MMO's turned Single player?

[Trust And Fall]

I was thinking about this earlier today while trying to find a new game to get into.

How cool would it be to have a single player version of live, WoW, DAOC, etc.?
I think it'd be awesome! Sure the community makes up a huge part of these games, but I still think a single player version of some of them would be an absolute blast.

It'd require some heavy modding, and the implementation of potions most likely without a re-use timer ala Diablo, but I think it'd be a f***ing blast.

Monster's abilities/hp/damage etc. would all have to be scaled down substantially as well in raid zones, but I really think it'd be a lot of fun.

I tried googling a bit, but couldn't find any projects where someone made a complete single player version of an MMO that allowed a player access to all encounters, not just the normal soloable stuff.

Wish I had a decent understanding of programming/modding, I'd probably try doing it for World of Warcraft. The painful part would be learning what had to be completely removed from the game and changing encounters that *required* multiple people.

Still, it'd be pretty cool to try right?

 

[vistachiri]

You can in the same sense as you could run a private server. WoW it's pretty easy actually, been there, done that. The stuff they used to use a year or two ago was stable enough, just got fucked up if you ran it too long with too many people on it (some people were awaiting mango/s to fix that, I left that particular scene before I found out if it did though).

You can pretty easily mod the content too, at least for wow. Very not hard. Fixed a couple of talent bugs etc, but never got all that deep into it.

 

[Trust And Fall]

Really?

I wouldn't wanna host a server, but rather operate a single player version of the game. I wouldn't care if it was online or off.

You've got me thinking now. You think a person with slightly above average of networking could do it? I'm studying for my Cisco CCNA certification but have nearly no software writing/scripting experience. Nothing with C++, MySQL, etc.. I've heard of them, and understand how they work (C++ anyway) but, thats about it...

Think I could manage making a single player version?

edit: After doing some research aisling it seems incredibly easy to get a server up.... But!
What about changing things? Monster abilities, stats, etc? Adding HP/Mana potions? And what about a stash or some such thing so all my characters can share items?
Might this be possible?

 

[Met44]

You could add, remove, or modify anything you want that is implemented in the server code. You would also need to be able to use and modify a set of databases. I assume the WoW-tweaking community has a standard build for the code and a standard database which you can download and make adjustments to, like some other live-like communities do. On live and in live-like modifications, there was also separate code for the login server. I'm not sure how the WoW communities handle that.

Your general networking experience would help when troubleshooting your local connection to the server process, since you will still be using a separate server process and client process, both of which will expect a network connection (even if it is on a loopback). There is no real "offline mode", you will just have the server operating on your computer along with the client, unless you decide to use a separate machine.

I think anyone could do it, it would just take quite some dedication, which few people are willing to provide. Giving yourself a project is a good way to start to learn this stuff as long as you don't get overwhelmed (it is a big project!). Maybe make it a pet project while you're not studying for the certification exam. Remember that Google is your friend when issues pop up with compiling code or sorting out the database. Good luck!

Muxil

 

[Trust And Fall]

Thanks for the feedback Mux, very insightful.

Well, I've begun the researching process. Looks like I'm going to do this myself.
Seems the WoW modding community has 4 seperate emulation methods, each working different for various "builds" of the game.

And you're right, apparently it's going to be all about database editing via MySQL. Looks like I've got quite a bit to learn though I suspect much of it will be through trial and error as far as balance goes.

 

[vistachiri]

Really?

I wouldn't wanna host a server, but rather operate a single player version of the game. I wouldn't care if it was online or off.

You've got me thinking now. You think a person with slightly above average of networking could do it? I'm studying for my Cisco CCNA certification but have nearly no software writing/scripting experience. Nothing with C++, MySQL, etc.. I've heard of them, and understand how they work (C++ anyway) but, thats about it...

Think I could manage making a single player version?

edit: After doing some research aisling it seems incredibly easy to get a server up.... But!
What about changing things? Monster abilities, stats, etc? Adding HP/Mana potions? And what about a stash or some such thing so all my characters can share items?
Might this be possible?

Changing stuff was pretty easy, WoW is just set up that way. You could probably literally train a monkey to do it. The plugin system also makes it hilariously easy to test stuff. The only quarrel I really have with their client is world saves.

 

[j0kie_smurf]

There are EQemu sites that have tutorials for creating your own server and for playing Eq offline. Sourceforge.net has eqemu files, the offline play and such. That might be a good place to start. You can also google axclassic, thats is a classic eq emulator that comes with the full tutorial on how to set it up and play. You can just play by yourself or network with friends or put it up as a public or private server.

I have been experimenting with axclassic and creating content for it. I am decent enough at programming to be able to mod the code and such. I am a skilled 3d modeller also so I have made some creatures and items and things for it. Now I don't plan o opening my own server to the public. I do not want to compete with SoD or any other emu servers. I use my server as a test server for content.

I think that axclassic would be a good start for anyone who wants to learn the basics of running their own private game when not on SoD.