Calldown

Oilspill calls down thumpers, Calldown calls down a Firefall server.

tl;dr: Check out PIN, RIN.WebAPI and SDBrowser next to this repo, start Docker, then run aspire run in this folder. Once everything is green in the dashboard, run "Create account" on rin-webapi, "Configure client" on firefall, and start firefall.

Calldown is an Aspire AppHost that runs the whole stack with one command:

• postgres with pgweb, running in Docker with a persistent volume
• db-setup, which applies RIN's webapi_schema.sql and seed data, then imports the client's clientdb.sd2 into the sdb schema
• rin-internal and rin-webapi
• collision-cache, which pre-generates the collision data and the navmesh with PIN's CollisionGenerator
• pin-gameserver and pin-matrix
• firefall, the game client itself, which only starts when you tell it to

The resources wait on each other in that order. So the Matrix server only hands out clients once the game server says, that it's ready.

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK (the AppHost), plus the .NET 8 and 9 runtimes for RIN and PIN
• An ASP.NET Core development certificate, i.e. dotnet dev-certs https once
• Docker or a compatible runtime for Postgres. On Windows, Rancher Desktop works well, while Podman 6 has issues with published ports on WSL
• A Firefall 1962 client install - Calldown finds it through the firefall:// handler or your Steam libraries
• Write access to the install folder, "Configure client" edits firefall.ini and patches FirefallClient.exe to bypass RedHanded
• The Aspire CLI is optional but handy: dotnet tool install -g Aspire.Cli

The repos are expected as siblings:

TMW/
  Calldown/
  PIN/
  RIN.WebAPI/
  SDBrowser/
  DropPod/      optional

If yours live elsewhere, set the MSBuild properties PinRoot, RinRoot, SDBrowserRoot and DropPodRoot, e.g. with dotnet build -p:PinRoot=D:\code\PIN\.

DropPod, the load tester, is optional. With a checkout next to Calldown, the dashboard gets a droppod resource, without it Calldown builds and runs the same as before.

Running It

aspire run

dotnet run --project src/Calldown.AppHost or F5 in Rider/Visual Studio work just as well.

The first start takes a bit longer:

• The SDB import takes about 20s
• The collision cache for zone 448 about 8 minutes and 6 GB in %LocalAppData%\Calldown\collision, the navmesh takes most of the time

Every later start skips both, as long as the client files haven't changed.

The GameServer reads its content (deployables, outposts and so on) straight from PIN's UdpHosts/GameServer/Content and reloads a zone when one of its files changes, so edits show up without a restart. Only deployables change right away, the other kinds still need a restart of pin-gameserver.

Parameters

Set them in the AppHost's user secrets, e.g. aspire secret set Parameters:zone-id 1030 or dotnet user-secrets set Parameters:zone-id 1030 --project src/Calldown.AppHost.

Parameter	Default
firefall-path	detected install	Folder that contains system\ and firefall.ini
zone-id	448	Default zone for characters without a last zone; the collision cache is built for it
preload-zones	1030	Comma separated zones hosted from startup. Other zones load on first use, and their collision cache is built then
collision	zone+assets	off, zone or zone+assets. Changing it needs an AppHost restart
pg-user	tmwadmin	Has to stay tmwadmin, RIN's schema assigns everything to that role
streaming-assets-path	%LocalAppData%\Calldown\streaming-assets	Drop folder RIN serves in place of dl.firefall.com, see Streaming Assets
public-host	localhost	Address the clients reach the stack at, see Playing From Another PC. Changing it needs an AppHost restart
tls-cert-path	none	PFX certificate for public-host that RIN serves in place of the development certificate. Only used with a public-host, changing it needs an AppHost restart
tls-cert-password	none	Password of that PFX

