Shut down the Server ?

[Jodocus_]

>> sure.. still *someone* decided to take his name instead of any other. i highly disrespect with people taunting the religion of freedom and piece.

I strongly believe that you still didn't got it.

>> banning the CD-key wont really work since ALOT of players use the EE-COMPLETE Version.

And? You still need one in order to login into the Titan Server. If you don't have, you STAY THE FUCK OUT. And you won't get back in, because I will change CD key algorithm. If you want to know more, read the thread in MW forum.

>> Also you have to replace your WONLobby.cfg file.. which means this update will only reach the save-ee community.. or how do you plan to make gamerangers install your patch?

Most of the guys have either Alpha Patch or play in Save-EE. No problem to publish the final patch series.

>> i think we should just hit gameranger database since youve hacked the sierra servers too.

Are you mad?

>> unfortunately i couldnt figure out how to do so yet... and theyre not responding me to the idea to remove empire earth to make all people join in the same place

Of course GR is interested in losing gamers. -__- They won't do a shit. And I don't need their help. If the servers are up again, GR can't compete that anyway.

>> wed better check out bugs that make the game crash. this will make people join here i really think so.

You have no idea of the complexity to do so. Did you ever used a debugger and dig into machine code and mnemonics? Do you really believe that if it was so easy we wouldn't fix the crashes?
Since we have no EE source, we almost can do nothing.

>> this will make people join here i really think so.

I don't. Many guys don't because they don't like Save-EE. Nothing can replace the classical lobby.

>> Jodocus those hack adventures some of u guys had led to ALOT of people leaving EE.

Haha, you wish. There are hacks in any game, anywhere. EE was getting old, that's all. The final blow was November, 2008.

>> So if u wanna get rid of cheating u might wanna look into that mass game thing cause imo the mass games led more people to leave than cheating.

People left because of newer games. RTS games aren't popular anymore. Furthermore, I dont believe that many guys can do this mass game creating as well. If someone does, his CD key says bye bye.

[herik]

sounds good joducus. so once you've gotten the lobby to work and all, (a lot of old and skilled players will mainly return if game is as it was on back in 2007, so no patches),
Basically what I'm trying to ask, is the only thing your going to patch about normal game (has 0 patches), is to be compatible with lobby? Also I'll talk about gr, because you cant remove there patch or patch over it, are you going to make an auto unstinstall, and then make install on whole game, xootle might be able to help with that, idk. but his download for eec and aoc, is really good.

[monpablo*_]

booting cd-keys will delete like the half of the players joining here. >link to MW forum?

and i definitely do know about the complexity of the engige. its not easy. but its possbile.

edit: still tell me if you need any help. especially linux/win server based stuff

[Jodocus_]

Here is a kind of "FAQ" from the MW-thread, also concerning the CD key issuses.

>> How will NeoEE hand out Keys ?



Good Point! Since I am implementing the NeoEE Servers as close as possible to the original Sierra Titan Servers, it will (at the beginning, see below) use the very same CD-Key algorithm as it was in the back days. This has two advantages:

First one is that in case of punishment, it is not very easy to gather a new key. Either you have to buy a new Empire Earth CD or you maybe know some other official key and use it.

The second point is that any veteran Empire Earth player who played this for years (and therefore most likely has an official key from the back days) can directly continue using this key without any problems.

Theoretically, I can generate millions of CD keys (with my NeoEE Keygen), so that there is enough for everyone. Of course, I won't publish it.



Later on, the system will have a change. After somewhat few weeks, I will close the mode where anyone with old Sierra key can join NeoEE lobby. This is because in case the keygen gets in the wrong hands, I will change the serverside algorithm so the keygen is getting useless. After that, I will generate few thousand CD keys and put them into a whitelist, so the server will only accept those within this list. All the keys from those guys who logged into the NeoEE server within the first weeks will be included in this list as well, so nothing is changing for them.

If there are guys with official keys who try to join the first time after the time span, the server will recognize it and they easily can gather a new one with a tool I describe below.



>> will they be tied to the Connection info OR the will we be issued game keys ?



Like I told above, the keys are tied to your installation of the game and nothing else. I haven't answered one question you may have, though. What about those guys who don't have a key?

Well, I don't want to lock them out, since nobody of the original guys is earning money with EE (neither the programmers from not any more existent SSSI nor the guys from non-existent Sierra), I will have to find some reliable key distribution system in order to give everyone who NEEDS it at maximum one key. I think it will be a small piece of software you must download with the patch (if it's not inside the patch itself) which will only run once (!). However, if anything goes wrong, me (or any other later admin/mod) can check manually about it. @ cheaters and trainer-users, hex civers etc: be warned, we won't distribute keys generously.

Okay, I think now I answered anything about the CD keys.



>> While i like the old lobby/Original coming back 1 BIG concern is still a problem. We need a Player rating service so NEW Guys can have games without being harassed by Pro's looking for laugh .



If you remember correctly, the lobby had a feature where you give 1-4 stars symboling the skill level of the game. Moderators may warn hosts who don't use it or annihilate those games. I will think about that later.





>> If you really want your lobby to survive i think maybe multiple games would solidify that ( Ex: EE2 - EE3 - AOE 2 - Aoe3 and other such type games ).



