Pvp server?

[BobTheTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by xtJamie

There is absolutely nothing special about it. I have a clean database and have made some modifications to the ms through debugging it. That's it. If you want to play a complete server: EOD, Elysium or Play9d.

Why can't you make it online? It takes bandwidth? Don't you have unlimited internet just like others? I don't see why it's such a burden. Could you explain?

Originally Posted by xtJamie

What's wrong with EOD? Sheik is a decent guy with professionalism and experience, plus he has a decent team behind him. In all honesty, there isn't a great deal you will ever get from these files - not unless everything was rebuilt from scratch and how many people have the time, staff power and knowledge to do that?

The files are old and outdated, nothing really special you can do with them.

EoD 9D:

Sheik might be a nice person but his level of English is below the standards. We/I can understand him though but it greatly reduces a GM's creditibility. We all feel that deep inside. We also trusted Play9D (the manager) because his English was 99% flawless. Of course this is just a minor reason. But it matters.

- EoD has terrible community unfortunately. Horrible mods, awful players.
- EoD doesn't have any technical admins to deal with downtimes. When the server goes down, it stays down until the/a GM gets online. That's also a negative side of EoD.
- The content. The concept. This is what I think the biggest failure is. EoD 9D was announced to be an "oldschool" server, similar to acclaim's version from 2010 however it isn't any close to oldschool.

Elysium 9D:

I was treated like shit. Mods/GMs treated me like shit even though I was polite to them.
The owner is Mardu and he's 60++ years old. No comment on that.


Play9D was the best private server. The past tense here is willingly used! Play9D has gone trashy.But R1 was what we call a private server. We should learn from Play9D. They got rich. They did just as they planned.

Play9D's marketing idea has been a great success:

1. Announce the world's first private server, named R1.
2. In the beginning provide totally free item mall items in order to make players have that "woah" effect. Well at least I had the "woah" effect when I first entered R1. Stacks of IS, JS, scrolls, starter gears, banners. So this ensured that players will invite their friends from official and stay.
3. Eliminate R1, aka wipe the DB and rerun. R1 was wiped because of a fake reason: item mall abuse. Okay there might have been IM abusing but it was tracked down fast so a wipe in this case wouldn't have been needed. But they did it because giving away so many expensive IM items caused income loss. Basically, no income was received from scrolls, JS, IS, prem.
4. Introduce R2. Fewer IM items were provided but players still carried on playing because they got their Playpoints refunded (excluding playpoints from playpoint events) and bugs got fixed. Play9D knew that players would spend their playpoints extremly fast. It's 9D players!
Most players indeed spent their playpoints fast enough.
5. R3. Play9D applied some altered item table. The result was a half-assed korean version.
Play9D was aware of this but it was part of the plan. A half-assed KR version seemed nice for a little while but players soon realized it sucked.
6. Second R2. New cluster. New currency. It was for players who got bored of R3.
It was run for a year.
7. "Slay4Fun" - R3.1. Insane x600 rates. Play9D's last attempt. X600 causes pve to be completely useless which puts pvp in the foreground. Focusing on pvp influences people to use item mall more agressively because every single player wants to be the best and show the world that others suck.
8. Banner pack for 50.000 playpoints during x600. I guess it needs no explanation.
9. Close down the second R2 and wipe R3 because "economy" failed reason.
10. Introduce R4, refund playpoints. (R4 is similar to R2.)
11. Play9D shows no activity. Not sure if it's part of the idea though but I guess it is.
Play9D will show up out of nowhere soon I guess. He's been offline for almost a year.


Genius marketing. You server owners should learn from him.

[KronokInF]

Seem like to me the dumbest ************ is always the owner, can we get somebody that actually know something about the game to hosting? I guess not. Oh well, sticking InFamous9D.

Originally Posted by xtJamie

What's wrong with EOD? Sheik is a decent guy with professionalism and experience, plus he has a decent team behind him. In all honesty, there isn't a great deal you will ever get from these files - not unless everything was rebuilt from scratch and how many people have the time, staff power and knowledge to do that?

The files are old and outdated, nothing really special you can do with them.

I believe it's the management rather than the files. The ideals they promote is a "DB8 Cap" server. But what do you see when you saw their videos? +2 scrolls, PS set? What? Way to maker Nuker OPer.

[BobTheTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by xtJamie

Not necessarily. Management might want to do something like a db8 emulation but with the heavy demand of updated content and up to date files, a lot of players are not going to play an oldschool server.

