Highly Performant & Scalable Ultima Online Server Emulator
https://www.modernuo.com
c-sharpcsharpcsharp-coredotnetdotnet-coreemulatorgplgplv3mmommo-enginemmorpgmmorpg-serveronlinerpgrunuoserverservuoultimaultima-onlineuo
3b4e1137f6
## Summary
Overhauls the backup/archive system to address stability, robustness, fault tolerance, performance, and pluggability.
### Problems solved
- **Critical bug**: `Interlocked.CompareExchange` arguments were reversed — the concurrent archive guard never actually prevented concurrent archives
- **Brittle compression**: Relied on spawning external `zstd.exe`/`tar.exe`/`bsdtar.exe` processes with platform-specific workarounds (Windows two-step hack, auto-downloading bsdtar from libarchive.org)
- **No fault tolerance**: Partial archives possible if process killed mid-write; no recovery mechanism; originals deleted before verification
- **No extensibility**: No way to add remote backup destinations (S3, rsync) without modifying core code
- **Silent failures**: Bare `catch` blocks swallowed exceptions with no diagnostics
### What changed
**Cross-platform streaming compression** — Replaced external process spawning with `System.Formats.Tar` (built-in .NET) + `ZstdNet` (native libzstd P/Invoke). Single-pass streaming: `TarWriter → CompressionStream → FileStream`. No intermediate `.tar` file, no platform-specific code paths.
**Archive journal** — JSON-based operation journal (`Archives/.archive-journal.json`) tracks state machine: `Started → Archived → Distributed → Completed` (or `Failed`). On startup, recovers interrupted operations (cleans temp files, completes pruning).
**Verify before delete** — Archives are verified (entry count check) before deleting source backups. Temp-file-then-atomic-rename pattern prevents partial archives.
**Retry logic** — File operations (moves, deletes) retry with linear backoff for transient I/O failures (antivirus locks, file copy operations).
**Plugin architecture** — `IArchiveDestination` interface in `Projects/Server/` enables external plugins (loaded via `assemblies.json`) to receive completed archives. `ArchiveDestinationRegistry` tracks destinations. Conservative pruning: source backups preserved if any destination with retention fails.
**Configurable** — Retention counts (hourly/daily/monthly), compression level, retry settings, backup max age all configurable via `ServerConfiguration`.
### New admin commands
- `[ArchiveStatus` — Shows journal state, destinations, next scheduled archive times
- `[ArchiveNow` — Forces immediate rollup regardless of schedule
### Files
| Change | File |
|--------|------|
| New | `Server/Saves/ArchiveEnums.cs`, `IArchiveDestination.cs`, `ArchiveDestinationRegistry.cs`, `ArchiveEventArgs.cs` |
| New | `Server/Events/ArchiveEvents.cs` (partial EventSink) |
| New | `UOContent/Compression/ManagedArchive.cs` |
| New | `UOContent/World Saves/ArchiveJournal.cs`, `LocalArchiveDestination.cs` |
| Rewrite | `UOContent/World Saves/AutoArchive.cs` |
| Modified | `UOContent/World Saves/SaveCommands.cs`, `Server/Utilities/PathUtility.cs`, `UOContent.csproj` |
| Deleted | `UOContent/Compression/TarArchive.cs`, `ZstdArchive.cs` |
| Tests | 29 new tests (ManagedArchive, ArchiveJournal, AutoArchiveHelpers) |
### Backward compatibility
- Existing `.tar.zst` archives are fully readable by the new managed code
- Config keys preserved; new keys use sensible defaults
- `autoArchive.compressionFormat` setting removed (Zstd only)
- Legacy `bsdtar/` directory logged as removable on startup
### Plugin example (external repo)
```csharp
public static class S3Plugin
{
public static void Configure()
{
ArchiveDestinationRegistry.Register(new S3Destination("my-bucket", "us-east-1"));
}
}
```
## Test plan
- [x] 29 new unit tests covering archive create/extract/count, journal state machine, recovery, destinations
- [x] All 969 tests pass (671 Server + 298 UOContent)
- [x] Manual: run server, trigger save, verify backup created and archive rolled up
- [x] Manual: kill server mid-archive, restart, verify journal recovery
- [x] Manual: test with large save files (~500MB+) to benchmark streaming vs old approach
|
||
|---|---|---|
| .config | ||
| .github | ||
| dev-docs | ||
| Distribution/Data | ||
| docs | ||
| Projects | ||
| .cursorrules | ||
| .editorconfig | ||
| .gitattributes | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| AGENTS.md | ||
| azure-pipelines.yml | ||
| CLAUDE.md | ||
| CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md | ||
| CONTRIBUTING.md | ||
| Directory.Build.props | ||
| FAQ.md | ||
| GEMINI.md | ||
| global.json | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| mkdocs.yml | ||
| ModernUO.sln | ||
| publish.cmd | ||
| publish.sh | ||
| README.md | ||
| rider-settings.zip | ||
| Rules.ruleset | ||
| SPONSORS.md | ||
| stylecop.json | ||
| THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES | ||
| version.json | ||
ModernUO 
Ultima Online Server Emulator for the modern era!
Requirements
Supported Operating Systems
Required Frameworks
All Operating Systems
Windows
Development
Supported IDEs
Getting Started
- Install prerequisite requirements
- Clone this repository (or download the latest):
git clone https://github.com/modernuo/ModernUO.git
- Open
ModernUO.slnto start developing
Building/Publishing
- Run
./publish.cmd [release|debug (default: release)] [os] [arch (default: x64)]os- Supported operating systemsarchx64- Intel/AMD 64-bitarm64- ARM 64-bit (Windows not supported)
Linux Prerequisites
Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, etc
dnf upgrade --refresh -y
# CentOS does not come with EPEL enabled
dnf install -y epel-release epel-next-release
dnf install -y findutils libicu libdeflate-devel zstd libargon2-devel liburing-devel
Ubuntu, Debian, etc
apt-get update -y
apt-get install -y libicu-dev libdeflate-dev zstd libargon2-dev liburing-dev
OSX Requirements
brew install icu4c libdeflate zstd argon2
Running the Server
- Follow the publish instructions
- Run
ModernUO.exeordotnet ModernUO.dllfrom theDistributiondirectory
Troubleshooting / FAQ
- See FAQ
Want to sponsor?
Thank you for supporting us! You can find out how by visiting the sponsors page.
Collaborators
Thanks
- RunUO Team & Community
- Voxpire, the ServUO Team & Community
- Karasho, Jaedan and the ClassicUO Community
Development Tools & Plugins provided with ♥ by
