Quick & Easy SEQ on a VM

[nicknaks]

OK, I know running SEQ on Virtual Machines has been discussed a few times in the past but I set one up this week and wanted to let people know how easy this was when using the right pre-made downloadable VM.

For reference this will allow you to run SEQ on a Windows based PC, even the same one you're running EQ on at the same time, without the need for a network hub or any other extra hardware. I'm not sure of the security of running this way as I guess it's always possible for SOE to detect the VM and what's running inside it - running SEQ on a seperate PC will always be the safest idea but if you don't have the money for extra hardware this could be for you.

I did try VMs for Fedora core 4 to 8, but the one I selected is the one which worked with the minimal level of fuss (just one rpm to install). I also realise it's possible for you to create your own install but this will get you up and running in the quickest possible time. I've not explained the steps too far as I'd expect some level of understanding of linux / SEQ. This setup worked straightoff based on the VM picking up an IP from my router via DHCP - if you don't have DHCP just assign the VM an IP on the same subnet as your physical machine.

5 simple steps:

1) Download VMWare Player from http://www.vmware.com/download/player/ and install on your PC

2) Download the Fedora Core 4 Workstation vmdk from http://chaz6.com/2006/01/14/vmware-image-fedora-core-4-workstation/ and uncompress (will need WinRAR or similar to do this as the file is a 7z compressed format)

3) Start up the VM, making sure if asked to Use a bridged network connection else you won't be able to see the EQ packets. I think all other options I selected on first setup were default.

4) Download and install the qt-devel-3.3.4-14 rpm to your linux install from ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/core/4/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS/qt-devel-3.3.4-14.i386.rpm

5) Now download and install the ShowEQ files and install /configure as usual.

The virtual machine downloaded will undoubtedly have a lot of stuff installed which you won't need for SEQ which you can remove, and it's adviseable to do your usual network security with the vm, but that's up to you and could break SEQ depending on how far you fiddle.

Hope this helps someone.

[Whizzie Wiz]

Hmmm... interesting. Will have to play with it.

[Skandragon]

It should not be possible for Sony to detect what is running inside the VM. The host OS has little avenue to interact with the VM in structured ways such as this, even though it has access to all of its memory.

Additionally, I doubt Sony would bother.

It might be interesting to package up a prepared "click here to install" VM that has all the bits ready to go, though. That would in fact attract notice, if not from Sony, from more showeq users.

[uRit1u2CBBA=]

Yeah, this project never wanted the attention of the general public. It was originally meant for people to use it only if they have half a brain to install it themselves. We don't want it to be that easy to use.

[dewey2641]

Back in 2000 when the GM's were actively looking to ban people for knowing were mobs where, making the project challenging made sense. But now with MQ2 memory hackers warp, ghost, and rumors of people crashing zones, I have to think SEQ is so far off the radar that you could have a one click install and not cause a ripple.

I would like to thank nicknaks for taking the time to post a nice guide with links to the VM. I recently wiped my old RH7.3 SEQ box and was able to test out fedora and other distros before taking the plung on my old linux box.

[BlueAdept]

Originally SEQ was kind of ment to be hard as was said. After EQ taunted us by putting encryption that made us pull a key from memory (for a while) the gloves came off and lead to MySEQ and other windows versions.

The game is going coming up on 10 years. I do not think it really matters if people run it in vmware or not. It isn't hard to do except it takes up extra memory and might run slower than if you ran it solo.

The point may be moot if SEQ cant be fixed. It is beyond my capabilities.

[Skandragon]

SEQ is broken?

[uRit1u2CBBA=]

That usually happens after patches.

[KaL]

Is there a better VM to use for SEQ now that doesn't require any extra setup?

I'd rather try something that's low memory/low CPU usage. So if there's a 500mb VM that needs me to install a couple RPMs, I'd rather have that than a 3gb VM.

[KaL]

Anybody read this forum anymore?

[KaL]

Well, I got it working with a CentOS 5.2 VMware distro, but it was a pain in the ass. None of the VMware appliances seem to come with working development environments.

[e@tme]

Quick question.....

I am running eq and VM on a laptop. The laptop is connected to the newtork via wireless. As far as the vm is concerned (ubuntu 8.04) it only has 1 ethernet interface (eth0) which is auto-bridged to the host wireless interface.

At this time, I cannot see any eq packets.

Now - is this because the wireless card on the laptop is never being put into promiscuous mode, or because the packets are encrypted, or both?

I havent as yet tried (but till do this afternoon) running the laptop eth connection over copper....


any ideas / suggestions welcomed :)

[e@tme]

Have done some further investigation:

Laptop - Windows Vista Ultimate (x64).
VMWare Server 2.0
VM Guest - Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

I have installed winpcap / wireshark on vista, and can successfully capture wireless packets - and see UDP between vista and sony

I shut-down wireless and connected via 100mb ethernet, fired up the ubuntu vm and seq, and successfully saw skittles.

It seems that something happens when trying to sniff eq packets within the vm when the host is running over wireless.

when i am at home, this is a non issue, as I have seq running on my ubuntu domain controller, and use the DC as my default gateway from the laptop. However, if I am away from home, I would like to be able to run seq inside a vm - most of the time this is over wireless.

I have tried a number of things, but wonder if it is a limitation of vmware not being able to sniff the wireless packets as the vm eth interface is seen as wired.

I have tried running wireshark on the laptop, running the seq vm over wireless but still no skittles - just in case the wireless card was not getting into promiscuous mode but still no joy.

Any further ideas welcomed. (i know i could try a usb/expresscard wireless card but would rather not).

cheers :)

[nicknaks]

Well as an update I just did myself a new VM - used Fedora 10 downloaded from vmware.com, but this one proved to be more of a pain as more was missing this time. In addition I had to install:

qt-devel.i386
qt.i386
gcc-c++.i386
qt2.i386
qt3-devel.i386
qt3-devel-docs.i386
libpcap-devel.i386
make.i386
compat-gcc-34-c++.i386
compat-gcc-34.i386

yum helps a lot of course, once you know what you're missing, as it will solve package dependancies. The bonus for fedora 9 over fedora 4 is the ability to set a much larger screen size - add the following to your .vmx file:

# Set maximum screen size -- added manually
svga.maxWidth = 1280
svga.maxHeight = 1024

then use the Linux tools to set your display and monitor to SVGA 1280*1024 or whatever you want.

As an answer to e@tme - I really don't know, but make sure your vm network is set to bridged rather than NAT'd and search the forum here for other issues with wireless cards as I know there are a few. It may even be that the wireless device won't allow promiscuous traffic / something similar, but I'm not the right person to ask about that :(

[Razzle]

I went through Fedora Core 8, 9, 10. SUSE 10.2, 10.3. Then I tried to find an old Fedora Core 4, and was the suck getting updates to go. Then I went to Ubuntu 8.10, and had fits getting a compile to go smooth. I then tried Ubuntu 8.04, and I was actually pretty pleased with how it worked. Fedora was such a resource hog, I couldn't use it.

With the changes tanner has been doing, I will probably switch to Ubuntu 8.10.

Razzle