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Very Vanilla MQ (Test Server)

Vanilla - Very Vanilla MQ (Test Server) 3.1.52472.1

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Hi all. I'm new here and very confused which client to use for the EQ test server. I've downloaded MMOloader and MQ as well as the RedGuides launcher. I've created a separate directory for my test server play and no matter if I run the updates (not as administrator), or not, I'm told there are two updates, then run again and it says 1 update, but it never seems to update to a compatible version.

Is the client for test no longer supported? Thank you.
 
test is down at the current moment waiting on a new build you can see if the builds are up by looking at the ice cream cones off to the right of the main page where it says status.

welcome to the best box community in norrath, if you plan on playing on test full time i suggest having patience. the build goes up and down irregularly depending on the server status at dpg and sometimes takes longer to get an RG build working depending on a lot of factors. dont let that dissuade you though .. i play on test full time and love it. there are many perks to playing there as long as you dont mind the downtime

cheers
 
Hi everyone,

I'm brand new here but I've heard the legends of the woes of the RG build being down for Test server.

In the interest of collaboration and teamwork, is there anything the Test server RG community can do to HELP? My very basic (and probably incorrect) understanding is that the largest hurdle to a Test build is an issue with offsets.

Can we empower some community members here to help shoulder the burden of figuring out Offsets (or other issues) after a patch to streamline the process?
Can we enlist AI to help in some way?

Not trying to ruffle feathers here, just looking to find out how we can HELP find solutions for any existing problems

If you don't like what I have to say, remember it's coming from a plate of enlightened macaroni product
 
Sentient_Pasta said:
Can we empower some community members here to help shoulder the burden of figuring out Offsets (or other issues) after a patch to streamline the process?
Click to expand...
github.com

macroquest

macroquest has 15 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
github.com github.com
macroquest is open source, so if you have the skills to contribute you should do so

Sentient_Pasta said:
Can we enlist AI to help in some way?
Click to expand...
no

Sentient_Pasta said:
In the interest of collaboration and teamwork, is there anything the Test server RG community can do to HELP?
Click to expand...
brainiac is putting in serious time to keep macroquest up to date with EQ patches and expansions, so please consider contributing.

brainiac's tip thread is here:
Donate to the MQ Dev "brainiac"

Thank you!

Keep in mind, the test/live patch this month and last month are a week early

What to expect on patch days?
When eq patches MQ has to be rebuilt. (you also have to patch EQ --- this way you avoid "Version Mismatch" issues)

once mq is built RG can build - we now have an automated system that rebuilds RG as soon as it is updated - which means our previous method of "let's give it a quick test" is no longer there, and sometimes there ends up being another smaller patch later to correct if something got missed - so re-check on patch days if you are having issues.

eq could change literally anything and it would require the way MQ interacts with that portion of EQ to be completely reworked. It is normally just offsets, sometimes struct changes --- with the large changes eq has been making over the past few months (updates and backend improvements) there are more things than just offset changes that are happening, so it can certainly be a lot of work for the devs.

Curious when Very Vanilla will be updated?
You'll get a web notification (if we have permission), site notification, and email (optional)
Click to watch
MacroQuest for Live servers:
MacroQuest for Test server

EQ patches go like this: (in theory)
2nd* tue/wed = test "real" patch
3rd* wed = live patch
4th* tue/wed = test "true up
the tue over the wed is a more recent thing (I suspect klanderso has more to do with that, and having time to ensure working stuff before the weekend and upset people - klanderso is pretty awesome)
* holidays subject to cause shifts in days or even week

test is notorious for being like "oops we forgot the 'dont crash plz' file, gotta patch again", or "woops we added +1 to crashing, we meant -1", so "on paper" it is double the patches, but very frequently ends up being more than double the work (i imagine, I'm not doing the work - I'd love to learn enough at some point to help facilitate doing so, however)

Mq itself is open source and by volunteer(s) - RG which builds and distributes that is obviously paid for.
If you wanted to show your appreciation to the MQ devs for their volunteer work:

brainiac:
https://www.redguides.com/tip/brainiac
Reply to this thread after donating for your 🧠
www.redguides.com

