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Problem - Confused...can you use MQ2 with Level 1 access? (1 Viewer)

Taffer

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Feb 29, 2020
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I found this while reading an EQ forum and thought I'd give it a try. My first impression was you could download and install the software and try it out for free with level 1 access. I downloaded and unzipped the program, and the EQBCServer.exe will run and open a command prompt window waiting on packets to come across one of the browser ports, but the MQ2.exe will not run. So I went to look at another video and it said to go to the site here and download/install/run "Launcher" software. I try to do this and it tells me I cannot do this at level 1 access. Was all of this just bait to get you here and tempted, baiting you into buying level 2? If not, what am I doing wrong?

Any idea why the MQ2.exe will not run? Running WIN10, 16GB RAM, fair GPU and 3.4 GHz i5 CPU. I can run 4 accounts at once with high settings with no issues at all so I don't think my PC is underpowered.

Also, the videos and text say this runs on some servers but not others, but I don't really understand which servers they are saying this will or won't run on. I play on the old Mithaniel Marr server which is now the Bertox-Saryn server. I started playing as one of the first 200 alpha testers (that was a trip) and I just got back in the game about a month ago and have been leveling a cleric/tank merc with an enchanter/rogue merc, with a 65 bard running around pulling for these two until they were low 50's and Chorus of Marr was about to land on them outside of a group. I just got to where I was setting up macros so I could hit a key and chain a few spells together automatically while ALT+TAB to the second account and hitting a macro to chain a few spells together, then switch back and soak up the XP. Now I'm trying to run this program and I can't download the launcher, and when I try to run MQ2, it doesn't run, and doesn't give me any indication I even double clicked the shortcut. I right click and tell it to "Run as Administrator" and it pops up a window asking me if I want to allow the program to make changes to my drive and I click on "YES", and the program instantly shuts down.

Any idea what's happening or how to fix this? Is any of this even usable as a level one account? I'm not against paying, but money is tight so I'd like to try this out before dumping money into a program that I don't know if it will work or not.

I'm looking forward to tinkering with the .ini files. I used a similar style program in WOW. I actually had more fun tweaking the software and making it perfect than playing the game, but I'm OCD that way. Anyway, I'd really appreciate any help.
 
Definitely not a "bait and switch" Very Vanilla is a complile of MacroQuest2 where all the work is done to compile for your with live access and such - VV also has some VV specific plugins and macros that aren't available out of the box. if you wanted to just run the raw macroquest experience you can see that here >> HERE << --- the community, the support, and the VV specific stuff is really worth it imo

I'll shoot you a lvl 2 access for a month to give it a try - we hope you enjoy it
 
Hey @Taffer , welcome to RG!

I actually had more fun tweaking the software and making it perfect than playing the game, but I'm OCD that way. Anyway, I'd really appreciate any help.

This is sooooo me too, this is what have gotten me to 3 groups and at least one of each class. LOVE to fix them INI files and get it all to run smooth.

Keep asking questions and they will all be answered, the community is always helpful. After a while you find yourself helping someone yourself,

Step by Discord if you want btw. Lotsa knowledge beeing passed around there too!
 
Definitely not a "bait and switch" Very Vanilla is a complile of MacroQuest2 where all the work is done to compile for your with live access and such - VV also has some VV specific plugins and macros that aren't available out of the box. if you wanted to just run the raw macroquest experience you can see that here >> HERE << --- the community, the support, and the VV specific stuff is really worth it imo

I'll shoot you a lvl 2 access for a month to give it a try - we hope you enjoy it
I appreciate the prompt response and temporary boost to L2! I already shared this info with another guy in game. Unfortunately, he only plays on a single account. My brain works too fast for that. I was on my enchanter, cleric duo with mercs and my bard with Chorus of Marr regenning mana, and playing another game on my tablet between pulls. If this is anything like the software I used in WOW, I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it.

I should have been in bed a few hours ago, so I'll give this another shot tomorrow evening.
 
Hey @Taffer , welcome to RG!



This is sooooo me too, this is what have gotten me to 3 groups and at least one of each class. LOVE to fix them INI files and get it all to run smooth.

Keep asking questions and they will all be answered, the community is always helpful. After a while you find yourself helping someone yourself,

Step by Discord if you want btw. Lotsa knowledge beeing passed around there too!
The software in WOW had preset files to download, and most of them were more or less acceptable, but it was more of an autobotting software, but it was still fun tweaking the files. Although it was an autobotting software, I was at the keyboard 99% of the time watching it run and tweaking, restarting the updated file, and watching for new ways to tweak it better. I'm not against grouping with living people, but if you screw up in a self made group, nobody gets made at you. For instance, long long ago (<2005) my friend and his wife were in a raid and he got marked with something and it blew up him and a few others near him including a few healers. He missed it...he had fallen asleep at the keyboard. :0)
 
You can buy a sub to MQ2 but if you help people on the forum you can get credits from people which will let you get subscriptions for free. It will work on any server that isn't "Truebox". Tweaking inis is fun :)
That was another question I had...what is a "truebox" server? I play on the original Mithaniel Marr server which was absorbed into the Bertox/Saryn server at some point years ago. Does this software work on this server?
 
