The Al'Kabor (EQMac) EverQuest Server

[Torrid]

Al'Kabor is the long lost Macintosh EverQuest server. It went live 10 years ago and is forever stuck in the Planes of Power era, getting no content updates.

There is also a PC client hack to allow PCs to log in to Al'Kabor so you can play it without a Mac. The original hack was created by Secrets, an EQ Emu dev. It was disabled in a client patch, but a new working hack was created by eqmule, an MQ2 developer.

PC client installation instructions

1. Install EQ Titanium from discs or otherwise obtain a fresh install folder of it

2. Take the contents of the fresh EQ Titanium installation folder and put them into a folder of your choice, e.g. C:\EQMac

3. Download EQMac via Sony's web installer here: https://lp.soe.com/eqmac/live/

4. Take the contents of the C:\Users\Public\Sony Online Entertainment\Installed Games\EverQuest Mac\Contents\Resources folder and copy it all to the folder you made, e.g. C:\EQMac; overwrite anything it asks. (will be a lot) DO NOT copy to (your EQMac folder)\Resources. i.e. NOT C:\EQMac\Resources. If your client does not run for whatever reason, check to make sure you copied to the correct folder.

5. Download eqmule's patch archive that can be found here http://www.redguides.com/forums/showthread.php/26254-OFFICIAL-EQMac-Windows-eqmules-Edition-standalone-v2-1 and overwrite the files in the folder you made with the files inside this zip. (you may have to unzip then copy as the zip archive has the files inside a folder)

6a. Edit eqclient.ini and ensure that the following settings are set correctly:

VideoModeBitsPerPixel=32
BitsPerPixel=32
NewUI=TRUE
CombatMusic=FALSE
Log=TRUE

The important settings are the ones for video mode bits per pixel, which must be the same as your desktop, and the NewUI must be on or you will have an extremely limited UI. The other two settings are optional but I imagine a lot of people would want the combat music off and the log file on all the time. You may want to turn on other things, such as velious armor textures. If the game still does not run, try editing eqw.ini's video settings as well.

6b. If your EQMac folder is not C:\EQMac, then edit eqw.ini and change the folder to wherever you put it.

7. Download a frame rate limiting program or set the frame limiter option in Nvidia Inspector to cap your frame rate. The reason why you need this is because EQ will run at many hundreds of frames per second on modern graphics cards, which is not only a waste of computer resources, but also screws up your mouselook speed. (one axis will be very fast, the other too slow)

If you don't have an Nvidia GPU, or don't want to cap your frame rate via Nvidia inspector, you can use one of these programs:

MSI Afterburner (http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm) - Works for non-MSI and AMD cards too. Run the On-Screen Display Server and click the wrench.
Dxtory (http://dxtory.com/v2-download-en.html) - A Fraps-like program; not free, but the trial doesn't end. Click the Advanced tab, and check 'Limit Video FPS'.

8. Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555). If you get a "Exception Processing Message 0xc0000135" when launching the client, the reason why is you do not have this package installed.

9. To run the game, execute eqw.exe with admin privileges and make sure to check the box for Fix EQclinit.ini.

10. Once in the game, if the 'Chose a Skill' box doesn't appear when assigning Action Buttons, then look for a small piece of the window sticking out in the corner of the screen somewhere. It was almost entirely off screen for me and it needed to be moved.

Note: If you have trouble with the installation or the PC client in any way, DO NOT ask questions about it on the official eqmac forums. This is NOT an official game client and people will give you dirty looks at best, or worse it may motivate SOE to disable it.


Known issues with the PC client

The PC client is inferior to the official Mac client for a number of reasons. If you have a Mac available it is recommended that you play on that instead.


The PC client will aggressively use up all of the CPU on the core it runs on, even with the frame rate limited, and running more than one client on the same processor core will make them all run badly, make the game unplayable, or worse make your entire machine slow to a crawl.
The PC client is old, and uses a software cursor inside EQW. This means you cannot move your cursor outside the game window while the game has focus.
Alt-tabbing will sometimes make the Alt key stuck as if it were being held down in the game until you press it again.
The client will act very strangely on some older dual-core processors unless you force it to only run on one core. (processor affinity)
You cannot send commands to the game when it is in the background/not in focus using multi-box software of some sort. If you're some sort of genius programmer that finds a way, then I will shower you with platinum for the solution.
Changing window focus using multi-box software will occasionally cause movement keys to get stuck, causing your character to run and/or turn on its own.
You may notice some graphics anomalies when the game camera is very close to players or NPCs on machines with Nvidia hardware.
During large raids the client will lag. Setting the data rate to 9.0 in datarate.txt and turning off filters will help. You may get disconnected entirely if you don't.
The client will often crash when zoning after long raids.
I've been told shakerpaging will not work on the PC client as it will disconnect you before your character can get the experience. (have not personally verified this claim though as I have no warrior)

The Mac client does not have these problems.


