Greetings everyone,
Long-time casual RO player here. After playing in a lot of private servers just to see them shut down and starting over again, also following these "rumors" that gravity has started hunting down private servers, I have decided to try and create my own customized server.
First of all, I would like to thank the community for their continued efforts in keeping the emulators and translations alive after so many years, allowing me to have a hope in experiencing my own RO server.
I have been lurking around for a full week non-stop and I was able to get both a pre-re and a renewal server running locally.
I'm not really familiar with computer science and my background is that I only know the basics about programming from my Electronics bachelor's degree.
Therefore I have a lot of fundamental questions; if you would be so kind to help.
What is the relation between a full client and an exe? Is it okay if their release dates don't match? Can I update the client through the original exe or for example, download 211124 full client and use 20200115 exe? Why are exe's usually seperate downloads?
As I understand, Hercules is a "server" emulator, which accepts connections from clients and we use mySQL or mariaDB as "storage" for the server data. Is this understanding correct? Why do we need to "emulate" something that is used to run on PC's anyway?
It seems that GRF's contain the main game files the client uses and we translate the language or customize items/textures by GRF editors. How do they come together with NPC's and scripts?
As all the database is actually in the GRF's, do we "enable" or "disable" them on the server end through emulators and/or mariaDB?
I want to understand generally how things work before diving deeper into server modification. I would really appreciate the explanation.
Furthermore, I would like to talk about the kind of server I want to create in order to determine if it is doable, or not possible to create in current circumstances. Features would be as follows:
RO Zero random options system
RO Zero refinement UI and system
RO Zero mvp card changes
Pre-renewal level caps, monster spawns, equipment, starting area, monster exp being irrelevant to player level and jobs.
These are just a few items to give the idea that I would like to mix RO Zero and Pre-Renewal in some way. Would it be possible to add RO Zero mechanics to a Pre-Renewal server or would it be better to have a RO Zero based server and modify it?
I tried to get a RO Zero server running but it seems that it is less supported than Pre-RE and Renewal alternatives, I am currently having trouble with translations.
I would appreciate the feedback on the feasibility, as I would rather not go in a wild goose chase. However the latest server I have played on, Asgard Legends, seemed to have done it quite successfully.
Looking forward to becoming a part of this community.