Looking to assemble an open source Vanilla EQ Server

[merlock]

Hey Everyone,

I have been lurking a while and am currently working on an open source Vanilla EQ server. Currently in the process of going through each zone and removing out of era spawns. Then going to remove out of era drops especially defiant, etc. I have a pretty decent and slim version of classic-ized titanium client I'm working with right now.

I can fund it, I can buy a professional server and pay for hosting. I can even pay for people helping out.

I am a design engineer by trade and I have a passion for true game design and long term support on how to improve a game over time, not just inflate it.

Anyway I want to start with Vanilla as a clean slate and simply improve it. Not progression or anything, simply improve the game. Things like tuning hot zones to keep every zone relevant, new items that enhance the game but stay perfectly in balance, etc. Fix bugs that have plagued the game forever, improve underused spells and items and classes, host GM events, etc.

My goal is not to get donations. My goal is to preserve Vanilla EQ and continue on its legacy in the way it should have been, by improving the game not just throwing new content at it. I have no hope or aspiration of ever even breaking even in donations. I know that will not happen nor would I want it to. This is just a big part of my life's work and I will pursue it until the end. This is not about me reliving the Nostalgia. I have had more than my fair share of that already. This is about Game Design. Games have only been around a few dozen years and true Game Design has not even come close to where it needs to be.

Anyway if you want to help out I would love that! I can show you what I know if you want or you can probably teach me a lot. Whether you want to run a website, forum, server, do coding, database work, server work, whatever. Lets work together and make this 10x better than I could ever do on my own.

[FievelMousey]

Getting a forum up i could do easy for you if need one

[chrsschb]

Check out the eqemu discord, Shin Noir is already leading a project called PEQ Expansions that will allow servers ops to specify which expansion their server is accurate to.

[merlock]

Yes a forum would be awesome. But very cool I had not heard of PEQ expansions. If they have a workable plan I would love to help with that. But as a game designer (or budding one) myself I do want to run my own server and in the near future so not sure I could just wait for that project to complete. From not knowing anything about it, it sounds like amassing a gigantic set of SQL queries and not sure I would be the best to work on that. For me I am a professional designer and it is more about leading the design of a game/server.

But anyway Im flexible. Keep the ideas coming!

Fievel if you want to run a forum I can contribute to hosting costs if you need it (we could start free with ads or whatever) and even contribute to youtubers or podcasters to get the word out. My focus is Vanilla EQ Open Source development so open client, open database, open server code. Fully open not just an initial release like another to remain unnamed project . but I'm not competing, the more classic servers the merrier that is the point of open source.

PS: I read a little into peq expansions and one thing i am doing may help them; I am taking very extensive notes on all the db changes I am making so when they are trying to figure out what is in vanilla eq that may help them.

[Akkadius]

This sort of project is related to PEQ initiatives and if we really needed a forum we can add a PEQ section to represent said project.

Most of the discussion has been happening in the Dsicord channel and someone just needs to take up the initiative on pushing the project forward. There are many people who want to be able to toggle expansions and with enough steam others would jump to help

[merlock]

I'm with you akka. What do you think about everyone just working on their own "classic" db and we all just sharing our dumps along the way and kinda building things that way? The only problem with that is it may be hard for us to maintain forward compatibility if any changes are made to standard PEQ that are required for new server compatibility. Thoughts?

[Akkadius]

The approach the project is already taking is that the entire PEQ database and EQEmu source should be designed in such a way that all expansions should be able to be toggled on/off and have the whole thing function regardless forward and backward. Everyone working on their own database, fragmenting and duplicating efforts is what everyone has been doing for years and it doesn't work

[merlock]

Ok understood. So lets say we have an awesome peq expansions query system where you can push a button and get your database modified to a certain expansion. Then you would just fork your database to make it custom from there? But then how do you, as a custom server owner, make sure that your forked database stays compatible with new server code?

[Huppy]

Originally Posted by merlock

Hey Everyone,

I have been lurking a while and am currently working on an open source Vanilla EQ server

This whole "vanilla peq open source" vision sounds just like this one - http://eqemu.org which has been recently "rebooted".

[merlock]

Interesting thanks

[Member Berries]

Originally Posted by Huppy

This whole "vanilla peq open source" vision sounds just like this one - http://eqemu.org which has been recently "rebooted".

thought the same. the admin on the forums is even named merlock.

[woton]

I know nothing about coding. I always wondered why doesn't anyone use the original vanilla cd to make a server?

[c0ncrete]

None of the quests are on the disc. None of the item stats are on the disc. None of the mob stats are on the disc. It's nowhere near as simple as inserting the client-side installer and "viola!". It's not even just coding. There is a metric ton of research/data gathering done just to be able to say you have an idea of how you can make things "close enough to be passable".