MapleStory Private Server v0.62 ~ SUCCESS!

[GoldenKevin]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I was just so excited to find out that as of wine 1.3.28 on Ubuntu 11.10 (actually Linux Mint 12, but it's essentially the same thing), the wine developers have fixed the semi transparent chat text that is demonstrated by the screenshot posted by the OP! Now the chat box looks just as it should.



I changed my hardware a bit since I last posted (including my video card), but it looks like they also fixed the audio quality bug as well. My current audio sample rate is 44100 Hz, while in my last post, I said you had to set it to 48KHz to fix the low fidelity audio. Unfortunately, the audio delay is still present. The audio delay is the only remaining bug that I could find so far. The frame rate is still a bit choppier than what I would get in Windows, but I expected that. All in all, I think I would be happy to switch over to Linux as my server emulator development environment, considering I love developing on Eclipse in Linux Mint on any Java project that did not involve running Windows applications.

If you guys want to try out a v0.62 client on a private server, I listed what I did in a previous post I made, but I'll quote it right here:

Hi guys. I know this thread is very old, but I got some helpful information that may assist any future visiters of this thread.

Note that for those who aren't familiar with the notation yet, a # (hash) in front of the command signifies that you need to execute the command under root, while $ (dollar sign) signifies you should run the command as a regular user. If you're logged in as a regular user, just prefix your commands with sudo to execute as root.

First off, make sure you installed Wine by entering in terminal:

# apt-get install wine

First some tips in order to get the actual program working. Make sure that for the two DLL files you download that they both are in all lowercase. My ws2_32.dll file name was in all caps, so I had to rename that to all lower case in order for the program to start (Linux is case sensitive unlike Windows). You will know if you did it right if both files overwrite previously existing ones.

Also, you have to run under Windows 98 compatibility as running under Windows XP just creates one of those "This program has encountered a serious error" messages. I think it's because ws2help.dll says it's for Windows 98, so maybe one that says for Windows NT will run fine under Windows XP compatibility.

I also have a tip about good practice. Since you're overwriting DLLs that come with Wine and since you have to switch the application compatibility to Windows 98, I suggest that you create a separate Wine prefix for your installation of MapleStory. This is really easy. In terminal we'll make a new folder in your home directory named .wine-maplestory (or whatever you wish to call it).

$ mkdir ~/.wine-maplestory

Then type

$ env WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-maplestory wine MSSetupv62.exe

Substituting MSSetupv62.exe with the path to your MapleStory installer.

This will first add the Wine files to a the .wine-maplestory directory in your home folder and then will start the MapleStory installer. The installation took a very long time for me, so be patient.

When that is done, change the compatibility of the Wine prefix to Win98. Type:

$ env WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-maplestory winecfg

And the Wine configuration for that specific Wine prefix will open. Under the Applications tab, and next to the Windows Version: label, select Windows 98 in the drop down menu and click OK. Extract those two DLLs you downloaded. Then copy them:

$ cp WS2_32.DLL ~/.wine-maplestory/drive_c/windows/system32/ws2_32.dll
$ cp ws2help.dll ~/.wine-maplestory/drive_c/windows/system32/ws2help.dll

Substituting WS2_32.DLL and ws2help.dll with the paths to the two files that you extracted from the downloaded ZIP files.

You can then launch the game using the command

$ env WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-maplestory wine C:\\Nexon\\MapleStory\\MapleStory.exe

And substitute MapleStory.exe with the modified client exe that works with the server you wish to connect to.

I found several bugs so far, so it isn't perfect. First off, the sound is not synced (there is a few seconds delay) and the sound itself is very low-fidelity. It sounds tinny and a bit staticky. Also, it looks like that white text isn't rendered properly, and you'll find your name and password randomly changing between white and gray when you select or type anything in the login screen. The same thing applies to the chat box in game. I also found that sometimes, the keys will "stick" once I release a key, so I'll keep on moving in the direction of the key that I last held. It can be fixed just by tapping that key once you find that it is sticking.

For the record, I'm running under Natty Narwhal, with Wine 1.2.2.

EDIT: I fixed the audio quality issue by going to the winecfg of the Wine prefix, then to the Audio tab, and changing default sample rate from 44100 to 48000 under DirectSound. Doesn't fix the sync issues though. You probably also want to go to the Graphics tab and check "Emulate a virtual desktop" with 800x600 resolution to enable windowed mode. Wine isn't very pretty under fullscreen.

EDIT2: I tried my ws2_32.dll and ws2help.dll files from both my Windows XP and my Windows Vista installations. Looks like my hypothesis was wrong. My Windows XP dll works, but I still have to set compatibility to Windows 98 mode or otherwise the game still crashes. My Windows Vista dll just breaks Wine completely ('err:module:import_dll Library NSI.dll (which is needed by L"C:\\users\\root\\Temp\\...") not found') so it looks like your best bet will be those Windows 98 copies (WS2_32.DLL and ws2help.dll).

EDIT: Apparently you also cannot hold ALT to jump and CTRL to attack. Just minor annoyances.

EDIT2: Amazingly enough, this post from 2007 fixed the issue for me:

After some testing, it turned out that setting the driver emulation to on on the audio tab of the wine config (run winecfg in a terminal, or click on the link in your applications menu) greatly decreased the sound delay.

In other words, simply running
$ env WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-maplestory winecfg
then going to the Audio tab, and setting Hardware Acceleration to Emulation completely fixes my audio delay.

[donhas]

Im downloading it now as we speak