I've tried both. the boot5.bat works fine, i get all 5 zoneservers in sleep mode. it's only when i attempt to enter a zone that i get the msg.
I did happen to find the maps.zip file for the admin tool, and tried putting them in a /maps dir under my eqemu folder, but when i try to enter the world it immediately causes an illegal operation when attempting to autoboot the zone. (win9

. if i rename the /maps dir I get the initial symptom - map not found, login packet 1, then a whole lot of nuttin.
If it matters, i have only the Kunark CD, and have removed eqmain.dll and running eqw.exe. i am able to specify my server (not same as client) and connect just fine.
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just wanted to say a huge THANKS to the dev team, a wonderful job that i'm able to create a character at all. this is truly a gift to the world.