Zircon Server Development

  • Remember! Never use the same account usernames and password across different servers!
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WargodSius

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Why the last couple of years has this been happening? Whenever i sign up to a Mir server it always goes to my Spam / Junk section. Never used to

We get it asked quite a lot. Our own servers, we pretty much have protection up the wazzoo now - with people today being a lot more 'savvy' in general, and protection being much easier/reachable for all MX and mail servers it just simply pays to put as much protection on mail as we can. Literally a case of us (and other hosts/providers too i'd imagine) getting less hassle for false positives than letting spam through, contributed to by the rather 'knee-jerk' rules and protection laws put in by government over the last few years too.

There is so, so much spam being bounced around (in rough figures, our servers receive maybe 450,000 emails a day roughly. About 125000 of those are genuine or deemed to be). With that sort of quantity, pretty much all the work is automated, so false positives are much more likely. You'd think the opposite would be true, with protection methods becoming more sophisticated, but so is spam/spammers. You don't just have rules like 'Does it contain 'dildo?' any more.

Mir specifically? You'll often probably be hitting several triggers/flags. New email address not sent to you before? Check. Mail originating from a server/site script instead of human generated? Check. Domain name new/unranked? Check. Content considered higher risk ('activate now')? Check. And less likely, non-English words/phrasing mixed in ('Mir').
 

Jamie

LOMCN Developer
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We get it asked quite a lot. Our own servers, we pretty much have protection up the wazzoo now - with people today being a lot more 'savvy' in general, and protection being much easier/reachable for all MX and mail servers it just simply pays to put as much protection on mail as we can. Literally a case of us (and other hosts/providers too i'd imagine) getting less hassle for false positives than letting spam through, contributed to by the rather 'knee-jerk' rules and protection laws put in by government over the last few years too.

There is so, so much spam being bounced around (in rough figures, our servers receive maybe 450,000 emails a day roughly. About 125000 of those are genuine or deemed to be). With that sort of quantity, pretty much all the work is automated, so false positives are much more likely. You'd think the opposite would be true, with protection methods becoming more sophisticated, but so is spam/spammers. You don't just have rules like 'Does it contain 'dildo?' any more.

Mir specifically? You'll often probably be hitting several triggers/flags. New email address not sent to you before? Check. Mail originating from a server/site script instead of human generated? Check. Domain name new/unranked? Check. Content considered higher risk ('activate now')? Check. And less likely, non-English words/phrasing mixed in ('Mir').

Is there anything on my part that I can help reduce it?

I send mail via Google-Admin so not sure if that helps
 

WargodSius

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Bottom line, it's mostly on the recipient. Whitelisting the address will have the largest impact - that is with the mail host, as opposed to simply adding it your own firewall/anti-virus exceptions (or Outlook/whatever).

In terms of you sending: You can't really get much more well known than Google, but in some cases it is detected and scored if its a free provider believe it or not. Quite often it's bull, as our protection scores against the 'biggies' even though some of them do have premium services these days. Free service yes, but it's Google so it's a wash mostly.

I'm presuming you are using a PHP mail script to generate the mail? If so are you sending out via SMTP or using the web server.

If using SMTP, then ensure SSL. Again I'd imagine they have this on their servers, but you may want to make sure you are connecting to the SMTP with SSL enabled.

The number one issue we are having these days (or rather at this time) is ensuring that forward/reverse DNS match correctly. If you are using a mail provider like Google though I can't imagine this being an issue. Hard to check unless you know the IP address or host name of the SMTP server you are using (imagine there are a few if you are using google).

EDIT: If you give me the sending address and the smtp server you are using I can do some checks and give more solid advice. I'll check it against best practise for bulk senders and see.
 
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Jamie

LOMCN Developer
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It's a HTML Message,

Not sure what you mean by PHP Script here's the code.

MailServer = @"smtp.gmail.com";
MailPort = 587;
MailUseSSL = true;

Code:
                    SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient(Config.MailServer, Config.MailPort)
                    {
                        EnableSsl = Config.MailUseSSL,
                        UseDefaultCredentials = false,
                        
                        Credentials = new NetworkCredential(Config.MailAccount, Config.MailPassword),
                    };

                    MailMessage message = new MailMessage(new MailAddress(Config.MailFrom, Config.MailDisplayName), new MailAddress(account.EMailAddress))
                    {
                        Subject = "Zircon Account Activation",
                        IsBodyHtml = true,

