2) Those ports allow incoming login server requests to be seen..using the eqemu public login server exclusively bypasses the need
for you to accept them (at least that's my understanding.)
7) ..
If you're not using the repack and you haven't implemented any custom code/db changes yet..I would recommend just doing a pull
off of the current remote branch that you're sync'd to and recompiling.
Sometimes, when an update is added, new files may be added or old may be removed.
You can review the commit logs to see if any have been added/removed..but, the easiest way is to just delete your 'build'
folder, rerun cmake, and then recompile the newest source code.
You'll need to keep an eye out for changes to support files (i.e., rof2.conf) and copy those over to your server folder when they
change, as well.
Copying over a snippet of code may or may not fix an issue..it may even create more problems if you're not fully aware of what's
going on.
For instance..that particular commit may have been to fix a system that was completely revamped the day before. And since
your code is a week old, it wouldn't even have the change that particular fix was suppose to correct.
If you're new to this, it will get easier. It's all about familiarity with the process.
If you want to customize your server, I would recommend just letting this settle in for a week or two and taking things one step
at a time
EDIT: Don't forget to also run shared_memory.exe if you don't have it as part of your startup.bat and I would also recommend
running world.exe by itself after a recompile to ensure that the database patcher has a chance to do its job.