Freeborn Press: Technical Archives

July 24, 2001

OSI: Database Maintenance July 25th

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Database Maintenance July 25th

Ultima Online will be unavailable from 3:00 am - 6:00 am PDT Wednesday, July 25th for database maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Posted by Keith at 11:49 PM

OSI: Housing Decay Reactivated

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Housing Decay Reactivated

Housing decay has now been reinstated on all shards, to become active following their next downtime. The schedule for these maintenance periods is as follows:
East Coast shards, with the exception of Chesapeake, experienced an unscheduled downtime at 5:00 pm CDT, July 24th, and the housing decay became active at this time.
All West Coast shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period at 5:00 am PDT, July 25th.
Japanese and Korean Shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period at 8:00 am local time, July 25th (JST).
European Shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period at 5:00 am local time, July 25th (GMT).
Siege Perilous will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am, July 25th (CDT).
Formosa will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 8:00 am local Taiwan time, July 25th.
Oceania will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am local Sydney time, July 25th.
AOL Legends will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am EDT, July 25th.
For more information on housing decay and refreshing, see Home Maintenance.

Posted by Keith at 11:48 PM

OSI: Veteran Rewards Update

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Veteran Rewards Update

As a reminder, we will be monitoring all public shards once they have received Publish 12 to see that the publish is running optimally before we will activate veteran rewards. Please note that this means players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. The rewards system will be activated systematically on pre-determined shards, and we will post a schedule once it is determined. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience.

Posted by Keith at 10:34 AM

July 23, 2001

OSI: Publish Update - All Remaining Shards

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish Update - All Remaining Shards

Publish 12 will be published to all remaining shards today, to be active following their next maintenance period. The schedule for these maintenance periods is as follows:
All East Coast and Central shards (with the exception of Chesapeake) will be taken down for an unscheduled maintenance at 2:00 pm CDT, July 23rd.
Japanese and Korean Shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period on at 8:00 AM local time, July 24th (JST).
European Shards will be taken down for their normal maintenance period at 5:00 am local time, July 24th (GMT).
Siege Perilous will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am, July 24th (CDT).
Formosa will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 8:00 am local Taiwan time, July 24th.
Oceania will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am local Sydney time, July 24th.
AOL Legends will be taken down for its normal maintenance period at 5:00 am EDT, July 24th.
The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 4:25 PM

OSI: Housing Decay Alerts

There were recently a string of Housing Alerts on the FYI page of the Ultima Online Web site. I was away from a computer, but it looks like OSI has things well in hand. Here's the posts, from earliest to latest:

Housing Decay Alert

Due to an issue causing permanent buildings to decay, all shards with Publish 12 (Chesapeake, Baja, Sonoma, Napa Valley, and Pacific) were given an automatic housing refresh last night (July 19th), and the affected buildings will be refreshed manually until the issue is addressed.

In addition to this, housing decay on all remaining Ultima Online shards has been turned off over the weekend. This means that all homes on these shards will be refreshed to like new status, and will remain so until further notice.
We will give at least 24 hours notice before the decay is turned back on, and we will update the patch message to ensure that all players are notified. We apologize for any inconvenience, and urge all players to check the patch messages before logging in to avoid missing important information.

Improperly Condemned Homes

We would like to assure all players whose homes are currently marked as improperly condemned that they will not lose their homes at this time. The housing decay is not active currently, and the problem causing homes to appear as improperly condemned will be addressed as soon as possible.

We will update further once this has been fixed.

House Placement and House Transfer

The auto refresh that was implemented on all shards has affected the ability for current house owners to place or have new houses transferred to them. The development team has been notified and is working to resolve this. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to resolve this as quickly as possible.

Housing Decay Reactivated July 24th

Tomorrow afternoon (July 24th) at 11:00 pm CDT, we will be reactivating house decay on all shards. Houses currently marked as condemned will be uncondemned before the decay is turned back on, and will not collapse when the system is reactivated. Please note that once the decay rate is turned back on, all players will need to refresh their homes as they normally would.

For information on housing decay rates, see http://guide.uo.com/house_6.html.

Posted by Keith at 4:24 PM

July 19, 2001

OSI: Publish 12 on West Coast Shards

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish 12 on West Coast Shards

We have published the changes listed in Testing for Next Update to the West Coast shards (Baja, Napa Valley, Pacific, and Sonoma) during this morning’s normal maintenance period (July 19th). We will monitor these shards closely, and will be publishing to the remaining shards once we have determined the publish is operating optimally.

We will update further as to the publish schedule for the remaining shards, and the changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 11:59 PM

OSI: Chesapeake and West Coast House Refresh

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Chesapeake and West Coast House Refresh

Due to an issue causing permanent buildings to decay, and in order to prevent players on the Chesapeake and West Coast shards from losing homes due to this issue, all houses on these shards have been automatically refreshed today (July 19th CDT). We appreciate your understanding, and apologize for any inconvenience.

Posted by Keith at 11:59 PM

July 17, 2001

OSI: Hanse Ups the Rate of Big Fish

Hanse, one of the UO Live Designers for Ultima Online, posted the following message to the Development Board, here:

Re: Fishing, any chance of it being worthwhile? [re: Gung_Farmer]

Yes, the big fish was complained about because it was too hard to fish up. We made it more common (along the lines of a treasure map, but it requires less skill). It had a typo and had a very tough fishing up percentage (folks were spending 8 hours without fishing up one). It was something like a 0.01% chance. It was upped to roughly 3% or so successful attempts (that's a very rough estimate). That change was made prior to the taxidermy kit being available for purchase.

-Hanse
UO Live Designer

Posted by Keith at 10:31 AM

July 16, 2001

OSI: Publish 12 Update

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish 12 Update

Since activating Publish 12 on the Chesapeake shard in late June, we have been monitoring the shard closely, and we are targeting to release the final week of the event scenario publish to the Chesapeake shard on Tuesday, July 17th. Once it is determined that there are no unforeseen issues involving the final week of the Savage Empire scenario and Publish 12, a schedule will be set for the release of Publish 12 to the other shards.

Publish 12, which includes the veteran rewards system, is our highest priority, and we hope to see it released to all shards soon. We are looking to roll out Publish 12 to all shards by late next week, but please understand that due to testing considerations and time-sensitive problems that may arise, all schedules may be subject to change.

A list of the changes included in this publish can be found in Testing for the Next Update.

Considering the complexities of the rewards system, we will wait until all public shards have received Publish 12 before the veteran rewards system will be activated. Once all shards are running Publish 12, and we are confident that the veteran rewards system is functioning properly, we will begin to activate veteran rewards systematically on pre-determined shards. Please note that this means that players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience.

Posted by Keith at 7:28 PM

July 14, 2001

OSI: Baja and Sonoma Shards

The following two items were posted today to the Shard Issues page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Baja and Sonoma Shards 9:18AM CST (GMT -06:00)

We will be taking the Baja and Sonoma shards down in order to perform some necessary maintenance. We expect this maintenance to take approximately 1.5 hours. We will update you again should there be any changes to the schedule.

Baja Returns 10:20AM CST (GMT -06:00)

The Baja Shard has returned to service and is now available. We apologize for the inconvenience this interruption may have caused.

Posted by Keith at 10:52 AM

July 13, 2001

Savage Special Attack

The following was posted by citizenKane2 to UO Stratics:

Savage Special Attack

Confirmation from Calandryll (UO [Designer], Ongoing Content) that savages have a special attack when mounted on ridgebacks on the official UO Boards:
Regarding the ridgebacks... Actually, when mounted, the savage riders perform a special stomp attack that damages everyone near them and knocks them down. Once they got knocked off, they can't do the special attack.

Posted by Hazard [EiC] at 7:39 AM

July 12, 2001

OSI: Orc Masks and Savage Paint

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Orc Masks and Savage Paint

Many players have been asking about the new masks of orcish kin and the savage tribal paint and how they work. While most players have figured out the mask will explode if you attack an orc and the paint will burn if you attack a savage, there are many other interactions that are designed into these masks. In order to clear up some confusion, the list below should clarify some of these interactions. Note the examples are all in reference to the mask of orcish kin and orcs, but they all hold true for tribal paint and savages as well.
If your pet, hireling, or summoned creature attacks or is attacked by an orc while you are wearing a mask of orcish kin, the orc mask will explode. Note this is the case even if your pet auto-defends.
If you provoke two creatures onto each other and an orc attacks one of those creatures while you are wearing a mask of orcish kin, the mask will explode. The system sees you as the controller of the creature you provoked and hence, the mask will explode if an orc attacks or is attacked by it, even if you are no longer in the area.
If you attack an orc and kill it and then put on the mask of orcish kin the mask will explode because you still have that orc in your aggressor list. After attacking an orc (even if you never hit it and it never hits you) wait a while before putting on an orc mask.
You cannot wear a mask of orcish kin and savage paint at the same time.
The orc masks and the savage paint are powerful items, but with that power comes danger. It is wise to use caution when donning either of these items.

Posted by Keith at 8:27 PM

July 5, 2001

OSI: Savage Paint and Orc Mask Info/Bugs

Calandryll, Designer of Ongoing Content for Ultima Online, recently posted the following to the YahooGroups Ultima Online e-mail list:

Savage Paint and Orc Mask Info/Bugs

I posted this on uo.com and wanted to make sure you all saw it as well.

Since there have been quite a few posts about the savage paint and the orc masks, I figured it would be a good idea to post some more information about them to explain why they are doing some of the things they do.

Healing problems with paint and masks. This is a bug, something I thought I had fixed last week, but I missed another way it can happen. I tracked that one down too (and found a really, really, stupid coding mistake on my part) and it's fixed. QA is looking at it and if all goes well it will go in next week.

Paint disappearing when you die. This is not a bug. There are two reasons for this. One is that the system automatically reverts you back to your original body type when you die as part of the polymorph code. This is deep in the C code of the servers and to be perfectly honest, wasn't something I felt comfortable having changed given the problems it could cause. One of the goals of the content team is to touch existing systems as little as possible. The other reason is because we want the paint to be an item that cooks can sell over and over again. Which is also why it wears off after about a week.

Kirins and Unicorns. If you put on savage paint you can't ride a kirin or unicorn. This is a bug and it'll be one of the first things I look at when I get into the office on Thursday. I am pretty sure I know what is going on with this and if I am right it should not prove difficult to fix. I'll update this tomorrow in case it's more than I thought.

Masks/Paint exploding after attacking an orc or savage. The mask and paint will explode if you put it on after attacking (or being attacked by) an orc or savage respectively if they are still in your aggressor list. This is as designed and done to avoid certain exploits. Think of this as the magic properties of the mask/paint knowing that you have recently assaulted one of it's kin. If you have a mask/paint and attack an orc/savage, wait a few minutes before putting the mask/paint on. This is especially true if you kill an orc and get a mask as loot. Do not put it on right away!

Can't track players who are wearing savage paint. This is a bug. We're looking into fixing this as well as the other new scenario monsters that cannot be tracked.

The original post also had two unconfirmed bugs that I did not copy here because I've confirmed that they are not the result of savage paint or orc masks. We are looking into them still though.

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
Designer, Ongoing Content

Posted by Keith at 11:57 AM

June 30, 2001

Publish 12 delayed

I just read this at Stratics, via the UO website, so I copied and pasted.....

Publish 12 Delayed
This was posted on FYI, Update Ctr on the official UO Site :

After the release of Publish 12 to the Chesapeake shard yesterday (June 28th), issues related to the event scenario data required that the shard be reverted to a time before the publish was released. We regret this necessity, and are working to see that this problem is solved before Publish 12 is released again.

We are currently targeting to release the publish to the Chesapeake shard early next week, and we will update the players on the schedule when we are confident that the issue has been addressed.

Although this publish does contain the eagerly awaited veteran rewards system, please remember that to ensure the system is released smoothly, we will wait until all public shards have received Publish 12 before the veteran rewards system will be activated. Once all shards are running Publish 12, and we are confident that the veteran rewards system is functioning properly, we will begin to activate veteran rewards systematically on pre-determined shards. Please note that this means that players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience.

[The preceeding was originally posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site. -Ed.]

Posted by Keith at 1:24 AM

June 28, 2001

Good News & Bad News about Chesapeake & the Latest Patch

Two related notations about Cheapeake and the latest patch, which included some "dormant" Vet rewards goodies. First, the good news, originally posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Chesapeake Publish Update

We have published the changes listed in Testing for Next Update to the Chesapeake shard, and the shard will be brought down for a brief maintenance at 12:00 pm CDT, allowing these changes to take effect. We will update further as to the publish schedule for the remaining shards, and the changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

The, the following three notices were posted soon after to the Shard Issues page.

Bad news post number 1:

Chesapeake Shard

The Chesapeake shard will be brought internal to investigate issues regarding the publish released earlier today (June 28th). We will be working to bring it back up as soon as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Post number 2, teasing us:

Chesapeake Returns

The Chesapeake Shard has returned to service and is now available. We apologize for the inconvenience this interruption may have caused.

And post number 3, the kicker:

Chesapeake Being Reverted

Due to an issue with the publish interfering with the event-related data on the Chesapeake shard, the shard was brought down at approximately 3:00 pm CDT. The shard is being brought back up now, and will be reverted to approximately 11:30 am CDT. We regret this necessity, and we will work diligently to see that all issues are resolved as soon as possible. We will update as to the publish schedule when we are confident the system is working optimally.

Posted by Hazard [EiC] at 5:24 PM

Calandryll's Comments on Savages

citizenKane2 has compiled some recent notations from Calandryll, Ultima Online's Designer of Ongoing Content, over at UO Stratics, which I've reposted below:

Calandryll's Comments on Savages

Calandryll made several comments about the new "Savages".

When asked on UO Discussion Boards how "Savages" could kill dragons, Calandryll remarked:
Well, the fiction for it is that savages are adept at taking on large (think things like wooly mammoths - or in UO terms, dragons) and/or deamonic creatures (deamons, nightmares, etc.). They understand where the weak spots are and are able to do more damage. I don't consider this a nerf though, but it does represent some challenges for tamers. You can't simply bring in two dragons and let them run into the fort...they'll die. Now you have to keep track of your pets, heal them, and make sure they don't take on more than they can handle.
When asked how many different coloured tribal masks there are, Calandryll said:
Close to 30 total.
An interesting bit of information on the "Savage" names. Calandryll said:
The majority of savage names are named after OSI staff, mostly Dev and QA. I changed the names to make them sound more in keeping with what a savage might be called. There is one called Kahl too. :).

Posted by Hazard [EiC] at 9:03 AM

June 27, 2001

OSI: 2D and 3D Client Patch

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

2D and 3D Client Patch

We will be releasing a client patch on Tuesday, June 26th at approximately 5:45 pm CDT. An issue with the patch released earlier today (June 26th) required some players to alter a line in their uo.cfg file in order to run the client successfully. This patch contains a fix for that problem.

The current versions should now be 3.0.2g (2D client) and 3.0.2j Build 67 (3D client).

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/vso/default.asp.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 12:06 AM

June 26, 2001

A lot of new info over Stratics!

Shard sent us the following observation (which I had to repost because our news script had trouble with a special symbol in his name...sorry Shard!):

A lot of new info over Stratics!

The new "In Dev" has some interesting stuff, including casting spells without equipping your spellbook! Bajeez!

The In Development page is at http://update.uo.com/indev.html.

Posted by Keith at 4:18 PM

OSI: Publish 12 Update

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish 12 Update

While we are committed to releasing Publish 12 as soon as possible, several issues have arisen in testing that we feel need to be addressed before it can be released. This update (which includes veteran rewards) is still our priority right now, and we are targeting to release Publish 12 to one shard later this week.

That being said, we are aware that the veteran rewards system still has issues, and while we appreciate the need to work quickly, we are more concerned with seeing that our update is stable and polished. To help us accomplish both of those goals, Publish 12 is still active on the external test shard Test Rewards, and we encourage all players to send any bugs found there to tcbugs@uo.com. As always, non Test Shard-related bugs should be sent to uobugs@uo.com.

