I can see why the config file wouldn't work with that (I looked at the <db>eq</db> line several times yesterday and didn't make the connection) but how would the config file affect me opening a command prompt and trying to manually start world.exe?

Thank you

Because world reads from that file. If it is wrong, it won't know where to get the data.

Change made but it still doesn't launch, here is my current config, but now with the database being peq I'll retry the previous troubleshooting so will probably work. Thank you guys for the help.

<!-- Database configuration, replaces db.ini. Defaults shown -->
<database>
<host>127.0.0.1</host>
<port>3306</port>
<username>eq</username>
<password>eq</password>
<db>peq</db>
</database>

<qsdatabase>
<host>127.0.0.1</host>
<port>3306</port>
<username>eq</username>
<password>eq</password>
<db>peq</db>
</qsdatabase>

So just to clarify. The database didn't appear to have a user/pass of eq/eq so once I created the user and granted them privileges all that was left was to change the <db>eq</db> tag in the config file to <db>peq</db>. I haven't logged in yet, but I'll edit this portion of the post as progress is made. Thank you guys very much for helping me. Just wish I hadn't bothered you guys with something that turned out to be so obvious.

its those small things that get overlooked. I have been in your shoes before while learning this

Guide itself is good but there are holes.

- There is no mention of creating a user for SQL.

- Outdated information forces people to look elsewhere for files, those files may or may not work properly (i.e. maps and quests, I ended up using eqemu_update.pl to get them, but what are all those other options and which are safe to use?)

- After installing XAMPP, you have to launch it and start MySQL, it does not (by default) run automatically. Obviously must be done before executing any sql commands.

I fixed the cannot continue error thanks to these forums, but I'm getting path does not exist errors all over the place now. Not sure how far back in the install I have to go to resolve them.

Comments are most welcome and would be appreciated.

It seems support for the old method has been dropped in favor of the new akka installer. Have you tried that?

Really? I thought that was just for newbs. Or is that what you meant, that the newbie method is now the installer?

I think both methods should be supported. The "training-wheels" level installer method and the classic method which is harder but at least after you get the server up using it you've learned something in the process.

“You can't make anything idiot proof because idiots are so ingenious.”
- Ron Burns

Yes, what Scorpius said, plus a few cents more......
Nothing has been dropped from doing it the old way, other than someone who needs
the ease of the installer, but once you learn the "old way", it's a lot easier than you
think, it's just a matter of paying attention to detail (in what you're doing), rather than
missing tiny little typo's that can bring your whole setup to a halt.
Anyone who has got used to doing it the manual way, it can all be done in a matter of
minutes, once the initial programs are installed. (VS, Cmake, Perl, Mysql).
I use Navicat to access and edit database, and Notepad++ to edit text files, such as
configs and quest scripts, etc. It really is a lot of fun for me, even when I screw up :P

Hmm ya but for tough issues like this I think step #1 for troubleshooting would be to try the installer ;).

The problem is these programs keep updating versions like visual studio and things simply stop working because you can't get the exact versions referenced in the guide. If you know what your doing and have it working the old way by all means keep doing it but I'm not sure anyone is trying to keep the instructions up to date and functional when they could just refer someone to the installer.

This is just my opinion from what I've seen I'm not a dev and don't have any inside info and am probably wrong lol.

I will agree, some wiki's and guides could be updated, but they get a little dusty now,
since the injection of the installer, which really is meant to help people who don't yet
have the knowledge for the manual install.