Other - How to setup an emu server?

[dulak]

Hey all, I'm thinking about setting up an emu server. If I can get it to work, I could open it up for some of our members to play on. I've no idea on what kind of hardware I'd need for such a server though. Anyone have any insight that would be helpful?

 

[L8erGator]

Hey all, I'm thinking about setting up an emu server. If I can get it to work, I could open it up for some of our members to play on. I've no idea on what kind of hardware I'd need for such a server though. Anyone have any insight that would be helpful?

You can run this off your own PC and have it run fine. You just have to keep it running 24/7 if you want outside players to connect. Otherwise, you could get this hosted on any number of sites, which I think is about 30 bucks a year for a smaller size server. Once you start getting into the 100+ player range you may need to look at upgrading the hardware it's hosted off of. Eq Emu main site has some good guides on how to get this setup and port forwarding. I'd recommend doing a search of their boards, there is a ton of posts about this with lots of random questions.

 

[methodx]

It is easy enough to get things running, whether it's in your own PC or installing onto a VM in the cloud. I was making some videos to run through the process that I never finished but I saw someone else had posted similar on YouTube... Will look for link later if I remember...

I would not underestimate the workload in running a server for public consumption, it's one thing to do it for yourself but to run for others is a whole other level imo.

When you load up the server first, at least based on my mucking around last year, there are some things in the PEQ database that are not set correctly by default, like lavastorm is a mess and acts as though you are underwater, commonlands is wrong mobs, zone lines around rivervale/misty thicket are set to load to old version of misty and you will crash out using standard RoF2 zones/install, a few bits like that... Fear and VP are revamped 80+ versions.

Definitely recommend doing it for yourself as a Step 1 anyway, it's a blast but I did eventually come back to Live.

 

[methodx]

This is the guy who has videos showing the process, it's easy though probably unnecessary if you're technically minded

 

[dulak]

It is easy enough to get things running, whether it's in your own PC or installing onto a VM in the cloud. I was making some videos to run through the process that I never finished but I saw someone else had posted similar on YouTube... Will look for link later if I remember...

I would not underestimate the workload in running a server for public consumption, it's one thing to do it for yourself but to run for others is a whole other level imo.

When you load up the server first, at least based on my mucking around last year, there are some things in the PEQ database that are not set correctly by default, like lavastorm is a mess and acts as though you are underwater, commonlands is wrong mobs, zone lines around rivervale/misty thicket are set to load to old version of misty and you will crash out using standard RoF2 zones/install, a few bits like that... Fear and VP are revamped 80+ versions.

Definitely recommend doing it for yourself as a Step 1 anyway, it's a blast but I did eventually come back to Live.

I'm gonna try to set it up in a Debian Linux VM on my Unraid server. Suggestions on how to fix those things that are wrong?

 

[dulak]

 

[Deleted member 241925]

It is pretty easy to setup. I just made an updated video that will be out this week, Let me know if you have any questions. I 100% recommend Linux over windows.

 

[dulak]

It is pretty easy to setup. I just made an updated video that will be out this week, Let me know if you have any questions. I 100% recommend Linux over windows.

Could definitely use the help I think. The VM I was using locked up when it was trying to build the database. I left it alone for about 2 hours and ended up rebooting the VM. Ran the server_start.sh and it wasn't able to find the world server or any of the zones. Not having an easy time of this lol

 

[RogueDuce]

Just re start the process with the same link. It often happens at least once.

The next thing to make sure of, is if you are using Windows in the host machine, enable printer sharing. For some reason it effect the ability to talk to VM's in bridged network adapter mode.

On my Windows based server, I also had to delete all but one of the world loginserver# entries. I am using just one with the VM's local IP.

 

[dulak]

Just re start the process with the same link. It often happens at least once.

The next thing to make sure of, is if you are using Windows in the host machine, enable printer sharing. For some reason it effect the ability to talk to VM's in bridged network adapter mode.

On my Windows based server, I also had to delete all but one of the world loginserver# entries. I am using just one with the VM's local IP.

It wouldn't install properly on my Win10 machine so I've been trying with an Ubuntu VM on my Unraid machine. It's not going well at all lol

 

[RogueDuce]

It wouldn't install properly on my Win10 machine so I've been trying with an Ubuntu VM on my Unraid machine. It's not going well at all lol

I just did it with a Win10 pro VM. (Bridged Network Adapter) It helped me troubleshoot it till I got it working. I know jack about Linux.

