Welcome to the EQ2Emulator.net project! The project has been restarted as of July 2007, and remained in closed alpha until November 2007 when v0.4 was released as an Open Alpha. Log into IRC for additional information as it develops.
If you are new to this site, we are building an Everquest 2 (EQ2) emulator that will eventually allow people to host their own worlds and fully customize them.
PROJECT STATUS: OPEN ALPHA
Current Supported Client: 5280L (Dec 02, 2008)
Do not patch beyond this date, or you will not be able to play on an EQ2Emulator server!
The minilogin server works similar to the main login server except that it is limited to 5 user accounts and 1 world server.
To you, the mini login looks similar to the world server, it is ran through a command line and communicates with an MySQL server and also the login network communication. This requires some different files eg. login_db.ini
Please read over the README.TXT carefully!
A linux-based minilogin can be expected in the future along with a GUI-based windows minilogin server.
If you have any questions, concerns, problems with the minilogin please post them in the Windows issue forum.
Greetings all, and welcome to the new EQ2Emulator 2009 website. We hope you like the fresh coat of paint! This was far more than a re-theming of the old site. We have upgraded the forum software to phpBB3 (Olympus), and replaced the old custom website with the MX-Publisher 3.x Portal (CMS). Both of these major upgrades allow a more configurable, user-friendly environment. The theme is a little bright, so give your eyes time to adjust
Here's a short list of some new features you might find useful:
Portal:
The MX-Publisher Portal is integrated directly into phpBB3, which makes creating modules a snap! Look for new and exciting Portal Applications to be added in the near future.
News and Announcements will be seen on the Portal Index if a moderator or administrator sets their post as an Announcement. So if you want your article to be front page news, click the Announcement or Global Announcement radio button when submitting your post.
Currently only a limited number of forums are set to display these posts - we can change the list as neede via editing the Announcement block from the portal itself.
New menu system linking more to the Wiki than the previous menu. We'd like to inspire more people to start dumping useful information into our Wiki, instead of just on the forum. Create a Wiki account and become a contributor today!
Server Status and Quick Stats will show you at-a-glance which EQ2Emulator servers are currently running and what "mode" they are in. Server Status is the full page view, while Server Quickstats is a quick view from the portal Index.
Player / Server Registrations have been moved inside the portal and had some additional work done to them to hopefully make the process easier on the user. Player Registration has been split from Server Registration - and it is now more clear that you are required to create a Login Account before you can create your World Accounts.
Downloads and Galleries have been installed, but are undergoing some customization due to the modules I am familiar with are out-of-date from the newer MX-P portal software. I will get these going as quickly as I can, but this will offer us the option of an integrated file download section and Photo Gallery - both which can be linked directly to forum posts.
Forums: The forum software operates as standard phpBB, with a few enhanced features.
Sub-Forums are here! While most people do not care about clutter, having a front page 10 feet tall was getting annoying. phpBB3 allows for Sub-Forums to be created, so if you do not see your favorite forum right at the Board Index, look at the forum list again - below each description will be a direct link to a sub-forum (Development -> Server Core -> General, for example).
Posting Options have changed slightly, and I thought it only important to mention because I once got bit by this new feature.
"Save" does not submit your post!!!
What Save does is put a copy of your post in your Drafts folder under your UCP, allowing you to finish your post at a later date to submit. If you do not see a post you just entered, check UCP -> Overview -> Manage Drafts to see if you mistakenly clicked Save on the post.
Q: How do I submit my Draft as a public post?
A: When you are looking at the Manage Drafts page in your UCP, there is a small link "Load Draft". Click that, and it will pull your draft work into a new post where you can Preview and Submit. I know that is a little confusing, but it's kinda cool to allow you to get your posts set up the way you want without running out of session time, then submit later (well, for those of us who cannot post less-than 5000 words ).
After you have Load(ed) your draft, you will notice a Load button available. This will re-fetch your original saved draft, should you decide the changes you made were not what you wanted. Everytime you click Save, you save a new draft of the current post you are working on.
View New Posts is my favorite new addition (silly, I know). One thing I have always hated about phpBB is they never give you a way to view new posts from an easily accessible menu from anywhere in the forum. I have moved the "View new posts" link to the header, so no matter what page you are on, you can quickly go-to-top and click it to see a list of new posts!
Active Posts is something new to phpBB3. Forums are broken into Categories (Community, EQ2Emulator, Development and General). By clicking the link to the Category itself, you can get a quick overview of every post within the sub-forums of that category which have "active posts". These are not new posts since your last visit, only posts that have more than 1 reply (I believe) and are up to a certain age since they were last bumped. Still unsure of exactly how these work, but give them a look.
