A collection of FAQs I get asked a lot!
Go-Live Info
Q: When will 2.5 go live?
A: We will see if it can happen, but I'd love to see around 12/12 or 12/13. We are pretty much set, but I need to make sure all critical bugs are closed by then, and there are a few remaining.
Q: Where can I grab the patcher?
A: https://shardsofdalaya.com/patcher25/sodpatcher.exe
Q: How do I install 2.5?
A:
If you have an Shards install already:
1) Copy that folder to a second folder. For example, I play my 2.0 game in c:\sod. I copied that to c:\sod25.
2) Download the 2.5 patcher from https://shardsofdalaya.com/patcher25/sodpatcher.exe. Place it in your copied folder and replace the existing patcher.
3) Run sodpatcher.exe, patch fully and enjoy!
If you do not have Shards installed:
1) Install Everquest using the official game installer here: https://www.everquest.com/register?page=Download. You must sign up for a Station account to do this.
2) Download the 2.5 patcher from https://shardsofdalaya.com/patcher25/sodpatcher.exe. Place it in your installation folder and replace the existing patcher.
3) Run sodpatcher.exe, patch fully and enjoy!
Q: Can I play without the patcher?
A: No. You may be able to launch the game, but zones will be wrong, you won't be able to turn in stacks of things, and a host of other problems. We will shortly be enforcing this server-side, such that if you haven't launched via the patcher, you will get kicked. This avoids us having to debug non-existent problems related to people not using the eqgame.exe fix-ups. So do yourself a favor, launch with the patcher always, it will be mandatory anyway.
Q: Can I box more than 2 characters?
A: Up until release, yes. You can 35 box for all I care. As soon as we go live, the two-box rule is in effect.
Troubleshooting
Q: I get errors about d3dx9_something being missing.
A: Click the link in the patcher to download the DirectX runtime. You need to extract it to some location, then run the dxsetup.exe program in whatever location it is you chose.
Q: I have Windows XP and the patcher doesn't work.
A: The newest patcher (Final Beta 2 as of now) should hopefully work in XP. Please note that XP support is NOT guaranteed going forward, it will be best-effort support.
Spells
Q: Beastlord spells, stances and other recent changes are missing!
A: Spells should be in now. We are finishing the rollup of other issues into 2.5, and then those too will be available.
Bug Reporting
Q: How should I report bugs?
A: /bug, every time and always. It is the only way I can keep track of everything! Please, please do this. Yes they get read.
Q: Something is broken on 2.5!
A: There will be lots of those. Please understand that, unless it's major (zone crashing, etc.), I cannot possibly keep up with everyone's bugs at this stage. /bug them and I promise I will review them when I am able.
UI
Q: What the fuck is up with the UI?
A: Yes, the default UI is terrible. If someone can find stuff from EQInterface that's compatible, please post a thread on it, I haven't had time. If you use your own version of default UI, you can rename your UI_Soandso_.ini to UI_Soandso_sod.ini and about 90% of it should transfer.
Q: Can I transfer my hotkeys from 2.0 to 2.5?
A: Yes - rename your Soandso_.ini file to Soandso_sod25.ini
Q: What's with 4 sets of hotbars?
A: This is both cool and annoying. You can have 4 active hotbars at a time, which is awesome. But you often don't need them. To disable, click the EQ Button and find the Hotbar you want to disable. That EQ button has lots of cool tweaks and shortcuts FYI.
Known Issues
Q: My AAs are gone!
A: You need to manually re-purchase your AAs. To keep from going insane while repurchasing them, click the Fast AA button in options. The re-buy is unavoidable; AAs changed substantially from 2.0 to 2.5, and migrating them is unrealistic.
Q: Nothing is in my tradeskill containers!
A: Click Experiment. Also, there is an option somewhere to always open tradeskill containers in Experiment mode (something like Right Click Opens Tradeskill Window)
Q: Antivirus is warning me the patcher is a suspicious program!
A: The reason is we use a technique to "fix" eqgame.exe and make it behave how we want. This technique is also implemented by viruses and other malware, and thus its presence makes AV nervous. The patcher DOES NOT have a virus or anything, it's just suspicious of the technique, which is common and legitimate. AV sucks is the bottom line. Whitelist your 2.5 folder to avoid problems.
Q: I get to server select but it says Down or Locked/I can't get in zones.
A: Usually means the game is down for work. If you can get to server select, your client should be up and functional and you should be ready for release.
Q: On server select, I hit the Play button, and just get "Unknown Error"
A: Click the other play button - not sure why this happens, but the other button almost always works.
Q: Mob con colors are wrong
A: SOE changed cons long ago, and the client pretty much forced us to do the same. Gray cons net no exp. Green are a small amount (like the old light blue). At the higher end, some things which used to be red are now yellow, and some other levels shifted slightly. This does not in any way impact resists, damage, etc.; those are all server-side calcs and behave the exact same way as before. It may take a little getting used to, though.
