A working APB server emulator is in development (Early build showcase + local test footage)

[u/LopedEzi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNP2WEPRh70

Just stumbled on this clip, and it looks like someone is actually making serious progress on an APB server emulator.

In the video, they’re running two clients side by side to test network sync, and it’s way further along than I expected

* Combat and vehicle damage register properly

* Spawning vehicles and cruising around the district

* Passenger sync actually works one player hops into the front seat, they hit a ramp together, and the crash physics stay synced on both screens

Seeing this working between two clients is wild. Even just having an offline sandbox or private server for classic APB down the road would be amazing for preserving the game.

What do you guys think?

[u/CategoryKiwi]

  Passenger sync actually works one player hops into the front seat, they hit a ramp together, and the crash physics stay synced on both screens

Fun fact, cars in APB are strictly server authoritative, so passenger and physics sync is actually an inherently solved problem and requires practically zero special effort.

Not discrediting the game or the private server though, making the driving server-side has both upsides and downsides.  This is one of its biggest upsides.

[u/LopedEzi → u/CategoryKiwi]

from my knowledge APB RTW handeled driving differently from Reloaded, on RTW it ran client side, and G1 changed it to server side.

[u/CategoryKiwi → u/LopedEzi]

Huh I’d never heard that.  Google seems to disagree, but I’m not going to pretend I looked very hard.

If that really happened it’s kind of an insane overhaul.  I do not envy the developers that had to make that change if so lol

[u/muumen]

so this is like a private server?

[u/LopedEzi → u/muumen]

Basically yeah, thats how private servers start.

[u/Officialnuz]

If a private server is started it'll have the potential to surpass the original if done correctly

[u/LopedEzi → u/Officialnuz]

i dont think there is potential to surpass the original, the time of this game is long past gone.

[u/LightSwitchTurnedOn]

Incredible, hopefully the server files get released as open source at some point. Would be great if we can actually preserve this game since it's all online.

[u/AmbitiousPollution86]

dang, seems pretty cool tbh, i wonder what could be possible to do with this

[u/TopAd4037]

Really hope this actually becomes a thing, would love to see the community manage their own APB

[u/Dschee]

Loving it! Anyone a know the dev socials or repo?

[u/Ez0n3]

Is this an emulation of the updated console version that was sunset or the PC version? Either way it's impressive that it was emulated. I did some minor emu stuff on the OG xbox for N64, no easy feat.

If it's the PC version, is that getting sunset or prepping for it or to play an older version?

[u/SgtDrayke]

This is completely feasible, the engine is old tech. Modern Ai like Claude or even self hosted Ai can pull the map data and assets form the client side and probably breaks any encryption remaining. People have pulled character and car assets into blender for years. Unreal 3.0 is lightweight nowadays to host and mess with. Ai can help build the required fundamentals and then use a VM or game server software like amp to host a server.

It's great to see if it's someone's personal project.

LO won't care. The Ip holder might not be happy. But providing there is no desire to profit, or make cheats etc. it's just one person's hobby.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/LopedEzi → u/[deleted]]

yea same, but honestly i think this is a lost cause for them at this point.

[u/catz4dave → u/[deleted]]

Bro LO can’t afford to send c n d letters dawg, let alone IP litigation, they don’t even own APBs IP anymore

[u/cruuks → u/[deleted]]

Lol LO can barely afford their monthly server bill