I guess I'm the first one to ask this, but, can anyone help me?
I'm trying to set things up to run the server and game to run on the same computer.

Specs:
Board - Maximus VII Ranger
CPU - Intel i7 - it came with the board
RAM - it came with the board. Umm... a lot? It can run the online game easy...
Windows - 7
EE version - 0.8.6

I've gone through Greths guide, I think I've followed all the steps correctly

"Installing the Client Assets"
- Done, but I needed to make a batch file to start ArchiveExtract.exe with the -e setting. As I'm trying to use 0.8.6 I ignored the warnings on different versions. Have stored "asset86" directory on C: and have adjusted ServerConfig.txt to match.
"Launching the Client"
- Done, I'm using server and client on the same machine, I can't use port 80 so I've had to use 85, I've opened 85 and the other two ports on my router, I've also allowed the server and Spark.exe on my Windows firewall. I've changed port 80 to port 85 on ServerConfig.txt and targetAddress.js
"Configure the server"
- Done, simulator address set to localhost, basefolder set to "C:\asset86", ProtocolVersion set to 33 (I'm using 0.8.6), other settings left alone.
"Adding reg keys"
- Done, I've wiped the existing reg keys and used the key generator, I've tried makeing my own by just typing them in RegistrationKeys.txt (yes, that works).
Create an account
- Done, (Note to self: start the server FIRST!).
"Administrator account"
- Done, It's just a case of adding admin to a file.

So far I've succeeded in:...
- Creating two accounts that I could use in a 0.8.6 game (if I could get it to work!).
- Starting the server.
- Starting the 0.8.6 Sparkplay client via a bat file (telling it to use port 85).
- Getting to the "enter your password" screen.

Where it goes wrong:...
- I'm 100% sure I've used the correct password and name combinations when trying to login.
It starts what seems to be the next stage - "Connecting to Earth Eternal servers" with animated blue swirly icon.
Next is the - "Having trouble connecting?" box.
This is the point at which nothing happens, I'm sure it's not a case of "you're being too impatient", I've left it at this stage for at least an hour... nothing!

Observations
I've noticed the following lines in ServerLog.txt following an attempt:

16:24:17 [Router] Server created, awaiting connection on port 4242 (socket:196)
16:24:17 [HTTP] Server created, awaiting connection on port 85 (socket:208).
16:24:17 [SimB] Server created, awaiting connection on port 4300 (socket:188).
16:24:50 [HTTP:1] Thread shut down.
16:24:50 [HTTP:2] Thread shut down.
16:24:50 [HTTP:3] Thread shut down.
16:24:50 [HTTP:0] Thread shut down.

Is it normal for those Threads to shut down? They shut down during my attempt to login.

The server and the 0.8.6 client can "see" where the car files are stored - I've tried clicking "Download all" - It eventually crashes when searching for non-existant files but it does show by the errors where it was looking.

16:45:07 [HTTP:0] Cannot find file [C:\asset86\Release\Current\Media\Armor-Light-Low2.car] accessed by [127.0.0.1].
16:45:30 [HTTP:0] Thread shut down.
16:45:30 [HTTP:1] Thread shut down.
16:45:30 [HTTP:2] Thread shut down.
16:45:30 [HTTP:3] Thread shut down.
16:47:40 [HTTP:6] Thread shut down.
16:47:40 [HTTP:7] Thread shut down.
16:47:40 [HTTP:4] Thread shut down.
16:47:40 [HTTP:5] Thread shut down.

So,.... Any ideas on what's going wrong here?

If you're at the login screen, what is your client version? Check the bottom left corner of the game screen. If it doesn't say 0.8.6-r12-PF than it needs to be updated. SPM never programmed the client to work outside port 80, so the feature only exists in the PF r12 mod. In any other version it won't parse the correct URL, and it breaks everything else.

Before you used ArchiveExtract, did you launch the client into planetforevergame.com and Download All? Make sure your client (EarthEternal.car) is up to date. That should've given you all the CARs you need (around 5137 of them).

Unless there really is a missing file, then I'll need to fix that.

"Having trouble connecting" should never appear if the connections are working. Your log indicates all the ports are open, so localhost should be fine.

The login process is always immediate, but sometimes is a bit glitchy. Click cancel and try again a couple times. If it keeps hanging, something's definitely wrong.

Are you using the "Router" cookies hack? If so then delete it since router port 4242 is normal.

The HTTP messages are normal. For the most part you can ignore any of them unless they say "Cannot find file" then you might want to investigate what's missing.

I was successful at creating a localhost server from the files you offered up, Greth. There are various errors that keep popping up on the server emulator, but I suspect those can be ignored. I originally had a similar issue as Sejen, but after verifying the files through the "download all" process, it resolved my missing .CAR file(s). It's odd how that works. I verified it twice through "Download All", before-hand. When I was prompted that I must have a missing .CAR file, I decided... What the heck, I might as well re-verify one more time. That solved it!

