Sierra Game Servers Closing Down

[Dan]

Sierra have announced that they are taking down the master servers for 21 of their games, as of 1st November 2008, including the server for NOLF 2.

Announcement: Sierra Game Servers Closing Down

Posted By: Eric@Sierra
Created in: System (Global Announcement)
Posted: Oct 7, 2008 1:29 PM

The following game servers will be shut down as of 11/01/08:

1. Alien vs Predator 2
2. Arcanum
3. Caesar IV
4. Dark Reign 2
5. Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
6. Empire Earth
7. Empire Earth 2
8. Empire Earth: Age of Conquest
9. Ground Control
10. Ground Control2
11. Homeworld
12. Homeworld: Cataclysm
13. Nolf2
14. Red Baron
15. Sanity
16. Star Trek: Armada
17. SWAT3: EE
18. SWAT3: GOTY
19. The Incredible Machine
20. Tribes2
21. Vampire

[bela]

Really ugly news for the whole community.

You think it could be possible to write a Mod directing clients to a new master server ?

[Old Salt]

Dan, is Sierra doing this because they are folding after Vivendi was aquired by AcTivision?? Or are they just committing those servers to new games??

[Dan]

Originally Posted by bela

Really ugly news for the whole community.

You think it could be possible to write a Mod directing clients to a new master server ?

Yes, there are several ways to do it and not all of them involve changing the NOLF 2 source code.

Originally Posted by Old Salt

Dan, is Sierra doing this because they are folding after Vivendi was aquired by AcTivision?? Or are they just committing those servers to new games??

I believe that they don't want to pay for the upkeep of these servers anymore. They have already ended the rest of the support for the games; the master servers are the last remaining elements.

[sauron]

I wonder if they would then consent to these games being released for the general public via somekine of abandon ware.

[CANADA]

To "Dan" & My Fellow "NOLFers",


When I first saw the news about the "NOLF 2" Server, I
was not only saddened by it, I was also very disheartened
about this news.

As soon as I read it, I called Chris Miller in LA to ask him if
he knew what was going on.

Please understand fellow "NOLFers" that there were certain
things that Chris could not reveal to me, however we had a
very nice talk, and I was able to gleam some information
about this situation.

1) Sierra is no more, they are closed.

2) The takeover by Activision is what is causing all of this.

3) Activision is dealing with everything in a Slash & Burn
effect. They are responsible for the "NOLF 2" Server being
closed, and everything else that is going on.

Sierra Is Not Responsible for what is happening (since
Sierra does not exist anymore).

4) Tons of people have now lost their jobs, unfortunately
Chris Miller has also lost his job, he was one of the people
that Activision let go.

He has nothing to do with the "NOLF Series" anymore,
this is very sad news indeed.

However please understand that he still cares very much about
the "NOLF Series", and I hope in the future should Monolith
decide to approach the "NOLF Series" again, that they would
call up Chris Miller to become involved again as Producer,
this is my hope of course.

It is possible that the "NOLF Series" may not be totally
dead at this time, considering the following fact.

Monolith does not own the name "No One Lives Forever",
however they do retain the rights to the characters and story.

So it is possible that Monolith might decide to release a
"NOLF 3", not under the name "No One Lives Forever",
but maybe under the name of "Cate Archer Returns" (example).


So I asking all of you, that you continue to support the "NOLF 3"
petition at " http://www.nolf4ever.com ". It is not over yet,
keep believing, keep the faith.



I am now putting out a call to all of our fellow "NOLFers"
who possess the knowledge of how to do this.

Would it be possible for someone to come up with a patch or
mod that would allow fellow "NOLFers" to be able to see "NOLF 2"
Servers online, and allow "NOLFers" to be able to join the
available servers.




Take Good Care Of Yourselves and Your Families,
Long Live "NO ONE LIVES FOREVER",

Your Friend In "NOLF 1 & 2, CJ, & F.E.A.R.", Always,


"CANADA" From The "GREAT WHITE NORTH".

[xorl_walrus]

aw sad day.
im gonna miss tribes.

Sierra is really dead?
no kidding?
holy s***.
like...
WOW.
hahaa. thats crazy.
fsk activison.

[Airbus320]

Hmm that's it then I guess. I never was a frequent NOLF 2 player but it is sad to see that they decided to close down the master server. I am still a bit surprised that the NOLF1 master server is still up.

@Tribes: That was a great game serie! Especially version 1.

[[Spyder]-007]

Canada, thanks for all the updates.

As for getting to actually still play NOLF2 online...it might be possible over Hamachi, which simultates a LAN. Through that, you can bypass the internet/master server. I've done it before when Spyder's wanted to mess around with the Co-OP and it's worked.

[bela]

Originally Posted by [Spyder]-007

Canada, thanks for all the updates.

As for getting to actually still play NOLF2 online...it might be possible over Hamachi, which simultates a LAN. Through that, you can bypass the internet/master server. I've done it before when Spyder's wanted to mess around with the Co-OP and it's worked.

Good idea !

I read over the description of hamachi and noticed that it will use encryption.Will it use ssl ? It might bring some overhead and will slower down connections. If i am wrong with this idea, please let me know.
I think most elegant way would be a mod to simply redirect clients to new Nolf2 master server.