Pre-History[]
People:
Ever the Champion of Netstorm, Ladybulf once had the honour of being Web mistress for the well respected Guild [BIT] aka Bulfs in Training (hence her chosen name) she started in the Skies as KirstyK at Christmas 1997
Just a poor player NsWorld started life in 1998 as ScottieDog but never reach any heights or infamy preferring to play on LAN.
Following the collapse in early 2002 of the Activision support for Netstorm and the continued unreliability of their server we decided we were going to do something to ensure the continued existence of Netstorm as a game on the 'net. Initially our object was to make sure that we as a group of friends would be able to play from the many parts of the country that we had scattered to. Due to Ladybulf continued dedication and from her contacts with in the Netstorm community she was able to persuade someone to release to her the code for the server. This was entirely independent of the dealings that other people were doing at the same time and should be noted that the source was no-one who had anything to do with the getting the dark skies project nor NSHQ, these two events where entirely independent. One could almost say they where parallel evolution at work.
Upon obtaining the code two things were immediately obvious,
1) it was vastly out of date and
2) There was no paperwork with it.
Over the next few months KK struggled with trying to make head and tail, discovering along the way that of the two versions that could be produced (windows and Linux) both were now using code that was obsolete (what would you expect from something that was written in 1996/7). The first break though in October 2002 was a retro compile on windows using a contemporary version of visual c++ this got a working server only it was the LAN version ! Well at least we had something that would Run. Now faced with the problem through lack of documentation a different path was sought.
How to use a LAN server ONLINE
Now we had a LAN server ne needed a way to be able to play online (there being no reliable online server) The obvious route was to set up a VPN (virtual private network) and in fact, this is the way you can get your own online server running there is only 1 disadvantage - everyplayer has to be entered into the network, not exactly a method of getting new players to join in, but at least it was a stop gap.
The Dawn
At this time Fleet Admrial had his Server up and running and with the Full support of NSHQ and to give credit where credit is due he pointed KK to the correct line in the code to change to open up the server from a LAN to an Full Internet Server.
History[]
Creation Date: 04-November-2002 by Nsworld and Ladybulf
Linux Server - successful compile Tue Apr 19 2005,
Rip Ladybulf 05 July 2005 23:34
In order to provide a front end for our LAN VPN server we created netstormworld, however once there was a secondary server it was obvious that there could be no competition with the popularity of NSHQ so netstormworld undertook to be an editing knowledge database and guide book, provide details on editing was through the defunct pages of Netstorm Editing Central which was once hosted on the same server as Bulfs in Training [Bit], Walk though guides for the missions were provided by Durak and the Guide book was the Mighty 'Book of Nimbus' the manual that came with the Box version of Netstorm.
In June 2005 I shut down the e107 version of the Netstormworld site and converted it to a Wiki, to date most of the Book of Nimbus has been entered and all of Durak Guides.
Yet To be done are further walk though for player made missions, the completion of the Book of Nimbus and the Creation of the NetStorm Editing Central pages
NetstormWorld / Backup Server Rules[]
No derogative Racist Remarks / Jokes
No derogative Sexist Remarks / Jokes
Moderate Swearing may be tolerated within reason at the discretion of Server Admins
No Running of Bots or multiple exe's or programs that may harm the reliability of server provision
Please Remember that this server is provided Free so that All may enjoy NetStorm and there may be minors present. Use your freedom of speech with responsibility.
Objectives[]
To Keep Netstorm Online by providing a free Server
To provide a pleasant environment for players of Netstorm
To Provide Information on Netstorm
Credits[]
Fleet Admiral - for sharing knowledge and continued support.