Multiplayer Mod Team Recruitment

[Yoshiboy]

Well...errr...good luck, but judging from the last several hundred attempts at making a multiplayer mod I can't help but think the odds are stacked against you. Sorry to break it to you, but the idea of a multiplayer mod is hardly original, its probably run through the head of just about everyone who has ever played M&B and this also includes any coders with the talent to code a multiplayer mod.

I can't say I think its very likely that somehow a coder will pop up just now, with the ability to code a multiplayer mod (taking into account we haven't really see a coder like this so far), who hasn't yet thought of trying to code one - and then decide to join your team.

But...good luck anyway.

This isn't a Saturday family friendly TV show, some things won't happen no matter how many people support it or "believe in something" if they don't have the expertise. Yes, you'll have resources, but are they the right ones to get the job done? The Engine of M&B is made without the intention of it ever going multiplayer, it is stripped of anything that would enable you to set up a network with it primarily because it would be a waste of space and time to implement something that (in the very beginning) didn't seem likely to succeed.

Hey, don't say that! Every time you say you don't believe in faeries, one dies

 

[Cloud Breaker]

Hey, don't say that! Every time you say you don't believe in faeries, one dies

That's a good thing. It educates children.

 

[MazzaePico]

Hey, don't say that! Every time you say you don't believe in faeries, one dies

That's a good thing. It educates children.

Hey man i'm sorry for you....but you are really frustrated


And for the other guy of the saturday TV show and who encourage people to throw garbage to "educate or give lessons", after you have resources and some competent poeple ready to work hard i don't think there is something that can stop you so easily and then the objective is do a mod for multiplayer not put down a cement wall with the head hits.

AND  about the other discussions about make a multiplayer mod...well i doubt anyone has even started to work on that for real or because demoralized by garbage thrown by all these experts we have here or demolarized because some developers said is not possible. About this last thing i think the developer was talking about add multiplayer in "THIS" mount&blade final release and was not possible since it would require lot of work and developers are not interested to do that now.

About the possibility to make Mount&blade multiplayer, i don't know why all of you say is not possbile...if you have resoruces,time and people who can work on that IT IS VERY possible, perhaps time is needed and drastical changes to the main program must be done.

 

[Cloud Breaker]

*Tantrum

Stubborn child, stop trying to insult us by implying that we are lazy hypocrites.

 

[Kolba]

Another multiplayer mod crazy thread?

Multiplayer IS NOT possible.

 

[Merlkir]

just leave it guys, there's no point.

There were some people who tried it with Armagan's approval (I think) and it was very promising back then. I think if we wait patiently, either Armagan will do something about it himself, or the people I mentioned pick it up again.

 

[Elenmmare]

Hey, don't say that! Every time you say you don't believe in faeries, one dies

That's a good thing. It educates children.

Hey man i'm sorry for you....but you are really frustrated


And for the other guy of the saturday TV show and who encourage people to throw garbage to "educate or give lessons", after you have resources and some competent poeple ready to work hard i don't think there is something that can stop you so easily and then the objective is do a mod for multiplayer not put down a cement wall with the head hits.

AND  about the other discussions about make a multiplayer mod...well i doubt anyone has even started to work on that for real or because demoralized by garbage thrown by all these experts we have here or demolarized because some developers said is not possible. About this last thing i think the developer was talking about add multiplayer in "THIS" mount&blade final release and was not possible since it would require lot of work and developers are not interested to do that now.

About the possibility to make Mount&blade multiplayer, i don't know why all of you say is not possbile...if you have resoruces,time and people who can work on that IT IS VERY possible, perhaps time is needed and drastical changes to the main program must be done.

We don't have the resources nor the time. Or any "we" for that matter.

 

[Dinberg]

It's not impossible, and has been done with other single-player only intended games - I cite oblivion here as an example, where a team have been creating a currently functional (though its true, limited in ability for now) multiplayer mod. They use a keylogger and some memory hacking alongside an executable running on the client side to pick up the information off the game and even add an online UI for chat, server selection etc. They did not have access to the source engine either, but have got some very promising results so far.

That said, I still think its alot of effort, and sadly will not get much success. If you are very serious about the project, and willing to the energy, I recommend that you contact the guys at http://www.obliviononline.com. I think their project is open source, so they will probably quite merrily share information with you,  or at least give you the gist of how everything works.

Good luck with it all!

PS: I also apologize if that information has been supplied before. As with threads like this, they get quite long, and I'm afraid I've only just arrived on the forums so havn't had time to read it. Greetings, all!

 

[Manitas]

yeah, don't forget to tell THEM it's not possible

It is.
With some copyright laws violation, and tremendous amount of work it is indeed, technically possible.
However, it is easier and faster, and more possible to create a new multiplayer game from scratch - and it would yield a better result.

There's one more possibility: they make it open source, which is of course possible, but unlikely to occur in the next few years.

Or you can make an agreement with Ikisoft, so they hire you to code the multiplayer mode and reveal the sources to you, which is also not gonna happen.

 

[waraelm]

weldone noob you have now got the frodgorn seal of approvail from me. please if anyone wants to post about making a multiplayer mod could they do it on april the 1st.

 

[Cloud Breaker]

You sound horrible.

A Frodogorn seal of approval from you means nothing.

Now go and work on some clone trooper models.

 

[HardCode]

I think I'm better than you in management, so I think I'll take over.

The one thing he's good at and you take it away from him!

Sounds like management to me!

