Discussion Questions for OFF Developers

[iPlay.GG - KromBacher]

Long story short, iˇm noob whoš looking for some directions to right way.

Everything about l2OFF, im interested to start with OFF rather with J, i got bunch of questions, ill try give some answers my self and correct me if im wrong:


1. Compiler - "a tool that can be used to have "ready for game files", for L2OFF can be used Microsoft Visual Studio."

 

2.Decompiler - "Vise versa of compiler, also can be used with Microsoft Visual Studio?"

 

3. L2OFF Language - is it C++ and PHP ?

4. Advised OS to run L2OFF server would be Microsoft Server 2008 RS 32 bit version? - can end up having memory limit issues

5. How to understand if user has compiled or non compiled ? - I would assume by looking at file extensions like .class, that probably is not possible to open? or can?

6. Alright, i have shared OFF source, what is the first thing developers normally do? - I mean i want to have clean files with what to learn to, i think i found some

7. Lets say im interested to create ALT+B panel onto L2OFF source, where should i start? (ingame ALTB is disabled), does it use html language for community board?

 

8. How does scripts work? with source i have, there are scripts, are they run automatically, or there are certain functions that will call them? For example (i dont have it), lets say i got TvT script, how could i run it? or there is some global function that read everything thats inside "scripts folder", and is activated based on command or time?

9. lets assume, im interested to write whole TvT script from scratch, where could i start? is there a library that can be used ? Should i be using Microsoft Visual? is there a functions library?



Some Advise for installation, right now ive managed to run off, but without NPC exe,  for some reason VM Machine that im running (windows server 2008 RS 64Bit) is not showing BOOT.INI, ive  already tried to reveal the hidden content, but its just missing, i would assume its because of VMware-is there anyways possible to run directly from windows 10 machine (64bit), also does anyone know direct link for windows server 32 bit or 86bit ? ISOs ive downloaded from MS did not get installed by Vmware for some reason.

Another issue was about IP Configuration, i mean on VM ware i would not use WAN (whatsmyip lookup) to setup over lan ? - ive tried Bridge, host, NAT (definitely not working :D). But seemed to be not working, Running on L2 on same VmMachine , it works, when i either use: 10.0.2.24 (Virtual IP) or 127.0.0.1, i did try with WAN aswell, but on host machine still does not connect through, any advise? - Im bit confident that i missed something really tiny and easy.

Also could or would, anyone share Interlude, HF or GF source that is not "TOO TERRIBLE", but is clean from customization, so i could use that as my first files to learn and train on top of these (i believe i would need decompiled?, what would be the compiler?)

 

 

Thanks for the efford folks!

Edited December 10, 2017 by iPlay.gg

[eressea]

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

1. Compiler - "a tool that can be used to have "ready for game files", for L2OFF can be used Microsoft Visual Studio."

 

Hi, this depends on whether you're speaking about extender compiler or AI compiler. Extenders* are written in ASM, C++ or combination of both and usually it's compiled with Visual Studio. AI is written in NASC language (made by NCsoft) and there are multiple compilers available - some of them based on NCsoft binaries, some of them written from scratch.

 

* explanation about extenders: There are some files from NCsoft that leaked out. We know at least about C0 files, C4 PTS files and GF PTS files. All these contain EXE files that you can use - but they're full of bugs etc. Here comes the extender - it's some DLL file that attaches to server EXE file and does some changes and fixes. Usually it's very difficult to find out how to change something so I won't recommend trying this if you're beginner and don't have good experience with ASM and C++.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

2.Decompiler - "Vise versa of compiler, also can be used with Microsoft Visual Studio?"

 

Probably decompiler for AI - in L2OFF there are leaked obj files (compiled AI), if you want to work with it, you need to get decompiled AI somewhere or decompile it yourself. If you're beginner, you should find already decompiled AI.

