Sandstorm, the EQOA test server

by Xylof/joukoq

photo by Muuv Stehpah

Links

• Sandstorm Control Panel
• Zoomable Tunaria map
• Individual zone maps as image files
• Short history of the server
• Videos
• GitHub code repositories: ESF file format, server
• Sandstorm's recast4j navmesh files (probably usable for pathfinding by other server projects)

How to

To connect, modify your network settings. Set DNS = 139.162.238.221. Use an empty memcard (without any EQOA data). You don't need savestates. Both Frontiers US and the original Europe/PAL version should work. The original US pre-Frontiers version is not compatible at the moment (working on that).

You will also need

• PCSX2 with networking properly configured. I use PCSX2 1.7 with the built-in networking, no DEV9 plugin. There seems to be little documentation for setting the built-in networking up but if you get it to work it might be more stable than 3rd party plugins.
• A DNAS bypass patch. The patches below were modified by me so that you don't have to disable them after DNAS. The other existing EQOA patches may crash the game if you don't disable them. These probably require a recent PCSX2 to work. Put these in your cheats/ folder. They are the same file, just named differently. Check the "Enable cheats" option in the PCSX2/Game Settings menu.

  Frontiers: eeee1fcc.pnach

  Vanilla: 973e3177.pnach

• If you want to play with a real PS2, you'll have to make a modified copy of your DVD with DNAS removed.

Status

What basically works:

• creating account
• logging in
• creating characters
• moving around
• rudimentary combat, 1 melee attack, a few abilities
• friendly pet and healer NPC
• a few test NPC's placed near Darvar Manor
• now also using a database of over 15,000 NPC's from Dustin Faxon
• simple combat AI
• chatting, who list, emoting
• coaching/teleports
• preliminary pathfinding
• preliminary looting and inventory, incomplete
• roaming NPC's in certain areas

What doesn't

• the rest

Notes

• talking has infinite range, anything you say is heard by everyone
• NPC heals have infinite range too
• NPC's don't aggro players unless you attack
• ogre sometimes shows up in character creation, sometimes not, reason unknown

Contact