Have your Clients see your custom 'Breaking News' info at the logon screen.

[Tryphen]

First, please forgive the x-post as I initially posted this in Windows Server Setup yesterday but it was suggested it be posted here.

I just wanted to return a little something to the community as I have got so much from it.

I was curious how Blizz set up its 'Breaking News' dialog at the login screen...well I won't bother you with the details but can tell you that if you want your clients to see your 'Breaking News' then all they have to do is make the following entry in the hosts file (by default in the <WINDOWS>\\system32\\drivers\\etc directory):

1.2.3.4 launcher.worldofwarcraft.com

where 1.2.3.4 is the IP address of your server. Yes, unfortunately since what you are doing is redirecting the message request to your server, you have to use an IP and not a name, therefore if your IP changes you will have to instruct your users to update the file (I just provide a download of a hosts file on my webpage along side the realmlist.wtf sample)

A default hosts file looks like this:

# Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.

#

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

#

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each

# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should

# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.

# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one

# space.

#

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

#

# For example:

#

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server

# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

so you just have to add the line to the end like this:

# Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.

#

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

#

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each

# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should

# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.

# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one

# space.

#

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

#

# For example:

#

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server

# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

1.2.3.4 launcher.worldofwarcraft.com

Lastly, you create a file on the root of you HTTP server called 'alert'. A sample of mine is as follows:

<snip>

SERVERALERT:

May 3rd, 2010 21:05 MST

Levelling up my hunter...w8n for some company.

Staff At MyWoWServer

</snip>

NOTE that the first line must be as shown above: SERVERALERT: as the blizz parser looks for this.

I searched through the forum for this information and couldn't find it.

When I get some time I may add this funtionality to my DotNet app that can be downloaded to manage realmlists (similar to WoW FE) so that it can be enabled/disabled programmatically.

[Furious-Py]

Working

btw, dont use <snip> and </snip> tags... just

SERVERALERT:

msg

[BThallid]

I use this for my server for my fam and friends. I have it so it'll list the players currently online. It's redirected to an asp file that pulls it. That address is also used for the launcher's displayed webpage at the root.

[nowares]

I tried this but the "Breaking news" section has just vanished now....

Any ideas why?

[Dark_Spyro_003]

Just some small info, this accepts some lower level html as links, and blizzard seems to like paragraph tags (

text</p> ). Note to never use the & sign, even in the a hrefs, else it seems to start displaying the html code instead... But it kindof works, at least.

Also, you can change the GlueXML/GlueLocalization.lua file, SERVER_ALERT_URL to one of your choice in a patch. This, however, needs either a .SIG file fix since it is in a directory (this doesn't exist yet) or a change in Wow.exe using something such as wowunsigner... Else it will say your interface is corrupt.

@nowares, is there any text after your SERVERALERT: ?

[xarly]

I have the same problem, the box has dissapeared....

I have added the line

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx launcher.worldofwarcraft.com

in my hosts file and created a file "alert" without extension in my webserver with this content:

SERVERALERT:
Jul 8, 2010 10:00 MST
Hello Everyone!,.....
....

Any idea¿?

[ankso]

I have the same problem

[BThallid]

I just use a folder named alert and then have a default.aspx (or whatever your default index file should be) inside of it. You could try to open up http://launcher.worldofwarcraft.com/alert in a browser from the machine to check it.

[xarly]

Yep, That adress goes to my custom alert

Do I need to create a folder named "alert" and inside a default.aspx?

[BThallid]

If you're using a Windows server with ASP.net installed, then yes. That's what I've done. My default.aspx actually gets some news text from another page and a online user list if it first detects that the server is online.

[Gibbss]

Dont work on 2.4.3

[DaC]

For 2.4.3 use the hostname "status.wow-europe.com"

[Gibbss]

Still nothing...

[TOM_RUS]

Is is client locale dependent:

for enUS/esMX(?) clients use: http://launcher.worldofwarcraft.com/alert

and for european clients (notice additional folder for locale):

enGB: http://status.wow-europe.com/en/alert

deDE: http://status.wow-europe.com/de/alert

frFR: http://status.wow-europe.com/fr/alert

esES: http://status.wow-europe.com/es/alert

ruRU: http://status.wow-europe.com/ru/alert

[Gibbss]

http://x.x.x.185/en/alert/Index.htm

Yap - all is fine. I using windows 7 64bit.

my hosts ( C:\\Windows\\System32\\drivers\\etc )

## Copyright © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corp.

#

# This file has been automatically generated for use by Microsoft Internet

# Connection Sharing. It contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names

# for the home network. Please do not make changes to the HOSTS.ICS file.

# Any changes may result in a loss of connectivity between machines on the

# local network.

#

127.0.0.1 localhost

x.x.x.185 status.wow-europe.com