Communicating Version Numbers
 

As of now, the EQEmu community really seems to have no way of explaining client versions except for patch dates. Patched before so and so date but after some other date. And a lot of times I have seen people that are unsure of what version they have. The reason why I am posting this message is because I am proposing we set up some sort of general system of checking and communicating what client version someone has. I just spent about 15 minutes using a crc32 api that I had used with a patch system I wrote and some MFC to create a prototype of what I'm trying to demonstrate.

The program is called EQVerCheck.exe. What it does is simple. You place it in your EQ directory and run it, and it spits back a 2 different version numbers. A short one, which will most likely change every time live has a patch that breaks eqemu except in very rare circumstances. Or, in case it doesnt, or in the event that we need to look at it in more detail, a long version string.

http://img25.exs.cx:81/img25/3026/p17hv.jpg
In the above picture, you can see what was spit out for me in my EQ folder that contains my client version that is compatible with 0.6.0. It spits out the following information (which is copy/pastable!)
Heres how it works. Both codes consists of 6 sections. The first section is the indentifier, for either the SEQ (Short Version String) or EQ (Long Version String). The rest of the string in the long version is devided into 5 parts, 8 digits per section. Each section represents an individual file. The short version after the 1st section, is divided into 5 more sections as well, leaving 1 digit per section.

In respective order, the 5 sections represent the checksum for the following files: eqgame.exe, eqgraphicsdx9.dll, eqmain.dll, eqgfx_dx8.dll, mss32.dll. Looking back at my 5th section (4th file), It appears I have that file missing. This is a file used in older clients and is no longer used anymore in 6.0, but is still used in 5.3 and older versions, and so I included it.

The short version string essentially takes the last digit of every section and displays it alone. More often than not, a patch to live will change the whole version number for the files that were patched. I would imagine this would not be a problem to display 1 digit.

Like I said, this was just an idea I had and I whipped it up to present. What do you think about something like this? Im posting this in the general forum because I want to start a discussion more on how we can get a better system of explaining patch versions and communicating them to new users. Ideally, I think it would be alot more organized and eliminate some confusion to tell people that, for instance, 0.6.0 is compatible with client SEQ12107 rather than "if you patched after 12/1/2004 and before 12/15/2004". If anyone is interested I'll release the binary tomorrow (when im awake). But I'd like to hear your thoughts first.

This what what the program spat out for me in my various client versions.

What do you guys think?

I'm all for it as long as it is a self-contained application. That is, it requires no setup files, and only depends on Windows components that are pretty much guaranteed to be in your bare bones install. Lest we have to support them on getting this version checker going before we can support them with their original question... too complicated :D

Hopefully this utility doesn't lead the users to ask the forbidden question. If so, the team will of course look down on it.

Yeah its just a binary. Unless your running 95 and you've never run an MFC app, its only going to need the binary. You just pop it into your EQ directory and hit go... I originally had intended to make it so that you would hit browse somewhere and select your EQ folder, but I figured this was easier.

Edit: It appears Im actually supposed to have eqgfx_dx8.dll in my EQ directory, so, the proper SEQ string for 0.6.0 is: SEQ12167

For the download, it is now available here.
http://www.eqemulator.net/forums/showthread.php?t=17992

Fine work !!!

Now we need devs make same in EQEMU's exe :)
If zone.exe and world.exe have same version number
we can find right zone/world for right eqclient to easy :)
but it is a Gadget i know :p

What Version Is This Compatible With?
 

Hi. Um, my version is SEQAA767. Is there a way to find out what version I am compatible with, or do I ask? If there is, can you please help? Thx.

That probably means you patched to live or you installed EQ without patching at all, both break the client at this time. The proper client for 0.6.0 is SEQ12167.

Hey Ive got 2 versions here. Basically ok I have this one SEQA3767 and Im not sure how recent that version was but I have another here which is one of my old ones SEQB8A67 but basically I was wondering if there was anything I could do with this version (SEQB8A67) or the other (SEQA3767) right now if I cant find EqEmu 5.7

You could play on Scorpious2k.

SHORT VERSION: SEQ8A667

hmmm.

Is there an update for this or is SEQ12167 still the same for 0.6.2 and 3?

SEQ12167 is just an example of one of the outputs you can get. 0.6.2 and 0.6.3 have different SEQ numbers.

Seq32167
 

SEQ32167 ^^ I can still play on some servers, most just 1017 me, is that the problem?

If you're 1017'ing on other 0.6.0 servers with SEQ32167, sounds like a configuration error on the server's part :)

SEQ92367
EQ4F3F84393AFACD428AECA7831E2727A6B8291587



Anything i can do? Obviously patched after the allowed date.