A continuation of niotso (The Sims Online)
An image of TSOView2 rendering City terrain as it would appear in TSO Pre-Alpha. More info in the wiki.
The original project can be found archived here: https://github.com/daddesio/niotso
Additionally, the mashuga client is here: https://github.com/daddesio/mashuga
Here is some helpful reading: http://wiki.niotso.org/Maxis_Protocol
nio2so (and niotso) are/were projects aimed to restore The Sims Online in its unaltered state by emulating the server the game interacted with back when the game was online.
Disclaimer: nio2so currently is used for research purposes for discovery about The Sims Online: Pre-Alpha. It has not been tested/designed for any other version, currently.
nio2so has the following components:
- nio2so.TSOHTTP(S) - This handles the all HTTP(S) communication with the game client. These use the exact same schema, just one is configured for HTTP, and the other is HTTPS.
- nio2so.TSOProtocol - This is the schema used for HTTP and HTTPS communcation.
- nio2so.TSOTCP.City - This emulates the TSO: Pre-Alpha City server. This server uses TCP as the transport layer and it was based on Cadence, Aries and Voltron at Maxis.
- TCOQuaZar - A TCP server framework I designed for use in various applications: https://github.com/JDrocks450/TCPQuaZar
You do need a copy of The Sims Online: Pre-Alpha installed on your system.
I recommend using DxWnd as this software is quite buggy nowadays.
Clone the repository, ensure you have .NET Framework installed on your system and the latest version of Visual Studio.
I would highly recommend editing your StartUp Project Settings to match mine:
Build & Run, ensure there are no build errors.
This was designed to run with an unmodified client. However, you can also use FatBag's patch, detailed more thoroughly in this wiki article: http://wiki.niotso.org/Maxis_Protocol
This is where you have to make a choice. If you're trying to experiment with the City server, skip to the next step. Otherwise if you're looking to try to host a room, continue.
OK. Now, you have to actually have to have the aforementioned patch. This is called the HouseSimServer patch. The Mashuga client is used to facilitate the ability to host a room.
You must run FatBag's patched client with the following runtime arguments (DxWnd helps here): -w -debug_objects -nosound -hsb_mode -playerid:1200 -vport:49
This instance you just opened will be the HOST. Now, make a client that will connect to the host.
Run another instance with these runtime arguments: -w -debug_objects
Next step.
OK, made it this far. Now you gotta log in. Let's begin.
Run the nio2so StartUp Project configuration I showed you above. It will launch three servers. The TSOHTTP, TSOHTTPS, and TSOTCP.City servers. They all are required.
Type in your username and password. Just in case you forgot I made this, your username must be bloaty. You can definitely change this if you want. Password can't be blank! I thought of that, too. (AuthLogin.cs)
First, The Sims Online will connect on TSOHTTPS. Then, it will ping TSOHTTP. If both of these aren't running, you won't get far.
Welcome to the research area. Anything from here we have to discover.
The City Server is a daunting animal. Let me give you some insight below.
I will tell you a little bit about these technologies.
- Cadence - Cadence & CadenceClient are the lowest level transport for TCP communication. They're libraries facilitating the transport of data using TCP. This isn't too important.
- Aries - Aries is the next level up on top of Cadence. Aries has AriesPackets, which have a Type, timestamp, and size. Read up about it more herehttp://wiki.niotso.org/Maxis_Protocol#Aries_packets. Aries, in truth, isn't really crucial either since the Sims Online development team made Voltron packets which do a similar thing as Aries.
- Voltron - It's the protocol The Sims Online used to create the gameplay experience. Every action the Client can perform is largely dictated using Voltron Packets (Pre-Alpha calls these PDUs). PDUs are sent and received from Regulators (controllers, basically). A Regulator handles a certain aspect of the Engine powering the game. For example, there is a LoginRegulator which handles... logging in!
Voltron as a framework uses Voltron Packets wrapped inside of Aries Packets to get the job done. The structure of a Voltron Packet can be found here.
In summary, Voltron Packets have:
- Voltron Packet Type (PDU ID)
- Payload Size
Hey developers! Check out TSOVoltronPacket.cs in TSOTCP.City! Wanna see how it's serialized? TSOVoltronPacket.MakeBodyFromProperties();
Here's a list of all TSO Pre-Alpha PDU IDs.
Don't want to use that link? There is an enum for you to use in code at TSOVoltronEnum.cs
Yes, regulators are controllers, basically. Each Regulator has a protocol that it uses. The protocol is the set of PDUs it can send/receive and how to interpret them. There are the following Protocols in The Sims Online: Pre-Alpha:
- LoginProtocol
- cGameMasterProtocol
- RoommateProtocol
- CitySelectorProtocol
- SessionProtocol
- FriendshipProtocol
- Top100Protocol
- BookmarkProtocol
- MessageProtocol
- SearchProtocol
- VersionProtocol
Regulators are state-machines. They have a state they're currently in, and their state can transition to another one dictated by how they're programmed.
Regulators will see the incoming PDUs each frame. If it's a message that Regulator can interpret, it will handle it accordingly. If not, it is passed up the chain.
The developers referred to Regulators in the source code as cTSORegulator.cpp
This project is a lot of Reverse-Engineering. Here's some helpful tips on what some assemblies generally do.
- cTSOServiceClientD.dll - Database Operations
- cTSOVoltronDMServiceD.dll - Voltron/City Server
- Aries.dll - Packet Send/Receive
- Cadence.dll - Packet Send/Receive