A full list of the changes included in this publish can be found in Testing for the Next Update.

Considering the complexities of the rewards system, we will wait until all public shards have received Publish 12 before the veteran rewards system will be activated. Once all shards are running Publish 12, and we are confident that the veteran rewards system is functioning properly, we will begin to activate veteran rewards systematically on pre-determined shards. Please note that this means that players will not be able to choose rewards immediately once the publish is received. We are working to see that this delay will be as short as possible, and we appreciate your patience.

Posted by Keith at 4:11 PM

New Patch

UO3D: Patch 66 List of Fixes (+ 2D Patch)

The following are a list of changes/fixes to UO3D with Patch 66

***List of Fixes and Features for Release Version 66:***
An toggle has been added to the “Interface” subcategory of the options gump that lets players use the old-fashioned style container gumps instead of the new versions.
Sound effects play when you open and close container gumps.
Shopping gumps should now be much, much faster.
A zoom slider has been added to the quick menu.
NPCs should no longer continue to walk in place after they’ve stopped moving.
Players can now turn off object handles under the “Interface” subcategory in the options gump.
Object handles now stack in a certain order - more commonly needed items tend to be on top. For example, handles for corpses stack above all others.
Object handles are now color coded re: red/blue/grey for mobiles depending on notoriety, other objects have gold handles.
Speech and All-Names are now clickable for targeting, use, and attacking.
The player can now disable having the paperdoll model animate.
An issue whereby health bars would not update has been resolved.
Objects dropped in a container should now show up at exactly the location they were dropped at.
A problem where players would not be able to pick up objects has been resolved. This should also resolve problems players have had looting their corpse.
Skills are alphabetically sorted for players using languages in the ASCII character set.
Skill lock toggles will no longer go awry when a skill is moved from one group to another.
Command macros should now save properly.
The location of speech text over players’ heads has been adjusted.
This patch also includes several fixes to resolve numerous other bugs and crashes reported by players.

And here is the official announcement about the new client patch for both 2D and 3D versions:

2D and 3D Client Patch

We will be releasing a client patch on Tuesday, June 26th at approximately 1:30 pm CDT. This patch contains an interface update and various bug fixes.

The current versions should now be 3.0.2f (2D client) and 3.0.2i Build 66 (3D client).

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/vso/default.asp.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 2:37 PM

June 14, 2001

OSI: Publish Update

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish Update

We have published an update to all shards to be active following their next scheduled maintenance period. This publish contains the following changes:
Addressed a lag issue related to faction lists
House deed prices when reselling to real estate agents raised to the correct level on Siege Perilous
Orc bombers will now deal damage to players wearing armor
These changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 8:26 AM

OSI: Client Patch Update

The following was recently posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Client Patch Update

We will be releasing a client patch on Wednesday, June 13th at approximately 10:30 am CDT. This patch will contain new and updated scenario-related files.

The current versions should now be 3.0.2d (2D client) and 3.0.2e Build 65 (3D client).

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 8:25 AM

June 13, 2001

OSI: Publish Update

The following was recently posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish Update

We have published an update to all shards to be active following their next scheduled maintenance period. This publish addresses NPC shopkeeper inventory pricing issues and the way house deeds will be bought from and sold to vendors.
These changes include:
NPC real estate brokers will now buy house deeds back at 20% below the base price of the deed, or the original price paid when the deed was purchased from a vendor (whichever is lower).
NPC shopkeepers will no longer inflate the prices of their inventory when their stock begins to run low, and prices of items will be consistent on all shopkeepers.
These changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 9:35 AM

June 9, 2001

OSI: Real Estate Agents currently disabled

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Real Estate Agents currently disabled

The Real Estate Agents haven been disabled on all shards to resolve an ongoing issue. We will update you with more information on when they will be reactivated.

Posted by Keith at 5:06 PM

June 1, 2001

OSI: Customer Support Advisors

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Customer Support Advisors

EA has arranged with a small group of international customer support representatives to aid in handling game-related customer support, as well as other tasks, for EA.com. As of Friday, June 1st, they will be spending some time addressing Ultima Online customer concerns on the Chesapeake and Atlantic shards from 5:00 pm to 1:00 am EDT as advisors, appearing in peach-colored robes. Please keep in mind that Advisors will only address game play issues. This is an experimental program, and we will post updates when and if the program is to be expanded.

Posted by Keith at 5:39 PM

OSI: Ultima Online Support Availability - June 1st

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Ultima Online Support Availability - June 1st

Due to a company function, Ultima Online Account and Customer Support will be limited from 3:15pm - 4:15pm CDT on Friday, June 1st. International Game Master Support will not be affected. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 5:38 PM

OSI: 2D and 3D Client Patch

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

2D and 3D Client Patch

We will be releasing a client patch on Friday, June 1st at approximately 11:45 am CDT. This patch contains an encryption change and various bug fixes.

The current versions should now be 3.0.2b (2D client) and 3.0.2a Build 64 (3D client).

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 5:37 PM

May 31, 2001

OSI: Account Access Transfer Program

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Account Access Transfer Program

In the interest of providing our customers with a safe procedural way in which to transfer UO account access from one individual to another, we would like to remind you of our Origin Account Access Transfer Program. This program allows you to carry out the transfer process officially through the OSI Billing Department, ensuring that in case of any dispute, we can verify the correct owner of a specific UO account. By simply arranging for signatures from both parties involved, completing a confirmation phone call with an OSI representative, and arranging a small transfer fee, your access transfer will be secure and final.

Additional details on the Account Access Transfer Program, and the appropriate form, can be found here.

Posted by Keith at 9:13 PM

May 18, 2001

EA: Log - In Servers

The following was posted to the Shard Issues of the Ultima Online Web page:

Log - In Servers

The log-in servers are not accepting players at this time. Until this issue is resolved, you will not be able to log into the shards. Players who are already connected to the shards will be unaffected. We are working to correct this issue and will update you once more information is available.

Posted by Keith at 5:38 PM

May 17, 2001

Player finds “a mask of orcish kin”

There's been a lot of discussion and speculation about the upcoming orc quest/scenario being developed by the UO Interest Developer(s) on the Ultima e-mail list at Yahoo!Groups. The following announcement was posted by Grey to this list:

FOUND IT!

A green hued orc mask titled - a mask of orcish kin

When worn you take a karma loss but orcs will NOT attack you.

Your form does not change, you still look as you normally do. It just looks like you are wearing an ordinary orc mask colored green.

Killed 4 orc mages before I found it.

Grey

Posted by Keith at 6:41 PM

May 14, 2001

EA: Account Management Downtime

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Account Management Downtime

We will be conducting database maintenance on Tuesday, May 15th between 5:00 am and 8:00 am CDT. During this period, players will be unable to make account changes, including reactivation, creation, or cancellation. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 6:31 PM

EA: 2D and 3D Client Patch

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

2D and 3D Client Patch

We will be releasing a client patch on Monday, May 14th at approximately 2:30 pm CDT. This patch will contain art changes and updates, an updated credits file, and a bug fix to allow players to sell items to vendors in Ilshenar.

The current versions should now be 3.0.1a (2D client) and 3.0.1d Build 63 (3D client).

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:30 PM

May 4, 2001

EA: New Shard Maintenance Schedule

The following was posted on the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

New Shard Maintenance Schedule

Effective Monday, May 7th, the Oceania, Siege Perilous, Formosa, and AOL Legends shards will be updated to a daily maintenance cycle. Maintenance on these shards will take place at their regularly scheduled times. The downtime schedule located at http://support.uo.com/downtime.html will be adjusted on May 7th to account for these changes.

Posted by Keith at 5:47 PM

May 1, 2001

EA: Login Server Maintenance - May 2nd

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Login Server Maintenance - May 2nd

We will be taking down the login server database to perform emergency maintenance upgrades on Wednesday, May 2nd at 11:00 AM CDT. This maintenance period is expected to last approximately three hours. During this time, customers will not be able to log in to any Ultima Online shards and any account changes, updates, or creations will not be activated until the database maintenance is completed. Customers who are logged in to a shard prior to this time will not be disconnected, but will not be able to reconnect if they do disconnect. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 10:48 PM

EA: Account Management Issues

The following was posted to the FYI page of the Ultima Online Web site:

Account Management Issues

The account management site is experiencing considerable delays in updating information. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause for players and we assure you we are taking steps to resolve these delays.

Posted by Keith at 2:24 PM

April 30, 2001

EA: Patch 62 live!

Cythne sent us the following announcement, about a recent FYI posting on the Ultima Online Web site:

Patch 62 live!

The following notice was just added to FYI. However, there was initially a line that referred to various art modifications having been made in this patch. That line was just removed a few minutes ago, when I was informed that further QA time was going to be needed on those changes, and they were in fact not in this patch. My apologies for any confusion!
We're happy to announce that we have eliminated several issues that had been
impacting the performance of the Third Dawn client. This client patch will
be released on April 30th at approximately 4:00 pm CDT, and will include:
Substantial memory leak fixes
Various crash bug fixes
If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit
http://www.hitchhikers.net/antivirus/antivirus-dis.phtml.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:56 PM

April 25, 2001

EA: Atlantic Backup System

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Atlantic Backup System

The distributed backup system will be re-enabled on the Atlantic shard after its regularly scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, April 25th CDT. We will continue to monitor the shard closely for any unexpected issues.

Posted by Keith at 5:36 PM

April 24, 2001

EA: 2D Client Patch 3.0.0g

The following was recently posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

2D Client Patch 3.0.0g

We will be releasing a client patch on April 24th at approximately 12:00 pm CDT. This client patch will fix a bug related to switching to 800x600 resolution. This patch is for the 2D client only. The 3D client build number remains 3.0.0f.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.hitchhikers.net/antivirus/antivirus-dis.phtml.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 11:10 PM

April 23, 2001

EA: Client Patch 3.0.0e

The following was posted to the FYI page at the Ultima Online Web site:

Client Patch 3.0.0e

We will be releasing a client patch on April 23rd at approximately 11:00 am CDT. The client patch will include the following:
The translation server will no longer pop up a dialog box when it encounters a missing language pair.
A crash caused by trying to plot a course on a map between two identical locations.
A fix for the "Unknown Packet Oops" dialog crash.
Other random crashes.
This patch is for the 2D client only. The 3D client build number remains 3.0.0f.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer. Undetected viruses may cause conflicts with patching Ultima Online. For information on up-to-date virus detection software, please visit http://www.hitchhikers.net/antivirus/antivirus-dis.phtml.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com .

Posted by Keith at 6:58 PM

April 18, 2001

Seahorses Coming Soon!

The following was posted by Joshua Rowan to UO Stratics:

Seahorses Coming Soon!

It looks like Seahorses (rideable creatures that will allow you to travel over water) are right around the corner from being added into the game! First, a post from Melantus on the official Discussion Board about it:
Wait until you see someone riding the seahorse, which I saw on Test Center yesterday (Leilo was showing me what they looked like in motion.).

Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online
And then a bit later to an e-mail discussion group that was talking about it:
I clarified that post a little in another post. Players cant exactly get these creatures yet because the items/steps needed is still in the process of being worked on (on Test Center). However being on the inside, we were able to skip the steps needed to get a seahorse and simply make one. :) Was interesting to see it. The rest of that design should be going in soon.
So not yet, but soon! I'm sure many of you are just like me in that you can't wait to see this one!

Posted by Keith at 6:14 PM

April 17, 2001

New Titles from Ilshenar Confirmed!!!!

The following alert from Gewurtztraminer, a player, posted the following to the official UO3D Boards (which I learned about thanks to the post on UO Stratics):

New Titles from Ilshenar Confirmed!!!!

I spent most of the day yesterday annoying the demons and gargoyles in Ishlenar, killing gargoyles in all of their 51 flavors.

I pulled up my paperdoll and was suprized to see:
The Famed Diogi: Foe of the Abyss Instead of:
The Famed Diogi Grandmaster Mage

Way way way back during the beta they had hinted that titles could be gained by your actions. The example they gave was a warrior who killed a lot of dragons would come to be known as a Dragon Slayer.

And then, continued the UO Stratics reporter, this morning Melantus posted this followup:

This is true and not a rumor. This has something to do with that "mystery" of Ilshenar that I talked about a few weeks ago, but theres much more to it. That's all I'll say about this for now. :)

Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online
Melantus@uo.com

Posted by Keith at 4:27 PM

April 15, 2001

UO Vendor Tool available at UO Stratics

The following announcement was posted to UO Stratics:

UO Vendor Tool available at UO Stratics

Paul Howarth has created a very nice tool for Vendor owners. It is a small utility that can record your stock prices, and send them to the game window, saving much wear and tear on memory and fingers. With built in support for all kinds of weapons and armor, treasure maps and 'other' items this is a tool that any serious merchant will appreciate very much.

Thank you Paul, for sharing UO Vendor with the community.

(A link to UO Vendor can also be found at the bottom of the UO Stratics main menu)

Posted by Keith at 2:47 PM

April 10, 2001

OSI: Atlantic Backup and Maintenance

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com site:

Atlantic Backup and Maintenance

We will be activating an improved backup system on the Atlantic shard on Wednesday, April 11th following its regularly scheduled maintenance period. The result of months of work by the UO team, this backup system will greatly decrease the time required to complete a shard backup. The system has been actively running on test shards for some time and has reduced backup times considerably on the AOL Legends shard since its activation earlier this week. We estimate that this change will bring shard backup times down to between 5-15 minutes per shard. As a result, the amount of time required for shard maintenance, restarts, and 'time warps' may be narrowed to between 5-15 minutes in most cases.

Please note: As this backup system decreases the amount of time required for a shard backup, it will also decrease the amount of 'warp time' available prior to a maintenance period. We urge that players keep this in mind when playing before a scheduled maintenance period.

The Atlantic shard will be brought down for a maintenance period on Thursday, April 12th at its regularly scheduled maintenance time.

We will be closely monitoring the AOL Legends and Atlantic shards and, barring any unforeseen issues, will continue activating this system on the remaining shards in the near future. We will announce a release schedule for the remaining shards at least 24 hours in advance of their activation.

Posted by Keith at 4:40 PM

April 8, 2001

OSI: AOL Legends Backups and Maintenance

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

AOL Legends Backups and Maintenance

We will be activating a new backup system on the AOL Legends shard on Monday, April 9th following its regularly scheduled maintenance period. The result of months of work by the UO team, this backup system will greatly decrease the time required to complete a shard backup. The system has been actively running on test shards for some time, and we estimate that after activation, this change will bring shard backup times down to between 5-15 minutes per shard. As a result, the amount of time required for shard maintenance, restarts, and 'time warps' may be narrowed to between 5-15 minutes in most cases.

Please note: As this backup system decreases the amount of time required for a shard backup, it will also decrease the amount of 'warp time' available prior to a maintenance period. We urge that players keep this in mind when playing before a scheduled maintenance period.

The AOL Legends shard will be brought down for a maintenance period on Tuesday, April 10th at its regularly scheduled maintenance time.

We will be closely monitoring the AOL Legends shard once the change is activated and, barring any unforeseen issues, will begin activating this system on the remaining shards in the near future. We will announce a release schedule for the remaining shards at least 24 hours in advance of their activation.

