Getting Started

This guide is for playing on the official TAKP server.

Creating Your Account

Create a forum account at The Al'Kabor Project Forums. Game accounts are linked to forum accounts, so a forum account is required.

Create your game accounts by clicking Game Accounts at the top of the page.

Click "Create Login Server Account" and create a game account. Your forum account may have up to 10 game accounts, but you are limited to having three game accounts simultaneously logged in.

Obtaining the Client

This server has both a Windows and Macintosh client available. Currently the best way to get a client is to ask someone on the forum for a download link. A public and reliable host for the client downloads will hopefully be set up soon.

The Preconfigured Windows Client

There is a preconfigured client available that requires almost no setup. If you obtain this client, you need merely unzip it and run EQW.exe. From here you log in with one of your game accounts after the client asks for some graphics configuration settings. If you get errors, try running EQW.exe as administrator.

A MD5 hash list of the client files is available.

This client is configured in the following way: (don't worry if you don't understand some of this)

Virtually all unnecessary files removed. No zones beyond PoP. Client size is 2.06 GB.
All character files, logs and client settings deleted. Client is about as clean as it gets.
EQMule patch v2.2. (nVidia glitch fix)
msvcp100.dll and msvcr100.dll included from the Visual Studio 2010 x86 redistributable package. (required for EQMule patch)
UIs included: Luclin Default, Power of Two, Vert.
All UIs made fully compatible; no more red UI error text when zoning.
Missing strings added to eqstr_en.txt.
readonce.txt edited.
eqhost.txt points to TAKP.

eqclient.ini is completely default save for:

Velious armor textures enabled.
Alliance chat autojoin.
Keymaps for WASD, auto attack = q, duck = x.
Target Group Buffs turned on.
ShowAlarmWindow set to false.

Building Your Own Windows Client From Install Media

It is recommended that you download the preconfigured client, but it is also possible to make a TAKP client from old EverQuest installation CDs.

To do this, you need a copy of EverQuest from Planes of Power to Titanium. Note that you will still likely need to obtain some files from other users; see below.

Copy all of the files from a clean EverQuest install into a new directory. Then download EQMule's Al'Kabor Patch and unzip all of the files into the folder, overwriting any files already there.

Edit the eqhost.txt file to point to the TAKP server:

[Registration Servers]
{
"loginserver.takproject.net:6999"
}
[Login Servers]
{
"loginserver.takproject.net:6000"
}

The EQMule patch requires that your machine have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) installed. If you get the error "Exception Processing Message 0xc0000135" when you run the client, then the cause is that you do not have the package installed. You may already have this.

From here you need a working default UI. If the game fails to load after server select, then it's likely because the UI from your install media is not compatible. (in the uifiles\default folder) You will need to ask a user for a compatible default UI. The Titanium default UI will not work.

Limiting Your Frame Rate In Windows

Once you have a functional client, there is one last important step Windows users must do: you need a frame rate limiter, otherwise you'll have an unacceptable experience in the game.

TAKP's client is so old that it has no built-in means to limit the frame rate, which leads to frame rates of many hundreds on modern hardware. This will not only needlessly overutilize your graphics card, it will also cause the mouselook to be very slow and make the Y axis mouselook slower than the X axis.

To fix this, you need to download one of three programs:

MSI Afterburner - Works for non-MSI and AMD cards too. Run the On-Screen Display Server and click the wrench.
Dxtory - A Fraps-like program; not free, but the trial doesn't end. Click the Advanced tab, and check 'Limit Video FPS'.
nVidia Inspector - For nVidia graphics adapters only. (video)

The recommended frame rate is 60 to avoid mouselook issues.

Optional Steps

The preconfigured client comes with two custom UIs: poweroftwo, and vert. To switch to one of these, run the slash command /loadskin <ui> 1. The 1 is optional-- it will keep your current window positions. Loading UIs via the options window will not work.

EQClient.ini Settings

You may want to enable certain features by editing eqclient.ini:

NewUI=TRUE/FALSE - Our client still has the old pre-Luclin UI for nostalgia mode.
Log=TRUE/FALSE - Setting this true will automatically turn your log file on when entering the game.
CombatMusic=TRUE/FALSE - Enable or disable melee combat music.
ChannelAutoJoin=alliance - The Alliance channel is used as the global chat channel for the server.
TargetGroupBuff=1 - This will allow you to buff groups with group buff spells from outside the group by targeting a member of the group.
Velious armor textures:

LoadVeliousArmorsWithLuclin=TRUE
LoadArmor17=TRUE
LoadArmor18=TRUE
LoadArmor19=TRUE
LoadArmor20=TRUE
LoadArmor21=TRUE
LoadArmor22=TRUE
LoadArmor23=TRUE

Velious armor textures are not enabled by default unless you download the preconfigured client.