Step-by-Step Guide to Downloading and Running PlaneShift: MB

[Kiva]

Step-by-Step Guide to Downloading and Running PlaneShift: MB  
This guide is to help most of the newer people with some of their troubles when downloading/installing, and playing for the first time. Don\'t expect this to be a complete troubleshooter where all possible solutions are listed (they may be listed in the future though). It\'s based on the thought that you have a system which actually works.

This guide is currently only for Windows (Sorry Linux people!) But here is a fabulous \"How To Build PlaneShift: MB On Linux\" guide by our famous friend and developer, acraig: http://icarus.uic.edu/~ssenne1/

If you happen to not find what you\'re looking for in my guide, you can - of course - check out Mogura\'s Top 40 Newbie Questions here: http://planeshift.oodlz.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=4594&boardid=1

Update - 11/23/2003:
Well, I just got the whole thing deleted. Stupid, I know. Anyway, here we go again. (Geez, the last one was 12991 characters. :\'( *Sob!*)

Edit: Oh well, this one is 15627 characters long, so I suppose I must\'ve improved something.

More Updates - 11/23/2003:
The evil Keldorn insisted on correcting my spelling mistakes and such. So there! Happy now?!

Update - 12/03/2003:
A few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors corrected. I can\'t believe I could spell \"to\" wrong, and not see it. *Sigh*

Update - 08/08/2004:
Put a neat image into ?1.2 that I made for some other post. Anyway, it explains things much better than words do.

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Guide Index:  

?1 * - Step 1: Download and Installation
?1.1 - Downloading PlaneShift
?1.2 - Preparing to Install
?1.3 - Installing & The PlaneShift License
?1.4 - Updating PlaneShift *Important!*
?1.5 - PlaneShift Setup *Important!*
?1.6 - Time to run PlaneShift

?2 * - Step 2: Character Creation and the first run
?2.1 - The Main Menu
?2.2 - Character Creation
?2.3 - Uploading your character
?2.4 - Initializing World & Linkdead

?3 * - Step 3: What to do in PS?!?!
?3.1 - What is lag, and what can you do about it.
?3.2 - City overview.
?3.3 - How to move around.
?3.4 - The Chatbox.
?3.5 - Hunting for crystals.
?3.6 - The Crystal Merchant.

?4 * - Step 4: Advanced movement, and Camera control
?4.1 - Mouselook
?4.2 - Wallclimbing
?4.3 - Camera control

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Step 1: Download and Installation
In this section, you can read about how to download and install PlaneShift, and how to use the updater and the setup file (If you\'re new to PlaneShift, please remember to read the last section of this step, marked *Important*).

?1.1 - So. You\'ve decided to download PlaneShift it seems. Well then, let\'s proceed to the downloads page. Click here: http://www.planeshift.it/download.html . On this screen, you\'ll have two choices; the primary download site (hosted on several different SourceForge mirrors) and the secondary site (hosted on the PlaneShift webserver). I personally like the secondary, as you don\'t have to click so many times, so why don\'t we just use that. Download all five parts, and the reassembler file into ONE directory.

?1.2 - *Pling!* The download is complete, and we\'re ready to install. How do we do it? Well, the first thing we should do is, of course, to make sure all five (not four, but five!) .part files are in the directory.



If they\'re all there, run the \"Run_Me_First.bat\" file, which will mix them into one big .exe file, called PlaneShiftV0.2.010.exe. Doubleclick on it, and it will start up the installation.

?1.3 - You now see the PlaneShift license. Read it if you\'re planning on doing something which is PlaneShift related (website, your own server etc.), so you don\'t get sued by Talad & Co. because you didn\'t know what you were doing was wrong. When you\'ve read the license, click \"I Agree\". Specify your destination folder, and start installing!

The installation has now finished, you\'ve exited the installer, and you\'re now wondering what to do next.

*Important - Many people forget these two next parts!*

?1.4 - First thing you must do, is to Update the game to the newest version. Do this by opening up your Start menu, go to Program Files (or whatever it\'s called in your language), open the PlaneShift subfolder, and click on the \"PlaneShift Updater\" link. This will bring out an automated updating program, which downloads any new files available, and since you\'ve just installed the game, the server has many updated files for you.

