EmuLinker-K Version 1.0.2

EmuLinker-K v1.0.2 has been released, featuring a server that supports online multiplayer for emulators using the Kaillera protocol. This Kotlin rewrite of EmulinkerSF emphasizes performance, security, and user-friendly features. Key updates include seamless localization in multiple languages, performance enhancements, and improved server administration scripts. Bug fixes addressed server slowdowns, and a new Kotlin Multiplatform library supports language messages. Configuration flags have been streamlined, and contributions from the community are acknowledged for translations and testing. The server remains optimized for low-end hardware, ensuring high performance for popular gaming servers. Download the latest version for enhancements.

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We are excited to announce the release of EmuLinker-K v1.0.2. EmuLinker-K is a server leveraging the Kaillera protocol, enabling online multiplayer for emulators. This version is a Kotlin rewrite of EmulinkerSF, focusing on optimizing performance, addressing security and privacy issues, and incorporating valuable features for both server administrators and users. The project is maintained by nue.

EmuLinker-K changelog:
✨ Key Updates & Features
Enhanced Localization
Nearly all messages previously found in language.properties files, which required manual translation from server admins, are now available in Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese, directly embedded in the server binary. For broader language support, you can still provide your own translations if preferred.
Customize your language settings and character set in conf/emulinker.cfg as follows:
# Choose the character set that fits your language region:
# Use Windows-1252 for English and Western Europe, Windows-1251 for Cyrillic,
# GBK for Simplified Chinese, Shift_JIS for Japanese, or x-IBM949 for Korean.
# Note: Unicode (UTF-8) is generally unsupported by clients. If text appears
# distorted or shows as ‘?’, consider selecting a different charset.
emulinker.charset=Windows-1252
# The language used for server messages.
# Adhere to strict ISO 639-1 language codes (e.g., en, es, ja, ko, pt, ru, zh)
# or “custom” to prioritize user-provided strings in language.properties.
emulinker.language=en
If your language isn’t listed here, we encourage you to reach out via Discord and contribute to our CrowdIn project.
You can still utilize conf/language.properties for custom welcome messages as before. Refer to this example for guidance.
Performance Enhancements
Significant architectural modifications have been implemented to achieve notable improvements in throughput performance and garbage collection time. As always, the server is optimized for single-core, low-end hardware.
Extensive rewrites of our load testing scripts and microbenchmarking have ensured that code alterations have maintained performance. Although further enhancements are possible, current performance levels exceed the demands of even the most popular servers.
New Administrative Scripts
Dedicated scripts have been introduced to streamline server management:
An interactive setup and update script (see Quick Start section) is now available. This can also facilitate the installation of beta versions and allow upgrades or downgrades to specific versions as required.
The revamped start-server.sh and stop-server.sh scripts now verify if the server is running, showcase startup output/errors, and check for updates.
The older scripts, server.sh and kill-server.sh, are now deprecated and have been removed.
Enhanced versions of start-server.bat and stop-server.bat for Windows have also been introduced, though they do not perform update checks.
Additional Improvements
Bug Fixes: This release contains several bug fixes, most notably resolving an issue that caused the server to slow down gradually over time, necessitating restarts.
KMP Project: A new Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) library for Kaillera protocol messages, now supporting several additional languages: KailleraProtocol-kmp.
Dependencies: Project dependencies have been updated to their latest stable versions.
Configuration Streamlining: Obsolete configuration flags in conf/emulinker.cfg have been removed (including game.desynchTimeouts and game.timeoutMillis), and other settings have been assigned sensible default values. Refer to the README for a description of each flag, including defaults and necessity.
🙏 Acknowledgments
A heartfelt thank you to the community for making this release possible:
@Jgunishka for contributing Russian translations.
Radar in Discord for providing both Spanish and Portuguese translations.
@eacucbo, heakoda, and Andypsl8 for offering Chinese translations.
Users from the Kaillera Reborn Discord and the Chicago SSB and nue ELK servers for early testing and valuable feedback.
@russell-jeter for assistance with code cleanup and review.
Justase64 in Discord for beta testing and sharing server logs to identify bugs.