Removal of 80+ Mobs

[lautan]

I went exploring and noticed some areas like Ranguemont Pass, Ordelle's Caves have really high level monsters that people can't fight. It would be nice if they were replaced with the original low-level mobs. I believe we are keeping the game capped at 75.

[bluekirby0]

There have been several discussions about this. It isn't a straight-forward task because of how the client is written. Basically what you would have to do is keep the high level mobs intact, but change their level/stats in the server database. The only other option would be to hack the DAT files on each and every client to modify those mobs.

If you look around you will see some solutions for the first option. These will not be used to modify the svn version, but individual server operators are free to use them as they please. The second option falls outside the scope of this project.

[Flunklesnarkin]

The Inner Horutoto Ruins and Zeruhn Mines also have been reworked during abyssea as well.

Yughott Grotto also has an absurd amount of monsters compared to classic (not referring to the level 90 monsters).

I believe they added in more monsters at some point for the 3 Add on's.


Just tossing out an idea here and I can understand if you dismiss it out of hand because I'm not a programmer and do not know how hard it would be to accomplish.

I know some classic emulators I have played on, not ffxi emulators, have rebuilt zones entirely from scratch so they can make them classic. I have no idea if something like that would be possible for this project.

Like on other games you would delete zone files then add in the custom server zone files.

[whasf]

It's possible, but you will never see it in the main source trunk since that would be considered a 'modification'. Feel free to do it yourselves and share it though

[bluekirby0]

Maybe if you ask around nicely you can find someone willing to make a DAT compiler that can make those kinds of changes. POLUtils source is probably a good place to start if you want to work on something like that.

[PrBlahBlahtson]

I know some classic emulators I have played on, not ffxi emulators, have rebuilt zones entirely from scratch so they can make them classic. I have no idea if something like that would be possible for this project.

True, this sort of thing is entirely possible!

However, the Darkstar devs have this crazy idea that things like mobs casting spells, and mobs being able to move are more important than fixing some names.

If any server operators want to adjust the levels, here's the (inefficient) queries I used for Garlaige Citadel on the old forum. The rest is just leg work checking out the zone in question and changing the queries. I dropped the project idea when bluekirby0 made it fairly clear that they're eventually going to make an official fix.

Code: Select all

-- SELECT * FROM mob_groups where zoneid = 200 and groupid in (SELECT groupid FROM mob_spawn_points where mobname="Warden_Beetle");
-- Warden Beetle (92-96) -> Chamber Beetle (56-58)
UPDATE mob_groups SET minLevel = "56", maxLevel = "58" WHERE zoneid = 200 AND groupid IN (SELECT groupid FROM mob_spawn_points WHERE mobname = "Warden_Beetle");
-- Kaboom (91-96) -> Hellmine (59-62)
UPDATE mob_groups SET minLevel = "59", maxLevel = "62" WHERE zoneid = 200 AND groupid IN (SELECT groupid FROM mob_spawn_points WHERE mobname = "Hellmine");
--  Fortalice Bats (92-96) -> Funnel Bats (53-55)
UPDATE mob_groups SET minLevel = "53", maxLevel = "55" WHERE zoneid = 200 AND groupid IN (SELECT groupid FROM mob_spawn_points WHERE mobname = "Fortalice_Bats");
-- Donjon Bat (91-96) -> ???  May not have had a previous analog.  Matching to Fortalice because I'm lazy.
UPDATE mob_groups SET minLevel = "53", maxLevel = "55" WHERE zoneid = 200 AND groupid IN (SELECT groupid FROM mob_spawn_points WHERE mobname = "Donjon_Bat");

[bluekirby0]

I wouldn't call my idea of a fix official...just easier to deploy.

[Flunklesnarkin]

I have no complaints about the priorities of the development team ^^

The list of priorities you guys made seems to outweigh these monster fixes ;p

Just on a pure discussion level, I don't expect you guys to do any work in this area. What I've been told, and I'm not a lawyer mind you, is that using custom files are ok as long as they aren't based on regular client files. For example if you create a file from scratch using your own code it's legal to use but modifying existing client code is bad.

It's all hypothetical though because I doubt anybody running a not for profit server would bother fighting a DMCA take down notice in court and anybody with the funds to do so is probably doing something illegitimate.

I think most projects like this are just left alone because it's not worth the trouble for companies to go after. This is the court case that refers to custom files though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_v._Borland

[bluekirby0]

Modifying core game files in and of itself isn't "bad" either...where you run into problems is when you try to distribute modified versions of core files. Making a patching program that can modify the original files and distributing that would be fine, for example, as long as those original files don't come with the patcher.

The best method overall though would be to write a compiler that can build DATs from scratch so you don't have any legal encumbrance attached to the output. Then you can distribute the files however you see fit. For example, VRS can be used to create legally distributable model DATs for FFXI if you import your own objects into it and rig them yourself without the use of any original game content.

[lautan]

Ok thanks for the feedback. Didn't know it would require DAT file changes.