That was another question I had...what is a "truebox" server? I play on the original Mithaniel Marr server which was absorbed into the Bertox/Saryn server at some point years ago. Does this software work on this server?
Truebox are servers designated by DBG to require 1 pc per character

"Live server" works on: Antonius Bayle, Bertoxxulous, Brekt, Bristlebane, Cazic Thule, Drinal, Erollisi Marr, Fippy Darkpaw, Firiona Vie, Lockjaw, Luclin, Povar, Ragefire, The Rathe, Trakanon, Tunare, Vox, Vulak'Aerr, Xegony, Zek
Does not work on: "Truebox" servers, such as Corinav, Phinigel, Mangler, Selo's, Miragul, or Agnarr
 
If you start mq2, it will just show up as a tiny icon in your tasktray. Maybe check there? You need to click that icon to for example set up a autologin profile etc. or you can just launch eq and when you get in game u will see the mq2 window.
 
Making progress, but still having some issues. I see some functions in EQ such as distance to the MOB, their names match the CON color, etc., but there is a script box popping up saying I need to recompile the "MQ2emuautomacro.dll as it is out of date with respect to the mq2main" with some numbers past it. I rebooted, told the launcher to reload and I'm still getting this pop up. Third time was the charm - reinstalled and ran the EQ game and didn't get that recompile issue this time.

I started reading the READ ME file and it said to rename the MacroQuest_default.ini to MacroQuest.ini, and this was already done when I looked. It said I MUST run the mq2auth.exe as the admin, but I cannot locate this file anywhere. I did a search and manually looked through all the folders. I only see a reference to this name in (3) text files.

Logged out, back in, deleted the folder and allowed the RG Launcher to reinstall, and I'm still not seeing the required file. Is the file outdated or am I missing something?

I typed /bccmd connect and it worked on one account, but not the others. I'll give it a shot again in a bit.
 
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lots of available help around. It sounds like there are some fundamentals you need some assist with. The things your mentioning above shouldn't need to be done, it's possible that readme is just ancient. Your best bet for in the moment help and answers to questions is through the discord channel: Discord Channel

Otherwise give us some steps your attempting, and what is or isn't happening. Getting mq2 up and going at a basic level should require virtually no initial setup. The inclusion of ini files for specific classes and characters adds a little complexity, but that's the most for an initial install. I know my original challenge was just understanding which pieces I needed to worry about, and which I didn't to get started, because there's so much out there.

I too play on Bertox, starting out on MithMarr way back when. There're a few others of us from here that play there too.
 
Toadwart - great name! :0) Taffer is one of two names I really love. Taffer is my rogue. If you ever played any of the FPS (first person sneak) games called "Thief", you'll get the reference. Ionas was my caster in the MMORPG before EQ came out by Sierra called "THE REALM". Yeah, I'm an older fart...I'll be 50 really soon. In that game you didn't have a trade window like what came out in EQ - you simply had to hand an item to the other person and trust them to hand payment back to you or vice versa. People started getting ripped off and I made a name for myself under Ionas as an honest middleman and made a good living off of tips, at least until someone created a toon named "Lonas", but used a lowercase "L" which with the font the game used looked exactly like an uppercase "I". I'll never understand why they didn't force people to use a capital letter for the first character in the name. I used to do some low end programming back in the 80's so I understand programming flow, so that got me into the alpha testing phase of EQ so I was one of the first 200 people not working for Sony in the game. It was a trip playing with the bugs not worked out. :-P.

Back to MQ2 - I tinkered around more last night and was able to get the alternate toons to "come to me", but they didn't want to follow me without me moving first then telling them to path to me. I grouped my bard while moving about Veksar's dungeon and he followed. When I went to him and hit the "auto attack" he moved behind the mob and started attacking, so I'm definitely making progress. He wouldn't auto attack without me initiating it, but it was exciting to see some of the software working as intended.

I guess I need to look more on the Discord Channel for tips, and figure out which macro files I need to download to get started and get to tweaking to how I do things in game. I watched a YouTube video where the guy was explaining some of the macro commands and calling the alternates "Rooba's". That was good info, and I need to go back and write it down if I can't find it already typed out somewhere.

Does the game work well with IF/THEN type statements? Such as if a tank is taking slow damage, the cleric can automatically cast a HOT, or if the damage is coming in quickly, the cleric will automatically switch to a bigger or faster heal? Or if you have a warrior, will he automatically be able to see other MOBs on the hate list and if any of them target a team member, he will switch to those MOBs and start taunting them as the tank mercs do now?
 
Does the game work well with IF/THEN type statements? Such as if a tank is taking slow damage, the cleric can automatically cast a HOT, or if the damage is coming in quickly, the cleric will automatically switch to a bigger or faster heal? Or if you have a warrior, will he automatically be able to see other MOBs on the hate list and if any of them target a team member, he will switch to those MOBs and start taunting them as the tank mercs do now?
If/thens, yes, but not like you're describing. Mq2 only knows the current state of a thing, not what might come next or what happened 10 seconds ago. The cleric doesn't know if the tank is taking fast damage or slow damage, it only knows the current hit point level of the tank. When you setup a healer, you'll define specific hp levels at which to cast heals. So if the cleric is set to heal at 90%, it will heal any time the tank is lower than that and do nothing if it is higher.