I have removed the second part of Tibet, loulan hasn't been added. The anti pvp buff has been removed and every map excluding clan and starter map (bamboo, zz and ss) are pvp enabled. I haven't got the ms functioning but there is a lot more to the issue which I have discovered. I might get it working given more time and further research into win32 and asm. The next big step is to find a way to drop impervious to 15 seconds, fix the ms and look into some kind of client check that will not allow modification and make the server online eventually. I can only think of a checksum feature but that isn't the most secure method.

[BobTheTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by xtJamie

Eventually which will take a long time. Impervious timer and ms are the bulk of the work. This will probably be the first real acclaim era db8 pvp server, hopefully. You're welcome to post suggestions but there won't be a domain address to view a website, there is no forum board and the progress will be slow.

I'll try to go easy on you. But...man. Your server is going to fail, in terms of population.
There's no way you'll achieve great success by releasing a complete DB8 concept server.
The majority wants the latest updates, the fanciest and shiniest decos, weapons and all that.
The minority, us, indeed, wants a DB8 "acclaim era" server. But why? Nostalgy. That's the main reason; and also there are people who think DB8 era was the most balanced in terms of pvp. I agree.

9Dragons is about two roles: warriors and nukers. The rest are just "support" roles. What's a ck hybrid good for? Buffs and help teammates gang by using para. What's a healer good for? Buffs and traps. Let me say this, for the 100th time, 9Dragons is a team based pvp game. Why won't dumbasses understand it? Why do some dumbasses say "gang n00b"?

Back on topic, I also hate the "shiny gear" that the KR and GC version has. Why the f*ck does every piece of clothing and every deco have to be so frukking shiny? Why, god, why?
Back in acclaim +10 and +11 weapons were enough. That was OK. It looked decent. But nowadays there are too many ugly effects on your char. It sucks. I hate it. I can't stand it.

As for suggestions, I guess you already know what server I'd like to play on. But you should not expect more than 30 people on your server.

I gave up on playing 9D. Only thing I need is a fun server where I could test things. Don't get me wrong I'd already have set up my own server using zero's guide but my computer is too old for that.

[BobTheTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by xtJamie

That's entirely your opinion. I'm not doing this for popularity and if 10 players are on the server a day and having fun then I would rather that than 100 players on a buggy broken server. Time and effort is worth the sacrifice for a happy community so if my server isn't heard of, so be it.

9dragons isn't anything direct. It's what you make it. Team, solo; the seed of the dragon still flourishes.

Yeah that's entirely my opinion. And your opinion is entirely your opinion. **** you're a genius. Apple is apple. Grapefruit is grapefruit. **** I'm a genius.

Genius.





Back on topic, you're right about the time and effort line.

On the last day of Play9D R2 (the 2nd R2 server with rcash currency you may remember this) there were only a few people on BP. Me, nR, Kron, Shad, Dimi, toto and a few more. So it was like ~ 10 people.

I had more fun on that day than the whole R2 time altogether minus the last day! Incredible. Freeroam pvp with friends. Everyone died like flies and we were laughing at each other and didn't bash each other for dying. We pvp'd without KGs and all that. (I might have some pictures of it I'll have to look for it.)

So a server consisting of like 10 people can also be fun. That's why I'd want you to share your server with us >.>.

[bog18dy]

Originally Posted by BobTheTruckDriver

So a server consisting of like 10 people can also be fun. That's why I'd want you to share your server with us >.>.

Not really, what always made 9D so great was the community, the help from the leagues, the solidarity, fighting against another group. A server with 10 people would feel void, it can be fun, yes, but it will become boring kind of fast.

[BobTheTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by bog18dy

Not really, what always made 9D so great was the community, the help from the leagues, the solidarity, fighting against another group. A server with 10 people would feel void, it can be fun, yes, but it will become boring kind of fast.

Fun server is what I was talking about. Fun. For fun.

[9D_player]

Originally Posted by xtJamie

...
I have removed the second part of Tibet, loulan hasn't been added. The anti pvp buff has been removed and every map excluding clan and starter map (bamboo, zz and ss) are pvp enabled. I haven't got the ms functioning but there is a lot more to the issue which I have discovered. I might get it working given more time and further research into win32 and asm. The next big step is to find a way to drop impervious to 15 seconds, fix the ms and look into some kind of client check that will not allow modification. I can only think of a checksum feature but that isn't the most secure method.

Client checks/encryption won't give you any level of security. Nor will any kind of protection system like GG or HS. I've stripped them both from the EXE and tbh I could do whatever I want with the client in game, including fly... Not to mention the teleportation within the same map, which saves tons of time, fast boss check, insane pvp. And all this with the good old cheat engine back then. I have a better idea, assuming you have both client and server source codes, but won't discuss it on public. If no source is available - you can forget about even a simple level of security.
Anyway, wish you luck with this and I shall play again if such a server is on!

