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Your Own Lineage 2 C3 Server in 5 Minutes (L2J)

A guide from the private-server era (Chronicle 3, 2005)

A monument to the era of home-grown private servers: a step-by-step guide to launching a Lineage 2 Chronicle 3 server on the L2J emulator (the GREENHOPE build). The server requires no installation - you just unpack it into the c:\server folder, you do not need to install client patches, and you do not need any extra programs apart from Java support.

This is 2005-era material. Links and versions are given as-is, in their historical form - most of the addresses stopped working long ago.

What you will need

  • Windows XP SP2, DirectX 9.0c and Java SDK.
  • The official Lineage 2 Chronicle 3 client.
  • If you have a router or firewall, open these TCP and UDP ports: 80, 2106, 7777.

The server, dated 20.09.2005: http://greenhope.vn-host.net/l2j/l2jc3server920.exe - this is the server itself, and it contains everything except Java support. Java was obtained from http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp (a file like jdk-1_5_0_05-windows-i586-p.exe, roughly 56 MB). The client came from ftp://l2clientdownload.lineage2.com...3_Installer.zip.

Editing the HOSTS file

Edit the HOSTS file in the c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\ folder. If you are playing solo, do not use spaces - press Tab instead:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 L2authd.lineage2.com
127.0.0.1 L2testauthd.lineage2.com

Installation and IP setup

  1. Unpack the server into the c:\server folder.
  2. In the file c:\server\l2j\config\server.properties, find the lines related to the IP. Which IP to set:
    • 127.0.0.1 - if you want to play solo, with no external connections;
    • LAN IP - to play over a local network only;
    • WAN IP - to play over the internet.
  3. To find your LAN IP: Start -> Run -> cmd -> ipconfig. To find your WAN IP: visit www.ipchicken.com.

Launch

  1. Run start.bat.
  2. Go to the c:\server\l2j\tools folder and run full_install.bat.
  3. Once installation finishes, run startServer.bat in the c:\server\l2j folder - the server is now running.
  4. Don't forget to replace the SYSTEM folder in the client with the build from http://greenhope.vn-host.net/l2j/system555s.exe.
  5. After launching the client, enter admin as both the login and the password, create a character, log into the game, and type //admin in the console - the admin menu will open.
  6. Database management is done through phpMyAdmin: open http://localhost/a/ in your browser (the client and the Java emulator must be turned off while you do this).

Updating without losing accounts and characters

  1. Run c:\server\stop.bat and reboot the computer.
  2. Save all the files from the c:\server\diskw\usr\local\mysql\data\l2jdb\ folder.
  3. Delete all the files from the c:\server folder.
  4. Unpack the new server into the c:\server folder.
  5. Copy the saved files back into c:\server\diskw\usr\local\mysql\data\l2jdb\.
  6. Run c:\server\start.bat.
  7. Run c:\server\l2j\tools\upgrade.bat.
  8. Run c:\server\l2j\startServer.bat - the new server is ready.

If you are installing the server from scratch, you do not need to run the update.

If you cannot get past GameGuard

Method 1 (the main one). Download the system folder for client revision 555s (http://greenhope.vn-host.net/l2j/system555s.exe), delete the old SYSTEM folder and replace it with 555s. It contains a "cracked" Guard and a decoded l2.ini in which you can specify the server address: an internal IP for yourself, and an external IP for people who will be connecting to your server.

Method 2. Download the archive and unpack it into C:\Server\diskw\www\nProtect\GameGuard\RealServer, overwriting all files.

Method 3. To play on a private network with no internet: install Internet Information Services (IIS) via Control Panel -> Add/Remove Windows Components, create the folder C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\nProtect\GameGuard\RealServer and upload the required files there.

Method 4. A separate build (according to the author, the Guard is "killed" and the interface is translated into Russian).

Also, if needed, add the following to HOSTS (unless you used the first method):

127.0.0.1 nprotect.lineage2.com
127.0.0.1 update.nprotect.com
127.0.0.1 update.nprotect.net

Useful tips

  • A utility for editing HOSTS - L2Director.
  • A program for setting up the connection between the L2J server and clients from outside - L2Jconnector.
  • A ready-made GM shop (back up your databases before installing it).
  • In Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del), set the priority of the Java-related tasks to "high" - it helps noticeably.