Posted by Keith at 5:56 PM

April 4, 2001

Sage Comments on Upcoming Interest Group Changes

The following was posted by Sage to the Ultima e-mail list at Yahoogroups.com, addressing concerns made by some of the participants of that same group about the upcoming changes in the Interest group (which creates & implements fiction in Ultima Online):

From: Sage
Subject: RE: Team Comment
1. Rather than using the limited tools currently available to them, the Event Designers will now be able to change the game more dramatically by using our scripting language.
We will be providing more "background" story to the way items and monsters are introduced into Britannia. New content will be more of a focus than small events, hopefully culminating in large scale events.
Events won't be just about small quests anymore. We will be concentrating much of our time on working up to a story that more players can follow and benefit from. Even if people aren't interested in the story, they should still benefit from the event if possible.
I would caution about expecting too much dynamism to the overall world. While that is the holy grail everyone will be searching for, it makes things very difficult in the support side of things. Why is the Red Sword Of Merrigan on Great Lakes, but not on Lake Superior? How come Asuka has snow falling, but not Hokuto? Also, keeping track of how things interact when one thing happens, but not another is very difficult to do on a publish by publish basis. For instance, in Plot 1 Stage 1, the Key of Turning is necessary to enter the Bloodbath Crypts. However, Plot 1 Stage 3 requires the Skull of Mondain found in the Bloodbath crypts. It is very possible, but you could have one shard lagging behind by months, or forever. So, while the example is extremely simple, imagine trying to keep track of 22 or more possibly divergent sets of fiction. If item introduction or monster introduction is tied to these events, do you force at least some way for these items and monsters to be introduced. If so, isn't that a pretty forced mechanism, and deny what you are hoping to see, your actions affecting the outcome of the plot? If not, don't some players complain about being left out of the new item and perhaps monster updates. Still, I believe it is worth pursuing, but I would rather prove we can walk before setting out for a run just yet.

Posted by Keith at 12:46 AM

News on Vet Rewards

The following was posted by Connor Caple to the Ultima e-mail list at Yahoogroups:

[NEWS] Vet Rewards

Sage just posted this to the UO Boards:
==============

Why are vet rewards not in at this time?
Vet Rewards is the first system in UO to tie items to an account, rather than a character. This was something that was very new for us, and while seemingly simple, was actually a very complex task. UO, while incredibly flexible, was not originally designed to support this kind of addition. It was clear after release that the Vet Rewards system was in a state we did not feel comfortable with keeping active. (i.e. Some people could get more rewards than their accounts merited.) The system had issues and we felt it was best to hold the system back to try to remove the known issues, rather than keeping it active and trying to fix it on the fly.

Why has it been so long?
While we could have held off on many aspects of development for Vet Rewards, it was believed that UO:Third Dawn took precedence over Vet Rewards. Third Dawn potentially reached more people, and was better for the ability of the game to maintain a longer life cycle. (In other words, Third Dawn would give us the ability to hold the interest of the players for longer.) While simultaneous evelopment occurs all the time, the danger of working on Vet Rewards and Third Dawn together would have hurt both projects. Therfore, we gave Third Dawn priority.

Are Vet Rewards going to be implemented?
The current team is committed to having Vet Rewards come out and be stable. This may still take some time. The Vet Rewards system has been largely put on the back burner until Third Dawn could be published. This does not mean we will be putting Third Dawn fixes or enhancements to the side in order to do Vet Rewards, as we should be able to work on both simultaneously from this point on. Vet Rewards is currently back under development and we should have more information on when they will be back on TC soon.

Posted by Keith at 12:40 AM

April 3, 2001

OSI: Publish Update - All Shards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update - All Shards

We will be publishing the changes listed at http://update.uo.com/design_328.html to all shards to be active following their next scheduled maintenance period.

Please note that only the changes listed specifically in the above URL have been published. Other changes listed in Testing For Next Update remain in testing at this time. The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once they are active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 11:54 PM

OSI: Publish Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update

The publish of the items listed at http://update.uo.com/design_324.html to the Atlantic, Lake Superior, Napa Valley, and Sonoma shards was delayed due to technical difficulties. These shards will have the listed items active following their Wednesday, April 4th scheduled maintenance period.

Posted by Keith at 11:51 PM

OSI: Upgrading to UO:Third Dawn

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Upgrading to UO:Third Dawn

Reminder: To enjoy the features and changes present in Ultima Online: Third Dawn, you must have a UO: Third Dawn CD. Existing customers can take advantage of our special offer and receive a Third Dawn CD and the map of Ilshenar, Britannia and the Lost Lands for $9.95 at our upgrade site located at http://www.uo.com/upgrade.html. This special upgrade offer also includes a collector’s edition cloth map of Britannia and the Lost Lands. Ultima Online: Third Dawn can also be purchased at your local software store. Players new to Ultima Online will be able to access the Third Dawn client simply by creating their account using the Third Dawn CD. Existing customers, whether using the upgrade or the full retail copy, need only install UO:Third Dawn and download any latest patches before playing. There is no need for existing account holders to update their registration.

Posted by Keith at 4:55 PM

March 30, 2001

OSI: Seeking Tales of Ilshenar

It's time for a new spotlight! This just posted to the UO.com site:

Seeking Tales of Ilshenar

There's nothing quite like the feel of standing on an open vista, seeing a vast and uncharted land, free from the congestion of civilization. Now that UO:Third Dawn has been released, many residents of Britannia have headed out to explore the new land of Ilshenar and feel the thrill of discovery once again.

Have you explored beyond the boundaries of civilization? Do you have tales to tell about your adventures or experiences there? We want to hear about your travels in the new lands of Ilshenar, and give you the opportunity to impart valuable advice to those who would travel there in the future.

Send an e-mail to uo-profiles@uo.com by Friday, April 6, and tell us a story of your experiences in Ilshenar. Please be sure your story falls between 500-1000 words, and include "Ilshenar" in your subject line. Please provide a name and phone number for verification of the story. Submissions to "uo-profiles" become the property of OSI and may be used for special events, promotions, and/or advertising. All submissions must be made by the original author and are subject to verification.

Posted by Keith at 6:14 PM

March 29, 2001

OSI: Publish Update, West Coast

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update, West Coast

We will be publishing the changes listed at http://update.uo.com/design_324.html to all West Coast US shards to be active following their Friday, March 30th scheduled maintenance period. This will affect the Sonoma, Pacific, Baja, and Napa Valley shards. Please note that only the changes listed specifically in the above URL have been published. Other changes listed in Testing For Next Update remain in testing at this time.

The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 8:45 PM

March 27, 2001

OSI: Networking Issues

The following was posted to the Shard Issue page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Networking Issues

We are currently experiencing issues with our network that may cause connectivity issues with the West Coast shards, Asian shards and Login servers . We assure you that we are working diligently to correct this and we will update you once we have more information

Posted by Keith at 4:45 PM

March 26, 2001

OSI: Upgrading to Ultima Online: Third Dawn

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Upgrading to Ultima Online: Third Dawn

Due to unexpected issues, the Ultima Online: Third Dawn upgrade site will be launching at approximately 12:00 pm (Noon) CST, March 27. We will make public the upgrade site address shortly before the site goes live. This promotion will last for 60 days, during which current UO customers with active accounts will be able to order this special upgrade for a price of $9.95 plus shipping and handling. The promotional upgrade version of Ultima Online: Third Dawn includes the final gold-mastered version of Third Dawn, the new retail version map of Britannia, the Lost Lands, and Ilshenar, and while supplies last - as a special bonus - we'll include a collector's edition cloth map of Britannia and the Lost Lands. This upgrade CD does not include a registration code and therefore cannot be used to create a new account nor qualify for new account free game time. Alpha and beta testers who do not wish to participate in the upgrade offer will be given the opportunity to order the Ilshenar and cloth maps for $5.95, with shipping and handling paid by Origin Systems.

We look forward to seeing everyone in this newest incarnation of Britannia.

Posted by Keith at 7:04 PM

March 24, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 3.0.0c

The following announcement was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

Client Patch 3.0.0c

We are currently releasing client patch 3.0.0c. This patch addresses and updates more localization as well as some language files.

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 5:23 PM

March 19, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 3.0.0

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 3.0.0

We are currently releasing client patch 3.0.0. This patch synchronizes version numbers for the client in preparation for the release of Third Dawn.

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 10:17 PM

OSI: Third Dawn Beta Message Boards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Third Dawn Beta Message Boards

As a reminder, the Ultima Online: Third Dawn beta message boards will close later today, March 19th. We will be archiving the contents of the message boards to allow the QA team to address any open issues, however we will be shifting focus back to our regular bug reporting method using the tcbugs@uo.com email box. Please direct any additional bugs to either of these email boxes and include the following information:
Client Version Number. This is located at the bottom of the main UO login screen.
Server Name
Detailed Bug Description (step-by-step, tell us what you did and what happened)
Date/Time of Occurrence
Location (Sextant coordinates, facet, and city location)
On-site references (If you spoke with a counselor or GM, what was his/her name and what were you told?)
It is extremely important to include the necessary steps to recreate a bug, thus allowing the QA Team to promptly review it. We do recommend that you try to be as concise as possible when sending in reports as well. Try to tell us only those steps that were necessary to activate the bug.

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to concisely report bugs during this beta period. Your input was invaluable to Ultima Online: Third Dawn.

Posted by Keith at 5:54 PM

March 18, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.9a

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.9a

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.9a. This patch addresses a crash related to viewing certain magic items while the items are in containers or are equipped.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 10:07 AM

March 17, 2001

Client Patch 2.0.9

The following was posted to the FYI page at the Ultima Online Web site:

Client Patch 2.0.9

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.9. This patch addresses addresses a crash fix related to certain localization files.

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 3:13 PM

Vendor Changes Observations

The following two observations on Vendor changes were posted to UOSS

Vendor Owners Pay Attention Please

This was posted on our Trade Forum by dasmart:
An issue with vendors has come to light that can be absolutely devastating.
The recent patch rollouts have changed the way in which gold is retrieved from a vendor. Basically, you now get a check for all the gold the vendor is carrying rather than just the max amount of gold you can carry at the time.
That's the problem: you get ALL the gold the vendor has, including the gold it needs for its own support! This means you get a check, dump it in the bank, log out, and the next day you find the vendor gone and all the items you placed on it for sale looted by other players when the vendor decayed minutes or hours after you left.
This may or may not be a bug but the way to handle it, I believe, is to carry some gold coin with you when you go to check your vendors. Retrieve your vendor's gold (automatically in check form..you can't change this), drop the gold coin on your vendor to maintain it, THEN restock your vendor with goods and use the Status command to confirm how long the vendor has before decaying (based on the prices of the goods you just restocked it with).
Thanks for the warning. I sure hope all vendor owners will take heed and pay their vendor with gold coins after retrieving the check for all gold from it. Here is how vendors deal with giving their owner money.
Player-owned vendors will be able to give the gold they are holding to their owners in bank check form if the amount is between 4999 gold and 1 million gold. If the gold amount being held for the player by the vendor is between 4999 and 1 million gold, the vendor will hand this to the owner in the form of a bank check (as long as the vendor is actually carrying this amount). If the amount is less equal to or less then 4999 gold then the vendor will hand the owner the amount in gold form. If the gold held by the vendor is more than 1 million gold, the vendor will retain the amount over 1 million gold until the next request for gold is made by the player.
More Detailed information on Vendors and Gold

James Wife of Napa Valley sent me this regarding the previous news post on vendors
Dear Xena

Thanks for the vendor post, but there was a mis-statement in the post about Player-operated vendors...It is true that when you say vendor gold now to collect your profits, the vendor places a check for all the money he can give you in your main backpack. If you have not personally dropped gold coins on his head recently, he will be UNPAID and will decay in his next refresh period (every 5 minutes the vendors take a portion of the money in reserve and send it home to their families in the country to support them)
Here is the new change: When a vendor runs out of support money now, they dissapear--vanish, with no body, no backpack containing your wares, and most importantly, no death scream. They just dissapear. This has been confirmed and replicated by me and one other friend of mine on a different account. I lost over a million in goods in the time it takes to recall to a bank and back. Therefore, I would advise-Do not wait to hand your vendor gold until after he has given you the check. Give him gold BEFORE you say "William Gold please" and then then retrieve your own pay. Just like in real life, employees should be paid before the owner sees any of the profits. Also, If any of you are missing the old statement our vendors used to give us about how many days they would serve you (I hate doing the math myself,) open your journal before you request information. Apparently, They still report this precious tidbit of info, but they report it first and since one can only say 3 lines at a time, the # of days worth of reserve pay that the vendors have on them gets pushed off your screen by the other 3 statements-- Gold available, gold in reserve (salary) and cost per UO day (which by the way lasts 2 real life hours.)
Various other readers also informed me of the fact that a Vendor has in fact two wallets, one that holds the money you pay him and one that holds the money from sold goods to other players. If there is money in the first wallet then the vendor will use that to maintain itself. As long as you keep the first wallet filled you are not in any danger, and you can collect money from the "sold goods" wallet without having to fear he will be gone some day.
Some believe that once the first wallet is empty, the vendor will instantly disappear, others believe that the vendor will start taking money from the "sold goods" wallet like they used to do long before bank checks even existed. In any case, if the vendor's first wallet is empty, chances of his sudden departure have increased dramatically. As James suggests, it's safest to pay him first and collect the gold later. And of course check your vendor's status frequently by asking...

I hope this clears up some of the confusion about vendors and their gold.

Posted by Keith at 3:07 PM

March 14, 2001

OSI: Ultima Online: Third Dawn - Coming Soon!

The following was just posted to Testing for What's New on the UO.com
website:

Ultima Online: Third Dawn - Coming Soon!

We are pleased to officially announce the upcoming release of Ultima Online:
Third Dawn - bringing an exciting new dimension to the world of Britannia. Beginning March 27th (March 20th in Japan), Ultima Online: Third Dawn you'll be able to grab your own copy and start exploring the new and dangerous land of Ilshenar on your favorite Ultima Online shard.

We will be offering a special upgrade offer to all of our existing Ultima Online customers. For 60 days, starting on March 26th, current UO customers with active accounts will be able to order this special upgrade for a price of $9.95 plus shipping and handling. This promotional upgrade version includes the final gold-mastered version of Third Dawn, the new retail version map of Britannia, the Lost Lands, and Ilshenar, and while supplies last - as a special bonus - we'll include a collector's edition cloth map of Britannia and the Lost Lands. This upgrade CD does not include a registration code and therefore cannot be used to create a new account nor qualify for new account free game time. Alpha and beta testers who do not wish to participate in the upgrade offer will be given the opportunity to order the Ilshenar and cloth maps for $5.95, with shipping and handling paid by Origin Systems.

In preparation for the launch of Third Dawn, we will officially close the beta testing period on Monday, March 19th. We will be closing the Third Dawn Bug Message Board at that time, and ask that any further issues be directed to tcbugs@uo.com. We appreciate all of the effort that our alpha and beta testers have given to the product and look forward to seeing everyone in this newest incarnation of Britannia.

Posted by Keith at 9:14 PM

OSI: Various Changes and Fixes

The following was just posted to Testing for Next Update on the UO.com
website:

Various Changes and Fixes

An issue with Inscription was fixed

Some issues with the Faction system were corrected, including:
Players with more then one account not being able to join Factions with both accounts simultaneously
Silver accumulation and retention issues
Guildmasters unable to remove players from the guild with names listed on the second viewing page of the guild menu has been fixed.

Required skills for creating craftable carpentry and tailoring items have been adjusted to require the appropriate level of skill.

Certain high level creatures were not including treasure maps as part of their loot. This has been fixed.

House sign hueing issues were corrected.

The new player tutorial will now accept localized speech commands.

Vendors will now change directions to face only the vendor owner when spoken to. Additionally, the distance required for owners speaking to vendors to change their directions has been increased. Players wishing to purchase from vendors will now be able to do some from an increased distance as well.

A problem with dungeon traps overlapping has been corrected

A problem with the house decoration tool has been corrected in the following
manner:
Yellow boxes are no longer flippable
Stackables are no longer flippable
Items over 100 stone weight are no longer changeable

Posted by Keith at 9:10 PM

March 13, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.8s

The following was recently announced on the FYI page of the Ultima Online Web site:

Client Patch 2.0.8s

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.8s. This patch addresses updates changes to the magic item properties display, allows guards to be called using the word “guards”, and updates localization files.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 4:49 PM

OSI: Publish Update - All Remaining Shards

The following was recently announced on the FYI page of the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish Update - All Remaining Shards

We will be publishing the changes and fixes listed in Testing for Next Update Testing for Next Update to the all remaining shards to be active following their Wednesday, March 14th (local server time) maintenance period.

