How-to: Not Crash the EQII Web Browser

It has been found that the following Everquest II fan sites crash the game, due to their use Adobe Flash.

eq2.zam.com
eq2.stratics.com
eq2vault.ign.com
www.eq2interface.com

To avoid the crashing, you can temporarily turn off Flash when playing EQ2. This is easily done with the use of a simple Windows batch file that changes the name of the flash player file. The batch file that I created will work in all version of Windows.

On a 64bit Windows system the file is located in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash
On a 32bit Windows system the file is located in C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash

Here are the steps:

1. Right click the desktop and go New > Text Document.

2. Name the file Flashy.bat and say yes when it asks you if you want to change the file extention. If you can’t change the file extention, follow this guide.

3. Right click Flashy.bat and select Edit.

4. Paste the following code into the file, save and close it.

@echo off

CD C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash
IF "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%" == "AMD64" CD C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\

IF EXIST NPSWF32._ll GOTO :turn_on
IF EXIST NPSWF32.dll GOTO :turn_off

:turn_on
ren NPSWF32._ll NPSWF32.dll
CLS
echo -----------------
echo Flash is now ON!
echo -----------------
pause
GOTO :desktop

:turn_off
ren NPSWF32.dll NPSWF32._ll
CLS
echo -----------------
echo Flash is now OFF!
echo -----------------
pause
GOTO :desktop

:desktop
CD %USERPROFILE%\desktop

:eof

5. Right click the the batch file and select Run As Administrator to Turn Flash OFF. Press the ENTER key to dismiss the window.

6. Run Everqest II.

7. After you’ve logged out of EQII, simply right click the the batch file and select Run As Administrator to Turn Flash ON. Press the ENTER key to dismiss the window.

Things that impressed me.

I’ve played Everquest II Extended about a total of one month now. Most of my time has been spent learning the game systems and trying out the different classes so that I could pick one that suited my play style. To keep this simple, I am going to make a point form list of things that I have found in the first 20 Adventure / 16 Tradeskill levels.

