Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4
Results 61 to 77 of 77

Thread: The Al'Kabor (EQMac) EverQuest Server

  1. #61
    Administrator Andaas's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Frisco, TX
    Posts
    13,063
    Blog Entries
    3
    Hey Torrid! Good to hear that you're still keeping it going!
    Firanja - Medicor Mortuus
    Andaas Taranis - Druidicus Corpsus
    Andae - Clericus Inanimis

  2. #62
    does a server exist that is just the original eq with no expacs anywhere?
    Widespread Panic

  3. #63
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    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.

  4. #64
    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.
    Last edited by Stosh; 09-05-2016 at 08:58 PM.

  5. #65
    OMG! Kittens! Peotr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Moscow, ID
    Posts
    1,263
    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?

  6. #66
    Quote Originally Posted by Peotr View Post
    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.

  7. #67
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    Quote Originally Posted by Peotr View Post
    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.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stosh View Post
    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.

  8. #68
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    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.

  9. #69
    Kurbinat0r Kurbi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    414
    pretty cool Torrid, btw where's the github or whatever repo you guys are using? I didn't see it listed in the wiki.

  10. #70
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    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)

  11. #71
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    The Al'Kabor Project 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

    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.

  12. #72
    Registered User Rika's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Houston, Texas
    Posts
    678
    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).
    Last edited by Rika; 08-18-2018 at 01:17 AM.
    There is no smile of an angel without the wrath of god.

  13. #73
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    I'm in favor of upping the monk softcap actually, but the other devs are not.

  14. #74
    Registered User Rika's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Houston, Texas
    Posts
    678
    whack em with a stick. studded.
    There is no smile of an angel without the wrath of god.

  15. #75
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    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.

  16. #76
    Hoss / EQ & WoW Cardinal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Norwalk, CT
    Posts
    979
    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...
    Cardinal, .. the ancient one - Hoss '99 - Last of the Founders . . .




  17. #77
    A Hero of the Seven Suns Torrid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    2,246
    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.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •