Hey there,

I have been with the section for 3 years now. I had already withdrawn myself from new public projects already, but I think this is the perfect moment to just quit f282 in general. This will be my last post in the Habbo section of RaGEZONE forums. Allow me to look back at everything that has happened in the past 3 years.

This isn't meant to be a fancy cool read, but just a reference post where you can find most important info on Habbo retro development over the years. Scroll down to the bottom for the more readable stuff.

2007: Flex, DarkHabbo, USA111 (2006-2007)
I joined the section back in Feb 2007. I signed up that week for the World of Warcraft section, but when I saw the Habbo Hotel section I couldn't help but just check it out. My brother and sister were playing Habbo.nl at the time and I had been doing scripting activities back in '06 or so.
Back then, there were only a few Habbo retros online, all where V9 and running on the DarkHabbo server. DarkHabbo was based on Flex's, which was based on Genaga's. They were written in VB6, and the 'hotels' hosted with them were having around 10 - 20 users online and prone to scripting, lag etc.
I setup a local DarkHabbo server for my brother and sister, and soon portforwarded it so their friends could play. The next 'big server' was the 'USA111 V9' server, which was based on Flex's/DarkHabbo. It had a working console and some more features. I was already running the Dutch private server 'www.habbix.nl' then w/ USA111 V9. Still, there were hardly retros around, they were really rare. Then, USA111 linked up with Myrax and made the V13 server. This is where Habbo retros started to get big popularity, but also where USA111 left the section, after releasing the source code. (April 2007) I started playing around with it, making my first steps into programming by making small additions and tweaks/fixes to my USA111 V13 based 'HabbixServer'.

DebboProject (2007)
Then, DebboProject came along, the USA111 V13 fork started by 22kaka, Mirkan and the unknown fella 'BobbaPro'. They added things like a basic infobus to the server, while I was working privately at my HabbixServer. I came up with & implemented wellknown features such as 'UserLock system', ':teleport on', ':warp x y' etc. I also made the chatcommands for setting infobus questions via chat etc. DebboProject V2 was released at this point, it was the first public server to have swimming and diving, let it be buggy. I started co-operating with Mirkan (Dutchie too), and we shared code and ideas.
Here, I joined DebboProject. We merged up my code from HabbixServer (UserLock, chatcommands, improved swimming & diving, Trax with hardcoded soundsets etc). This kicked off the development of the infamous 'DebboProject V3'. By the time that it got released I had written the most code of it, but 22kaka released it too early. It made me release 'DebboProject V3SE'. I went on vacation and in the meantime 22kaka coded static public room categories and dynamic Trax, together with Wobble Squabble it was 'DebboProject V3.5', V14 client.
The bottleneck of Habbo retro servers at this time was the database, files were stored as small textfiles in folders, so 1000 users would mean 1000 x 10 .txt files for every user = ... loads of files. Very slow to query and so on, so database wipes were almost monthly. We decided that the best way to store data would be a relational SQL database, inspired by the 'HabboSQL' server released by PigFarker. After the summer vacation we started changing all flatfiles to SQL tables, but kept querying it in the same way - we thought it was revolutional @ speed, but the new DebboProject V4 wasn't, we were misusing relational databases, only making it slower.
However, the SQL database opened up a possibility for 'CMS'-es, which involved database data being displayed at the site, logging in via the site (Single Sign On SSO) etc. Jordi-Fun made DebboSQL. I coded the newly released 'One Way Door' into DebboProject V4, and I came up with the idea to add a toll function to it. I was also the first to code the Ecotron/Recycler.
At this point there were already alot of Habbo retros online, having an average of ~ 50 users online. Most used servers: DebboProject V3.5, Otaku, Mark's Server and HabLog by Hebbo, which was based on the leaked DebboProject V3 source. It was the time of Hotel Atlanta, "Waves' Nillus" etc. The DebboProject-project was abandoned somewhere in September 2007.