[Headdesk] Gahhhhh!
I think I was using the files that were in the bundle! (r15303)
I even took a break and played the online version! (r12-PF) installed in different location on my PC.
I didn't even notice the number difference!
Let me test it....

IT WORKS!!!!


Oh... yeah.... Thanks for everything Greth! Take a bow! You've earned it!

After much testing, I'm unable to get 0.8.8 working properly. I have verified the files multiple times through the "download all" method, and I've messed with the serverconfig versions (33 and 37). I've made sure files are in order and where they should be, along with the target for spark.exe. The serverlog provides no details and states that the account is logged in and trying to pull character data. It stops there, and never picks up. Oddly enough, the client states that it is still 0.8.6 (even though it has the loading screen/splash image of 0.8.8 and ran the verify just fine. Furthermore, when I say that it never goes further, I meant that I can get logged in, but it fails to load the "select your character" screen.

I'm also having some issues getting admin and debug permissions to stick in 0.8.6. They seem to reset after I save the preference, even when I have the client and server both offline. Not sure why this happens, or if I'm just doing something incorrect, etc.

I haven't tried anything with 0.8.9, yet. I'd really like to get 0.8.6 and 0.8.8 working well (localhost) before I try crazier things such as getting a server online through a VPS and/or trying for 0.8.9.

Any ideas on potential fixes, Greth?

There's definitely a mismatch somewhere. The core engine files (Spark.exe) and the CAR files (EarthEternal.car, etc) will break weirdly when mismatched.

If the client doesn't recognize the protocol version (for example, using 0.8.6 with ProtocolVersion=37) it'll disconnect immediately when you submit your username/password.

If the character selection screen is broken (blank background, no character panel or UI) then you're not using the correct engine with whatever CAR files it has loaded.


It sounds like your issue might similar to the original post.

Download EEClient88 and unzip to a separate folder. Make sure you keep the files for EEClient86 and EEClient88 separate.

Set the launcher for EEClient88 to target PF on port 82, which is hosting the 0.8.8 CARs.


Run Download All until you get everything (maybe a few times? if there are some bugs in the download process). The client version string will be 0.8.8-r12-PF.
Run ArchiveExtract and keep all files separate from 0.8.6.

You might want to unzip a second copy of the server to use for 0.8.8 since Data/HTTPChecksums.txt needs to be changed. It's annoying to have to modify it whenever you swap versions, and you can copy userdata between them if you need.

Update ServerConfig.txt with ProtocolVersion=37, and maybe HTTPBaseFolder to reflect where you extracted the new 0.8.8 CARs.

Edit the server file Data/HTTPChecksums.txt. The original download is set up for 0.8.6 CARs, and you'll need to change them to 0.8.8. Use these instead:


As for permissions, did you shut down the server before editing the account files? If it autosaves the accounts then it'll revert back to what it was before.

The server log won't give you any information if the client is crashing or failing. Check the client's log (Player.log) for info.

0.8.9 is another issue. You'll need to be comfortable with the server settings, particularly anything that pertains to the PF modded client. You'll have to manually recalculate checksums and edit CAR files to get it working properly.

Right, I'm back, This time with a different problem

I can use the server software and client software to play 0.8.6 on my main PC (both on the same machine)...Yay!
Now I want to add a laptop to this setup.

This laptop is capable of connecting to and playing the online version of 0.8.6. but I cannot get it to connect to my own server!
On my router I have these ports open for the server

4242
4300
85

The lines in ServerConfig.txt are
RouterPort=4242
SimulatorPort=4300
HTTPListenPort=85

My laptop uses Windows 8. I'm using the correct client files, the correct 0.8.6 PF files, and a valid name/password.
The client can get to the password entry screen, I can "Download all", but using the "login" button causes it to get stuck on the "Connecting to Earth Eternal" and then brings up the "Having trouble connecting?" box.
Meanwhile the server (desktop PC) is trying to talk to the client (laptop) via port 4300 .....

"[Router] Sent connection string: localhost: 4300"

(the above line gets repeated over and over)
Any advice?

Localhost is the loopback to the computer's own self. The server is sending localhost:4300 to the laptop, so it looks at itself for the server, which it's not hosting.

In this case you need to change localhost to the IP address of the host machine on your LAN. Easiest way is to open the command console on your server machine and use ipconfig to get the IPv4 address. It will most likely be something like 192.168.1.X

Change SimulatorAddress to that IP address, then restart the server. You'll also need to update your client launcher to use that address too.

[facedesk] Arghhh! Not again!
It seems I've been infected with number blindness! I tried it with x.x.0.x when it should have been x.x.1.x, then I used "local host".

My old router used x.x.0.x I got stuck on using that!

Time for another test....

Yay! It works!
Thanks again Greth! You may now return to... whatever it was you were doing.

You're a genius! I was able to get the 0.8.8 .CAR files loaded into the client, and it worked like magic. I haven't had a chance to mess with the permission issue I was having the other day, but I'm going to assume that you probably have the right solution to the problem, lol. Thanks for the help! 0.8.9 will be quite the project, haha.