Allegiance: Rising From The Ashes?

Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:43 pm

The beta test of the Allegiance Secure Gameplay System is available for download from http://www.freeallegiance.org/. This is a community rewrite of the login, lobby, and game creation system with additional security features added. All games are hosted on community servers and are, of course, free to play. There are no restrictions on game size or faction. For more details, see the FAQ.

http://myacademy.cjb.net/ - From the Flash-based menu, select Community -> General History

The General History is the pitiful story of a good game struggling to live on long after Microsoft abandoned it. Also here are all the juicy details on how exactly Microsoft killed the game. Surprisingly, more than just the $9.95/month fee was to blame.

I can't imagine trying to develop for a game that you don't control, can't distribute, and will never have the source code to. I mean, the http://mythdev.com/ guys have it bad enough. At least they have the source code to all the Myth games. And Stellar Legacy or Exult makes sense, even though doing a complete rewrite for your open source clone is a lot of work. But trying to keep a multiplayer game going after almost all the players have gone and you can't change the game itself is a hell of an undertaking.

From what I can tell, I wouldn't really recommend buying a copy of Allegiance if you do not already have one based on this. If I did have one, though, I would try this ASGS and see if I could get it to work. Maybe in a few more months, they'll distribute a version that doesn't need .NET, fix their web site, and really get something going along the lines of http://mythdev.com/ or http://www.quakeworld.net/. I hope they do, but I know they'll never get the support from Microsoft that Bungie and id have given their fanbases.

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 5:48 am

you don't need to buy a copy to play. just go to the play link on freealliegance and download the 34 MB file. it installs to version 1. I haven't gotten it to work yet and it's too late right now to figure out why. I think it's either the fact that I need to update to version 1.2.4.4 or that I'm behind a firewall and you need to open like 1300 ports for this thing to run on.

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:56 am

Hot damn! I totally got in. Make sure you get the latest release of ASGS and follow the instructions on pointing your client to the beta server located here: http://www.freeallegiance.org/phpBB2/vi ... .php?t=187

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 12:55 pm

did you have to update? are you behind a firewall?

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:01 pm

Let me clarify. I was able to start the game last night and enter the training. I didn't actually play it, because it was late. I could attempt to connect to a lobby later tonight.

I downloaded Allegiance.exe and installed that. Then I installed dotnet.exe or whatever it is called. After installing .NET, I downloaded the asgs.zip file and copied the contents of that file to my Allegiance directory. After that, I tried to run ASGS. I created a login and got my confirmation email, then I clicked on the link to activate my account. After my account was activated, I logged in. It thought for a second and then minimized itself and opened SOVLogin. SOVLogin just sat there, and had an error about how it couldn't connect to a lobby. So then I looked through the help and found the stuff about connecting to the beta lobby. So I downloaded the registry file from them and merged it into my registry. Then I tried ASGS again. This time, when SOVLogin popped up, it asked me if I really wanted to use the Beta configuration. I told it really, I do. Then SOVLogin minimized itself and Allegiance started itself, and I was able to click around and do stuff.

I didn't have to open any firewall ports. I have the LinkSys router/firewall up and running. My default firewall config blocks Shareaza and eDonkey2000 ports, so I've forwarded those ports to my machine. That's the only changes I've made from the default.

Tonight, I'll see if I can actually chat in a game lobby and connect to a game.

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:02 pm

I downloaded the latest alleg patch with the custom voice macros, but I don't think I installed the patch. I did have the latest version of ASGS, though.

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 11:11 pm

The downloadable version of Allegiance should be fully patched. You want to get the latest version of ASGS, which is 1.2.4.5, from here:

http://www.freeallegiance.org/downloads.shtml

That should probably get you in the game.

Post by **Jonathan** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 4:24 am

Yep, I'm in. Played a 16 on 16 game. Totally sweet. Give it a try.

Post by **Jonathan** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:18 pm

Only join real games if you are able to contribute to your team.

That quote pretty much sums up why I couldn't really get into Free Allegiance. The community bites.