News - RedGuides is working to become an emu-first community, and we want you to play emu, too (2 Viewers)

[Pneumothora77]

I have utilized ISBoxer, and it does take a bit of time to get used to it, but it is not as nice as MQ.

It could, and have seen it become successful, but it will take time to setup to ones liking.

My issue with IS boxer is using melee's and positioning. Casters are a bit easier.

 

[NALGAS374]

i guess it wasnt an april fools

 

[Gykrossin]

My issue with IS boxer is using melee's and positioning. Casters are a bit easier.

That is one of the many pain points with it.

 

[oggokhomeboy]

I had the same thought: is this an April Fools thing?

I subbed here because I expected to dive in to MQ/VV/etc, but never did. I stayed subbed because this place has some great info independent of the MQ universe. So thank you for all that. And I hope that continues somehow?

I don't think I'll be going to EMU. For me playing Everquest in 2026 is 90% the people I play with and 10% the actual game.

Thank you for this community and all the work you've done to create it.

 

[Warlock45]

EQ message of the day is advertising career opportunities....there ya go Sic.

You can even claim to be intimately familiar with their products!

 

[Redfrog]

EQ message of the day is advertising career opportunities....there ya go Sic.

You can even claim to be intimately familiar with their products!

Sic at showing up in San Diego, "hello J-chan, a pleasure to make your acquaintance":

_ 3 min into the interview, "What do you mean I can't put MQ into Live, I think I can"

 

[VestalBears]

I had the same thought: is this an April Fools thing?

I subbed here because I expected to dive in to MQ/VV/etc, but never did. I stayed subbed because this place has some great info independent of the MQ universe. So thank you for all that. And I hope that continues somehow?

I don't think I'll be going to EMU. For me playing Everquest in 2026 is 90% the people I play with and 10% the actual game.

Thank you for this community and all the work you've done to create it.

why would they do this to 10s of thousands of people here? come on, use your brain lmao

 

[Gykrossin]

why would they do this to 10s of thousands of people here? come on, use your brain lmao

I have spent the time thinking on how to answer your response, and I can tell you that I have come to a conclusion.

1. MQ is not RG, and everything is done based on volunteers. I, as a developer and a security researcher, is not a small task, and I can promise you this fact.

2. I know that since this was announced, several people, including myself have started researching ways to accomplish that this amazing tool continue.

3. What Brain, and the community has achieved is awesome, and not a simple task, which will not be easy to pick up out of the blue.

4. I, personally am not saying that this is the end or not to what we enjoy. But, I am saying, that what is said is true, will take time to continue.


I am very sorry that this response may be long, but, as a developer, I understand the reasons of this response, and the difficulty that it took to come up with this scenario.

Thank You,

 

[VestalBears]

I have spent the time thinking on how to answer your response, and I can tell you that I have come to a conclusion.

1. MQ is not RG, and everything is done based on volunteers. I, as a developer and a security researcher, is not a small task, and I can promise you this fact.

2. I know that since this was announced, several people, including myself have started researching ways to accomplish that this amazing tool continue.

3. What Brain, and the community has achieved is awesome, and not a simple task, which will not be easy to pick up out of the blue.

4. I, personally am not saying that this is the end or not to what we enjoy. But, I am saying, that what is said is true, will take time to continue.


I am very sorry that this response may be long, but, as a developer, I understand the reasons of this response, and the difficulty that it took to come up with this scenario.

Thank You,

i was referring to the individual(s) who keep thinking it was/is an april fools joke.

 

[Gykrossin]

i was referring to the individual(s) who keep thinking it was/is an april fools joke.

Then I am sorry, and deeply apologize for using your response as my reply.


My response is based on multiple accounts for today.

 

[scoobas]

i dont know what to say.. i've renewed 7 cwtn plugins in the past few weeks, all at a 50% increased cost to find out my 1 year license possibly won't be useful in a few weeks...

 

[Sic]

i dont know what to say.. i've renewed 7 cwtn plugins in the past few weeks, all at a 50% increased cost to find out my 1 year license possibly won't be useful in a few weeks...

I've been putting in more time than the usual 24/7/365 that I put in to try and do everything in what little power I have to get live and test built.

I can't tell you what an incredible personal impact that has for me, so I feel you.

We will have a good idea in a couple of weeks with the future will look like.

Hopefully sometime in a not too distant future we will also see the everquest emulated server community have a client that is caught up to live

 

[Warking2]

I have a private EQEMU server that is not public. up to RoF with a bunch of customs.

On another note; I do devops for work so I would be happy to at least help out with learning the patching grind.

 

[Sic]

I have a private EQEMU server that is not public. up to RoF with a bunch of customs.