Shards updated with the publish at this time will be:
Oceania
Formosa
Arirang
Balhae
Yamato
Asuka
Izumo
Wakoku
Hokuto
Europa
Drachenfels
Baja
Napa Valley
Sonoma
Pacific
Siege Perilous
While Siege Perilous does not normally maintenance on Wednesday’s, it will be brought down for maintenance at approximately 7:00am on March 14th (CST) to accommodate this publish.

Changes in this publish include:
The addition of the Ilshenar land mass
Taxidermy kits
Hair Stylist NPCs
Item Identification changes
Good creatures vs. karma
Player-owned vendor changes
And several additional updates and fixes listed at Testing for Next Update.
Please note: as this publish contains a major number of changes necessary for Ultima Online: Third Dawn, including the addition of the Ilshenar land mass, the maintenance period for these shards will last approximately 1 hour beyond the normally scheduled downtime.

Important: While the publish will activate the Ilshenar lands on the East Coast shards, the Ultima Online: Third Dawn client is still in beta testing stages. Please keep this in mind before traveling to Ilshenar with any of your established characters. You will be unable to access the Ilshenar lands without the Third Dawn beta client.

We will continue to monitor these shards and will announce a schedule for publish to the remaining shards in the near future.

Posted by Keith at 4:48 PM

March 9, 2001

OSI: Magic Weapon and Armor Identification

The following was just posted to In Development on the UO.com website:

Magic Weapon and Armor Identification

Magic weapons and armor will display descriptions in brackets once the item is identified, instead of the current numerical values. For example, if you identified an indestructible surpassingly accurate broadsword of force, the system would display it as:
magic broadsword
[indestructible / force / surpassingly accurate]
Before the weapon is identified, the descriptions will be replaced with the word "unidentified"
magic broadsword
[unidentified]
The identification information will appear under the weapon/armor name when the item is single clicked.

More information and exact details on this system will be released in the
near future.

Posted by Keith at 6:38 PM

March 8, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.8q

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.8q

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.8q. This patch addresses a crashing issue.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:37 PM

March 7, 2001

OSI: Extended Downtime – Account Management

Gone Gold has reported that Ultima Online: Third Dawn has "gone gold," as detailed below and original published here:

Ultima Online: Third Dawn

Super News!

Hi Rich,

Just a heads up that UO: Third Dawn has gone gold and will be shipping to retailers on March 27. Let me know if you have any other questions. Web site is http://www.uo3d.com.

David Swofford
Director of Communications
ORIGIN Systems
Here's some specifics...
The Internet-only fantasy world of Britannia™ takes on a new dimension in Ultima™ Online: Third Dawn™. Now UO is more immersive than ever with fully animated, motion-captured 3-D characters, each with enhanced gesturing and animations. Third Dawn has hundreds of motion-captured animations on nearly 200 different character models. A 3-D terrain system, new beasts and monsters, a new land to explore, a new particle system for spell and magic effects and improved music make Ultima Online look and sound better than ever before.

Key Features

A new dimension for Characters and Special Effects
3-D models for all characters and monsters
Motion-captured animations
Enhanced gesturing and animation
Particle system for magic and special effects
New lands, monsters, weapons and armor

Third Dawn adds an additional landmass that presents even greater challenges and rewards for UO players. Third Dawn also adds new monsters to the UO landscape and for combat, players can try out new weapons and armor, some of which feature an Oriental/samurai look and feel.

Improved music

Now Ultima Online sounds better than ever with improved music. Explore the world of Britannia now and hear the difference.

UOSS pointed out the following additional comments from Calandryll about UO3D going old:

Calandryll Comments on UO3D Going Gold

Calandryll made the following two comments on Lum the Mad about UO3D going gold:
The UO Third Dawn beta test is not over...we are continuing to take feedback and patch in fixes.
and post #2:
Actually, UO Third Dawn does include the 2d client as well.

As far as the release date, that is accurate. I just wanted to make sure people knew that going gold doesn't mean the beta is over and that testing/patching is done. It's not.

-Calandryll
Manager of Community Services,
Ultima Online and ORIGIN

Posted by Keith at 8:45 PM

OSI: Extended Downtime – Account Management

The following announcements were posted to the Common Issues page at the Ultima Online Web site:

Extended Downtime – Account Management

The Ultima Online Account Management database and website will undergo extensive maintenance on Thursday, March 8th beginning at approximately 12:01 AM CST. This maintenance is expected to require approximately 10 hours of downtime - during which accounts may not be created, re-activated, updated, or canceled by any method.

We urge that players update their billing and account information via the Ultima Online Registration website located at http://www.ultima-registration.com before this period to avoid losing playtime should any billing complications arise while the system is unavailable.

Posted by Keith at 8:20 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.8p

The following announcements were posted to the FYI page at the Ultima Online Web site:

Client Patch 2.0.8p

We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.8p this evening. This patch contains additional localization files and updates to item identification.

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at href="http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html">http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 8:19 PM

OSI: Baja Shard Issues

Looks like Baja's had a bad day. The following announcements were posted to the Shard Issues page at the Ultima Online Web site, listed from oldest to most recent:

Baja Shard Mar 7 2001 9:33AM

The maintenance for the Baja shard is taking longer than expected. We apologize for the delay and expect the shard to be available again in approximately 1.5 hours.

Baja Shard Mar 7 2001 10:15AM CST (GMT -06:00)

The maintenance for the Baja shard is now over and the shard is now available. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Baja Shard Mar 7 2001 10:20AM CST (GMT -06:00)

Due to server problems, the Baja Shard is currently unavailable. We are currently working to resolve this issue and expect the shard to be available in approximately 1.5 hours.

Baja Shard Mar 7 2001 10:52AM CST (GMT -06:00)

The Baja shard returned to service and is now available. We apologize for the inconvenience this interruption may have caused.

Posted by Keith at 8:17 PM

March 6, 2001

OSI: Various Fixes and Changes

The following was just posted to Testing for Next Update on the UO.com website:

Various Fixes and Changes

These fixes will be active on the Chesapeake shard following its Wednesday, March 7th maintenance period and will be included with publish to all remaining shards.
Fixed an issue with faction score loss.
Fixed an issue with housing sign text color.
Fixed an issue causing locked down trees to leave ornaments behind when automatically re-deeded.
Fixed an issue where pets could not be claimed by name from stables.
Re-enabled the "gold" command to allow players to collect gold from vendors.
Fixed an issue causing some exceptional items to lose the last letter in their name.
Fixed pricing for taxidermy kits and flipflop tool.
Fixed numerous error null strings.

Posted by Keith at 8:46 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.8o

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.8o

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.8o. This patch updates several localization files, fixes an issue with speech commands and vendors, and removes the ninth circle "bad spell" page from spellbooks.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 8:45 PM

OSI: Publish Update, East Coast Shards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update, East Coast Shards

We will be publishing the changes and fixes listed in Testing for Next Update to the all US East Coast shards to be active following their Wednesday, March 7th (local server time) maintenance period. Shards updated with the publish at this time will be:
Atlantic
AOL Legends
Catskills
Great Lakes
Lake Superior
Siege Perilous
Changes in this publish include:
The addition of the Ilshenar land mass
Taxidermy kits
Hair Stylist NPCs
Item Identification changes
Good creatures vs. karma
Player-owned vendor changes
And several additional updates and fixes listed at
http://update.uo.com/next.hmtl.
Please note: as this publish contains a major number of changes necessary for Ultima Online: Third Dawn, including the addition of the Ilshenar land mass, the maintenance period for these shards will last approximately 1 hour beyond the normally scheduled downtime.

Important: While the publish will activate the Ilshenar lands on the East Coast shards, the Ultima Online: Third Dawn client is still in beta testing stages. Please keep this in mind before traveling to Ilshenar with any of your established characters. You will be unable to access the Ilshenar lands without the Third Dawn beta client.

We will continue to monitor these shards and will announce a schedule for publish to the remaining shards in the near future.

Posted by Keith at 8:43 PM

Khaldun Puzzle Chests - the continuing story of

The following was posted to UOSS:

Khaldun Puzzle Chests - the continuing story of

As a result of various tips from readers we've been able to update the Khaldun and Puzzle Chest pages yet again. Most important news is that there are no less than 6 known places where puzzle chests are located, and that having a high lockpicking skill really offers a big help with these puzzle chests.

Thanks to all who submitted tips and information!

Posted by Keith at 5:19 PM

OSI: Localization and Ultima Online

The following was just posted to What's New on the UO.com website:

Localization and Ultima Online

As Ultima Online moves closer to the official release of Third Dawn, many players may have noticed the word "localization" popping up everywhere lately. From client patches with localization files to changes in the way shopkeepers react and items are displayed, localization has had — and will have — a significant effect on the appearance of Ultima Online to players around the world.

So what is localization? Simply put, it's creating a game that is as easily accessible for our customers around the world as it is for our English-speaking players. As one of the first massively multiplayer games to actively embrace a global audience, we've been working on this for a while now; and you can see evidence throughout Ultima Online Renaissance and the UO community. Within the game, certain parts of the client have already been translated to our five official languages: Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, French, and German. Outside the game, we have a full Japanese website mirroring www.uo.com, as well as fully translated New Player Center, and soon-to-come translated versions of our PlayGuide documentation.

However, with the release of Ultima Online: Third Dawn, we're greatly increasing the amount of in-game localization. In addition to completing the localization of all of the in-game menus — such as the paperdoll, the options menu, shopkeeper menus, etc. — non-English speaking players will at last be able to fully interact textually within the game in their own language. For example, currently on shards that have not received the latest publish, players must say the English word "bank" — in English — to open their bank-box. To non-English speaking players, this means memorizing a list of words and commands that in many cases make no sense whatsoever. It would be similar to asking a native English speaker to remember the words "Je voudrais poser une poubelle" for use in placing a trash barrel inside their house. It isn't easy, it isn't fun, and it accounted for roughly 60% of the phrases necessary to play the game — making it something we absolutely needed to change.

Of course, this update would be easier if Ultima Online had been designed as a multi-language game in the first place — it wasn't. We simply didn't anticipate the global appeal of the Ultima Online world, and thus it was designed to rely on textual commands. Certain words and phrases that have been added to the game over the last few years simply don't translate well to one or more of our official languages simply because of the way that languages work. Some languages use different grammatical structures from English, others require nouns to have masculine or feminine genders, and some such as kanji, the Japanese system of writing used in Ultima Online, simply describe concepts in ways completely different than English. To provide for these language differences, we've had to change the way some NPCs respond to text commands, or changed the way that certain items appear textually because there is no equivalent translation available.

We are pleased to have created a game that has appealed to players from different countries and vastly different cultures around the world. It is our hope that with these changes, Ultima Online: Third Dawn will continue to foster and support a global community and allow all our players to enjoy their time in the world of Britannia.

Posted by Keith at 5:16 PM

March 5, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.8n

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.8n

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.8n. This patch updates several localization files, fixes an issue with speech commands, and resolves issues relating to clothing and sitting.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:55 PM

OSI: Account Management Update

The following two items were posted to the Common Issues page at the Ultima Online Web site:

Account Management Downtime
Mar 5 2001 10:09AM CST (GMT -06:00)

The Ultima Online Account Management database and website is currently undergoing extensive maintenance. This maintenance is expected to require approximately 8 hours of downtime starting at 9:00 AM CST - during which accounts may not be created, re-activated, updated, or canceled by any method.

Account Management Update
Mar 5 2001 5:50PM CST (GMT -06:00)

The Ultima Online Account Management database and website is currently undergoing extensive maintenance and is expected to be available again at approximately 9:00 PM CST. Until the database returns to service, accounts may not be created, re-activated, updated, or canceled by any method. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 6:20 PM

OSI: Test Great Lakes and Test Pacific and Client Patch 2.0.8m

The following two items were just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Test Great Lakes and Test Pacific

We have opened a Test Great Lakes and a Test Pacific shard with recent backups of these shards updated with all of the items listed in Testing for Next Update. We urge that regular players of both of these shards, and any other interested players stop by and join in the testing.

Please note: while the Ilshenar lands are active on these shards, the Ultima Online: Third Dawn client is still in beta testing stages. You will be unable to access these lands without the Third Dawn beta client.

Client Patch 2.0.8m

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.8m. This patch fixes an issue with unicode text handling for Windows 95 users, and a fix for partial hueing of certain clothing items.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 12:10 AM

March 2, 2001

OSI: FAQs on Miniature Statues from Melantus

Melantus posted the following announcement/FAQ about statues yesterday to the Ultima Online e-mail list from Yahoo Groups:

Miniature Statues

As many of you know and have been discussing on the UO boards, one of the main topics of discussion the past day or so has been miniature statues. Player feedback has been and is very important to us, as we have said before. We are adding additional changes to UO that are part of this overall topic of miniature statues. The miniature statues will be added to pixies, in the methods listed below. A large majority of the statues that were obtained by players already cannot be removed from their containers. They are also heavy, thus even ones that could be removed from a container would be unmoveable by players. Gamemasters will neither remove them from a container for the player, nor will they move them for ones players have on the ground. Please read the information below regarding the addition of statues will be able to obtain.

FAQ

Q: Will the statues from pixies be any different than the ones that spawned in crates?
A: The only difference will be that the statues from pixies weigh less, meaning you will be able to move them around, unlike the statues from the crates. They will need to be locked down as well. Overall, these statues are better than the ones from crates since they can more easily be moved and traded.

Q: Why not make them craftable?
A: Adding a new craftable is actually fairly significant. It requires far more design, coding, and testing than putting new loot on a monster. Given the nature of this issue and the community's reaction, we felt it best to introduce these items into the world as quickly as possible, while at the same time, keeping finding them interesting and fun. Also, while pixies do hit hard, they are not terribly difficult to kill for most veteran characters...although you do need to be careful if a few of them attack you at once. ;)

Q: Why didn't you delete the statues?
A: Deleting the statues is certainly a possible solution and one we considered. However, given the fact that these statues may have been bought by players who did not know they were the result of a bug, we felt it was better to simply make the item available to all players. This way, everyone has a chance to get a statue. Also, these items do not negatively affect game-play or generate service calls.

Q: Does that mean those who have the Third Dawn client will get statues first?
A: Probably. These items will appear on pixie corpses about as often as the other new items like deamon bone armor or glacial staves. However, there are plenty more pixies spawning in Ilshenar than the monsters needed to get those items. It shouldn't take long before there are plenty of statues for sale and trade. Also, it is important to note that you will not need Third Dawn to use or see the statues, the art for the statues exists on the 2d client.

Q: Isn't this inconsistent policy? Why not delete the statues?
A: Actually, in the past we have put items into the game that were originally the result of a bug. Black dye-tubs and blessed runebooks are good examples of this. Sometimes, if an item does not cause any service or gameplay issues, and it is something the community desires, it is far better to give the community an opportunity to obtain the items, rather than take them away from everyone. Each case is different, but we believe this is one of those cases.

Q: What about the other items like standing armor and tarot cards?
A: The vast majority of the items were statues. While we may or may not add new items such as those to the world again, right now, we are concentrating on the statues. At this time, we have no specific plans to add any other new items.

Q: Won't I lose karma if I kill pixies?
A: Yes, you will. However, if reputation is important to you, you can still buy the statues from other players. Again, the statues will appear as loot on pixies and since there are a good number of them spawning, it shouldn't be long before there are plenty to go around.

Q: If I have a statue from a crate that I cannot move, can I call a GM to get it moved?
A: No. GMs will not move or delete these statues. Please do not call a GM regarding these items.

Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online

It's also been pointed out that statues are spawning on the Ratmen Mages on the test shards, and Melantus spoke out again on that same e-mail list:

Statues Now On Ratman Magi

You're going to be seeing some interesting things occur with spawn very soon. I'll be sure to mention this to others, as far as the ratmen mages and where they spawn. We wouldn't want there to be a bottleneck of players trying to kill them if they only spawned in one small area.

Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online

Posted by Keith at 7:42 PM

OSI: Publish Update, Chesapeake Shard

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update, Chesapeake Shard

We will be publishing the changes and fixes listed in Testing for Next Update to the Chesapeake shard to be active following its Sunday, March 4th (local server time) maintenance period. Changes in this publish include:
The addition of the Ilshenar land mass
Taxidermy kits
Hair Stylist NPCs
Item Identification changes
Good creatures vs. karma
Player-owned vendor changes
And several additional updates and fixes listed at
http://update.uo.com/next.hmtl.
Please note: as this publish includes a major number of changes necessary for Ultima Online: Third Dawn, including the addition of the Ilshenar land mass, the Chesapeake shard maintenance period will last approximately 6 hours on Sunday.

Important: While the publish will activate the Ilshenar lands on the Chesapeake shard, the Ultima Online: Third Dawn client is still in beta testing stages. Please keep this in mind before traveling to Ilshenar with any of your established characters. You will be unable to access the Ilshenar lands without the Third Dawn beta client.

We will be opening a Test Chesapeake shard later this evening for those players wishing to test the publish changes on a backup version of the Chesapeake shard. We urge Chesapeake players, as well as other interested players, to drop by and join in the testing.

We will monitor the Chesapeake shard over the remainder of the weekend, and barring any issues, will announce a publish schedule for the remaining shards next week.

Posted by Keith at 6:46 PM

March 1, 2001

OSI: Localization and Macros

The following was just posted to "In Testing for Next Update" on the UO.com
website:

Localization and Macros

With the update of localized language support for Ultima Online: Third Dawn, the way in which speech commands work, will affect the use of certain macros. Players will no longer be able to combine long strings of speech commands to use as a single macro, such as "Vendor, tell the guards to buy me the bank." Macros using combined speech commands may not work in all cases. To use speech commands effectively, they should be limited to the appropriate command (such as "bank" when standing inside a bank or "vendor buy" when purchasing from a vendor.)

Posted by Brenstar at 7:18 PM

February 27, 2001

OSI: Exploiting in Ultima Online

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Exploiting in Ultima Online

Please remember that exploiting bugs or using unapproved third party programs in Ultima Online can result in the permanent suspension of your Ultima Online account. A list of approved third party applications can be found here. Using any exploit or third party application not on this list is a violation of the Rules of Conduct.

We are committed to removing those players that choose to exploit Ultima Online and will continue to work towards maintaining an enjoyable and level playing experience for all of our players.

Posted by Keith at 5:10 PM

February 25, 2001

OSI: West Coast Servers

The following was posted to the Shard Issues page of the Ultima OnlineWeb site:

West Coast Servers

We are still experiencing connectivity issues to the West Coast Servers. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 6:29 PM

OSI: Account Management Issues

The following was posted to the Common Issues page of the Ultima OnlineWeb site:

Account Management Issues

We are currently experiencing issues with our account database. Any changes made to accounts online may take an hour or two to update. We assure you that we are working diligently to correct this problem. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Posted by Keith at 6:28 PM

February 24, 2001

OSI: West Coast Servers Problems Continue

The following was posted to the Server Issues page on the Ultima Online Web site:

West Coast Servers

We are still experiencing connectivity issues to the West Coast Servers. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 7:55 PM

West Coast Shards

The following was posted to the Shard Issues page on the Ultima Online Web site:

West Coast Shards

We are experiencing intermitting connection issues to the West Coast Servers. This may cause players to occasionally lose connection. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Posted by Keith at 12:18 AM

February 22, 2001

OSI: UO, Above.net, ATT, etc

Ruben Cortez, Sr. Manager of Network Infrastructure for EA.com, posted a long message about UO and their connectivity issues on Ultima Online's Connectivity Forum, here. Below is a bit of the beginning of his post.

UO, Above.net, ATT, etc

Greetings,

I'd like to introduce myself to this community, as I haven't made a public announcement regarding UO and our connectivity in years. I hope I have the time to make that fact change going forward.

I'm the Sr. Manager of Network Infrastructure for EA.com. I manage all our network infrastructure as well as datacenter decisions for EA.com domestically and internationally. Since UO is a very vital part of EA.com, a lot of the decisions I make day to day are guided by what is best for UO and it’s player community. Also, since EA.com is looking to expand its PSW (persistent state world) offerings, I also make decisions based on what is best for all new PSW's to come, as well as our current games at www.ea.com.

Let me give you some background. I’ve been involved in building UO’s network presence from the very beginning. I was involved in building network connectivity when UO was within the networks of Epoch, Digex, Smartnap, GlobalCenter, IXC, Exodus, and now Above.net. The international datacenters and ISP’s as well, but I won’t go into more details on them here. You can point the blame for “who choose Above.net” to me. I’m fine with that. In a minute I’ll give you more information as to why Above.net was chosen in the first place.

I have also been intimately involved in every single move we’ve ever made with a UO shard. It’s perhaps the most difficult process I ever have to deal with. It’s extremely complex, not too mention nerve racking and stressful. Making the decision itself is the most painful part of it all. It’s not easy. I wish I could give you details on how circumstances exactly come about that requires us to move a shard, but there are so many I wouldn’t know where to start. But I can assure you of this. We have never made a decision to move a shard, including the recent moves of Great Lakes and Lake Superior, without taking into consideration how the move was going to affect our gamers. And the number one factor I take into consideration when devising our strategy on where the best place is to put a shard is this: How is the shard going to look for 90-95% of the players? The one, clear, unquestionable fact about online gaming I’ve learned from building and managing UO connectivity for over 3 years now is this: regardless of what we do, regardless of how much money we spend, regardless of what ISP we choose, we can not make everyone’s ping times sub-100ms with no packet loss. It’s a very painful fact; one I wish I could change. But I can’t. I don’t control that much of the Internet. As a matter of fact, no one does. But what I DO have and can present to you, is path we’ve been working on for years to try and decrease the percentage of those we cant please from 5-10%, down to maybe just 1-2%. More on this in a minute.

As noted above, the entire post can be read here.

Posted by Keith at 8:07 PM

February 20, 2001

OSI: Beta Third Dawn Patching

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Beta Third Dawn Patching

Due to an issue with an East Coast patch server, some Ultima Online: Third Dawn customers may have received an incomplete patch 44 for the Third Dawn client. In the event that you received this incomplete patch and are now unable to complete a patch, you will need to reinstall Ultima Online: Third Dawn. Please note that all Third Dawn files must be deleted from your computer: this may require manually deleting the Third Dawn folder in some cases. If you have both Renaissance and Third Dawn installed on your computer, you will not need to reinstall Renaissance. We apologize for this inconvenience.

This patch error will not affect customers who have not installed Ultima Online: Third Dawn or who successfully patched Third Dawn patch 44.

Posted by Keith at 9:34 PM

OSI: UO Message Boards Update

The following was posted to the FYI page on the Ultima Online Web site:

UO Message Boards Update

We are currently experiencing some technical issues with the Ultima Online Message Boards and MyUO. We are working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

Posted by Keith at 5:13 PM

February 19, 2001

UO:3D - Voodoo 3 Video Card Information

The following was posted to UOSS:

UO:TD - Voodoo 3 Information

Cutter, Ultima Online Quality Assurance Lead, posted the following info on the OSI Ultima Online: Third Dawn Bug Board:
If you are useing a Voodoo 3 and you see a great deal of lag, here is something you can try. I use a Voodoo 3 2000 and it helped me.
1. Get the latest voodoo 3 drivers (1.07 or 1.03) which can be found here @ http://www.voodoofiles.com
Once the drivers are installed go to the 3Dfx icon that has been added to your system tray (next to the clock on the task bar) and right click it, set the color depth to 16 bpp
double left click the icon to pull up the 3Dfx advanced features window.
Click the + Next to the Direct3D Option to expand the menu
Click the + next to the Level of Detail Bias
Click the number that has appear under the level of detail bias, a slider will appear.
Move the Slider all the way towards best performance.
Click Okay
Good luck,
Cutter
The posting can be found here.

Posted by Keith at 7:17 PM

The Sea Horse, What a Beauty

The following was posted to UOSS:

The Sea Horse, What a Beauty!

A picture of the Sea Horse has been added to the Hunter's Guide.

Posted by Keith at 7:14 PM

February 16, 2001

OSI: The Lands of Ilshenar

The following was posted to the Testing for Next Update section of the Ultima Online Web site:

The Lands of Ilshenar

Ilshenar is a third facet in the world of Britannia. Ilshenar will have different conditions from the facets of Felucca and Trammel. Player interactions on Ilshenar will be just like Trammel with the following exceptions:

1) Players who are within “murder” status will be able to travel to Ilshenar under the following guidelines:
Murderers will be able to go to Ilshenar once per month. If a player’s murder status wears off, and then they return to a murderer state, the “once per month” guideline will still be in place. Once the trip to Ilshenar is taken while in murderer status, the count starts and the player may not again enter Ilshenar until they are either not a murderer, or until a month has passed.
If a murderer has taken the effects of stat loss, they will not be able to gain skills while in Ilshenar until the reduced skills are returned to their pre-stat loss numbers. For example:
Player A loses 20% of their skills to stat loss.
Player A will not be able to gain any skills in Ilshenar until this 20% that has been lost has been regained.
Player A will be able to gain skills in Ilshenar once this percentage lost to stat loss has been restored.
Murder counts will not decay in Ilshenar.
Stat loss and murder counters are still in effect, with the same time durations per murder. These have not changed in any way.
Other players cannot attack murderers in Ilshenar.
2) Traveling to and within Ilshenar.

Players visiting Ilshenar will not be able to cast gate or recall within the Ilshenar lands. Travel will behave in the following manners:
There will be no recall or player created gating within Ilshenar.
Travel to and from Ilshenar will be via public moongates. The gates within Ilshenar will be scattered around those lands, and will connect to public moongates located within Trammel and Felucca.
There will be a moongate located on the Buc’s Den island for murderers to be able to use to get to Ilshenar.
Players will be able to use a menu system on the public moongates to select destination, including which facet.
3) Siege Perilous will not have an Ilshenar facet.

Note that in order to travel to Ilshenar, you will need to be using the Third Dawn client. Regular clients (2D) will not be able to travel to Ilshenar.

Posted by Keith at 6:33 PM

OSI: Third Dawn Beta Ordering Closed

The following was posted to the FYI section of the Ultima Online Web site:

Third Dawn Beta Ordering Closed

The Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta ordering form is now closed. We appreciate your interest in Ultima Online: Third Dawn. For the latest information on Ultima Online please visit http://www.uo3d.com

Posted by Keith at 6:30 PM

OSI: Network Difficulties Follow-up

The following was posted to the Shard Issues section of the Ultima Online Web site:

Network Difficulties Follow-up

We have resolved the issues with our network. We thank you for your patience and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Posted by Keith at 6:25 PM

OSI: Network Difficulties with all Shard

The following was posted to the Shard Issues section of the Ultima Online Web site:

Network Difficulties with all Shard

We are currently experiencing issues with our network. GM support may be unavailable at this time. We assure you that we are working diligently to correct this and we will update you once we have more information.

Posted by Keith at 6:23 PM

February 13, 2001

OSI: Bandage Creation Changes

The following was added to Testing For Next Update on Feb. 13, on the Ultima Online Web site:

Bandage Creation Changes

Players can cut multiple bandages at once using the following manner:
Players place an amount of cloth in their backpack. The cloth must be in a player’s backpack to be cut into bandages.
When scissors are used on the stack, it will be cut into a stack of bandages equaling the amount of cloth that was in the stack being cut.
Bandages will weight equal to that amount of cloth. For example, one bandage will weigh exactly the same as one cloth and likewise one thousand bandages will weigh the same as one thousand cloth.

All pre-existing bandages will be "grandfathered" with these weight changes, so that they equal a 1 to 1 weight ratio compared to cloth.

Posted by Keith at 5:36 PM

February 12, 2001

New “Anna” Computer Virus Spreading Fast

There's a new virus that's started coming into my "real life" job, and after some quick digging I found the following details at ZDNet, and the entire article (including avoiding e-mail virii) can be found here. Below is the beginng of the article:

Anna virus spreading fast
By Robert Vamosi, Help & How-To

Looking for jpegs of Anna Kournikova in your inbox? Be aware, looking at her photos may unleash a worm on your PC.

February 12, 2001

There's a new virus spamming the world. Anna (a.k.a VBS/SST and Kalamar) has some of the same characteristics as the ILOVEYOU worm. There are reports of the Anna containing a destructive component; however, no details are known at this time. Anti-virus software companies are still investigating this new worm. It is known that Anna is a mass mailer; it will use listings found in the Microsoft Outlook address book to send copies of itself. Anna may overload e-mail servers. Anna currently ranks as a 7 on the ZDNet Virus Meter.

How It Works
The Anna virus arrives via e-mail with the following information:

Subject: Here you have, ;o)

Body: Hi: Check This!

Attached: AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs

Clicking on the attachment activates the worm. Anna uses the Microsoft Outlook address book to mass e-mail itself to others.

Don't open any attachment, from e-mails, ICQ, IRC, anywhere, unless you know exactly who is sending it and that person or company is a trusted source. Again, the rest of the article can be found here

Posted by Keith at 1:24 PM

February 11, 2001

More Dungeons Discovered in Ilshenar

I read the following announcement from Balberith of UO Deutschland at UOSS:

More Dungeons Discovered in Ilshenar

UOD has first inGame screenshots of a new dungeon that I have found travelling through Ilshenar today.

The dungeon - I called it Spider-Dungeon - is leading to a small passage and then via teleporter to an island where theres nothing but Ethereal Warriors. They are not aggressive towards innocent. On the island is another dungeon - which I called Spectre-Dungeon - with quite some members of some kind of creature in it that seems to be buggy a little bit. It shows "a spectre" or "a shade" but has a look I have not seen elsewhere in-game so far. Close to the Spirituality entrance to Ilshenar is another cave that I have not seen before and since I couldn't find any information about it I think it is new - I called it Spirituality Cave.

You will find some screenshots attached... and more (with german sub titles) on UO Deutschland and there in the screenshot section

Viele Gruesse,
Best Regards,

Balberith
Michael Werner
Webmaster UO Deutschland

Here's a picture from UOD of the teleporter to the Spider Dungeon:

Posted by Keith at 11:19 AM

February 9, 2001

OSI: Comments from Warhau

The following was posted to the Web Group section of the Ultima Online Web site:

Comments from Warhau

Hello from the web team! We have been busy working on several unreleased projects, and what you have seen, like registration forms for the UO Faire or for the UO3D beta, are just not that exciting. Today we finally have more cool web stuff to show off.

We are happy to announce the release of online faction rankings. You can find the pages at http://town.uo.com/factions/. We now rank faction guilds and individual faction members based on kill points, by faction, by shard, and overall.

Faction membership and kill points are also now indicated on MyUO paperdolls, character pages, and guild pages. Membership and rankings are updated daily.

We hope this will bring even more enjoyment to the faction system by showcasing the best PvP guilds and players in Ultima Online today.

Keep an eye out for additions to the factions pages in the future. We’ve got more new stuff in the works.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions regarding web features, please email me at www@uo.com.

Warhau
Web Manager

The main Factions page is here, and Baja's rankings are here.

Posted by Keith at 7:46 PM

February 8, 2001

OSI: Last Chance to Join Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online Web site:

Last Chance to Join Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta

Join us at 6:00 AM CST on Friday, February 8th for your final opportunity to grab an Ultima Online: Third Dawn beta CD! For the price of shipping and handling, you can own this limited edition, fully patchable version of the latest update to Ultima Online - and seize your opportunity to join us during our pre-launch beta period.

We've limited the amount of Beta CDs available and will accept orders only until these CDs run out. Once this final group of beta CDs has been ordered, you'll have to wait for the Ultima Online: Third Dawn retail release to explore the new lands of Ilshenar, and all of the enhancements and updates that Third Dawn has to offer. Current customers will have an opportunity to upgrade to Ultima Online: Third Dawn at a reduced cost (plus shipping and handling) to be announced at a later date.

