Something I've been wanting to do with this next release is make a free local-only version available. "Local only" would mean running the server on a single machine without any connections coming in from other machines. This is really meant for players, because players shouldn't have to pay for a server in order to explore the game like this. A player could run as many connections as he wants to test scripting, etc. The player could even play the game solo, which some people do, without paying anything.

My question is, to implement this "local only" mode, would it be sufficient to limit connections to loopback, or 127.0.0.1? Or is that something that's easily spoofed so that TWGS would think a connection is local, but it's really coming from the Internet? Is there any way for TWGS to guarantee that it only handles local connections?

Someone could just open up a proxy and route everything from the local proxy to the
server. That would bypass a localhost filter.

Would someone do that? Dunno...

Yeah, I think it's just going to depend on how easy it is. Right now, if someone wants to run the game for free, they grab the crack that's out there and then run it without registering. So is this going to make it even easier to run a server without paying? If it's just a matter of setting some config somewhere and boom, you're running an Internet server for free, I don't want it to be that easy. But seeking out some program that will do it, if they go to that trouble, they're probably already running it free with the crack.

what a great idea! this could also help new sysops learn how to set things up, AND let people help you with the alien AI...

This local-only option would also allow unlimited access from Terminal Server sessions (i.e. Citrix, Remote Desktop). I think if you proceed, it would probably still be wise to implement a 4-connection limit for the local-only version. I think that would adequately allow testing most strategies and scripts. Hell, just make the TWGS Lite product free.

Terminal connections would probably be consistent with the use that I intend for the Local Only license. You won't be running a public game that way. Joe Blow isn't going to connect to your machine on a terminal connection and fire up the game. So I don't think that would be a problem.

The 4 node version is what sells the most, so making that free (or doing this Local Only mode in a way that would allow typical 4-node customers to get around registering) would pretty much kill the little income I get from this (which pays for this forum, and other TW-related expenses). So I really want to allow players to use the server to run the game without giving the server away to anyone who wants to host a LAN or Internet game.

But again, it's a question of how easy this is to do, because it's pretty easy to run the pirated version anyway, so people who are motivated to run it for free are probably already doing that.