Rogean ¯\_(ツ)_/¯





Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 5,349

Recent Update



When I implemented the recent window blocking, I went down the list of all windows in the game and checked off everything that was not strictly in existence before Luclin. Since I had found a method that is essentially a 'parent function' of every window, I could disable everything right in one spot. There wasn't particularly a discussion internally regarding the sudden removal of these items that people had gotten used to over so many years. Not that any discussion would have resulted in a different outcome, the majority of the development staff vehemently support the removal of non-classic functionality.



When it came to the enforcement (or lack thereof) on Custom UI's, I did make a concious decision to limit that to Green, for multiple reasons: It was, in my opinion, a much more significant change; Custom UI's are in widespread usage; and most importantly, I considered Blue to be at a point in the timeline where Custom UI was not too far away, being only one patch behind Luclin release.



Having now evaluated both decisions, it did not make sense to me, personally, to continue to allow Custom UI's on blue, but not allow the Pet window, given that both changes occurred on the very same patch. Therefore, I am making a decision to re-enable the Pet window. There will be one caveat, however, and that is you will no longer be able to use the Pet window buttons while casting a spell. Also, be aware that this window will be disabled on Green, along with all Custom UI's.



Now, regarding the Secondary hotbars. EverQuest did not have secondary hotbars until September of 2005. There is no way that we can support something that far outside of the scope of our project. These will remain disabled.



I also want to address the recent issues with false positive anti-virus flags on our files. As I've explained in the past, we run our Custom DLL through a layer of obfuscation using a program called Themida. This program alters several aspects of the code to make it significantly harder for someone to reverse engineer and disassemble it. The reason we do this is that it contains anti-cheat mechanisms. Our files alone do not flag any anti-virus, and have a complete 0 detection on VirusTotal. Therefore it is entirely the Themida protection that triggers these flags. There are two reasons for this. First, the anti virus programs can't read our files and determine what they are doing, so they are flagging it out of an abundance of caution. Secondly, there are many viruses out there that DO use Themida to mask what their virus is doing, and many Anti Viruses have opted to completely blacklist any file protected by it. I want to reiterate something I've said in the past that remains true: Our Anti-Cheat system does not send any information to our servers about the files and programs on your computer unless they are Everquest files, or have interacted with the Everquest client.



With all of that said, with this latest file pack, I've reverted back to an older version of Themida that should hopefully result in less false positives. I will continue to investigate alternatives to prevent this, such as Certificate Code Signing.



Thanks all, and keep an eye out for some Green news coming soon! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]



There are new required files. Download and extract the Project 1999 Files (V49b) to your EQ Titanium Directory. I wanted to take a minute to address the backlash regarding our recent UI changes. Namely, the removal of the Pet Window and Secondary Hotbars.When I implemented the recent window blocking, I went down the list of all windows in the game and checked off everything that was not strictly in existence before Luclin. Since I had found a method that is essentially a 'parent function' of every window, I could disable everything right in one spot. There wasn't particularly a discussion internally regarding the sudden removal of these items that people had gotten used to over so many years. Not that any discussion would have resulted in a different outcome, the majority of the development staff vehemently support the removal of non-classic functionality.When it came to the enforcement (or lack thereof) on Custom UI's, I did make a concious decision to limit that to Green, for multiple reasons: It was, in my opinion, a much more significant change; Custom UI's are in widespread usage; and most importantly, I considered Blue to be at a point in the timeline where Custom UI was not too far away, being only one patch behind Luclin release.Having now evaluated both decisions, it did not make sense to me, personally, to continue to allow Custom UI's on blue, but not allow the Pet window, given that both changes occurred on the very same patch. Therefore, I am making a decision to re-enable the Pet window. There will be one caveat, however, and that is you will no longer be able to use the Pet window buttons while casting a spell. Also, be aware that this windowbe disabled on Green, along with all Custom UI's.Now, regarding the Secondary hotbars. EverQuest did not have secondary hotbars until. There is no way that we can support something that far outside of the scope of our project. These will remain disabled.I also want to address the recent issues with false positive anti-virus flags on our files. As I've explained in the past, we run our Custom DLL through a layer of obfuscation using a program called Themida. This program alters several aspects of the code to make it significantly harder for someone to reverse engineer and disassemble it. The reason we do this is that it contains anti-cheat mechanisms. Our files alone do not flag any anti-virus, and have a complete 0 detection on VirusTotal. Therefore it is entirely the Themida protection that triggers these flags. There are two reasons for this. First, the anti virus programs can't read our files and determine what they are doing, so they are flagging it out of an abundance of caution. Secondly, there are many viruses out there that DO use Themida to mask what their virus is doing, and many Anti Viruses have opted to completely blacklist any file protected by it. I want to reiterate something I've said in the past that remains true: Our Anti-Cheat system does not sendinformation to our servers about the files and programs on your computer unless they are Everquest files, or have interacted with the Everquest client.With all of that said, with this latest file pack, I've reverted back to an older version of Themida that should hopefully result in less false positives. I will continue to investigate alternatives to prevent this, such as Certificate Code Signing.Thanks all, and keep an eye out for some Green news coming soon!

Sean "Rogean" Norton

Project 1999 Co-Manager

Project 1999 Setup Guide __________________