[nilbog]

Originally Posted by Trimm [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Far as as I assume, you took the Titanium client and locked all of the post-classic zones, and then re-coded the old world quests/scripts/npcs/items by hand. I figure that's a very layman's way of describing it.

I played on a few "classic-ish" servers. CKV, complexity, and vztz. Got tired of seeing too many little things that were off... and ruining my immersion. I read a lot of posts on eqemulator.net, then set up my own server. I thought it would be a good way to learn sql and perl. I was correct [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You need a few things for an eqemu server.

-A database- MySQL -(npcs, loot,doors, book text,zone lines, etc etc) (eqemu schema)
-Quests - perl scripts - pretty much anything aside from an npc attacking and defending is done with perl. *Any* hail, quest trigger, for example.
-Source - C++, and a lot of it. This controls how the client(Titanium) works.(npc mitigation, random fade invises, pets disappearing on zone, etc) Here is the eqemu public repository.
-RESEARCH- I have spent a LOT of time researching using google hacks, waybackmachine, translating asian archives, screenshots, and various other things. For this project, researchers were and still are essential.

There were pretty much 2 databases at public disposal in 2008. The PEQ DB (most live-like) and the axclassic db (things like pok books removed). So I started with the axclassic db. I contacted a couple of fellow players from the servers I played on previously to help me find the non-classic features.

Me, Xzerion, Tantalar and a few others worked many months prior to announcing open beta testing. http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27260 The majority of this time was REMOVING non classic aspects.(bird bath aug containers, beastlord trainers, berzerker trainers, vah shir, etc) Almost all of this was database work. Original spell formulas/effects were redone by Xzerion. Tantalar looked through almost every merchant and visually inspected NPCs for armor/face discrepancies. We ended up replacing almost every existing loottable (thx Wenai).. and looking back on it, it might have been easier to do from a blank slate.

For perl, I had to work solo for a while. Then, I made Aeolwind help me. This is now his primary job. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] All of the dragons, gods, etc are controlled from scripts. Want 1-5 ancient crocodile PHs? Perl will do that for you. See boats ? That's perl.

It took FOREVER to get people to help with the source changes. Ladoth was the first full time source developer. Rogean, Haynar, and various others have contributed and continue to improve the source. They have contributed more source work in the past 3 months than the ENTIRETY of beta source submissions.

During beta testing, we picked up a lot of good help (Wenai, Ladoth, and Lany, to name a few). There were other contributions that helped along the way. Lany remade the classic spell gems and made the current node-pathing that you use in some of the dungeons.

Under the delusion that not many people would play, and the lack of continued beta testers, the beta community got antsy and pushed for a release. It had been around a year since I started working solo, so, a 2 week "release date thread" was made. Then the population surged.. and has continued exponentially since then.

The first day of release, hosting the server from my house or even my city became impossible by the amount of players. Rogean stepped in, offered temporary assistance, and is now a fundamental part of the team. Acting as Server Administrator, he keeps the servers up and going, implements patches, and answers dumb questions.

It takes a lot of work, with many different facets of development and maintenance. All of the developers have contributed so much work, that I feel bad only listing some of it.