Oh wait – what’s this? I can download the installer straight from Blizzard! Hey, that’s pretty cool.

Just to prove I’m not completely addled, I circled the button I clicked in red…

Downloaded and ran “InstallWoW.exe.” Let it chug for a bit and then got this sweet error:

Hit Google and did a quick search for that error message. Boy, this is clearly a common issue! Killed an hour or three reading and trying lots of voodoo suggestions that didn’t work.

Dug out my old set of WoW CDs and did that install. Installs fine, but first time I patch I get that same “localization.xml” error.

In all cases when running the patcher, installer or game I’m right-clicking and running as Admin. Windows 7 64-bit.

Maddening.

I suppose next step is to try the install on a different PC. If it works I can always copy it back over…

Resolved!

Turned out to be my firewall/router. I’ve been dabbling with Untangle recently and apparently it was causing my issues. I disabled various scanners based on a forum tip (post 19) but that didn’t do it. Ultimately I simply switched back to my old Netgear appliance and the update started working again…

Related posts:

1. Soap and XML fun
2. The File That Wouldn’t Die
3. Windows Installer CleanUp Utility to the Rescue

I took the plunge and reloaded my home machine to be an Ubuntu Linux machine this week. I went with the 32bit flavor and, in general, the install and initial setup were both quite positive. No drivers issues, no hardware challenges. Everything just worked.

Once I was up and productive, I decided I should tackle getting good Ol’ EverQuest working. I started by installing my free(!) copy of CrossOver Games which was a very simple process. Next I installed EQ and fired up the patcher. That all worked well too.

However, once the game launched I had a major issue: Invisible characters. Or even odder, invisible characters but with armor “floating” where the char should be. As you might suspect, a rather surreal experience!

I checked for compatibility notes and read through some tips and suggestions that, ultimately, didn’t result in any progress. Now, I had this working many years ago with Cedega, so I know it’s possible… so I began several hours of web searches and lots of trial and error.

Ultimately, the solution was pretty simple: copy in a “hacked” DirectX DLL [link and more details]. No other changes were necessary — In fact, I copied over my original EQclient.ini file to get all my custom keyboard commands and settings and everything worked as expected.

But wait, there are still some “opportunities.” I played for about 10 minutes this morning and quickly recalled an annoyance from my last experiences with EQ/Linux: Lost Mouse Clicks. While the mouse moves around fine with no “lag” it seems like a large percentage of my clicks are … lost. Nothing happens. I have to click things repeatedly to select them or activate them. Not always, but frequently. Distressing!

Sure, I use the keyboard for a lot, but some things in-game are just easier/quicker to do with a click.

Guess I have some more tweaking to do… and maybe I’ll try the Cedega flavor — unfortunately, my brand-new trial membership immediately expired there (weird…). So they want money before I can even check out the support forums to see what folks are saying about EQ. Ugh.

Only other issues I have are the initial license agreement and patch message screens tend to be hopelessly borked (see above). Usually they display garbage or video artifacts — or, when they work, the html formatting is pretty weird. That, however, is not a big deal to me. The mouse thing though? That’s going to drive me nuts!

Related posts:

1. Checking Out EverQuest II (Again)
2. Back to Vista
3. Everquest Opens the Doors

Here’s the current Vista Experience thingy (click for full size):

It has gone up a bit since the first time I ran it due to a recent upgrade to the GeForce 8600GS that a co-worker gifted me.  That little upgrade raised the graphics score from a 4.3 to 4.9 and Gaming Graphics from a 4.8 to a 5.3.

It didn’t take long to patch and then I eagerly logged into experience EQ with the best PC I’ve had in the (omg) eight years that I’ve been playing.

Boy was I disappointed.

I had this horrible “lurch” or pause about every 5 seconds. Also, about every other mouse-click was ignored. I was seriously about ready to format and switch to XP but I decided to be a bit more methodical first…

After each change, I’d start up EQ and test.

1. Current video drivers? Check.
2. Turn off Aero. No diff.
3. Configure Antivirus to not do real-time scanning on the EQ directories. No change
4. Turn off Windows Sidebar. Nope.

I already had browsers and such shut down, but then I happened to glance at the tray and noticed my old/new pal Digsby running. “Oh ho!” thinks I as I kill Digsby and restart EQ.

Yup. That was it. Now she runs like buttah.

I’m not sure what the issue is as Digsby doesn’t seem to burn excess CPU cycles. But there’s definitely a conflict of some sort. Easily fixed though – I just need to remember to exit it before playing. Oh, and I must be fair and point out that my Digsby version is a beta.

As for Everquest? Boy, I dunno… I got pretty gung-ho into it this past Spring and spent days buying and selling gear in the bazaar to raise many hundreds of thousands of plats. I then spent those many hundreds of thousands of plats on buying the latest/greatest gear for my characters.

Well, that gear is now poopie and it looks like I can replace it with the latest buyable gear for under a hundred K. *sigh* The folks who call it “Ever-treadmill” might have the right idea.

Related posts:

1. Everquest Opens the Doors
2. TANJ - revisited
3. More on the EQ II Trial

No release date yet.

Related posts:

1. Toying with Abandonware
2. Playing those old Dos Games

The downside to abandonware is that technology has changed a lot over the last 20 (or more) years so getting some of these to run can be a challenge.

Here are two useful links if you fondly remember games from the “olden days” like I do:

1. Abandonia.com – I just found this site this weekend and it triggered some new game downloading.
2. DOSBox – it makes playing the old games so much easier.

