Patch 1-28-03

[vpresti]

Is SEQ working? I am at work so i dont know yet, just figured id ask.

[LordCrush]

No Clue servers are not up yet,

but i fear they changed again something ...

from the patch msg:


- Further optimizations to reduce bandwidth and 'lag'. It is difficult to describe the value of this change, but it should show a noticeable improvement for many. We've also resolved many of the hit point update and movement issues that occurred recently.


/em crosses his fingers :p

[Jel321]

I can guarentee they changed the structs again as Test has been different since a patch on 1-17 :(

I was hoping for some verification and that patch note pretty much confirms it.

[LordCrush]

:(

confirmed ... its broken again

i only get a buch of errors ... i hope the code and protocol wizzys and magicans can fix it again

/cry

:(

[KennySP]

There will be an emergency patch soon. everytime you zone it's a zone to desktop.

[Amadeus]

Utterly amazing, simply facinating --

How can you have such an actively played test server and screw up patch days as badly as SOE regularly does? ...and, they don't seem embarassed by it at all..hehe

[addicted.to.eq]

seems to be they changed the encryption...

Error: Expected xxx, but only yyy left


sigh

[Mr Guy]

At least I figured out how they improved lag: EQ is currently dropping to desktop if you zone.


THAT will clear up A LOT of lag.

[LordCrush]

Error: Expected xxx, but only yyy left

more likely better compression ... or compression of data that was not compressed until now ...

hope they did not break the GPS without decryption :/

[Amadeus]

Where's Mvern? ..heheh

[Jel321]

hope they did not break the GPS without decryption :/

If you mean using SEQ for just GPS then sorry, thats busted to. Some zones it will detect what you are but your position willbe way off or it will not be updated at all.

Other zones it wont detect at all.

[LordCrush]

If you mean using SEQ for just GPS then sorry, thats busted to

Jel321,

i know that, but until now the Devs were able to repair the GPS so that it works without decryption...

That was only possible cause the data that is needed for GPS was not encrypted. But if they have added an encryption on that part of data ... there will be no GPS without Keysniffer any more.

That did i mean ... and i hope it will not be the truth :/

[vpresti]

we working yet? i see the new KEY 0x700c1950

Do i need to run Bash seq.txt?

[Jel321]

There are more problems than just a new key. Be patient.

[TWRabat]

Yep, they did it again. I started up and loaded into SH, SEQ didnt work..not even picking up data on my linux box. Went to zone into the nexus to see if it'd pick up the key and signal once it resent data, and i got a lovely boot to desktop.

[Resiliant]

Yep.. ditto me, and i did an update this morning right after I logged in just to be sure. Last time i wandered around for a while 'blind'. It was no fun. This time, I'm going to wait for the upgrade before playing. Ahh the joys of Hacking! :)

[TWRabat]

HEADS UP GUYS. Just got off the EQ chat servers incoming patch in 15 min to fix the zoning problems...so more things will change. Wiating....

[Resiliant]

I gotta say this. Why in the hell do they even HAVE a Test server? The code never works... Sheesh if i submitted code like this to my distribution manager at work I'd be fired instantly.

[LordCrush]

/nod - let me run a script on all clients that crash them and i will have no work tomorrow :p

but this is a game only :p

[hawgz]

2 different UI files have been patched since servers back up. The 2nd one now crashes you to desktop BEFORE you get to character select screen.

Wonderful stuff.

[TWRabat]

Yep, i did the same thing and was just about to post that. It goes into the loader then just crapps out. Why cant they get their xml right?

[LordCrush]

Hehe i tried the "eqgame.exe patchme" trick with an old EQUI.XML file but the servers are down now :/

[Amadeus]

I don't know which I find more disgusting, the fact that they forgot to add these two files to the patch in the first place, or the fact that when they did, it crashes everyone.

[TWRabat]

Just ran the patch again. 5 files updtated, including EQUI.Xml and 4 of the Spela.tga-speld.tga, tho those are graphics i know. Now i cant log into the login server. Seems to be broken

[CiscoKid]

Originally posted by hawgz
2 different UI files have been patched since servers back up. The 2nd one now crashes you to desktop BEFORE you get to character select screen.

Wonderful stuff.

Ok was thinking it was just me...whew!

[hawgz]

Got yet another patch with the .tga's and yet another EQUI.xml and still crashing before character select.

eqlive shows all the servers to be up and I can talk to some people via EQIM.

Guess this is their grand plan to minimize bandwidth. Keep 90% of the user base off the servers......

[TWRabat]

Ok, I started digging though alot of my EQ DIR for things changed as the game loads, Look up the UIErrors.txt file in your EQ Dir and see if your getting a
"Warning: file EQUI_BigBankWnd.xml not found in directory UIFiles\Default\ Atempting to use file from Default skin.Couldnt open or read UIFiles\Default\EQUI_bigbankwnd.xml"

I think the game is trying ot use the Ykesha files that they havent implimented yet, and need to either impliment them, or turn the searching for that function off.

