PSEmu - PlanetSide Emulator

[docdic]

hmmm interesting, ill be sure to see what this emulator has to offer once it is playable

[SArais]

Glorious.

If it's open-source for all, that would be best- This would allow us to have community-driven updates and separate servers for those who DO like Caves/BFR/Whatever.

This would also further allow reworking, re-balancing, updating, and (hopefully some way of) separate optional files or a way for players to have a "remastered" version.

Most people's PC's these days can handle beefier requirements, so a complete visual overhaul would be lovely.

This would also hopefully open up opportunities where we can have a spiritual successor or PROPER SEQUEL to Planetside 1

[ringring]

I'm sorry to say this but I think you have zero chance of getting permission from DBG to do this.

As long as Planetside 2 is going and even after the Planetside IP is valuable and DBG won't just let it go.

[p0intman]

Originally Posted by ringring

I'm sorry to say this but I think you have zero chance of getting permission from DBG to do this.

As long as Planetside 2 is going and even after the Planetside IP is valuable and DBG won't just let it go.

but do they actually have to let it go? Even EQ is still valuable to them, and that emulator got OK'd. I think if reasonable minds prevail, something could be worked out where everyone is happy.

I think so long as the PSEmu doesn't seek to make profit, or outright harm DBG, we can pretty safely assume that they would be OK with us taking the game we like and fucking off to our own corner of the interwebs to enjoy it. That's my own ideal outcome, anyway.

[Logit]

You might want to confirm with Daybreak if you even have the ability to do this before you dedicate a significant amount of your life to it. The topic has come up before, and I don't think it's ever been in the players favor.

I played SWGEMU for a bit and even at peak times there are no more than 1500 people logged in, most of which are afkers that are running macros. Most of the people wouldn't even be logged in if they couldn't afk grind.

My .02

- Planetside needs active players to be any fun at all, and I don't think bots will provide that experience.

- Even without hackers there are a lot of things wrong with this game that would be tough to fix and balance from the ground up.

- It would be tough to march everyone back to the stone age, and only give them BR20. Even if the emulator is a complete success that's a very small amount of certs to work with to make it worthwhile when you can't be expecting a few hundred people to be logged on at any given time.

- There are a lot of core combat features that make the game fun, so scraping all of it would be a waste imo. If BFR's had to make a come back, the 45 minute timer would have to come back, or even longer. The game could live without them though.

- Making a more in depth tutorial would be good.

I could go on and on, but step 1 should be asking daybreak, because I have a feeling they won't be on board.

[MasterChief096]

I support it, but get approval from Daybreak first, and I'm not behind the bot idea.

[Chord]

Originally Posted by ringring

I'm sorry to say this but I think you have zero chance of getting permission from DBG to do this.

As long as Planetside 2 is going and even after the Planetside IP is valuable and DBG won't just let it go.

Even if I can't get official permission, this is first and foremost a learning experience for me. I hope for all of you that there aren't issues, but I'm prepared to go forward either way.

Originally Posted by Logit

... before you dedicate a significant amount of your life to it ...

Yeah you're not kidding. Check out the list of PlanetSide packet OPCodes to message type. It's just lucky that due to C++ RTTI all of the virtual class names were kept. Otherwise GG.
http://pastebin.com/bQLX6weN

Originally Posted by Logit

I played SWGEMU for a bit and even at peak times there are no more than 1500 people logged in, most of which are afkers that are running macros. Most of the people wouldn't even be logged in if they couldn't afk grind.

I saw a recent play through of SWGEMU and I was pretty disappointed myself.
Running emulators for dead games are much harder and less gratifying it seems.

Originally Posted by Logit

My .02

- Planetside needs active players to be any fun at all, and I don't think bots will provide that experience.

We're in full agreement here. Bots, unless they are some revolutionary AI (they won't), would still be lacking a human aspect. Population is definitely one of the biggest issues.

Originally Posted by Logit

- Even without hackers there are a lot of things wrong with this game that would be tough to fix and balance from the ground up.

- It would be tough to march everyone back to the stone age, and only give them BR20. Even if the emulator is a complete success that's a very small amount of certs to work with to make it worthwhile when you can't be expecting a few hundred people to be logged on at any given time.

- There are a lot of core combat features that make the game fun, so scraping all of it would be a waste imo. If BFR's had to make a come back, the 45 minute timer would have to come back, or even longer. The game could live without them though.

- Making a more in depth tutorial would be good.

I could go on and on, but step 1 should be asking daybreak, because I have a feeling they won't be on board.

The only goal right now is to replicate the game as is. Your concerns are definitely valid and yeah, the game is pretty broken as is. It's an uphill battle. Hearing your arguments alone would be disheartening because you're right, but what's keeping me motivated is the chance to do a serious project from scratch, regardless if anyone uses it, and to get some hardcore reverse engineering experience along the way.

In other news, I've got all of the Login crypto reversed and replicated. I won't be bypassing it. No cool screenshots yet, still need make a server framework from scratch.

[OpolE]

Chord whats your Planetside 1 history? And ranks and play time?

[Chord]

Originally Posted by OpolE

Chord whats your Planetside 1 history? And ranks and play time?

Not nearly as long as most people. I never got past BR17 as I usually played on trials. When they removed the 14 free trial program I gave in and bought an account. By that point, things were changing up on my end and I stopped playing. I believe the only outfit I actually did runs with was DarkSkyes. The person I think of when I think of PS is ZeroEnigma along with all the TRx's. Not sure why, but that name stands out. Probably saw his CR5 spam a lot.

Regardless of continual play time, I had some great times with friends for a couple of years. Those long drawn out fights just couldn't be matched. No game for me has even come close to that.

[QuiCKaNdDeaDLy]

As far as I know all the Server Code is unprotected on the Beta CDs...

[OpolE]

Yea, Zer0Enigma took me as a teammate for a while towards the end.

Nice guy.

Originally Posted by QuiCKaNdDeaDLy

As far as I know all the Server Code is unprotected on the Beta CDs...

Ooooooh nice

[Logit]

Originally Posted by Chord

Not nearly as long as most people. I never got past BR17 as I usually played on trials. When they removed the 14 free trial program I gave in and bought an account. By that point, things were changing up on my end and I stopped playing. I believe the only outfit I actually did runs with was DarkSkyes. The person I think of when I think of PS is ZeroEnigma along with all the TRx's. Not sure why, but that name stands out. Probably saw his CR5 spam a lot.

Regardless of continual play time, I had some great times with friends for a couple of years. Those long drawn out fights just couldn't be matched. No game for me has even come close to that.

If you need any non coding help with the project let me know. I've got a lot of free time this summer.

[SArais]

Oh lovely. Maybe we can find a way to convince SOE/DBS that PS1 is still viable? Run a kickstarter and see? It may be wise to rebuild it from the ground up.

[Logit]

Originally Posted by SArais

Oh lovely. Maybe we can find a way to convince SOE/DBS that PS1 is still viable? Run a kickstarter and see? It may be wise to rebuild it from the ground up.

Also, I remember someone had ideas for upgrading the game when PS2 was just a visual upgrade.

It was really detailed too if I remember, I'll look around for it but maybe someone else knows better where it's at.

[OpolE]

I bet theres a few old time Sony employees who are fucked off with how their career turned out while working on PS1 that would come back.