Yeah, what MNWatchdog mentioned as the hub is the only thing that really does keep it connected actually. There are other servers out there that handle their own login and those are seen as having nothing to do with this community, when in fact they are all built from it, SoD for example.

Dont play then.

My point is theres been hours and even DAYS when the login server was unavailable so people couldnt log in. Its FAR from a rare occurance too.

Plus, for some reason when the login server starts to puke, so does every server. Zones flake and people are either trapped in a zone or risk being disconnected while zoning and not being able to log back in until the login server is up and running again.

Im sure there also people who would like to run more private servers for numerous reasons from just thier friends to under developement; where they dont have to announce to everyone theyve got a server just to be able to log in from more than just locally.

Since weve got a sprint of developement, some needs to be put into cutting the cord to the biggest weakness of Emu, the login server.

I'd love to see a solution to the login server problem. I fully understand and support any developer's wish not to have their source in the open domain, and I understand the concerns about possible hacking related consequences if the crypto source was "out there" but it must be possible for a server to be configured to check the source of an apparently-authenticated login and reject ones that come outside of a list of trusted hosts?

I have to admit I haven't played for a while now but I feel the lure again, and the flakyness of the login server has always been a problem.

Happy new year, everyone!

You assume that because only two people currently have access to the source for the login means that there isn't another copy of it out and about, floating around on someones system, hidden in a dark corner?

That is highly unlikely, unless somebody hacked their machines and stole it from them. It's the source for the encryption that is the important thing, and I'd bet anything only two (perhaps three, one very trusted old timer) people have that. Further confirmation comes from that older login server "source" which was leaked (which by the way is useless for our client.) Sure, the login server source was there, but the encryption was pre-compiled. I infer from that that even when the LS was distributed to "trusted" people, it was done so without the encryption source.

thanks for considering your players while making decisions (well I play on PEQ so maybe not yours but more CD's, and I have no idea who you are, sorry) but basically what I was saying, is replace the current central login server with a better central login server instead of us having to install separate shit for each server, I know some people probably play on more than one server, personally, I just play on PEQ and my own shitty server to test / when PEQ is down, I do agree the LS right now is pretty shitty at times, so it does need to be fixed, but I don't think having us all install more shit would be the best solution.

EDIT: also I'm not too sure what you're talking about with zones being flakey when the LS is down, they seem to be just as bad as normally when it's up, I think its more we dread it happening when we know the LS is down so we worry about it more. And we do have MiniLogin if people want to run more private servers, although that system could be improved to make it easier to add people, but there are scripts / php pages to do that

I once wrote a login server using letter soup! :D

aww I love soup

I sued Cambell's for not including right and left parentheses and squiggly brackets, dollar signs and other various necessary components for those whom prefer to write code in letter soup!

What you're asking for has been around for years...try doing some basic reading.

Richardo, if you buy some of the generic alphabet soups, you get curly braces but they only work in Linux servers. You can make the dollar sign using an S and an I. I'll PM you my formula.

The old EQ login server used DES with a default key.

The new EQ login server, if it is not using DES, is using RC4 like EQ2.

Splitting the EQEMu community is not the answer, I would prefer to see better hosts on the main eqemu site instead of seeing project forks.

hahaha thats awesome

Just start and add LS to the SVN, so people can get started on it. Keep it as it is now, and eventually there will be no LS.

Agreed. It wouldn't be a bad idea.