[hawgz]

There's a thread in the eqlive forums about patching for the test server then copying all those files to another UI directory.

I THINK what these guys are doing is saving the test server UI patches to another directory, then changing the eqclient.ini to load the saved UI on startup. It appears to be working for some, but most people using winXP seem to be out of luck.

Who would've thought win98se would ever be a good thing?

[TWRabat]

Update again:
EQUI.xml
spellsnew.edd
spellsnew.eff

lets see if it runs...

[hawgz]

http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/everquest/Forum3/HTML/036653.html

The gist of it is, run testeverquest.exe and let it patch, then close the patcher.

Now run normal eq patcher and let it patch.

That's EQ Tech supports current fix. Testing to see if it works now.

[TWRabat]

Ok, patched, seems to work got back in..but im gonna run the test eq for good measure

Thanks hawgz!

[Resiliant]

Consider this...

Our ShowEQ releases via Source Forge are roughly 10x more reliable than Sony's. When was the last time you downloaded released code, and half the people, or more, crashed to desktop?

HEY Sony! Why don't we trade roles? We'll get our dev's to support EQ, and YOU can take over SEQ support? How's that? Imagine what the game would look like, and how well it would work!

:P

[baelang]

Originally posted by Resiliant
HEY Sony! Why don't we trade roles? We'll get our dev's to support EQ, and YOU can take over SEQ support? How's that? Imagine what the game would look like, and how well it would work!


It's not their developers...

the problem is with their release management and configuration management group(s) (and also probably the QA group).

BTW i am currently avaliable and Experienced with such matters. please send a Private message for a resume.

EDIT: great at SCM, not so hot with spelling. but hey, that's why there is a spelling checker in microsoft word, right?

[cbreaker]

Experienced*

[Iam_Walrus]

I'm betting that Bae is probably thai (guessing here) but because of my assumption that he is at the very minimum from way west of me, I forgive any spelling/grammatical errors on his part.

So Bae, give us a fix hehe

:D

[LordCrush]

no Baelang /veto,

if YOU go to SoE it will not last long till all sniffers will not work anymore :p you know that matter far toooo well.

:p :p /jk - if you get a good job just take it ;)

[TWRabat]

Ok, after all i've done for today this is the most i've done here...which still hasnt been alot. But I want to put more into the SEQ devlopment and getting things to work, but im kinda at a loss on exp tho when it comes to using linux..and figureing out how things work.

I dont wanna sit here like a littel troll here reading and waiting for OTHER people to fix problems with SoE patches EQ.

So i guess my question is, is there a way i can learn, point me in the right direction so i can read, and learn, and start helping the devs and such to make the voodoo that SEQ does do so much better?

[forty-two]

Originally posted by TWRabat
a way i can learn
Knowing C++ helps. If you don't, you'll have to learn as you go, making it waaay longer before you can do anything at all. :)

[TWRabat]

Well that sticks me SOL....i had enough fun with the VC++ stuff used to make the keysniffers..and that was a headache. But, i can grab a book, and sit down and start learning...tho definatly not something i can whip out over night...maybe in a year.

[vpresti]

So SEQ up? do i bash seq.txt? or what?

[Amadeus]

Do you not read your own thread responses? Have you never been through a patch where compression and/or encryption changed?

There are no magic wands.

[baelang]

Originally posted by Iam_Walrus
I'm betting that Bae is probably thai (guessing here) but because of my assumption that he is at the very minimum from way west of me, I forgive any spelling/grammatical errors on his part.

Nope. good ole expensive consultant from the Pacific Northwest.

(I just type quickly and spell poorly.)

[baelang]

Originally posted by LordCrush
no Baelang /veto,
if YOU go to SoE it will not last long till all sniffers will not work anymore :p you know that matter far toooo well.


Who says i wouldn't work on both? ;o) I can be anonymous if i want to. (BaeLang is only semi-anonymous. it wouldn't take much digging to link BaeLang to my real self. other identities i have are not so easy to trace.)

[baelang]

Originally posted by TWRabat
So i guess my question is, is there a way i can learn, point me in the right direction so i can read, and learn, and start helping the devs and such to make the voodoo that SEQ does do so much better?

start by reading the source code for SEQ. read it with a C++ refrence book in hand if you have to.

also, check all the QT documentation that you can get your hands on.

pick some small piece of code. figure out what it does, pick another and so on.

[CybMax]

Any closer to a solution ref. the latest patch and showeq not working?

Sony redone whole packet traffic or sumtin? (Since it was mentioned "optimized network" in the patch message)

Cyber

[Ankan]

Hi!