Serious - - Tip the MacroQuest Developer: brainiac

Redbot's edit: When your tip is confirmed, you'll get a "?" on your post from brainiac. If you enjoy using MacroQuest, please show the developer @brainiac some appreciation for their efforts in creating such fun software. QUICK CONTRIBUTE: https://www.redguides.com/tip/brainiac OR To...
www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
 
patience pants are a must, i find the builds come out quite efficiently to be honest. i play fulltime on test and having been through several years of build downtime brain and co are always putting in the time they can. some builds require minimal change while others require a massive amount. the last patch on test introduced some doozy changes so being down a week doesn't seem to horrible. just remember this is the cost of playing on the best box server in Norrath. oh and don't forget to tip the devs when you can afford it. Be sure to show your appreciation for there work.

https://www.redguides.com/community/threads/tip-the-macroquest-developers.71538/


**edit** looks like sic beat me to the punch and more eloquently i might say hahah **
 
I usually just manually login and do overseer while i wait for updates. it at least does some work on my guys without taking too much time. =)
 
Thank you for all the feedback and helpful information! I don't know how you guys are reacting to the various posts or I would.
 
any updates on whether we'll see something today would really be appreciated. its great to see live up and running and the auto updater fixed ... a status on whether test is alive or not would help me decide my evening plans =)
 
519helvis said:
any updates on whether we'll see something today would really be appreciated. its great to see live up and running and the auto updater fixed ... a status on whether test is alive or not would help me decide my evening plans =)
Click to expand...
Don't have an answer for you at this time.

The moment it is buildable/postable it will be
 
Test just had its true up patch. Are these new guild hall zone files or have they always been there and I just never noticed them?
61c4-00:00:02:Creating guildhallsng.zon
61c4-00:00:02:Creating guildhallsng.eqg
Click to expand...
 
I think, although may be wrong, its when Live gets ahead of Test patch/version wise, so it needs the patch applying from Live, back to Test. As its normally Test gets updated first, to obviously test stuff, then Live.
 
At a time like this, is it just the offsets that need adjusting? Since Test was patched to be the same as Live without additional content (supposedly)?
 
Sentient_Pasta said:
At a time like this, is it just the offsets that need adjusting? Since Test was patched to be the same as Live without additional content (supposedly)?
Click to expand...
no not necessarily.

What to expect on patch days?
When eq patches MQ has to be rebuilt. (you also have to patch EQ --- this way you avoid "Version Mismatch" issues)

once mq is built RG can build - we now have an automated system that rebuilds RG as soon as it is updated - which means our previous method of "let's give it a quick test" is no longer there, and sometimes there ends up being another smaller patch later to correct if something got missed - so re-check on patch days if you are having issues.

eq could change literally anything and it would require the way MQ interacts with that portion of EQ to be completely reworked. It is normally just offsets, sometimes struct changes --- with the large changes eq has been making over the past few months (updates and backend improvements) there are more things than just offset changes that are happening, so it can certainly be a lot of work for the devs.

Curious when Very Vanilla will be updated?
You'll get a web notification (if we have permission), site notification, and email (optional)
Click to watch
MacroQuest for Live servers:
MacroQuest for Test server

EQ patches go like this: (in theory)
2nd* tue/wed = test "real" patch
3rd* wed = live patch
4th* tue/wed = test "true up
the tue over the wed is a more recent thing (I suspect klanderso has more to do with that, and having time to ensure working stuff before the weekend and upset people - klanderso is pretty awesome)
* holidays subject to cause shifts in days or even week

test is notorious for being like "oops we forgot the 'dont crash plz' file, gotta patch again", or "woops we added +1 to crashing, we meant -1", so "on paper" it is double the patches, but very frequently ends up being more than double the work (i imagine, I'm not doing the work - I'd love to learn enough at some point to help facilitate doing so, however)

Mq itself is open source and by volunteer(s) - RG which builds and distributes that is obviously paid for.
If you wanted to show your appreciation to the MQ devs for their volunteer work:

Tip the MQ Developers HERE:
brainiac:
https://www.redguides.com/tip/brainiac
Reply to this thread after donating for your 🧠
www.redguides.com

Serious - - Tip the MacroQuest Developer: brainiac

Redbot's edit: When your tip is confirmed, you'll get a "?" on your post from brainiac. If you enjoy using MacroQuest, please show the developer @brainiac some appreciation for their efforts in creating such fun software. QUICK CONTRIBUTE: https://www.redguides.com/tip/brainiac OR To...
www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
dannuic:
www.redguides.com

Log in

www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
Reply to this thread after for your :dannuic:
www.redguides.com

Serious - - Tip the MacroQuest Developer: dannuic

Redbot's edit: When your tip is confirmed, you'll get a "?" on your post from dannuic. If you enjoy using MacroQuest, please show the developer @dannuic some appreciation for their efforts in creating such fun software. QUICK CONTRIBUTE: https://www.redguides.com/tip/dannuic OR To...
www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
 
Sic said:
no not necessarily.

