Acquiring The EverQuest Client

Important Reminder: This is a player-edited wiki page aimed at helping new players to the server. Nothing expressed in it whatsoever is in any way representative of the views of the Project 1999 team. The same is true of the rest of the wiki, but it bears special repeating here.

Where to Get the Software

As it says on the Project 1999 Guidebook:

In order to play on Project 1999 you must obtain a copy of Everquest: Titanium Edition. Only a clean Titanium install will work. You must acquire this on your own as we cannot distribute it, however there are many places to accomplish this. You do not need a valid CD Key.

Because Project 1999 can't distribute the client, one very common question newcomers ask is "where can I get it?" This question is slightly tricky to answer, but you basically have two options: physical or digital.

Option #1: Acquire The Physical Disks

This option is simple: beg, borrow or buy (don't steal) the EverQuest Titanium Installation CDs. If you aren't lucky enough to still have some from playing long ago consider whether any of your former EverQuest-playing friends might still have them. Also consider asking gamers of other persuasions: your friends who play Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer 40k might have played EverQuest long ago and still have their copies. Heck, even a Facebook post might turn up an unexpected copy.

If you can't find a copy in your social network (and you still want a physical copy) you'll have to buy it. I could suggest trying your local garage sales and flea markets, but with an item this specific your best bet is probably going to be EBay. However, be warned that, because of Project 1999's popularity, copies of the discs can sell for $50- $150.

Option 2: Acquire a Digital Copy

If you don't own or know someone who owns a copy, and you don't want to spend $100 (for 15+ year obsolete software), you'll have to look for a digital copy. Once again the first place you should check is your friends: if you know anyone who plays they must already have a copy they can give you. Even if they lost the installation files they can simply "zip up" a copy of their own installed EverQuest folder and send it to you.

Otherwise you need something like EBay for digital downloads, but you won't find Titanium on Steam or any official app store. This means that you'll have to go somewhere ... less official. Somewhere maybe even kind of like "EBay" but for Project 1999, like "Project 1999 Bay" or "PBay" or something ...

Is This a Moral or Legal Issue?

I can't answer that for you. All I can offer is the following facts, which I've tried very hard to keep as neutral as possible:

• a company called Sony Online Entertainment once owned the copyright on the Titanium software
  • their business model revolved around selling online subscriptions (using that software) more than it did around around selling the software itself
    • in fact, future versions would be given out for free
• after many years the copyright on the (now very obsolete) software changed hands to Daybreak Games
  • ... who later made an agreement with Project 1999
    • ... which did not give them a license to distribute the client
• Project 1999 is enjoyed by over a thousand players on many nights
  • an unknown, but most certainly non-trivial, number of them do not own physical copies of the software
• wherever you go on the internet, you should use anti-virus software