Now if I could just remember more of the games I spent so much time with way back then… here’s what I got so far:

• Eight Ball Deluxe – My favorite pinball machine both at the bar and on the PC.
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – I was so hooked on this game when it first came out. I caught just a bit of the movie on TV the other day and that triggered my searching for the game.
• Supaplex – a quirky puzzle/strategy game that used to keep me entertained for hours at a time.
• The Incredible Machine – Speaking of quirky puzzle games, this one is a great way to keep the mind nimble in a Rube Goldberg-esque sort of way.
• Battle Chess – I’m not sure how it will hold up (haven’t played it yet) but I fondly recall all the funny animations and decent chess play.
• Ringworld — Revenge of the Patriarch and Return to Ringworld — As a huge Larry Niven fan, I was so excited to find these games back in the 90’s. I can’t recall if I ever finished either of ‘em though… I lent them to someone with my early edition copy of Ringworld never to be seen again. *sigh*
• Wing Commander — Everyone I knew had this game. Don’t recall anyone finishing it… I might give it another go though.

I’d love to find the old D&D “gold box” games.  Who published those? SSI? I guess they’re not considered abandoned yet (?). I’d also love to find the Leisure Suit Larry series some day, those were pretty fun. What else am I missing? What are some of the classic computer games from days gone by?

Related posts:

1. Playing those old Dos Games
2. So long, again, World of Warcraft
3. Frets On Fire

Anyways, the latest is Everquest (the original). Some of my old EQ friends and I all started back a month or so ago and have been having quite a lot of fun lately. So much fun that I find myself logging in almost every night and staying up way too late

Looks like I last tried EQ almost two years ago. I reckon I was due. Boy, things have changed a lot — especially gear. I can buy gear in the bazaar for a few thousand K that is far superior to stuff we used to raid for way back in the day.

Today is patch day. So, even though I have the morning off from work, no EQ for me. However, if you ever played EQ in the past, you might find this bit of the patch message interesting:

Many keyed zones from the Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious, Shadows of Luclin, Planes of Power, Gates of Discord, Omens of War, Depths of Darkhollow, and Prophecy of Ro have had their key/flag requirements modified. All players that have obtained the key/flag will still be allowed entry into the zones, as will players that have met minimum level requirements for the zones. The zones and minimum level requirements are as follows:

Holy cow! That’s huge. Way back in the olden days, when I was a little raider and Time was the zone to get to I was just one flag away. But I never quite managed to get that final flag. Now I can finally see Time!

Here’s the rest of the scoop:

- Required Level 46 -
The Howling Stones
Old Sebilis
Skyshrine to Cobalt Scar

- Required Level 55 -
Sleeper’s Tomb
Veeshan’s Peak
Vex Thal
Locked areas of the Temple of Ssraeshza

- Required level 57 -
Bastion of Thunder
Halls of Honor
The Temple of Marr
Tower of Solusek Ro
Drunder, The Fortress of Zek

- Required Level 60 -
Plane of Water
Plane of Air
Plane of Fire
Plane of Earth
Ikkinz
Uqua
Yxtta
Kodtaz

- Required Level 62 -
Plane of Time
Inktuta
Qvic

- Required Level 65 -
Txevu
Tacvi

- Required Level 68 -
Anquish

- Required Level 70 -
Dreadspire
Demiplane of Blood

- Required Level 72 -
Theater of Blood
Deathknell

Nifty. I’ve been wanting to do alt-flagging quests with some of the guildies to get them into some of those zone with me to farm and grind experience. As of today, that won’t be necessary. Plane of Earth grind, anyone?

Related posts:

1. Checking Out EverQuest II (Again)
2. EverQuest on Linux
3. Fixed the Hitch in My Giddyup

It has been a long time since I last bought a brand new video card! Many years, actually. I think the last one I bought new was a GeForce 4200ti. Those things were stout little cards, weren’t they? I used a series of those for most of this decade, in fact.

The card that replaced it was an ATI 9600 (pro or XT? can’t recall now) card that some EverQuest friends had outgrown and donated. I got a lot of mileage out of it until the next donation card came my way a few years later– a GeForce 6800 GT. That one was strong and well above what I’d consider paying for a card, but flawed. As mentioned in several posts from last year, it had dire heating issues. Sure, I’d been warned by the prior owners, but most of the time it worked fine — I wasn’t gaming much anymore.

I’m gaming again now, though (still having fun with EverQuest 2). The 6800 now constantly over-heats. The loaner FX 5200 sucked, so I sucked it up and bought a new card. For just under $100 (shipped) I now have a GeForce 7600 GS.

I like it. It doesn’t heat up the office like the 6800 did, so that’s a big plus right off the bat. I wish I could’ve compared it a bit to the 6800, but for my purposes it seems pretty similar.

At first I wasn’t overly excited about some of the graphic quality in game though. Tonight it finally hit me that I couldn’t remember the last time I updated video drivers! Oops. The last 3 cards have all been GeForce flavors, so I wasn’t really worrying about that and was just swapping the hardware around.

After the driver upgrade, I was poking around in the NVIDIA control panel and found that it seems to have some presets for a bunch of games, including EQ2. Not sure if it is those presets or just the much newer drivers, but things are much better in game — smoother and I could crank out the distance plane a bit more.

So yeah, I kinda feel like I just bought a new 8-track player for the car stereo… but I don’t care — I can play!

Related posts:

1. Video Swap
2. More on the EQ II Trial
3. Fixed the Hitch in My Giddyup