What to expect on patch days?
When eq patches MQ has to be rebuilt. (you also have to patch EQ --- this way you avoid "Version Mismatch" issues)

once mq is built RG can build - we now have an automated system that rebuilds RG as soon as it is updated - which means our previous method of "let's give it a quick test" is no longer there, and sometimes there ends up being another smaller patch later to correct if something got missed - so re-check on patch days if you are having issues.

eq could change literally anything and it would require the way MQ interacts with that portion of EQ to be completely reworked. It is normally just offsets, sometimes struct changes --- with the large changes eq has been making over the past few months (updates and backend improvements) there are more things than just offset changes that are happening, so it can certainly be a lot of work for the devs.

Curious when Very Vanilla will be updated?
You'll get a web notification (if we have permission), site notification, and email (optional)
Click to watch
MacroQuest for Live servers:
MacroQuest for Test server

EQ patches go like this: (in theory)
2nd* tue/wed = test "real" patch
3rd* wed = live patch
4th* tue/wed = test "true up
the tue over the wed is a more recent thing (I suspect klanderso has more to do with that, and having time to ensure working stuff before the weekend and upset people - klanderso is pretty awesome)
* holidays subject to cause shifts in days or even week

test is notorious for being like "oops we forgot the 'dont crash plz' file, gotta patch again", or "woops we added +1 to crashing, we meant -1", so "on paper" it is double the patches, but very frequently ends up being more than double the work (i imagine, I'm not doing the work - I'd love to learn enough at some point to help facilitate doing so, however)

Mq itself is open source and by volunteer(s) - RG which builds and distributes that is obviously paid for.
If you wanted to show your appreciation to the MQ devs for their volunteer work:

Tip the MQ Developers HERE:
brainiac:
https://www.redguides.com/tip/brainiac
Reply to this thread after donating for your 🧠
www.redguides.com

Serious - - Tip the MacroQuest Developer: brainiac

Redbot's edit: When your tip is confirmed, you'll get a "?" on your post from brainiac. If you enjoy using MacroQuest, please show the developer @brainiac some appreciation for their efforts in creating such fun software. QUICK CONTRIBUTE: https://www.redguides.com/tip/brainiac OR To...
www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
dannuic:
www.redguides.com

Log in

www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
Reply to this thread after for your :dannuic:
www.redguides.com

Serious - - Tip the MacroQuest Developer: dannuic

Redbot's edit: When your tip is confirmed, you'll get a "?" on your post from dannuic. If you enjoy using MacroQuest, please show the developer @dannuic some appreciation for their efforts in creating such fun software. QUICK CONTRIBUTE: https://www.redguides.com/tip/dannuic OR To...
www.redguides.com www.redguides.com
Click to expand...
I love that you have all this on copy+pasta for when fools like me come here asking questions. Thank you @Sic!

I'll put on my patience cap (it stacks with my dunce cap!) until we have a working build
 
I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm still new here so the question is genuine...I'm not trying to be impatient, simply curious:

3/12: Live gets an update
3/12: MQ for Live patched (same day)
3/18: Hot fix on Live
3/18: MQ for Live patched (same day)
Latest version of MQ for Live: 3/24, meaning additional development being done actively

3/4: Test gets an update
3/12: MQ for Test patched (8 days later)
3/19: True up patch on Test
3/24: MQ for Test still down (5 days later)

Seems like priority for Live is high and Test is low for the MQ Devs?

What am I missing?
 
Sentient_Pasta said:
I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm still new here so the question is genuine...

3/12: Live gets an update
3/12: MQ for Live patched (same day)
3/18: Hot fix on Live
3/18: MQ for Live patched (same day)
Latest version of MQ for Live: 3/24, meaning additional development being done actively

3/4: Test gets an update
3/12: MQ for Test patched (8 days later)
3/19: True up patch on Test
3/24: MQ for Test still down (5 days later)

Seems like priority for Live is high and Test is low for the MQ Devs?

What am I missing?
Click to expand...
Sentient_Pasta said:
I love that you have all this on copy+pasta for when fools like me come here asking questions. Thank you @Sic!

I'll put on my patience cap (it stacks with my dunce cap!) until we have a working build
Click to expand...
you're not missing anything (other than your patience cap) - you have been given the information that is available. sometimes test is down longer.
true-ups aren't always true-ups
brainiac is a volunteer for mq, you pay for redguide's which packages and distributes mq, when mq is available, rg will ship it.
 
