EQ Playnice or whatever

[Antellos]

I have heard about these programs that keep EQ from using near 100% of the available memory called EQ Playnice or something. Does anyone know if they are against SOE policy considering they are a 3rd party program that technically interacts with Everquest. And if they are not, where do I go about getting one?

[Woody]

Hmmm... that's an interesting question, because technically you're just restricting the games "need" to sap all your available resources. **taps his chin**

I'll ask someone.

[Merwenn]

I must admit that I used this program for a few, its really nice, but it becomes a pain when SOE updates EQ every week because you have to keep going back and downloading the new version. As far as against the EQ EULA I don't really know. The people that run the program have never been contacted about it, and nobody has ever been banned for using it that I know of so. It's like using EQWindows I guess.

[DocBobo]

EQ Playnice (http://teqim.sourceforge.net/)

If you read the FAQ, the author himself believes he breaks the EULA. I don't know why SOE doesn't just hire the man and be done with it, but there you have it.

[Jishia]

What Playnice roughly does is lower the rate in which the game refreshes world models, I believe..it chops down heavily on system resources but it is quite glitchy. I have never gotten it to work on my computer without crashing it on startup.

[Woody]

Woody: Is there any way I could hear SOE official response to "EQ PlayNice"? Is it a bannable violation of the EULA?

Smedley: I guess the best answer is, the severity of the punishment depends on the severity of the disruptive behavior which can range from a simple warning to an account banning.

Woody: So, since PlayNice only restricts the amount of resources EQ is allowed to eat up, and doesn't actually affect the game to produce a positive in-game benefit, it's unlikely that people would be banned for it?

Smedley: You really have to work pretty hard and do something absolutely outrageous or repeatedly do smaller things. We don’t take banning lightly.

---

How all that should be read is:
They don't encourage 3rd Party Software... but it'd be tough to get banned because of it.

Smedley Clarification:
It's technically a violation; but, in its current form, it isn't on our radar.

[Aelvana Luvlana]

As a programmer I can tell you Smedley's attitude is common -- as long as you're not making money off changes, or cheating, or benefitting unfairly, or getting things for free, or disrupting other people, etc etc etc, no one really cares.

Of course I don't speak for anyone at Sony -- I'm just saying that that's a common attitude. If I knew for sure that that's all that EQPlayNice did, I wouldn't take offense to it myself. Keep in mind in this case though, EQPlayNice doesn't really affect the game, and is one of the few hacks I could think of that nobody would really care about.

[Whytewulf]

And all EQ windows does is allow you to play in a window.. But early on SOE flipped out and it was hush hush. I remember "selling" "trading" chars was banable, but now I see more and more.. I still think its banable, but people are bolder? I recall reading in the EULA you can't "sell" it, but as a contract negotiator companies have a hard time enforicing certain license restrictions, especially transfer of ownership rights. Have a I completely digressed? Well let me digress one more time; there was talk about SONY selling such products as add on modules for EQ, as options, windows, skins, etc, but the programmers beat them to it. Same with possibly selling equipment, but the legality of it came it, with adding value to equipment in the game, thus if you lost a piece, SONY would have to work that much harder to give it to you, same with selling plat, then in becomes a real currency. I think if any of these applications, start to cost, or someone starts to make money someway, besides basic advertising to keep costs down, you will hear more about it.

This thread's a zombie, and it has risen from a month old grave. Shame we're out of holy water. -Raph