JoinServer.ini

Primary configuration file for JoinServer. All keys live under a single [JoinServerInfo] section.

File Location#

JoinServer/JoinServer.ini

Loaded once at startup. Changes require a JoinServer restart.

Dependencies#

• JoinServer/AllowableIpList.txt - IP whitelist for GameServer connections. See AllowableIpList.txt. Loaded only after the database, TCP listener, and UDP heartbeat target are all up.
• ConnectServer must be reachable on the configured UDP port. See ConnectServer.ini for the matching ConnectServerPortUDP.
• A Windows ODBC Data Source pointing at the same SQL Server instance DataServer uses. See DataServer.ini.

Configuration#

All keys belong to section [JoinServerInfo].

Case Sensitivity#

CaseSensitive controls how the account string is used as a key in the in-memory map that tracks currently-connected accounts (used for duplicate-login detection, map-server moves, and disconnect bookkeeping).

This setting does NOT rewrite the account name sent to the database. Account lookup casing in SQL Server is governed by:

• For PasswordHashMode = 0: the password-check query forces COLLATE Latin1_General_BIN on the account ID, so the DB lookup is binary-exact regardless of CaseSensitive or the database's default collation.
• For PasswordHashMode = 1: no explicit collation is forced; the database's default collation decides whether Admin and admin match on lookup.
• For PasswordHashMode = 2: CaseSensitive decides. 1 forces COLLATE Latin1_General_BIN on the lookup, 0 leaves it to the database collation.

Password Storage#

PasswordHashMode selects how MEMB_INFO.memb__pwd is stored and compared.

Failed-Login Limits#

JoinServer counts failed logins (wrong password or unknown account) per account name and per client IP.

• When a count reaches its max inside LoginFailWindowSeconds, every login for that account or IP is refused for LoginFailBlockSeconds, even with the right password. The player sees "Connection closed due to 3 failed attempts." and can retry after the block ends.
• A refused login is answered before the password is hashed, so a flood of guesses cannot keep JoinServer busy.
• A successful login clears the account count. The IP count is not cleared by a success.
• Unknown account names and wrong passwords get the same answer ("Password is incorrect") and take the same time, so players cannot test which account names exist.
• Counts live in memory only and reset when JoinServer restarts.
• A block is logged once as [LoginLimit] account (...) or [LoginLimit] ip (...).

Important Behavior#

• If JoinServer.ini is missing or unreadable, the Windows INI parser silently returns the defaults shown above. LicenseKey ends up empty, activation fails, and the process exits at the license-activation step before any socket opens.
• License activation happens before the database connection, before any TCP listener, and before the UDP heartbeat. If the license service is unreachable at startup there is no offline grace for activation and the process exits.
• After successful activation, periodic heartbeats can tolerate transient outages within a runtime grace window; repeated grace entries in a short span force shutdown. This is license-service behavior, not an INI-tunable.
• If the database connection fails, no TCP listener is ever opened and no UDP heartbeat is started.
• If the TCP listener fails to bind JoinServerPort, the database connection is closed and no UDP heartbeat is started.
• If the UDP target in ConnectServerAddress / ConnectServerPort cannot be resolved or the UDP socket cannot be created, the TCP listener is shut down and the database connection is closed. The IP whitelist is not loaded.
• AllowableIpList.txt is loaded only after all three of the above succeed. A missing or empty whitelist blocks GameServer connections; see AllowableIpList.txt.
• GetPrivateProfileString / GetPrivateProfileInt silently truncate values that exceed the internal buffer sizes. Keep JoinServerODBC, JoinServerUSER, and JoinServerPASS under 31 characters, and ConnectServerAddress under 15 characters. Quotes and trailing whitespace are preserved literally.

Examples#

[JoinServerInfo]
JoinServerODBC = MuOnline
JoinServerPort = 55970
ConnectServerAddress = 127.0.0.1
ConnectServerPort = 55557
CaseSensitive = 0
PasswordHashMode = 2
LegacyPasswordMode = 0
PasswordHashIterations = 15000
LicenseKey = YOUR-KEY-HERE

[JoinServerInfo]
JoinServerODBC = MuOnline
JoinServerUSER = mu_app
JoinServerPASS = <strong-password>
JoinServerPort = 55970
ConnectServerAddress = 10.0.0.5
ConnectServerPort = 55557
CaseSensitive = 0
PasswordHashMode = 2
LegacyPasswordMode = 1
PasswordHashIterations = 15000
LicenseKey = YOUR-KEY-HERE

Common Issues#

• Startup stops at "Loading files..." - LicenseKey is empty, invalid, or the license service is unreachable.
• "Could not connect to database" - DSN name typo, wrong credentials, or the DSN targets the wrong SQL Server instance. No TCP port is opened when this fails.
• Every login fails with "Password is incorrect" - Unknown accounts get the same message as wrong passwords. With PasswordHashMode = 0, the account row must match byte-for-byte because of the forced binary collation. Verify the exact casing stored in MEMB_INFO.memb___id.
• Log shows "could not store upgraded hash ... is memb__pwd still varchar(10)?" - The widening migration was not run. Logins still work, but every account re-verifies against the legacy value forever. Run server\migrations\v1.0.7_widen_memb_pwd_for_pbkdf2.sql.
• Accounts created on the website cannot log in - The website is writing a password format the JoinServer is not configured to read. Match PASSWORD_HASH_MODE to PasswordHashMode; see Password Hashing.
• GameServer cannot reach JoinServer - JoinServerPort changed but GameServer config was not updated, or a firewall blocks the port, or the GameServer's address is not in AllowableIpList.txt.
• Player sees "Connection closed due to 3 failed attempts." with the right password - The account or IP hit a failed-login limit. Wait LoginFailBlockSeconds or restart JoinServer. See Failed-Login Limits.
• Server Manager cannot connect to JoinServer - ControlPort is 0, or ControlKey differs from the one set in the Server Manager.
• ConnectServer shows JoinServer as offline even after restart - ConnectServerPort does not match ConnectServer's ConnectServerPortUDP, ConnectServerAddress is wrong, or UDP is blocked between hosts. If the UDP target cannot be set up at startup, JoinServer tears the TCP listener back down.