Pathing Supplement

By Yeahlight on Wed September 3, 2008 1:00 am Eastern

Secrets got excited and jumped the gun before the roaming system was in a near-complete state, so here is a supplement to Secrets's post.

First off, there are three NPC movement systems we are creating: Pathing, patrolling and roaming. Pathing is the system that handles the calculation of the optimal path between two points where line of sight is not present (dungeon pathing); patrolling is the system that handles the predetermined movement between two points (roamers in dungeons); and roaming is the system that handles the random movement of mobs in a general area.

Our pathing system is looking good, but still requires a ton of optimization before it is ready for a large player base. These recent updates are about our new roaming system. Below are two videos showcasing the work and success of the roaming system:

[url=http://www.eqcprices.com/FoB%20Roam.avi:102kfyyz]Roaming in Field of Bone[/url:102kfyyz]
[url=http://www.eqcprices.com/FrePortW%20Roam.avi:102kfyyz]Roaming in West Freeport[/url:102kfyyz]

These videos need a bit of explanation, though. The first video's scenario (roaming in the field of bone) is an excellent example of a zone that is home to a large variety of roamers. None of these NPCs roam zone wide, so they need to be put on a leash to prevent level 15-17 NPCs roaming to the newbie yard. This is accomplished through the implementation of serverside roam boxes.

[img:102kfyyz]http://www.eqcprices.com/RoamBoxes.JPG[/img:102kfyyz]

If you are familiar with the field of bone, then this should be easy to understand. The red rectangles on the map represent the roam boxes. When a roaming NPC spawns, it is not in a static location, which means it can spawn anywhere within its roam box. So, most of FoB's nooby mobs will spawn in the left most red box. These NPCs may not and will not leave this box unless a PC pulls them out of it. This gives us total control over the possible locations an NPC may travel towards. The field of bone will require roughly ten roam boxes and not just the three you see above.

The second video is proof that the system works. I let the nooby mobs in west freeport roam for roughly eight minutes and then I travel along the zoneline to show you that mobs have not left their roam box, thus not getting up on zone walls or behind zone lines. The video concludes with the respawning of the entire zone several times to show you that a roaming NPC's spawn location is indeed random. Therefore, it will not be possible to track down the exact spawn location of a named / PH, especially zone wide roamers where their number of possible spawn locations is undefinable.

Yeahlight

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Pathing.

By Secrets on Mon September 1, 2008 5:31 am Eastern

So I don't know if they want me posting this video yet, as it's a work in progress... but here I am, reporting news for EQClassic. Am I special yet?

[url:15qw7h4b]http://www.eqcprices.com/Roamers.avi[/url:15qw7h4b]

Anyway, we have pathing for roamers in the works now.

Special system includes:

Randomly spawning NPCs. Never see the same NPC spawn again in a certain area.
EQEMu Grid Legacy Support (for patrollers, I never liked how eqemu did theirs for every single mob)
WALKING Npcs. Not only does a mob run, but they can now walk! (Something contrary to popular belief.)
Randomly pathing NPCs. See above: Randomly spawning, except this time with more pathing.
Yeahlight also has given me some extra fields to work with in the database. Fun fun fun!

Why am I explaining all of this? You guys should be watching the video anyway.

other things happening:

[list:15qw7h4b]+ water work (pun intended!) with drowning + skillups
+ invis spell line
+ harmonize spell line
+ food consumption and associated penalties
+ pathing changes: cosmetic and optimization
+ discovery of hidden spooky zones
+ bug fixes[/list:u:15qw7h4b]

Neriak Palace
[img:15qw7h4b]http://azigon.com/EQ000026.jpg[/img:15qw7h4b]
Tower of Rot
[img:15qw7h4b]http://azigon.com/EQ000027.jpg[/img:15qw7h4b]
The Pit
[img:15qw7h4b]http://azigon.com/EQ000028.jpg[/img:15qw7h4b]
Verant was planning something... but what? The files were never released, and it definately wasn't classic, but nonetheless interesting.

NOTICE: THOSE ZONES WILL NOT BE IN EQC. DO NOT ASK. DO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT COLLECT $200.

...unless it's payday, you can collect $200.

~S

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WTB full set of Banded Armor!

By Tazadar on Sun August 24, 2008 7:49 am Eastern

We are pleased to announce that Crafting Stations are now in the game and are fully working!

This includes :
[list:1v2fdu46]
-Saving item in container when you leave them.
-Preventing NO DROP trading thanks to the Station.
-Removing items when you click combine if its a known recipe and giving you the final item if its a success.
[/list:u:1v2fdu46]

You can see here a video made by Tongpow :
[youtube:1v2fdu46]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_xseZwEso[/youtube:1v2fdu46]

Tazadar

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What's Your AC Warrior?

By Tazadar on Wed August 20, 2008 1:04 pm Eastern

I am glad to announce that the AC formula has been found and matches with the client !!.The server now knows how many AC your char has !

This includes :

[list:efomtvdu]
+ Natural AC
+ AGI AC bonus
+ Iksar AC bonus
+ Monk AC bonus
+ Rogue AC bonus
+ Def AC bonus
[/list:u:efomtvdu]

Moreover you can now see weapons and such in your char hands at the char select screen . This was the last thing that we could not display !!

[url=http://img168.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshoteqoy7.png:efomtvdu][img:efomtvdu]http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4259/screenshoteqoy7.th.png[/img:efomtvdu][/url:efomtvdu]


Tazadar

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Working on spells!

By cofruben on Mon August 11, 2008 9:27 am Eastern

Hey all, just wanted to say that we're working hard on spells. There're a lot of effects that are not implemented yet, so still coding this stuff... It's going very good though, by now I could get working [u:270gv42b]HP and mana buffs, DoTs, heal over time, levitation, snare/root and more[/u:270gv42b]. I might need additional information, if so I'll be asking for it in our forums. The rest of spells are on the way: Snare/Root, cure disease/poison, etc..

More news:
-HP and mana regeneration are now working correctly and also server-side HP updates.
-Buffs: duration formulas, fading, etc..
-Most Damage Shield spells and items are working now.
-NPC's should face you when attacking right now, which did not happen the last time.
-NPCs are producing their random sound effects now.
-Aggro, faction and merchant tweaking.
-Players can now use F8 to target closest NPC.
-Spell fizzling implemented (Sorry, casters are 0wned now =P).

Hope this info helps!

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