Never used a EQ Launcher program.
To run it manually, you must edit a few .INI files (eqclient.ini), fix Nektulos and Lavastorm files, and grab the latest ZIP and extract to EQ directory. Then, you must create a shortcut for EQGAME.exe (and modify it to never patch).
There is probably a web.archive.org for Project 1999 with old directions, but here's what is on EQEmu:
http://www.eqemulator.net/wiki/wikka...akka=PlayGuide