?1.5 - The updating is done, and you\'ve pressed the any-key to exit the program. Now, you must find the PlaneShift subfolder again, and click on the \"PlaneShift Setup\" link. In this program, you have a whole lot of options which I will shortly explain:

Screen Resolution - The amount of pixels/prettyness on your screen. A higher number means better graphics, but more CPU is needed, whereas a lower number means worse graphics and less CPU is needed (however, in the current state, the diffrence isn\'t too big). Standard for most graphic cards is 800x600, and it\'s also the nicest, so if you don\'t know what else to select, click the 800x600 button.
Remember to click the \"Fullscreen mode\" checkbox below the two boxes saying 1280x1024! Very important!

Renderer - Here, you have a choice between OpenGL and Software renderer. Whatever you do, always go for the OpenGL renderer first. Software is only for computers that can\'t run OpenGL which aren\'t many. OpenGL allows your graphics card to help rendering the game, which means greatly improved speed, and a much prettier environment.

Screen Depth - This is the amount of colors used in PlaneShift: MB. The default would be 16 bit (65536 colors) and it is more than enough, however if you\'re really into pretty graphics, try with the 32 bit option. I\'m not sure if it\'s any improvemt, as I like my 16 bit just fine, and I don\'t intend on changing it. Besides, checking the 32 bit can only decrease your performance, that\'s for sure.

Sound Options - Here, you can select whether or not to have sound in the game. Sound effects haven\'t been added to PlaneShift: MB yet, but selecting it hasn\'t decreased my performace in any way, so it\'s not harmful. The music however is lovely, and it\'s a must to hear it, if you\'re playing PlaneShift for the first time.

?1.6 - After you\'ve run the two configuration files, you\'re ready to rock and roll, so go to the PlaneShift subfolder again, and this time, click the \"PlaneShift - OpenGL Mode\" link!


Step 2: Character creation and the first run
In this section, you can read about how to create your first character, upload it to the server, and get into PlaneShift for the first time, as well as some of the things that can or might go wrong while doing all this.

?2.1 - So, you\'ve just launched PlaneShift: MB and you\'re stuck with some stupid sound and an image that wont go away. Have patience, it will go away eventually, so clicking madly and pressing keys won\'t help you a bit. When you\'ve finally reached the main menu, you can see three oval buttons: \"Create\", \"Quit\" and \"Connect\". Since this is the first time we\'re playing, we\'re going to use \"Create\", so press it.

?2.2 - Now you should arrive at a screen saying \"Character Creation\". In here, you can type in your character name, stats, race and gender. However, a quick note - Stats are useless in this release, so don\'t bother with them. Race descriptions are useless in this release, so don\'t bother with them either, and there are only few selectable races and genders right now. You can choose between Male Ylian, Female Dermorian, Male and Female Stonebreakers, Kran (they are sexless creatures), Male and Female Enkidukai and a Male Ynnwn. So, when you\'ve typed in your name, selected your Race and Gender, you can choose between Quick Creation or Custom Creation. Well, as I said before, most things are useless in this release, so we\'re going for the Quick Creation. Besides, Custom Creation only brings a lot of bugs. So, click Quick Creation.

Here, you will have the chioce between a bunch of diffrent ways, but again, these are useless so simply click Next.

Now you\'ll arrive at the \"Character Customization\" screen. Each race has four diffrent looks in each tab, that is four diffrent sets of hair color, four diffrent eye colors, four diffrent skin colors and four diffrent clothing colors. Choose what you like and click next.

?2.3 - This is where you have to upload your character to the server. If it doesn\'t say the server already, you probably forgot to update your PlaneShift: MB, as was explained in Step 1, but anyways, this field must be \"planeshift.fragnetics.com\". If it isn\'t, change it. (Note, if you have a firewall, make sure that you open the UDP port 13331!) Then you simply enter your desired password twice, and please remember it. There is no password recovery tool, and the devs have other things to do than to tell you your password. When you\'re done, click \"Upload\" and the game should be loading! Woohoo!

?2.4 - Okay, you\'ll probably see something called \"Initializing World\", right? Well, if it freezes there, DON\'T TOUCH IT! Okay? It\'s the worst thing you can do, as you will have to exit PlaneShift and connect again, this time just by using the \"Connect\" button, instead of \"Create\". However, should the game say something about \"Linkdead\", you must delete your character with this tool: http://planeshift.fragnetics.com/admin/form.html , and then you must re-create your character, just a bit faster. And again, don\'t waste time on stats, jobs and advantages! They\'re useless!