Post Attachments will allow you, the user, to submit screenshots, config files or other assorted bits of info directly into your posts - making support for problems or sharing of new information much easier than hosting elsewhere. File sizes for uploads is limited (1mb max), so test it out and let is know if there are any problems.
Please do not abuse this privilege.
This does not sanction wares or any other copyrighted file uploads.
Be absolutely certain what you attach to a post or PM is legal, or your privilege will be revoked and your account warned.
To attach a file to a post, simply click the Upload attachement tab under the edit box, point to your file, and click Add File. You can then opt to insert the file directly at a specific point in your post, or just leave it as an attachment at the bottom.
User Control Panel (UCP) has a ton more options. Click the link at the top-left to access your control panel and set your account up to your liking. You can have Friends or Foes, upload a custom avatar to display next to your forum name, and Private Messaging has a ton of new options as well.
Search has been vastly improved with phpBB3, so there should be no more excuses why we cannot find info, yes? There is a quick search in the banner, an Advanced Search option, and with phpBB3, you can now even search within a specific forum only while browsing that forum.
Polls have changed slightly in phpBB3, allowing you to "change your vote" should you have a change of heart (don't we wish we could do THAT in real-life?) Not a common option, but it's there.
There are so many things updated in this software, it is impossible for me to name them all - but these are the ones I found most interesting or exciting. I hope you enjoy your new Community site! Now lets get back to work on our favorite project; EQ2Emulator!
Thanks:
Foremost, I want to thank LethalEncounter for not only allowing me to push this massive update to his personal webspace (grin), but for sitting with me for hours on end on IRC working out the details and testing, tweaking. Seriously, thank you buddy. I couldn't have done it without you.
A huge thank you to ZexisStryfe for creating our new sexy banner. We didn't even have to ask him to try a few, the first one fit perfectly! Thanks, ZS!
And last but not least, thanks go to the Content Team for taking time out of their busy schedules to hammer on the new site to make sure we weren't forgetting anything.
As you might have noticed our new website is drastically improved compared to our old website. John Adams put quite a bit of his time recently redesigning and implementing this new site. Thanks for all your hard work, I know I appreciate it and I'm sure the rest of the community does as well. With changes this big there are bound to be a few minor problems, so if anyone comes across one please make a post in the General Support forum.
Thanks for your hard work and dedication John Adams!
The following services will be down tomorrow (Sat Dec 20th) from 12:30 PM CST to early Sunday morning:
SVN services
World Patchers
New website
I will be reconfiguring the system and installing new hardware to ensure system stability for whenever the website changes. If everything goes smoothly we might switch over to the new server on Sunday night if JohnAdams is able to get the website configured to his liking.
The database update server used to update your World server's database has been modified and installed on the new server. The following changes were made to it:
1. Fixed the problem causing you not to receive all the updates when creating a new database. You will still need to run World twice to get all the updates however as one of the updates for characters require the zones table to exist when it does not the first time around.
2. Increased the number of downloads from 4 to 10 before you are locked out.
3. Reduced the lock out period from 1 week to 1 hour.
To reach this new update server, open your LoginServer.ini file and under [UpdateServer] change eq2emulator.net to updates.eq2emulator.net
As a reminder the latest updates are found on port 9102 and the "stable" updates are found on port 9101.
Sometime over the next couple of weeks we are going to be switching from the current server to a newer more stable server. I'll try to make the transition as well as possible, but don't panic if you are unable to get to the site for a day or two. Due to ISP DNS caching you might be pointed at the old server when we throw the switch. The best solution if this occurs is to just wait it out and within a day or two everything should be working correctly. We are making this switch because our current dedicated server's reliability is horrible and not worth the money. I'll instead be hosting the site and services locally.
We have come to a point in Database Development where we need to get organized and ask for help from the community. It is our primary goal to start releasing completed zone data to server admins in the form of "Live Updates" after the emulator reaches it's Beta phase of v0.8. A primitive schedule of data updates is as follows:
In preparation for Beta, we want to have at least Isle of Refuge (good and evil) + Qeynos/Freeport villages and hoods with their newbie zones. This is the minimal amount of data I think we should test with, as it will allow testing of nearly all aspects of the server. We have only a few months to achieve this goal.
After Beta starts, the Content Designers will begin working on filling in the data for all the Shattered Lands zones, one zone at a time, radiating outwards from the Beta test zones. Meaning, Antonica, Commonlands, and any zones linked to those. Start work on Instancing and Raid encounters (providing there is sufficient data).
