Map shows NPC's, players, etc moving but my char stays still

[myxiplx]

Can anyone explain what's happening here. I'm very new to Linux & ShowEQ, but otherwise pretty familiar with PC's.

ShowEQ appears to work, I can see my own client and my gf's. Maps are working and I can see NPC's and players wandering about.

However my own character doesn't move. It just sits on the showeq map at the point I was when I zoned in.

Now I am using a wireless network, and really have very little idea how to configure networking, etc... in linux. Is it possible that I'm only seeing some packets from my machine?

If so, is there any easy way around this? Are there any network management programs that would allow me to link the windows pc / linux pc through their wired network cards & monitor all traffic on the wireless connection that way? Ie. configure some program on the windows PC to use the wired card as a network monitoring port for the wireless connection?

thanks,

Ross

[spack]

Is it possible that I'm only seeing some packets from my machine?
Well, I think you only want to see packets from your machine. Try putting your clients MAC address in under the Network menu to set the monitoring filter to that alone. You might need to try clicking Session Tracking too. See if this help.

[myxiplx]

No, I'm doing that. I've tried getting ShowEQ to pick the first session it sees, filtering by IP, and by MAC address. I get the same symptoms regardless.

It seems that ShowEQ only picks up the player as they zone. If I were to guess, I'd say it's as if I'm seeing all the information coming *from* the server, but none of the information going back.

ie. I can see the server telling EQ where all the other mobs are, where players are moving, etc. But I don't get to see EQ telling the server where I'm moving to, etc. That could fit in with seeing the player as they zone, I'm guessing that the server tells the client the point it just zoned in at.

If that's the case, I need a better way of monitoring traffic on this network. It may be that my wireless card can be configured better for this (RT2500), or I may need to setup specific network monitoring.

I could always use the Linux box as my router, and get my PC to route all traffic through it, but my Linux box is an old laptop and is prone to overheating and hanging, so I'd rather avoid that if I can.

I'd much rather send a copy of all the network traffic to the laptop's ethernet card if that's possible (in the same way that modern switches allow you to specify a management port).

[Cryonic]

If that's the case, I need a better way of monitoring traffic on this network. It may be that my wireless card can be configured better for this (RT2500), or I may need to setup specific network monitoring.

That is most likely your problem. Unlike wired NICs, only certain wireless NICs support promiscuous mode and of those fewer have drivers for Linux that implement it.

[CeleSEQ]

Also check when you start showeq, and make sure the line that lists the seq version says 5.5.0.0... if I remember correctly player movement opcodes were some of the broken ones in the past patch or two that required seq updates.

[myxiplx]

Ok, got the network card in promiscous mode but it doesn't seem to have helped. Is there any way to check if I'm seeing the packets?

Version is 5.5.0.0 btw.

[myxiplx]

Ok, just spotted the text logs in the terminal session. It's catching packets for things I do since it spots me casting spells. But it doesn't recognise my character name. The entry when I cast a spell is:

Spell: UKNOWN (ID: 19469) has begun casting 'Chorus of Marr' - Casting time is 3 Seconds

[myxiplx]

Hmm... ok, more info. ShowEQ Network Diagnostics shows pretty much all the packets I'm capturing are zone-> client.

I'm seeing no packets for client -> world. Just 4 packets for world -> client. None for client -> zone, and 3500 for zone -> client.

Looks like I'm back at a network monitoring issue. Asking on the RT2500 forums now, but does anyone here have any suggestions for monitoring EQ machines on a wireless network?

[spack]

Orinoco Gold Cards = Cheap $$$ and Reliable

[BlueAdept]

NT - nevermind was covered.

[myxiplx]

Well, solved it in the end, but not by any troubleshooting. I upgraded to Ubuntu 6 (Dapper Drake) so I could play with Xgl / Compiz, while doing that found the old wireless card caused the computer to lock up after an hour or two of use. Binned that & when I re-installed ShowEQ on the new Linux install with a new card everything worked fine first time. No need to configure promisc mode or anything.

Thanks for the help though everyone, much appreciated.

[dudex]

I get the exact same problem, though I'm using Debian.

The funny thing is, I've used ShowEQ through 3 previous releases, and never had any problems. The character glitch didn't happen the first couple times I used the program, now it happens all the time.

?!

Guess I could just "re-install" it...

[dudex]

UGH!

I deleted and re-installed it, using apt-get this time. Same thing.

If I had changed something, I'd know "why" it worked the first time then never again... but I don't know enough about Linux to have even changed anything in the first place. :P

[CeleSEQ]

The problem is likely to be a network issue... network cards, switches, etc. Reinstalling seq almost never fixes anything (unless you had an out-of-date version to begin with)

That said, you can try one thing on the software side that might help (though I think it's unlikely) Try moving your ~root/.showeq directory to ~root/.showeq.old

If that fixes it let me know, that would be interesting. Not likely to help though. Odds are that something on your network has changed and you are no longer seeing some of the network traffic (or your network card is dying and same effect)

[dudex]

Interesting.

The problem is intermittent now, and not all the time.

New problem, though: whenever I go to a new zone, ShowEQ doesn't "pick up" the new zone; what I have to do is close the program and re-open it just before I zone. From there, ShowEQ will sometimes follow my character, other times it won't.

I've completely deleted all ShowEQ folders and re-installed with apt, to no avail. Additionally, it somehow still knows to look for the MAC/IP address I set in the previous versions... where is this config info stored?

[purple]

Configuration is in ~/.showeq along with other stuff. Seq isn't going to just randomly do things. It only operates in response to what it sees on the network. So either you have odd traffic on the network which showeq is seeing as EQ traffic and thus locking on, or you have an odd network setup.

[dudex]

Yeah, turns out it was the "monitor IP" information that was saved. Couldn't figure out where to change that, so I just told it to monitor 0.0.0.0, then monitor next client. Worked perfectly every time.

Now to track down the config file and fix it once and for all...

[badger]

I run slackware and a 1 gig ether switch. what I did is in my PC I dropped a 10/100 nic card and tied my PC and Linux box together with an old 10/100 4 port hub which is tied into the ether switch. This way my Linux box and PC are isolated and I have never had issues with reading the packets. My internet traffic runs through my 10/100 hub while all my LAN traffic runs through my 1 gig nic card, which bypasses my 10/100 hub. It's a little much but the point is to isolate your PC and Linux box so you get a clean reading. I have two roommates that also play and I didn't want their traffic to interfear with mine.