Misc server facts


This server is EverQuest as it was circa early 2003. No Ykesha, no LDoN, no maps, no augments.
The sleeper still sleeps here
This server has the original plane of mischief, only accessible from NToV
This server's Lost Temple of Cazic Thule zone is the post-Luclin revamped version
Level 55+ characters get free access to tier 2 planes (Storms, Valor, Crypt)
Level 62+ characters get free access to tier 3 planes (Tactics, BoT)
This server has a 20% exp bonus
This server's group exp bonus is exceptionally large at 4+ players
Earthshakers still drop, shrakerpaging works
DoT damage is not displayed
No target rings
No buff timers


Some advice for people starting out

1. the 'Alliance' channel is the global chat channel for the server. I suggest doing an /autojoin Alliance to perma join it. Mostly because...
2. Several times a day, people will do MGB (mass group buff) KEI and Valor at the soulbinder in PoK. They will announce this in the Alliance channel. These buffs will last about 3 hours and 40 minutes, depending on the caster's AAs.
3. Zones with a huge (double exp) experience modifier: Crushbone, Befallen, Kurn's Tower, Paludal Caverns (a favorite), Upper Guk, Warrens, High Keep.
4. Each city has newbie armor quests that you may want to look into (more info (http://www.eqmac.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=8380))
5. Press ctrl-alt-r in EQW to release your mouse cursor, and again to return control to the game. This allows you to move the window.
6. Nelin Signus in PoK sells Deluxe Toolboxes which are 10 slot containers that weigh 3.5 and carry GIANT items. Cost is ~1.2pp.
7. It is STRONGLY advised that any new characters keep up their defense skill as they level. The farther behind the current defense cap for the character, the harder it is to raise. You have been warned. Yes, it is that bad. Using blue con pets in the arena is an effective way to raise defense and weapon skills if you have access to them.


Cash farming options for low to mid level players

1. Perhaps the best newbie zone in the game to start out in is Butcherblock Mountains. There are a number of mobs in this zone that drop cash items. Any race can use the PoK books to travel here safely at level 1.


Large Skunks (level 2) can drop Pristine Skunk Claws which sell to vendors for ~4pp
Krag Chicks (levels 3-5) can drop Pristine Krag Claws which sell to vendors for ~1pp
Wandering Greenbloods (levels 9-10) can drop Insignias of Greenblood which sell to vendors for ~4pp (killing these lowers Oggok faction)
Various Green Goblins can drop Green Goblin Blood Vials which sell to vendors for ~4pp

The best location to hunt skunks seems to be the northwest area near the docks.

2. Crushbone orcs will drop scalps which can be given to an NPC in highpass hold for 5-6 gold each. This NPC is near the misty zone. (Captain Ashlan)

3. Willowisps are levels 9-11 and drop lightstones (vendor for 1pp with good charisma) and greater lightstones. (4.5pp) Don't sell the greater lightstones though; you can trade them for an item (it's a container, have a bag slot open) that sells for ~8pp to Mrysila in North Karana (good races) or to Smith Tv`ysa in South Ro. (evil races) Both these quest NPCs are also vendors.

4. Bandits (levels 14-20) in Paludal Caverns drop ringmail and lots of coin.

5. The adventurous types in their mid to late 20s or higher can explore the Warrens dungeon. Weapon drops vendor for 1-5pp, drops here may sell in the bazaar, molars can be turned in at Erudin for money, and there is a quest that gives 50pp if you camp a named here.

6. Wooly Mammoths in Everfrost Peaks (levels 22-26) drop tusks that vendor for about 10pp with high charisma at a rate of 1 per 2 kills or so. (they are GIANT items, carry a bag that can hold them; a Deluxe Toolbox works)


Selling Tradeskill Materials

Often rich, high level players will want to buy tradeskill mats in bulk to raise their skills. This is often the best way for new players to get some easy money. Keep an eye out for notifications by players in various channels asking for mats to get an idea of who wants what and for how much. Prices/demand vary considerably depending on who needs what and when. Setting up a vendor in the bazaar might be a good idea as well.

1. Blacksmiths want (lots of) swirling shadows. There are only two viable farming locations for this item: an island in the twilight sea with undercon level 30-40 mobs, and some fast respawning level 3-7 skeletons called 'a lesser shade' in Shadeweaver's Thicket. These skeletons drop both swirling shadows and shadeling silk, which can sell for anywhere from 25pp to 125pp ea and 2-5pp ea respectively. The place you want to hunt these skeletons is an area north of Shar Vahl, near a cave opening. Follow the road north to the cave and kill every skeleton mob (not just shades) you see in that area. You'll notice that a mob will respawn immediately after you kill one. The spawn rate is so fast that a higher level melee class with SoW on can easily get more shadows here than in Twilight Sea even, if they have the patience for it.

2. Superb and Flawless Rockhopper Hides can be sold to players for 100-500pp ea depending on the buyer. The rockhoppers that drop these are level 37-45 and can be found in Dawnshroud Peaks, Mons Letalis, or the Scarlet Desert. By far the best place to farm these is the rockhopper cave in the northeast corner of Dawnshroud; however the cave does not always spawn rockhoppers. If the cave has tribesmen instead, Samabata Tribal Leader Garn (level 48, and has PHs) will need to be killed in order to switch the cave over to Rockhoppers. DO NOT kill the Age Old Rockhopper, or the cave will spawn tribesmen instead.

3. Spider silk has been known to have buyers offering 200pp a stack, sometimes more. Crag spiders (levels 18-22) in East Karana are a good source of spider silk.

4. Some players buy Celestial Essences for 100pp/stack or higher. (5pp ea) This is a no-fail combine from store bought components. All of the components can be bought from merchants that are very close (same building) to each other in PoK. Combine a Celestial Solvent and a Scent of Marr in a Mortar and Pestle.

Mortar & Pestle from vendor Ciren Darkbog (~1.1pp; one time purchase)
Celestial Solvent from vendor Darius Gandril (1.3g-1.5g)
The Scent of Marr from vendor Loran Thu'Leth (1.6pp-1.9pp)


Websites

http://lucy.alkabor.com - Spell database specific for this server
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/ - Most popular EQ database site
http://www.eqtraders.com - Tradeskill recipes, vendor lists for items and spells (allakhazam requires a paid account to list item vendors and recipes)
Alla Kabor (http://www.allakabor.com/smf/index.php) - Item database site specifically for this server. Requires registration
http://www.eqmacwiki.com/eqatlas/atlas.html - Maps
Gear List Spreadsheets (http://eqmac.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8575) - Lists of every piece of gear on the server
ZEM List (http://www.eqmac.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7446) - Zone Experience Modifiers of every zone (exp per kill multiplier)
A Guide to Experience Mechanics on Al'Kabor (http://www.eqmac.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=10256) - Strongly recommend reading this


Low level doable focus item quests

The Magic Pool (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=2203) - Haste II mask; requires sarnak blood and running through a mid 30s dungeon invis
Holly Longtail's Replacement Parts (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=2193) - Mana Preservation II ring; requires tradable drops from some low 30s mobs
(anyone know more quests like these?)


Popular Custom User Interfaces

Powerof2 (http://www.dcoffey.co.uk/poweroftwo/About.html)
Velious UI (http://eqmac.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11136)


Programs that may be useful to players here (PC only)

1. http://gambosoft.com/ has two programs: GamParse and GameTextTriggers. GamParse is a dps log parser; and GamTextTriggers can do all sorts of things, like display timers and play sounds when specified text is encountered in your log file, which it parses in real-time. I set it to make a sound when 'MGB' or 'KEI' is said so I can be tabbed out and not miss group buff announcements, and set timers for important buffs, as some examples.
2. http://www.baremetalsoft.com/baregrep/ is my favorite grep tool, which is useful for searching log files. Example uses include searching the log file for item prices, to find the timestamp of when you were last buffed (there are no buff timers on EQMac) or listing the timestamps of every level gain to determine how long they took.
3. HotkeyNet (http://hotkeynet.com) is pretty nice (and free) multi-boxing software. Changing window focus using this will prevent the alt key getting stuck problem.
4. A simple AutoIT (http://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/) button spam script I wrote to raise skills for me: (and trust me, you'll need this or something similar; skillups are bitch here)


AutoItSetOption ( "WinTitleMatchMode", 3 )

Global $TwoSpamState = 0
Global $TwoSpamDelay = 6000

HotKeySet("{NUMPAD2}", "TwoSpam")
HotKeySet("{NUMPADADD}", "TwoSpamSetDelay")

While 1
; If $TwoSpamState Then
If $TwoSpamState and WinActive("EQW beta 2.32") Then
Send("2")
EndIf
Sleep(Random(1, 100, 1) + $TwoSpamDelay)
WEnd

Func TwoSpam()
If $TwoSpamState Then
$TwoSpamState = 0;
Else
$TwoSpamState = 1;
EndIf
Beep(500, 100)
EndFunc

Func TwoSpamSetDelay()
$TwoSpamDelay = $TwoSpamDelay + 500
If $TwoSpamDelay > 10000 Then
$TwoSpamDelay = 0
EndIf
Beep(500 + ($TwoSpamDelay / 10), 100)
EndFunc


This will spam the '2' button when turned on. Press numpad 2 to toggle it on/off. Press numpad+ to increase the delay by half a second (reverts to almost-zero delay after 10 seconds) If you want to change the button from 2 to something else, just edit the Send("2") line. It may need to be run as admin to send to the EQW window. The UAC popup will also crash the client when it dims your screen, so you will need to run your scripts before loading the client, or disable the UAC screen dimming. (you can lower the slider one notch to disable the dimming without disabling UAC entirely)

[Andaas]

Hi Torrid!

[Coral]

Hi Torrid!

Hi Andaas!

[Aindayen]

Holy shit coral!

[Andaas]

Heya Coral.

[Stosh]

I've always been intrigued by Al'Kabor, to the point of buying a Powermac G5 and downgrading the OS to Lion for best performance. (People on the Al'Kabor forum said this was best OS for EQMac anyway.) This was back in the day when you had to call SoE to have them enable your account for Al'Kabor access. I got to level 5/6 on a rogue and realized that I'd need to 2box, as low level groups were few and far between and soloing as rogue in the original EQ universe is slow and unfun. To make a long story short, I didn't feel like buying another Mac (didn't care for multiple key pressed to switch screens) to 2box, so I resold the Powermac and lucked into SoE opening up Fippy/Vulak. After the MacEQ was recompiled, I managed to grab a download of the original play on a PC hack, and logged in a few times, but with the thread of the PC hack being disabled and with Fippy/Vulak ongoing, I had no desire to play.