• Mounted Combat?Sure, why not!: There are three options for mounts in the game which set EQ2x well above World of Warcraft. Always Show Mount (even in combat), Auto-Hide Mount in Combat (Default Setting), Never Show Mount. When you call a mount in EQ2x you’re on it until you dispell it. When combat starts, you slow to normal walking speed. Talk about awesome!
• Flight: I got to try out the gryphons, due to SOE offering a “make good” promo for them and they handle the same as WoW flying mounts. Every bit as good as them in fact.
• Options Menu: This is the most comprehensive set of game options I have ever seen, for both graphics and UI.
• Full Client: I have a slow internet connection, so I started the game by playing with the Streaming Client. The end result for me was that I spent A LOT of time in Greater Faydark, as I it took forever for me to zone into other locations. After a week of downloading, I finally got to play on the full client and though I wasn’t expecting it, the full client actually has even more options in it! As an example, the full client allows the in game web browser to have upto 1GB of cache. Also, voice overs and quest updates are much more responsive. I recomend downloading the full client if you like the game.
• Depth of Crafting: This system is everything one would expect from an MMO crafting system. While it is different from Galaxies, it’s light years better than WoW’s… You start off with some basic recipes at level 1 then at level 9 you can pick one of three fields of study. At level 19 you then get to focus further by picking one of three focus classes. So that’s 9 crafting profession to choose from, plus two others that you can take on the side at the same time. There are three types of leveling XP in the game: Combat, Crafting, and Alternate Advancement and each advance independently. So, you could be a level 90 Crafter with level 90 Combat and 300/300 AA points with time or any combination of those. Complete with an ATK engaging crafting process, this crafting system is very well rounded and perhaps second only to Star Wars: Galaxies. However, the lazy folks hate it apperently. Woopiee…
• Graphics: The SOE engine was designed to take advantage of higher CPU clockspeeds and less upon GPU performance. Sadly, I have a 2.33GHz Intel quad core rather than, say, a 3.6GHz AMD dual core, because it would allow me to crank the settings up higher. The engine renders surfaces and clothing with realistic bumps, which is done on the CPU. Unlike many other games, this give EQ2x very detailed character models. While I am unable to run the game at max settings, the settings I have it at make Everquest II look better than Rift and just as good as Aion (when I played Aion at launch – it’s since gotten a major overhaul that I have not seen).
• Travel: It’s free! In cities there are globes that will instantly port you to your any other city or town. There is a Druid Ring network that works the same way and is also open to all classes. There are horses you can ride within a zone and dismount at any point along their path. Griphons will also fly you from tower to twoer. And, there are boats you can ride on should you wish to wait for them and do so. Did I mention that it’s free?
• Guild UI & Services: The guild UI is fantastic, showing all of the helpful information a person would want, including the number of members, number of accounts, professions, levels, status, rewards, etc. all in a well laid out tabbed interface. This is the only guild system I have seen where it tells you how many unique accounts are in the guild, which is neat to see how many people are alts. Guild Halls are pretty much like their own cities with the amount of services they can offer players and to top it off, they are huge. Players are welcome to decorate the halls as they see fit as well.
• Quest “Phasing”: It would seem that Kelethin was on fire while I was rushing to save it and after I saved it, the fire was put out! While i am sure the technology is different from game to game, it goes to show that SOE has what it takes to make strong story telling quests that are unique to the player who is working on them.
• Character Development:As mentioned in the crafting comments, the character development in EQ2x is very deep. There are many spells, each with different teirs (from Basic to Master) per level range. There are 300 points you can earn and spend (and reset) on Alternate Advancement (massive talent trees). Each Class has three sub-classes and each sub-class has two focuses that you can change between. Personally, I started off as a Priest: Templar, but I found that Templar was too focused on healing so I completed a series of quests (which can take a long time) and changed to the other focus of my sub-class, which is Inquisitor. It’s a neat setup. There are also many factions, cities, and of course the Appearance Tab (wear what ever gear for stats you want, but you will look like what is euqipped in your AT – very nice feature for a MMORPG) and maby other systems that folks can take part in to make their characters unique and powerful.
• Housing: The layouts are not as diversified as Star Wars Galaxies, but there is still a large variety of layouts to be had! Also, all housing is within NPC cities rather then strewn accross the planet haphazardly, which is an improvement if you ask me. There seems to be no shortage of stuff to decorate with and the act of placing items in a home is very intuative in EQ2x, making it much easier to use than the SWG method of “Drop item, target item, move item with numerical commands”. in SWG I had 24 macros to move and rotate objects, which allowed me to do amazing things quickly, but in EQ2x you just stick the object to your mouse cursor and move it where/how/what size you want it. EQ2x does not support full xyz axis rotation like SWG does, but meh, take it from a SWG decorationaholic: it’s more than good enough the way it is!
• Station Cash: Live sever Everquest II vets will scream blue in the face all day about how evil the Station Cash shop is, but objectively it really is a great service to both the players and the game company. I really like the SOE developers, as they’re always friendly and they actually give a damn about how their customers feel about their games. As such, I don’t mind giving them my money – heck, I almost enjoy it! Seriously though, there are many helpful items that can be purchased from the Marketplace with Station Cash, such as mounts, expansions, more character slots, as well as many features that will allow the free levels of subscribers (Bronze/Silver) to avoid monthly charges while still having access to things that would normally require the $14.99/month Gold subscription. Also, things like name changes, gender changes, and race changes are far less expensive than the same services offered in World of warcraft. Furthermore, puchasing these services is a simple of act of opening the Marketplace window within the game and picking them out of a list – no need log out of the game, go to a website, use your authenticator, enter your credit card info, and then have to wait to log back in. Nope. It’s all very easy, well thoughout, and well exicuted. Station Cash can be added via SOE Game cards as well. Items purchased on the Marketplace can even be given as gifts to other characters, yours or your friends. Folks can hate it all they want, but the reality is that the “real money transaction” store is a great addition to Everquest II – it’s not required to play the game, but it’s there if you need it!

A blogiful introduction – Everquest II Extended is awesome!

What do you get when you take a talented development team, a game that has been on the market since 2004, and an honest effort to release a fun “free to play game”? Well, in the case of Sony Online Entertainment’s Everquest II Extended you get the most comprehensive MMO experience imaginable in an almost squimishly “too good to be true” package!

