The Lancers Reactor .. Definitive HQ for Freelancer's Future

[Fracture]

Hi Everyone.

This is important.
The official Microsoft Global Freelancer Server will not be back.
This information is un-official.

The official ending date for MS' support of Freelancer is April 8th , 2008
To spite this .. MS is not willing to discuss bringing the GLS back on line.

The long term future of Freelancer is now truly in the hands of the
playing , modding and server operator community.

No matter what you may think of everyone else that you know or have met
during your own personal experience with the Freelancer game,
now is the time to put all of that aside and join the effort to keep
our global community together.

Join The Lancers Reactor.  The Lancers Reactor
Read The Lancers Reactor.  The Lancers Reactor
Tell Everyone that plays Freelancer to tell Everyone Else that plays Freelancer.
Here is the Link  >>>>   The Lancers Reactor

The access to Freelancer Servers for the community is easy.
Connection workarounds and  server IP lists are available.
More tools are being developed on the fast track.

The chances of  New Players discovering the game is the Real Issue here.
The more people involved at TLR >>> the more Hits on the site >>>>
The more Hits >>> The more prominent the site will remain on the Web >>>>
The more people who can find TLR >>> The longer our Game Life.

Thank you in advance for your involvement.
See you on The Lancers Reactor

Scream On!
Frac

[Queen]

 :(  :(  :(
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
crap
cant belive microsoft
what can we do?
tell people about it?
i know we have to stay together be strong
but what can we do i checked the global stats
there is only 6000 people playing freelancer
numbers going down we need to stick together!!!
even if were pirates navy, order or rogues
we have to stick together and keep playing and stay true to void!

is there a way microsolf can get us to get global back?

[gav]

we all new it was coming....
is a shame they are not honouring the end of the support cycle.
but then it is Microsoft so im not surprised really

they should give TLR the GLS software so they can run the server instead, or give out the game code so the server search code can be modified....

[Zeron]

Is it theoretically possible that lancers reactor can make a server with the same IP of the global server, once it shuts down? And then run either the same or similiar global server software, so that it will never truely go down?

[Frobozz]

[quote="Zeron";p="159439"]Is it theoretically possible that lancers reactor can make a server with the same IP of the global server, once it shuts down? And then run either the same or similiar global server software, so that it will never truely go down?[/quote]

Zeron, you've hit the nail on the head. For your average casual player, not addicts like us, this transition has to be smooth and invisible. Here's the section of freelancer.ini that tells FL where to look for the Global:

Code: Select all

[ListServer]
;;;hostname = localhost					; Your local machine
;;;hostname = FLListServer2.dns.corp.microsoft.com	; GUN server in Austin
;;;hostname = 131.107.135.190				; GUN server in Redmond
hostname = fllistserver.zone.msn.com			; GUN server in Redmond (DNS entry)
port = 2300

See? fllistserver.zone.msn.com is the default location out-of-the-box FL looks for. It can be changed obviously, but any change will leave the casual player behind.

Unless the FL community can get M$ to give the domain name fllistserver.zone.msn.com to a community-run body, like TLR.... OR automatically forward all traffic going to/from fllistserver.zone.msn.com to a community owned listserver, no solution will be 100% effective. Oh, and they need to give or license them the software to run Global.

[URAMI]

[quote="electra";p="159407"]but what can we do i checked the global stats
there is only 6000 people playing freelancer[/quote]

Unfortunately Electra I think you're supposed to divide that 6000 by 5 player slots, because each player has (theoretically) 1 MPID and 5 char slots.  But then some players have 2 MPIDs....  So with that being said, you'd take 6000 / 5 = 1200 individual players actively playing FL.

Hopefully something can be done, because it's a known fact that people leave to play new games, it's a fact of life.  And it will be harder for new players to find servers now with the Globalserver down.  Hopefully we can work something out.

I made a suggestion to Strail about a month ago about putting the Voidserver.com website on Wikipedia under the Freelancer game.  I don't see it there now, it must be getting removed or something.  Oh well if someone has a Wiki account maybe they could log on there and put the Voidserver info up there.   That should attract new players.  :D

[Zeron]

They could simply write software that mimics the Global Server software. However, I suppose that hostname is going to be a problem. It is too bad that we can't silently force it to divert traffic to some other place without MS learning of it.

[geromix]

This is really bad ,i guess this was gonna happen soon.

I wiil make sure i post this in AoF's external forum so that all our members know about this.

I suppose what is most worrying about this is that as Frobozz said casual players would find it tough to get it.
New players especially who have no idea wouldnt know how to play Multiplayer FL.
And without new players FL Community would die a slow painful death.

I remember when i started out it was thankfully due to the Global Server that listed all the servers that it was so easy to go online and play in any server.
And unless somebody knows about this i dont think there is anyway people can hop in to Void.

>>I think what Frobozz said is a very good idea,if  the entire server community comes together and get the domain name it could make a huge difference.
>>Or hopefully find some effective easy tool by which one can go to the community owned server.
>>Or for that matter maybe atleast ask Microsoft to list this change in its Official website for Freelancer so that new players know what to do and where to go.

We should definitely stick together now,we are kind of on our own now.

[gav]

[quote="URAMI";p="159443"]
I made a suggestion to Strail about a month ago about putting the Voidserver.com website on Wikipedia under the Freelancer game.  I don't see it there now, it must be getting removed or something.  Oh well if someone has a Wiki account maybe they could log on there and put the Voidserver info up there.   That should attract new players.  :D[/quote]


it did used to be on there, i remember seeing it

i logged in to add lancers and the void  back on there but they have a spam warning on their now sayign "No More Links" as they dont do links no more, so thats why its missing the void,LR, and all the other servers that were on there. Wikipedia took them off...


i think the domin idea is a good one.
its a simple DNS change , all they need to do is add a domain pointer so LR could setup a global server and microsoft could point the domain to it

i think thats probably worth passing on to lancers reactor so they can enquire about it.
i think your on the right track their Frobozz

[Watchwolf]

Micro$oft did the same thing to the Links (golf sim) community about a year and a half ago. Some may know Links is an MS game as well. They just pulled the plug. Left thousand of loyal on-line golfers... yours truly included... hanging out to dry. It was only the determination and ingenuity of loyal Links players to keep the game alive on-line. It still flourishes.

Freelancer is going the same route and will depend on the same loyal and determined players to keep it alive.

We're on our own, Freelancers.

[Frobozz]

I'm afraid WW is right, I only posted what the ideal transition should be I have little hope M$ will care enough about us that it'll be a possibility. I would think that geromix idea is most practical, ask M$ to change the official FL page to point new players to TLR. That's just one page of HTML and one link, that's much easier to hope for. The page is still there atm:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/freelancer/

Heck, the demo's still there! We can ask for a global server handoff, remote chance that it is,  but we should also ask for a link to TLR on this page. There are new players, not as many as usta be of course but last I checked before the holiday shopping frenzy there was FL on the shelves at Target! Sure, it was a simple $9.99 bargain shelf jewel case, but it's still selling retail! When that player finishes SP and try the MP option and sees no servers, I can only hope that they go to M$ FL site, looking for patches (as I usually do with new games) and sees a link to TLR. Without even that they'll probably think FLMP is over. Same for the casual players who have FL on a shelf, but chances are better a bit with them. I've always said that TLR and Global are the 2 legs of FLMP and one can be amputated and we can still limp along if both go it's the end.

[Zyos]

I knew it was going to happen...

But there are enough people with the skills to make a difference here, the modders etc, there are people that have programming skills to rejuvinate this.

Something will be done...

[Ghosty]

*SUPER BUMP*

[Hash]

Oh yes, this is very sad ;(

At least M$ could redirect the global server link to another place. I bought a game without date of expiration!!