Sic said:
you're not missing anything (other than your patience cap) - you have been given the information that is available. sometimes test is down longer.
true-ups aren't always true-ups
brainiac is a volunteer for mq, you pay for redguide's which packages and distributes mq, when mq is available, rg will ship it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. Again, not impatient, just trying to understand how this all fits together

If I may, here's my understanding of how this works. Can you (or anyone, really) correct me if I'm wrong?

  • MQ is Open Source, worked on by volunteer devs. Open source means protected under CopyLeft (must be given away for free & all changes must be published, etc), similar to Linux source code
  • RG is a distribution of MQ, which makes calls to MQ, similar to how a Linux distribution (like Red Hat) makes calls to the underlying open source Linux code
  • RG devs don't necessarily work on MQ
  • When EQ is patched, it messes with the way MQ needs to function to work properly, meaning MQ needs to be rebuilt before it will work again. Rebuilding MQ is done by the MQ Devs (Brainiac, for example)
  • MQ Dev work is all volunteer and uncompensated except for Donations from users of MQ, RG, or other MQ distributions (I'm assuming there are others but I don't actually know)
  • RG Dev work is compensated through our subscriptions and through donations from the extra generous among us
  • The discrepancy between Test's MQ downtime and Live's MQ downtime is attributed to the MQ devs' availability & resources, not the RG devs' availability & resources
  • Finally, DayBreak is not fully honest about what changes they are making when they patch Live and/or Test - larger changes are often made under the hood even when they announce "Test now matches Live" but the only way to know is to decompile both of them and compare

Is that correct?
 
Sentient_Pasta said:
  • Finally, DayBreak is not fully honest about what changes they are making when they patch Live and/or Test - larger changes are often made under the hood even when they announce "Test now matches Live" but the only way to know is to decompile both of them and compare

Is that correct?
Click to expand...
this reads like weird "gotcha-legal-ese" - I'm not replying to all that

daybreak isn't "not fully honest".

they don't announce every under-the-hood code change they made, test, live, beta, or otherwise.


in years past, before eqmule was back around and then now when brainiac is around - updates were weeks at a time.

now, not only is the game more complicated, but the updates are much quicker too.

I do know this past weekend braniac was working on putting a new pc together.
 
Sic said:
this reads like weird "gotcha-legal-ese" - I'm not replying to all that

daybreak isn't "not fully honest".

they don't announce every under-the-hood code change they made, test, live, beta, or otherwise.


in years past, before eqmule was back around and then now when brainiac is around - updates were weeks at a time.

now, not only is the game more complicated, but the updates are much quicker too.

I do know this past weekend braniac was working on putting a new pc together.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I have a degree in Philosophy so I'm used to breaking things down into more simple parts to try to understand them. It can come off as "gotcha-legal-ese" but that's not what I'm intending. I used the language and examples I did above because I already understand them on some basic level, not trying to paint anyone into a corner to trap them
 
Sentient_Pasta said:
Sorry, I have a degree in Philosophy so I'm used to breaking things down into more simple parts to try to understand them. It can come off as "gotcha-legal-ese" but that's not what I'm intending. I used the language and examples I did above because I already understand them on some basic level, not trying to paint anyone into a corner to trap them
Click to expand...
you started with camus and ended here?! kidding (love being able to squeeze camus into conversation). I'm just an existential nihilist fauxlosopher

but yeah, test will be back up soon ™️
 
Sic said:
you started with camus and ended here?! kidding (love being able to squeeze camus into conversation). I'm just an existential nihilist fauxlosopher

but yeah, test will be back up soon ™️
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say Camus was the start of my study, maybe about half way through. Existential Nihilism is a doozy - rather difficult to argue against but dangerous/useful depending on who's wielding it, like most ideas I suppose.

Heavy is the patience cap, but I wear it all the same. Maybe I need to send Brainiac a gift basket of fine cheeses to motivate him🤔
 
Sentient_Pasta said:
I wouldn't say Camus was the start of my study, maybe about half way through. Existential Nihilism is a doozy - rather difficult to argue against but dangerous/useful depending on who's wielding it, like most ideas I suppose.

Heavy is the patience cap, but I wear it all the same. Maybe I need to send Brainiac a gift basket of fine cheeses to motivate him🤔
Click to expand...
Was a tongue in cheek reference. Camus said all questions come after his big question.

@MrPatate once sent me some stuff from France, those Madelines were crazy amazing
 
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