Connecting with client 1.25.35

[Batlin]

We all know that we can multi-client with the Ultima Online Demo from 1998 using UoDemo+ http://uodemo.joinuo.com/index.php?title=Uodemo%2B and UoDmClnt http://uodemo.joinuo.com/?title=UoDmClnt, both patched versions of the original uodemo.exe. As an alternative to connecting to the UoDemo+ server, I've re-investigated the possibility to connect with a real client. I'm saying re-investigated, because more than a year ago Derrick and I were already testing with client 1.25.35. We then discovered that chatting didn't work and the client would hang after certain time. The problems we encountered back then were caused by UO protocol changes.

Now, using the UoDemoDLL technique http://www.joinuo.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=608 I've developed a Packets.DLL which you can attach to the demo. This DLL will intercept the packets it receives from a client and then patches those packets to make them compatible. For now, this DLL will only work with client 1.25.35 (possibly others too). Protocol changes are a common thing in the lifetime of UO and cause a lot of pain in the free shard world.

For client 1.25.35 I coded two actions:

1) The conversion from UNICODE speech to ASCII speech
2) The removal of Packet 0xB6 (Help Request) which the demo doesn't know about

To demonstrate how it works and that it works, I've made a test video which you can download/view here: http://download.joinuo.com/video/UoDemo%20Video;%20Connecting%20with%20a%20real%20client,%20working%20books%20and%20no%20more%20Z%20problem.wmv


Client 1.25.35 shows that books are actually writeable in the demo, the message you get when you try to write in a book is a demo client limitation and not a server limitation!

The Z-problem described originally in this post : http://forum.joinuo.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=509 does not exist with client 1.25.35. So whatever is causing it in the original demo, is a client issue and not a server issue!

The attached ZIP contains a patched client and the DLL. To make it work I had to patch out the client encryption.