The tank only knows who the mob is attacking if he already has that mob targeted. He knows nothing of the other mobs and who they may have targeted. He won't switch to pull aggro by default. There have been attempts to try to code behavior that would tell the tank to periodically change targets and check if he is still the mob's current target, but they're a fairly specialized use case. You're generally going to have to rely on aoe aggro abilities to keep aggro on multiple mobs.
 
There're some guides that might help you understand the setup a bit better. Go back up to message #2 that Sic posted. At the bottom of his post are a list of links, go watch those, they will give you a metric crap-ton of useful information as to how to get your guys setup and running. And having visual walk-throughs helps so much more than us trying to explain something by text. The first 3 are especially useful for new users.

I would recommend again that you join the discord channel too. after you watch the vids if you have questions you can get much quicker and specific answers as you work your way through the setup that way.
 
Thank you (all of you collectively) for chiming in and getting me up and going. I really hope I can become a productive member.

The tank only knows who the mob is attacking if he already has that mob targeted. He knows nothing of the other mobs and who they may have targeted. He won't switch to pull aggro by default. There have been attempts to try to code behavior that would tell the tank to periodically change targets and check if he is still the mob's current target, but they're a fairly specialized use case. You're generally going to have to rely on aoe aggro abilities to keep aggro on multiple mobs.
On of my first toons in game was a pally, but the game was so laggy at the time that a MOB would run, and you would think you were on its heels hitting it, but due to lag it would warp and be 100 feet in front of you making it near impossible to finish off kills on anything that ran which made leveling super difficult when people were not looking for a group. I had to switch to characters that had snare abilities and casters with pets to overcome that issue and never looked back. I'll have to draw off of my tanking in WOW. Thanks for the info. That's a great starting point for creating and editing macros.

There're some guides that might help you understand the setup a bit better. Go back up to message #2 that Sic posted. At the bottom of his post are a list of links, go watch those, they will give you a metric crap-ton of useful information as to how to get your guys setup and running. And having visual walk-throughs helps so much more than us trying to explain something by text. The first 3 are especially useful for new users.

I would recommend again that you join the discord channel too. after you watch the vids if you have questions you can get much quicker and specific answers as you work your way through the setup that way.
Thanks Toadwart - I'll go back and watch these. It is shaping up to be a crazy week at work but I really want to start digging into these. Geez, I must be going blind...glazed right over that hyperlink. <shaking my head>

I'm assuming a pure warrior would be the best tank all around tank for damage mitigation and holding agro versus other classes?

When did MQ2 come out? I remember a guy running 6 different PC's back in the early 2000's and he was running 6 mages as a team. Tank and DMG pets, and focused nuking. He was shredding everything, and the team followed suit almost like they do here in MQ2. I only saw him a couple of times but the 5 alt accounts were not getting hung on corners and such and followed perfectly, even swimming under water if I remember correctly.
 
warrior/sk are generally equally good for tanks, just slightly different use cases. Some folks use pally's but they're definitely in the minority for tank position nowadays. Aggro-wise they both have good high end aggro control. the warrior struggles a bit more at low levels, but not in a serious way, and there're ways around that too.
 
Autofollow has been terrible since day 1 and Sony never cared to fix it. Daybreak couldn't be bothered either. I have always wondered if that was intentional. Anti-boxing strategy maybe?
 
Autofollow has been terrible since day 1 and Sony never cared to fix it. Daybreak couldn't be bothered either. I have always wondered if that was intentional. Anti-boxing strategy maybe?
I don't think it's so much a deliberate anti boxer stance as much as it was a belief that the game needs to be punishingly tedious because being able to efficiently follow another character, even if neither is boxing, is easy-mode, filthy casual territory. It didn't fit with The VisionTM
 
I don't think it's so much a deliberate anti boxer stance as much as it was a belief that the game needs to be punishingly tedious because being able to efficiently follow another character, even if neither is boxing, is easy-mode, filthy casual territory. It didn't fit with The VisionTM
I have to agree...when the game came out, it was so big and so impressive and the nearest competing game was a 2D game called Serria's, THE REALM, which was pretty good for the time. The game didn't have any real competition so they probably figured the slower people level and the harder the game is, the longer time they have to create new content. Although EQ seemed to relish putting out expansions frequently which probably pissed people off having to pay over and over for every upgrade or fall behind. That worked fine for Sony until WOW came out with better graphics and easier game play. The Lich King (or the expansion after) was the last good point in WOW for me...then they dumbed down the classes so 6 year olds could play the game well too, which ruined the game for me. I think they lost a lot of their client base then. Game DEVs don't always accurately take the temperature of their paying customers and when they stop that, the game dumps.

Been crazy the past 10 days and I've not been able to do much on EQ, but I'm back and trying to get into the links Sic posted above.
 
Problem - Confused...can you use MQ2 with Level 1 access?

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