Using the RoF2 build not titanium.

Be sure to check if you can ping the local IP of the VM (from the PC) and the PC (from the VM) to make sure you can see the login server.

 

[methodx]

The build process can take a long time on a low spec VM. If you can log in on a second terminal and run top you will probably see utilisation at 100%

I'd say give it a few hours at least, let it run overnight if you need to. I had tested and figured what the min RAM was for running the server and 30 zones... I can't remember though lol, it is buried in the videos I was putting together. It could've been 4gb RAM. I think the micro instance size on AWS wasn't enough and I went up to small, this helped with the bills times too.

 

[q8reflex]

Welcome - EverQuest Emulator Docs

docs.eqemu.io

 

[wymranar]

I can see myself building/doing something like this later in life for sure.

 

[Knightly]

If you are running on Linux I highly recommend Akkadius’s docker setup: https://github.com/Akkadius/akk-stack

It’s basically “install docker and run this” and you’re up.

 

[ToeJamSamy]

It's been a few years since I built my price emu server, but I found back then at least that windows 7 worked much better than windows10 just for getting it installed. Ran it on an old laptop

Edit: idk what "price" was lol, but I think it was "personal" and a typo made for stupid autocorrect

 

[dulak]

The part of the install keeps failing when I run the install script. It's become rather annoying.

 

[methodx]

After building, the other process that failed on me a bit was downloading the maps/zones on install, that seems to be a few gig of a download... you got enough HD space on your VM?

 

[Deleted member 241925]

If you kill the background wget process after a bit for the map part the installer will continue. I had that happen my last install.

 

[dulak]

If you kill the background wget process after a bit for the map part the installer will continue. I had that happen my last install.

It gets the maps just fine. It always fails with MariaDB, Libstudio18 and something else.

 

[RogueDuce]

It gets the maps just fine. It always fails with MariaDB, Libstudio18 and something else.

Are you attempting to install it on a clean install of the OS? (I used Debian 11 and it errored once, but completed after re-executing the process)

 

[dulak]

Are you attempting to install it on a clean install of the OS? (I used Debian 11 and it errored once, but completed after re-executing the process)

Yup. Tried on Debian 11, Ubuntu 18.04 & a new Ubuntu.

 

[Daxchu]

If you are running on Linux I highly recommend Akkadius’s docker setup: https://github.com/Akkadius/akk-stack

It’s basically “install docker and run this” and you’re up.

This option worked pretty well for me to get things up and running. However, I think I may be missing something from client configuration that isn't covered in the documentation. This may be a result of my limited experience with eq emulators.

When I try to connect with rof2 client, I get logged in, I see the server running, I click on "Play Everquest!" at the server select screen and then there is a short delay before it comes back with an "Error 1017" msg.

I've tried with multiple rof2 clients from different locations. Does this setup require a different client (titanium) or am I missing something in the configuration?

p.s. Thanks hammackj for the videos, that helped quite a bit in understanding the config files as well.

 

[Knightly]

RoF2 is the correct client. We can look at your eqhost.txt and your server json and maybe get some hints but best would be to read the logs to see what is going on.

 

[Daxchu]

Thanks Knightly. I don't see anything going to the world log. The login log shows the following during the time after pressing play button and the time when 1017 error occurs. Is there some other log that I should be reviewing?

[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:12] [Login] [Info] New SoD+ client connection from [192.168.1.138:50650]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:13] [Login] [Info] Attempting password based login [myuser1] login [local]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:13] [Login] [Info] login [local] user [myuser1] Login succeeded
[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:22] [Login] [Info] Client is authenticating from a local address [192.168.1.138]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:22] [Login] [Info] Client authentication response: world_address [172.19.0.1] client_address [192.168.1.138]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:22] [Login] [Info] Sending Client Authentication Response ls_account_id [1] ls_name [local] name [myuser1] key [59Y8EP65OG] ls_admin [0] world_admin [0] ip [192.168.1.138] local [1]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:53:22] [Login] [Info] Client disconnected from the server, removing client
[02-04-2022 :: 09:54:23] [Login] [Info] New SoD+ client connection from [192.168.1.138:65530]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:54:24] [Login] [Info] Attempting password based login [myuser1] login [local]
[02-04-2022 :: 09:54:24] [Login] [Info] login [local] user [myuser1] Login succeeded

 

[Knightly]

What port did you use in eqhost.txt?