 

[MazzaePico]

I don't know why people are so negative for no reasons.

This guy started with a plan he wanted to do something SO or you try to help him OR you say what you want to do is impossible BECAUSE ....

So Instead of saying "here is the noob" and other silly triviliaties you can just tell the facts :
this mod can't be done because the code is not free or opened , there are no programmers, funds, and organization.

This guy is starting to build up the organization and perhaps he will pass the other obstacles as well.

 

[wodzu]

yeah, don't forget to tell THEM it's not possible

Oh, shut up. You know what? Those guys had full access to the engine's source, they could change whatever they want (even though with hard work of course).

But in MaB... oh well, we have some kind of a module system, we can change item stats and... party sizes. I have no idea how you could make MP out of that. But maybe... if we make a troop and rename it to player2 and change the damage of all swords to 100, suddenly a multiplayer menu pops up?

I'd like to know how this C++ expert is going to start this. Opening item_kinds.txt with VC and seeing what happens?

i guess you have different information


source
[quote author=from GTA MODDING]  Methods

Adding multiplayer capabilities to a single player game requires additional code in the game's engine, but like most retail games, the source code to San Andreas is not available.


Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineering is our process of anyalizing San Andreas at it's base level, to identify portions of code that are required or useful and could be used in the development of multiple player support.

At the next step, changes are made to San Andreas' code; These changes can be as simple as "nopping" (disabling certain parts of the code that are unneeded for multiplayer gameplay), or as complex as rewriting entire engine functions.

[/quote]


ah and btw, its not the only multiplayer mod created for GTA series
another example

Multi Theft Auto (MTA) is a software project that adds a full multi-player network play functionality to several of Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto game titles, in which this network play element is not originally found. It is one of the very few reverse engineered modifications to incorporate an extendable network play element into a closed-source single-player PC game.

i'll shut up now, you keep yapping

 

[HardCode]

They use a keylogger and some memory hacking alongside an executable running on the client side to pick up the information off the game and even add an online UI for chat, server selection etc.

1. That is the only way to possibly do it, but it is illegal/violating the terms of the EULA.

2. Who the **** wants to intentionally install a keylogger on their PC for a game? Yeah, right, I trust other people enough to install their keylogger.

 

[MazzaePico]

2. Who the **** wants to intentionally install a keylogger on their PC for a game? Yeah, right, I trust other people enough to install their keylogger.

ME...if you tell me what is a keylogger.

By the way with all the garbage we have on our computers(Starforce,punkbuster,spyware,eyewear, etc..) i don't think that this thing will be a big problem especially if i will have a chance to impale with a pike riding a spirited hunter someone who uses the word "NOOB"

 

[wodzu]

2. Who the **** wants to intentionally install a keylogger on their PC for a game? Yeah, right, I trust other people enough to install their keylogger.

ME...if you tell me what is a keylogger.

By the way with all the garbage we have on our computers(Starforce,punkbuster,spyware,eyewear, etc..) i don't think that this thing will be a big problem especially if i will have a chance to impale with a pike riding a spirited hunter someone who uses the word "NOOB"

it reads all your keyboard action and logs it or sends to a server (might be used for example for stealing your passwords etc.)
i guess they used this method to read your keyboard input and send to server, to handle it as a local action - so everything was happening on the server (i don't know that mod so i'm only guessing, but it's the first that comes to my mind), unlike in regular multiplayer games where you interact with game environment within local client and client sends information about objects to game server

 

[waraelm]

oh i have a pict of some of them. look its just annoying that newbies always ask for a multiplayer mod when it would never work for this game.

 

[Rongar]

They use a keylogger and some memory hacking alongside an executable running on the client side to pick up the information off the game and even add an online UI for chat, server selection etc.

1. That is the only way to possibly do it, but it is illegal/violating the terms of the EULA.

Hear in our local net we hold already the second online championship on M&B. But I can't share multiplayer cause afraid be sued in violation of EULA agreement.

Btw, then someone modifies e.g. troops.txt he/she creates derivative work based on M&B codes and violate terms of the EULA If they are read literally.
I am not sure but it seems that the ban to disassemble and modify a program code  has no legal background. Not many participants (if any) of black hat or def con were passed a verdict of guilty. Most nowadays intelligence serves have guys that every days duty are removing protection from programs and analyse code.
I believe that  "you may not  reverse engineer" in EULA should be read as "you can't distribute disassembled code or any company secrets you get from it". The same to  "you may not create derivative works", that should be read "you can create  derivative works, but you can't distribute them in a way that breaks rights of original product owner". I.e. mods and custom patches that do not break protection are allowed, distribution cracks and selling copies (even modified) as own are not.

 

[Cymro]

About the possibility to make Mount&blade multiplayer, i don't know why all of you say is not possbile...if you have resoruces,time and people who can work on that IT IS VERY possible, perhaps time is needed and drastical changes to the main program must be done.

No.

It's not possible because
a) We can't get access to the source
b) There's memory protection inplace that stops reverse engineering, but this would also prevent sending data to the server
c) Trying to get past it would flout the lovely EULA that you've possibly never read:
"you may not, in whole or in part...reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, disassemble, decompile, or create derivative works based on the Program"

Then you've got all the considerations like how the lag from keylogging data and sending it over a server would render this highly twitch-based game unplayable.

By the way with all the garbage we have on our computers(Starforce,punkbuster,spyware,eyewear, etc..) i don't think that this thing will be a big problem

You may well have, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of us do