Back to the Initializing World. Should it freeze, don\'t touch it. On slower computers, it can take up to two hours (!!!!) to run PlaneShift the first time, however should it take longer, I\'d recommend that you wait for PlaneShift: CB and try then. On a more high-end computer, such as mine (P4 1.6GHz, 512DDR Ram) it takes about five minutes the first time, so it\'s not as bad as you think.


Step 3 and 4 follows in the next post.

[Kiva]

Step-by-Step Guide to Downloading and Running PlaneShift: MB - Continued
This is the continued post of a Step-by-Step Guide to Downloading and Running PlaneShift: MB. Have fun reading it. I sure had fun writing it... No, well, actually I was just bored.


Step 3: What to do in PS?!?!
This section will cover basic movement, how to use the ChatBox as well as some simple commands, and a very small guide on crystal finding. *Note: Merchant page added too.

So, you\'ve finally got in, and you\'re now looking at some huge stone statue. It\'s lagging very badly, and what do you do?

?3.1  - First of all, you can\'t do anything about the lag. It\'s not the network, it\'s the engine itself that\'s slow, however it should be fixed in the Crystal Blue release, which will hopefully be out around December.

?3.2  - Well, back to the game. You\'re now standing on the Hydlaa Plaza, and here\'s a small map to help you find the diffrent places in town:


Just to answer any un-asked questions:
1) This is only a rough map, no all the places are put in.
2) It was made with the camera function (Step 4).
3) You have to go through the dungeon to get on top of the huge tower.
4) The other dungeon entrance is inside the temple, not on top of it.
5) I won\'t do a map of all the crystal spawns, so don\'t ask.
6) There is a third dungeon entrance somewhere, but that\'s your job to find it.

?3.3  - Movement in PlaneShift is quite easy. You use the arrow keys to move back, forward, left and right, however you can use the W and S key to move forward and backwards as well, and the A and D keys to strafe left and right. Pressing the M key, will switch between the different camera modes, and pressing the Space key will allow you to jump. Try practicing these, and run around a bit.

?3.4  - Eventually, you\'ll get bored with just running around, and that\'s when you notice the Chat Box and the Target Box. The Chat Box is the one with a lot of text in it, and it consists of both a chat module and an event module. In the chat module, you can see other people shouting/saying things, and in the event module, you can see players greeting other players, and if someone nearby picks up something, it will be shown as well. To say something, just write it in the chat module, only people close by can see this. Using /shout enables you to talk to the whole server. Typing /help in the chat module brings up a lot of commands, and I\'ll just scribble down the most used ones:

/shout - Shouts your message out to the whole server.
/tell - Whispers a private message to a player of your choice.
/greet - Greets the targetted player or item.
/buddy give * - Gives a specified player an item or several items of your choice. You can only give others something you have in your backpack.

* - You don\'t have to specify a quantity if you only want to give one item.

?3.5  - Now that you know how to move and how to chat, how do you find crystals, and what do they actually look like? Well, crystals are little things in three different colors. Red (Ruby Crystal), Green (Emerald Crystal - Worth 10 Rubies) and White/Blue (Diamond Crystal - Worth 100 Rubies). These crystals are hidden all over the dungeon and city, and spawn randomly, and the only way to find them is to look anywhere you wouldn\'t normally look. Behind trees, doors, corners. Everywhere. When you find one, you can pick it up by rightclicking on it (when the name shows) and pressing the hand icon, however should you find yourself unable to pick it up, spin around and look at it from different angles. Should you still be unable to pick it up, try using the Camera Mode to zoom close and spin around it there (Using Camera Mode is explained in Part 4).

?3.6  - Finding Crystals can be very difficult, however have you found yourself a total of 500 - 10000 rubies, you can buy yourself an item or a weapon! (Yes, the most expensive weapon - Galkard - costs 10000 rubies). Go here: http://planeshift.fragnetics.com/merchant/ , enter your account and password in the boxes, and check the item(s) you wish to buy. Should you have enough rubies, the items will appear in your backpack when you log in, however if you don\'t have enough, you\'ll be told that. If you only want to see your total amount of rubies, click the *(If checked no transaction will be performed)* button, insert your username and password, and click buy.

