are GM's able to position themselv "outside" map?

[spungee]

something weird happened today, I was in a zone, I was using seq, and then I saw someone entering zone, he might have been there for a min or two before I saw him on the /who list. I decided to check out where he was, and it looked like he was outside the normal map boundaries. I don't know if this was just a bug or if it's possible for gm's to go to a "room" or something outside the regular map boundaries. The zone was WL by the way, and I never saw the guy on the map, only a line towards him stretching outside what I was able to zoom out to.

Just wondered if any of you have seen something similar, or know more than I do =).

Might as well give the dev's a pat on the back while I'm at it, your're doing an awesome job!
my linux knowledge has drastically improved over the last year as well.

edit: grammar

[Mr. Suspicious]

Have you even bothered to read the top post in this forum when you posted this post? The one with the cryptic name: On The Subject of Spawns Outside the Map... Or use the search to find at least 10 posts with more then 50 replies that cover this subject?

[spungee]

yes I have, but this is different, I talked to him, he showed up on "/who", list he wasn't a "ghost" spawn, talked to another guy wearing the same guildtag as well, it just seemed that they're were "undercover" gm's, since they wouldn't tell me much about their guild, AND the fact that it seemed like he could move to unreachable places.

I asked a question, and since I've been trolling these boards for a year, I wouldn't dare asking a question without using the search function.

I was a linux noob first time I came here, look at my number of posts and do the math, do YOU think I've used the search function before? =)

[bonkersbobcat]

GMs (not guides) have the ability to goto a specific set of coordinates. I don't know if they are restricted to be within the bounds of "the world" or not. I would guess that there are no restrictions as to where then can tell their client to place their avatar.

[e@tme]

As Bonkers has said, GM's DO have the ability to place themselves at ANY co-ords within any given zone. They also have the ability to turn there GM status to off.

Concievably, *GM*-joe-Blow can:

#goto x y z
#gm off
#hideme

[jgorrell]

Just more info about the GM's hiding.. off topic from the thread title...


Saw a GM go into his hide mode right infront of me. Name changed from green to normal player color and his "GM Guild Tag" disappeared. He also wasn't under the /who list.

I always thought this made the game believe it was an NPC, but after glancing at the SEQ screen, the GM was listed under Players along with his hidden guildtag.

[fgay trader]

Although GM's can /goto x y z, they do have some restrictions.

Some zones have "extensions" or hidden rooms with no exits (where troublemakers are usually summoned) which are outside of the regular zone boundries and are only accessible via GM's /goto command. However, if placed outside the boundries of the zone and not in those special rooms, any character (be it regular player, guide, or GM) WILL get corrupted, most likely crash to desktop and will need to be either moved to another location within the zone offline by GM tools, or in the worst case restored from a previous save.

[RSB]

fgay trader's statement isn't entirely true.

Goto Butcher block mountians on a rainy day with a wood elf
get levitate.
climb to the top of a tree near the southern zone line to DC.
run south and you'll find high up there is no boundry clipping and you'll be able to go outside the normal zone. This being one of the first zones they've created it also doesn't seem to have the mechinism to trigger the relocate to safe point for a VERY long time. I've sat there leviateing and running straight down under the world for over 10 minutes before. No crash to the desktop, no corruption.

But I have been caught between zones before where i had to be reset by a GM but that was normal zoning situations when the target zone happen to drop while I was zoning.

[fgay trader]

RSB, are you saying you were running outside of X/Y boundries of the zone, or simply under it (large negative Z)?

From what I experienced during my short time as a guide (shhh! don't tell anyone ;)), the Z axis isn't affected in this way. There are "holes" in several zones that allow PC's or mobs to fall through the ground and end up under the world, but usually the fall kills you. However, in case you do survive (by levitating, or sheer luck, or just logging in and finding yourself under the world), you can roam under the world for almost unlimited periods of time. But you will still be within the X/Y boundries of the zone. You may think you ran for 10 minutes straight out of the zone, but in reality you might have hit an invisible wall down there and not noticed it.

The only way to really check weather or not you're where you think you are while down there is keeping track of your /loc or have a point of reference that tells you otherwise, or checking in SEQ :)

[FuddRucker]

Originally posted by jgorrell
Just more info about the GM's hiding.. off topic from the thread title...


Saw a GM go into his hide mode right infront of me. Name changed from green to normal player color and his "GM Guild Tag" disappeared. He also wasn't under the /who list.

I always thought this made the game believe it was an NPC, but after glancing at the SEQ screen, the GM was listed under Players along with his hidden guildtag.

As a Guide for several years (those are the volunteers that HELP the GMs, not people that are employeed by Verant/SoE) what the "GM" did in this case was they went into either /anon or /role mode. If a character is GM flagged when they are anon or in roleplay mode they do not appear on the /who list.

This is so they can shield themselves when on investigations. Usually if a Guide is out and about and not terribly busy they should be "visable" that is to say, not /anon or /role'd and visable on the /who and /who all gm list. There are times however when Guides/GMs will hide themselves in order to avoid the onslaught of tells that may be interruptive because players refuse to use the /petition command and feel their lost Fine Steel Short Sword takes presidence over everyone elses problem.

It should ALSO be important to note that ANY Guide, GM, Senior Guide, GM-Admin, GM-Quest Admin, QuestTroupe, or any of the other NUMEROUS titles given to various CS positions in EverQuest can ONLY be viewed by typing /who all gm.

If there's a "GM" standing next to you. Type /who all GM and it will display their "Full" title, often Guides are mistaken for GMs because the /who list only shows "* GM *" instead of say for instance "* Senior Guide *" which is a HUGE difference from a GM.

I'm sure 20 people have said this already, USE SEARCH and READ THE DAMN STICKIES for crying out loud!

[fgay trader]

Originally posted by FuddRucker
It should ALSO be important to note that ANY Guide, GM, Senior Guide, GM-Admin, GM-Quest Admin, QuestTroupe, or any of the other NUMEROUS titles given to various CS positions in EverQuest can ONLY be viewed by typing /who all gm.

/nitpick on ;)
Every Guide, Sr. Guide and any kind of GM (GM-Admin, GM-Lead, etc.) has access to /hideme command that:
a) renders them completely invisible (even to see-invis type spells);
b) removes them from /who, /who all and /who all gm lists.

/nitpick off

If Guides are hidden in such a way, the only way to spot them (at least during my time as a guide) was from their gear that is a light source, e.g. the sparkling sword or other toys they carry around to show off, if they didn't bag those items. Some said that their footsteps can be heard too, although nobody could confirm that. GM's don't even have to worry about that, they must have a better "hide" command.

Unfortunately, I found out about SEQ after I quit the guide program, so I cannot say for sure if a hidden guide/gm will show up on the map, but I imagine that if some information is being sent to our client (hence the light source and footsteps), guides are quite likely visible via SEQ. However, if GM's /hide command stops sending their packets completely, who knows... One might be behind you right now! ... BOO!

[RSB]

Many zones, newer ones, tend to teleport you to the safe location if you are under the world.

[Circles]

all zones post kunark have a coders box. this was used to stop people from editing the trainer to view the world maps. the coder box is at the defualt location that the trainer would start your avatar.

they are called coders boxes because most list coords on the walls to popular places in the zone... ie zonelines etc

gms and guides can use /hideme to remove them from all forms of tracking. when a gm or guide goes /anon it removes their guild tag, just like everyone else, changes their name to blue, and removes them from /w and /w all searches. they can also /toggle off to not recieve tells. GMs can make it so tells are responded to with that player is not online.