Ashes of Creation emulator (Alpha-2)

emulator.md

Project: Arise is an Ashes of Creation emulator for the Alpha-2 client: a game server written from scratch in C++20 that speaks the network protocol of the client's Unreal Engine 5 build. The retail client connects to it, logs in and plays in a world the server builds from its own state. It powers the Project: Arise private server.

How it works

1. The launcher prepares the client. It places a small client mod (loaded through the open-source UE4SS framework) that points the game at this server, and starts a local helper, the tether, on 127.0.0.1.
2. The client asks the tether where to go. The tether answers with the server's address and hands over a game token for the signed-in account. The password never reaches the game.
3. The online services answer. Sign-in, realm and character lists, and the permission to enter a world are the server's own implementation of the services the client expects.
4. The game server runs the world. It sends the client the actors, properties and remote calls of Unreal's replication protocol: characters, creatures, nodes, items, combat. Characters and world state are kept in PostgreSQL.

Nothing of the original server exists here, and none of it was needed. What the client expects was learned from the client itself and from recordings of what the original servers sent, among them 221 packet captures shared by Creation of Ashes. Every claim about the wire format in the project is tied to that evidence, and the tests check the server's bytes against it.

What is implemented

• login, the lobby, character creation and selection, appearance
• persistence: characters, inventory, positions, skills, node state
• the world: nodes and node levels, town ground and buildings, Embersprings, death and respawn
• combat and skill trees for all eight classes, effects, PvP flagging and corruption, fall damage
• creatures with AI that fight back, loot, rare spawns, hunting and gathering
• crafting, processing, plot stations, enchanting and tempering
• settlements: citizenship, mayors and elections, buildings, taxes, commissions and buy orders
• trade: caravans and crates, commodity vendors, the marketplace, mail, player trading, warehouses
• mounts (ground and flying), boats, fishing, freeholds
• parties, guilds, friends, chat, and GM tools for the team

What is partial or missing

• class balance: skills and numbers are still being matched to the original game, and the skill-tree loadout is under way
• some quests, NPCs and world objects are missing, misplaced or do not react yet
• known defects are tracked with their evidence and fixed patch by patch; the patch notes say what changed
• anything the Alpha-2 client never had cannot be added: the emulator serves the client as it is

What it is not

It is not a leaked or copied server, it uses no Intrepid code or service, and it ships no game files: you need your own Alpha-2 client. It is not affiliated with, endorsed or supported by Intrepid Studios; Ashes of Creation is a trademark of its owner. The project is non-commercial and sells nothing.

Play on it

The setup guide takes four steps: your client, a free account, the launcher for Windows or Linux, and Play. Questions go to the FAQ or to Discord.