Discussion [New Server Tech] I am building a new Lineage II server and need suggestions

[SoulShade]

Hello guys, I am coming back to this account after around 10 years, which I have been away from Lineage 2, even though I used to be a really avid player, only now, for some reason the spark of L2 has ignited again.

 

Back then, I used to love everything about L2 and just played so many servers, hosted my own small L2J ones but what I really always wanted was to build my own L2 server from scratch, make it interesting and host it for other people. So, I was playing a bit of L2 recently in a randomly picked Interlude server and suddenly I just had the itch to go and attempt creating my own server, just to see what challenges are involved. Gladly, I have meanwhile became a professional software engineer so what used to be completely out of reach for me 10 years agp has now become completely doable.

 

With that said, I started around 10 days to develop my own lineage 2 server in my free time; the more I developed it the more I wanted to continue! It took me around 4 nights to understand the encryption and have that part working well but thankfully it was solved.

 

Right now I have around 5 half days of development into it and its becoming awesome. It is just a proof of concept but already feels like a childhood dream come true to have developed this!

 

So about the server (currently supporting Interlude):

 

It is programmed in C++ and will focus on high performance specs to reduce server costs and increase player capacity. It is being designed to scale more easily in case of need, so that for example we can run highly populated parts of the world in one machine and the rest in another.

 

Another nice aspect is the abstraction over persistence, which will allow people to run this server locally without hassle (just unpack and play experience) and have fun in their world as GM.

 

Currently I am still testing a multitude of features to fully understand the details of the game protocol so it is all very incomplete and full of temporary code experimentation; What I can do right now is to login with a character, run around, cast a few skills at NPC/Mobs, basic chat, using the gatekeeper to teleport only, basic inventory listing, shortcut handling and not much else.

 

Though, one thing I was thinking is that this server should not go the same way as the others mimicking the official gameplay; for that it would be easier to just do small mods on the existing l2J server. Instead, I am thinking to have a highly extendable server capable of supporting plugins which provide actually interesting things.

 

With this, I ask you for your opinion on what could be a really nice fresh experience for L2 so the server can be built from the start to support these things. As long as the client supports these actions, we can make the experience as different from the official as we want!

 

Here are some things I was considering to do:

• Instanced housing (ability to teleport to a location with your friends which is actually unique just for you and customizable)
• Game modes (like perhaps team deathmatch in certain regions, MOBA like matches, Battle royale perhaps)
• Settlements (own specific places and hire NPC to help you farm materials)
• Owning and controlling aspects of entire areas, like lets say Cruma Tower, to distinguish the very highest players with these perks.
• Mob taming and other interesting changes to AI and what we can do with them
• AI player characters which could be like your minions, to lighten the burden of farming, they would have to be evolved and equiped by you etc.

 

Eager to listen to your thoughts, thanks!

[SoulShade]

Just as bonus, here is my character in-game in the server!! :)