This is not so easy since it is very likely that these servers use very different technology: WON, GameSpy etc. I think giving Empire Earth (and AoC) a new home is a good start.





>> Cant wait to see it working,



Me, too.



>> Is the EULA actually DEAD ???



Since there is no Sierra any more, I see no reason why it should be still valid.

Don't worry with the keys. But if you get really permabanned, there will be no new keys. The official Sierra keys won't work anymore.

[herik]

can u answer my question joda?

[monpablo*_]

>> Also you have to replace your WONLobby.cfg file.. which means this update will only reach the save-ee community.. or how do you plan to make gamerangers install your patch?

Most of the guys have either Alpha Patch or play in Save-EE. No problem to publish the final patch series.

[herik]

^save ee has a different patch to game as well

[Captain Nemo]

Herik i think patching is the least of the problems

[herik]

Nemo if u want players to return, thry want it like it was when serria hosted it, I think most beneficial way for community is that.

[P-51]

Nemo if u want players to return, thry want it like it was when serria hosted it, I think most beneficial way for community is that.

Yes...and on behalf of many others I have spoken to that have left for this reason..."YES".

[Jodocus_]

Sorry herik that I haven't seen you.

>> (a lot of old and skilled players will mainly return if game is as it was on back in 2007, so no patches)

I really hope so. But it relies on you to get your old friends back to the game.

>> Basically what I'm trying to ask, is the only thing your going to patch about normal game (has 0 patches),

I don't want to condemn the alpha patches. Sure, there are some stuff that I don't like. But the guys from EEHeaven made a great job to find things out about EE by modifying it. I can understand that you rather want "classical" EE than any other patches. I like what with the atom bombs happened in alpha patches e.g. (except the shroom colour).
If/when the servers gets ready, the alpha series won't be continued. We will start a new patch series on the WON servers (beginning with a patch that you can join the servers at all). This small patch I call "base patch". From the game point of view, it is the same as Sierra EEC 2.0 (I won't support 1.0.0 or 1.0.4) and EEAOC 1.0.0, so no alpha patches included. When I got the software ready, it is no problem to run multiple servers for EEC/AOC. A second server pair will run the new advanced patch series, the successor of the alpha patches if you want. Within this server environment, I will try to balance EE and experiment stuff (like 9 cits on resources, yes, RealForce made it possible). So this is just optional. If it won't be successful, I will shut it down or whatever. Things like a version swapper are imaginable, where you select your game version --> patch --> login to the specific version server. I will also try to find out about SierraUp.exe patch program. I think I will find out a bit.


Edit/Post Scriptum: It would be nice if we wouldn't need any base patch at all. This would mean that you don't need to install anything in order to login to servers. This requires us to get some of the subdomains of www.sierra.com (owned by activision still). I don't believe it's possible, but if anyone has ideas...

[Arntzen]

Eww, you're findely able to make something that will hopefully make both save-ee and GR community to come play together.. And then you plan to separate it again?

FYI: 9 citizens on mines is stupid, and 20 000 attack on Nukes was Omega's idea (which was taken out for good reasons).

I like what RealForce is trying to do, but most of the time he just rushes out something instead of doing proper testing. Kinda same thing with the RC patch. An example would be his latest installer (mega installer) that installs RC and Aplha 2.8, this sounds good and all, but it fucks with the registry so everyone who wants to play AOC or both at GR and Lobby can't do so with this installer. (ANNOYING AS HELL for mods who in the end have to help them! )

If you however choose go through with the idea of new patches here's my suggestion:
BEFORE releasing new patches for WON server, run it through a bunch of players who play different settings. Ask them how [Insert change here] changes their setting. For instanse ask a P2N Island player what 20k Attack on Nukes means and he'll tell you it just ruins the setting...

I'll gladly sign up for any testing myself to try make any changes as good as possible.

[Jodocus_]

It would be quite advisable to read what I am saying. The server with the new patch series is a place where the patches are released, changed and experimented with. It is no "splitting" the community since I will use the same account databases for both servers. Furthermore, patching forward and backward will be just a button click. There won't be a version hell like it is right now. There is classic EE and there is experimental EE.
Furthermore, since there is EE and EEAOC, EE always was a splitted community. I really hope most that more players return to AOC when the servers are up since it really wasn't as bas as all are saying.

>> FYI: 9 citizens on mines is stupid, and 20 000 attack on Nukes was Omega's idea (which was taken out for good reasons).

How can you judge when it was never tested in a serious environment. This has many strategical consequences in game which have to be explored. EE Patches will be much more frequent then they are now on the test server.

[Omega]

Furthermore, patching forward and backward will be just a button click.

Never underestimate how hard it is for people to press a few buttons. The patcher in the lobby client will add/remove the patch in 2 button clicks and a few seconds, but people have complained about how it's impossible to unpatch and how it's splitting the community ad infinitum, and even pointing out that it's literally 2 clicks doesn't settle them, because they think that's just too much work or impossible or that people won't do it to play with them or whatever.

*Shrugs*

[Jodocus_]

Well, this can be discussed later.

So long, lay back and enjoy the show!