Xian55/HermesProxy v4.6.0-feature-cata-442-client-6934b10

Pre-release: Cataclysm Classic 4.4.2 preview @ 6934b10

on GitHub

Branch: feature/cata-442-client
Commit: 6934b10e041a3cebfe422c9f149c4a784ee0f0da

Cataclysm Classic 4.4.2 — early preview

Work in progress. This prerelease lets a Cataclysm Classic 4.4.2.60895 client play through HermesProxy. Most of it was playtested solo, the group features with two players, so expect missing features, wrong numbers and the occasional disconnect. Progress and discussion: #202.

New since the first preview. Other players have names now, and with that came the things two players do: parties (invite, lead, loot method), whispers, trade, duels, group loot rolls and addon messages. Guilds are the latest: the name under a character, roster and ranks, message of the day and info text, invite, promote and demote, member notes, leaving and removing, and the guild bank (money, tabs, items, tab text and both logs). Solo: the auction house, flight masters, teleports to another map, and a fix for the crash at login of a character with a profession.

Latest: battlegrounds, a first slice. Queueing from the PvP window, the Deserter refusal, the invitation, entering, the countdown to the start, the scoreboard, the battle's raid, picking up a flag, its carrier on the map, the time remaining and leaving. One flag capture was seen in play; a whole match to the win was not, and #408 says why and what else is left. Two fixes came out of it: area triggers the proxy adds (the Dark Portal from the Blasted Lands, the Warsong Gulch flag rooms) now fire on the 4.4.2 client, and the client no longer crashes when someone leaps in view (the leap is drawn along the ground for now, #406). Currencies followed: the currency tab with every Cataclysm currency, honor in the PvP window, and a chat line for each gain.

Rebased on master, so it has the fixes released there as v4.5.59 to v4.5.67: addon whispers from a 3.4.3 client, the Dungeon Finder queue tooltip, parties on a 2.4.3 server, quest colours on a 2.5 client, logging in on a flying mount, the emote clear, full player names that no longer end in a bare hyphen (Name-), taking an item out of the guild bank with a right-click on a 3.3.5a server, and log lines that say when and why a client opens its realm selection.

Why it came together this fast. The 4.4.2 client turned out to be a close relative of 3.4.3, so the WotLK Classic groundwork paid off: the per-build packet layouts, the opcode table (4.4.2's was generated by matching 3.4.3's names) and most of the packet writers apply as they are. Diffing the two clients' own readers (docs/protocol) puts a number on it: of the 687 packets HermesProxy handles that both clients have, 556 are laid out identically, and of the other 121, 60 differ only in how the layout is written down or in parts HermesProxy never sends. That left about sixty real changes, mostly a widened field or one extra byte, each with its own 4.4.2 shape in the code, none left open. On the client side the genuinely new parts were the Battle.net SRP login and the stronger world handshake. The bulk of the new work was on the other end: teaching the proxy to speak to a 4.3.4 server.

What works

• TrinityCore 4.3.4 (Cataclysm Preservation Project): Battle.net login, the character screen with Goblin and Worgen creation, entering the world, movement, combat and spells, questing, looting, vendors, trainers, the bank, mail (money, items, COD), the auction house, flight masters, reputation, chat channels and the world map. Between two players: parties, whispers, trade, duels, group loot rolls, addon messages and guilds, with the guild bank. Battlegrounds: queue, enter, scoreboard, flag pickup and leave in Warsong Gulch. The currency tab.
• 3.3.5a (AzerothCore / TrinityCore 3.3.5): world, gossip, quests, vendors, trainers and combat.

Not yet: raids, guild charters (the guild in the test was made by GM command), LFG, arenas and rated battlegrounds, pets. Known gaps have issues of their own: #405 (a movement packet read in the wrong order on some 4.3.4 servers), #406, #407 (packets still dropped, as a work list), #408 and #409 (the Archaeology window shows no projects yet). docs/cata-progress.md lists what is done and what is still open.

Setup

• Server: Xian55/TrinityCore-docker, branch 4.3.4, with TC_LEGACY_CONNECTION_MODE_ENABLED=1 in tc.env (HermesProxy keeps each player on one connection).
• appsettings.json: ClientOptions:ClientBuild = V4_4_2_60895. LegacyServerOptions:Build = auto picks 4.3.4; use V3_3_5a_12340 for a 3.3.5a server.
• Password: the 4.4.2 client logs in with SRP and never sends its password, so set HERMES_LegacyServerOptions__Password to the legacy account's password, or type it when the proxy asks at startup. The proxy uses that one password for every account that logs in through it.
• Client: SET portal "127.0.0.1" in WTF/Config.wtf, started with the Arctium Game Launcher (tested with 1.5.0) and --version=Classic.

WotLK Classic 3.4.3 was regression-checked against AzerothCore for this build. Bug reports are welcome in #202 or as new issues; the bug template offers 4.4.2 and TrinityCore 4.3.4.