Friday, April 18, 2014

Different Settings for Different Alts

Note: These are instructions for Linux. You should be able to do similar on your system though.

Since the rule 5 removal, and more people setting up alts, the question of how to have different settings for different characters' EL windows has come up more often.

While different characters have separate counters and such, all open client windows use the same settings file.

However, you may not want that for all your characters. You might want one larger window for your main character, and smaller windows with lower FPS or such for background harvesters.

There's a simple little trick you can do to allow this.


1- Adjust your servers.lst file

main            main            game.eternal-lands.com  2000    Main game server
main2            main2            game.eternal-lands.com  2000    Alternate Main
official        official            game.eternal-lands.com  2000    Main game serverpk              pk              game.eternal-lands.com  2002    PK game server
test            test            game.eternal-lands.com  2001    Test server
lrnr-main       main            proxy1.other-life.com   443     Learner's redirection service for the Main game server


Open your servers.lst file.  It is in your game data directory ( /usr/share/games/elc/ for example).

In it, you'll see lines like the above. Except... the alt1 row.

Add a line like that to your servers.lst file. You'll note that it points to the exact same server and port as "main".





(You can name it whatever you like, not just "main2". Substitute main2 with whatever you name it in further instructions.)

SAVE IT IN YOUR ~/.elc DIRECTORY.

By saving it there, you don't need to be root... and as well, if you re-install or there's a client update, it won't get overwritten.

Save it directly in ~/.elc, not in any of its subfolders like main.




2- Create a copy of files from ~/.elc/main/ to ~/.elc/main2/ (optional)

You'll want to do this if you've already been playing alts and want to keep your stats for them.

In your ~/.elc/ folder, there's a "main" directory.

Look in the main directory.

a. Copy all files where the name of your alt(s) are part of the file, to a second directory at ~/.elc/main2/ .

b. Copy the "maps" folder over to main2 as well (these are your mapmarkers).

c. Copy the elc.cfg and elc.ini files.

3- Logging in your alt(s)

Log in your main character as usual. Ex:
 /usr/bin/el.x86_64.linux.bin

However, any alts you wish to have a different setting for should be logged in with:
 /usr/bin/el.x86_64.linux.bin main2

Adding that "main2" afterwards will make it use the ~/.elc/main2/ folder instead of /main/, thus allowing you to have different settings for any characters that are played using the main2 command.


You can set up icons on your desktop that directly call the main2 command or such, for simple usage. Or whatever is best for the desktop system you use.


Q: What if I want 3 characters to have 3 different window settings?
A: Repeat the above, using "main3" where "main2" is. And so on.




Sorry, I cannot help you if you're on Windows or Mac. The above should be doable, just the locations of your directories will be different.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Exploring Guild Maps XI - Corpus Opis

Notice: This is just a look at some of the guild maps that have been made for Eternal Lands. This blog provides no secrets.
The entrances to these maps and any secrets to get around them will never be posted, nor will I provide them so don't ask.

View all Guild Map exploration via the Guildmaps tag.
*CO*, Corpus Opis, is essentially a dead guild.

Guard Bot: Yes.

PK: Yes. The entire map.


The *CO* map is one of the two least-secret guild maps in EL (along with PKG). Despite that most everyone who's been around a while knows the entrance, I still won't post it.

Honestly, this could have been one of the first maps I did. I put it off this long because, well, it's boring.

And by boring, I mean dull. The single dullest design-wise guild map that I've seen. It's taking extra effort to post this just for that reason. There's not much to say about it.

But, for the sake of completeness, here it is.

Why is it so dull?

1) The entire map is PK. The creator couldn't bother to do a lot of things, and make specific PK areas is one of those things. I don't care how pk-oriented a guild is, you should still want at least an area or two that you can afk at without concern, especially on a map that's so easily accessed.

2) Nothing to explore. Except for one side room, the entire map is the one main area. And there's not much to that.

3) Design leaves a lot to be desired in most places...

Okay, let's show you what I'm talking about.


First, the guard bot...

CO


Yeah, few people die by this bots' hands. It's well-known primarily from the constant spam on channel 6 of people killing it.

