Soloable EverQuest Machine
I don't code professionally anymore, so I decided to repurpose my lovely x220 as an all-in-one EverQuest machine.
Requirements
- Offline friendly
I want to be able to take this computer to a cabin in the woods and play EQ instead of walking around and doing healthier things.
- Soloable
EverQuest is known for being solo unfriendly and has tons of content locked behind group requirements. I must fix that.
- Old-school feel
Avoid the current state of the game. It's plagued with micro-transactions and Pay to Win mechanics
Stack
- Windows 7
Used the original Windows 7 that came with my refurbished x220.
- EQEmulator
Installed the latest version.
- Djeryv's Solo Server Package
The magic code. It modifies the game's core rules so you can play by yourself
- EverQuest Rain of Fear Client
I tried multiple clients, and this one worked best.
Caveats
- I decided against updating the spells file in my client as explained here. Doing it made me not having particle effects for spells.
- Even with the server modified to be Soloable, I'm using EQEmu's bot capabilities to group with a Cleric for anything that's too hard for my Necro. This helps compensate the lack of in game economy.
- I love the Thinkpad trackpoint dearly, but I can’t play a 3D game like EQ using it even if my life depends on it. I pack a cheap bluetooth mouse with the machine to solve this issue.
- My Windows 7 is 64-bit, and the client is 32-bit. I've had many DLL version issues and fixed them all by installing the 64-bit ones first and then the 32-bit ones.