L1J Connection from other (LAN) PCs

[Ryan Carter]

Hey all,

First off, thank you so much for everything you've done keeping this game alive over the years.  It closed down when I was in the Navy and it was heartbreaking watching all the friends disappear.  I've come back and forth many times to make my own server or play others when I've had time to enjoy the nostalgia.  Now my son is getting interest in "retro" gaming and was blown away when he watched me play Lineage and explaining all the old-school features and stuff.  We tried playing on some of the other Private Servers, but he's just not that into the drama or being camped by people his dad's age all day.

So in short, I got server files and database and all set up and working wonderfully (thank you again for all the detailed guides!), the only issue I'm running into is connecting with other PC's.  I was able to get the S3EP1 Client from ausgamers (?) I believe and using the Encode/Login generators in the server files get it connected through this (host) computer.

I went with the easiest solution of just uploading the entire working client (with Login) into Google Drive via a .rar file, however the client won't launch on either of the other 2 computers we have readily available.  It shows up under Background Processes as S3EP1.bin and Login.exe stays there, the .bin is using up some CPU so I'm assuming it's working, however it won't pop up and there's no way to bring it to the front it seems.  I can see the server name lit up in green, I can look at (what I assume is) the handshake from the server-side command prompt.  I double checked and downloaded the server and client files on the other PC's and directly downloaded/directed the launcher to the right IP, and I can see it server-side for the handshake part, but clicking the server leads to the same "runs in background but won't actually pull it up."

I've tried using a different launcher that I modified to no avail, removing Gameguard stuff, using CFF Explorer to try and edit protections, TCPView to see that it's connecting, ScyllaHide to try and inject into the DLL, DXWnd to try and launch it another way, and Visual Studio to try and make a custom .exe that launches S3EP1.bin in compatibility mode to no avail.

Has anyone else ran into this issue and is there a fix I'm unaware of?  Maybe there's something about local network that trips it up really bad?  I honestly don't know and I apologize if I don't have much more information.  I really appreciate all you've done and your help, thank you again!