectured on this phenomenon last week

talk about terrible timing

[Azrael]

I was assuaged in that the stuff to make a working server still exists. Whatever else today's incident illustrated, regardless of what actually happened, it clearly proves that the code NEEDS to be released to as many places it can be, even if the people that end up having it don't know how to get it running.

AMEN.

Azrael.

[Wyrm]

talk about terrible timing

I'll lecture on that next week.