Expansions:
Once Shattered Lands is complete, the team should have a firm understanding of how to hammer out content, so we will begin on DoF. Depending on how many dedicated Content Designers we have, we could run parallel projects to get other expansions going as well. But for now, the goal is one expansion at a time - chronologically.
Release 1.0 of EQ2Emu:
The plan is to get as much content completed through ROK before the 1.0 Release of the Everquest 2 Emulator.
In order to achieve this lofty goal, we're going to need help; lots of it. Below is a generic outline of the 4 "Teams" we are looking to fill, and what will be expected of each team member. Sorry that this reads like a job description, but it really is. Our team members need to be extremely active in the development process as well as the community, have an uncanny attention to detail, work good as a team, and be well educated on the Everquest 2 game in general. Specific "requirements" are listed below.
All the duties listed below are estimates. It is very likely more tasks will be added as time goes on. Keep this in mind when asking to join a particular team.
Database Designer (Closed)
Description:
The goal of the Database Designer is to provide a robust, logical, and efficient data source for the Everquest 2 Emulator server.
Responsibilities:
- Design data tables for server + auxillary tools
- Convert collected logs to game data for the Content Designers
- Actively assist the Content Designers in their task of data validation/creation
- Review community-requested features/enhancements regarding data
- Final approval of Content Teams data for posting as a Live Update
- "Forward thinking" on design ideas for upcoming features
Requirements:
- Previous emulator database development experience
- Proven expertise with MySQL DBMS
- Active in forum community, responsive to community feedback
Note: DB Design team is currently closed, since Lethalencounter, alfa and myself tend to work together at a moderate pace to fulfill structural needs.
Content Designer
Description:
The Content Designer will build the entire world you experience. Due to the magnitude of this effort, the Content Design Team will be broken into sub-tasks to lessen the load. Without the work of the Content Team, there is no data for our emulator.
Responsibilities:
- Zone validation
== Spawn placement, dupe removal, appearance settings
== Interactive Quest/Movement scripting (LUA)
== Build loot tables
== Recommend alternatives for missing data
- General game data
== Validate Items data (appearance, stats, effects)
== Spell/Ability scripting (LUA)
- Plus more as server features are added
Requirements:
- Intimate knowledge of EQ2 as a game
- Expert familiarity with EQ2Emu and current feature set
- Ability to make sound judgements
- Access to accurate resources of game content
Beta Testers
Description:
Beta Testers are an elite group of hard-core, dedicated gamers who wish to see the EQ2 Emulator project be the best it can be. They demonstrate a high attention to detail, and know what they are looking for when testing functionality or content.
Responsibilities:
- Test server core functionality (game mechanics)
- Test server core features (interfaces, utilities)
- Test all game content that requires interaction (NPCs, objects, doors, etc)
- Test spells and abilities
- Test all types of Scripting (Quest, Spell, NPC Movement)
- Validate item data and functionality
- Participate in scheduled group/load test events
Requirements:
- Working ROK+ installation of Everquest 2
- Eagerness to "break stuff"
- Availability to actively test features and content
- Familiarity with the Bug Tracking system (/bug)
Note: All members of all teams will be testing in one capacity or another. This team is our "Strike Team" that goes to test specific areas of the game as tasked by Developers or the Content Designers.
New forums have been created to support the Content Designers and Beta Testers teams. More detailed information will be found there soon.
Community Manager(s):
Description:
The Community Manager will be the interface between the development and testing teams and the general community, both via the forums and the WIKI. The best answer to most questions is "check the wiki", but not if it's blank! We need a dedicated person (or two) to keep up on that activity as well as keep the community informed of server development progress.
Responsibilities:
- Become the focal point for update information
- Post regular development status on the forums
- Drive data to the Wiki
- Moderate and manage the website, forum, and Wiki
Requirements:
- Knowledge of forum moderation
- Demonstrated maturity, and unbiased opinion
- WIKI formatting knowledge
- phpBB administration skills a plus
If you find yourself interested in any of these tasks, please PM me (John Adams) with what you feel are your strongest skills pertaining to the task, and we'll have a chat.
For anyone not interested in being "strapped" with a duty, we can only hope that you still feel compelled to report issues or suggestions for improvements to our Teams. We are seriously in need of more interested parties, but for now we're in good shape. During the next 6 mos tho, we'll need to step this up a lot more to ensure this game server is the best it can be.
Thanks for reading (if you did) and thank you for your consideration.
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