Anyway, all that gibberish aside, what's Al'kabor like these days? Can I find groups, or do I need to box until level 65 and then hope I can find groups since from the Al'kabor forums there was a lot of people that refused to group so they could abuse all the broken mechanics on Al'Kabor like Enchanter charm for maximum effect. I'm willing to put in the time, but EQ was always a social thing as well as a game for me, so if I have to play by myself 95% of the time, I'd just assume play Skyrim. What about UI mods? Can Vert be made to work, or is there something similar?

[Torrid]

The server is kind of low population. I see some grouping, but not much. Mostly in Paludal or the nobles in High Keep. Although I haven't been looking for groups, so I couldn't say for sure how bad it is. I have been asked to join groups several times though. There is active raiding at the high end.

And yes, I am abusing the hell out of druid charm with four out of range level 1s in my group. Even soloing in EQ is fun to me if you do the super hardcore stuff. My pet is 80% hasted with dual 200 DD procs, can kill me in like 4 seconds and I don't even snare the thing because it would slow down my exp. I soloed MM for my wreath before the zone was green, and soloed lguk for my EE bag. (without MGBs) EQ can be challenging and fun, even alone. I'm also level 55 and have yet to die on this server :)

I'm using the "powerof2" UI right now. I sort of like the "Velious with extras" UI from project 1999 better, but this isn't bad. It has some neat timer thingy that helps time tick procs, which is handy for med kiting. P99 UIs won't work with this hacked PC client though, because this client is circa 2003 and p99 uses Titanium, which is circa 2005. (god do I miss target rings) You can grab a virt mod for it somewhere.

And check out what Syana and I did tonight. Who says exping in EQ is boring? Here is one wizard PBAoEing a 25+ mob pull:

7186

Bring back some memories Andaas? :P

[Aindayen]

Ah memories!

[Trazz]

Looks like fun!

[Lothbah]

oops i didnt see this thread before i posted in the other...

Send me a tell on Juice if you decide to play on Al`Kabor. Can help you out with some starter gear, platinum, and maybe some PLing if you want

[Torrid]

6 box PBAoE

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eP9Em4Fu80g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

7189
7190
7191

[Torrid]

more

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kxlwg_p1_Fc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Aindayen]

Impressive.

[Torrid]

How to powerlevel:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGZYQJp-4xI

Check out that 3 second level in the late 20s. I didn't even use the group exp bonus sploit

[Elidroth]

Mmmm hmmmmm.. :)

[Forty]

Just logged in to the Xeg/Druzzil server yesterday. That damn Halas banker is atill THREATING to me, ffs.

[Elidroth]

He knows you too well Forty!

BTW.. I just became Assistant Lead Designer on EQ, and I'm going to see if I can convince people around here to 'officially' endorse a PC client for Al'kabor, and call it "EQ Classic"

[Trazz]

Forty, next time you're in, say hi!. I'm usually on 3-4 times a week.

You can fix all faction now with loyalty points.

[Torrid]

BTW.. I just became Assistant Lead Designer on EQ, and I'm going to see if I can convince people around here to 'officially' endorse a PC client for Al'kabor, and call it "EQ Classic"

Congratulations on the promotion Elid, and thanks for championing the cause over there. It's important that classic EQ not die when nothing has surpassed it gameplay-wise. WoW was a step backwards. The kids these days have no idea what they are missing.

[Forty]

Forty, next time you're in, say hi!. I'm usually on 3-4 times a week.

You can fix all faction now with loyalty points.

I will. So far I haven't done much but walk around PoK and the Bazaar. Went to Halas then decided to Gate and it took me to that ship, forgot the name, and I just stood there for about 10 minutes not remembering how to get get to land or any place I could try to kill something.

[Lothbah]

He knows you too well Forty!

BTW.. I just became Assistant Lead Designer on EQ, and I'm going to see if I can convince people around here to 'officially' endorse a PC client for Al'kabor, and call it "EQ Classic"

Grats El. Not to sound like an old man protecting his lawn, but I'd suggest being cautious and consider all the pros and cons of releasing an official PC client before pushing it too hard. We've got something pretty cool on Al'Kabor and the PC hack brought with it a bunch of p99 players and unprecedented levels of drama, cheating, and bullshit. Please talk to Hobart and the people at eqmac.com and get a sense of whether the community even wants a PC client.

[Torrid]

The two worst assholes on that server were there before the hack though. Also since using the hack at all is a bit dubious, naturally the people who don't care about the rules are more likely to use it, which is why the first hack users tended to be jackasses. TSE quit for that WoW emu though (laugh) so things are better now.

