quest functionality and other questions

[rarardragon]

I've been wrestling with this install off and on since late last week and have just about hit the wall in terms of patience. Since vBulletin's search is less than stellar, I'm hoping this issue isn't one that's been asked and answered countless times.

My most pressing issue now is that quests don't work. I've read threads about others whose quests didn't work, but none of the info has helped.

The rundown: I've used this guide multiple times, learning more about the process as I go. After working through ActivePerl (5.10 x64 build 1001) and MySQL (5.0.37) issues, I'm still not able to get quests to work. Vendor NPCs let you buy, GM NPCs let you train (and talk to you during those transactions), but regular communication just doesn't happen. And for the record, I've also used ActivePerl 5.8.7, 5.8.9, MySQL 5.1.37, 5.1.37 x64, and 5.1.36 x64)

The only times I deviated from the aforementioned guide was to use SVN instead of CVS for collection of source or the various flavors of ActivePerl and MySQL.

Any advice you guys could offer would be most appreciated.

Another few questions:

1.) What's the difference between the EQEmu source code found in the guide (0.7.0 1129 Rev222...even though the link takes you to a site with Rev774) and the "EQEmu code" found here? I understand that the former is basically the server software with world.exe and zone.exe, but what's the purpose of the EQEmu code? Are you supposed to compile it somehow before use?

There seems to be a gap in the instructions here. Cavedude's guide is explicit (thank you so much! ) about how to get the latest db and quests and incorporate them into the database and folder structure, respectively, but there's scant explanation regarding that EQEmu code. It makes me wonder if my EQEmu server and my db collections are mismatched. Totally at a loss here.

2.) How can you tell which db revision works with which EQ Emu build? I've seen things said like, "Rev774 is compatible with version such and such," but is there a document with the compatibility lists?

3.) The only way I've gotten quests to work is to use the ProjectEQ prepackaged installer, which feels like cheating and is an assault on my dragonhood. How much functionality is missing by using the prepackaged version? I ask because I tried to replace quests and update the db with the latest SVN pull, which immediately bricked the server.

I'm not asking for ProjectEQ support here or anything; just looking for advice and some of the sage experience you guys have collected over the years.

Thanks for listening to these ramblings. This site has so much information (albeit some of it is totally antiquated) that it's hard to really tell what's useful and what's going to ruin your weekend with bad info.