Got an Idea of how to get boats ( ships ) working
 

From what I understand the main issue (disreguarding patthing issues that can be fixed and might even be now) in getting boats working is the zoning question.

When ships hit a zoneline and depop the player apears on an identicle boat in the next zone but how does that boat know when all members are aboard and how does the next boat acrossed the nextzone line know to pop?

Well Im not good at the Eqemu coding but it seems to me we could use a piggyback program similar to zoneproxy only It would packetsniff and collect a packet that imforms it your client has begun zoning from zone A to zone B and sends this information up to the server. program on server <spawns boat in next zone> <counts how many went through the zone>

The player zones in on the unmoving boat and the players program regognises hes through the zone line and sends this information to the server <server depops original boat once all member are through> <server begins pathing on the second boat all hands aboard>

Boat reaches next zoneline <server pops a boat acrosed the zoneline> All members go through as before <server depops the secondboat> <server beginspathing on third boat> ... loops

I realise this idea requires both work from the eqemu DEV team as well as whoever writes the piggyback program. I have discused the idea with a few people in the npcmove DB irc channel and specificly Bigpul and kroeg and they said the idea is worth posting so here it is. I hope it is feasable.

I wont describe the inner workings as I don't have any idea how or if it would work so Im leaving all that to you guys :D

Re: Got an Idea of how to get boats ( ships ) working
 

We actually had boats working on our server until we converted to 5.x and I haven't had time to put the code back in yet. Our solution was kind of .... different. Once I get it back up I'll tell how it works if anyone is interested.

I'm interested :) I never really thought about it before Wumpas posted about it, then I started wondering how you would synchronize the boat pathing from zone to zone.

yes
 

Yes im very Intrested skorpius Boats are magic to me I loved riding them with friends and learning languages or in PVP servers hiding in the lower deck and jumping off in Butcherblock hehehe (that elf on top never knew I was there) The boats make for a good adventure feeling and I for one look forword to the day they work. If we can get them working its one thing we have that eqlive curently dosent :D

Thank you scorpius

To be honest... we cheated

We defined a second kind of boat: the shuttle. You get on the shuttle (short distance ship) at the docks, it takes you out into the ocean and stops, the cruiser (long distance ship) pulls up beside it, you change ships.

The cruiser takes you across the ocean, stops, another shuttle pulls up, you change ships and the shuttle takes you to the docks on the other side...

That's the player point of view anyway.

neat idea
 

neat idea scorpius Not quite like eqlive but more realistic anyhow cool idea

If posible I think the big ship going to port would be better as it more mimics the feel of eqlive but a shuttle Idea would be neat until thats figured out :D great idea!

In reality here's how it works:

The boat leaves freeport. Players zone. They appear on an identical boat that is stationary, giving the illusion that it has stopped. Of course it never moves and is always at the zone in point.

The "cruiser" comes along. This is the one that actually moves in the zone, and after boarding, it takes the players across ocean of tears to the zone out point. They zone in at qeynos, on another stationary boat (always at the zone in point) that is identical to the boat they were on. So, again it seems to have stopped. The shuttle pulls along side (the boat that actually moves in this zone) and takes them to the docks.

Like I said... we cheated :-)

sounds better
 

Thanks scorp that makes a lot more sence I didnt fully understand before sounds very good It be kind of fun to half to bored mid voyage. add some flavor to the journey. Also like the idea that your keeping the shuttles as big ships to give that bigship feel to the harbors :D What are the roadblocks with this currently? could pathing be set up and it just work or is there source code to mess with? or DB assuming 5.3Dr1 with TCS 52 53 alpha1

If posible do you have a copy of the DB values for the shuttles and crusiers in 4.x Id love to tinker with them and see if I can use them in TCS5.3 I know id have to convert them but the grid points, model, textures should still be coorect shouldnt they? Thank you in advance.

i wonder, you gave me an idea scorp, i wannt put an npc on the ship that will explane how the ship will work basic quest concept here:

PlayerXX hails Captain Blackpuss(troll captain argh!!)
Blackpuss says, "Hail PlayerXX! welcome to the GreenHopper this shuttle will take you to the ocean of tears, from there you will have a choice of docking two ships the [Blue Tear] or the [Sisters Voyage]

PlayerXX says, "What is the Blue tear?
Blackpuss, "ahhh if ye be wishin' to travel to the ButcherBlock Mountains then you'll be wantin' to take the Blue Tear. The Blue Tear's captain is named Karlem Eloren a High elf paladin, a good fellow i used to travel with him across the seas an' across the oceans i remember when Kunark was re-discoverd. we was one of the few travelers to make it to the Elven outpost. of course being the good friend he is helped me to get in to the outpost, heh when an elve of high divotion such as himself befriends a troll and has not been struck down by the hands of tunare herself then you must belive im a good troll.

again player XX asks a question, "what is the sisters voyage?"
Blackpuss," ahh if your wishing to go to the sisters isle thsi is the ship to get on, no captain though, an enchanter in the ranks has enchanted it, so it needs no captain.

and so on and soforth

another idea is putting a merhchant at the bottom of the ship to sell Booze, etc.

It will work, but you'd want them on the moving and stationary versions of the boat to complete the illusion. Of course, on the stationary ship, the explainer could tell them they are waiting for the other ships to pull along side. :-)

Also note, among other changes, this all depends on wander type 4 being installed.

Capital Idea
 

Capital Idea Shadow-wolf

Mabe if this is ever implemented there could be an NPC that tells stories as well and these could be changed once a week or so? mabe also on the large Kunark boat add some NPC gamblers and language trainers in addition to a market?

Sounds like a neat Idea. :D

PIRATES!!!!!!!
 

Could we add random spawn boats with pirates that would board your ship? It would require that you allow spell casting on the boat. But it could cause your boat to stop moving and the priate ship pulls up and the priates unload, after killing the pirates you could kill the ship they came up on.. and that would trigger your ship to sail on. Also could we create a moving water city? With banks, shops and trainers? Like Kelethin, but on water not in the trees? Skiffs could take you to shore and back.. And maybe Pirates could attack it from time to time? Also, just a question, could these ships be spawned in the sky? A ship like the Feiriorna Vie looks like a flying ship. An air city would be cool.. just don't fall.

Boats
 

It would be possable to just make the ship static and have the ships captian just port you to the new zone useing a druid spell.
Just a thought...
after you hail him he cast a port spell...simple and no new programs to tinker with.

Hmmmm, gambling... That wouldn't be too hard to quest, would it?

heh ment to say that, thought that most people would atomaticaly think that so i left it out to save spelling time.