Be sure to visit http://www.uo3d.com/beta on Friday morning for your chance to join the elite ranks of Ultima Online beta testers!

And don't forget - if you're already a beta tester, or are planning to join us, drop by the Ultima Online store at http://www.uoshoppes.com/uostore to order your Official Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Tester t-shirt!

Posted by Keith at 6:53 PM

OSI: Various Fixes And Changes

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Various Fixes And Changes

A problem with players crashing when placing houses near server “boundaries” has been fixed.

Holiday trees will be changed in the following manner:
Holiday trees that exist in tree form will automatically redeed themselves. The tree deed can only be picked up by the deed owner or the house owner (deed owner is the character that placed the tree originally).
The tree deed will decay in seven days if not picked up by the house owner or deed owner. No other characters can pick up the tree deed, until the house owner or deed owner has picked the deed up.
Holiday tree deeds no longer function to allow placement of a holiday tree, until reactivated again.
Localization changes have been added.

Stablemasters have been fixed to sell the correct creatures. A bug has been fixed with stablemasters and their pricing. This bugfix will result in higher prices for creatures sold by the Stablemasters.

A change has been added to the tutorial, requiring new accounts to enter the tutorial at least once. After this initial entry, players will be able to exit the tutorial as desired. New players will also be able to review parts of the tutorial at will, via the help selection menu.

A bug with runebooks not closing properly upon a player’s death has been fixed. This caused runebooks after the death to fail to open.

Posted by Keith at 6:50 PM

OSI: Faction Trap Changes

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Faction Trap Changes

Faction traps will be modified in the following manner:
Faction traps will award silver to their placer when they successfully damage or kill an enemy faction member.
The silver being awarded will come from the victim, and will be subject to existing silver-award eligibility. Thus, the placer will not receive any silver from opponents not eligible to award silver.
The trap will award 20 coins for damaging an enemy, and 40 coins for killing an enemy.
Faction Trap Removal Tool

Faction tinkers will be able to create a faction-trap removal tool. This tool will be necessary to remove faction traps set by enemy factions. The tool will function in the following manners:
The tool will appear within the tinker creation window, if the character is qualified and carrying the necessary materials to make the tool (500 silver, master or greater tinkering skill, and 10 ingots).
The tool will have 25 uses, decreasing upon either success or failure to disarm the trap. The tool must be in the base level of the player’s backpack to function.

Posted by Keith at 6:47 PM

OSI: Good Creatures Attack Evil Karma

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Good Creatures Attack Evil Karma

Creatures of “good” alignment will react aggressively toward players with negative karma. These new creatures are specifically being introduced with the release of Third Dawn.

Posted by Keith at 6:45 PM

OSI: Player Owned Vendor Changes

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Player Owned Vendor Changes

Player-owned vendors will be able to give the gold they are holding to their owners in bank check form if the amount is between 4999 gold and 1 million gold. If the gold amount being held for the player by the vendor is between 4999 and 1 million gold, the vendor will hand this to the owner in the form of a bank check (as long as the vendor is actually carrying this amount). If the amount is less equal to or less then 4999 gold then the vendor will hand the owner the amount in gold form. If the gold held by the vendor is more than 1 million gold, the vendor will retain the amount over 1 million gold until the next request for gold is made by the player.

Player-owned vendors will give a more accurate description of their gold and payment status.

Player owned vendors will properly “clean up” from a player-owned house, if they are removed from that house. This fixes a bug that caused player owned houses to sometimes refuse re-deeding even when empty.

Posted by Keith at 6:44 PM

OSI: Item Identification Window

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Item Identification Window

Information regarding an item’s magical or exceptional properties will now be displayed in a separate window. This separate window will allow for easier viewing of the item’s properties by players.

The information display window will function in the following manner:
When a player clicks on a magical or exceptional item they will get generic text describing the item, such as “magic longsword”.
To the left of the text will be a blue button that will allow the player to get extended information.
To the right of the text will be a brief numeric display of the basic four attributes. Something such as: “[Damage:Defense:Durability:Skill]” would look like “[9:0:5:10]”.
Each of these categories will be color coded to quickly identify the basic properties.
When the player clicks the blue dot (refer to above) extended information will be shown below the text being displayed.
This extended information will have category information and provide more detail, such as weapon effects and charge info.
This extended information will only show attributes that the item has, whereas the quick display at the end of the text will always show Damage, Defense, Durability, and Skill. They will be 0 on the quick display if not applicable, but will not show up at all on the extended info.
Note: The Damage, Defense, Durability and Skill data will also be color coded here as well to reinforce the colors associated with the base attributes.

If an item has not been identified, the quick display will appear as question marks: “[?:?:?:?]” and the player will not have access to the extended info until he has identified the item.

Posted by Keith at 6:43 PM

OSI: House Decoration Tool

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

House Decoration Tool

Players will be able to use a House Decoration Tool to assist them with the decoration of their houses within UO. The tool has the following abilities:
The tool will be sold on Architect NPC’s
The tool has the ability to turn certain objects to face south-to-east, or east-to-south. An example of an object that is able to be turned would be a wall clock. Not all objects may be turned.
The tool has the ability to raise or lower certain objects, thus allowing items such as the wall clock to be “hung” on a wall. Not all objects can be raised or lowered.
The tool itself operates in the following manner:
The player using the tool must be the owner or a co-owner of the house where the tool will be used.
The player must actually be in the house to use the tool.
When the player double clicks the tool, targeting the tool again with the target cursor will bring up a menu. The menu choices are “turn”, “up”, and “down”. This changes the operating mode of the tool to the choice that is made.
Upon selecting turn, up, or down, the player will be able to target an item in the house to apply that effect. The tool will remain in whatever mode was selected, until the tool mode is changed again (refer to above).
The player can either double click the tool again and then the house object to apply the last movement style chosen on the tool, or the player can use the target cursor on the tool itself to choose another movement style (such as selecting down instead of up).
House objects being moved must be locked down prior to being moved, and will remain locked down during the Decoration Tool movement process.

Posted by Keith at 6:40 PM

OSI: Taxidermy Kits

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Taxidermy Kits

Taxidermy Kits will allow for players to use corpses of certain creatures to create trophy deeds, which can be used within houses to generate a wall mounted trophy.

Taxidermy Kits will be found on NPC Tanners, usually found within “leather and hide” shops in towns. Only master and above carpenters can use the kit itself, as those without master or grandmaster status in carpentry will be unable to
figure out the kit’s workings.

A master carpenter is defined by UO as a player with 90.1 or above base carpentry skill (base skill, visible by checkmarking selecting “show real” in the skill window).

The player will need the following items to create a trophy:
Taxidermy Kit
10 boards
corpse of either:
Orc
Gorilla
Troll
Brown Bear
Polar Bear
Great Hart
Big Fish (note that “big fish” that have been stacked with other fish will not be useable by the taxidermy kit)
When a player with appropriate carpentry skill and materials double-clicks the taxidermy kit, they will get a targeting cursor. This cursor must be targeted on the corpse of the creature intended to be the trophy. The player will need to be at the corpse of one of these creatures to successfully use the taxidermy kit. The taxidermy kit will disappear upon successful usage, and a deed for a trophy will be placed within the player’s pack.

Any player attempting to place the trophy will need to have owner/co-owner status within the house. The trophy will need to be locked down to prevent decay or other players taking it. Double-clicking the trophy if it is not locked down will cause it to return to deed form in the player’s backpack.

Posted by Keith at 6:37 PM

OSI: Armor dexterity penalty problem

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Armor dexterity penalty problem

A bug with dexterity penalties not appearing on certain types of armor has been fixed. This fix will be retroactive and apply to all currently existing armor.

Posted by Keith at 6:34 PM

February 6, 2001

Stonemason Spotted in Vesper on Test Shard

The following observation from Leyf was posted at UOSS:

Stonemason Spotted in Vesper

Thanks to Leyf for letting us know about the addition of the Stonemason to round out the new NPC's found on the test shard called Test L10N. After checking it out it looks like almost every single type of flooring is now available. Included in the Stonemason's inventory is Marble, Stone, Brick, Sandstone, and a few others. Here's a quick pic to see a few examples:

Posted by Hazard [EiC] at 6:55 PM

February 5, 2001

Ilshenar Dungeon Maps Released

The following was posted by UOSS concerning the Ilshenar Dungeons from the Ultima Online: Third Dawn setting:

Ilshenar Dungeon Maps Released

Today we've finished the first set of Ilshenar dungeon maps. On these pages you will find detailed information on how the various levels of the dungeons connect to the outside world and to each other. Also you will find a detailed overview of the types of monsters that spawn at each level.

Enjoy!

Something that may be important to note here is that Ultima Online: Third Dawn is still in it's testing phases, and any details gathered during this time — including creature placement, special features and even the geography of these newest lands — may not remain as such by the time the final version is published.

Posted by Keith at 1:26 AM

February 3, 2001

Brand New UO3D Zoom-In Feature!

Joshua Rowan posted this item into the Yahoo Groups Ultima Online e-mail list:

It looks like UO3D will feature yet another incredible feature called Zoom-In with the use of either a Macro Key or a Wheel Mouse. I just went in to test it out and sure enough it is fully functional. To give you an idea on [the] range, the default Zoom is the normal UO view. From that, it zooms in to the point that your character is larger than even your Paperdoll. [Here is] what it looks like on the Full Zoom (my character is in the center). And just to clarify, this picture is taken at 100% in the screenshot. I did not zoom in with a graphic program at all. What you see in this image is the exact same size I saw it on my screen as I played:

Posted by Keith at 6:46 PM

Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta FAQ

I read the following at UOPowergamers:

Melantus posted this on UO Discussions boards, might be of some use for those of you who ordered a CD.

Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta FAQ

Can a Third Dawn Beta CD be used for more than one account?

Yes - if the all accounts are owned by the same person. Sharing a Third Dawn Beta CD with another person (account holder) is a violation of the End User License Agreement.

I entered my address incorrectly when ordering my CD. How can I change it before my CD is shipped?

You may change your address by contacting Dot Com, the company fulfilling our CD shipment, on or after February 1st, 2001. CDs will not be shipped until February 1st (EST). You may contact Dot Com via email at uo3dbeta@dotcomdist.com or via the toll-free customer support line at 1-866-277-7106. Please note: the email and telephone numbers are for inquiries only. You cannot order a Third Dawn beta CD by contacting Dot Com directly.

I don’t have a credit card. Can I join the UO: Third Dawn beta?

No. We accept only MasterCard, Visa, AMEX and Discovery cards for beta CD payment.

I was asked to enter my password on the order form. I thought you never asked for passwords?

While we will never contact you directly to ask for your account password, there are certain instances where we require authentication that you are an Ultima Online customer. For example, both modifying your existing account and registering for a MyUO account require that you tell us your account name and password via a secure web page. However, you should never give out your account and password information on a website that is not located at http://www.uo.com or http://www.ultima-registration.com.

For the Ultima Online: Third Dawn beta, we require this information to confirm that you are a current subscriber to Ultima Online.

How can I cancel my order?

You may cancel your order by contacting Dot Com, the company fulfilling our CD shipment, on or after February 1st, 2001. CDs will not be shipped until February 1st (EST). You may contact Dot Com via email at uo3dbeta@dotcomdist.com or via the toll-free customer support line at 1-866-277-7106. Please note: the email and telephone numbers are for inquiries only. You cannot order a Third Dawn beta CD by contacting Dot Com directly.

After submitting my order I received a message stating that the server had timed out and I didn’t receive my confirmation number. How do I know if my CD was ordered?

Because of the high volume of traffic ordering beta CDs, you may not receive a confirmation number after submitting your order. As each Ultima Online account may only order a single beta CD, you can confirm that your order was received by returning to http://www.uo3d.com/beta and submitting a second order using the same account. If your original order was accepted, you will not be able to complete a second order.

I live outside the United States, but have a United States billing address on my credit card. How can I order my CD?

The form for CD orders from outside the US will now allow you to select US, Canadian, and Mexican addresses for credit card billing.

I have multiple UO accounts. Can I order multiple beta CDs?

Yes. If you have multiple accounts, you may order CDs on a one-per-account basis.

I was a member of the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Alpha test. Will my CD work for the beta test? Can I continue to test?

Yes. Both the Alpha CDs and the Beta CDs will patch to the final Ultima Online: Third Dawn release. If you participated in the alpha test phase, you are quite welcome to participate in the beta test phase.

My friend managed to order a CD after you announced the group was full? How is that so?

When each beta ordering group reaches 10,000 CD orders, we stop accepting any new orders for that group. However, we didn’t want anyone in the middle of the process to lose out on ordering their CD. Thus any users who are in the midst of the order process are allowed to complete their orders once a group is full.

My confirmation number started with (insert high number here). That’s over 10,000 - does it mean I didn’t get into the beta test?

If you received a confirmation number for your order, your order of a beta CD was completed. The confirmation numbers have no relation to the number of CDs in a beta group.

Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online
Melantus@uo.com

Posted by Keith at 2:25 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.7

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.7

We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.7 this evening. This patch contains additional localization files and will resolve text issues with shopkeepers and banking on the test shards.

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html. Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 8:01 AM

February 2, 2001

OSI: UO: Third Dawn Beta Signup – Group 1

The following was posted to the Common Issues page of the Ultima Online Web site:

UO: Third Dawn Beta Signup – Group 1

The first group of Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta CDs has sold out and new orders may not be initiated on the Beta CD order website at this time. The next Beta CD order period will begin at 3:00 PM CST.

Posted by Keith at 11:02 AM

January 31, 2001

OSI: Publish Update Jan 31

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update Jan 31

We will be publishing the design changes and bug fixes listed in Testing For Next Update to all of the remaining shards. This publish will be active on the shards following regularly scheduled maintenance based on the schedule below, barring any unforeseen downtimes.

Thursday, February 1st (local server time)
Yamato, Wakoku, Asuka, Izumo, Hokuto, Europa, Drachenfels, Catskills, Lake Superior, Great Lakes, Napa Vally, Baja, Sonoma

Friday, February 2nd (local server time)
Siege Perilous, AOL Legends, Oceania, Arirang, Balhae, Formosa

These shards may experience an extended downtime on during their maintenance periods on these days while we finalize the publish.

All changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 7:30 PM

OSI: Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Status

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Status

Orders for 20,000 CDs are still coming up for the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Test! We experienced some technical difficulties and heavy load when opening the first group this morning, but have been optimizing the site to help alleviate the issues during groups two and three. The next opportunity to order a beta CD will open at 3:00PM CST. Stop by http://www.uo3d.com/beta for details and to order your CD!

Posted by Keith at 7:28 PM

OSI: Baja Shard Issues

The following two items were posted to the Shard Issues page on the Ultima Online web site:

Baja Jan 31 2001 1:23AM CST (GMT -06:00)
Due to server problems, the Baja Shard is currently unavailable . We are currently working to resolve this issue and expect the shard to be available in approximately .5 hours.

Baja Jan 31 2001 2:08AM CST (GMT -06:00)
The Baja shard returned to service and is now available. We apologize for any inconvenience this interruption may have caused.

Posted by Keith at 10:20 AM

January 30, 2001

OSI: Join the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Test

The following was just posted to What's New on the UO.com website:

Join the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Test

We are pleased to announce the opening of the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta Testing period. Come join us in testing the brand new look and feel of this latest version of Ultima Online.

We will be opening the Ultima Online: Third Dawn Beta CD Ordering site at 6:00 AM CST on Wednesday, January 31st. CD ordering will be available in three groups of 10,000 CDs. CDs will be available for the price of shipping and handling, and you must have an active Ultima Online account in good standing to complete your order.

Details and schedule information may be found at http://www.uo3d.com/beta.

Please remember, this is a closed beta period with a limit of 30,000 CDs. Additional opportunities to beta test this game will be available in the future.

Posted by Keith at 5:07 PM

Just wanted to point out

There is alot of news I saw at UOSS: UO3D Beta coming and Veteran Rewards pushed back are the highlights. Go get 'em newsjockies! :-)

Posted by Keith at 2:41 PM

January 26, 2001

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.6c

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.6c

We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.6c this evening. This patch contains additional localization files and resolves some compatability issues with the Third Dawn client.

Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 12:37 AM

January 25, 2001

OSI: Spawn Changes

The following was recently posted to the Testing for Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Spawn Changes

The way creatures spawn within UO has been changed to a more dynamic and reactionary system. The new spawning system will allow for better system control over how creatures spawn within UO, and will allow for better defined and detailed dynamic spawn changes. As a result of better control over the spawn system in UO, spawn behavior may alter. We will continue to watch the spawn rate, and make changes as necessary.

Posted by Keith at 9:28 PM

OSI: Publish Update

The following was recently posted to the FYI section on the Ultima Online Web site:

Publish Update

We will be publishing the design changes and bug fixes listed in Testing For Next Update to the Pacific Shard. This publish will be active on Pacific following its Friday, January 26th (local server time) maintenance period, barring any unforeseen downtimes. We will monitor the Pacific shard over the weekend for any problems that might occur. The schedule for publish of these items to the remaining shards will be announced at a later time.

All changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 9:26 PM

January 24, 2001

OSI: Various Changes and Fixes

The following has been added to Testing For Next Update on Jan 22 on the Ultima Online Web site:

Various Changes and Fixes

The issue of mongbats spawning improperly in the tutorial has been corrected.

A problem with armoires moving from their location improperly has been fixed.

Posted by Keith at 12:17 AM

OSI: Fixes to the Faction System

The following has been added to Testing For Next Update on Jan 22 on the Ultima Online Web site:

Fixes to the Faction System

Players not in factions will no longer be able to enter faction strongholds. This includes pets and hirelings of non-faction members. A bulletin board will be placed outside of the faction strongholds, to allow players to sign up to join the faction.

A problem with faction stones losing accurate records of the faction's town guards and shopkeepers has been fixed.

A problem with faction hued items appearing on players who are not carrying a town sigil has been fixed.

A problem with faction voting has been corrected, so that faction members may only vote once per voting session.

Posted by Keith at 12:16 AM

January 22, 2001

OSI: Karma Locking

The following was posted to Testing For Next Update on the Ultima Online Web site:

Karma Locking

Players will be able to lock their karma. By locking karma, players will be able to control their character's status titles better. Players who wish to appear as "evil" will be able to kill monsters without gaining both fame and karma. Players will still gain or lose fame, regardless of karma lock status. The important thing to remember about karma locking is that you can only prevent yourself from gaining karma, not losing it.

The karma lock will function in the following manners:
The first time a player goes "negative" in their karma rating, their karma will no longer be able to raise until they visit a shrine to be "cleansed". New characters start at just above the zero karma setting, within the positive range. If players "cleanse themselves," therefore "unlocking" their karma, and then do an action that generates any more negative karma, the karma will lock again and will not be able to raise karma until the player visits a shrine to be cleansed again.
If a player with positive karma chooses to lock their karma from raising any higher, they may go to the Chaos Shrine and speak the word "bal". Doing so will lock their karma, and they will receive the message "You once again control your destiny".
Players wishing to remove their karma lock may visit the virtue shrines and speak the following words of power for that shrine:
Compassion - mu
Honesty - ahm
Honor - summ
Humility - lum
Justice - beh
Sacrifice - cah
Spirituality - om
Valor - ra
Players who are having trouble raising karma may wish to visit a virtue shrine and speak the appropriate word of power to make sure their karma is not locked. If a player has their karma locked, the action of "I honor thee" from other players will not cause the locked karma to raise. The karma must be unlocked for "I honor thee" to have an effect.

Posted by Keith at 6:43 PM

OSI: Taxidermy Kits

The following was posted to General Testing on the Ultima Online Web site:

Taxidermy Kits

Taxidermy Kits will allow players to use corpses of certain creatures to create trophy deeds, which can be used in houses to generate a wall-mounted trophy.

Taxidermy Kits will be found on NPC Tanners, usually found within "leather and hide" shops in towns. Only master and above carpenters can use the kit itself, as those without master or grandmaster status in carpentry will be unable to figure out the kit's workings.

A master carpenter is defined by UO as a player with 90.1 or above base carpentry skill (base skill, visible by clicking "show real" in the skill window).

The player will need the following items to create a trophy:
Taxidermy Kit
10 boards
corpse of either:
Orc
Gorilla
Troll
Brown Bear
Polar Bear
Great Hart
Big Fish (note that "big fish" that have been stacked with other fish will not be useable by the taxidermy kit)
When the player with enough carpentry skill and materials listed above uses the taxidermy kit, they will get a targeting cursor. This cursor is targeted on the corpse of the creature (or big fish) intended to be the trophy. Thus, the player will need to be at the corpse of one of these creatures to successfully use the taxidermy kit. The taxidermy kit will disappear upon successful use and a deed for a trophy will be placed in the player's pack.

The player attempting to place the trophy will need to be a owner or co-owner of the house. The trophy will need to be locked down to prevent decay or other players taking it. Double clicking the trophy if it is not locked down will cause it to return to deed form in the player's backpack.

Posted by Keith at 6:39 PM

OSI: Veteran Rewards Deactivated

The following was posted to the FYI section of the Ultima Online Web site:

Veteran Rewards Deactivated

Due to issues with the veteran rewards system, we have deactivated the system on all shards. At this time, we do not have an updated schedule for when they will be reactivated.

We strongly advise players not to participate in selling, trading, or buying existing rewards until further notice.

We will update you again once we have additional information.

Posted by Keith at 12:31 AM

January 21, 2001

Gestures added to Third Dawn including Dancing!

The following was posted to UOSS:

Gestures added to Third Dawn including Dancing!

I think I have just died and gone to heaven. I just logged into the Third Dawn this morning to find that they have added a feature called Gestures. Among the 50+ things that you can now do are 4 different styles of Dancing. And when I say dancing I really mean dancing. They have modern dancing, tribal dancing, and two different kinds of folk dancing (including one that looks exactly like River Dancing). By clicking the Gesture button over and over you can get the same dance move to loop so that it looks very smooth.

The other gestures available are Walk, Walkstaff, Run, Runstaff, Idle1, Idle2, Fidget, Combatidle1h, Combatidle2h, AttackSlash1h, AttackBash1h, AttackPierce1h, AttackSlash2h, AttackBash2h, AttackPierce2h, Combatadvance, spell1, spell2, attackbow, attackcrossbow, gethit, die1, die2, block, punch, bow, salute, applaud, argue, argue2, argue3, blowkiss, formalbow (much fancier than normal bow), casual bow, cover ears, curtsey (another very fancy bow), folkdance (River Dancing), folkdance2, dance, tribaldance, foldarms, impatient, lecture, nod, point, armed salute, greet salute, unarmed salute, shakes head, enemy salute (*grins*), victory, victory2, wave, two hand wave, longdistance wave, and what.

Out of all of them, I have to say that the dancing ones are by far the coolest. But several others are very nice too, especially the Formal Bow and the Enemy Salute (visible method of flipping someone off by using both arms).

Posted by Keith at 6:37 PM

Taxidermy Kits

The following was posted on UOSS:

Taxidermy Kits

It looks like we have found out what Big Fish are used for. On the Volunteer shard, Tanner NPCs are now selling Taxidermy Kits. These kits are used to make mounted wall trophies.

You must have at least 90.1 Carpentry to buy and use the kits. The one I purchased was around 83K, but I saw one in Britain that cost over 100K, so the price obviously fluctuates.

To make a Trophy, you need the Taxidermy Kit, 10 boards or logs, and the corpse of what you wish to mount must be nearby. You double click the Kit, target the corpse and a deed for the trophy is placed in your backpack. The Kit is one use only, and is destroyed after you use it.

I didnt have enough money to buy a house on the Volunteer Shard to actually try placing the trophy. However, I heard from Iome, who tells me that once you place a trophy, you can "re-deed" it by double clicking on it, so you can move it to another location.

I made a "stag trophy" deed from a dead Great Heart. I dont know what other animals are available, but Pug of Crydee posted the following photo of the available trophies in the curent UO artwork:

My thanks go out to Carpent, SugarRush and Rush for their help in obtaining the funds on the Volunteer Shard to purchase the kit. Also thanks to all the posters on the UOSS Carpentry and Fishing boards for their information.

Posted by Keith at 2:04 PM

January 19, 2001

OSI: Veteran Rewards Release Schedule

The following was just added to FYI on the Ultima Online Web site:

Veteran Rewards Release Schedule

In an effort to provide optimal support for all shards as we release Veteran Rewards, we have tentatively rescheduled their release. We are currently targeting to release 12+ and 24+ month veteran rewards to all remaining shards following their Wednesday, January 24th maintenance period. Veteran rewards for these accounts will be activated on the Siege Perilous shard following its Friday, January 26th maintenance period.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you should not choose to accept rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards mistakenly chosen on the wrong shard will not, under any circumstances, be replaced or transferred.

To speed resolution of any support-related issues with Veteran Rewards, we recommend that you contact the Account Support department with any questions about account age discrepancies at uobilling@uo.com. Non-account related Veteran Rewards issues should be directed to uorewards@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:56 PM

OSI: House Decoration Tool

The following was just added to General Testing on the Ultima Online Web site:

House Decoration Tool

Players will be able to use a House Decoration Tool to assist them with the decoration of their houses within UO. The tool has the following abilities:
The tool will be sold on Architect NPC's
Has the ability to turn certain objects to face south-to-east, or east-to-south. An example of an object that is able to be turned would be a wall clock. Not all objects can be turned.
Has the ability to raise or lower certain objects, thus allowing for items such as the wall clock to be "hung" on a wall. Not all objects can be raised or lowered.
The tool itself operates in the following manner:
The player using the tool must be the owner or a co-owner of the house where the tool will be used.
The player must actually be in the house to use the tool.
When the player double clicks the tool, targeting the tool with the target cursor will bring up a menu. The menu choices are "turn", "up", and "down".
Upon selecting turn, up, or down, the player will be able to target an item in the house to apply that effect.
The player can either double click the tool again and then the house object to apply the last movement style chosen on the tool, or the player can use the target cursor on the tool itself to choose another movement style (such as selecting down instead of up).
The house objects being moved must be locked down, and will remain locked down during the Decoration Tool movement process.

Posted by Keith at 6:51 PM

OSI: Drachenfels and Europa Veteran Rewards

The following was just added to FYI on the Ultima Online Web site:

Drachenfels and Europa Veteran Rewards

Due to issues with the veteran rewards system, we will be disabling the system on Drachenfels and Europa. The other shards have not been affected by this issue and therefore, the veteran rewards system will remain active on other shards.

We will update you again once the system is activated.

Posted by Keith at 6:48 PM

January 18, 2001

OSI: Hair Stylist NPC

The following has been added to General Testing on the UO Page:

Hair Stylist NPC

A new type of NPC will become available throughout Britannia, which will offer restyling of hair/beards and dying for hair. Options for dying beards and hair range from both at the same time to separate selections for either hair or beards.

The choices on this vendor will allow for selections of:
Adding a new hair style (including "bald" style)
Adding a new beard style (including no beard)
Regular hair dye selection
Regular beard dye selection
Special hair dye selection ("neon" or bright colors, including 2 shades of "ice white")
Special beard dye selection ("neon" or bright colors, including 2
shades of "ice white")
The curly hair and "bun" hair styles will not be available from this menu.

These vendors will be in the major towns, within the alchemy shops. They will be distinguishable from regular vendors by their appearance."

Posted by Keith at 6:17 PM

OSI: General Testing with Moongates & Inter-facet travel

The following has been added to General Testing on the UO Page:

The following changes will be implemented to inter-facet travel, and travel to new Third Dawn areas:

Existing game-created moongates (the moongates encircled by large rocks, near towns) will be altered to allow for more selective destinations, including that of facets. Players who are murderers will not be able to go to Trammel facet using this selection feature. The choices of selections will also include Ilshenar for those players who have the Third Dawn Client.
A menu will be presented when entering the gate.
Each page within the menu will represent a facet within UO. For example, page one of the menu will represent Trammel. An option will be available to switch pages easily.
Town areas to choose will appear on each page as possible destinations on that facet.
Note that the town closest to the gate will be it's representing town, as the gates themselves are not actually within the town limits in many cases.
Moonstone functionality will not change. No new kinds of moonstones will be added.

Posted by Keith at 6:15 PM

January 17, 2001

Sage and Evocare talk about Changes to Factions

I read the following about factions on UOSS:

Sage and Evocare talk about Changes to Factions

Sage started the following thread on OSI's Faction Forum:
I would like to address some of the faction issues, and let everyone know where we stand on the issues currently. We are fully committed to making the faction system a strong system players can enjoy for the length of their careers. The following issues are currently being researched and fixed by the development team.

There was a problem where the system could possibly lose all of the data. The faction member might notice a title of “unknown”. This problem has had several safeguards put in to prevent it, and should it happen, a clean system is automatically put into place. A clean system means all the players will remain and keep their silver. However, the players would lose kill points, no towns would be occupied, no sigils would be corrupted or taken, no improvements would remain, and no officials would be elected. This should now happen very rarely, if ever.
Townstones on Catskills were not usable after having been cleaned under a faction wipe. This problem will no longer happen in the rare case that a faction would ever need to be wiped.
Townstones are losing track of hirelings. This will no longer happen.
The COM stronghold will be altered so that it has only one entrance.
Blue Players will no longer be able to enter strongholds, and a small area around the entrance.
Blue Players will no longer be able to cast spells into these same areas.
We are still researching the issue with elections in factions. Some factions are not able to hold elections, as the system is in a holding pattern.
Q: How are blues gonna join factions if they can't enter a stronghold?
A: There will be a recruitment stone outside of the faction stronghold now.
Q: Are you gonna just close off one side of the bridge of the CoM stronghold, or you gonna narrow the other remaining side also?
A: Basically, there will now be a chokepoint like all other faction strongholds.
That is our update so far. This by no means addresses everything we hope to improve with factions, but should give everyone an idea of our immediate concerns. We are still gathering your feedback on further improvements and I would like to thank you for all the good feedback so far.
In another thread, Evocare mentioned the following on faction town control extension:
Hi there, we're currently considering extending the guaranteed time (aka "grace period") a faction controls a town to six days (rather then the current 3 days). I'd like to know what your thoughts on this issue are, thanks!

Posted by Keith at 10:50 PM

Lockdown Warning About Veteran Rewards

I read the following warning from Bosola on UOSS:

Lockdown Warning About Veteran Rewards

If you get a flaming head, LOCK it down. This is not clear in the latest updates info. I just spoke to a GM about it. Apparently, according to the GM unlocked flaming heads will decay "rather quickly." One thing is for sure: Flaming heads don't spout flame unless locked down. So if you dont' want to chance losing it, lock it down until further notice.

I assume the same holds true for banners.

Posted by Keith at 5:35 PM

OSI: Publish Update - Veteran Rewards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update - Veteran Rewards

We have revised the target date to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12+ and 24+ months or older on all non-Japanese shards. Veteran Rewards for these accounts will be activated on the shards on Monday, January 22nd (local server time). The Siege Perilous shard will be activated with the rewards following its regularly scheduled maintenance period on Friday, January 26th, barring any unforeseen downtime.

We are continuing to work to resolve the localization issue with the Japanese shards and will release a schedule for these shards once one has been determined.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you should not choose to accept rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards mistakenly chosen on the wrong shard will not, under any circumstances, be replaced or transferred.

For more information on the various types or rewards and qualifications for receiving those rewards, visit Testing for Next Update.

Posted by Keith at 5:25 PM

OSI: Veteran Reward window display

The following was posted to the FYI section of the Ultima Online web site:

Veteran Reward window display

Due to the numbers of players logging in to the various UO shards, this causes an excessive amount of veteran reward window "requests" to be placed upon the veteran reward system. The system is working, however. Players should get the veteran reward window to appear after waiting online for a few minutes. If you have not yet received the veteran reward window, please wait for a few moments and it should appear normally.