                        Body = $"<!DOCTYPE html>" +
                               $"<body>" +
                               $"<p>" +
                               $"Dear {account.RealName}, <br><br>" +
                               $"Thank you for registering a Zircon account, before you can log in to the game, you are required to activate your account.<br><br>" +
                               $"To complete your registration and activate the account please visit the following link:<br>" +
                               $"<a href=\"{Config.WebCommandLink}?Type={ActivationCommand}&{ActivationKey}={account.ActivationKey}\">Click here to Activate</a><br><br>" +
                               $"If the above link does not work please use the following Activation Key when you next attempt to log in to your account<br>" +
                               $"Activation Key: {account.ActivationKey}<br><br>" +
                               (account.Referral != null ? $"You were referred by: {account.Referral.EMailAddress}<br><br>" : "") +
                               $"If you did not create this account and want to cancel the registration to delete this account please visit the following link:<br>" +
                               $"<a href=\"{Config.WebCommandLink}?Type={DeleteCommand}&{DeleteKey}={account.ActivationKey}\">Click here to Delete Account</a><br><br>" +
                               $"We'll see you in game<br>" +
                               $"<a href=\"http://www.zirconserver.com\">Zircon Server</a>" +
                               $"</p>" +
                               $"</body>" +
                               $"</html>"
                    };
                    
                    client.Send(message);
 

WargodSius

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Was just assuming you had a PHP mail script on the site that generated the mail out to be honest. Forgot that you had it built in to the client.

Well it's just sending mail via SMTP anyway, which is good. I can't see you've done anything different to what I'd do. It's a well reputed server, with correct setup (best practise).

Do you specify a 'from address' at all?

Can you generate one and send it to me? I'm downloading client now but I'm at home, so it's slow as buggery at the moment.
 

Jamie

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Was just assuming you had a PHP mail script on the site that generated the mail out to be honest. Forgot that you had it built in to the client.

Well it's just sending mail via SMTP anyway, which is good. I can't see you've done anything different to what I'd do. It's a well reputed server, with correct setup (best practise).

Do you specify a 'from address' at all?

Can you generate one and send it to me? I'm downloading client now but I'm at home, so it's slow as buggery at the moment.

Sure, Just send me a PM with the E-Mail address.
 

Martyn

Smir.co.uk
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Mar 24, 2003
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email routing from gmail and its going into spam? must not have something setup right in your DNS zones...

Quick check and your main issue is probably no SPF, you have something setup in TXT, but does G Suite use that?? No idea...

p.s when I signed up it never went into my junk mail folder..
 

WargodSius

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email routing from gmail and its going into spam? must not have something setup right in your DNS zones...

Quick check and your main issue is probably no SPF, you have something setup in TXT, but does G Suite use that?? No idea...

p.s when I signed up it never went into my junk mail folder..

Pretty much what I was thinking, but couldn't check until I had the address.

---------- Post Merged at 10:18 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:36 PM ----------

While we are talking about me installing (kinda).

Did anyone else get issues with the launcher? Had to restart about 10 times through the downloading/updating. It ran fine, then just slammed to 0b until I restarted. Over 10 times odd it's only got 10 mb left or whatever, but odd none the less.
 

Jamie

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Minor Bugs fixed.

Trap Octagon: Added
Taoist Combat Kick: Added
Elemental Superiority: Added
Mass Heal: Added
Blood Lust: Added
Resurrection: Added
Purification: Added
Augment Purification: Added (Not dropped yet)
Oath Of The Perished: Added (Not dropped yet)

Cloak: Added
Ghost Walk: Added
Pledge Of Blood: Added
Wraith Grip: Added
Hell Fire: Added
Touch Of The Departed: Added
Calamity Of Full Moon: Added


(Will be doing another update later today to add the other Assassin skills)
 

Pottsy

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Is there anything on my part that I can help reduce it?

I send mail via Google-Admin so not sure if that helps

Not really lol.

It all depends on the persons host. I would imagine Gmail would have no issues (I didn't myself), as it should have it's own services Whitelisted at the front.

But of course not everyones host is going to have Google services whitelisted, and there's not much you can do about it.

If it gets tagged as Spam, they simply just have to mark it as not Junk and hope their Host services don't have the sort of protection in place that scans Unique IDs :)

I have a problem with 3rd party services such as DotMailer. A lot of people in my Marketing department use it to send e-mails as themselves. However, because DotMailer attempt to send as my companies e-mail addresses, this is flagged and blocked because:
1) It detects DotMailer is not part of my Domain so it blocks because it's detected as a spam or con.
2) Even whitelisting does nothing, because the Unique ID associated with it changes with every e-mail...then the new ID is also flagged the same way.
 

Exsodius

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Mar 24, 2010
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Did a quick test of the server earlier.

The FPS and higher resolution options are a game changer, it's refreshing to not be hindered by a more up-to-date OS and higher spec PC whilst playing Mir 3!! I think many can relate to this frustration. A ping of 9 is nice too ;)

As to the final product, I trust in Jamie's experience to create a balanced and fair server with longevity. Primarily sticking to the original content with a splash of creativity I feel is the right path - in terms of basic game mechanics, nothing radical is required.

Personally I hope the server has a x 8-16 exp rate. A compromise for higher and low rate users, that allows for longevity but also makes later game content seem less despairing.

Excited to see more progress!!
 

drakey

LOMCN n00bie
Apr 26, 2011
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As to the final product, I trust in Jamie's experience to create a balanced and fair server with longevity. Primarily sticking to the original content with a splash of creativity I feel is the right path - in terms of basic game mechanics, nothing radical is required.