On another note; I do devops for work so I would be happy to at least help out with learning the patching grind.

howdy warking, already replied to your pm.

fork eqlib and macroquest live branch and get REing is the best way

test patch is next tuesday

 

[us3rn4m3]

Big salute and thank you to you open source MQ developers and Redguides for all your hard work over the years. This couldn't have been an easy decision to make.

 

[Redfrog]

I've been putting in more time than the usual 24/7/365 that I put in to try and do everything in what little power I have to get live and test built.

I can't tell you what an incredible personal impact that has for me, so I feel you.

We will have a good idea in a couple of weeks with the future will look like.

Hopefully sometime in a not too distant future we will also see the everquest emulated server community have a client that is caught up to live

Thanks Sic, to you and all involved helping behind the scenes.

 

[Koko]

As a father of 3 who also works 40-60ish hours a week, I know free time is a premium that you can’t put a price on.

Thank you to all who’s been involved in keeping MQ alive. I def would have stayed retired many years ago without finding this community.

Also a huge thank you to everyone who’s stepping up to contribute, not all hero’s wear capes!!

 

[reedreddington]

Hopefully sometime in a not too distant future we will also see the everquest emulated server community have a client that is caught up to live

This would be awesome.

 

[Joakhan]

This would be awesome.

Agreed

 

[vsab]

Hopefully sometime in a not too distant future we will also see the everquest emulated server community have a client that is caught up to live

I used to involved in this area, for ROF2 at least. (ROF2 as it was the second version of the xpac client IIRC)

The community maintained that they would "stick" to particular clients that came out for certain expansions, in a way that meant that you could get them legitimately. For example, the ROF2 client is still available via Steam (in a round about way), so there can be no claim that there's pirating going on.

In terms of support - I ws involved in decoding the packets. Basically there is a similar issue to MQ in that things get changed between clients (this is why you cannot connect after a patch if you did not patch your client - if you did certain things would not work properly). MySEQ does a bunch of this already, so spawn movement data can be used from that.

What is needed is
a) a snapshot client (e.g. one that we "pin" to, only good until the next patch)
b) packet captures with examples of all events in them during the period that the client is live (e.g. in between patch days).

When I say events I mean stuff like:
Casting spells, movement, inventory access, zoning, gaining xp, scribing spells, skilling/levelling up, evolving items, gaining achievements, missions, tasks (getting, passing, completing etc) - basically if it's a thing you can do, there needs to be an example - and hopfully plenty. also, having known refernce points in the client is helpful. e.g. knowing that a packet capture relates to "this character name, with thse stats, this inventory" etc. I used to have gigs of it. Having directed packet captures is what I used to do. e.g. start capturing, then level up, then end capturing. Save that in the "levelling up examples", and so on.

The penultimate thing required is once these are understood, to support them in the server side - there are still ROF features not implemented (not 100% up to date on that).

The final thing required is the will to do it.

 

[schmoodawg33]

I just want to thank everyone involved with the emu community. It has been one of my only sources of joy recently. I can only hope this is the beginning of a new chapter that is comparable to the first 3+decades. Cheers to all that make this possible.

 

[Sofabutt]

No sweat off my back. I just cancelled 8 EQ subscriptions an my RedGuides subscriptions. Logging out of EQ for the last time right now. Good luck everyone!

 

[OLDBONE]

This is very sad news, but I understand where the devs are coming from.

I've enjoyed my 5 years of EQ since I returned to live, but I really have no interest in EMU that only had content up to OOW. I quit the game originally after OOW, and am not interested in playing EQ only in the 'old world'. Time to move on to other games. Thanks for all the support and help in the last five years everyone! Hasta luego!

AGREED!!

 

[Sic]

No sweat off my back. I just cancelled 8 EQ subscriptions an my RedGuides subscriptions. Logging out of EQ for the last time right now. Good luck everyone!

really hope we get a working test/live build for the patch this month - hope you'll be around for it.

otherwise good luck dude, we'll miss ya

 

[SirMSDC]

after 20+ years of EQ i hung it up as well - the game is to antiquated to not have the tools that MQ provides for Live - i rather watch paint dry.... with that being said 15 accounts un subbed and auto renew of RG turned off . Hopefully @Sic is right and there is some form of path forward but i am not holding my breath. there is more to this story than is being said i feel (but that's the tinfoil hat i wear...) its a shame Beta through now but i guess it was a good run.

 

[an_image]

To my Redguides Family (yup I think of ya'll like family)...roll with change. Things change, people change, change is the only constant. Like many of us...at some point i got burned with suspensions...banwaves...this family helped me heal...adapt...i stopped giving my coins to those asshats (DBG) and subbed here and supported this team when I could use it...

No loud vengeful shit, no hate, just love for everyone here in this moment. Looking it at it different, always wanted to try EMU so if someone can give me the dumb adult 5 step way...happy to try to meet ya'll there soon.

So...to summarize...change good....family good...love ya.

