L2J - Official free open-source server emulator!

L2J Server on CentOS 8

L2J is a complex piece of software engineering, it's divided in three main components, login server, game server and datapack.

Update and Upgrade your OS

CentOS 8 comes with OpenJDK 11.

cat /etc/centos-release
dhclient
dnf update

Install OpenJDK

L2J is built using Java SE, to build you need Java JDK as well.

dnf -y install java-11-openjdk java-11-openjdk-devel
java -version
openjdk version "11.0.7" 2020-04-14 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.7+10-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.7+10-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

We recommend OpenJDK due to licencing changes from Oracle.

We use OpenJDK 11 since it is the lastest stable LTS.

Install Git

L2J uses Git as version control system on BitBucket, use it to get the latest versions.

dnf install git
git --version
git version 2.18.2

We recommend getting the source code directly from our public repositories.

Install the Database Server

Get latest version from here.

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo
# Paste and Save
# MariaDB 10.4 CentOS repository list - created 2020-06-01 18:42 UTC
# http://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/
[mariadb]
name = MariaDB
baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/10.4/centos8-amd64
module_hotfixes=1
gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck=1
# Run
dnf install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client
systemctl start mariadb
# Disable annonymous user, external root access, test table, etc. (optional, recommended)
mysql_secure_installation

mariadb -u root -p
MariaDB > CREATE OR REPLACE USER 'l2j'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'l2jserver2020';
MariaDB > GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'l2j'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'l2jserver2020';
MariaDB > FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Get the Source Code

Our official repositories are the ones listed bellow.

mkdir -p /opt/l2j/git && cd /opt/l2j/git
git clone https://bitbucket.org/l2jserver/l2j-server-login.git
Cloning into 'l2j-server-login'...
remote: Counting objects: 353, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (285/285), done.
remote: Total 353 (delta 194), reused 63 (delta 26)
Receiving objects: 100% (353/353), 110.40 KiB | 324.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (194/194), done.

git clone https://bitbucket.org/l2jserver/l2j-server-game.git
Cloning into 'l2j-server-game'...
remote: Counting objects: 162315, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (26695/26695), done.
remote: Total 162315 (delta 122790), reused 157270 (delta 117810)
Receiving objects: 100% (162315/162315), 125.97 MiB | 9.93 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (122790/122790), done.

git clone https://bitbucket.org/l2jserver/l2j-server-datapack.git
Cloning into 'l2j-server-datapack'...
remote: Counting objects: 278648, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (66228/66228), done.
remote: Total 278648 (delta 215765), reused 269687 (delta 207236)
Receiving objects: 100% (278648/278648), 144.49 MiB | 9.63 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (215765/215765), done.
Checking out files: 100% (24264/24264), done.

Build the Server from Source Code

We use Maven to build the server files.

cd /opt/l2j/git/l2j-server-login && chmod 755 mvnw && ./mvnw install
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] -------------------< com.l2jserver:l2j-server-login >-------------------
[INFO] Building L2J Login Server 2.6.1.6
...

cd /opt/l2j/git/l2j-server-game && chmod 755 mvnw && ./mvnw install
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] -------------------< com.l2jserver:l2j-server-game >--------------------
[INFO] Building L2J Game Server 2.6.2.0-SNAPSHOT
...

cd /opt/l2j/git/l2j-server-datapack && chmod 755 mvnw && ./mvnw install
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] -----------------< com.l2jserver:l2j-server-datapack >------------------
[INFO] Building L2J DataPack 2.6.2.0-SNAPSHOT
...

Deploy the Server

The deployment process at the moment is simply unzipping the built files.

mkdir -p /opt/l2j/server/login
unzip /opt/l2j/git/l2j-server-login/target/l2jlogin-*.zip -d /opt/l2j/server/login
mkdir -p /opt/l2j/server/game
unzip /opt/l2j/git/l2j-server-game/target/l2j-server-game-*.zip -d /opt/l2j/server/game
unzip /opt/l2j/git/l2j-server-datapack/target/l2j-server-datapack-*.zip -d /opt/l2j/server/game

The file names may change with each new version, take that into consideration.

Get L2J CLI and Install the Database

L2J CLI is a tool developed by Zoey76 that allows us to implement automated deployments and initial configurations.

mkdir -p /opt/l2j/cli && cd /opt/l2j/cli
wget CLI_LINK -P /tmp
unzip /tmp/l2jcli-*.zip -d /opt/l2j/cli
chmod 755 l2jcli.sh
./l2jcli.sh
db install -sql C:\opt\l2j\server\login\sql -u l2j -p l2jserver2019 -m FULL -t LOGIN -c -mods
db install -sql C:\opt\l2j\server\game\sql -u l2j -p l2jserver2019 -m FULL -t GAME -c -mods
quit

Initial Configuration

You need to give certain permissions for the server to run properly.

cd /opt/l2j/server/login && mkdir -p log
chmod 755 LoginServer_loop.sh
chmod 755 startLoginServer.sh
cd /opt/l2j/server/game && mkdir -p log
chmod 755 GameServer_loop.sh
chmod 755 startGameServer.sh

Create Administrator Account

Use the L2J CLI to create an administrator account, 8 is the maximum account level (master).

cd /opt/l2j/cli
./l2jcli.sh
account create -u Zoey76 -p -a 8
quit

Start the Server

To start the server you need to run two scripts.

cd /opt/l2j/server/login
./startLoginServer.sh
cd /opt/l2j/server/game
./startGameServer.sh

Open Server Ports

If you are not playing from localhost you may need to open the following ports.

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=2106/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=7777/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Only this ports are required to connect to the server as a player.

Connect to the Server

In order to connect to the server you have the following options:

HOSTS file

Edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts and add this line:

127.0.0.1 l2authd.lineage2.com

BAT file

Create a .bat file with the following content:

@start l2.bin IP=127.0.0.1

Custom exe

Here is a C++ Win32 exe example:

#define _WIN32_WINNT _WIN32_WINNT_WINXP
#define NOMINMAX
#include <windows.h>
#include <cstdlib>

// Start L2 as .bin with IP as parameter.
// You can use IP or DNS as IP parameter.
// You could include other parameters.
// You can change the path to the .bin file to avoid including the L2.exe inside the System folder.
// Author: Zoey76
int _stdcall wWinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPWSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd) {
	ShellExecute(0, L"open", L"cmd.exe", L"/C start l2.bin IP=127.0.0.1", 0, SW_HIDE);
}

Download compiled version from here.

More information here.

Client modification are not allowed in L2J, this include GameGuard and L2.ini changes.