I’m not a religious or a superstitious man, but at times it really does seem that things in life happen for a reason. I’ve played many MMOs in my time, some for only a couple of weeks (or days in the case of Rift: Plains of bland MMO not worthy of my time or money), but Everquest 2 was simply not one that I had the chance to really play until it was release with a new “streaming client” in its free to play model. Sadly, many years ago I lost out on my 30 day trial period, because the game wouldn’t load passed the character creation screen and after a few days of trying to fix it, I just gave up on it and never looked back. And… it would seem that this was a blessing in disguise, because now that I have picked up Everquest II Extended I am not jaded by any prior experiences with Everquest2. In fact, I am now able to simply enjoy the very polished, well-rounded, and deep gameplay offered in EQ2x as a new player rather than a potentially jaded old one! And trust me, as a launch day Star Wars: Galaxies veteran, I know all about what it’s like to be jaded gamer…

While on the topic of ”the jaded gamer”, I gave up on Star Wars: Galaxies this year, as its community is fraught with the sentiments that “AFK is great” and “it’s not an exploit if I enjoy doing it” and I really don’t feel the need to pay to play a game with a bunch of cheaters. I gave my years worth of crap to a friend and without emotion, I waived a final farewell to a once great game. I also gave up on World of Warcraft after the horrible game play changes brought about by the Cataclysm expansion. Man talk about paying good money to effectively downgrade one’s account – there was more fun to be had in Wrath of the Lich King. Yup, Cataclysm = WoW’s NGE. The end result of this was, of course, me being left with a hole in my hobby time that needed to be filled.

Yes, I have three wonderful children and a multitude of “real world” interests (gardening, kayaking, annoying my local Member of Parliament with letters of great importance, etc.) as well as a plethora of “offline” games that I could be spending my time on, but to be honest, everyone needs a hobby, something that they can do and enjoy in their own way just because they can. And it would seem that to me, nothing really seems to be more rewarding than kicking some Orcish ass and taking some over apostrophe’d names in an MMO! I still play Quake III Team Area (against bots) and a couple other single player games, but the depth of game play offered by an MMO is great, especially given that the content will be updated over time. With that in mind, playing an MMO is absolutely a cost-effective, rewarding hobby – I mean, I could spend $15 for two beer at bar or I could spend that $15 on an entire month of game play in an MMO. Yeah, cost-effective hobby to say the least!

I very much enjoyed playing Aion for the first month after it was released, but a couple of things put me off of going back to it. Though it was really well made, I felt the world in Aion seemed small, cramped even. I really liked the personal shop concept, but the “set and forget” crafting method was disappointing. Flying, gliding, and character customization were just plain awesome, as were the sounds, music, and Ranger abilities, but I felt the UI was a pretty uninspired, “yeah, I am a user interface with paper dolls and what not.. yawn…”. And finally, I just didn’t feel like I would ever get anywhere in the game. I’m not a hardcore gamer nor am I interested in PvP-league play, so when I added up the pros and cons, Aion just didn’t feel like the game for me even though I did enjoy it.

Not long after it launched, I had given Everquest II Extended a brief look-see, creating an evil Guardian and getting her to level 11. I was pretty impressed by the game, but I was still playing Star Wars: Galaxies at the time and I am really a “one game at a time” kinda guy, so I didn’t get back to EQ2x until after SOE brought their servers back up in May 2011. I decided to give EQ2x a whirl rather than checking out Aion again for two reasons:

1. I have a very slow “high-speed” internet connection and downloading anything, let alone huge game updates, is painful. Yay for “rural broadband” in Canada…
2. It was free and I had free “welcome back” upgrade to gold membership to boot, due to SOE being hacked and compromising my credit card info and all.

Call me cheap and impatient, but after downloading the Rift free trial only to find that the game really not very good at all, I just couldn’t bring myself to re-subscribe to Aion and spend several days downloading updates. Again, perhaps these things really do happen for a reason because…

I really love Everquest II Extended!

It is a great game… I mean, I really like it! I like it so much that I’m making my website, www.tpot.ca into a links page for EQ2x as well as SWG and I even created this here blog as companion for my site (because I have grown too lazy to write my own html… I can admit it…). So, here it is. Don’t expect much, but enjoy what I put here when I have time to write it!