What's your experiences hosting a PVPGN?

It is something that varies constantly.. My example, when I had PvPGN in Windows I never had internal problems with PvPGN or D2GS, but with attacks on D2GS. Windows does not have good security (firewall).

When I migrated to Linux, I had to acquire a lot of knowledge in Linux commands and operation, Client <> Server packages, HEX code editing in Diablo 2  and other things to ensure that PvPGN tools are blocked for attacks and well-functioning, there are several ways to crash the D2GS.

And even after migrating to Linux, I still encounter some difficulties, but I can solve it quickly because of the knowledge I have acquired.

What our friend "GecKoTDF" has developed helped me a lot and I'm sure it will help many others, but it will not work if you just copy and paste it into your server. Each server will have to conform to its rules. I even tested the "Proxy" with GecKoTDF and I have the authenticity to speak.

So it's something that you need to dedicate time and patience, but it has a good result

The problem is that other packages use the same HEX code and are sent to the client in other ways, for example when you talk to some of the NPC's.

As you can see, the overhead text HEX code is this:

14 Overhead message
Syntax: 14 00 00 [* char message] 00 00 00
Length: Varies (6 + message characters)

You could test and tell us how your server reacted to the rules ..

Exactly! Unfortunately no one cares about helping the Diablo 2 community. I even saw some servers with the solutions, editing the D2GS source code or blocking the exploit with "warn" without interfering with the game.

But all this was done by them, do not think anything ready to download

They do not share with us and in return they are immune to the most common attacks.. but not at all.

As I said, there are several ways to topple the D2GS process, either by flooding or packet switching. Our beloved marsgod stopped supporting the D2GS tool and we were without adequate security for the process.

Our friend Tesseract has, in theory, developed the perfect tool for attack problems, but so far no one has succeeded or made the solution available to make it work.

As you said, everyone already knows the great villain of this story.. if all server owners are aware that players for all servers, we would not have problems like this.

Added: 18.10.2017 11:57

Note: I have also received many attacks from Bulgarian.

Too bad that nobody wants to deal with diablo in the community we really need good web portal system and modified D2GS..

Absolutely fine.

Sure, running a server for a nearly 2-decade old game can sure come with its quirks but it is probably the most fullfilling thing I could have taken on. I took over Slash Diablo when it was 3 years old and I've been running it for 2 years now and it is a lot of fun.

I'd recommend finding someone who is really good at coding to help you with the server as it really helps to have someone that can build toolsets and such for PvPGN and D2GS - like our Moderation website or our Armory!

As for issues, not really, no. You can get an issue which is hard to diagnose and it can drive you a bit crazy but always remember that this forum is here and people are always around to help on Discord etc. Slash starting being attacked last year and I got really fed up trying to figure out what it was... turning to this forum and asking a few questions, I found a few servers with the exact same problem and now we all have a couple of great solutions to prevent this.

And as others have said - if you are a sub-500 player community, it will be very unlikely that you will be targeted.

In short - do it, ask for help when you need, that is why we're here.

Nice, EZRemake.

I'll give this a go on my test server tonight and report back.

I'll test to confirm the bug for you..

After quite a bit of testing, I've concluded my crashes in act 5 are not from the .dll, as I'm getting them even with the default .dlls

Seems like there is a problem with my custom d2_patch that I'll have to go on a witch hunt for.

*Edit*: Turns out the catapultchargedball missile does not like to spawn more than 7 bolts. Level 109 catapults were my problem evidently.

d2game.dll is only loaded into memory when a game actually exists, so there's no way it would have caused that. It was a pretty big stretch for me to assume it was the .dll in the first place - everything should work completely fine.

Are you referring to just a standard bot that teleports and farms, or a hack that auto opens a town portal and uses it really fast (hardcore abuse)?

Either way, it's hard to do anything since they both use legitimate in game functions. To block them, would be to block all other uses of them.

If you want to make your server more farm bot proof, you can do some simple things like edit your town maps and move NPCs around, move town WP locations, change potions to a different NPC vendor, etc.

Of course, you could outright remove teleport from Enigma, or from the game entirely - but I'm sure a lot of people would hate that.

As @EzRemake said, if you try to block the packages that contain this function, it can probably affect the whole game and your players can kick out the game unexpectedly..

I recommend these alternatives:

- Select GMs to track down booters and other harmful hackers within the game.

- Use versions of Patch 1.14+ that there are few versions of exploit

- Use a Patch with modifications that prevent programming Boot Scripts, such as changing WP, NPCs, locations.

EZRemake - Can't exist the disable of the Overhead chat for 1.14b ? - Because if we use 1.14b and disable the overhead chat, my virtual machine to avoid the Hex Hack, its posible to solve most of the problems.-

Added: 13.01.2018 12:03

At the moment I can confirmate no problem with the D2Game.dll mod by EZRemake in the 1.14b
Disable OK the Overhead chat

My server at this moment it's running.-

Server 1.14b with 1.13c D2Game.dll
My DieTesseract block the D2GS Crash Hex code only.-
Clients using 1.14b

Nothing modded all original, only the D2Game.dll in the server side.-

Good - I don't know if EzRemake can made it for 1.14b - That can be amazing - Because 1.14b are less exploits

Hello Mate,

They might appear the same but if I recall 1.14b runs directly from game.exe and all of the dlls are packed here rather than standalone.

I had played around a little with 1.14b a few days ago to see.

If required I'll have a look again at this check for you and I'll post a modified game.exe with the change.

Unless you are happy with the way you have it now.

Kier