EverQuest on Linux in 2024

A Guide for the Quarm Server

By Qaedwen

Guide v1.1 [June 11, 2024 @ 23:28 UTC]

Prerequisites

1. This guide assumes you are on Arch Linux, or a derivative distro. Ubuntu and Fedora

distros will have similar steps, but not the same commands or package names.

2. This guide assumes you are comfortable acquiring and installing packages. This is not a

total newbie guide for people who have never used Linux.

3. This guide assumes you are using PipeWire + ALSA, though PulseAudio + ALSA may

work (untested).

4. You have already set up a login account for The Al’Kabor Project.

5. Files to download: [links current as of 11Jun24]

a. Game client v2.2 (download)

b. Quarm server files (Choose pq_files_xxx-zeal-2.zip in this Discord channel)

c. dgVoodoo v2.79.3 (download) [Note: no other version will work. Don’t try.]

d. Roland SC-55 midi sound font (download)

6. Packages:

a. lutris, fluidsynth, lib32-libpulse, wine, winetricks, protontricks, lib32-openal, gamescope

b. Appropriate GPU drivers, e.g.

vulkan-radeon

and

mesa

for Radeon GPUs. You also need the 32-bit

equivalents, e.g.

lib32-vulkan-radeon

and

lib32-mesa

for Radeon GPUs.

Installing the Game

1. Extract your v2.2 game client to a folder of your choosing. These are the EQ game

files trimmed down to run the Quarm server content.

2. Extract the Quarm server files to the same folder, overwriting if prompted.

3. Extract the dgVoodoo 2.79.3 folder to a temporary directory:

a. Go into the /MS/x86 folder in this temporary directory.

b. Rename D3D8.dll to d3d8.dll (case sensitive)

c. Rename D3D9.dll to d3d9.dll (case sensitive)

d. Copy and paste d3d8.dll + d3d9.dll to the EverQuest directory you created in step 1.

4. Extract the Roland SC-55 file (SC-55.sf2) to the EverQuest directory.

5. You now have the game, MIDI instruments, and Quarm files installed.

Configuring WINE

1. Launch Lutris.

2. Click this icon.

3. Install the latest version of

wine-ge-x-xx present in this list.

4. This gives you a special version

of WINE that is faster and

more capable than the

standard WINE package

available to all Linux distros.

Create a WINE Prefix

This will start the process of

configuring WINE to run

EverQuest.

This will emulate a Windows

environment.

STOP

The next steps are critically

important. Edit the menu entries

circled in red; ignore the rest.

Configuring WINE Prefix

Configuring WINE Prefix 1. This is the EverQuest game

executable you extracted

(page 3, step 1). This can be

any folder. My directory is

shown here for your reference.

2. This is the folder that holds

your EQ install, including

eqgame.exe.

3. This folder contains the files

to emulate Windows. Make it

a subfolder in your EQ game

directory. Files will be placed

here automatically.

Configuring WINE Prefix

1. Gamescope will put EverQuest

into its own compositor (rendering

environment). This will help catch

the mouse so it stays in the game

window. Especially helpful if you

use Wayland or a tiling WM.

2. Set these to whatever resolution

your monitor is.

3. Choose if you want EQ to run in a

window, fullscreen, or borderless

fullscreen.

Get MIDI Files Working

1. Open terminal.

2. Issue the following command:

a. fluidsynth -a pulseaudio -m alsa_seq -i -C on -R on -g 0.3 -s /path/to/eq_folder/SC-55.sf2

3. If desired, set this command up as a service, a startup command, or some other

mechanism to run this persistently in the background. You could simply disown

the command if you want.

Change this directory to the EQ folder. You put the .sf2 file

in this folder on page 3, step 4.

STOP

Now launch the game once and close it. See page 12 and 13 before actually

running the game and creating/selecting a character.

What Not To Do

1. Do not try any other version of dgVoodoo except for 2.79.3. I know. Resist the

temptation to just try the latest file. It won’t work.

2. Do not use suggestions from other tutorials. For example, do not use winetricks to

install dinput8, mono, corefonts, etc.

3. Do not try to change the resolution from within the game. Edit the eqclient.ini file

directly.

Useful Settings for eqclient.ini

CombatMusic=

1 for on, 0 for off

ShowDynamicLights=

TRUE for best quality, FALSE if light flickering

AllLuclinPcModelsOff=

TRUE for classic models, FALSE for Luclin models

Width=3440

Height=1440

RefreshRate=120

Change these to match your monitor settings

EnableClassicMusic=

TRUE for classic MIDI, FALSE for mp3s

ClipPlane=20

Set farthest view distance

InspectOthers=

FALSE to disable inspection of other players; leaving as TRUE

can be irritating

Useful Next Steps

1. Obtain the 299MB TAKP version of EQ Classic HD to substantially improve the

texture resolution of the game. Overwrite files when extracting this to the EQ

directory. [link current as of 11Jun24]

2. Obtain the Highres 4X HD package(s) of your choosing. Overwrite files when

extracting this to the EQ directory. [link current as of 11Jun24]

3. Learn how to use Zeal, a Quarm-approved addon that adds new commands,

better 3rd person, and better camera control.

4. I highly recommend NillipussUI. It’s clean and supports the extra features added

by Zeal.

5. Check out quarm.guide for more helpful applications, sound packages, spell

effects, etc.

Troubleshooting

1. If the game instantly crashes after selecting a server, your dgVoodoo install is not

correct. Make sure d3d8.dll and d3d9.dll are in the base EQ folder, and only use

version 2.79.3.

2. If Lutris reports the game running, but you cannot see it, stop the game with

Lutris and delete eqw.ini in the EverQuest directory. Try again.