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Shelved: Custom HD1 server — DNS-redirect console to serve custom campaigns #444

Description

@elfensky

Idea

Act as a custom backend for Helldivers 1. Player points their console's DNS at our server; we serve a fully authored campaign with custom settings (factions, points_max, season duration, events, etc.) instead of mirroring the real war.

Why this project is well-positioned

We already reconstruct the official HD1 wire format from normalized tables — the rebroadcast API rebuilds get_campaign_status / get_snapshots from the h1_* tables. A custom campaign = emit that same wire format from author-controlled state. The protocol knowledge — the hard part — already exists.

Open questions / unknowns (gating)

  • Cert pinning / TLS — biggest unknown. Does the game pin certs or accept a DNS-redirected host over plain HTTP? If pinned, this is likely dead on console.
  • Full endpoint surface — must map every call the client makes, not just the two we poll. get_available_entitlements / get_leaderboards / get_usernames currently return 501 in rebroadcast.
  • Write path — client reporting (kills/progress) needs POST handling; we're read-only today.
  • Authoring UI — configure a custom season reusing the existing introduction_order[] / points_max[] / season_duration[] shape.
  • Legal / ToS — impersonating the official backend; keep strictly opt-in / self-hosted.

Status

Exploratory. Cert-pinning feasibility gates everything else.

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