That pretty much wraps it up for basic movement and crystal finding. On to the next step.


Step 4: Advanced movement, and Camera control
In this section, you can read about how to do mouselook, how to climb walls and buildings, and how to control the camera mode.

?4.1  - Mouselook... Many have asked how to make it work, so I\'ll just explain it in a few words.

Keyboards are, of course, diffrent from country to country, this is mostly because languages are diffrent, and some languages use some special letters, while other languages use diffrent special letters. However, on most keyboards, the Mouselook button is the \" / \" button, located just left of the Return button. However, on other keyboards, it may look like a button with a \" * \' \" on it. Otherwise, just try out all of the buttons until you find the right one. Mouselook only works the way it does, yet you can change the speed in the psclient.cfg file, however don\'t mess with something you don\'t know what is.

If something really goes wrong, run the PlaneShift Updater and it will restore your files.

?4.2  - How to climb walls, and how to get outside the city. I\'ve seen many people ask this so I\'ll try my best to explain how it works.. Getting out of the city isn\'t a part of the game yet, that\'s why all the gates are closed. However, it\'s possible to climb up walls that are not completely straight, like the two towers at the end of the long road, just in front of the Plaza. It is probably the easiest place to start.

First, you have to position yourself a very short distance from the tower, then you have to run/strafe into it, and press the jump button repeatedly, until you find yourself jumping up the wall. Now all you have to do, is move towards the gate, and you\'ll eventually go over it. *Yay!* You\'re now outside the city! ... Now what? Well, at the end of the island (yes, it\'s only an island so far), is water. You could try and make it to the edge of the map by jumping all the way. If that\'s boring, and you wish to go back into town again, type /spawn in the Chat Box, and you\'re back inside. Wallclimbing can be used many places, such as the two towers a short way from The Windowless Tower. There, you can climb all the way up to the house roofs. Just an idea...

?4.3 - Camera mode. Some say it\'s a useless thing, but that\'s just because they don\'t know how to use it. When in camera mode, you can hold your right mouse button, and move it around your character. You can zoom in and out just as crazy as you want, by holding both the left and the right mouse button. This is very useful, as some of the larger rocks in the dungeons, sometimes contain crystals.


Have fun.

[Kiva]

This post is reserved for future usage, in case the Step-by-Step Guide to Downloading and Running PlaneShift: MB should need an expansion.

[lynx_lupo]

Great guide! This shouldn\'t just be made sticky, it should also be linked to from the main site.

[Yann]

Very good guide Grono, congratz.

Newbies will love you for this  

[Moogie]

Originally posted by lynx_lupo
Great guide! This shouldn\'t just be made sticky, it should also be linked to from the main site.

And lo, thus it is done. Expect a link to this thread to appear on Planeshift.Fragnetics shortly.

[Keldorn]

Originally posted by Gronomist
More Updates - 11/23/2003:
The evil Keldorn insisted on correcting my spelling mistakes and such. So there! Happy now?!

Heh, sorry about that..

I still say you should do a summary of all the important stuff in that post though

[Kiva]

Well, Keldorn.. It\'s all important stuff, so shortening it down would just be to repeat it. I mean, people can read in the small text lines below the topic, what the section is about, and if they don\'t like it, they can skip it. I\'m not asking everyone to read all of the guide, just to figure out how to use Mouselook or anything.

[lynx_lupo]

Well, I agree with Keldorn. If noobs can\'t read a sticky thread\'s name(which they don\'t), how will they read a whole essay(it really is an essai(e) )?

Maybe just a contents overview, laconic.

Good, even better now. :tup:

[CadRipper]

Wonderful guide, Gronomist, congratulations for the good work !

[Dark Sythe]

WOW!
  what a great guide I just downloaded the game and this guide is a real help in playing and killing time durring the initial downloads!

[Voltaire]

Brilliant!.

I am only just downloading the client (and it could take a while seeing as im on 56k) but reading that guide gave me a taster... and now I am willing my modem to go that little bit faster so I can get my teeth into this game.

[seen]

umm yeah just 1 problem, at the initializing world screen, it freezes and says psclient.exe is that sopposed to show???

need reply quick

[JSnoob]

Gt a problem, after i update, i cannt find the planeshift setup link, where is it?

[Deagle]

how can i open the UDP port 13331
i have a Router