GetHasFile - For Clients?

[Baaleos]

This more a discussion about whether this is possible/feasible via nwnserver methods.


Basically, from my own understanding,
nwnserver contains a list of required hak's etc acquired from the module it has loaded.

At some point, it must send the list of hak's required, to the client, in order for the client to check whether or not they have the files.

What im wondering,
is it possible to hook onto this message/mechanism, and feed in our own filename, instead of a hak name, and thus, allow the server/server owner, to verify what files exist on the clients machine?


Now, this does somewhat sound dodgy, and most people would much rather just use haks, however, im thinking about moving to some optional custom content for my server, that may or may not crash a client, if they attempt to enter an area which contains content they are missing.

Ideally, I would like to refuse them entry to such areas, if they lack the content.

[Fireboar]

I know Higher Ground does this, and I'm fairly sure it's only possible on a Linux server at present. If I were you, I'd investigate the NWNeXalt plugins (nwnx_funcs, nwnx_defenses, nwnx_events, nwnx_weapons) and possibly nwnx_resman. If you can figure out a way using your own ingenuity, great. Otherwise, contact one of the HG guys and if you ask nicely they might tell you how they pulled off such a thing. Both FunkySwerve and acaos are registered on the nwnx forums - from what I can tell acaos is the mastermind behind it all, though Funky probably knows how it's done too.

[FunkySwerve]

Actually, I don't think we do this, though acaos is the one who set it up. To verify client versions of our haks, we maintain a list of custom vfx, played when they enter the area. Those vfx are blank, unless they need to update, in which case it generates a massive red vfx (all that is done simply with 2da edits so far as I know). Or was there something else we do that made you think we could do this? I'm pointing acaos to this thread, hopefully he'll find some time to answer.

Funky

[Fireboar]

Well from what little I can remember, I thought there were some parts of the module not available without the haks, which would imply some kind of checking. Maybe I'm completely off the ball though.

[Baaleos]

@ Funky - Do you think its possible to hook onto nwnserver's function that checks for existance of haks, and change the filename of the file its checking for?

I suspect it might be done via a server message, that gets sent to the client, and the client actually does the checking, etc


I just thought it might be interesting if it was possible to change the function, so instead of it being called with the default message of

Check player has CEP2_TOPv22.hak
that we could change it to
Check player has ./override/customcontent.file or something


(My custom content is downloaded into the override directory for the players, via a Resource Downloading app I made, the idea is that the content is Optional, Music, Sound and portraits etc are optional.

But ive been thinking about moving to custom vfx too, but those sorts of things, I think may cause the client to crash, if they dont have the content, so I was hoping it might be possible to make it so that if the player doesnt have the content, we can somehow prevent them from entering a specific area.

eg - onDoorTransition function checks for the content, if false = No Entry, if true = Enter

[virusman]

The server does not check the existence of any files on the client: it sends the list of necessary haks on login, and the client checks if these haks exist in hak folder. If any of the files is missing, the client disconnects and shows the error message.
_________________
In Soviet Russia, NWN plays you!

[Baaleos]

but what if the Server, was tricked into sending a message, of a customized hak list.

eg - Instead of looking for a hak, would it be possible to change the hak name to be "./override/myfile.txt" for example, and the client, being silly, would check for the file.

Granted, im unsure if there would be any return value from the client, to the server, but if it were possible to disconnect clients with a message - BootPCWithMsg for instance, it would be better than a crash from missing content.

[virusman]

I'm not sure if directory changing trick is possible.
And if the file is not found, the client will disconnect and show an error message to the player. The server doesn't do the check and doesn't send the "hak missing" message. It's all done on the client side.
So yes, you can probably change the hak list dynamically to check files, but:
* not silently (as the client will show an error message, and you can't change that behavior or the error message text)
* the client will disconnect if any of the listed files are missing, and the server won't know which files are missing
* you don't get any return value, but you can check if the client has connected successfully. If not, it's probably missing some hak files.
_________________
In Soviet Russia, NWN plays you!

[Baaleos]

[virusman]

Considering other limitations I've described in the previous post, it doesn't seem useful even if it has no directory lock.
_________________
In Soviet Russia, NWN plays you!

[Gryphyn]

This has been done for several servers...
They use a 'launcher' application on the client (that needs to be downloaded)
The files are checked before the launcher spawns NWN.

I've tinkered with the idea of adding a 'launch' feature into WorldGate. All the required files are checked (updated) then NWN starts.

Still nothing can be done at the server end.

Cheers
Gryphyn

[FunkySwerve]

[FunkySwerve]