...so...don't log into live with this, right?

AI (An_image, Another_Idiot, Always_Ignorant )...

 

[Monkeyman618]

so EMUs run off of ROF2 clients right... and all the links for said client are gone for the most part... thats

 

[Luggz]

The maintainers of MacroQuest: brainiac, Knightly and dannuic, are going to solely maintain emulated server support from this point on. Following their lead, RedGuides is beginning the process to become an emu-first community. That means Live and Test server support will not be as swift or guaranteed as they once were, at least for now.

Will April's patch be one of the few times in nearly a quarter century that Live servers will be without MacroQuest? Maybe, but eqlib is completely open source, and we're actively looking for help to fork and update it. Please DM me or @Sic if you'd like to join the emergency update team, so we can continue to push updates for both Live and Test. Regardless, the center of gravity is moving to emulated servers, places where our playstyle is celebrated rather than shamed.

I know this news hits hard, but for our community to thrive this is the best path, and it's been a long time coming.

The equity group that purchased EverQuest has become increasingly hostile to our community's playstyle. I know there are employees who sympathize with us and use the software, and past leadership encouraged our efforts and even designed servers for us, but we can no longer wait for a return to those days. Current leadership has pushed things to the point where MQ devs spend all their time repairing what Daybreak has intentionally broken, and players face random bans and suspensions for using the same features they've enjoyed for decades.

Compare that with an emulated TLP server that welcomes you and your copy of Very Vanilla MQ with open arms, where you can discuss Lua configs over /ooc, where you can join a 6-box guild that raids together on Wednesdays, and where you're not labeled a cheater because your MQ window appeared in a screenshot.

Here's what we're planning:

• Sic and CWTN are already hard at work on CWTN plugins, gearing them toward mechanics on major emu servers.
• RGMercs, which already runs well on most emu servers, will enjoy increased focus.
• Updated setup guides and scripts to make your EverQuest RoF2 Client run on emu with a click.
• Creating your own TLP server for your family or guild will be nearly as easy as rolling a Minecraft server. Flip the switch to release Velious!
• Giving MacroQuest and EQEmulator room to flourish, as developers will finally be free to create.

Emu server operators:

If you need an influx of players, please DM me! We're happy to support any server that accepts MQ, but we'll pay close attention to those that:

• Accept MacroQuest as a feature
• Limit the number of boxed accounts
• Require users to be at their keyboards while playing

We believe EverQuest is best played as a social game, and that kind of emu experience is the closest match to what our community wants.

Again, I know this news hits hard for some. You've been playing a certain way for years, and this sucks. It sucks big gnome dick. My ask of you is this: don't quit. When we get our scripts in place, please give EQEmulator a real try, and have patience while we build more support and emu matures at the extremely fast pace it has been recently.

You don't even need to wait, as Very Vanilla MQ for emu servers is ready right now, and many of your favorite scripts and plugins on Live will work right out of the box. Some of you are going to be shocked by how far these servers have come, and blown away by the quality and care your fellow players give to the game.

We'll keep you updated on any progress on our updates to Live. Thank you for sticking with us.

Nice. Just spent money for 2 toons for a year to get this news. Kinda uncool.

 

[SirMSDC]

i found it pretty easy by doing some googling just had to dig a bit

 

[azcardfan7]

Checked out EQ Might after this announcement, seems like a fun place. Huge fan of the CWTN plugins and have been using them since they were available...really would love to continue use them on EMU! Thanks and good luck to all the devs giving their time to help our addictions, hopefully they can keep live going AND emu.

 

[Algar]

Checked out EQ Might after this announcement, seems like a fun place. Huge fan of the CWTN plugins and have been using them since they were available...really would love to continue use them on EMU! Thanks and good luck to all the devs giving their time to help our addictions, hopefully they can keep live going AND emu.

If you would like, ping me in the EQM discord if you are playing this weekend and I'll pop a (server-wide) xp pot if I'm around.

 

[Maxflo]

Will there be a specific EMU server that will get the "preferential" MQ treatment from RG?

 

[Sic]

Will there be a specific EMU server that will get the "preferential" MQ treatment from RG?

red already touched on this, but we're happy to encourage and work with any servers who are mq/rg friendly

 

[Joakhan]

red already touched on this, but we're happy to encourage and work with any servers who are mq/rg friendly

Looking forward to EQ Might compat.

 

[raw]

I'm getting a bit frustrated reading through some of these comments.
RG and MQ are not the same—I think a lot of people don't realize this.
This is the RG website. It has no control over MQ.
If MQ stops working, a lot of stuff on this website will stop working.
If I bought a year subscription to some software that "gained" me followers on Instagram, and then Instagram shut down the next week, I'm not going to expect a refund on that software—that's just bad luck for me.
I also sell software on RG. TSC. I am not planning to issue refunds if MQ stops working on live.
I also didn't know this would happen.
If you bought a 3rd party Windows utility, and next week Microsoft goes bankrupt, it's not the 3rd party's fault.

