New way to play SWBFI online? (not Tunngle)

[Dark_Phantom]

-edit (again)
In the executable, there is a reference to "http://motd.gamespy.com/motd.asp" along with other asp stuff.
On the OpenSpy site, they have alternative motd servers listed.
It seems that this might be a problem if the game just waits for a motd that never arrives.

This is interesting, maybe we should poke through to try to find most or all of these references.  No doubt some of them are encrypted in the exe, but finding a lot of them may help with finding a solution somewhere.

[Led]

This is interesting, maybe we should poke through to try to find most or all of these references.  No doubt some of them are encrypted in the exe, but finding a lot of them may help with finding a solution somewhere.

I've looked around in the exe too.  I don't think anything is encrypted. That said, I don't know how the gamespy stuff works.

[Dark_Phantom]

I've been researching and there is a possible solution that is quite interesting:
In Battlefield 2, someone (seems like a person who does a little bit of programming) tried to change the URL (like ours), with a failure.  BUT, he made a small program that seems to intercept the request for the BF2 Gamespy server and sends it to a local host.  Using a Gamespy login emulator, he was able to create a local network that still used his equivalent of an "Internet" button.
More here:
http://www.battlefieldsingleplayer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16635

The only hitch is that it seemed like it was only for a local server.

[Kit Fisto]

I've been researching and there is a possible solution that is quite interesting:
In Battlefield 2, someone (seems like a person who does a little bit of programming) tried to change the URL (like ours), with a failure.  BUT, he made a small program that seems to intercept the request for the BF2 Gamespy server and sends it to a local host.  Using a Gamespy login emulator, he was able to create a local network that still used his equivalent of an "Internet" button.
More here:
http://www.battlefieldsingleplayer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16635

The only hitch is that it seemed like it was only for a local server.

This is interesting...
Very useful too! The best way to get back old players who never visited this site would be to have them download a patch and install it, then they would log in the same as they did before the "Server Purge."



EDIT: Is this something you guys are trying to achieve? I found it as the first result for the Google Search "emulate gamespy server."

http://www.nwnx.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=15985sid=a9b545efaa9142ed7afced3a1e5bbaa0

[Dark_Phantom]

Actually what I was going to use was just a login emulator, I need to find the site for it again.  One person who knew a lot (maybe too much) about Gamespy created many tools for it, although I don't understand some of the language of it.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to send the Gamespy link to another url (probably IIS , but even then, what url would I use?  Probably another dead end...

[Dbiz]

I found this.  Not sure if it helps.  is all in Spanish. 

                               

[Kit Fisto]

Now when we were doing that updating website thing, someone made a post that explained how to bypass the master server by editing the .exe or something like that. I thought it would help out but the post is gone now. Could you (theWolf?) re-post what you said. I felt that it was a discovery worth noting. (I could be completely wrong)
So yea, could you re-post what you said, creating a new master server is, after all, the best way to bring back the SWBFI online players.

[SleepKiller]

I'm pretty sure it wasn't any new information. Otherwise I would remember what the post said

EDIT: Wait now I do, it was about the hosts file. Which we knew about anyway. Like I said no new information.

[TheWolf]

xxx.xx.xx.xxx swbfrontpc.ms4.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx swbfrontpc.available.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx available.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx master.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx swbfrontpc.master.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx motd.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx key.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx gpsp.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx gpcm.gamespy.com

xxx.xx.xx.xxx  natneg1.gamespy.com

go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts --open in a text editor

use the addresses replacing xxx.xx.xx.xxx with ip of new server

the protection used on original swbf exe is securom (5.xx.xxxx on 1.2 and 7.11.xxxx on 1.3 if i remember right)

there is no real protection on no cd

for openspy try these in your hosts

198.91.90.160 swbfrontpc.ms4.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 swbfrontpc.available.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 available.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 master.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 swbfrontpc.master.gamespy.com

198.91.90.48 motd.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 key.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 peerchat.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 gpsp.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 gpcm.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 natneg1.gamespy.com

using those values i can verify i can host a internet game  but i don't have another computer with me atm to see if someone can join. i also apologize for the long post

[StoneCold]

Actually what I was going to use was just a login emulator, I need to find the site for it again.  One person who knew a lot (maybe too much) about Gamespy created many tools for it, although I don't understand some of the language of it.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to send the Gamespy link to another url (probably IIS , but even then, what url would I use?  Probably another dead end...

Hey guys,

I'm new here and today I was also looking around for a way to play SWBF online again without using Tunngle and Gameranger.

@Dark_Phantom I believe the site you were looking for was the following:

http://aluigi.altervista.org/papers.htm#distrust 

I found a couple of Tony Hawk PC version exe files that were modified to work with Openspy. I have hex edited the SWBF exe too, to make it look similar but it doesn't do anything in game. Although I didn't edit all the gamespy entries to Openspy, I'll still look into it.

What TheWolf found also looks interesting, I'm going to give it a shot and see what I can conjure up 

[StoneCold]

Great news guys, I got it working !

Ok, what I did was the following:

I added all the entries TheWolf supplied in my hosts file:

198.91.90.160 swbfrontpc.ms4.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 swbfrontpc.available.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 available.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 master.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 swbfrontpc.master.gamespy.com

198.91.90.48 motd.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 key.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 peerchat.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 gpsp.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 gpcm.gamespy.com

198.91.90.160 natneg1.gamespy.com

I also forwarded ports 28910 (TCP & UDP) and 29900 (TCP) in my router.

Then, in game, I went to Internet, I chose join game. I then specified my Gamespy ID login details and remarkably it allowed me to login as if Gamespy was still working.

After that, I created an internet dedicated server on my PC, waited for it to finish loading, alt+tabbed back into the game and then I chose the "Join Game" option under "Internet" and low and behold, instead of being stuck on " Busy 0%" it said "Busy 100%" and after that it displayed my dedicated server in the Internet browser ! 

So I guess we finally found a way again to play the game online via the built in Internet browser. All it took was to modify the hosts file and in my case, needed to forward some ports on my router (but the ports I only really forwarded to host my server and for "gamespy"  communication) 

PS: It would be great if we can get more people to test this out. Even though I see my own server via the Internet Browser, I'm struggling to pick up a server that's not hosted on the same machine where I'm playing from... but at least it's a positive step in the right direction... I think my game client and dedi software can also be mismatched.

[-=(212) Nixo=-]

But to play we need to do this? I think we might struggle to get many people to do this..

[StoneCold]

But to play we need to do this? I think we might struggle to get many people to do this..

Yeah well I mean, one modification to your hosts file once off, vs having to use a 3rd party app to play each time is a win in my book. But, like I said we need more people to test this first and see if anyone else also has success but it's working 100% on my side.

[TheWolf]

i might make a patch for the exe in the future if this proves worth the time of making one.

[Ltin]

so this actually works?
sweet!