For example Project Cartographer describes itself as the following
Project Cartographer is a modification for Halo 2 PC (Halo 2 for Windows Vista) that restores online play (Microsoft abandoned the LIVE servers) and adds additional features that are not present in the base game.
Before the release of Master Chief Collection it was my go-to for playing online.
Similarly H1-Mod exists for CoD: Modern Warfare Remastered.
I’d be interested to hear which ones you’ve tried and how active the community is. They don’t need to be currently active or a replacement for a game’s existing multiplayer services. It could be something like Zandronum which allows you to play the classic Doom or NVMP-X which allows you to play Fallout New Vegas with friends.
Most of these services don’t contain DRM so you can use Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle, or any other version of the game and because they are community run you don’t have to worry about servers going down as time goes on and can potentially host your own games.
I also like to make a special mention of X Link Kai which allows you to play system link games remotely. If you are curious I’d check out ConsoleMods.org for setup instructions and their website for a list of supported games.
There’s plenty of other similar services out there depending on what console you are using such as Insignia for the original Xbox.
I’d love to see these communities grow.
Titanfall 2, with the Northstar client.
it works with pirated versions?
GTA San Andreas with SAMP, although that was yearrrssss ago now. I miss a couple of those servers…
Are they inactive right now? I’m not sure if they went the way of re3 (a reverse engineered version of GTA 3 designed to fix bugs, port the game to several platforms, and expand modding capabilities) and were shut down under pressure from Rockstar.
I think so - last update was released in 2015
I was looking forward to trying re3 but rockstar’s lawyers decided to be a killjoy. There was another mod that joins the GTA3, VC and SA maps together and uses a modified version of SAMP for multiplayer (gta underground IIRC), I believe they got spooked by Rockstar too and pulled the plug
There are archived versions re3 and reVC if you wanted to give it a try. I can’t say I’ve had any issues running the latest release.
GamesRanger is a pretty dope RTS client for a ton of RTS games. I use it for Battle for Middle Earth 2 to this day.
Freelancer is 2003 Microsoft abandonware which still has an online mod community. Most prominent is probably the Discovery mod, which hosts a 24/7 RP server.
OG Halo 3 with Sunrise plugin
Super mario 64 multiplayer! I have spent several hours in it with my bf. https://github.com/djoslin0/sm64ex-coop/
America’s Army 2.5.0 with https://aao25.com/.
But since Insurgency Sandstorm got released, I mostly play that one.
I have used a certain “online-fix me” (not sure if I’m allowed to promote) website that offers patches for games so you can connect to the official multiplayer servers.
Of course there’s a possibility of getting banned if they detect it, but I’ve played a lot of the Forza games online with this throughout the years without issue.
I realise it’s not strictly on topic for community run servers, but it may be of interest to people in this thread.
Not sure if it’s still active, but Just Cause 2 Multiplayer added an insanely chaotic Multiplayer mode to an originally entirely singleplayer game
I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit playing EQ on Imperium.
Stardew Valley Expanded, it gives us huge tracks of land to work and a metric fuckton of extra content.
I play Phantasy Star Online on the original Xbox using Insignia (sometimes on the Dreamcast, too)
- Plutonium (World at War, Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 2)
- Alterware* (Modern Warfare 2, Ghosts, Advanced Warfare)
- XLabs** (Modern Warfare 2, Ghosts, Advanced Warfare)
- Boii** (Black Ops 3)
* Picked up where XLabs had to stop. ** Shut down via C&D letters.
Since Activison doesn’t want to patch their older CoD games on PC community made clients are basically a must for those games. Not only are those adding patches against RCEs but also add a lot of customization, modability and dedicated servers. Some are even adding custom maps to it.
I also used to play Venice Unleased and Project Rome for BF3 and BC2.
There’s Nitrox for Subnautica, but development seems to have stopped for now with no ETA on continuing. There are bugs and it’s recommended to avoid certain building structures and riding in the Cyclops together. Still, it can be really fun
Thug Pro for Tony Hawk’s Underground 2.
Plutonium for multiple older Call of Duty games.
IW4x for Modern Warfare 2 (2009), IW4x was DMCA’d semi recently but the mod still works, it’s just no longer being maintained and the server browser has a few bugs.
Even for games I’ve bought off Steam I still use community run multiplayer mods a lot because they tend to either add more functionality or replace dead servers for older games.