Dashboard Commands

Resource	Command
firefall	Configure client	Sets OperatorHost in firefall.ini to https://<public-host>:5001, streams assets from RIN instead of dl.firefall.com and patches FirefallClient.exe to bypass RedHanded, keeps the originals with a .calldown.bak suffix
firefall	Client options	Screen mode, a key to leave a vehicle, and debug logging into the client's console.log (%LocalAppData%\Red 5 Studios\Firefall)
firefall	Restore client	Puts the backups back, the unpatched client included
rin-webapi	Create account	Registers an account with email, password and country
db-setup	Re-import SDB	Imports clientdb.sd2 again
db-setup	Reset database	Drops everything, accounts and characters included, and sets it up from scratch
collision-cache	Rebuild collision cache	Regenerates the cache even if it looks current
droppod	Seed pods	Creates the pod accounts and their characters in RIN, once per database
droppod	Drop pods	Drops pods with a behavior (idle, wander, chat, churn, hop), optionally in another zone, holds, then logs them out again. A plain start drops a single pod
droppod	Start invasion	Drops the groups of an invasion file from DropPod's invasions folder

All of them also work from the terminal, e.g. aspire resource rin-webapi create-account --email me@example.com --password hunter22 --country US.

Streaming Assets

The installer didn't ship everything, the client streamed the rest from dl.firefall.com with HTTP range requests:

• the three finest levels of the virtual texture (system\vt\static.vtex0 to 2, about 25 GB), streamed only where the install lacks them
• the dialogue media banks listed in dbsounddata::SoundStreamingAsset, the client has no other source for those voice lines

RIN serves the streaming-assets-path folder at https://<public-host>:5001/dl, and "Configure client" points VTRemotePath and AssetStreamPath in firefall.ini at it. Drop the files in with this layout:

streaming-assets\
  vtex\static.vtex0                    any level the install lacks, the files as they are in system\vt
  AssetStream\00180000\00180091.bnk    media banks, <id rounded down to 1000, 8 digits>\<id, 8 digits>.bnk
  AssetStream\00180000\00180091.bnk_ac for a partial bank, the ranges it holds
  ingame\panelmanager.html             the in-game web UI page, served at /ingame/panelmanager
  ingame\assets\...                    its scripts, styles, fonts and the item icons, served at /ingame/assets

The client reads the offsets from its own static.vtex_idx and from the _Event banks, so the files have to be the ones of build 1962. A missing file is a 404.

No complete copy of the dialogue banks is known. The banks merged from the player caches in the library hold about a third of 1962's voice lines, each with a .bnk_ac in the client cache's format. RIN answers requests outside those ranges with a 404, so the client never gets the gaps as audio. Firefall-Client-Cache.md in the workspace root describes the caches and the merge.

The client also loads its web UI, the panel manager, from RIN's /ingame host. The ingame folder holds the 1962 page from the library's browser caches, with the New Relic tracking removed and its urls moved under /ingame, and the assets of the library's 2016 crawl of the in-game host. The page's panels call /ingame/api/..., which RIN mostly doesn't implement yet.

Playing From Another PC

By default everything is handed out as localhost, so only the PC running the stack can play. With public-host set to an address the other PCs can reach, e.g. aspire secret set Parameters:public-host 192.168.1.20, RIN listens on all interfaces and hands out that address as its base URL and as the Matrix server. The game and Matrix server listen on all interfaces anyway.

1. Get a certificate for that address. The client talks to RIN through WinHTTP, which rejects the development certificate (issued for localhost) on any other PC. The certificate's subject alternative names have to contain public-host, as a DNS name or an IP address, whichever you set. Export it with its private key as a PFX and set tls-cert-path and tls-cert-password.
2. Trust that certificate, or the CA that issued it, under "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" on every PC that plays, the one running the stack included.
3. Allow TCP 5001 and UDP 25000 and 25001 through the firewall of the PC running the stack.
4. Restart the AppHost and run "Configure client", which now points the local client at public-host too.
5. On the other PCs, take firefall.ini and the patched FirefallClient.exe from the configured install, or set OperatorHost, VTRemotePath and AssetStreamPath by hand. The other PCs need the same 1962 client.

Keep in mind, that anyone who reaches RIN can sign up from the client and play. Don't use public-host on a network you don't trust.

Ports

Port
5000 / 5001	RIN.WebAPI (http / https), the client's OperatorHost. With a public-host, the unused http endpoint gets a free port instead of 5000
5201	RIN.InternalAPI, gRPC over cleartext HTTP/2
25000 / 25001	Matrix and game server, UDP
25080 / 25081	Health endpoints of the Matrix and game server