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Meteor Reborn

Server emulator for FINAL FANTASY XIV 1.0 (version 1.23b) — a port of Project Meteor to a modern stack: .NET 10, PostgreSQL and Docker.

PM was abandoned in 2019. Meteor Reborn revives it in a reproducible environment: one docker compose up and you connect with a patched 1.23b client.

Architecture

Four services + database, all in Docker:

Service	Port	Role
postgres	5432	PostgreSQL 17 database
login	17743	HTTP server for account creation and sessions (MR-original)
lobby	54994	Character selection, Blowfish handshake
world	54992	Zone router, parties, linkshells
map	1989	Game logic, NPCs, combat, Lua scripting

Client flow:

Launcher  →  Login HTTP (account + sessionId)
          →  ffxivgame.exe  →  Lobby (TCP+Blowfish)
                            →  World  ↔  Map

Requirements

• PostgreSQL 17 (bundled by Docker; if going "no-Docker", install it separately and create a meteor database with user meteor / pass meteor).
• Docker Desktop (Windows or Linux) — recommended. Alternative: run the services directly with dotnet run (see "Without Docker" section).
• .NET 10 SDK — always needed to build the launcher; also required in "no-Docker" mode for the 4 servers.
• FFXIV 1.x client installed on your PC (any version between 2010-09 and 2012-09 — the launcher will patch it up to 1.23b if outdated).

The project does NOT distribute the base client. You need your own copy installed. The launcher only applies the official .patch files on top of your install.

Quick start (with Docker — recommended)

1. Bring the server up

git clone <repo>
cd "Meteor Reborn"
docker compose up -d

This creates:

• Volume meteorreborn_postgres-data with the database initialized (~65 SQL dumps + automatic migrations for boolean types and lowercase columns).
• 4 .NET 10 containers running lobby/world/map/login.

Verify everything is up:

docker compose ps

Without Docker (native mode)

If you prefer not to use Docker, install Postgres separately and start each service with dotnet run.

1. Postgres + schema load

Install PostgreSQL 17 from postgresql.org/download and create the database:

psql -U postgres -c "CREATE USER meteor WITH PASSWORD 'meteor';"
psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE meteor OWNER meteor;"

Load the 65 dumps + migrations (alphabetical order matters: the zz_* files must run last):

cd "Meteor Reborn/data/sql"
for f in $(ls *.sql | sort); do
  psql -U meteor -d meteor -f "$f"
done

2. Configure the .ini files to point at local Postgres

Edit data/config/*.ini (4 files: login_config.ini, lobby_config.ini, map_config.ini, world_config.ini) and change host=postgres to host=127.0.0.1. For map_config.ini also change server_ip=map to server_ip=127.0.0.1 (and do the same in the DB: UPDATE server_zones SET serverip='127.0.0.1'; UPDATE servers SET address='127.0.0.1';).

Copy the .ini to the cwd you'll use to launch each service (each one looks for its *_config.ini in the current directory).

3. Start the 4 services

In 4 separate terminals:

# Terminal 1 — Login (:17743)
cd src/MeteorReborn.Login
cp ../../data/config/login_config.ini .
dotnet run -c Release

# Terminal 2 — Lobby (:54994)
cd src/MeteorReborn.Lobby
cp ../../data/config/lobby_config.ini .
dotnet run -c Release

# Terminal 3 — World (:54992)
cd src/MeteorReborn.World
cp ../../data/config/world_config.ini .
dotnet run -c Release

# Terminal 4 — Map (:1989)
cd src/MeteorReborn.Map
cp ../../data/config/map_config.ini .
cp ../../data/staticactors.bin .
cp -r ../../data/scripts .
dotnet run -c Release

From here the launcher works the same as in Docker mode.

2. Build and open the launcher

(Same step in Docker or native mode.)

cd tools/MeteorReborn.Launcher
dotnet build -c Release
.\bin\Release\net10.0-windows\MeteorReborn.Launcher.exe

In the launcher:

• Game path: path to your FFXIV folder (where ffxivgame.exe lives).
• Login server: http://127.0.0.1:17743 (default).
• Lobby server: 127.0.0.1:54994 (default).
• Patch source: local folder for .patch files (default .\Meteor Reborn\data\clientPatch). If a patch is missing, the launcher downloads it from Patch URL base (default http://ffxivpatches.s3.amazonaws.com/).

Steps:

1. Create account — use the form to register (POST /api/account against the Login server).
2. PLAY — the launcher reads your game.ver. If it isn't 1.23b you'll be asked whether to update; if you accept it downloads and applies the 49 patches (~5 GB). When done, it spawns ffxivgame.exe patched in memory (LobbyHostNameRva + EncryptionTimePatchRva) and connects to the lobby.

