Crashing Issues Still Under Investigation

People are reporting crashing issues. Two kinds of issues seem to be occurring. One is simply having the game crash for no apparent reason. The other seems to be related to when people Alt-Tab. Both kinds of crashes seem to get one or both of the following error messages:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Runtime Error!
Program: game path\eqgame.exe
abnormal program termination

EverQuest Windows - Application Error
The instruction at 0x70cfba63 referenced memory at 0x70cfba63. The memory could not be read.
Click OK to terminate the program.

To report errors, you can send email to equserclient@soe.sony.com with as much information as you can of how it happened. Attach to your email your debug.dmp and dbg.txt files. They can be found in your Logs folder inside your EverQuest folder.

As for the Alt-Tab issue, Technical Support Representative Alexander S posted the following:

Hello My friends! I understand there's been quite a bit of you guys experiencing crashing issues when Alt tabbing. I encourage you each to send support tickets so we can find a correlation between the computer's experiencing this. Since this isn't happening to all the players, then we will need to do some research by gathering DXdiag/Msinfo information from players who are experiencing this issue. With your Cooperation, we will be able to get this resolved! Thank you again for your patience!

He posted also links explaining how to gather the info:

How to Contact Support: https://help.station.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28939

How to Create a DXDIAG/MSINFO https://help.station.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28973

UPDATE:

J. Chan, Lead Programmer for EverQuest, replied to a player's questions:

If it gives you the box to send it [crashing information] to Sony, you don't need to do anything else.

If however it doesn't give you that box, please look in your [EverQuest Client]\Logs directory and e-mail the dbg.txt and debug.dmp file to EQUserClient@soe.sony.com.  Also please include what you were doing before the crash.  We'll want this information after you crash but before you reload EQ.

The standing around crash and the alt-tabbing issues are separate issues and we're trying to track them down separately.

Berserker Decapitation, Off With It's Head?

The Berserker AA Decapitation is not working.  Elidroth, EQ Game Designer, announces they are investigating:

OK.. so I've gotten our coding staff involved in figuring out why this isn't working properly. The data is exactly the same between beta and live, and while it works perfectly on beta, it isn't triggering at all on live. It's frustrating to say the least.

I'll let you know as soon as I find out something more.

Six Days of Double XP Begin Wednesday

From EverQuest Community News:

Starting at 12:01 pm Pacific (Noon) on Wednesday, May 23, 2012, and lasting until 11:59 pm Pacific on Monday, May 28, 2012, we'll offer a Double Experience in EverQuest! Take advantage of this special extended Double Experience Weekend and watch those XP bars skyrocket!

Veil of Alaris On Sale For A Limited Time

The Veil of Alaris expansion is on sale for about half price [$19.99] from May 18, 2012, and lasting until 11:59 pm on May 20, 2012.

From EQ Community News:

Haven't yet taken a peek behind the Veil of Alaris? Well now is the time! Starting at noon on May 18, 2012, and lasting until 11:59 pm on May 20, 2012, we're giving a deep discount on Veil of Alaris and the Veil of Alaris Digital Collector's Edition.

Don't wait too long to pick up a copy of Veil of Alaris though, because this deal won't last forever! Head to the Shop or grab a copy in the in game Marketplace now!

Fix to Constant Crashing Issue on Test?

Reports have come in about a large increase in the game crashing over the past few weeks.  SOE has posted that they have made some changes on the Test server which may help:

Modified how we handle memory management to help reduce our memory footprint. This effects all of the models and animations for everything in the game. This will also help with current systems that are currently crashing due to out of memory issues.

It is hoped that we might see these changes go live in the June patch.

Some Belts to Gain Potion Slot in June

Many belts give you an additional potion belt slot when you wear them.  But a number of belts have been reported that do not do so, although players seem to feel they should.

Chandrok, EQ Developer replied to the concerns in this SOE forum post:

The potion slot was simply overlooked. It will be added in the next patch.

It is unknown which belts will get a potion slot.

Maintenance Scheduled Tuesday, May 15, 2012

From the SOE forum:

Important: We will perform maintenance beginning at 6:00 AM Pacific* on May 15, 2012. We expect this maintenance to take approximately 90 minutes. This will impact the following services:

• Login for all our games will be affected
• Commerce transactions, including purchases on our websites and in-game marketplaces will be unavailable
• Forums will be read-only
• Account management will be unavailable

We apologize for this interruption and will resume all affected services as soon as the maintenance is completed.

*Convert to your local time

Low AA Bonus XP to Increase in June

Currently, if you have under 2500 AA, you get bonus AA XP.   The bonus degrades linearly from 500% [normal xp times 5] at 0 AAs, to 100% [normal xp] at 2500 AAs.

Elidroth, EQ Game Designer, posted the following on the SOE forum:

OK. So I'm taking the bonus to 4000AA, with a 1000% bonus degrading linearly to normal XP at the 4000 mark.

June patch.

Patch Scheduled Monday, May 14, 2012

From EverQuest Community News:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be down on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 11:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 4 hours. Keep an eye on the EverQuest website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

UPDATE from SOE:

Was a typo in the announcement, the downtime starts at 7AM not 11AM.

Also, this is hardware maintenance to hopefully help alleviate some of the problems that have been happening recently.

Also, the approximate downtime changed from 4 to 6 hours.

Patch Scheduled Wednesday, May 9, 2012

From the SOE forum:

All EverQuest Live Servers will be down on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 3:00 am US Pacific* for a Game Update. The servers are estimated to be unavailable for approximately 5 hours. Keep an eye on the EverQuest website and the forums for status updates and for news if additional downtime is needed.

*Time Zone Converter

Double XP in Five Zones Until May 9th

From EverQuest Community News:

There's little better than a weekday surprise, and we've decided to bring you a little weekday Double Experience action! It's available in just a few select zones, so make sure to get in on the party while it lasts!

From now until Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 3:00 am Pacific* all players will receive Double Experience in the following zones:

• Kaesora
• Sebilis
• The Buried Sea
• Fortress Mechanotus
• The Grounds

Enjoy!

*Convert to your local time