Every RF Online server here is built against one client build and speaks to that build alone. The client is a program we did not write, so the server conforms to it byte for byte. Some of these clients also need a small patch before they will run at all, covered under Patching Your Client.
Which Client Each Server Needs
| Server | Client build | How to identify it |
|---|---|---|
| RF Online: Dragonborn | RF Online Taiwan, built 2025-07-16 | RF_Online.bin, 8,430,808 bytes |
| RF Online 4.15, Age of Patron | RedFox Games 4.15 final, built 2023-01-02 | RF_Online.bin, 8,685,880 bytes |
| RF Online 2.2.3.2, Golden Age | Episode 2.2.3.2 retail | the version the client reports |
| RF Online 2.1.6, Secret of Holystone | Episode 2.1.6 retail | the version the client reports |
| RF Online 2.1.5, Red Army | Episode 2.1.5 retail | the version the client reports |
| RF Online Giga 4 Part 2 | Giga 4 Part 2 retail | the version the client reports |
| RF Online 1.5 | GamesCampus 1.5b, built 2013-03-13 | RF_Online.bin, 10,153,352 bytes |
Four of these are identified by a file rather than by a version number, because for those four the version number does not name a single program. Their exact fingerprints are below.
Patching Your Client
The retail clients were made to run against their publishers' own services. Some check for an anti-cheat service, a build date or a second running copy that no private server can satisfy, and stop before the login screen. GoMMO Client Patcher switches those checks off in RF_Online.bin. Every RF bundle carries it in its tools folder, and it is also a download of its own.
| Server | What it switches off |
|---|---|
| RF Online: Dragonborn (4.55) | the built-in expiry that greys out Start Game |
| RF Online 4.15, Age of Patron | the GameGuard check that closes the client after ten seconds, the built-in expiry, and GameGuard on the USA territory |
| RF Online 2.1.6, Secret of Holystone | the HackShield start-up check, the one-copy limit, and the intro movie |
| RF Online 1.5 | the HackShield start-up check, the "HS Err 8" box on every launch, the intro movies, and the monster aura list that leaves about 200 monsters without their glow |
| RF Online 2.2.3.2, 2.1.5 and Giga 4 Part 2 | none yet: the patcher does not recognise these clients and refuses to change them |
Running it
- Open
GoMMO_Client_Patcher.exe. - Drop
RF_Online.bin, or the folder holding it, on its window, or press Browse for RF_Online.bin. Dropping the file onGoMMO_Client_Patcher.exeitself works too. - It names the build you have and switches on the fixes in your version's row. Press Patch client.
- It backs the file up first, as
RF_Online.bin.<date-time>.backupbeside the original. - It shows what it changes. Under each fix, What it changes lists every offset in the file with the bytes before and after.
- Every fix can be undone: Restore original puts back every byte as the build shipped.
- It only patches a client it recognises. It checks the whole file against the builds it knows and every byte it is about to change, so a different build of the same version is refused rather than damaged.
- If the client is installed under Program Files, Windows will not let it write there; the patcher offers to run as administrator.
- Window mode: on a client that reads it from
R3Engine.ini, the patcher sets windowed or full screen, and uses your desktop's resolution for full screen when your display cannot run the one in the file.
What not to do instead
- RF Online 1.5: leave
HackShield\<locale>\ehsvc.dllwhere it is. This client calls into the real HackShield and does not work with a stand-in. The patch overrules HackShield's verdict; it does not remove it. - RF Online 1.5: do not delete or rename the
.bikmovie files. A movie that fails to open makes this client rebuild its title screen forever, which looks like a hang. The patcher's intro movies fix skips them safely. - Dragonborn and 4.15: do not set your clock back to get past the expiry. The check uses the client's own build date, and the patch is the fix.
Exact Builds
Compare the file you have. A size that matches and a hash that matches is the client the server was written against; anything else is a different program.
4.55
| File | RF_Online.bin |
| Size | 8,430,808 bytes |
| Built | 2025-07-16 |
| SHA-256 | 46528aac20499e3b3928d58658d7e0cefe26feba7cd193796d5cfbf7a2bbc558 |
The newest RF Online client that exists, from the Taiwan service, signed by CCR.
This client expires. It checks its own build date against your clock, and past its shelf life it greys out Start Game and writes "This Client Version has Expired!" to its log with nothing on screen to explain. Credits and Exit keep working, which makes it look like a broken install. The check never touches the network, so no server can satisfy it for you, and setting your clock back is not a fix.
GoMMO Client Patcher's client expiry fix switches it off; Patching Your Client shows how.
It runs in Traditional Chinese only. It ships nine language folders under DataTable, but only zh-tw is current. The other eight, English included, were last updated in 2022 for the older 4.15 client and lack the text for everything added since, such as the item collection and the later cash-shop pages. There is no English pack for this client to switch to, so leave the launcher's nation code at TW, which is the code our server is built against.
4.15
| File | RF_Online.bin |
| Size | 8,685,880 bytes |
| Built | 2023-01-02 |
| SHA-256 | f9af7e8d367a54eab61ba37c68cd45b46ca065d4a415efa54eaa76e7f1923811 |
| Installer | RFOnline_Setup.exe, 6,616,024 bytes, SHA-256 8f0dbab512f011aef790faa5262b3b5a790783bdcdaa85048a73e294c7bd08f6 |
The last 4.15 RedFox Games ever shipped, and the only 4.15 that has connected to our server.
The installer's signature verifies, but what it installs is the 2018 build, not this one. To get the 2023-01-02 binary, run the client's own RF.exe once after installing and let it patch. Expect it to fail at the end: RedFox closed the game in February 2023 and its download servers are gone, so the patcher finishes its file downloads and then errors when it cannot reach them. The files still arrive. Ignore the error and check the hash.
1.5
| File | RF_Online.bin |
| Size | 10,153,352 bytes |
| Built | 2013-03-13 |
| MD5 | 04f83be3a212582224d379dad655352f |
The retail GamesCampus 1.5b client.
Three separate programs call themselves RF Online 1.5: this one, a Korean build from January 2012, and an English build from November 2012. They disagree about what to send on the wire, and only this one is supported. The other two are not expected to work.
The build date above is the one the file itself carries, which survives copying and installing where a timestamp on disk does not.
We Do Not Ship a Client
No RF Online release here contains a game client, a patched executable, a loader or a replacement binary. The client is the one you already own; the server is the part we wrote. GoMMO Client Patcher, in each RF bundle and as a download of its own, edits your own copy in place and keeps a backup. Gate to Heavens works the other way round and ships its client inside the release, because that one is ours to give away.
Versions Are Not Interchangeable
A client from one version cannot talk to a server from another. There is no partial result and no login screen you get past first: the two disagree on the shape of the first message they exchange.
Across versions the message numbering changes, the record layouts change, the data tables change, and in some cases the encryption on the wire changes method rather than keys. That is why these are separate servers with separate downloads rather than one server with a setting.
Pointing Your Client at a Server
The server address is not inside the client, so there is nothing to edit for it. Every RF release ships rflauncher.exe: copy it into your client folder, run it instead of the game executable, and it writes what the client needs and starts it already signed in.
The launcher covers the settings file beside it. Choosing a version covers which server to run, and installing a server covers the other end.