 

[q8reflex]

My thoughts and questions............

- If our community is large like in thousands, why cant we funnel a monthly donation into hiring or supporting a Full-Time-Dev? Why cant RG take the initiative in this?

- Follow the Money! <--- This always leads to a COMPLETE Explanation.

- Some Technical stuff i STILL CANT UNDERSTAND, What will happen exactly on the next patch?? Will the EQ Client be completely Re-Written?? thats impossible, Servers. Mesh, Skeletons/Schemas and structure of the game still lives in 1999 even if you move to new DirectX or 64bit.

- MQ is open source, might be "Unmaintained" but Opensource projects like a phoenix, they always rise from the ashes. So why everyone taking this as a dead-end and doom's day? We had EQMule before and cant remember who else, but MQ never tripped. :o

- If the time period between Test and Live patches is average a week, and Devs can de-cipher the eqgame.exe, what's the big deal here if it takes more than a week? where is the hardship and the sweat in this?

- Is there some threat (or expected near future threat) directed to MQ or RG like what it happened to EQEmu Folks? did you guys get a (Letter of intention) from some lawyer or something? if that's the case, then that explains a lot of things going on in the past 3 days.

Please don't color me as a trouble maker, i'm trying to find answers, i'm trying to save a thing that kept me in EQ since 2016, i will never go to EQ before 2016, it's unplayable for me and i'm sure to many of you.

 

[Sic]

My thoughts and questions............

- If our community is large like in thousands, why cant we funnel a monthly donation into hiring or supporting a Full-Time-Dev? Why cant RG take the initiative in this?

- Follow the Money! <--- This always leads to a COMPLETE Explanation.

- Some Technical stuff i STILL CANT UNDERSTAND, What will happen exactly on the next patch?? Will the EQ Client be completely Re-Written?? thats impossible, Servers. Mesh, Skeletons/Schemas and structure of the game still lives in 1999 even if you move to new DirectX or 64bit.

- MQ is open source, might be "Unmaintained" but Opensource projects like a phoenix, they always rise from the ashes. So why everyone taking this as a dead-end and doom's day? We had EQMule before and cant remember who else, but MQ never tripped. :o

- If the time period between Test and Live patches is average a week, and Devs can de-cipher the eqgame.exe, what's the big deal here if it takes more than a week? where is the hardship and the sweat in this?

- Is there some threat (or expected near future threat) directed to MQ or RG like what it happened to EQEmu Folks? did you guys get a (Letter of intention) from some lawyer or something? if that's the case, then that explains a lot of things going on in the past 3 days.

Please don't color me as a trouble maker, i'm trying to find answers, i'm trying to save a thing that kept me in EQ since 2016, i will never go to EQ before 2016, it's unplayable for me and i'm sure to many of you.

many folks are already taking up the call
a few folks have offered to help fund
we (rg) *are* doing what little things are in our power

next patch?
- some folks are trying to get their toolkit in a place we can get an update for test and live next round. will it happen? only time will tell. if they do where there be hiccups, all but certainly.

where is the hardship?
- this is the thing, folks underestimate things by a lot. even if we get a test/live update this month, it doesn't guarantee next month will be easy or achievable.

threat/letter?
- there is none that i am aware of

 

[raw]

where is the hardship?
- this is the thing, folks underestimate things by a lot. even if we get a test/live update this month, it doesn't guarantee next month will be easy or achievable.

Color me ignorant, but I feel like there are plenty of talented devs on Fiverr or other places that would gladly take on this (recurring) job if they were paid. I realize this is an MQ, not RG issue, but it seems like there are enough people in the MQ world to fund devs (even if they are remote and unattached to MQ) if there were an organized system to collect and pay them. Again, maybe not within RG's scope...

 

[Sic]

Color me ignorant, but I feel like there are plenty of talented devs on Fiverr or other places that would gladly take on this (recurring) job if they were paid. I realize this is an MQ, not RG issue, but it seems like there are enough people in the MQ world to fund devs (even if they are remote and unattached to MQ) if there were an organized system to collect and pay them. Again, maybe not within RG's scope...

well again. two parter
1. there is a lot more than just REing 1 update, you really need a toolkit that has been built over a lot of binaries. some contextual understanding of past, present, and potential future changes.
2. there are a lot of people who *actively are trying to step up* - privately and publicly from various levels of expertise.

 

[raw]

well again. two parter
1. there is a lot more than just REing 1 update, you really need a toolkit that has been built over a lot of binaries. some contextual understanding of past, present, and potential future changes.
2. there are a lot of people who *actively are trying to step up* - privately and publicly from various levels of expertise.

Are B, D, and K able/willing to mentor/train someone?