Openkore

OpenKore - Custom Ragnarok Online client

Screenshot of wxWidgets GUI on wxGTK
Original author(s) VCL and others[1]
Developer(s) OpenKore developers[1]
Initial release November 12, 2003 (2003-11-12)[1]
Stable release 2.0.7[2] / July 29, 2009 (2009-07-29)[2]
Development status Active[3]
Written in Perl, C, C++[4]
Operating system GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, OS X[2]
Size

5.9 MB

15.7 MB (Pandora package[5])

19.2 MB (with Windows binaries)
Available in English, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Tagalog, Traditional Chinese, Chinese
Type Internet bot[2]
License GNU General Public License[2]
Website openkore.com

OpenKore is a community-maintained descendant of Solos Kore,[6] a custom client and an advanced automated assistant for the MMORPG Ragnarok Online. It's free and open-source software, application, free software licensed under GNU General Public License. OpenKore is mainly written in Perl, but some code is also in C++ XS modules. The Perl interpreter allows for a cross-platform usability and an ability to work with the source code without recompiling or even interrupting the program.[7] OpenKore is not associated with Gravity (developers of Ragnarok Online). Developers work on the project pseudonymously, mostly due to privacy issues and internet gaming community traditions.[1]

History

The OpenKore project was started by VCL in late November 2003. At the moment, there was original Kore, probably the only well-known free software Ragnarok Online bot, but due to lack of organization, many forks and modifications existed. OpenKore is based on Skore-revamped, which is a modified version of Skore (Solos Kore), which is a fork of the original Kore developed by Kura.[8][9] It was started as an attempt to unite contributors to Kore forks, and that was quite successful. Gradually, other Ragnarok Online bot projects have phased out, mostly due to server-side updates and lack of development. Many developers have come from other inactive Ragnarok Online bot program projects (e.g. ApezBot, Kore, Modkore, Revemu, Skore, etc.) to develop on OpenKore.[1]

Nearing the end of 2008, the Openkore project is the only Ragnarok Online bot that currently provides support to many Ragnarok Online servers and continual development on an international level. On May 4, there was a vote to choose the logo to OpenKore, having gained what logo made by battlemode, used even today.[10] As of November 8, 2010, Openkore releases has been downloaded from SourceForge.net approximately more than 6,071,820 times since its availability in 2003.[11]

After version 2.0.7's release in mid-2009, there were no releases for a long time, with recommendation[12] to use trunk instead due to server updates, bug fixes and new features.

Features

OpenKore acts as a Ragnarok Online game client and can perform anything a player's character can do manually in the game client. It's highly configurable and tweakable; reasonable default configuration provided as well.[13][14]

The software can be configured to automatically and repeatedly perform assigned tasks without human involvement. The automated actions are state-based and with the macro plug-in be also script-based. These automations cover almost every action available in the game client. When a bot program is running, it continuously reports the latest information and the current status of the game, e.g., a character’s location, the current action, the “hit” point, and information about nearby monsters. Openkore allows users to give commands anytime, regardless of the prearranged actions by scripts, i.e., the bot is script-based and interactive. Basically, Openkore is meant to automate and simplify actions by the user of the software within the Ragnarok Online environment through the use of extensive scripting.[15]

Controls

There are several interfaces which all have console log with the latest information and console input for commands which cover current status inspection, manual actions and AI management. The most basic interface is just a console application. There is also slightly more tuned Curses-based console interface and wxWidgets-based GUI with graphical map display etc.

Automation Features

These features are generally triggered by state-based triggers and can be tuned in many aspects.

Logging Features

Miscellaneous Features

Plugins and Scripting

Third-party plugins, written in Perl, can add and modify available functions using provided API (hooks) or reflective features of Perl.

Macro plugin provides a simple way to create a script-based triggers and action sequences.

Community

OpenKore's community is diverse with contributions to the project coming from communities that are English,[16] French, German, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian,[17] Spanish, Filipino, Thai, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese. This diverse range of cultures enables OpenKore to provide international support for various Ragnarok Online servers all over the world. Currently, OpenKore supports bRO, iRO, idRO, inRO, mRO, pRO, rRO and most private servers.;[18] euRO was supported when it shut down.

Impact and Reception

Bots, unlike normal players, can play and do repetitive actions endlessly long, including gaining experience points, ingame items and currency, which can affect so-called balance of the game. They can affect real economy, as well as human players, due to these things being sold for real money. High amount of obvious bots (not well-configured) may negatively change the gaming experience for human players,[13][14] but due to being obvious they can be banned easily as well. If server staff is concerned about botting issue, negative effects can be reduced to the minimum.