Holograph Emulator (2007 - present)
I withdrew myself from public projects, declined the position of Habbo section moderation (next to Mickey, Madison, Jare etc) and starting working with Dissi on HabbixServer V2, which was actually a DebboProject V4 R17 fork. We tweaked it, added custom features, and had 150 users online at the new Habbix Hotel. This is where I started talking to Dissi btw, oh and Sulake's faggy Keep It Real campaigns hat already started. Anyway, I can't remember much of what happened @ RaGEZONE at this time, I was working on Habbix Hotel and private non-Habbo VB6 projects. So let's forward to Christmas 2007. V18, with the new clothes system that allowed greater customization of your Habbo, was soon to be released. I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to kick off a new server, written from scratch, in VB6. Ambiance Emulator.
First, I wanted to have it as a private project. However, seeing the community was kinda focused around HabLog and the failed DebboProject V4, I decided to make it open source. I was like 'Ambiance Emulator' is a gay name, it needs something cooler: the holoboy item of Habbo, my favorite item. So I was like: I'll call it Holograph Emulator, not knowing that I was failing @ English: I was confusing 'Holograph' and 'Hologram'. Anyway, the damn thing was called Holograph Emulator, written by me, in VB6 from scratch with MySQL. It was released as an open source project at 27th December 2007. I developed it rapidly and even though it wasn't suitable for usage, it got alot of attention. This is where GraphiX (now known as Meth0d) came around. He started making 'HoloCMS', a frontend site for the emulator. Yes, HoloCMS was and still is a frontend site. Just a frontend site, not the actual emulator/server behind it that was written by me. Stop confusing them, or thinking 'hey it runs holocms', it doesn't. It runs a combination of Holograph Emulator (Nillus) and HoloCMS. (Meth0d/YifanLul/sisija)
Anyway, this is where Jeax released his JASE server I think, written in C#. I was inspired by this .NET language and started working on a VB.NET version of Holograph Emulator, heavily inspired by JASE. I started learning about the .NET framework and object oriented programming and decided that I prefered C# over VB.NET. In May 2008 I started on Holograph Emulator C# 'Eucalypt', not knowing that it would be the most used Habbo server ever. I ported code from Holo VB.NET and added new things. This was the time about Me vs Jeax and Holo vs JASE. However, since JASE was aimed at the non-noob people and Holo had a habbo clone website (HoloCMS) and easy to setup for everyone, it was Holo that got all the attention. Habbo was V20 now and Holo C# was the most used server, there were shitloads of public retros all running on it and Sulake was having a hard time hunting them down. Holo basically had all features now, except for Pets, Rollers, Camera and something never done before: BattleBall.

BattleBall
BattleBall is still the #1 hardest network protocol reverse engineering of Habbo Hotel. All numbers in the packets are wire encoded ('VL64'), so you have to find out what data goes where, how many times, in what order, etc. I was going to need loads of packetlogs to work this all out. This is where NGangsta hit me up, he was already known for being the fastest kid around with finding and releasing new CCT's etc. He offered to go on Habbo and packetlog loads of games of BattleBall. I designed the 'Nillus Packet Scout' tool for him, so he could analyze the packets and write down their structures. I still have shitloads of .txt files by him, alot of them date back to like 3 o clock in the morning: we had nights where we spent 4 hours on Habbo packetlogging games of BattleBall, the most geekiest thing I have done so far. We were literally in bed with a laptop packetlogging and coding Habbo servers for you! In the end we managed to do it. Vista4life (Maarten), who was already close to me and NGangsta, helped on getting the maps done, and finally we had it: the first Habbo emulator with BattleBall. People could go on our public test hotel to play BattleBall, which was revolutionar. People kept downloading Holograph Emulator and using it for their Habbo private server, while Aaron from Ofagu Studios was seeing all his 'customers' started using Holograph or the newly released V9 Project Thor by Joeh. At this point I got banned at RaGEZONE for rickrolling a noob asking for help and I decided I was done with RZ: September 2008. I stopped working on Holograph Emulator, released the source and left the section.

Woodpecker & Avalanche (end 2008)
I kept talking with Moogly, vista4life and NGangsta on MSN, and in October 2008 I started a new C# server, aimed at my favorite non-oldskool Habbo version: V13. Woodpecker was privately and silently developed and is probably the most stable & advanced V13. It was intended for selling with a license system but was instead sold to VashMaster including source. I also had my fun little Avalanche project in December 2008. Avalanche was a scripting program for Holograph Emulator (my own server, the irony), it worked fully automatic. (artificial intelligence) It registered users with the same look and a random name, logging them in to the server, requesting navigator list, entering rooms and scripting rooms with voice messages. They also shouted insulting messages, danced, waved, etc. I think that all Holo retros have seen it in action. Woodpecker was almost completed and in beta testing at TheAJ's vps for RaGEHOTEL, however plans were canceled: server wasn't done yet...