Completely agree here, Marble had some amazing features and quality of life gameplay additions which i'm sure he will add here too .. the problem, in my eyes, was the creativity went too OTT, keep things simple here Jamie and it will go far - I've tested a little and it seems great so far

Personally I hope the server has a x 8-16 exp rate. A compromise for higher and low rate users, that allows for longevity but also makes later game content seem less despairing.

Disagree i'm afraid - exp should be low, official tables even better - most servers get this wrong, mir wasn't suppose to be rushed, we don't have the items or spells to accommodate for fast pace progress .. There are other ways to compromise for different users .. A great way of doing this is rested exp for logged out people

Don't screw with the exp table by adding high exp levelling areas, stick to the rule of;

higher exp = harder/sparce mobs/small chance of rare (eg 5%)/low pot drops
low exp = easy/lots mobs/small chance of rare (eg 1%)/high pot drops
 

Vagrant

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Completely agree here, Marble had some amazing features and quality of life gameplay additions which i'm sure he will add here too .. the problem, in my eyes, was the creativity went too OTT, keep things simple here Jamie and it will go far - I've tested a little and it seems great so far



Disagree i'm afraid - exp should be low, official tables even better - most servers get this wrong, mir wasn't suppose to be rushed, we don't have the items or spells to accommodate for fast pace progress .. There are other ways to compromise for different users .. A great way of doing this is rested exp for logged out people

Don't screw with the exp table by adding high exp levelling areas, stick to the rule of;

higher exp = harder/sparce mobs/small chance of rare (eg 5%)/low pot drops
low exp = easy/lots mobs/small chance of rare (eg 1%)/high pot drops

Well its a private server, not everyone has the time to grind high levels, some of us have jobs...
And your statement that there are no items to accomodate for fast past pace is really a stupid comment, he can add how many items/sets he wants, and spells...well you clearly have no idea about mir3, there are level 80+ spells, so am I suppose to play the server 2 years to cast some cool spells?And 5% rested exp is some bull

And as an information to you the best server that existed was at x8 exp and it was the greatest experience ever that mir3 had (VitalElementz), there was Taral too and the first mir3 I played DragonNet (it was like WAY too many years ago also at x10 exp).

And at the rate the exp is now, no matter how many things you could add, people will pop up and play a few hours, some a few days and then just move on
 
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Exwizz

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just hope the Mir2 players don't ruin the game with all there needs, since the discord channel is more or less all Mir2 players.

hopefully jamie puts them in there place.
 

ventus

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just hope the Mir2 players don't ruin the game with all there needs, since the discord channel is more or less all Mir2 players.

hopefully jamie puts them in there place.
Best bet would be to get rid of the forums and have a trouble ticket system that only Jamie can read. That way all comments/complaints/bugreports can go directly to Jamie and no more bandwagon "I want this" or "server is dying threads". Also hide the usercount , do not show any usercount at all. Better to leave User count to the imagination. At least thats what I would do.
 

Fusion

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And at the rate the exp is now, no matter how many things you could add, people will pop up and play a few hours, some a few days and then just move on

Move on to what? these files are the best out at the moment no other server has them

The exp is low and i got to lvl 22 in 1 week inc weekend where i played a lot,

you can make level 11 in 1-2 hours on server in the town

I do understand your point people work and they will want to use the new sells BUT over the years i have learned the lower rate servers are better well for me they are as the pvp is better at lower level, when people are level 80-100 etc the pvp slows down so much as people can 1 hit each other and people get bored.

i am not to sure what the rates are at the moment but they don't seem to bad, i think people on server have reached level 33 all ready on server how long ago was the wipe?

also take into account not all caves where added when people where leveling.and when server is active there might be exp buffs people can buy.

but its down to jamie at the end of the day, i thought i read a comment he does not like mid/high rate servers could be wrong.

the server looks like it will be great but ZentaurX sounds great also with new classes

so people might have the best of both worlds mid rate and low rate even tho they are not the same files? don't think they are...

More options for players = Better for the Mir 3 community
 
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Exwizz

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Best bet would be to get rid of the forums and have a trouble ticket system that only Jamie can read. That way all comments/complaints/bugreports can go directly to Jamie and no more bandwagon "I want this" or "server is dying threads". Also hide the usercount , do not show any usercount at all. Better to leave User count to the imagination. At least thats what I would do.

i agree about the forums thing, and i think jamie is getting rid of the discord once the server is live and using the support ticket route.

he should use a forums like chronicles or get a Mir3 section for his server.

iv just seen alot of silly suggestions and changes from Mir2 players want to make it feel more like Mir2, but at the end of the day this isn't Mir2

---------- Post Merged at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:33 PM ----------

the server looks like it will be great but ZentaurX sounds great also with new classes

so people might have the best of both worlds mid rate and low rate even tho they are not the same files? don't think they are...

More options for players = Better for the Mir 3 community

what do you mean new classes?

and nah there not using the same files, the files Jamie made are alot better.
 

Fusion

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barbarian and priest class not to sure if any more

if i remember right it will have 6 classes don't think i was to tell anyone that soz zed :(
 
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