I think it's important to expand the userbase of classic EQ as much as possible, whether it be Al'Kabor or Project 1999 or eqclassic.org's soon to be released server. I WANT Al'Kabor to be flooded with new players, because I want classic EQ's gameplay to live on and be incorporated into new games. Classic EQ never got a true successor, and that is a god damn shame considering how amazing the game is. It is by far my favorite game of all time. Classic EQ is very well designed with very deep gameplay that you do not see in any modern MMORPG today. If developers see the demand for a game that isn't made for children and grandmas, then they'll start making games for gamers once again.

[Trazz]

I will. So far I haven't done much but walk around PoK and the Bazaar. Went to Halas then decided to Gate and it took me to that ship, forgot the name, and I just stood there for about 10 minutes not remembering how to get get to land or any place I could try to kill something.

I've taken a few sabbaticals in my EQ days. Coming back is a bit strange at first. So much has changed since those days. You can purchase mercenaries now to help with leveling or grouping. The game has really changed since PoP and Anguish days where Hoss left off.

I imagine you're level 70? or 65?

I can help you level a bit if you're interested. I have some methods for doing some power leveling. Fairly easy with a caster class. (AE spells). Can also help you out with some gear. I even have some classes at those levels to join you.



Rika and a few others were playing for a bit. Haven't seen them on in some time.

[Torrid]

way more fun than WoW


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOCRjed-bPQ

[Torrid]

I am an AoE fetishist


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shRteJaPMXw

[Trem]

Oh how i loved the classic character models the " new " models were complete crap. I often wonder if the fond memories i have of EQ are just an old man remembering the good ol times and overlooking the nightmare that was LFG.

[Crimsonbanshee]

I have to admit no matter what I play I still find myself thinking back to the good old days. Bad graphics but fun gameplay.

[Torrid]

Tis a sad day not just for Al"Kaborians, but to everybody who cares about the dying genre that is MMORPGs. Sony just announced the shutdown of the best game they have.

Smed is determined to kill EverQuest. EQ1 didn't make VI rich because it had goofy lore with SonyEQ seplled backwards or elemental gods with names that are anagrams of their element. You can't just slap EQ's lore on games that play NOTHING like classic EQ and expect them to do as well. It's insanity that they are ignoring what made EverQuest the success it was: the gameplay.

Anybody who says classic EverQuest's gameplay is dead, unpopular, niche, etc. is talking out of their ass and only has WoW to point at. Sony listening to these idiots is why they are a sinking ship. Sony has been WoWifying their games for years and what has it done for them? How many WoW clones were wild successes and how many failed?

Thanks for killing the only fun game out there Smed.

[Kattoo Tacit]

=\

[Elidroth]

Yep.. strangely, I found out about it the same way all of you did.. the email. Kind of surprised me too since I hadn't heard a peep about this even being rumored.

[Crimsonbanshee]

Shame to see it go , truly was the best gaming experience in my life

[Torrid]

http://youtu.be/QMZSireCYnc

Leveled a bard up a few weeks ago. Such a fun class. Too bad I never got the chance to play it much.

[Lothbah]

sucks :\ Smed has also said he's not going to transfer any of our toons to EQPC... sigh... don't know how many times they've left money on the table just in dealing with the EQMAC people and the classic EQ concept in general.

I've been playing around on Xegony (Druzzil) since the announcement was made (you'll maybe see 10 people in alliance chat on al'Kabor these days, before it would often be full at 190). No recognizable names except Pactus Aquilus and Tenacity/Scourge of Shadows.

[depen]

Pactus Aquilus.... I used to work for Treesmasha. Ran into him a few months ago and he was all about EQ still, trying to get me to come back. I thought about it, but it seems like I'd be playing catch up for years.

[Crimsonbanshee]

I was briefly in Pactus , Tree was a good guy.

[Lonskils]

So they are closing down EQ? or what gives?

[Andaas]

Just the EQMac (Al-Kabor) server.

[Lonskils]

Ohhh, is that what they were using for emulation?

[Andaas]

From the first post of this thread...


Al'Kabor is the long lost Macintosh EverQuest server. It went live 10 years ago and is forever stuck in the Planes of Power era, getting no content updates.

There is also a PC client hack to allow PCs to log in to Al'Kabor so you can play it without a Mac. The original hack was created by Secrets, an EQ Emu dev. It was disabled in a client patch, but a new working hack was created by eqmule, an MQ2 developer.

[Lonskils]

Ah, so good bye only PoP era.

[Lothbah]

It's not just the PoP era; that can be sort-of recreated on an EMU like projectEQ. The real loss here is the original codebase; the original hp/ac/thac0/damage etc etc etc mechanics are gone forever when al'kabor dies. This original code is also the main reason the shutdown is happening - Hobart is the only person still at SoE who could work with it and they need him to work on whatever continuation of "the vision" they're trying to unfuck (currently Vanguard?).

So yeah, GG smed and bye Everquest 1

[Torrid]

Work is underway to preserve that kind of data before the shutdown. The mob damage formula has been known for a very long time and any MT worth a shit knew about it to know when to use evasive instead of defensive. The Steel Warrior forum has a list of uber mob DB and DI values (which can be used to determine min and max hits). I am in the process of collecting DB and DI values along with mob max hp for common mobs of all levels in every expac era right now. I also frapsed every zone that got revamped on live servers (minus a few like the hole) and screencapped showEQ screens of all those zones. The emu devs already have packet sniffed mob locs though.

