Write a series of articles explaining the TERA Arise project architecture

[alexrp]

Some things that would be interesting to cover:

• The QUIC-based network protocol.
  • Multiple prioritizable packet conduits per client/server connection.
  • More compact packet serialization format and data encoding algorithms.
  • Proper encryption support that isn't vulnerable to MITM.
• Launcher/client integration.
  • Injection and hooking strategy that bypasses window message nonsense.
  • Hijacking of data center code to load the data center from an embedded resource.
  • Integration of the game's networking code with our QUIC-based protocol.
• Our anti-cheating strategy.
  • The bridge module sent by the server to the client.
    • The module's integration into the protocol handshake.
    • Randomization, obfuscation, and rotation of modules.
    • The role of each component of the module.
      • Operation code mappings.
      • Data center key and IV.
      • Periodic debugger detection.
      • Periodic code modification detection.
      • Periodic watchdog reports.
  • Prevention of MITM and server spoofing attacks with mTLS.
  • Build-time generation of client/server X.509 certificates.
  • Build-time generation of data center key and IV values.
• Broad strokes of the server architecture.
  • Database access layer based on Marten and PostgreSQL.
  • Purpose and design of the gateway service (authentication, news, etc).
  • Per-client and per-zone threading strategy.
  • High-resolution timing for scheduling combat simulation tasks.

Maybe other stuff?

[Saegusae]

Hey @alexrp, really appreciate the work you and the guys are putting in for reversing and documenting TERA. Adding on here coz I can't type in the #dev section of the discord, but I would like an insights and ideas type of blog post about the launcher/client protocol, and how you have been planning on abolishing the WM comms.

Cheers!