New on Otland – What’s the best free OT server to start building my own game?

[detudo2012]

I'm new here on Otland and I'm thinking about creating my own OT server. I've been doing a lot of research, but I'm still unsure about which base to use to get started.

I'd like to hear from those with experience:

What’s the best free OT server currently available to put online?


Do you recommend using TFS (The Forgotten Server) or Canary? Or are there other interesting options?

Which servers do you think are the most stable and easiest to customize?

And for those who enjoy retro servers, which ones are the best to use as a base?

I'm also open to suggestions for more modern servers that are worth using as a reference.

My goal is to build a server with a unique style, maybe mixing retro elements with new features. If you could share tips, your experiences, and even examples of cool projects, I'd really appreciate it!


Thanks!

 

[JeiDi]

1. TFS;
2. The newer version - the better.

 

[Sorky]

by retro you mean 8.6, 7.6 or 7.4?

 

[JeiDi]

by retro you mean 8.6, 7.6 or 7.4?

It doesn't really matter in the context (I assume), as the most stable is the newest version, so you take the newest tfs and downgrade it to anything you want/need.

 

[Sorky]

@detudo2012 if you want you can follow my guide

Running forgottenserver 1.7 downgraded to 8.6 – My OTS journey

myotsjourney.michalciernia.pl

 

[Gesior.pl]

It doesn't really matter in the context (I assume), as the most stable is the newest version

IDK what is 'stable' version after TFS 1.4.

This commit merged on 2025-05-11 added huge memory leak:

Optimize pathfinding (#4637) · otland/forgottenserver@8fe2872

* Optimize pathfinding * Minor fleeing monsters fix * Fix whitespace and else brackets * More cleanup * Cleanup * Remove uneeded variable name change * Cleanup * Move neighbor arrays back to...

github.com

It's 2025-06-10 and we are still discussing how to fix that and if previous commit makes sense at all (it's called 'optimized pathfinding', but it uses more CPU to generate same results as old algorithm!):

Fix astar node memory leak by jacksonie · Pull Request #4924 · otland/forgottenserver

Pull Request Prelude I have followed proper The Forgotten Server code styling. I have read and understood the contribution guidelines before making this PR. I am aware that this PR may be clo...

github.com

so for at least 30 days newest TFS is not 'stable', it's pretty unusable for server with 100+ players.

 

[detudo2012]

IDK what is 'stable' version after TFS 1.4.

This commit merged on 2025-05-11 added huge memory leak:

Optimize pathfinding (#4637) · otland/forgottenserver@8fe2872

* Optimize pathfinding * Minor fleeing monsters fix * Fix whitespace and else brackets * More cleanup * Cleanup * Remove uneeded variable name change * Cleanup * Move neighbor arrays back to...

github.com

It's 2025-06-10 and we are still discussing how to fix that and if previous commit makes sense at all (it's called 'optimized pathfinding', but it uses more CPU to generate same results as old algorithm!):

Fix astar node memory leak by jacksonie · Pull Request #4924 · otland/forgottenserver

Pull Request Prelude I have followed proper The Forgotten Server code styling. I have read and understood the contribution guidelines before making this PR. I am aware that this PR may be clo...

github.com

so for at least 30 days newest TFS is not 'stable', it's pretty unusable for server with 100+ players.

Thank you very much for the answers, so tfs 1.4 will be the best because it is one of the most used and with the most stability tests, although there are more modern ones but little used.

Post automatically merged: Jun 10, 2025

@detudo2012 if you want you can follow my guide

Running forgottenserver 1.7 downgraded to 8.6 – My OTS journey

myotsjourney.michalciernia.pl

Ok I will take a look thanks.

 

[Gesior.pl]

Ok I will take a look thanks.

There are mainly 3 ways:

• go 14+ Tibia protocol with canary engine (not stable, but a lot of features for 14+ tibia clients): GitHub - opentibiabr/canary: Canary Server 14.x for OpenTibia community. (https://github.com/opentibiabr/canary)
• stay on TFS 1.4 protocol 10.98, I work on "compilation" branch of TFS 1.4 that fixes bugs and makes engine compile on newest Windows and Linux (I add some new features, but only tested ones, to keep this engine stable): GitHub - gesior/forgottenserver-gesior at compilation (https://github.com/gesior/forgottenserver-gesior/tree/compilation)
• some people try Black Tek Server (BTS), it's 10.98, but with a lot of changes in C++/Lua - it's updated pretty often, so it's probably not 'stable' engine -: GitHub - Black-Tek/BlackTek-Server: A 2D Top Down (MMORPG) Game Server, with the goal of becoming a rapid development game engine someday (https://github.com/Black-Tek/BlackTek-Server)

and there are many 'downgrades' of TFS 1.x and BTS to 7.x and 8.x protocols.

 

[Dakos]

1. TFS;
2. The newer version - the better.

i cant agree, i would suggest 1.4 as base then work at this for your need
Retro / Rl Tibia whatever, since u have source u can do everything with that

 

[Sorky]

There are mainly 3 ways:

• go 14+ Tibia protocol with canary engine (not stable, but a lot of features for 14+ tibia clients): GitHub - opentibiabr/canary: Canary Server 14.x for OpenTibia community. (https://github.com/opentibiabr/canary)
• stay on TFS 1.4 protocol 10.98, I work on "compilation" branch of TFS 1.4 that fixes bugs and makes engine compile on newest Windows and Linux (I add some new features, but only tested ones, to keep this engine stable): GitHub - gesior/forgottenserver-gesior at compilation (https://github.com/gesior/forgottenserver-gesior/tree/compilation)
• some people try Black Tek Server (BTS), it's 10.98, but with a lot of changes in C++/Lua - it's updated pretty often, so it's probably not 'stable' engine -: GitHub - Black-Tek/BlackTek-Server: A 2D Top Down (MMORPG) Game Server, with the goal of becoming a rapid development game engine someday (https://github.com/Black-Tek/BlackTek-Server)

and there are many 'downgrades' of TFS 1.x and BTS to 7.x and 8.x protocols.

i don't think anyone downgraded BT to 8.x or 7.x yet, not that is not possible