I have already collected enough data to notice certain patterns in the way SOE determines a mob's DB and DI. Even if they are unknown for some mobs, we can use the knowledge of those patterns to get a good approximation, if not the exact values.

AC is trickier but there are some posts that discuss tests done back in the PoP era. Uber Paladin Lola ran his own tests with AC on a PoFire mob and that post is still available to guild members on this forum in the old strategy forum. I have some old logs done in the Velious era on the mist panther, and I know of at least one thread on the Steel Warrior. I also logged 99% of my time while on Al'Kabor for the past year.

I am entertaining the idea of rolling some new characters on the Test server and leveling them up to the point where I can box PoP content just to get extremely accurate max HP values for raid mobs. That's a lot of work though.

Btw Juice, if you have raid logs of tanks or casters with other's hits on, I would love to get them. Uber mob max hits are all mostly known (but not all); it's the trash mobs that I could use logs for. Luclin mobs in particular. I still have all my logs from 2003 raids but I haven't gone through them to know which mobs I don't have. I do have a ton of PoTime logs though.

[Crimsonbanshee]

I may still have all my show eq logs from back in the day, I'll take a look. I still have the install and such in my backups. If they are any help I'll surely give them to ya.

[Torrid]

Sure, I'll take everything I can get

[Lothbah]

Got a text that Sleepers has been reset, so I'll try to keep you posted if I hear of anyone going down there so you can log the whole thing.

[Torrid]

A sleepers tomb log that caught all the melee would be really great to have.

If you really want to go nuts, have every single caster log their damage and add it all together to get max hp. Or just do a suicide run with a couple of wizards and a tank, nuke warders down to something like 10%, die, add up all the damage, and do some simple math. There are no warders on live servers to get accurate hitpoints of.

[Torrid]

Well we have a slight problem Juice. I logged you in a couple days after you requested that I check the zone with showEQ to check the zone again and I logged you out of the way of the garg pat but close enough to the gate to aggro the Final Arbiter when I logged you in tonight, and failed to channel 3 gates, so you're dead in there. (yes I should have gated you out but I'm stupid)

Asking for a necro summon in alliance but no luck so far. I still have that Zland talisman unused and access to a keyed well geared warrior so I can provide a war and cler (or some other class) to help fight down there if it came to it. Hell I imagine we could kill Klandicar for another and Zland should be up again.

Really want to use you for a fight to parse EP trash. Can't do it naked and run your corpse timer out though.

[Torrid]

Nevermind. I just decided to use that idiot's warp hack to get my cleric down there after using it to get her a key so I got you out.

[Aerothas]

Is this how you guys play EQ1 these days?

[Torrid]

These days I don't play EQ-- I make EQ. I joined the guys over at what is now called 'The Al'Kabor Project', which aims to be a PoP era classic EQ server.

It's obvious EQ1Live is not going to last much longer so I have to collect as much data from it as I can. Every scrap of it turns out to be valuable after the servers shut down.

Btw if anybody has any old EQ logs, I'd love to have them.

[Aerothas]

Torrid the Historian. Very cool. Is it playable?

[Torrid]

It's playable as in you can run around, kill mobs, and level up; but there is still much to be done before it's really launch ready

[Torrid]

So that emu I'm helping with entered a no-pwipe state on Jan 1st. It's a soft launch of sorts. (rough around the edges but playable)

http://www.takproject.net

If anybody is interested I can provide a link to a working client. It's classic era, but with PoK, Iksar and Vah Shir enabled. Level cap 50. Only non-classic zones open are Cabilis, Shar Vahl, Field of Bone, and Shadeweavers. 3 box limit. A poopsocker hit 50 today.

The global chat channel has over 100 in it during prime time. How many of those are boxes I couldn't say.

[Aindayen]

Very cool Torrin. I hope you're doing well.

[Aerothas]

Dude, linky linky. I'm thinking either p99 or your thing.

[Aerothas]

I searched eqmule (I know that name) and the al kabor project. It brought me to a Google drive with a possible client.. is that it?

[Aerothas]

7473

I was on p99 earlier no problem! Jeeze!

Edit: Working. Needed to run with EQW. :\

[Torrid]

The project is doing better than I expected. I'm rather pleased actually. It's not project 1999 quality (and frankly probably never will be) but it's certainly enjoyable for me to play. NPC statistics are very accurate. My FoH buddies are addicted. Our client has the advantage of being older than p99's, so it's more classic in that sense, even if our quest database and mechanics aren't as accurate. (this improves with time though of course) Our current state compared to a month ago is a massive improvement.

I have the client on my google drive, but I don't want to give the link out publicly. Anybody who PMs me can have it. (will PM you Aerothas) The client is 2.1 gigs uncompressed; it's a cleaned up version with all the post-PoP era zones and new spell effects removed.

[Torrid]

Wow, this forum is dead.