This looks like it’s trying to direct you to the docker IP address instead of the host IP address. I think probably something wrong in the server config, but that’s a guess. DM me your server config (make sure it doesn’t have any real passwords you use in it) and I’ll see if I see anything.

Emu connectivity is not my strong suit though so I could totally be wrong.

 

[Daxchu]

Eqhost file is using 5999. If I switch to 5998, the above log mentions Titanium client instead of SoD+ client.

New Titanium client connection from [192.168.1.138:56059]

The eq client will then hang on screen with message "Logging in to the server. Please wait...".

Appreciate the offer to help Knightly, I'll dm you the eqemu_config.json file.

I was thinking my next step would be to move away from using the Docker images and just do regular install to try things but if you have any ideas, I'd love to get this setup working.

 

[methodx]

Have you opened the ports on your server's firewall for both TCP and UDP?

 

[dulak]

If you are running on Linux I highly recommend Akkadius’s docker setup: https://github.com/Akkadius/akk-stack

It’s basically “install docker and run this” and you’re up.

It's a shame this container doesn't work on Unraid...

 

[methodx]

Hey dulak... I thought unraid was a cloud gaming service but after a quick google it seems to be a vm that runs from a usb stick or from ram or something? What is it exactly?

That type of thing could be unsupported, also the server does use a fairly hefty amount of ram and hd storage (for a 22 y/o game) to download/build/run.

There is no problem running the server and playing the game from the same machine without using a vm or anything like that. Did you try just doing the windows install?

 

[dulak]

Hey dulak... I thought unraid was a cloud gaming service but after a quick google it seems to be a vm that runs from a usb stick or from ram or something? What is it exactly?

That type of thing could be unsupported, also the server does use a fairly hefty amount of ram and hd storage (for a 22 y/o game) to download/build/run.

There is no problem running the server and playing the game from the same machine without using a vm or anything like that. Did you try just doing the windows install?

So Unraid is an actual OS that you install to a flash drive that way you can fully utilize all of your HDD/SSD space. There's a LOT of things it can do. As far as the machine itself, it's got plenty of storage and ram to run something like that. I once ran a WoW server on that hardware. As far as the various installs, I've tried, Debian, Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 10 and nothing. It always fails at one point or another.

I was hoping that I could get one up and running smoothly on my local hardware. If I had been able to, I would've rented a cloud server and set it up there for our RG members to play on. 3 Box friendly. RG VV compile friendly. Afk friendly. Alas, it shall not be due to me not being able to figure out what I'm doing wrong with the install.

 

[Daxchu]

Have you opened the ports on your server's firewall for both TCP and UDP?

Yep that wasn't it. Just to update here in case it helps anybody. I ended up resolving the 1017 error by changing the line for "localaddress" in the eqemu_config.json file. The default setup had that set as 127.0.0.1 and after I changed it to the server's real IP things started working. I ended up seeing in the eq client's dbg.txt file that it was trying to connect to 127.0.0.1 which made me start looking through configs that pointed there instead of the real IP. I'm running emu and client on two different pcs.

 

[BackFromBeyond]

If you are running on Linux I highly recommend Akkadius’s docker setup: https://github.com/Akkadius/akk-stack

It’s basically “install docker and run this” and you’re up.

I screwed around with that for a few hours on an AWS installation and just could never get the zones working. With Akkadius "normal" Linux server install, it pretty much just worked.

Now if I could just figure out how to install Occulus, I'd be sitting pretty.

 

[Slade the Magician]

Hey all, I'm thinking about setting up an emu server. If I can get it to work, I could open it up for some of our members to play on. I've no idea on what kind of hardware I'd need for such a server though. Anyone have any insight that would be helpful?

I'd play. I love EQ, and EMUs, and RG. So i'm in for a good time.

 

[dulak]

I'd play. I love EQ, and EMUs, and RG. So i'm in for a good time.

I spent days trying to get it to work and something would always go wrong in the install. For now, I have given up. I may try again in the future. Idk honestly.

 

[Slade the Magician]

I spent days trying to get it to work and something would always go wrong in the install. For now, I have given up. I may try again in the future. Idk honestly.

