Even though there is hoards of information around, on these forums, the Emu docs, etc, I wanted to gather a bunch of the basics about the (Emu supported) game clients and consolidate it into one page for "newcomers", who may be looking for it, and/or help them understand a few things that new players may be confused about before logging on to any one of those servers they see on the list.
First of all, no matter what server you are interested in playing on, the whole EQEmu project only supports a handful of Everquest client versions. You can find that list on the main page here:
https://docs.eqemu.io/play/play-guide/ which shows Titanium, Secrets of Faydwer(SoF), Seeds of Destruction(SoD, Underfoot and Rain of Fear(RoF of RoF2) as the supported client versions. You CANNOT use the current, modern Everquest Live client (from Sony/Daybreak/whatever), it will not work on these Emu servers.
But, as a general rule of thumb, none of those client versions are directly provided by the EQEmu, so the onus is on you to aquire the game client on your own.(it's not as difficult as you think). You ALSO, need to realize, not all of those clients will be supported on all the Emu servers. All those playable servers you see on the list are independently owned and operated and each server may only support one of those client versions. Example: Like Project 1999 (or P99), they only support the Titanium client.
The Rain of Fear client (or RoF2) is the most common one that many servers support. If you're the type that wants to cruise around trying out many different servers, I would suggest getting your hands on both Titanium and Rof2. That way you won't be very limited as to what servers you want to play on. Example: You won't be able to play on Project 1999 with an RoF2 client.
IMPORTANT: No matter which client version(s) you choose to download, KEEP A CLEAN BACKUP COPY stored away. The reason for this, is many servers will be customized in their own different ways and they will need players to download client patch files (spell files, etc) that are supported by the individual server. This action will make your client compatible to use on that ONE particular server, but may cause problems trying to logon to a different server with that same patched client.
You can have multiple clients on your computer. You don't need to "install" these clients when you download them. Just put the client in it's own unique folder and, if you want another client setup for a different server, put that second one in it's own seperate folder. Many people who box multiple accounts (on servers that support boxing) practice this. But the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is ALWAYS keep that one clean copy as a backup. (one that has not been patched for any servers). You can simply take a copy of that backup to use in a seperate folder to setup for a different server. Some people may have a dozen or more client folders setup on their computer. You could be logged on to 3 different servers with 3 different client copies, if they were each setup seperately for those servers.(patch files, etc)
Setting up your client is pretty simple. (3 easy steps).
Step one - edit your eqhost.txt file for logging into the public login server. It should look similiar to this:
NOTE: This example is for SoD, UF and RoF clients only. (Titanium uses port 5998 )
Code:
[LoginServer]
Host=login.projecteq.net:5999
Step 2 - Create a shortcut on your desktop for the eqgame.exe file (not everquest.exe).
Step 3 - right click on that shortcut and choose "properties" and add the word patchme (see pic below, at bottom of post).
That's all there is to setting up your client for basic logon to the EQEmu public login server. Of course if you're going to be logging on to your own server, there different ways to do that.
If your client and server are on the same computer, the eqhost file would have this line: Host=127.0.0.1:5999
If your server is on a different computer, (Lan network), it would be similiar to this: Host=192.168.X.X:5999 (whatever the lan IP is of the server.
If you have a remote server (VPS, etc), and using a private loginserver, then Host=(remote IP of your server):5999
CONNECTING TO A SERVER (any server):
The loginserver and the actual server world that you enter, are 2 different servers. What actually takes place, after you connect to the loginserver, then you click on the server name to join the server, you will be disconnected from the loginserver. (it basically hands you off to the server you are joining). Even if the loginserver goes down, if you are already on the server, you won't be disconnected from the server itself. When you are at the character select screen, you are connected to that server already.
Some players, who are going AFK, will log their characters to the character select screen and not log right off. This is a practice used by some to log out of the world (not showing up in-game), but still connected to the server. But that can be a little deceiving when someone is scrolling through the server list and see xx amount of players, some of them maybe sitting at the character select screen, so when you login to the world, you don't see as many players in-game, as showed up on the player count on the server list. Example: You see a server with 25 players on it, but when you get in-game, you only see 18 or 19, doing a /who all.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
So, after all that, rewinding back to the part where you downloaded a client, got it all setup and you try to login to the loginserver, or join a server, but it's not working. One of those infamous errors show up and you sit there "WTF?"
Scenario One: You try to simply log into the public loginserver and it won't connect. There really is only 3 reasons this can happen. One - The public loginserver is temporarily down. Two - Your eqhost.txt file has an error in it. Three - You may have a necessary port blocked on your end. (This can happen).
Scenario Two: You actually connected to the public loginserver, but when you tried to join a server on that list, it would not work. There isn't too many causes for this either. One - The client version you are using is not supported by that server. Two - Make sure that particular server is not in "Locked" status. Three - You may have a port blocked (most commonly 9000-9001). Take a look at your client log file in the logs folder. (dbg.txt) Four - Something may be wrong with the server's configuration, which you would have to talk to the individual server owner. But for troubleshooting purposes, I would suggest to first try and log onto other servers, just to help isolate the problem.
Scenario Three: You have your own private server, with it's own login, but when you login, you don't see your server on the list. It's blank. Talk to the server owner. :P
In any event, if you make sure your client is setup properly and everything is in check, (Your shortcut is setup with the patchme, the eqhost.txt file is setup properly and you have none of the necessary ports blocked), you should have no problem logging on to the public login server.
Before joining a server, make sure you have a client that is supported by that particular server (many are different) and make sure you have all the patched files that the server requires. But each and everytime, you try out a new server, you're best to start out with a clean copy of the supported client. Every server's patch files can be different.
Just to clarify further, in a nutshell, each of those servers you see on that list are mostly independent and not affiliated, or tied together. They are all run seperately by individuals/teams doing their own thing. The EQEmu project provides the public loginserver for them to use. Anything else to do with the individual servers is all at the hands of the individual owners.
Anytime you have problems getting on a server (or server related), you have to go to that server's website, forums, or discord to address the issues with them. If they don't provide any means of reaching them, then you're probably SOL.
P.S. Let it be known, my coffee got cold typing all this crap out. You're welcome. (smirk)
Know Your Client - Logging Into Emu Servers
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