The Al'Kabor Project (http://www.takproject.net/forums/index.php) launches Kunark in October. Get your nostalgia fix here.

General information about the server (http://wiki.takp.info/index.php?title=The_Al%27Kabor_Project_Wiki:About)
Getting started guide and client downloads (http://wiki.takp.info/index.php?title=Getting_Started)

[Torrid]

The Al'Kabor Project's Velious expansion launches September 21st. Come play in the snow.

I personally spent a ridiculous amount of time parsing NPC statistics and fine tuning the combat mechanics to provide an accurate recreation of EverQuest's combat system. When you kill our Avatar of War, you're killing the real deal. AC softcaps and diminishing returns formulae were even decompiled from the client. Our stuff is legit.

PC and Mac clients are available.

Our server has a thee box limit, so you may play up to three characters simultaneously. Most of the community came from the old EQMac server and they're a laid-back friendly bunch. Staff will mandate rotations on raid bosses (so no 'poopsocking' here) should it be required, but they've been getting along well enough to not need it so far.

Luclin will probably open in another year or so, (no guarantees on timelines however) and we're ending at Planes of Power, so you have plenty of content to look forward to after this.

Relive the ding.

[Andaas]

Hey Torrid! Good to hear that you're still keeping it going! :)

[Widespreadd Panic]

does a server exist that is just the original eq with no expacs anywhere?

[Torrid]

We had only classic zones up for a time before opening Kunark, but we have PoP era features enabled and use a PoP era client. Project 1999 was also classic only for a time but they're in Velious now and use a modified 2005 era client.

You might want to keep on eye on eqclassic.org, but don't hold your breath for it.

Project 1999 might open another server in the future starting with classic zones only, so you should keep an eye out for that. Their client is 2005 era but modified to remove some non-classic features. It's probably your best bet for pre-Kunark era.

[Stosh]

From the wiki I see the race penalties/bonuses are included, but I didn't find anything about class bonuses or penalties. Will Troll Sk's still take twice as much xp to level as a halfling rogue/warrior?

Nevermind, found it in another section of the wiki.

Ok, couple of things. The class xp penalties were removed by Sony, but the bonuses to rogues and warriors were left in. How is the hadled?

And the wiki says the formula for xp in groups with people of different levels is unknown. All the research and testing I have ever done (or seen) is that xp was divvied up strictly by the ratio of the total personal to total group xp.

[Peotr]

Vile Stosh! You are considering Al'Kabor?

-- Peotr (Ass Master)

P.S. Torrid, is it true that your group is going to put up a new, clean-slate server sometime this month?

[Stosh]

Vile Stosh! You are considering Al'Kabor?

-- Peotr (Ass Master)

P.S. Torrid, is it true that your group is going to put up a new, clean-slate server sometime this month?

I am. After playing most of the time locked progression servers, I quit Lockjaw after 12 hours of grinding to 45 and skipped Phinney altogether since a large portion of the player base were unpleasant for one reason or another. I'm tempted to play again since I know there won't be abortions like the redesigned Freeport. The only thing that makes me hesitate is investing a lot of time and having some random GM/Dev/friend of ... going batshit insane. I'm too old for the P99 drama.

[Torrid]

P.S. Torrid, is it true that your group is going to put up a new, clean-slate server sometime this month?

No. Our server is still fairly low-population, so putting up more servers would only make for ghost towns.

Rumor has it Project 1999 will open another server after they are done with the Velious timeline, so if you want a fresh server, keep tabs on that.


The class xp penalties were removed by Sony, but the bonuses to rogues and warriors were left in. How is the hadled?

And the wiki says the formula for xp in groups with people of different levels is unknown. All the research and testing I have ever done (or seen) is that xp was divvied up strictly by the ratio of the total personal to total group xp.

Our exp code is mostly how Sony had it during the PoP era. The one wrinkle is how exp is split proportionally based on level difference, which is an unknown function. Another developer implemented this, so I can't provide details. He put in some sort of best-guess approximation. Low level characters still gain experience from kills that are green to higher level characters if they are grouped, so this proportionality is required to prevent exploitative levels of powerleveling.

I don't want to bash Project 1999, which I admire, but our community is considerably more accommodating than theirs.

[Torrid]

Also regarding the progression servers: they are crap, and I have no idea why they are as popular as they are. I can only assume it's out of ignorance and not knowing that Project 1999 and TAKP exist. Both p99 and TAKP are high-quality recreations and are *WAY* better approximations of old EQ than Daybreak's half-assed servers. Daybreak has full access to the old data yet refuses to implement the most basic of classic mechanics like hard capping AC or reverting monk fist damage. It's criminal laziness.

Their solution to balancing the game is adding 'mitigation of the mighty' perma buffs on raid bosses, which makes them artificially stronger. Common NPCs however remain in their normal state, which means overpowered characters plow them and level quickly. On top of that they instance all raid content, and killed NPCs do not even respawn in these instances. Yawn.

That damn perma buff makes it harder for me to parse NPCs too. I figured out what it modifies so I can still get accurate data however.

[Kurbi]

pretty cool Torrid, btw where's the github or whatever repo you guys are using? I didn't see it listed in the wiki.