ION, Jeax Arrested (begin of 2009)
At the start of 2009 I was shocked about what had happened to Habbo retros. THere were loads of them and they were all running slightly modified versions of Holograph Emulator, but they were poorly coded: it was unbelievable. I kicked off a spanking new Habbo emulation framework called ION and gave an example of it's usage by making a V7 server with it, with just login & register. This project was quickly completed and it was time for new things. ION featured 'Ion.Storage', a new way of connectivity with the MySQL database, written by me. Dissi implemented it in his Sunnieday server and released the source, it's known as 'Holo Dissi' or something now.
Anyway, I was going on the resurrected script-o-matic.net alot in that time and we were talking about a real oldskool server for script-o-matic. Something like V1. Myrax, Jeax, Office.Boy, Totov, me and some others were on irc.totov.ath.cx #som alot, chatting and planning Project Siberia: a V5 server, dating back to 2002. Development didn't go well, alot of bitching between me and Jeax in IRC again (good times) and lack of progress. Siberia was kinda dead already when, in the start of Feb 2009, something shocking happened. Jeax aka Josh Comery, maker of the Axed scripting programs and numerous Habbo servers, was arrested by the police. Reason: copyright infringement etc, but also the reported 20k GBP damage to Sulake with the Axed7 bots. LOL. Anyway, Jeax was going to court for his Habbo activities and we shat brix. script-o-matic.net closed (again), alot of retros followed and people started sending fake DMCA emails to each other to close each others retros. Jeax court case was somewhere in February and the day is known as J-Day. Results: community service for the poor fella.

Suelake.com & ION/Deltar (2009)
Mike (office.boy) and me carried on with the Siberia project and already acquired the domainname Suelake.com for obvious reasons... see above. We decided to write the server in Java so it could run on Linux.
I designed the Blunk framework for easy multiuserserver development and did a quick tryout project for Mobiles Disco. Then, the work on the actual V5 server started. It was developed privately: I wrote the server, Mike mainly reverse engineered old packetlogs and cracked the RC4 encryption of V5. We wanted to make Suelake.com the best Habbo private server software, in terms of speed, stability, security and completeness. This meant that we also had to code a feature that was never done on public Habbo private servers before: the good 'ole Camera, introduced in V3 (2001/2002), but never coded for DebboProject, Holo etc. After alot of testing, coding etc I had it working: Camera was fully functional at Suelake.com and loads of users came around to enjoy V5 with Camera. Fast forward in time... June 2009, Habbo BETA, the Flash client. I made ION/Deltar, providing a good start for a BETA emulator in C#. However, most people ignored it and continued messing around with their Holograph Emulators, whining about how slow it was etc. There was just Jordan and Meth0d actually doing something with my lovely ION/Deltar. Jordan made Nova, and Meth0d started working on uberEmu. He said that it's inspired by ION/Deltar, but I think hat it's a Holo rewrite with ION/Deltar. Anyway... whatever!
Suelake.com was completed and was online 24/7 and still is.

End of an Era (2010)
Yep, we are here now. I have been here for three years... and I think that it's safe to say that I have been the most influential person for Habbo retros. I was responsible for the biggest part of DebboProject, brought you your beloved Holograph Emulator, coded a full V5 in Java, coded Camera, BattleBall and all of that x6 in 6 different servers in different languages. I went from VB6 noob to fluent with advanced VB.NET/C#/Java/PHP/HTML/CSS/JS/MySQL, had alot of fun. Basically, I have achieved anything that I wanted! Hate me, love me, whatever. Just be grateful for what we brought you and leave credit to the original authors of the emulators.

This was my last post in this section, thanks for using my software. Consider donating to me via PayPal (any amount is welcome) if you have enjoyed DebboProject/Holo/Suelake.com and any other servers/tools that I have created for you people - free of charge. I don't know what's going to happen with Habbo emulation now, imo Sulake is going the wrong way with their product...

Oh, last thing! There is no such thing as 'running HoloCMS'. HoloCMS is just the website, I think there's 2x as much code in the server and that code is way more complex too. Please leave credit to me (Nillus) and other contributors of the server. Also: refer to the combination as 'Holo', not just 'HoloCMS' - tis bad for my e-peen.

Respect List
My true respect goes out to the following people, sorted by their nicknames - not importancy.

    * Arthmx
    * Jeax
    * Joeh
    * Jordan (MyChemicalSelf)
    * Meth0d
    * Moogly
    * NGangsta
    * Parker
    * Superfun
    * TheAJ
    * vista4life
    * YifanLu
    * RZ Habbo section moderators


Have fun with your Habbo emulators, I wasn't in it for the 'running da furnis brothel' but for the technology and I can say that I've achieved anything I wanted @ that. And remember: "free fruniz with evry purchaze of Kornflakez".

Waves'
Nillus