Configuration

All config files live in ./Meteor Reborn/data/config/:

data/config/
├── login_config.ini   # Login HTTP (:17743) + DB credentials
├── lobby_config.ini   # Lobby TCP (:54994) + DB credentials
├── map_config.ini     # Map TCP (:1989) + DB credentials
└── world_config.ini   # World TCP (:54992) + DB credentials

DB credentials

By default the 4 services use meteor:meteor@<host>:5432/meteor (host= postgres on Docker, 127.0.0.1 on native mode). Change the credentials in the 4 *.ini before bringing the server up.

Hostnames

• Docker mode: services see each other by name (map, world, postgres). The FFXIV client connects via 127.0.0.1 (host port-forward). server_zones.serverip = 'map' lets world find the game server via the docker network's internal DNS.
• Native mode: everything is 127.0.0.1. Make sure you run UPDATE server_zones SET serverip='127.0.0.1' after loading the dumps.

Direct DB access

docker exec -it meteorreborn-postgres psql -U meteor -d meteor

Relevant tables:

• users / sessions — login server
• characters / characters_appearance — characters
• server_zones / server_spawn_locations — world
• gamedata_* — reference (items, NPCs, equipment, achievements)

Folder structure

Meteor Reborn/
├── docker-compose.yml        # postgres + login + lobby + world + map
├── Dockerfile                # multi-stage build, parametrized by PROJECT
├── README.md                 # this file (English) / README.es.md (Spanish)
├── MeteorReborn.sln
├── src/
│   ├── MeteorReborn.Common/  # Wire format, Blowfish, ZLib, utils
│   ├── MeteorReborn.Login/   # HTTP server (FINISH-PM, MR-original)
│   ├── MeteorReborn.Lobby/   # TCP server :54994
│   ├── MeteorReborn.World/   # TCP server :54992 (router)
│   └── MeteorReborn.Map/     # TCP server :1989 (gameplay)
├── tests/
│   └── MeteorReborn.Common.Tests/
├── tools/
│   └── MeteorReborn.Launcher/   # WPF .NET 10 — auth + patcher + game launch
└── data/
    ├── sql/                  # 65 PM dumps + 2 migrations (zz_*)
    ├── scripts/              # Map server Lua (commands, quests, NPCs)
    ├── config/               # *.ini for each service
    └── clientPatch/          # cache of downloaded .patch files (auto-created)

Current status

What works end-to-end:

• Stable docker stack (postgres healthy + 4 servers listening).
• Launcher: create account, login HTTP, version check, download + apply of the 49 FFXIV patches up to 1.23b, spawn of in-memory patched ffxivgame.exe.
• Lobby: character creation + selection, handshake with world.
• World ↔ Map: TCP cluster cross-container via docker service DNS.
• Map: loads 2414 actors, 8403 items, 624 guildleves, 82 zones, 976 spawns, 151 battle commands, 77 traits.

Known limitations:

• Incomplete zone-in: the client reaches the world but map doesn't send the full zone-in packet chain (SetMap/SetMusic/SetWeather + player spawn). Client disconnects after ~12s.
• Few monsters out of the box: PM's SQL dumps only ship 7 spawn locations (5 scripted + 2 normal in Central Thanalan). To get more enemies you need to insert entries into server_battlenpc_* manually.
• Incomplete Lua scripts: PM had some half-finished scripts. The patch for the !spawn GM command disables a dead call to actor.SetAppearance that NLua silently ignored but MoonSharp rejects.

How the port was done

PM originally runs on .NET Framework + MySQL + NLua + Mono. Meteor Reborn moves it to .NET 10 + PostgreSQL + Npgsql + MoonSharp + Serilog, keeping the wire-level bytes identical to PM (the packets the 1.23b client receives are byte-exact).

Every change against PM falls into one of these categories (look for the // PM-... and // FINISH-PM comments in the code to find them):

• PM-COMPLETE — verbatim port, with // PM file:line citation.
• PM-INCOMPLETE — PM had the logic started; MR finishes it.
• PM-MISSING — PM didn't implement it but the 1.23b client requires it; MR adds it tagged FINISH-PM (example: the HTTP login server).
• LANG-ADAPT — stack adaptation (MySQL → Postgres, NLua → MoonSharp, nullable C#), applied only when observable behavior is identical.

If you want to contribute or read code, those prefixes tell you quickly whether what you're looking at is original PM, a language adaptation, or something added by MR.

Credits

• Project Meteor by Ioncannon and contributors — the server codebase (AGPL-3.0).
• Seventh Umbral Launcher by jpd002 — reference for the FFXIV patch format (ZIPATCH) and the S3 URLs of the official patches.
• Square Enix — FINAL FANTASY XIV 1.x. This is an educational server emulator; no client content is redistributed.

License

AGPL-3.0 (inherited from Project Meteor). See LICENSE if present or the original PM repo for full text.