Complete noob asking for help and saying hi

[lindorin]

Hello all!!

I was directed here by many for my love of old games, classic mmos, classic rpgs, etc etc etc. I never got to play OG Everquest, but being in my 30s these types of games are the nostalgia hit I'm looking for.

I would like to list some frustrations in researching that I have run into in hopes that I get some pointers in the right direction. Please note that I will be complaining a bit but I'd appreciate it if you can keep flaming me on those complaints to a minimum as it's not helpful. I don't know this community at all and I hear it's a kind one, just know that I'm not just coming at this without doing my own research first, and that I'm very willing to "google it myself" if need be <3

So far, I have started with many youtube guides and tutorials, including downloading the base game which I do own on CD due to being a collector of these things, and following the guide I'm sure most followed, the one by Joe Leonard "Install in 10 minutes" or something similar.

My first trouble began here. The above guy's installer seems to come with a package that includes a bunch of UI tools. I think mine is outaded or just broken. None of the UI skin options in the options menu change my UI at all, they just rearrange some stuff. I have core buttons missing like the "EQ" button and have no idea how to get them back or to show up in the first place. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

I also patched the game with the link from the forum home page, so I'm up to date there.

I have loaded into the game and messed around a little bit, figured out how to talk to people etc, but I am basically completely lost, and getting a bit frustrated at finding some basic help. Here is my current dilemma:

Every guide that I have watched (I've watched about 10 or so "beginner guides" on youtube) or have been direct to read (yes, I've read the entire "newbie guide" section of the Project 1999 wiki page) does NOT go over any basic controls, UI controls, or basic commands like giving things to people, moving items around, using items, basically anything like that at all. They all seem to jump straight into choosing a class, tips and tricks, what to watch out for, how to deal with [insert modern quality of life mechanic] not being present in this game etc etc etc.

The above is all great, and I've learned a lot, but none of that information is useful to me at all if I am basically staring at a bunch of blacked out boxes that look like UI elements that I have no idea what they do, completely missing the menu button (lol), and staring at my keyboard like it's the cockpit controls of a passenger jet.

Hopefully, my complaints above make sense and someone can point me in specific directions to help me get the info I need. I am VERY willing to do my research, and I truly want to get comfortable with the controls and mechanics of this game so that I may join you all in what I hear is one of the greatest experiences on can have in gaming with the proper patience [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks for reading guys, and better yet, thank you for responding if you do. I truly appreciate it

PS: I will mention that I did find another tool with some research called "Duxa's all in one installer" that seemed to fix a ton of complaints I had, like playing the game in full screen etc, but it also seemed to break my login screen, gave me errors that my spells were out of date and didn't show my characters, and seemed like it was possibly out of date or no longer a tool that people use. Unsure. I had to revert my install back to square one (with patches). Idk if this info helps or just makes my post more all over the place, but figured I'd mention it [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[TripSin]

Custom UIs aren't technically allowed on the Green server so that might be why they aren't running. They are allowed on blue server, though. However, some people still run them on Green and this restriction isn't actually enforced by staff (neither is the naming policy - so stupid, rule-breaking names are commonplace). I haven't used custom UIs myself so don't know how they make it work on Green. You might have to delete the UI files if they're messing with your chat boxes and whatnot.

You want to use the guides on the P99 wiki. It is a site you'll likely want to reference a lot. It has a page for commands you can use in game. For example, you'll want to use /chatfontsize # to change your font size.

Once in game, you want to press alt+o to access the options menu. Go over all the keybinds and everything else in there. Default movement keys are the arrow keys I think, but I change it to WASD. Mouse wheel zooms in and out. Hold right click and move mouse to move the camera.

To give someone something you open your inventory, click the item to sort of pick it up from your inventory, then click on the person you want to give it to. To use an item in your inventory you right click it. You can also hold-click on it then put it on a hotbar.

If you get an error that spells are out of date, you most likely need to download and install the patch from the P99 website.

[Kurtanius21]

Welcome to EQ. I will give what I believe the most practical tip to help you learn this game. Asking questions in game would probably be the best when it comes to gameplay. Technical or UI issues should be asked here, like crashing, freezing, things not working.

Type /who or click the Who button in the little actions bar to see what players are in your current 'zone'. You can ask all players in that zone questions, by typing /ooc before your text. /ooc stands for out of character.

that has worked for me in the past. Most people are willing to help. Also, since you are totally new, it may be wise to make a high elf or wood elf character first. their newbie zones are the most populated. There are more people there to answer your questions than any other. Making an Erudite for example, one of the least played races, will not put you in a good place to ask players questions.

At least while asking questions in game, you can ask as you go, as opposed to a forum where a tally/list of questions needs to be made. Good luck out there. EQ is a great experience for those who enjoy it's starkly different challenging world compared to most MMOs.

Also to avoid ruining your first EQ experience, there are some classes to avoid. I would steer away from warrior, ranger at minimum and play magician, necromancer, enchanter, or cleric.