And if you can't kill it, it's easily avoided. As I've done. I'm well aware of how to kill it but I just avoided it so my name wouldn't join the pkcentral spamming. (There's more than a few who consider that spam a reason to come to the map and make assholes of themselves. Easier to get the screenshots done sans morons.)

You just saw the most interesting thing on the map...




There's a second exit that leads to a different map, (besides just turning around in the above pic and exiting where you entered):


CO



As is common, most guilds can't remember what guild they're in, so they need a reminder.




CO


Er... many moons ago, like a couple other guilds, there was this stuff called "stupid-speak", with "words" like "pwnz". People actually thought they were cool saying such things. Here, the stupidity is permanently embedded into the map.



CO


This... really makes no sense. Side area with a table, but the chairs are surrounding... a branch. What the fuck.

CO


Because the entire map is PK, calling anything a pk "arena" is pointless. Which leaves this to be a... fruit-washing area? Honestly too much in this map makes no sense.

CO


In another path...

CO


We get to the meeting area. Most maps make this area non-pk, but not this one.

CO

King of the map. *yawn*

CO


Really, if the map creator didn't have one side room (further below), I'd question if they even knew how to make separate areas. Here's another side area, still on the same main map section.

CO


Which leads to what is apparently a jail. Now, a lot of guild maps have jails. But unlike those, you can't go in this one.

CO


Not even the tavern is a separate room. Just walk in...

CO


And here, the mapmaker shows a brief glimpse of mapmaking skill by creating a separate room in the tavern. Unfortunately it's pointless... sparse, no design, and even it is pk so it's not even an AFK area for the guild.

CO


This sunken area wasn't even made useable. Not enterable, not even via tele-to-range.

CO


Yeah, not really worth exploring. Nothing secret, nothing to look for. Well, okay, I'll end this with *one* thing you can look for... this map glitch, which allows you to walk in a small area outside of the designed map. ;-)

CO


Thrilling, huh?

That's it. No, really. Probably the shortest exploration entry I've done simply because there's little to this map.

Here's hoping my next entry won't put you to sleep. :-D

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Guard Bots... Not Very Guarding

With all the ways you can easily slip past guard bots, it's really not doing its job by being PKable, in a PK map and moving around.

Oh yeah, secrets requiring use-with items added as a redundancy. Still doesn't fully protect the map, as secrets tend to get out. (Not from me, but... all it takes is one disgruntled ex-guildie.)

The Almost-Perfect Guard


There's really only one way a bot could protect a map from being entered. And it involves absolutely no PK.

1) The start of your map should have the only way in include an area where only 1 person at a time could walk.

2) That start area of the map should be set as "no magic".

3) That start area should *not* be PK.

4) Code the bot to stand in the area where only 1 person at a time can walk. Code him to move only when guild members or designated friendlies come within two paces of him. He steps out of the way to allow them to pass.


It's not pk, so an unfriendly can't do anything to make the bot move.
It's no-magic, so an unfriendly can't tele-to-range past the bot.


Now there's other issues of course, but done right this would handle keeping out most everyone that's not wanted.


Issues:
1) Bot goes offline - Not really an issue, since that can happen with a pk guard bot as well. But during that time, the map's a free-for-all like any guild map would be.

2) Unwanted player finds map, stands nearby waiting for a friendly to get the bot to move.

Yeah, that would require someone with seriously no life, willing to sit around all day doing nothing. But we already have some types like that in the game, so... ;-)

You'd have to figure out how to handle that. (Guard bots have True Sight, so they'd see the unfriendly even if the friendly doesn't.)



The bonus: No PK, all the bot does is move for a friendly to enter, so even a brand new character could be used as the bot. No having to train-up a character.

The added bonus: Your guard bot will not become [@PK central @ 6] fodder like some others have.


Just a random thought... Okay, back to your boring harvesting with ya. ;-)




700 Pear Finds, Alch 141, Invances, and So On

Just a few things happening...


New Guild Map Exploration


I've been very slow putting these up. Plenty more ready to go but I just haven't gotten around to them.

But I added a new one now... this time it's Legends of the Empire - ~LE~ I've invaded. ;-)

You can, of course, see all the available guild map explorations I've done so far on the top of the right column on this page.

