Small update....

I got the code mostly updated and working on Linux but I'm still stuck on a windows version. I took a break to try to get the windows compile going. I had it down to 5 errors and in fixing those I now am up to around 70. I'll get it eventually, but I'm going to take a break from that and start my live collects to see where I need to start adjusting the structs and see if I can get it enough along to distribute back out for folks to start collecting...

I have gotten eqemucollector to compile but I am still getting errors on the linking.
This is one of the errors, but I haven't had much time to research them.
I am building it on a virtual pc running xp and visual c++ 6.0. I didn't have any luck building it with visual studio 2003.

I have had to move some files around and things of that nature. I assume this means that the source I downloaded wouldn't have compiled back when it was commited to sourceforge.

Also I am only working on the CLI version at this point. There is a DumpHeaders project that is missing from the cvs. At this point I don't think it is required.

I'm using Visual C++ Pro 2008 to work on it but I'm running into many of the issues you are on Windows I'm sure. Are you removing the MFC stuff? I'm considering going that route, but if you are going to work on the Windows version I may just defer to you and stick with the Linux version since it is actually working...

If you have the collector or any of the other tools compiling under Linux, maybe we should get an SVN setup for them or add them somewhere in the existing SVN. I think all of those programs are pretty small, so it could probably be added directly into the trunk of the /utils directory of the EQEmu server source code. That way, people can work together to get them working easier. I think CD and KLS would be ok with adding you guys to the SVN if you are working on the collector/builder tools.

I assume that if the collector is working under Linux, that it can just watch the packets going to a Windows box if both the Windows PC and Linux PC are connected to a hub. That is how ShowEQ works anyway. I already have this setup going for ShowEQ packet collects, so it would be very easy for me to use it. It would be nice to have the packet sniffer working on Windows to make it so anyone could use it, but the others are fine being Linux only IMO.

Interesting stuff!

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly the way the linux version works. That's been one of my hangups. I couldn't locate my hub. I've been using a pair of routers and the hub was never unpacked from my last move. So it was MIA. I've actually had the linux version running for a few weeks, but couldn't test it until I located the hub. Finally found it and will be starting the collection testing here in the next few days. It is my fervent hope to get the collector out publicly in the next 2 weeks. Matters not at all to me how people want it disseminated. It's up to the community. I can post a diff of the changes, or post it in it's entirety and then someone can update the svn (probably the best way). It uses a bunch of stuff from common, but will need it's own version of the common files since we don't chase live, the common stuff that needs to be changed for it to monitor live can't be changed in the emu version. I have sort of done that, but not completely. I will do it prior to posting it. I'd rather wait until I get some testing done to post it. That way I can adjust the structs/opcodes a bit more that I'm pretty sure are off a little. Shouldn't really be that much changing to be honest.

PM me your gmail email address if you have one. I have something that might help you with doing the opcode work.

Cavedude or KLS might need to chime in on if we want to start including these tools in the standard EQEmu download in the utils directory. Either that or we can always setup a new SVN page just for these tools. You may want to PM your gmail address to Cavedude and KLS as well in case they want to get you added to the SVN if it is decided that we want to just add them to the /utils folder. Sylaei might want to send their Gmail address as well to us just in case.

I think that many of the structures should be similar or matching EQLive with what we have already for SoF. For the ones that are not matching yet, it should be fairly easy to make the needed adjustments to make sure they do match.

Once the tools are on an SVN somewhere that I have access to, I can certainly help to finalize any structure or opcode issues that might remain. I am getting good at that stuff :P

It is going to be awesome to get this stuff working again. I have really been dreading trying to do SoF AAs all manually from ShowEQ packet logs. Once the tools are working again fully, collecting the AA information should only take me an hour or so to log in each class and collect and then convert them into the table. Then, I am sure there will need to be some cleanup done to finalize it, but that is much easier than the part of converting each packet manually into a database entry!

Yeah, these tools should go in utils. Shoot me a PM with a gmail address (or an email address that has been linked to google) and I'll setup access. Just make sure you put World Building tools or something in the title so I don't miss the PM. :)

Andrew80k, I would like to get the collector to compile then attempt to remove the MFC crap. At some point I assume we'll try to merge the windows and linux code into one. I'm also going to move to 2008 after the MFC is removed.