That's my experience trying to set up an EMU too. I have had a motivation to sharpen some programming languages in EQEMU (PERL, Lua, etc) but could overcome the hurdle of actually getting it set up. Not to mention cool ideas I've always wished were in EQ, could be in a personal EMU. Either way, sucks you had similar problems I did and couldn't get it running.

 

[methodx]

That's a pity guys, I have been able to get the server running after a small bit of graft and had a blast doing my own thing for a while but I seriously do feel that opening it up a server to public consumption would be another level of commitment.

I think you should keep trying to hammer past the problem you are experiencing in installing and eventually you will persevere! (And uncover the next layer of problems lol)

My pipe dream is to run a totally customised server where the game of EQ is almost totally stripped away, max level is 5 or something, but in the cities and zones the focus is on resource gathering and levelling up cities by supplying them with resources. Trading with other cities... good vs. Evil races etc... Everyone starts as a human warrior and there are quests and progression to unlock different classes and races... Cities in places like blackburrow, crushbone, najena... I've been thinking about it almost non-stop for the last two years LoL ... Maybe some day...

 

[Slade the Magician]

That's a pity guys, I have been able to get the server running after a small bit of graft and had a blast doing my own thing for a while but I seriously do feel that opening it up a server to public consumption would be another level of commitment.

I think you should keep trying to hammer past the problem you are experiencing in installing and eventually you will persevere! (And uncover the next layer of problems lol)

My pipe dream is to run a totally customised server where the game of EQ is almost totally stripped away, max level is 5 or something, but in the cities and zones the focus is on resource gathering and levelling up cities by supplying them with resources. Trading with other cities... good vs. Evil races etc... Everyone starts as a human warrior and there are quests and progression to unlock different classes and races... Cities in places like blackburrow, crushbone, najena... I've been thinking about it almost non-stop for the last two years LoL ... Maybe some day...

One of the servers I played on years ago had a few events that would allow players to reclaim cities that had fallen to undead or other raiding races (custom server with custom lore). One city being Freeport. It was under undead control and a whole event was created climaxing in a large several raid boss spawning requiring the server to work together and gather guilds together to fight. The server ended up failing in defeating the boss, thus never reclaiming Freeport. The event never occurred again sadly.

I always thought a server where once city per continent was available to start, or maybe even everyone starting in one city. Nothing there except guild trainers and some very very basic supplies. By donating platinum, supplies from NPC drops, etc you'd unlock better vendors, more variety, tradeskill trainers, more powerful guards/guard equipment, etc. Eventually "maxing" out a city. Similarly groups of players could consistently farm a city select zone long enough to permanently drive out enemies and build what would become a new city, starting from scratch like the starter one.

Anything like that would take a monumental amount of skill and effort, but it was always a concept I had rolling around that I thought would be cool and keep the server driven towards a common goal.

 

[methodx]

Yeah something along those lines sounds really cool, I think New World has something along the lines of players building up and improving a city making it more powerful to do tradeskills in. Could be something that doesn't scale up well if the server pop gets really large but that is maybe something to worry about if it becomes a problem lol.

I kind of like the idea of PvEvP if that's a thing, where it's not direct PvP but players of opposing races/factions can place NPC guards or summon mauraders to them aid them in battle spreading control over keys areas and even whole zones.

Like my idea was at some stage you can progress as a human to join the blackburrow gnolls and you go ally faction with them and it becomes your starting city and there are ongoing battles where either humans are controlling blackburrow and enslaving the gnolls or the gnolls are driving the humans back all the way through qeynos hills and even into qeynos itself, enslaving the humans if they take the city.

The mechanic would be something like taking key guard towers or campsite spots throughout the zone that wandering npc's spawn out of, either humans/gnolls.

If your city gets enslaved then you pay huge taxes on the resources you gather until you can rise up in an underground movement and overthrow your oppressors, that kind of thing.

Same thing with other areas like Castle Mistmoore, mines like Solusek, Runnyeye, Permafrost. And the mines would be key targets and ultra rich with resources that if your city is in control of gives you great wealth and power.

There would need to be some mechanic however that let's the balance of power shift so that the status quo doesn't just stay in power, like a constant threat of uprising if your city's needs aren't met and the population gets unhappy.

I think it would be cool to have the magic be rarer in game too, like a more low fantasy setting where having spell powers is the ultimate in strength and a very rare thing locked behind major progression. This setting would be more about resources and trading, zone control and defense.

Like I said, pipe dreams lol