As for server itself - it can't be decompiled, programmers have to reverse engineer it (see explanation about extenders in previous answer)

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

3. L2OFF Language - is it C++ and PHP ?

 

The original servers are written in C++ and AI is written in NASC language

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

4. Advised OS to run L2OFF server would be Microsoft Server 2008 RS 32 bit version? - can end up having memory limit issues

 

Only C0 server was 32bit, all newer versions are 64bit so they require 64bit system. GF-based servers run fine on all Windows Servers 2008+ (64bit). You definitely don't want to use C0 based server if you're a beginner.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

5. How to understand if user has compiled or non compiled ? - I would assume by looking at file extensions like .class, that probably is not possible to open? or can?

 

I would guess it's again about compiled AI (obj files using simple stack language, hard to read and update) and source AI (NASC files, easy to read and update, have to be compiled before use on server) but I'm not sure.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

6. Alright, i have shared OFF source, what is the first thing developers normally do? - I mean i want to have clean files with what to learn to, i think i found some

 

You don't have server source, you have only extender source. You probably want to compile it (in Visual Studio) and use it with your server files. Pay attention to picking right binaries (EXE files) as it must match extender base version (C4/GF) - extender for GF won't work with C4 EXE files and vice versa.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

7. Lets say im interested to create ALT+B panel onto L2OFF source, where should i start? (ingame ALTB is disabled), does it use html language for community board?

 

You would have to add handling for all bypasses for community board into the extender. Maybe few days of work for someone who is experienced with L2OFF core development - there are not many people who can do this. You can try to learn it slowly (get IDA Pro, create database for your l2server.exe and try to comprehend what your extender is doing there) but you stand no chance if you're not ASM/C++ programmer.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

8. How does scripts work? with source i have, there are scripts, are they run automatically, or there are certain functions that will call them? For example (i dont have it), lets say i got TvT script, how could i run it? or there is some global function that read everything thats inside "scripts folder", and is activated based on command or time?

 

You should get decopiled AI somewhere and try to learn from it. There are AI classes defined and NPCs can use them. For TvT event you would probably create some NPC (manager who would manage the event) and write an AI class for it to handle everything.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

9. lets assume, im interested to write whole TvT script from scratch, where could i start? is there a library that can be used ? Should i be using Microsoft Visual? is there a functions library?

 

If it will need some core support, you'll have to implement it in your extender. If you're ok with features that are already there, you need just to write the AI class (in NASC language), create NPC(s) for it, write HTML dialogs etc.

 

17 hours ago, iPlay.gg said:

Some Advise for installation, right now ive managed to run off, but without NPC exe,  for some reason VM Machine that im running (windows server 2008 RS 64Bit) is not showing BOOT.INI, ive  already tried to reveal the hidden content, but its just missing, i would assume its because of VMware-is there anyways possible to run directly from windows 10 machine (64bit), also does anyone know direct link for windows server 32 bit or 86bit ? ISOs ive downloaded from MS did not get installed by Vmware for some reason.

Another issue was about IP Configuration, i mean on VM ware i would not use WAN (whatsmyip lookup) to setup over lan ? - ive tried Bridge, host, NAT (definitely not working :D). But seemed to be not working, Running on L2 on same VmMachine , it works, when i either use: 10.0.2.24 (Virtual IP) or 127.0.0.1, i did try with WAN aswell, but on host machine still does not connect through, any advise? - Im bit confident that i missed something really tiny and easy.

Also could or would, anyone share Interlude, HF or GF source that is not "TOO TERRIBLE", but is clean from customization, so i could use that as my first files to learn and train on top of these (i believe i would need decompiled?, what would be the compiler?)


Thanks for the efford folks!

 

You can run it on W10 64bit so you don't need any VM. As for Visual Studio, you'll probably need exactly Visual Studio 2005 SP1 64bit.

 

As for clean GF - google for l2server_l2off_gracia_final_83, that's the original leak. Don't run live server (with players) on it as it's full of dupes and other security bugs (and many other bugs). As for some extender source - you can get my opensource extender or download Vanganth's extender somewhere, if I remember correctly, someone has shared it here on this forum.

Edited December 11, 2017 by eressea

[iPlay.GG - KromBacher]

Thank you very much, you have helped me alot about understanding L2OFF - and i like it. Bought Extender yesterday and hopefully some magic shall happen :)