New Developer

[Ciji]

Good evening EQEmu!
So, to begin I apologize if this isn't the best sub forum to post this is. It seems/ seemed like the most appropriate. Please feel free to move this If there is a better suited area for it .

I would like to state that I have played here in the EQEmu community for a moderate amount of time, however never really visited the forums. I've enjoyed the unique experiences of nearly every Legend and Green status server for a bit of time. Not to make it seem I favor any over others, but I loved the beginning of Blood of the Akkadian, addicted nature of EZ Server, the community of Hidden Forest, and much more.

I have dabbled a bit in the development world of Everquest, and find it intriguing. It opens so many doors for opportunity, use your imagination to construct a world no amount of description could completely describe. Though I am fairly new to this (Dev side of EQ that is) I do feel I have a good handle on a few things.

I have worked on a server, and the owner was amazing. He was very knowledgeable, kind to his player base, and creative. He gave me the first opportunity to learn what little i do know, which included much of GeorgeS's Tools and manually placing NPCs in game. I became familiar with creation of loot tables, NPCs, Merchant lists, item creation, and general GM commands. Sadly at the time I had a limited amount of time to devote to further pursing this new thirst, and had to resign from my position (Military and first child's birth ).

I now have a considerable amount more time than before to dedicate somewhere, however I can't be completely satisfied with being just a player anymore. I have tried to play on a few servers again, but I can't do just that. I want to explore further into what lies ahead with Development.

I am looking for a place I could learn a bit from someone with knowledge. Obviously I am willing to take any opportunity available to me, but I would love to work with someone who can show me along the way to building their ideal server environment. Something like "on the job training" so to speak.

I would ideally like to learn about Perl Scripting, at least enough to make some basic quests (with the basics I could easily branch out and experiment), custom factions, changing zone mappings (example being having the Karanas connect to Jagged Pine, or something the sort), and any other information I could learn. I can keep in touch via phone, vent, email... whatever is most convenient for the server owner(s).

I don't need to be shown anything more than once, however I may have questions about variations to processes. I learn new things best from doing it, being told how its done while preforming the actions makes it stick. I have read a good many posts here, and due to my unfamiliarity with EQ servers as a whole in development it comes across as confusing.

You may ask, why not create my own server to learn all the basics. I would, but it comes back to the want to help others. I could sit and work on a server that will likely never see the graces of other players, due to my previous statement of being a new father (which means poverty apparently lol ) but would much rather assist a seasoned Dev who could use a helping and eager hand.

I appreciate you, the readers, for this and ask you please forgive the long post. If you happen to run a server, and have the patience to show a rookie a thing or two feel free to PM me or send an email. Thank you EQEmu community

-Ciji

[Ciji]

Oh, I would also like to mention I created this forum account today just for the use on forums. My actual login accounts are pretty random, sooo... I figured a whole new forum account with a name that was simple and pronounceable.

Also, I would like to warn about future questions in advance. I'm sorry.

"So say I want to do this..."
or
"How would I do this, hypothetically..."

Could be inbound in time

[Caryatis]

I know you think you don't need to make your own server but you really do. No server op that is running an established server will be too willing to let a newbie experiment with things like custom factions as it would require DB access and people arent really generous in giving that info out to people who are trying to obfuscate who they are(Reed Im assuming).

You may feel its a waste of your time to work on something that may fizzle out or never catch on but likewise its probably a waste of time for a server op to spend the time to train somebody who more than likely will just disappear in a month or two(not specific to you, just its a safe bet when it comes to this type of thing).

There is more than enough info contained on this site, in the quest folder(thousands of working examples to learn from) and findable through google for you to be able to teach yourself everything. For practice, find an event on live and try to replicate it.

Possibly somebody will take you up on your offer but most server ops are in the same boat as you, no knowledge of complex perl scripting, no idea how to make custom AA/spells, no source modifying skills, etc. I think the people who you are thinking about you can count on 1 hand, its a very small group of people.

[Akkadius]

Originally Posted by Caryatis

I know you think you don't need to make your own server but you really do. No server op that is running an established server will be too willing to let a newbie experiment with things like custom factions as it would require DB access and people arent really generous in giving that info out to people who are trying to obfuscate who they are(Reed Im assuming).

You may feel its a waste of your time to work on something that may fizzle out or never catch on but likewise its probably a waste of time for a server op to spend the time to train somebody who more than likely will just disappear in a month or two(not specific to you, just its a safe bet when it comes to this type of thing).

There is more than enough info contained on this site, in the quest folder(thousands of working examples to learn from) and findable through google for you to be able to teach yourself everything. For practice, find an event on live and try to replicate it.

Possibly somebody will take you up on your offer but most server ops are in the same boat as you, no knowledge of complex perl scripting, no idea how to make custom AA/spells, no source modifying skills, etc. I think the people who you are thinking about you can count on 1 hand, its a very small group of people.

With the level of what I have envisioned for my server I struggle with this very thing. So I end up doing a majority of it alone. My only problem is my severe hindrance of time, which in the next few weeks should be opening up and I will be recreating 80% of the story from the ground up. Hopefully I can get at least one more talented experienced person within the next year. Otherwise, if I am busy, there is no back up and right now is a crucial time and I've just recently ran into a period where I can't be on at all.

Blood of the Akkadian, sits as it is right now. Some people really appreciate its work, I of course see a product that was made from many different directions of change throughout the BETA of the server. Now, I have an exact image of how I want it to be seen and the message delivered. This will result in a complete revamp of start to high end content, patching all the holes for the progression of players. And in turn, hopefully the time invested will lead to a growth of a team and a rapid development of the overall strength of the server and how much people enjoy it.

Most of this is through creative cut scene, step by step story-like campaigning. Guided with tasks that are very easy to follow and prompted step by step. Progression is smooth and sustaining offering MANY options without being completely one-tracked.

Most important of all, my ability to execute in a work done to time ratio is significantly way more than it ever was before so I can achieve a CONSISTENT message and level of quality throughout everything that has been released.

Unfortunately, running a server like that is no easy task when other people want to help. You can't just let someone go hog wild on everything without monitoring to a certain extent.

I haven't even announced BotA even though it's Green already because I am not comfortable with where it is at right now. But this won't take very long to get everything going appropriately. I've written tons of functions and ways to make implementation of all aspects of developing much easier. Complete revamp should maybe take a solid week's worth of my work max. I don't need to get into why I haven't had time, but I don't plan on just falling off the earth.

The point to emphasize is you can't just jump into development, put up your own server and learn on your own. That's the only way you are going to make it around here (Reed). My only other developer has done that same exact thing and was introduced more recently, although he is still learning quite a bit.

Once I have time, I can invest in others. Right now it's not plausible, I've had a few guys wanting to help besides you and it simply won't work if I can't pay adequate attention for a few more weeks. In the meantime I recommend setting up your own server, there are plenty of guides.

[Ciji]

Oh, yes. I'm sorry I didn't outright say "Hey, I'm Reed" only because it doesn't really mean anything to the community as a whole. Just a character name from a server or two. However, yes that is a name I used. I don't by any means intend to make who I am unclear rather make it official introduction to the everquest emulator community.

I also did not mention Akkadius by name as the person I was working with before, because I did not want to make it seem like I was just throwing his name out to help myself. I just wanted this to be an honest "this is what I am interested in, this is wyat I know.... can you help me learn more?" type thread.

I do see your point on the personal test server. I was thinking on it last night after the initial post, and figured it would be a good idea to have a server o could access any time, day or night, and if somethig happens its just me who's affected. It's wasnt that I thought it was a waste of time exactly, just setting up a server no one would be able to play on would seem rather a shame. if I could afford real hosting, then it would be a completely different story however. its the only reason I was making an appeal to individuals with servers already up, who may just need another assisting hand.

I see the guides in the server section, I will use one of them to set up EQ on a server 2008 partition. I attempted before on win7, but couldn't quite get it to work sadly. So ill try this again, to get a bit of personal experience in without affecting anyone. I appreciate the advice Caryatis.