LoL! Hey Kayot ;).

So far the Emu is using MySQL InnoDB if I'm not mistaken :x. And in the version I've got, there arent' any quests available :P.

Wow, 1300 quests? I think there were only 1750-ish in the original game so this sounds good (I'll have to check my Prima guide). :) We'll see what we got to work with though when the thing is up.

I'll see if I can make a webpage that can display them all. If so, I'll post it on my website.

OK, I have a fairly simple page designed to display some of the quest details like quest steps, coins, and items. You can view it here:


http://LethalEncounter.EQ2Emulator.net/quests.php

Hey Kayot, was wondering where you went to. Did you pull your guide down off of the wiki...... Oops thread jacking there sorry.

Anyhow, I also have a Carmel Coated Neopoliain flavored version of EQ2, with sprinkels. Need less to say its the orignal, So I am anxouis to get on this just to see it in action. Well, I just now noticed the link so I am off to look at the site, Cheers!!!

p.S Thank you LE for takeing the time to work on this. I have a feeling that if you can make it working, it will explode with a population since EQ2 is still very very popular.

Very nice job and very big list ^^
I have check on Ogaming you are near to have all Original game quest

LE if you continue project how you plain to have correct skills and characters stats ?

this sounds fun! Add me to the list of people eagerly waiting :)

Any news about project status ?

Just a thought and I'll be honest I didn't have the time to pour over the whole thread so if this is a repeat, slap me silly... but;

I saw that you guys decided to go with EQ2 the original box edition, which makes sense, get the original areas populated first to make sure you got something to work with...

The only thing I was gonna mention though is that I remember EQ2, like every other MMO ever created, was pretty buggy on release... I don't know how much of that is client side and how much is server side, but It might be worth considering using an EQ2 original with EQ2 Desert of Ro or whatever the first expansion was called as a basis, both box installs, that way you get the patches to cover all the release crap that was messed up, but you only need to work on the original stuff and ignore the deserts of Ro expansion for everything but the client side patches

/shrug, like I said, just a thought, maybe I'm crazy!

I was on the IRC and LE told me he was working through the packets and updating them to get the client to work. He has to use packets from six months post release so it will take a bit of work to get the client responding again. So things may take a bit, but no problem, thats the nature of EMU dev-ing - patience is a virtue.

I do know about some of the the bugs for the pre-DoF EQ2, but I think (my assumption) we'll have deal with them for the time being until we see what we got. I will venture to guess any packet collection (at launch, for the first six months, not sure about current data) anyone has done would be helpful.

Any status on this. LE's site went down after the hosting switch so I was just curious when it may be back up. I'm anxsious ot play, but even more to hear some news on it. Hopefully he can get it back up and get some boards on it so we can stoping beating off-topic to death overhere.

So site down = project down ? :(

Hey Just noticed you are starting the EQ2EMU back up I would love to help in anyway I can I and some friends run 2 WoW private servers and 1 L2 server we would love to help with EQ2EMu anyway we can. I've a EQ2 Person at heart.

Can you or your friends program. Thats probably what LE is in need most of. There is alot to coding the emulator though, as you have to be able to understand C, networking and its communication methods, things like that. Also database work would be helpful, like fluency in MySQL.

Packet collecting is always a big thing as without it, there wouldnt be much of a world. Its the easiest to do as it requires no knowledge but how to run a program. Sometimes SOE can monitor and find out wether your using these or not so your account may be up for termination. Its a risk, but everything is now a day.

Hope this helps out.

P.S. I should add a disclaimer to all the above, as I may be 100% wrong, but its to my knowledge that the about is true. Feel free to correct me on anything and as always, wait for LE to say something since he knows far more than any of us.

Ahh, I didnt realize that the dns wasnt resolving. Apparently Rogean was using the old machine to host the eq2emulator domain. I'll see if I can get the subdomain pointed back at my box.

I am in the process of getting the original box set of EQ2 to login properly. I found some packet logs from a couple of months after launch that will help greatly. Even if I decide not to continue with the project I will at least leave you guys with a server that you can login with the original client. If I dont decide to stay with the project I will release the login server code as well.

As for packet logs, those will be a problem. The creator of EverDump (Acid1789) now works for SOE on EQ2 and he broke (fixed) the old method of getting the encryption key. Without the key, we cant decrypt the data and see any new data from live. Luckily if we continue with the original client we wont need any new packet logs. Unfortunately, this also means that some features may never work properly.

Hey, great to finally here some news about this. I appricate you keeping it going for a little longer and even possibly handing over the helm to others that are intersted to keep it going, should you decied to drop it.

Personally, I would like to see some new content, but to be completly honest, I myself would be happy with a OOB working version of the original. It severly limits the things we can do and such, but it works for me and for alot of others.

If we cant packet collect from live anymore, can we still make a live compatible client. I dunno squat about this, but is a question as to allow the community to thrive, we would have to move beyond the original box set sometime as not a whole lot of people would have it. I keep all my EQ stuff packed away, hell, I still have the original box for EQ when it first come out, along with the kunark bundle after that,,, hmmm good times good times.

Oh well, looking forward to seeing this thing in action once its back up. Does the player signup work or is it just there incase of futer implemtation. I never used it when it first come out so I dont have a old account there.

We are fortunate to have anyone willing to attempt this today, since for the last 2 years not one coder has stepped up to the plate to offer assistance. Learn to crawl before we try sprinting, yes?


In this age of free information, there's literally nothing that cannot be found on the internet. ;)

Good points, all. But I wouldn't push for modern content until you see a solid base project that everyone can enjoy.

I'm not pushing. If we just set at Original Box version for the rest of the projects life cycle, I am still super content by that.

