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Tribes and 20 other games lose online support

naengwennaengwen Registered User regular
edited July 2007 in Games and Technology
http://www.sierra.com/en/home/news/product_news/071607_-_sierra_heritage.html
Notice of Multiplayer Functionality Termination for 20 Sierra Entertainment Heritage Titles
Los Angeles, CA - July 16, 2007 - The sites and multiplayer functionality for the following products will terminate as of August 16, 2007:

* 3-D Ultra Cool Pool
* ARC (Attack Retrieve Capture)
* Lords of Magicâ„¢
* NASCAR® Legends
* NASCAR® Racing 2002 Season
* NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season
* NASCAR® Racing 3
* NASCAR® Racing 3 demo
* NASCAR® Racing 3 Trucks
* NASCAR® Racing 4
* Professional Bull Rider 2
* PGA Championship Golf 2000â„¢
* Starsiege: Tribes
* SWAT® 3 demo
* Throne of Darknessâ„¢
* Field & Stream Trophy Bass 4
* Field & Stream Trophy Bass 5
* Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 4
* Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 5
* You Don't Know Jack®: 5th Dementia


Thank you for your longstanding support of Sierra Entertainment's products.


Sincerely,

Sierra Entertainment

Isn't Tribes more of a peer to peer thing? I didn't think Sierra even ran any servers for Tribes... of course, I haven't really played Tribes in a couple of years now, so for those of you with more intimate knowledge of the game, is this more of a slight inconvenience or phenominally bad?

naengwen on

Posts

  • The DeliveratorThe Deliverator Slingin Pies The California BurbclavesRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Sierra doesn't run servers, but they do run the master list server that all the game servers report to, and that your client gets the list of servers from. Without the master server you need to direct connect.

    The Deliverator on
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  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    besides tribes, does anyone actually play any of those games anymore? SWAT 3 demo? really?

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  • polaris314polaris314 Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I was never very big into Tribes, but I do know that NASCAR 2003 still has a rather devoted following, since apparently the EA offerings don't even come close as far as realistic sim feel. So this will come as quite a blow to at least one online community.

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  • PheezerPheezer Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2007
    How hard would it be to patch the game to query a different master server

    And how hard would it be to reverse engineer how the master server works

    I guess what I'm saying is that this really shouldn't take Tribes fans more than a month to fix if their fanaticism for their game is as strong as I've been lead to believe

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  • naengwennaengwen Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    wunderbar wrote: »
    besides tribes, does anyone actually play any of those games anymore? SWAT 3 demo? really?

    I don't know what i'll do wiffout mah Professional Bull Rider 2 :(
    TheMarshall wrote:
    Sierra doesn't run servers, but they do run the master list server that all the game servers report to, and that your client gets the list of servers from. Without the master server you need to direct connect.

    Ah, that's rather annoying, then. Could someone release a client that would connect to a different server that runs a master list, or just make a way for the current client to connect to a fan made master list server?

    EDIT: DrDizaster beat me to it

    naengwen on
  • KarnKarn Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I remember in the good old days when I used to use some Yahoo hosted page as a master server of sorts for Quake 2. I am sure someone could put up a web page or app that let you connect from there or something...

    Karn on
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  • citizen059citizen059 hello my name is citizen I'm from the InternetRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    NR2003 losing the Sierra servers is definitely a blow to the community that's left...which is pretty big, because as mentioned there's never really been an alternative sim that's matched up very well.

    Fortunately there are third party game browsers that support NR2003....VROC added support not that long ago I think, and I think Onlineracin.com supports it too.

    citizen059 on
  • Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Connecting to a different master server depends entirely on the game. Some make it easy, some hellishly hard.

    There's also the issue of what little new blood you were getting gets cut off even more, because the newbies don't know they have to patch the game to find the new server.

    Phoenix-D on
  • WoodroezWoodroez Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I'm surprised they didn't take down SWAT 3 itself, if they haven't already. Last time I checked it out, it was dead.

    Woodroez on
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  • powersurgepowersurge Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Ugh this sucks. I still loaded up Tribes 1 every once and a while. I never could get into Tribes 2 and Vengence.

    I haven't used a 3rd party server browser in a long time but do any still support Tribes1?

    powersurge on
  • FaustumFaustum __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    God damnit, no more Professional Bull Rider 2 online competitions for me!

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  • BamelinBamelin Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I still play ARC and Tribes so this is bad news for me =(

    Bamelin on
  • scootchscootch Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    citizen059 wrote: »
    NR2003 losing the Sierra servers is definitely a blow to the community that's left...which is pretty big, because as mentioned there's never really been an alternative sim that's matched up very well.

    Fortunately there are third party game browsers that support NR2003....VROC added support not that long ago I think, and I think Onlineracin.com supports it too.

    Yah, but all those game browsers query the master server, doesn't it?

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  • citizen059citizen059 hello my name is citizen I'm from the InternetRegistered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I don't believe they do; VROC's primary function was multiplayer support for Grand Prix Legends. Onlineracin.com is a separate service that was originally set up as free, but eventually went to a pay service...they host the races themselves on their own servers rather than the end user being the host. Late last year they changed the policy again so that general "public" races were free for everyone, but league hosting and other special events still require a pay account.

    Not having been an active Onlineracin.com member for quite a few years, my info may be a bit spotty, that's just what I've gathered from looking at the site after hearing about Sierra dropping service. I need to check up on VROC to verify, but I think what I've said so far should be accurate. ;)

    Edit: Here's the info from vroc.net
    Welcome to the VROC development website. This website is here to allow you to test the upcoming new version of the venerable VROC service, a lobby/marshalling service for online simracing.

    Important note:
    This new version of VROC currently provides support for Redline Developments' GTP mod, Richard Burns Rally (thanks to Donny Tytgat) and NASCAR Racing 2003. It does not (yet) provide support for Grand Prix Legends. For GPL, please use WinVROC for the time being. Support for GPL and other sims is planned for the near future.

    And here's the info from Onlineracin.com
    Onlineracin.com Premium Plan Includes:
    Unlimited Racing time and features with the following titles:
    NASCAR® Racing 2005
    NASCAR® Racing 2003
    Rfactor SCE
    Rankings/Statistics NASCAR® Racing 2003/2005
    Rankings/Statistics for NASCAR® Racing 2003/2005
    Showroom car storage for NASCAR® Racing 2003
    Onlineracin.com League Tools for NASCAR® Racing 2003 <
    Onlineracin.com sanctioned events: SuperSpeedway Series, Olr500, & Monthly Challenge
    Unique username plus 2 additional usernames
    Access to Onlineracin.com forums
    Member profile area
    LIVE Tech Support
    Onlineracin.com TV!

    Onlineracin.com Free Plan Includes:
    Unlimited Racing time with the following titles:
    NASCAR® Racing 2003/2005
    League Administration Tool for NASCAR® Racing titles
    One unique username
    Access to Onlineracin.com forums
    Member profile area
    LIVE Tech Support
    Onlineracin.com TV!

    The site also has a lengthy fluff article talking about the fact that with Onlineracin.com, you're using their servers and their high speed connection to host races, rather than hosting it yourself on your own pathetic computer with the 28.8 you probably have. So yeah, they host their own stuff and there's no need to go to the master server at Sierra.

    citizen059 on
  • GyralGyral Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    * Field & Stream Trophy Bass 4
    * Field & Stream Trophy Bass 5
    * Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 4
    * Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 5

    Nooooooooo! Why, god, have you forsaken me?

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  • SandersSanders Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    naengwen wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    besides tribes, does anyone actually play any of those games anymore? SWAT 3 demo? really?

    I don't know what i'll do wiffout mah Professional Bull Rider 2 :(
    TheMarshall wrote:
    Sierra doesn't run servers, but they do run the master list server that all the game servers report to, and that your client gets the list of servers from. Without the master server you need to direct connect.

    Ah, that's rather annoying, then. Could someone release a client that would connect to a different server that runs a master list, or just make a way for the current client to connect to a fan made master list server?

    EDIT: DrDizaster beat me to it

    There is one. It is called Gamespy Arcade (and at one point mplayer).
    and MSN zone, but not as organized.

    Sanders on
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  • IhmhiIhmhi Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Gah, why. I loved TRIBES. ):

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  • kidalb3rtkidalb3rt Registered User new member
    edited August 2012
    Nope

    Sterica on
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