Live test server

Atavism EQ Project

A fan reconstruction of classic-era Norrath, rebuilt from the ground up on the Atavism MMO engine using the EQEmulator and ProjectEQ community databases. Rules, spells, items and zones are being brought over one verified piece at a time.

Server status Login: checking… World: checking… Updated every minute.

What this is

The goal is a faithful classic experience: the original rules, numbers and pacing, running on a modern, maintainable engine instead of an emulator of the original client.

Source-accurate rules

Mechanics are ported from the open EQEmulator server code at a pinned version, with spell and item data taken directly from the ProjectEQ database, not re-invented.

A modern engine

The world runs on Atavism, a Unity-based MMO engine with a Java server, so the game gets current tooling, rendering and networking.

Verified, not guessed

Every system is switched on only after it has been checked against the source data. Anything unverified stays off rather than being approximated.

Where it stands

The current test build is deliberately narrow: level-one characters in the Qeynos starting area, with the first spell and item systems working end to end.

Working in this build

  • Spellbook: 720 book slots and 12 spell gems, with scribing from real scroll items and memorizing before casting
  • First spells: a small set of verified instant damage and healing spells, including Minor Healing with its original heal, mana cost and fizzle rules
  • Clickable items: item click effects with real cast times and charges that are saved and spent correctly
  • Reagents and safe handling of repeated or interrupted casts
  • Qeynos as the enabled starting zone

Not yet

  • NPC combat and corpse loot from the source data
  • Levels beyond one, alternate advancement and focus effects
  • Buffs, damage-over-time, crowd control, pets and area spells
  • Spell visuals and sound matching the originals
  • Further zones and expansion content

By the numbers

The full source catalogs are already imported. These are counts of data on hand, not of finished mechanics.

40,722
spells in the source catalog
117,944
items in the source catalog
29,438
NPC templates converted
19
classic zones with navigation built

Zones

Navigation meshes have been generated for the classic starting cities and their surroundings. Each zone is enabled on the server only once it has been reviewed.

South Qeynos North Qeynos Qeynos Catacombs Surefall Glade Halas Rivervale Greater Faydark Northern Felwithe Southern Felwithe Ak'Anon North Kaladim South Kaladim Erudin Erudin Palace Paineel Neriak Commons Neriak Third Gate Grobb Oggok

Green: enabled on the live test server. Others: navigation built, not yet enabled.

Under the hood

Server and client are versioned together, and every deployed file is checked against its build manifest.

Atavism 10.13 server Java 25 Unity client MySQL 8.4 EQEmulator rules ProjectEQ data

Joining the test

Testing is currently invite-only and needs the matching game client. Follow progress on HNGamers.