question
 

back in the early days - I can't remember if it was the beta CD (which I will own in a few days...getting a copy from a friend for the heck of it) or the first EQ cd(s) released. anyway, there was a .exe you could launch and roam around in the world by yourself...no mobs or NPCs. anyone remember that? if so which CD was it on?

I remember something about that...

I think it was that there was a way to load up any zone into the tutorial program and run it. I could be wrong of course, and I don't remember any of the specifics, anyway- like exactly how to do it.

I remember the tutorial program from the original release CD, never had a beta cd.

I definitely remember the tutorial at the very least, but I don't remember any other zones being accessible. I played the tutorial through many, many times because I didn't yet have a credit card. Ah, those were the days.

"Congratulations, you're done with the tutorial. Now, jump into the abyss."

You could use a hex editor to tell the tutorial program to use a different map than the tutorial map. There was also a third-party program someone made that gave this process a usable GUI by which you could select the map to load.

I looked for this tool recently, but couldn't find it. Instead I started playing EQ again on p1999. Ahh.. such is life.

You mean this? http://www.xs4all.nl/~treesong/ (scroll down to eqzoneviewer-install.exe).

Check out 6box.jpg also. Nice poster!

Another good one...http://www.xs4all.nl/~treesong/shark.jpg I remember that lol.

I remember the SOE store had those posters available.. I am kicking myself for not getting them.

damn this guy has too much time on his hands...

http://www.xs4all.nl/~treesong/1.htm

Reminds me of the Thott write-ups.