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VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:09 pm
by John Adams
The Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Emulator Project has been around for a while, but really came to life on Jan 24, 2014 - when SOE announced they were going to shut down the live Vanguard game for good, July 31, 2014. We were always going to emulate this game, but now a "sense of urgency" has been dropped on us. Where we once thought we had years to pull this off, we now see we do not... so...


We Need Your Help!
And here's how you can do just that!


Data Collectors
Probably THE primary task of all for us is to get into the game with our data collector and do just about everything imaginable. Play the game, walk around, change zones/chunks, click on anything you can - the list goes on (and is covered in the Data Collection Guide (coming soon)).

Live data directly from the game is the most accurate way to build content, and the only way we can start - because more importantly, the ONLY way we will be able to reverse-engineer the data flow between the new emulator and the existing client. Without packet data, we got nothing.


Packet Analysis Gods
Once we get collections of data comes the Analysis part - where our crack team of Hex gods turn that mess of gibberish (a network packet - backup of the SOE Protocol pages from SWGEmu) into viable data. It's not rocket science, but it takes a LOT of patience, and trial and error - especially in the beginning phases of this emulator because we have nowhere to actually >test< our guess work - except to try it.

The current packets needing analysis are everything to do with connecting to the LoginServer (authentication) to being passed off to the WorldServer to successfully get a player into the game world. We're pretty confident we have collected enough data on our own to accomplish this, so any additional eyes on the packet data would be welcome.


C++ Developers
This is our language of choice, and Scatman is going a great job of making the Foundation code as simple yet functional as he can. We will be strongly documenting our code as we go in an effort to reduce the learning curve for new developers of interest.

If you have solid C++ skills and wish to help at the ground floor, talk to me or Scatman asap. Now is the best time to get into this code!


MySQL DB Designers
Normally I handle the DB schema design (EQ2Emulator, ENBEmu) but this time I would not mind someone else taking the reigns. I am by no means an expert, but I think my databases are pretty sound and sensible.

More than just CREATE TABLE blah knowledge, I need someone who understands contraints, data types, and indexing to build the most robust database we can for our services.

Our DB is MySQL, InnoDB, utf8_general_ci. If you know what that means, you are my candidate


PHP/Web Developers
I also did all the web design here as well as EQ2Emulator.net, and am looking for a break from that task as well. Anyone with PHP/MySQL knowledge who wishes to add content and modules to this project website, let me know.

What I need are modules for basically all operation of a Hub site, as we will be sponsoring all Login activities through VGOEmulator.net. Account Management, GM/Guide interfaces into the player data, statistical info for the project in general, and likely the Database Editor for VGO for the future Content Design team.


Tools Developers
Anything like Server Management, Content Management, editors, log viewers, data analyzers, something to visually see the UE data provided in the VG Client, these are all considered Tools to help make our jobs easier. While my preferred language is C#, anything that actually works is welcome at this point.


Content Designer
The last job classification we will need to fill will be content designers. This is last of course because we have no world, and likely will not for upwards of a year. Content Designers are basically the builders of the world that everyone else will enjoy. Designers must take pride in their work, to build the most interactive zones/encounters possible with the data provided.

I will once again echo the first item on this list: If we do not get the best data collections, these Content Designers will have a very hard time doing their job... so we will need to start with the best, to finish with the best


All things in between are equally as important to make this project successful. I feel with the panic and sadness of the live Vanguard player community coming here for solace, that right now is the best time to get a bulk of our work done as far as Data goes. You are eager, angry, excited, and maybe even happy we're offering this alternative. If so, get involved. Now.

You do not need to know anything except how to play Vanguard to be one of the most helpful tools we have today.

Looking forward to working with you all.

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:40 pm
by Zewtastic
I am an highly experienced with PHP/HTML/CSS/MySQL. I have skills in many other areas but those are my strengths.

Obviously time is of the essence now with VG's demise looming.

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:49 pm
by John Adams
Excellent. As you can probably tell by my embarrassing hack of a Portal, the site could use some help. I'm looking for a portal system that lets me develop custom modules as they are needed. For now it's probably okay, but if you dream up anything, definitely let's talk.

You can see more of my "handiwork" (lol) at http://eq2emulator.net, the portal modules for things like Account Management and Bug Tracking.

Here (up top) is my custom Project Management module... none of the others did exactly what I wanted.

And of course a stylish Wiki wouldn't suck. I tend to lean towards minimalist design, and pro-dev themes, so I don't mind the wiki looking like monobook. Again, I'm open to all suggestions.

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:21 pm
by Jabantiz
If you plan to use lua here as well it wouldn't take much to change my EQ2 lua editor over for here.

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:11 pm
by theFoof
Question about being a packet god, do I get my own volcano for human sacrifices?

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:51 pm
by John Adams
[quote="theFoof"]Question about being a packet god, do I get my own volcano for human sacrifices?[/quote]
Absolutely. Will this do?

[img]http://www.eventscr.com/wp-content/uplo ... aytime.jpg[/img]

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:26 pm
by theFoof
[quote="John Adams"]Absolutely. Will this do?[/quote]

I was hoping for something more like this but that could work.
[img]http://www.kalebnation.com/wp-content/u ... ntdoom.jpg[/img]

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:34 pm
by John Adams
Oh, ya had to go all fire-n-brimstone did ya?

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:35 pm
by Zewtastic
Also interested in Packet Analysis. I would like to learn this better, as I have dabbled a bit in the past when I did some network admin.

Any tutorials or examples I can browse?

Re: VGOEmulator Needs You!

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 6:27 am
by John Adams
I did start a wiki section for the VG Protocol, but was waiting for Scat and Xinux to figure out the opcode/source mess before proceeding.

Packets in general can be easier understood by the SOE Protocol pages (originally from SWGEmu/ANH)

Ours will likely be similar, if not exact. My first page, rough notes only: http://wiki.vgoemulator.net/Docs/Packets

My hope is to document every packet we discover. I have templates set up in the Wiki, ready for this effort.