Go-Live Info
Q: When will 2.5 go live?
A: We will see if it can happen, but I'd love to see around 12/12 or 12/13. We are pretty much set, but I need to make sure all critical bugs are closed by then, and there are a few remaining.
Q: Where can I grab the patcher?
A: https://shardsofdalaya.com/patcher25/sodpatcher.exe
Q: How do I install 2.5?
A:
If you have an Shards install already:
1) Copy that folder to a second folder. For example, I play my 2.0 game in c:\sod. I copied that to c:\sod25.
2) Download the 2.5 patcher from https://shardsofdalaya.com/patcher25/sodpatcher.exe. Place it in your copied folder and replace the existing patcher.
3) Run sodpatcher.exe, patch fully and enjoy!
If you do not have Shards installed:
1) Install Everquest using the official game installer here: https://www.everquest.com/register?page=Download. You must sign up for a Station account to do this.
2) Download the 2.5 patcher from https://shardsofdalaya.com/patcher25/sodpatcher.exe. Place it in your installation folder and replace the existing patcher.
3) Run sodpatcher.exe, patch fully and enjoy!
Q: Can I play without the patcher?
A: No. You may be able to launch the game, but zones will be wrong, you won't be able to turn in stacks of things, and a host of other problems. We will shortly be enforcing this server-side, such that if you haven't launched via the patcher, you will get kicked. This avoids us having to debug non-existent problems related to people not using the eqgame.exe fix-ups. So do yourself a favor, launch with the patcher always, it will be mandatory anyway.
Q: Can I box more than 2 characters?
A: Up until release, yes. You can 35 box for all I care. As soon as we go live, the two-box rule is in effect.
Troubleshooting
Q: I get errors about d3dx9_something being missing.
A: Click the link in the patcher to download the DirectX runtime. You need to extract it to some location, then run the dxsetup.exe program in whatever location it is you chose.
Q: I have Windows XP and the patcher doesn't work.
A: The newest patcher (Final Beta 2 as of now) should hopefully work in XP. Please note that XP support is NOT guaranteed going forward, it will be best-effort support.
Spells
Q: Beastlord spells, stances and other recent changes are missing!
A: Spells should be in now. We are finishing the rollup of other issues into 2.5, and then those too will be available.
Bug Reporting
Q: How should I report bugs?
A: /bug, every time and always. It is the only way I can keep track of everything! Please, please do this. Yes they get read.
Q: Something is broken on 2.5!
A: There will be lots of those. Please understand that, unless it's major (zone crashing, etc.), I cannot possibly keep up with everyone's bugs at this stage. /bug them and I promise I will review them when I am able.
UI
Q: What the fuck is up with the UI?
A: Yes, the default UI is terrible. If someone can find stuff from EQInterface that's compatible, please post a thread on it, I haven't had time. If you use your own version of default UI, you can rename your UI_Soandso_.ini to UI_Soandso_sod.ini and about 90% of it should transfer.
Q: Can I transfer my hotkeys from 2.0 to 2.5?
A: Yes - rename your Soandso_.ini file to Soandso_sod25.ini
Q: What's with 4 sets of hotbars?
A: This is both cool and annoying. You can have 4 active hotbars at a time, which is awesome. But you often don't need them. To disable, click the EQ Button and find the Hotbar you want to disable. That EQ button has lots of cool tweaks and shortcuts FYI.
Known Issues
Q: My AAs are gone!
A: You need to manually re-purchase your AAs. To keep from going insane while repurchasing them, click the Fast AA button in options. The re-buy is unavoidable; AAs changed substantially from 2.0 to 2.5, and migrating them is unrealistic.
Q: Nothing is in my tradeskill containers!
A: Click Experiment. Also, there is an option somewhere to always open tradeskill containers in Experiment mode (something like Right Click Opens Tradeskill Window)
Q: Antivirus is warning me the patcher is a suspicious program!
A: The reason is we use a technique to "fix" eqgame.exe and make it behave how we want. This technique is also implemented by viruses and other malware, and thus its presence makes AV nervous. The patcher DOES NOT have a virus or anything, it's just suspicious of the technique, which is common and legitimate. AV sucks is the bottom line. Whitelist your 2.5 folder to avoid problems.
Q: I get to server select but it says Down or Locked/I can't get in zones.
A: Usually means the game is down for work. If you can get to server select, your client should be up and functional and you should be ready for release.
Q: On server select, I hit the Play button, and just get "Unknown Error"
A: Click the other play button - not sure why this happens, but the other button almost always works.
Q: Mob con colors are wrong
A: SOE changed cons long ago, and the client pretty much forced us to do the same. Gray cons net no exp. Green are a small amount (like the old light blue). At the higher end, some things which used to be red are now yellow, and some other levels shifted slightly. This does not in any way impact resists, damage, etc.; those are all server-side calcs and behave the exact same way as before. It may take a little getting used to, though.
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