It would be intriguing to see things I have never seen before, but if that puts strain on anyone at all, I am not for it. I am one that like people to work at there own pace. I use to manage a restaurant, and this was my motto. Turnover was outrageuos before I took over and with this idea, It dropped tremendously because people were happier, enjoyed work, and didnt feel slave driven.

My main point about the coding the LS and emu for up to date clients was simply to allow those that are currently playing LIVE and started after the original box a oppourtunity to try it out. I know there are several several ways to find a original box of EQ, some not so legit, but even with "those" sites it gets harder and harder to find something of that age when there is more current version out. I did manage to come across a game called LOOM, if anyone remembers that. Back in the 386 days it was pretty popular.

If there is a project like this and the orignal box is all that will do, you may see a surge of sources out there. Ebay and things. We cant point to anything other than Ebay so we cant exactly help boost community population. But where theres a will, there is a way.

Anyhow, I am not going to keep going, for fear of bamnation. Its still a truly exciting time for the EQ2 players though. Why cant it be as easy to code a server for EQ2 as it was for the multiude of variants for WoW. Course blizz was new to the MMORPG scene so shame on them for not sealing and breaking things up a little better. Give it to SOE to prevent fun and free"dom"!


EDIT: After browsing around, I have found around 20 or 30 original box sets on Ebay, so it may not be that hard after all. Best part is there are all selling for under $10!!

Those logs from two months after the game was released arent going to work. After spending countless hours trying to figure out the spawn packet so that I could log my character into the game using the original client, I am leaning towards using a client from a date where I definately have the logs necessary to create a working client. The problem with this of course is that we would need a way to distribute the files or otherwise noone would be able to play it. Not sure of any other way to do it.

If you can upload the files I can host for you :P

Just tell me in pm I provide you logs and pass

Will any of the expansion pack releases work? I have a DoF disc set here. I think the other expansions have been DD tho, if I recall.

Or, since the project is re-awakening, just put a line in the sand saying "Gotta have a fresh install of [whatever the current combo pack] in order to play EQ2Emu" like we do here for Titanium. I do not think that is an unrealistic requirement.

We can get live packets decrypted again as of tonight. :)

I will be working on a packet collector project that should help out quite a bit if we want to use the latest client instead of an old one. What do you guys think about that? After the packet logger is finished, getting packet logs of everything imaginable from the latest client. Then we get a emulator working with that version and never worry about keeping up with live again. If we get enough packet logs, it should be pretty trivial.

I think that would be a bit of alright. But, let me double check here, your saying that you could make a PC for LIVE and we could collect on it and build the emulator from the current updated LIVE. Just make sure here. That would seem like a very logical approach to start with. It shame though that I just let my LIVE account go. May have to pay a month and start it back up to collect some.

I'm player Eq2 since Beta, so it would be easy for me running around all zones gathering Packet information. Your Packetcollector should have the feature, to separate logs by zones. This should be easy regarding the logfile EQ2 can create.

Easiest way is to program the PC in that way, that u can just activate it and start running around, to collect Spawndata.

Even combat could be separated in the logs, because the client logs all chatmessages. Everything after "You start attacking" is combat etc ...

The EQ2 Client gives a handy "tool" to define what any packet does.

Even if I think Lethal already knows that, I wanted to mention this. =)

Yes, PC from LIVE is now possible.

Very good news ^^

@Lethal

Whe do u release ur PC, so we can start collecting. I'm starting out a new char so time would be perfect.

So collecting isn't as simple as turning on a linux box with tcpdump, eh? heh! I look forward to a 'safe' way to suck data, and with a handful of mid-bie chars, I will definitely help collect any of the zones I can enter.

It will probably take a few weeks to a month before it would be ready as I dont have a great deal of time to invest. I'll let everyone know when it is ready so that we can get as many logs as we can. It would also be nice to implement some kind of item/spawn collecting in this.

Yah, it would be that simple if you knew the encryption key. Once you have the key from the start, you can decrypt the entire stream.

From Live?

Wow nice news :)

wow. first post here, but this sounds great :D i used to play eq2 and loved it, but eventualy paying the money each week got annoying. cant wait till this is up and runnin

oops. meant every month. every week and i never woulda picked up the box >.<

I loved EQ2, it they had managed to keep some of the charm of the original and it felt epic to play. The Freepost vs. Qeynos setup was awesome.

The only problem I had is when they kept changing the rules (also limiting it to a measly 6 characters per account :P) and simplified things that made the game what it was. I don't mind they added AAs, made tradeskilling a bit easier and such, but it felt like every fourth patch or so they would re-balance the whole world and change up the difficulty of the monsters and class abilities. It drove you nuts after a while.

I think the worst thing they did was release the Splitpaw pay-per add-on - it literally sucked all the players away from grouping form level 20-45 to soloing in some instance somewhere. I thought it was funny even the dev's admitted their own guild members would be unavailable for doing content and such because they were off grinding great loot, money, and XPs all alone.

(The nerf bat swang heavy a couple patches later. But the damage was done.)

I do feel the x-pacs began to spread the players out too much as well, and invalidated the tiered-raids and tradeskilled gear. I feel the Vanilla Coke EQ2 was the 'good times' of the game.

i could live with most of their patches cuz i had a nice band of people that i would always play with. the patch that got me was when they screwd up the class selection. like you go on the isle of refuge already as a warlock, berserker. it was terrible NO MORE did you really get to learn your class and character. it made adventuring too easy. before i always had trouble finding a scout for the named mobs, but after that their everywhere. thats why i sorta hope that when this project gets finished they wont put in every patch. cuz like crabclaw said, every few patches the whole world was changed. oh well. makes me excited for when the emulator is done :D