Awfully quiet, since patch and SEQ broke, in forums. Is everyone holding their breaths for a solution? :)


/Ankan

[Resiliant]

Yep.

Letting the dev's have their quiet time to decipher the new packet compression scheme. Were all waiting patiently till SEQ works again :)

R

[Amadeus]

I'm counting on the fact that "no news, is good news" in this instance.

I would imagine if the situation were very grim, we would have been told it was either going to be some time, or else we would have heard a dev rant ;)

[Graffix]

Agreed

Better they not be deluged with posts asking what’s wrong, if/when/how its fixable the masses will be informed and as always eternally grateful

[Jel321]

Better they not be deluged with posts asking what’s wrong, if/when/how its fixable the masses will be informed and as always eternally grateful

To late ;) Every section on this forum has more than one post asking this already.

[cbreaker]

I don't actually see why posts asking when a fix will be posted would slow down the devs.. I mean, when someone posts one of these do their machines reboot or something?

It's also funny how the forums come to an almost grinding halt when seq is broken. People are afraid that anything they post could be constrewed as being "pushy" or "trolling."

IMO the only ones that are truely trolling are the ones that constantly and consistantly post nothing except "USE THE SEARCH BUTTON YOU F'ING MORON FOOL ASS CRAP TARD!!"

You have a choice. You can ignore people that post heavily redundant questions, or waste your time barking at them for not using the search feature. Personally, I'll answer a question if it's not complicated, but I'll always remind someone to use search if it's warranted..

/shrug

[Lyroschen]

Originally posted by cbreaker

IMO the only ones that are truely trolling are the ones that constantly and consistantly post nothing except "USE THE SEARCH BUTTON YOU F'ING MORON FOOL ASS CRAP TARD!!"
/shrug

This seems to increase when SEQ isn't working. I 'specially like the MORON FOOL ASS CRAP TARD part. I think everyone should use that in flames. Gets the point across better. <g>

I agree with you CB, but some folks like to flame, and it even warns folks to expect to be flamed if they don't use the search button before asking. ::shrug:: I don't like to flame, but I did get a chuckle out of MORON FOOL ASS CRAP TARD. hehe... almost makes the boards worth reading when there's nothing of use being posted.

[cbreaker]

I'm glad you like it =)

Actually I'm having more fun in the seq forums lately then in EQ itself. At least there's some interesting stuff here.

[unknown_errors]

Originally posted by baelang


It's not their developers...

the problem is with their release management and configuration management group(s) (and also probably the QA group).


wowsers i didn't programer had to get QA scorings ?

[high_jeeves]

wowsers i didn't programer had to get QA scorings?


I ran this through babelfish on all the settings available, and couldnt get it to turn into english.. anyone know what language this is?

--Jeeves

[who_me_use_seq]

Yes Jeeves I am familiar with this dialect.

This person is a resident of the land of Gibber.

He is speaking Gibberish.

I used to work for one of the Telcos and I found that this is the default language of any meeting that you are invited to attend via email that has more than 2 recipients.

[erice2]

I have a friend that uses a memory hack to get seq functionality. His tool displays maps and mobs on top of the EQ screen by reading EQ memory and drawing to some layer of the video buffer(or something like that). His tool still works on the latest patch. Presumably this means they have not changed things so much that seq cannot be fixed. That gives me reason to believe that there is still hope for seq. Just FYI

[wizard]

His tool probably does not read packets directly off the network.. it probably takes all the information directly from memory which should already be decoded..

[AMadMonk]

Yes, that's correct. I've made a similar tool for my own consumption (I'm not stupid; I know what releasing it would do) and it just reads the spawnlist from memory post-decryption. I also hook on the inbound packets to get updates, and so on. Very different issue (although we in-process folks have our own problems, what with function offsets changing every single patch (although a friend's Perl script is fairly reliable at re-finding the offsets) and with being _much_ more detectable/bannable than SEQ).

But from what I heard on the IRC chan last night, the problem should be surmountable for SEQ too (not surprising; SEQ devs are smart, and there's no such thing as unhackable security).

I'll enjoy my day or three of radar superiority before you folks get it ironed out and I have to re-boot my third EQ box back into RedHat to get _real_ radar coverage...

[lane]

I mean, when someone posts one of these do their machines reboot or something?


Thank you, I'm still lauging at this.

I almost shit myself when I didn't even get GPS this morning. Rah Rah Devs. :)

-Lane

[Lyroschen]

Originally posted by high_jeeves


I ran this through babelfish on all the settings available, and couldnt get it to turn into english.. anyone know what language this is?

--Jeeves

In reference to....


Originally posted by unknown_errors


wowsers i didn't programer had to get QA scorings ?

Ran this through SARCHASM and AOLTECHSUPPORT filters and came up with the following translation:

Wow, I didn't realize that programmers ever had to have their projects QA'd.

BTW, I also speak fluent TWIT, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad.