If you're really dead set on not being caught running multiple characters (with or without an IP exemption), I have some tips for you:
If you have a friend that has a relatively unused residential link, ask if you can host a low wattage server like a ShivaPlug, or any type of Intel Atom system on their connection with OpenVPN. Firewall the PPTP port at the router, so it rejects port traffic to that port if anyone decides to run a portscan to look for proxying (allow your IP block of course.) Run an nmap on the address yourself (with your friends' permission of course) to see if the default router firewall rejects, or drops packets on closed ports. Mimic that response. The bigger the ISP your friend has, the better. Better still, see if they can't add you as an extra E-Mail address (Comcast, AT&T, QWEST, etc usually provide additional E-Mails on the account at no additional charge) on that ISP and register the EQEMU account via that VPN connection, with that associated ISP E-Mail. Universities with resnet or similar are fine for this too, as long as your friend clicks the activation link.
Make sure whatever VPN or tunnel you set up, you're routing all traffic through that tunnel while you're playing. I actually suggest running EverQuest in a virtual machine, and routing the main interface of that virtual machine over the VPN tunnel. It would suck if for some reason you lost connectivity to the VPN during a zone attempt or something, and your real IP was exposed. It'd look very odd in the logs.
Don't use common VPN hosting solutions available on the Internet, these hosts are often restricted to the same IP for multiple users and you won't have any power over denying traffic on the port to make it look like an actual honest to goodness client.
Avoid wasting money on a VPS to set up OpenVPN, because chances are the IP address that will be given to you will be easily identifiable as a datacenter assigned ARIN block. This will make you look pretty suspicious. There are valid reasons (playing for work) for things like this, but the whole point is to not draw attention to yourself.
Only use a VPN connection with one account. Don't intermingle the accounts. Use your actual link for your "main" and never cross contaminate IP on anything Rogean hosts. Not even on eqemulator.org forums, or project1999.org's main page.
If you're going to run something like eqbcs, I highly suggest you do so inside your VPN as a bridged network or on a different host entirely. Don't expose the port externally to anything that touches EQEMU, it's easily identified.
When it comes to macros, have them make mistakes every now and then.
Make sure that if you're using something like /stick from MQ2MoveUtils, you're at least using it with the loose parameter. /keypress with some play would be even better still.
Like movement, set heal and casting thresholds to have a little variance, nothing says "I'm a bot!" like a cleric casting Complete Heal at the exact same percentage for hours on end, or running at a target every time it reaches 97%. Players get sloppy after a long day.
Never leave a macro running for longer than you'd normally sit in an area yourself, and don't try to make up some automated tell response macro. They're easy to spot. Ideally, you want to be there at your PC to respond to tells or shouts in person.
Make sure your characters don't automatically stand up if they have feign death casted on them, and if their x,y,z is updated larger than a set threshold, have them stop what they're doing, not run back to an anchor. I've seen characters do this, and laugh every time.
Don't use autobuff macros. If you have to incorporate some type of buff routine to maintain, set your timer intervals with randomness in them, or rebuff periodically BEFORE they fade when mana is surplus. That is how most players manage their spells. If a GM #nukebuffs you, you don't want to automatically be casting Spirit of the Wolf on your bot. Dead give-away.
Don't use /face nolook fast. Use regular /face or /face predict, if you have to use anything.
Don't use /itemtarget, don't use /doortarget.
My subscription on MMOBugs ends soon, and I wanted to get this out there to prevent people from making mistakes and wasting a lot of play time getting caught. Perhaps others will contribute to this post and it can become some sort of repository with links to useful software and tutorials for various routers and operating systems to accomplish the thread title task. Good luck!
If you have a friend that has a relatively unused residential link, ask if you can host a low wattage server like a ShivaPlug, or any type of Intel Atom system on their connection with OpenVPN. Firewall the PPTP port at the router, so it rejects port traffic to that port if anyone decides to run a portscan to look for proxying (allow your IP block of course.) Run an nmap on the address yourself (with your friends' permission of course) to see if the default router firewall rejects, or drops packets on closed ports. Mimic that response. The bigger the ISP your friend has, the better. Better still, see if they can't add you as an extra E-Mail address (Comcast, AT&T, QWEST, etc usually provide additional E-Mails on the account at no additional charge) on that ISP and register the EQEMU account via that VPN connection, with that associated ISP E-Mail. Universities with resnet or similar are fine for this too, as long as your friend clicks the activation link.
Make sure whatever VPN or tunnel you set up, you're routing all traffic through that tunnel while you're playing. I actually suggest running EverQuest in a virtual machine, and routing the main interface of that virtual machine over the VPN tunnel. It would suck if for some reason you lost connectivity to the VPN during a zone attempt or something, and your real IP was exposed. It'd look very odd in the logs.
Don't use common VPN hosting solutions available on the Internet, these hosts are often restricted to the same IP for multiple users and you won't have any power over denying traffic on the port to make it look like an actual honest to goodness client.
Avoid wasting money on a VPS to set up OpenVPN, because chances are the IP address that will be given to you will be easily identifiable as a datacenter assigned ARIN block. This will make you look pretty suspicious. There are valid reasons (playing for work) for things like this, but the whole point is to not draw attention to yourself.
Only use a VPN connection with one account. Don't intermingle the accounts. Use your actual link for your "main" and never cross contaminate IP on anything Rogean hosts. Not even on eqemulator.org forums, or project1999.org's main page.
If you're going to run something like eqbcs, I highly suggest you do so inside your VPN as a bridged network or on a different host entirely. Don't expose the port externally to anything that touches EQEMU, it's easily identified.
When it comes to macros, have them make mistakes every now and then.
Make sure that if you're using something like /stick from MQ2MoveUtils, you're at least using it with the loose parameter. /keypress with some play would be even better still.
Like movement, set heal and casting thresholds to have a little variance, nothing says "I'm a bot!" like a cleric casting Complete Heal at the exact same percentage for hours on end, or running at a target every time it reaches 97%. Players get sloppy after a long day.
Never leave a macro running for longer than you'd normally sit in an area yourself, and don't try to make up some automated tell response macro. They're easy to spot. Ideally, you want to be there at your PC to respond to tells or shouts in person.
Make sure your characters don't automatically stand up if they have feign death casted on them, and if their x,y,z is updated larger than a set threshold, have them stop what they're doing, not run back to an anchor. I've seen characters do this, and laugh every time.
Don't use autobuff macros. If you have to incorporate some type of buff routine to maintain, set your timer intervals with randomness in them, or rebuff periodically BEFORE they fade when mana is surplus. That is how most players manage their spells. If a GM #nukebuffs you, you don't want to automatically be casting Spirit of the Wolf on your bot. Dead give-away.
Don't use /face nolook fast. Use regular /face or /face predict, if you have to use anything.
Don't use /itemtarget, don't use /doortarget.
My subscription on MMOBugs ends soon, and I wanted to get this out there to prevent people from making mistakes and wasting a lot of play time getting caught. Perhaps others will contribute to this post and it can become some sort of repository with links to useful software and tutorials for various routers and operating systems to accomplish the thread title task. Good luck!