[9D_player]

Originally Posted by xtJamie

You unpacked the entire gameguard and resolved the API's? Which modules did you strip exactly and how did you bypass the Themida VMs? What executables and dlls did you unpack?

You used CE and which variables did you locate with the memory scan that allowed you to do anything like you have claimed. This is highly possible with packet injection but with CE, I highly doubt it. You would have had to bypass gg and basic process/dll injection gg instantly block. The other interesting question, how exactly did you achieve unpacking the entire gg rev when Thermida will prevent most memory dumpers, most dissemblers/debuggers, AES encryption algorithms used to encrypt each block, etc...

No no, mate. You got me wrong. I haven't any chance to get my hands on GG or HS (as P9D claimed to have the src code for it). The VMs are almost impossible to unpack and reverse. This is their purpose after all, isn't it? I just stripped the client (NINEDRAGONS.EXE) from any protection. I just simulated the result of the calling functions. After the client "thinks" everything is OK, there's nothing easier than do whatever you want with a click of a button. What I did was to unpack the client (which is about 20 MB and runs hell slow on an older machine through a debugger), emulated the result of the init and call functions for the game "defense" and voila. Because both GG and HS are focused on memory injection prevention, including trying them to hide the client from any task/process viewer, they forgot the most simple thing regarding any protection. Anyway...
Even my buff trainer still works and WILL work on any freakin version of 9D, with any possible protection ever. Nothing will catch it ever. Of course there's a catch here, as it works if there is any PS/2 controller found (either be it a PS/2 kbd or just the controller with the jack)...
They always miss something

[bog18dy]

Originally Posted by 9D_player

No no, mate. You got me wrong. I haven't any chance to get my hands on GG or HS (as P9D claimed to have the src code for it). The VMs are almost impossible to unpack and reverse. This is their purpose after all, isn't it? I just stripped the client (NINEDRAGONS.EXE) from any protection. I just simulated the result of the calling functions. After the client "thinks" everything is OK, there's nothing easier than do whatever you want with a click of a button. What I did was to unpack the client (which is about 20 MB and runs hell slow on an older machine through a debugger), emulated the result of the init and call functions for the game "defense" and voila. Because both GG and HS are focused on memory injection prevention, including trying them to hide the client from any task/process viewer, they forgot the most simple thing regarding any protection. Anyway...
Even my buff trainer still works and WILL work on any freakin version of 9D, with any possible protection ever. Nothing will catch it ever. Of course there's a catch here, as it works if there is any PS/2 controller found (either be it a PS/2 kbd or just the controller with the jack)...
They always miss something

Any chance you know how to change the local code within the .exe ? (so that for e.g. you can play on private servers with other clients)

Any chance you can modify the local client version? (my real .exe is v201 let's say and the server's version is 205. I want to join the server my my v201)

[9D_player]

Originally Posted by bog18dy

Any chance you know how to change the local code within the .exe ? (so that for e.g. you can play on private servers with other clients)

You can play/try to play on any server with just changing its "ndreg.xrg" file. There was a pair of decoder and ediror for this file. Try to look for those, as my editor is somewhere deep inside my hdd and I've no intention to look for it :P

Originally Posted by bog18dy

Any chance you can modify the local client version? (my real .exe is v201 let's say and the server's version is 205. I want to join the server my my v201)

versioninfo.ini along with client exe resource part alter?

[BobTheTruckDriver]

@bog18dy to play other servers with a certain version, download saweet's ndreg.xrg editor or simply swap the files if you don't know the server ip/patch server address.

@Jamie do you know if the 9Dragons user interface (exp bar, skill bar, rage bar, hp/ve bar, char info tab) requires sourcecode? I'm thinking about altering it.

[9D_player]

Originally Posted by BobTheTruckDriver

...9Dragons user interface (exp bar, skill bar, rage bar, hp/ve bar, char info tab) requires sourcecode? I'm thinking about altering it.

This gets a lill tricky. Some guy asked me, several months ago, to unpack a certain version of 9D just for changing some UI details or sth... Not that he can do anything with the visual part, having the exe unpacked, but...

[bog18dy]

Originally Posted by BobTheTruckDriver

@bog18dy to play other servers with a certain version, download saweet's ndreg.xrg editor or simply swap the files if you don't know the server ip/patch server address.

Well, it won't work that simply... My plan is to play on a server with the KR client, would be thankful if anyone showed me if I can do it/how to do it

[BobTheTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by bog18dy

Well, it won't work that simply... My plan is to play on a server with the KR client, would be thankful if anyone showed me if I can do it/how to do it

And what do you gain from playing on KR client?