OpenKore itself is just an alternative client and tries to conform to common game rules and ethics: it doesn't kill steal and doesn't loot, there isn't any options or plugins for that and it's forbidden to ask about it at OpenKore forums.[19] However, there isn't any strict countermeasures against implementing it, as it's pointless to do in free software.

With free software game clients, everyone can enrich the overall gaming experience.[20] Many harmless features added, like efficient and configurable spam blocking, automatic reconnection after disconnect and play statistics. Various types of bot-based services exist, for example market search[20] (found in other games and finally implemented in Ragnarok Online too, but poorly), global events/quests availability viewer, database of players,[21] buff and teleport service. Bots can act as a flexible NPCs for client-side controlled quests and minigames.[22][23]

Some anti-bot measures expose complete incompetence and/or indifference of game management on official servers. HackShield was installed on rRO[24] despite being already circumvented by OpenKore for years.[25] CAPTCHA was added on kRO[26] and become supported for manual and automated passing shortly.[27] Such measurements usually only introduce additional problems for all players.

Related Projects

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "About OpenKore". Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "OpenKore | Download OpenKore software for free at SourceForge.net". 2003-11-07.
  3. ↑ "The OpenKore Open Source Project on Ohloh : Commits Summary Page".
  4. ↑ "OpenKore - Ohloh".
  5. ↑ "OpenKore Runtime - Package Details - repo.openpandora.org Repository of Software for the Open Pandora open source console".
  6. ↑ "Home Page of Solos Kore".
  7. ↑ "Openkore Online Manual - Console Commands". Archived from the original on May 2, 2006.
  8. ↑ "Disclaimer - Solos Kore Page".
  9. ↑ "Kore Ragnarok bot project".
  10. ↑ "[Vote Now!] Logo Contest!".
  11. ↑ "SourceForge.net: Openkore - Download History Statistics". 2003-11-07. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  12. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions".
  13. 1 2 Adam Cornelissen; Franc Grootjen (October 2008). "A Modern Turing Test: Bot Detection in MMORPGs" (PDF). Proceedings 20th Belgian-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Enschede: University of Twente): 49–55. ISSN 1568-7805.
  14. 1 2 Marlieke van Kesteren; Jurriaan Langevoort; Franc Grootjen (October 2009). "A step in the right direction: Botdetection in MMORPGs using movement analysis" (PDF). Proceedings of the 21st Belgian-Dutch Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Eindhoven).
  15. ↑ Chen, K.T.; Jiang, J.W.; Huang, P.; Chu, H.H.; Lei, C.L.; Chen, W.C. (2006-06-01). "Identifying MMORPG Bots: A Traffic Analysis Approach". ACM. |contribution-url= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ "OpenKore community forums".
  17. ↑ "Клуб любителей пляски с бубном вокруг Openkore" [Club dancing with a tambourine around Openkore] (in Russian).
  18. ↑ "Openkore - List of (un)supported servers". 2003-11-07. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  19. ↑ Bibian. "Global Forum Rules". Retrieved 2008-04-07. DON'T <...> Request or divulge howto modify OpenKore to KS.
  20. 1 2 "About » RagnaStats.com » Ragnarok Online, iRO market information and more".
  21. ↑ "Ragnarok Online Player Database".
  22. ↑ richjkl (2008-11-21). "Pong? In Ragnarok?". A plugin I made for Ragnarok to turn a character into a pong ball. It asks who wants to play and when two people say they're up for it, the game begins!
  23. ↑ KeplerBR (2013-02-22). "Scattergories? In Ragnarok?". The BOT will manage the Scattergories game with this plug-in.
  24. ↑ "Новая система защиты HackShield для игрового клиента" [The new protection system for the game client HackShield] (in Russian). Gravity CIS, Inc. 2009-06-22. В эту среду, 24 июня, будет установлено обновление, с помощью которого будет увеличена защита от различных методов нечестной игры (ботов, модификации клиента и т.д.).
  25. ↑ "Copy CVS's Base::Server to the 1.6 branch; add Poseidon to CVS". 2006-01-31.
  26. ↑ "Re: 09/23/2009 - Maintenance (Genetic Update)". 2009-09-23.
  27. ↑ "support: kRO (src)". 2009-10-25.
  28. ↑ "Ragnarok Online Plugin System".
  29. ↑ "Anti-Spam Bot". Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  30. ↑ "Spambots Malfunction". Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  31. ↑ "Re: XKore 1 with 18.10.2011 iRO update". 2012-05-04.
  32. ↑ "RCX temporary".

Further reading

External links

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