700 Pears and Counting


Today I hit the 700 mark in number of pears found. Shit, that's a lotta time wasted hunting fruit. ;-)


The Eternal #1 Alchemist


So last time I tied with giove for the number one position. This time, I take seat as the first person to hit 141 in alchemy.




You advanced to level 141 of alchemy!


Alchemy 141

 

 

 

Invances, Hand Issues, and the Mason


Kept going to invances...



Invance


Invance
However, my hand issues (sometimes difficult to control my hand as well as I used to) was leading to a few too many bricks at once, and I had to stop again. Maybe more in the future, we'll see. Meanwhile, this happened...

Invance


Yay? An achievement.





Playing with Chickens and Stuff


No-break day led me to WVF where I used a double-spawn to farm Big Chicken feathers. For a while, had to go to bed after a couple hours.

But not before testing my abilities on a single chicken for a while.



Big Chicken



Day of Invasions 


Out of boredom, I hit a few invasions during a recent day of invasions. Played with Japitas and Nasps.



Japita



Nasparliu






And the Levels Will Rock 


Finally, of course, alchemy wasn't the only level. I took the potion god a while back but of the three gods, it's the lowest of my priorities. I will later do some power-leveling of it, but the other two take enough of my time at the moment.

Though, summoning being one of those, I do have to mass-produce SRs. And here, I was doing a huge creature food stock since I still regularly use that.





You advanced to level 114 of potion!


Potion 114

As well, another Engineering day led to another several hours poofing treasure finders in the engineering school, for over 40k experience per minute...




You advanced to level 115 of engineering!


Engineering 115

And finally, more dailies (besides my chicken hunts and invances) led to more defense.



You advanced to level 139 of defense!


Defense 139

That would be it for this time... Currently working on stocking for both crafting and summoning. No expectation of another level the next few days at least, though it's not out of the question.



Exploring Guild Maps X - Legends of the Empire

Notice: This is just a look at some of the guild maps that have been made for Eternal Lands. This blog provides no secrets.
The entrances to these maps and any secrets to get around them will never be posted, nor will I provide them so don't ask.

View all Guild Map exploration via the Guildmaps tag.

~LE~, Legends of the Empire, is one of the more active guilds around that has a guild map.

Guard Bot: Yes. Two in fact.

PK: No. Clearly marked arenas as well as a PK area at the start so the guard bots can kick your ass. ;-)


This map is... well, it's large. But at the same time it feels small, as there's only a handful of buildings to go into. It's mostly a mainland map.


And here we go! Starting from the entrance.



LE




Oh my, ~LE~ doesn't fool around, gotta dodge two bots instead of the usual one. And they seem fairly well prepared for you.

LE




Time to take a boat ride.

LE


LE




Decisions, decision... take your pick.

LE




A "Summoning Arena". As always, "arenas" in guild maps are PK arenas. There's no magic/summoning arena option, so this is just a pk area.

LE




Care to go for a swim? There's lots of water to do so.

LE




A dock. Possibly "Dock E", heh.

LE




Not sure what this is... but... it's blue. Yes, we'll call it "that blue place".

LE




A pair of mini pk arenas, for a little 1-on-1 action.

LE




Just in case you forget what guild's map you're on...

LE




Okay, there's only a handful of actually-enterable doors, so let's see what's behind them.

First up, as always a room with the "primary throne", or head chair. And of course, like every map, I have to sit in it to proclaim myself "King of the Map"!

LE




The armory vault, should you care to swipe their weapons.

LE




Apparently the home of someone who left the guild (and doesn't seem to be an active player anymore as well).

LE




Dining on scorpions?

LE




Free gc!

LE




~AC~ headquarters. Seems "Ancient Clan" shared the map. At least at one point.

LE




That's it for the "internals". So here's a few shots of the primary outdoor map.

LE


LE


LE


LE




Ah yes, a couple more PK arenas.

LE


LE




Help! I'm drowning!

LE




Bleh. Map is generally well-done, but this... not so good.

LE




And finally, really not sure what the purpose of this little island is. Statue storage?

LE




That's all, folks!