If I have time tomorrow, I'll try to get it set up on my Win7 laptop.

We just wiped my system and went back to Win7. Installed dxredist 2005 to get the client to run. Made sure d3dx9_30.dll was present. Same exact result. Buttons on char select do not respond to mouse. Can log in if I hit enter instead, but all the npcs and my character seem "jittery", like constantly shaking. Walking speed is extremely fast as well.

Have also ruled out WAN/firewall issues, by bringing pc to LAN and connecting. Server VM has firewall completely disabled. Other pcs on both LAN AND WAN able to play without problems, on both win7 and win10. This rules out the server and firewall/router.

Same exact copy of client from working machine being used, so this rules out the client as well. Clearly the issue is with the pc itself. Client version from logs below.

If anything else might be helpful in diagnostics, let me know.

[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00000:Starting EverQuest (Built May 10 2013 23:30:08)
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00001:EverQuest Configuration Type: RELEASE_NON_AVATAR
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00002:Timezone: UTC-5h00m
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00003:Loading graphics DLL.
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00004:Parsing INI file .\defaults.ini
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00005:INI file .\defaults.ini loaded.
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00006:Parsing INI file .\eqclient.ini
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:08 2016]00007:INI file .\eqclient.ini loaded.
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:09 2016]00008:Graphics DLL Configuration Type: GraphicsDLL9
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:09 2016]00009:Graphics DLL Version 2.00.70657
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:09 2016]00010:Initializing timers.
[Sat Jul 30 17:16:12 2016]00011:Psh (4197).

After much much MUCH testing, and even OS reinstalls, and using other machines as controls...even a VM with the client in it...I'm forced to come to the conclusion that the problem is either his motherboard, cpu, or gpu. The game performs flawlessly in every case that doesn't involve his physical hardware, but the moment it runs on HIS machine, even inside the VM, the hyper-fast glitching occurs.

Hey Fang I actually know what your problem is and your not going to like the answer at all. So basically if you have an amd processor or intel with 4.2Ghz or higher speed it causes a "hyper speed" glitch with eq where everything runs at warp speed. There is no fix for it, its related to the multiplier set by your cpu on your motherboard. Only temporary fix is to underclock your processor to make it run correctly. since your cpu runs at 4.7ghz your screwed basically. You gotta go into bios and drop your multiplier down. Also windows 10 doesn't have anything to do with how the game runs. I have multiple dual log os's setup on a few pcs and don't run into any kind of compatibility issues.

The hyper run issue has been around for a while. Older AMD dual cores had similar issues. They basicly needed to be optimized so that older applications would stay sync'd. For those processors there was a program released by AMD that remedied the problem or you could alter the processor affinity which is talked about in the following link.
http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25327

I run nothing but amd chips (loyal for 20 years now). I can't speak for anyone else,
but I've never had problems running eq (client or server) on my boxes. I've never
used win 10, been sticking mostly with win 7.
This last box I built, 4 Ghz (8-core) chip, purring like a kitten, especially in eq on win 7.
I always run defaults with no need to OC. But thats a preference :P

The optimizer fix and the compatibility fix don't work for the newer cpu's because of how high their multiplier is. You can try the software fixes but it won't do any good. Also if you have any amd chip newer than a 8350 its clocked higher than 4.2 ghz which is what causes the problem. I run a 8350 myself clocked to 4.2ghz anything higher and it causes the issue. Also the previous multicore issue is already patched into any client newer than UF.

You can check dbg's website to see if anything has been said..

..usually it's fixed in a patch - and, unfortunately, we don't support any newer clients currently...

Thanks for the answers all, I'll make sure he sees these.

In an offtopic note, but on the same server subject, this thing has been dormant for 3 years. Looking to update the db a bit, but not sure how much this might screw things up. How do I even tell what version I have sourced, and if I did a system dump/load (preserve player data), were there massive changes that might bite me?

udpate, found version in variables table: 070_pop_cvs

About two years ago the player profile was moved from a blob to normal database which will impact your attempts at saving/restoring character data. If I were you I would focus on getting your database schema current then worry about data updates like spawns and items.

Be sure to backup your database before you start updating.

I found a workaround for the Warping issue. AMD's Overdrive utility allows me to set affinities/ adjust clock speeds and whatever else I might want to do to my CPU. I'm running an FX 9370 at 4.4Ghz base. Overdrive lets me constrain all that to roughly 3.9-ish on the fly so I can play EQ without issue. We do appreciate all the input, though. Source: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/...please.212991/