Feldon The EQ2 programmers have been hard at work transitioning the databases responsible for running EverQuest II to EnterpriseDB. This is a huge undertaking but with significant benefits for the game’s developers and EQ2 players alike. The main thing we’ll see added as a result is Cross-Server Dungeon Finder sometime this year. Hopefully we’ll also see performance improvements on large characters with a lot of housing and other data. But in the meantime, the EQ2 team need our help Beta testing the ordinary stuff like grouping, housing, dungeon lockouts, the broker, and guild functionality to make sure that everything is working as it should. This is one of those thankless jobs where, if everything goes perfectly well, nobody will notice anything!
I know we’ve had a spate of frustrating news in the last few weeks, but please do login and spend some time testing things out on Beta. In the process you’ll get a flying mount!
From the EQ2 Forums:
We’re working hard on database changes for EQ2, and we need your help to make sure they’re awesome!
Starting today and running until Monday, March 9 at 11:59AM PST, we could really use your help on the beta server. You can use our Beta Copy feature by typing /beta on a character you want to copy.
What we are looking for?
Weirdness or issues with the entire game, but our top test requests are:
- If you used /betacopy, is your character in the EXACT same state you left it on live?
- Enter/Exit Housing & Decorate
- Contested Dungeons like High Keep
- Lock-out timers of various types
- Broker functionality
- Guild functions, changes, updates
How do I get the mount?
We’ll be hooking up everyone that assists us on the beta server this weekend with a [eq2u]Blessed Sokokar[/eq2u] mount for one of their live characters. To earn this for a live character, you have to kill at least 250 things on the beta server.
If you notice any quirks, please /bug immediately. We’re grateful for everyone’s help and support, and we’ll see you on the beta server this weekend!
Get to EverQuest II Beta in 15-30 Minutes
If you pick the Beta server in the EQ2 launcher, it will start downloading 18GB of data. You can shave off this time to 15-30 minutes following these instructions…
1. If your EverQuest II launcher is running, close and reopen it.
2. Click the Version link in the top left corner (US English for US players).
Change the Game Version to “Beta” and click “Apply”.
If you want, you can wait 12-16 hours for the entire EverQuest II game to be redownloaded…
…but if that sounds like a bad idea to you, then locate your EverQuest II folder (click the “Open Game Directory” button in the Launcher to do so) and follow one of the two instructions below:
REGULAR: Ctrl-click on your music and paks folders, and then press Ctrl-C. Click on your BetaServer folder and press Ctrl-V. This will cut your patching time down to about 15-20 minutes.
STREAMING: Click on your assetcache folder, and then press Ctrl-C. Now click on your BetaServer folder and press Ctrl-V. This will cut your patching time down to about 15-20 minutes.
NOTE: You do not need to open the two windows side-by-side as I have done them above. You can just ctrl-drag the two folder(s) into the BetaServer folder all in one window.
CAUTION: Do not copy the entire EverQuest II folder into your BetaServer folder as there are a number of UI changes in Altar of Malice (the devs really do try to keep this to a minimum!) For now, you will want to use the default UI until mod authors of ProfitUI, Drums, Dark, Fetish, etc. can update their scripts.
You should feel confident clicking “Replace” wherever necessary to overwrite any files which may already be present. Once the copy is complete, switch back to the Launcher and wait 15-20 minutes for patching to complete. You should then be able to Play!!
NOTE: If you have issues with crashes, delete your EverQuest II\Launchpad.libs file.
NOTE: If EQ2 Beta crashes immediately after launching, go to your main EQ2 directory and copy theD3DCompiler_43.dll and D3DX9_43.dll files to your BetaServer folder.
To get into the Beta server:
1. Start your live launchpad
2. In the top-left corner, click VERSION
3. In the drop-down choose BETA then hit APPLY
4. Once the download completes press PLAY
Did they reuse the mount from TOV beta? Cause it looks just like the one I got from that?
Just curious, might beta test anyway but I won’t bother with the mount if it’s one I already did…
Should guilds copy over if you copy the guild owner over? I’m not sure how to test guild functions otherwise.
you’d have to reform the guild on the test server, or join an existing one together
The 250 mob achievement seems to be broken. Killing things doesn’t update the achievement.
My achievement has been updating just fine. Saw in General some mention that instance mobs don’t update it. I’ve been killing xp-giving overland mobs.
There used to be a /guild_betacopy command (uncertain of exact command) the guildleader could use.
Last time i heard it was tried was before ToV was released, may still exist though.
It looks like the exact same reward as from ToV beta. Someone on the beta server said you even get the AA xp potion, too. Haven’t finished it yet to verify, but I did just claim the ToV reward I had on live left just in case they don’t stack 😉
FYI – not sure if this was a one-off case or if others have it as well. I did not have the immediate crashing when launching Beta (though I have had that in the past). What I did have was a blank black screen and the music. I followed the steps for the crashing issue of copying the D3 .DLLs files and that did seem to correct it.
Just wanted to pass it along that the crashing issue might have matured to a “hanging” issue now.
250 kill still not updating for me. I’ve tried a variety of locations, chrono-levels and toons. Next thing to try is to delete these copies and /beta again. Is anyone else seeing this?
Yup. Mine wasn’t updating, and everyone in General that replied when I asked was having the same problem.
I tried fresh copies nothing works I got to 100 before the server crashed this morning. I tried several different characters and it is broken. Sitting at 100/250 ugg
But I can’t/beta because AB is down. Booo
The achievement is only working overland, it does not update in weekly/solo/advanced solo zones. The problem is beta crashed several times this morning, currently locked still need 150 kills lol
that was until the server crashed, good grief, not one person working the week end to fix this mess.
currently the achievement is not progressing on anything
From what i have found for getting the updates it cannot be a kos mob the have to be non agro . I tested this in multiple zones and was getting updates.
Sorry meant to mention this was overland areas
currently as of 13:26 eastern time the achievement is completely broken
Oh well tried it and it is not working. oh well.
As of 2:05 PST the achievement count is not advancing.
I did the achievement the other day and found that at first it didn’t count up any kills seemingly anywhere, I zoned into the condemned catacombs in Antonica and still no updates but as soon as I zoned out all the mobs even though they were gray counted and as its virtually a non stop goblin fest on the island where the entrance to condemned catacombs is I got the update in about 12 minutes 🙂
Sunday 2:12pm PST
Several hundred kills later, count not updating.
– Zone in, zone out.
– Different lands.
– Grouped, not grouped.
– Kill KOS mobs, kill non-agro mobs.
– Kill overland mobs, kill instanced mobs.
– Bug report sent, but report not sent.
Basically someone’s made promises they won’t keep to string people along, or there was a limited number of rewards available and they won’t tell you.
Or It Is Broken.
There is a set of achievements for something called Far Seas Distillery: Distill or be killed. Anyone know anything?
I am also getting horrific lag with graphics on lowest, unable to see or target anything but myself and generally unable to complete Sokrkar.
Today as of this post all mobs in Frostfang Sea are counting for the Destroyer of Beta achievement.
Is this over today or did it get extended due to all the troubles and many hours of being completely broken?
I noticed the mount us level 95. Does it dummy down for any toon, or would you have to be 95+?