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(Text translated by an online translator)  Last Update: April 2023

Welcome to my website. This website serves as an info and download source for my Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) servers.
Furthermore you can find here a tutorial how to play this game online again in multiplayer under OpenSpy. OpenSpy is an open source GameSpy clone. (http://beta.openspy.net/en/).

I enjoyed playing this old game from 2006 and still like to play it from time to time. I was already running a server with custom maps back then.
After 2014 the GameSpy service was switched off you could no longer play online. It was still possible to play LAN. But you could also do that online via a VPN service. Very well known among gamers was for example Hamachi.
In the meantime, gamers like to use the tool Radmin (www.radmin-vpn.com) as a VPN service for LAN play (unfortunately only for Windows).
But for me, to playing online was dead. Meanwhile I have also read that you can no longer buy this game, only as a used game. I am also aware that the game is dead ;-)
Nevertheless, thanks to OpenSpy I would like to start a standalone server (or more) for this game again.

Important info about my GRAW standalone server:
Unfortunately, the game and therefore the servers, with the last patch v1.35 was still very buggy. I have therefore noticed the following problem.
If the server is idle for longer time (about ~20 hours) and waiting for players, it can be happen depending on the custom map, the first map after connecting to the server, there are no enemys are available in the game! :-)
Either enemies appear in the middle of the map or you can finish the map without firing a shot. The next map that is loaded then works normally again as it should.
If something like this happens, it is best if all players leave the server so that the next map is loaded from the server. Then simply rejoin the server.
It makes no difference whether the server runs on Windows or Linux (with Wine). The server can be idle for days and the first map works fine with enemies.

How can I play GRAW (DVD version) online again with OpenSpy?
There are 2 possibilities. Once by modifying the original GRAW.exe with a hex editor or by modifying your "hosts" file.
(crack modified for OpenSpy can be found under downloads below)

modify GRAW.exe:
ATTENTION: Make a copy of the GRAW.exe before modifying.
When modifying the original GRAW.exe, the links in the GRAW.exe are changed from gamespy.com to openspy.net. This makes the online service for multiplayer available again for the game. A "GameSpy" account can then be created in the game again.

  • download and install a hex-editor, e.g. HxD
  • with the hex-editor open GRAW.exe
  • above klick on "search" and then klick "replace"
  • in the new window, on the "Text string" tab, type "gamespy.com" in the "Search for" line
  • type "openspy.net" in the "Replace with" line
  • on "search direction" klick "All"
  • on "Options" klick "Case sensitive"
  • then klick "Replace all"
  • after all entries have been replaced, save the file
Sample images and more information are also available on the OpenSpy website, http://beta.openspy.net/en/howto/generic/ghostraw
If everything has worked, the game can now be started as usual. Then create a new GameSpy account in the game (use any email address and password for the new account) and you should see online servers again. Assuming there are some running, such as my server(s).
If GRAW servers are online you can see it on my website (my servers) or on OpenSpy itself, see link above. Otherwise create a server yourself ;-) ...see below
INFO: If you started the game with a crack, you will not succeed with this method. The crack.exe is compressed. If you want to start your original game with the crack you have to choose the method with the "hosts" file. EDIT: Meanwhile i was able to modify a crack.exe for OpenSpy, download see below at Downloads.

change hosts file:
Changing the hosts file means redirecting the addresses for gamespy.com on your own PC to the OpenSpy servers. This means that the GRAW.exe does not need to be changed.
Under Windows you can find the hosts file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts - In Linux under /etc/hosts.

  • Open the hosts file as administrator with an editor
  • Enter these entries --> from May 2022!
  • 
    64.225.19.20		natneg1.gamespy.com
    64.225.4.169		natneg2.gamespy.com
    157.245.212.59		master.gamespy.com
    157.245.212.59		greconawf.master.gamespy.com
    157.245.212.59		greconawf.ms0.gamespy.com
    64.225.4.169		motd.gamespy.com
    157.245.212.59		available.gamespy.com
    157.245.212.59		greconawf.available.gamespy.com
    64.225.19.20		peerchat.gamespy.com
    167.172.225.123		gamespy.com
    64.225.4.169		gpcm.gamespy.com
    64.225.4.169		gpsp.gamespy.com
    64.225.4.169		key.gamespy.com
    
    
  • save file
Simply start the game and create a new account as described above. If the IP addresses are no longer correct, use nslookup (Windows) or host (Linux) to find them.

Where do the custom maps need to be stored?
The custom maps, e.g. "aw10_daydocks_ogr.bundle" must be stored in the game folder in the folder "custom_levels". E.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Ghost Recon....\custom_levels\".

How do I create my own GRAW standalone (dedicated) server?
In the game folder there is the "GRAW-standalone.exe" to start a server without a graphical user interface. That means the game itself is not started but only a console window. This standalone.exe must also be changed for OpenSpy or you can use the hosts file.
The settings for the server can be found in several files.

First, it is best to create a LAN or online server from within the game under Multiplayer and create a server profile. Several profiles with different settings can be created.
So e.g. create a profile name "test1" and select "OGR Coop" as game type and set various settings, which map etc. Start the server and see if it works as desired.

This server profile and all settings for it can now be found in "GRAW Game Folder/Settings/servers/graw_server_test1.xml". This file can be edited with an editor from now on. And this file contains all relevant settings for the server.
To start this server with the "GRAW-standalone.exe" the file "..../Settings/server_shared.xml" must be edited with an editor first. You can set a server admin password here and you specify the server profile here, which we created first.
With the admin password you can log in to the server in the game and do various things in the console. If everything is set and saved then start the "GRAW-standalone.exe".

The whole thing also works under Linux with "Wine". My servers run under Linux. The game itself also works with Wine in Linux.



Downloads

GRAW Patch Version 1.35 for DVD Game:  GRAW patch 1.00 to 1.35

Modificated GRAW.exe (crack) to play Online with OpenSpy:  GRAW.exe for OpenSpy (+ GRAW-standalone.exe)
Rename the EXE to GRAW.exe and replace it with the original GRAW.exe in the game folder.

GRAW Modification:  ModCombination RC2

Custom Maps:  Maps Server1 (small Maps)  /  Maps Server2

Big Map pack - In this Map pack there are collections from the old "Vipers" and "Team Stealth" Websites and some other old GRAW Servers and Websites.

You can get more downloads for GRAW on ghostrecon.net:  www.ghostrecon.net

Tools:  GRAW Bundle Reader

GRAW PHP Server Query v0.5 by cert.KeeKee

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