Posted July 27, 2014
GameSpy have now finally switched everything off, so I thought as the 333networks PR dude I should post something here....or more that I am over-due to post here !
333networks has been serving the Unreal and UT community for several years, and expanded it's support to include many of the endangered games.
There are several masters hosted around the world, each capable of the same task.
333networks has built a hive of masters, with the intent that at least 3 will always be available.
Not only is there a "plan-B" but there is a C, D and so on.
Unreal has access to about 8 masters, due to having a head-start.
You can see the status of the main Unreal and UT99 masters at the top of the OldUnreal forums.
The games with community members that came and asked us for help were prioritised, and the companies contacted.
Several games companies are now hosting their own in-house solution, with extra 333 masters as backup.
Some communities have simply swapped the address in their config, and have not waited for an official patch.
The Deus Ex community is one of those, because there is a lack of official support or feedback :(
333networks is the only solution that does not require you to run any extra software (or need an account with us), and so does not clash with other systems you may also want or have to use (eg. Steam).
The only other non-software options available for uplinking are the long established GameRanger and Qtracker.
Both of those do require users to install software to see the servers.
GameRanger boasts a long history of Mac support to many games, so this is especially a better option for Mac gamers.
You can look at the current 333master service status pages, if you piece this together as a real link: master(dot)333networks(dot)com
Sorry. I haven't made enough posts to do links yet.
Before GameSpy switched off, most sections still showed reasonable activity, but now only servers directly uplinking to a 333master or using the in-house version are viewable.
If you play one of the supported games, then let your community know there is a free system available, and already running.
Most of the time it is as simple as finding the GameSpy references in your game config files, and swapping the name to a 333 alternative. Port numbers should be the same.
There are a lot of projects recently springing into life, trying to make new masters for individual games.
"Darkelarious" the creator of 333netwoks, did not bother re-inventing the wheel, he just pimped the one he already had ;)
Contact details are available on the main site, including a web-IRC link so anyone can come and talk to one of the Master Server team, including the GameRanger owner Scott Kevill, and several current master server hosts.
GOG admin can even contact me directly regarding hosting their own (or a custom GOG build).
The front page of the site has a link to the github repository, where the public version used by us is available.
So far all but one of the companies that looked at the code have opted to use it.
Our tests show that Epic have opted to use the previous project that the 333networks is based on.
This does offer better cheat and hack protection than the original GS master, but is many years behind the current exploits.
333networks is a continuing project that adds new features and protection required for happy gamers and admin.
It is an Open Source gamer project by gamers, for gamers, so that gamers can keep gaming :D
333networks has been serving the Unreal and UT community for several years, and expanded it's support to include many of the endangered games.
There are several masters hosted around the world, each capable of the same task.
333networks has built a hive of masters, with the intent that at least 3 will always be available.
Not only is there a "plan-B" but there is a C, D and so on.
Unreal has access to about 8 masters, due to having a head-start.
You can see the status of the main Unreal and UT99 masters at the top of the OldUnreal forums.
The games with community members that came and asked us for help were prioritised, and the companies contacted.
Several games companies are now hosting their own in-house solution, with extra 333 masters as backup.
Some communities have simply swapped the address in their config, and have not waited for an official patch.
The Deus Ex community is one of those, because there is a lack of official support or feedback :(
333networks is the only solution that does not require you to run any extra software (or need an account with us), and so does not clash with other systems you may also want or have to use (eg. Steam).
The only other non-software options available for uplinking are the long established GameRanger and Qtracker.
Both of those do require users to install software to see the servers.
GameRanger boasts a long history of Mac support to many games, so this is especially a better option for Mac gamers.
You can look at the current 333master service status pages, if you piece this together as a real link: master(dot)333networks(dot)com
Sorry. I haven't made enough posts to do links yet.
Before GameSpy switched off, most sections still showed reasonable activity, but now only servers directly uplinking to a 333master or using the in-house version are viewable.
If you play one of the supported games, then let your community know there is a free system available, and already running.
Most of the time it is as simple as finding the GameSpy references in your game config files, and swapping the name to a 333 alternative. Port numbers should be the same.
There are a lot of projects recently springing into life, trying to make new masters for individual games.
"Darkelarious" the creator of 333netwoks, did not bother re-inventing the wheel, he just pimped the one he already had ;)
Contact details are available on the main site, including a web-IRC link so anyone can come and talk to one of the Master Server team, including the GameRanger owner Scott Kevill, and several current master server hosts.
GOG admin can even contact me directly regarding hosting their own (or a custom GOG build).
The front page of the site has a link to the github repository, where the public version used by us is available.
So far all but one of the companies that looked at the code have opted to use it.
Our tests show that Epic have opted to use the previous project that the 333networks is based on.
This does offer better cheat and hack protection than the original GS master, but is many years behind the current exploits.
333networks is a continuing project that adds new features and protection required for happy gamers and admin.
It is an Open Source gamer project by gamers, for gamers, so that gamers can keep gaming :D
