Sandstorm

About

Sandstorm is the first and so far the only public EverQuest Online Adventures server since the official servers shut down in 2012. You can play in your web browser or with a native desktop client (both courtesy of DabDavis), with the PCSX2 emulator, or on a real PlayStation 2.

The project started in late 2020, when no functional open-source server existed. It is independent of any previous projects and has been written entirely from scratch by me (Xylof), though I have been able to draw on knowledge and data gathered by earlier restoration efforts — see the History and Thanks pages.

Some milestones worth highlighting:

• A server setup that lets players connect easily and legally, without having to download prebuilt memcard images containing SOE's program code
• The ability to push our own code updates and art assets to game clients
• Reverse-engineering the previously unknown ESF/CSF file format, enabling terrain and building data from the game disc to be loaded — required for pathfinding, line-of-sight, and the first rendered EQOA map
• Decoding the EQOA UDP protocol well enough to establish stable client connections
• By June 2025, practically all previously undocumented parts of the message protocol had been figured out (auctions, tradeskills, fishing, etc.)
• Creating the Sandstorm Control Panel (SCP) so that contributors can create quests, NPCs, spell rotations, items, procs, patrol paths and more without needing programming experience. A dedicated content creation team has formed since December 2023, including Lardubedu (no longer active), Renodor, xpli, ShadowRampageTV and Krumpzilla
• The Discord server, launched in June 2024, became the most active EQOA-themed community hub on the internet
• In 2026, EQOA became playable without a PlayStation 2 or an emulator at all: DabDavis's open-source client, rewritten from the ground up, runs the game natively on Windows, Linux and macOS and in a web browser, straight from the player's own disc image, with no patching

How to Play

Getting set up takes about ten minutes. Make an ISO of your game disc, then pick how to play: the web client (nothing to install), the native client for Windows, Linux and macOS, the PCSX2 emulator, or a real PlayStation 2. The emulator and the console need our small patch applied to the ISO; the web and native clients don't. The Install page walks through every step.

Both Frontiers (US) and the original European/PAL versions are supported. The original pre-Frontiers US version is not compatible at this time.

Links

Status

Contact

Email: xylof@eqoa.live

Sandstorm is a non-commercial project. Some of my other work:

• Kiekko.tv — multiplayer 2D ice-hockey simulator, active since 2004
• TyperA — possibly the first competitive typing test on the internet
• Klikki.fi — my security research