[Torrid]

It's here: https://github.com/EQMacEmu however we closed the source 10 months ago because some users that we banned decided to get revenge on us by copying our work and starting up their own server and stealing as many users as they could by essentially spamming every EQ board they could find and piggybacking off Project 1999's success by calling themselves 'Project 2002' then rushing out very incomplete and poorly done content as fast as they could to stay ahead of us. They have no real programmers and host the server in some dude's house using his Comcast cable. (we host in EQEmu's datacenter) It's kind of pathetic, but they managed to split our userbase in half which is why our population is kind of low. Users don't vet the servers they start up on unfortunately.

We'll re-open the source again in a couple of years. However you can get a Kunark era server running using what we have up if you have technical ability and patience, but it will be far removed from our current code and database. After PoP launches we'll start working on how-to guides and tools for setting up servers.

Velious launched yesterday. I observed a guild killing the Statue tonight; fun stuff. Btw, we put up a new client with some new features a few days ago, so if anybody has an older client, check the wiki for the new one and what's in it. (upgrading is optional)

[Torrid]

The Al'Kabor Project (http://www.takproject.net) launched Luclin a couple of weeks ago.

Just The Lost Temple of Cazic Thule revamp and Planes of Power left to go. Also we released another big client update not to long ago, which unlocked the mouse from the window and virtually eliminated the key sticking issue.

I recreated the old inner Acrylia Caverns raids (the 3 that worked on AK anyway) with precision, so if you ever wondered what was in there, come and see :p

I'll mention that our server has several large experience multipliers and advantages, so if you're intimidated by the grind, don't be:

* Al'Kabor had a 20% server bonus. (and so do we have all of these)
* Then Sony tried to put in the Ykesha era group bonus. (20% for each member after the first)
* Sony screwed it up however and gave too much for groups of 4-6, and so Al'Kabor/we had/have a very large group bonus for 4-6 members. Basically if you have a group of 4+ you're gonna be making about 2.6x the exp you would have in 2002.
* The high level exp bonus is active (albeit not entirely precise), which was introduced on Live several weeks before PoP.
* The PoP zones (when they launch) will have the pre-nerf ZEMs that were nerfed on Live when they put in the Ykesha group bonus.
* We have Mass Group Buffs hitting people of all levels, so newbies and soloers have KEI and other buffs a lot of the time.
* Charm is pre-nerf, so you get full exp from charm. (not dire charm)
* PBAoE is not target capped like some emus. Pull 100 mobs at a time if you like.

We did disable shakerpage and the invis to animals clickables.

[Rika]

Not sure who is still here (say 'hey' if you still read). But after all these years I have started to EQ again. All the other games suck. I'm playing on TLP Coirnav as Gurriel/Riverside/Fabiola/Scoobe. If you dare to log in I will throw you some major PLing. Also, I have been playing on the TAK server. Its basically the same as when the majority of Hoss quit (but better because it is now). I just wish Torrid would roll back the monk nerf to better days. I only learned about it recently or I wouldn't have wasted my time on TLP. However, if you start a leveling you cant stop til you reach the.. 60 (in this case).

[Torrid]

I'm in favor of upping the monk softcap actually, but the other devs are not.

[Rika]

whack em with a stick. studded.

[Torrid]

The Al'Kabor Project launches Planes of Power on January 5th. This is the culmination of over 8 years of work by a small team. The server is far more accurate than I thought it would ever be. We are by far the most authentic EverQuest recreation available for this era, and that includes Daybreak's servers. We're the only server using the real, era appropriate client for the content being emulated. This is the last expansion the server will launch.

[Cardinal]

Well long time no see.... I must admit, in all the years gaming since EQ, nothing has ever come close... WoW, D2 D3, PoE, Illyriad, FFXiV.... nothing has come close to the thrill of beating ML to a NToV clear.....

Is the game still viable? Could I DL a PC client and level up again? ... oh relearning the game, unlearning all that came between then and now.... might be a blast tho...

[Torrid]

It's far more than viable. People underestimate how complete emulated servers are. Other than differences in mob pathfinding, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between our server and the real thing. In fact what turns off a lot of people is that our server is TOO authentic because they're used to mousewheel camera zoom-out to third person view, which was added in June 2003 and our client does not have it because it's about 6 months older.

The biggest differences are that some (not very many) of the most obscure quests are missing or not fully implemented and drop tables have to be estimated so they're not super precise. Combat-wise the server is so accurate you'd not tell the difference. I basically checked logs to get min/max damages on virtually all the NPCs in the game-- along with parsing hitpoints, resists, atk etc from Live servers. There have also been server logic leaks over the years from several sources (e.g. Sony dev comments in public and private, client decompiles) and I've done years of work on Live servers to figure out how mechanics worked.

Actually the most inauthentic thing about our emu is that it's a 3 box server and there is a lot of boxing going on. This really changes the group scene when two people fill a group. I wanted a 2 box limit but was outvoted. Also our exp rate is much higher than what we experienced because we're emulating the Mac server and that server had higher experience gains.

[Seraphina]

Look, it's Torrid!

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