I'll keep working on the windows version and you can put the linux version out there so we can get started collecting from live sooner.
:-)

Sounds good. I should be able to put something out in a week or two.

When you get SVN access setup, feel free to PM me if you have any questions about how to use it or how to do commits. It's pretty simple once you do it for the first time.

If possible, you can put what you have so far on the SVN before it is ready. Then I can help with structs and stuff. If you would rather wait until it is ready, that is fine too, but it doesn't have to be done to go on the SVN IMO. That is part of the reason for having the SVN so multiple people can work together :)

I have it down to 3 linker errors. Getting close I think. :-)

Sweet! I pulled all the code out separate from the build, reorganized it and got it compiling under utils. As soon as I get it going with the current live stuff I'll put it on the svn.

Got my first pf dump tonight. So that's progress. Unfortunately, I don't have any way to read it, so I don't know if it's any good or not. So... I started working on the extractor too. I need to make a few tweeks to the collector to get rid of some errors that I'm getting but once I do that I'll post it and folks can get to collecting and hopefully by then I'll have made enough progress on the extractor to determine if it needs more tweeking...

I think Wireshark can read the .pf files, but I dunno for sure with the way that the collector uses them since I have never used any of those eq collecting tools before.

I have had some luck tonight also. It built. Won't run but it is a Zlib1.dll error and easily overcome I think. Also got it moved up to VS 2k3, so it has been an exciting couple of days for the collector.

;-)

Zlib1.dll is an easy one.

1. Go to http://www.zlib.net/ and download the "compiled zlib dll"

2. Extract it somewhere useful. I just stuck it in C:\Program Files\zlib, but if you have a dedicated place for coding libs and dlls and such, that would be better.

3. Add the appropriate paths (include, lib, etc.) to your IDE C++ directories settings.

4. In the Project Properties under Linker -> Input, add the additional dependency zlib.lib

Depending on your system config, you may need to add "libcmt.lib" as an "Ignore specific library" setting, since it's a multi-thread library and can conflict with zlib's single-threaded nature.

I think that's all there was to get zlib-based projects to work on my machine.

- Shendare

I never thought of that. I'll give it a try this evening. I mostly got the extractor up to date with the collector though. Still much to do, but it's coming along.

This is really good to hear, as I think it'll be easier to get a lot of people collecting if we can get a windows compile.

I will be happy to enable my live account and help. It may be the only way I can ever help so I will be glad to pitch in.

Wanted to give a small update on this since it's been a while. I'm still working on this and ran into a snag. While it appears that I have the collector working mostly, I have been working on trying to get the extractor working so I can validate the collector. It's been an uphill battle just getting it to compile. I finally have it nearly working, just a couple small things left and I should be able to get it going. It's taken a little longer than I expected but am hoping to have something that the community can use here in the next few weeks.

That is awesome to hear, Andrew80k! I was curious if you were still working on this or not. You could always put what you have so far up on the SVN as source. I bet others would be willing to help get some of the final issues worked out. These tools will be amazing to have working again and with them on an SVN, we should be able to keep them updated often enough to make sure they don't get so out of date every again.

Just an update to let everyone know I am still working on the getting the windows versions of eqemucollector working. I have had some RL stuff get in the way, so I haven't had much time lately.

I am just pleased you are making progress.

I will be putting up what I have on the SVN sometime this week or by the weekend. Unfortunately, that's pretty limited. The version of the collector that I have compiles and works on LINUX only. Syalei is working on the Win version. The collector I have is still throwing some CRC errors that I haven't completely tracked down and unfortunately, I still don't have the extractor working so I can't validate any of the stuff I've collected thus far. Since that is the case, don't expect to get much out of it until I can get that working. I've tried using wireshark to view the collected packets, to no avail. I am still working on the extractor and I don't really expect to make much progress with the collector until I get that working.

Feel free to create a branch for continued development on it. That way, if you need some assistance, we can know what we're working with :-)

Every link i check is File not found now?
 

I realize we are swapping to github, but is every file that was ever given on forums available there? I cant seem to locate many myself. Any help would be appreciated please. Getting old clicking links to see 404 errors.