Posted by Keith at 2:56 PM

January 16, 2001

OSI: Publish Update - Veteran Rewards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update - Veteran Rewards

We are currently targeting to release the Veteran Rewards to accounts aged 36 months or older on all non-Japanese shards on Wednesday, January 17th. The rewards will be activated on these shards following their return from regularly scheduled maintenance. We are working to resolve a localization issue on the Japanese shards and will activate rewards to these shards on a separate schedule if necessary.

We will monitor the activated shards for any issues that may arise. We are tentatively scheduling to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12+ and 24+ months of age or older (in addition to the 36+ month accounts) following regularly scheduled maintenance on Thursday, January 18th (local shard time). Shards which do not have scheduled Thursday morning maintenance will receive their rewards following maintenance on Friday, January 19th. As with the 36+ month activation, this schedule includes only non-Japanese shards.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among any characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you SHOULD NOT choose to take rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards will not be transferred between shards.

More information regarding specific details of the various types of rewards, and qualifications for getting those rewards, can be found in Testing for Next Update.

Posted by Keith at 7:06 PM

January 12, 2001

OSI: Sonoma Rewards Activation

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online web site:

Sonoma Rewards Activation

The Veteran Rewards system will be active on the Sonoma shard following its Saturday morning maintenance. At that time, eligible players will again be able to chose rewards. Also, the issue with regards to AR and the veteran rewards will be resolved at that time.

Please note that rewards taken on the Sonoma shard will count against the total rewards you can take. If you do not play on the Sonoma shard, you should not choose rewards on that shard as any rewards you do take cannot be transfered to your characters on the shard(s) you do play on.

Posted by Keith at 9:49 PM

OSI: Sonoma Veteran Rewards Update

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online web site:

Sonoma Veteran Rewards Update

We have resolved the issues affecting Veteran Rewards on the Sonoma shard, and will be reactivating the rewards system. However, it is possible that during a brief period before rewards were deactivated, some players may have had the opportunity to receive more veteran rewards than they should have.

While we do have extensive tracking systems in place for Veteran Rewards, the issues that affected the Sonoma shard also affected the tracking systems, rendering the data from that short time period unavailable. While it would be technically possible to remove the Veteran Rewards system entirely and delete all rewards, and/or identify many of the accounts that may have more than their fair share of rewards, the resource drain in doing so would not only hold the release of Veteran Rewards to the remaining servers, but would require resources currently committed to Ultima Online: Third Dawn - resulting in a delay of that product as well. Without this data, we are unable to determine the number of accounts that may have received extra rewards during this time period.

After discussing the delay of other systems and the Third Dawn product against the possibility that some players may have received additional rewards during a short period of time, we have determined that the best possible solution at this time is to continue forward with the Veteran Rewards publish. The issue that caused this bug in the rewards system has been resolved and should not affect future publishes to other shards. At this time, we will not be addressing the possible extra rewards, but will continue to schedule the release of Veteran Rewards to the remaining shards.

Posted by Keith at 9:46 PM

January 11, 2001

OSI: Veteran Rewards - Volunteer Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Veteran Rewards - Volunteer Update

The issues affecting account age and volunteer accounts has been resolved. Accounts that were at any time compensated for volunteer duties (Counselors, Seers, etc.) will not reflect the correct account age and be offered the appropriate veteran rewards. This change will resolve a similar issue with accounts paid for by Gametime coupons.

Posted by Keith at 10:27 PM

OSI: Sonoma Veteran Rewards Deactivated

The following was just posted to Shard Issues on the UO.com website:

Sonoma Veteran Rewards Deactivated

Due to issues with the system , veteran rewards have been temporarily disabled on the Sonoma shard and the shard will be brought internal and reverted to approximately 5:00PM PST.

Posted by Keith at 10:26 PM

January 9, 2001

OSI: Publish Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update

We will be publishing the design changes and bug fixes listed in Testing for Next Update to all shards. This publish will be active on all North American shards (excluding Siege Perilous) following their Wednesday, January 9th (local server time) maintenance period, barring any unforeseen downtimes. The publish will be active on the all remaining shards following their Friday, January 11th (local server time) maintenance period.

This publish will not include Veteran Rewards on shards other than Sonoma. We will release a schedule for the activation of Veteran Rewards on remaining shards at a later date. The 12 and 24 month Veteran Rewards will be enabled on the Sonoma shard following this maintenance period.

Veteran rewards are given out based on account age, not characters, so please remember that if you are not a regular Sonoma player, and choose to accept a veteran reward on the Sonoma shard, you will not be able to transfer this award to your regular shard, and you will have debited your overall reward choices.

All changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active
on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 10:04 PM

OSI: Magic in Towns, Hero/Evil Changes

The following was just updated to Testing for Next Update on the UO.com website:

Magic in Towns, Hero/Evil Changes

Changes to magic in justice areas and the disabling of the Hero/Evil system.

The following changes will be updated.
Certain spells that were previously castable in justice regions will no longer be castable in justice regions. These spells include: Wall of Stone, Poison Field, Mass Curse, Paralyzation Field, Chain Lightning, Energy Field, Meteor Storm, Earth Quake, Blade Spirits, and Energy Vortex.
Due to conflict with the faction system, the Hero/Evil system will be disabled on the Siege Perilous shard.

Posted by Keith at 9:57 PM

UOAM for UO:Third Dawn Now Available

The following was posted recently to the UOAM (Ultima Online Auto-Map) home page:

UOAM for UO:Third Dawn Now Available

In an amazing gesture of good-will (that and I don't have enough beta testers with alpha CDs) I have released a test version of UO Auto-Map for UO:Third Dawn.

Go here to get it but please remember that it hasn't been fully tested yet.

Posted by Keith at 6:14 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.4.d

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4.d

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.4.d to all shards. This patch fixes a crash issue with boat/house placement.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:11 PM

January 8, 2001

Interior Decorator [UO3D Alpha]

Noctalis.com's UO section posted the following observation concerning a soon-to-be-popular house decorating tool that's appeared in Ultima Online: Third Dawn:

Interior Decorator [UO3D Alpha]
Sold by architects for ±9,000 gold.
Double-clicking the tool for the first time will allow you to choose one of three options; “Turn”, “Up” and “Down”.
Double-clicking the tool and targeting a locked-down item will allow you to affect the item with the selected option.
“Turn” – The item will turn 90°.
“Up” or “Down” – The item will raise or lower one level. You will get a message if the item cannot raise any higher.
Using the tool and then targeting the tool will allow you to select a different option.
Anyone who has tried getting the facing right on chairs will really appreciate the turn option.
This item just made obsolete our (already out-of-date) Decorating Tips page.
Attempting to raise a locked-down house add-on (I tried a small forge) will get you the message “That item is too heavy”.
Screenshot

Posted by Keith at 6:57 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.4c

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4c

We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.4c later this evening. The client patch will include the following:
The default desktop feature will be temporarily disabled.
Moving the mouse over a player or creature status bar, regardless of peace or war mode, will now highlight the associated player or creature. This effect will be the same as if you moved your mouse over the creature or player while in war mode.
Compatibility files for Ultima Online: Third Dawn will be added to the UO directory.
An outdated sound file will be removed.
Additionally, a client crash caused by using the 2D client on the Alpha Third Dawn shard has been fixed.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:36 PM

OSI: Ethereal Ostards and Veteran Rewards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Ethereal Ostards and Veteran Rewards

Players with non-T2A clients who select the ethereal ostard as a veteran rewards will be unable to access/view their reward (as it is not supported by the original UO client). If you are a three-year veteran with a non-T2A supported game client, you will need to upgrade your client. Information on upgrading is available through the Ultima Online website at https://secure.owo.com/order/order.asp.

Posted by Keith at 6:32 PM

Hairstylists discovered in UO: Third Dawn

UO Stratics posted the following information about Ultima Online: Third Dawn's graphics. The original can be found here:

Hairstylists discovered in UO: Third Dawn

On the UO: Third Dawn Alpha shard you can find a new type of NPC called a hairstylist in some of the Alchemy shops. This vendor can change your hair for a mere 50.000 gold and/or give it a funky color for only 500.000 gold. Now I don't know about you, but half a million gold, just to do your hair, is outrageous in my humble opinion.

Please note that the third picture has been doctored, in-game you will have to pick which group of colors you want to see and then the corresponding list of colors will be displayed on the right side of the gump.

Posted by Keith at 8:52 AM

UO Third Dawn - Textures and Animations

UO Stratics posted the following information about Ultima Online: Third Dawn's graphics. The original can be found here:

UO Third Dawn - Textures and Animations

Whilst browsing the UO: Third Dawn Alpha files I stumbled upon a directory where all kinds of textures for items and characters are stored. It will take some imagination to take these "flat" pictures and imagine them in 3D, but it will give you a good idea of what the graphics of UO: Third Dawn look like. Here are some textures for your viewing pleasure.

I also found lots of animation files on the CD that determine how all creatures move. You can download an animation player called "The Granny Player" and see thread models of UO creatures move around. For those of you that do not have access to a UO: Third Dawn Alpha CD, here are some models of a Cyclops, Wyvern, Harpy, Kraken, Evil Mage, Orc Captain and Shadow Lord. Make sure you first download these files to your computer and then use the Granny Player to view them.
Enjoy!

Posted by Keith at 8:51 AM

Weapons of Virtue Update

UO Stratics posted the following:

Weapons of Virtue Update

The Weapons of Virtue list has been updated with the latest findings. The supposed extra protection one gets from a "Elemental's Health" weapon has been confirmed as being false. None of the Virtue weapons offer any kind of protection other than doing more damage to certain types of monsters.
One of the more interesting and confirmed discoveries about virtue weapons is that each weapon has an opposing group; For instance the Repond weapons group has as an opposing group, undead. Carry silver, and Repond creatures do double damage to you. Carry Repond weapons and undead creatures do double damage to you, and so on. A lot of research still needs to be done on this, but at least now we know for sure that every Virtue weapon has a specific downside.

Posted by Keith at 8:48 AM

OSI: Veteran Rewards Update - Volunteer Accounts

The following was just posted to Shard Issues on the UO.com website:

Veteran Rewards Update - Volunteer Accounts

An issue relating to account age and volunteer accounts has been identified in the veteran rewards system and is currently being addressed. At this time, accounts that at any time were compensated for volunteer duties (Counselors, Seers, etc.) may not return the correct account age. We are currently working to resolve this issue and expect to have a fix updated in the next several days. However, these accounts may not reflect the correct account age following the release to the Sonoma shard on Monday, January 8th.

Posted by Keith at 12:26 AM

OSI: Sonoma Veteran Rewards Update

The following was just posted to Shard Issues on the UO.com website:

Sonoma Veteran Rewards Update

After the Sonoma shard returns from its Monday morning maintenance we will leave the shard internal while we check the veteran rewards system. We expect the shard to remain internal for approximately one additional hour after it restarts from its maintenance. Should any issues arise that require us to keep the shard internal longer, we will post an update here.

Posted by Keith at 12:25 AM

January 5, 2001

OSI: Holiday Ticket Distribution Deactivation

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Holiday Ticket Distribution Deactivation

The distribution of holiday tickets will be disabled on all shards following their Monday, January 8th scheduled maintenance period (local server time). This change will not affect existing holiday tickets or holiday trees. We will post a schedule for the deactivation of holiday trees at a future date.

Posted by Keith at 11:46 PM

OSI: Publish Update - Veteran Rewards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update - Veteran Rewards

We are currently targeting to release the Veteran Rewards to accounts aged 36 months or older on the Sonoma shard on Monday, January 8th. The rewards will be activated following the shard's return from regularly scheduled maintenance.

We will monitor the Sonoma shard for any issues that may arise. We are tentatively scheduling to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12- and 24-months of age or older (in addition to the 36-month accounts) following regularly scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, January 10th. A release schedule for the remaining shards will be available on Friday, January 12th.

Veteran rewards are given out based on account age, not characters, so please remember that if you are not a regular Sonoma player, and choose to accept a veteran reward on the Sonoma shard, you will not be able to transfer this award to your regular shard, and you will have debited your overall reward choices.

More information regarding specific details of the various types of rewards, and qualifications for getting those rewards, can be found in Testing for Next Update.

Posted by Keith at 11:42 PM

December 21, 2000

OSI: Ultima Online Third Dawn Alpha Test

The following was just posted to What's New on the UOUO.com website and to the Third Dawn website:

Ultima Online Third Dawn Alpha Test

We are pleased to announce the start of alpha testing for Ultima Online: Third Dawn! Players participating in the alpha testing phase will begin receiving their CDs and testing instructions in the next several days and are free to log in and start testing as soon as they've received their CDs. Additionally, a new shard named "Alpha 3rd Dawn" will be appearing in the shard listing. This shard is open to all players, but only those with the Third Dawn alpha client will be able to access the new lands through the moongates of Britannia on this shard. The Third Dawn client may be used with any Ultima Online shard, but the new land of Ilshenar is only available on the Alpha 3rd Dawn shard.

As a reminder, this is an alpha testing phase, and as such, we ask that participants keep in mind the known issues list. This list will appear as an in-game message, as a file titled "readme3d.txt" in your Third Dawn directory, and on the Third Dawn bug reporting message board. In addition to known issues, there may also be significant changes made to the game during this phase, and some of the changes may require substantial file downloads - including an approximate 25 megabyte patch download to Third Dawn following installation of the alpha CD. While we will do our best to avoid patches of this size in the future, alpha testers should be aware of the possibility of significant patching. Finally, alpha testers should pay close attention to the Third Dawn bug reporting message board and the "readme3d.txt" file for detailed instructions from the Quality Assurance team explaining the current testing focus and instructions for bug submissions.

During the Third Dawn testing stages, the game is not supported by EA technical or customer support. Game issues that are considered bugs should only be directed to the Third Dawn bug reporting message board. This message board will open to the public on Friday, December 22nd, and can be accessed from the UO Message Boards at http://boards.uo.com.

We appreciate the effort of all of our testers during this early stage of alpha testing and we look forward to sharing the new look of Ultima Online with all of our fans.

Posted by Keith at 6:22 PM

OSI: Introducing UO Customer eSupport

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Introducing UO Customer eSupport

As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the customer support provided for Ultima Online, we are pleased to introduce the new UO Customer eSupport System. This searchable knowledge base will allow you to contact us via email, browse frequently asked support questions, find answers to common questions about Ultima Online, and rate the helpfulness of the information you receive.

The UO Customer eSupport System has been integrated into our website via our Contacts page so that we may immediately start providing our customers with enhanced eSupport. The UO Customer eSupport System is currently only available for English language support. We hope you'll take the time to explore and experience this new addition!

Posted by Keith at 6:19 PM

Client Patch 2.0.4a

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4a

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.4a which will resolve issues affecting health status updates.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 6:15 PM

December 20, 2000

OSI: Nobles Hire Henchmen

The following was just posted to General Testing on the UO.com website:

Nobles Hire Henchmen

Nobles and Seekers of Adventure will have the following changes:
When a Noble or Seeker of Adventure is attacked outside of town limits, they will call "henchmen" for assistance.
Henchmen that can come to the aid of a Noble or Seeker of Adventure will have increased fighting ability. Some will use archery.
The Noble or Seeker of Adventure cannot be killed until the henchmen are dealt with (killed).
Henchmen will carry some of the gold from the noble or seeker of adventure as payment for coming to their rescue.
After a short time, the henchmen will leave the noble or seeker of adventure and return from where they came.

Posted by Keith at 7:51 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.4 Update (2)

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4 Update

We have resolved the issues with the 2.0.4 client patch and will be releasing it to all shards at approximately 4:30PM CST. This patch will temporarily disconnect all players from the shards to patch before returning.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 5:47 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.4 Update

The following was posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4 Update

We have determined it necessary to delay the 2.0.4 client patch while we address some late-breaking issues. We will post a revised release schedule as soon as one is determined.

Posted by Keith at 5:34 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.4 Update

The following was posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4 Update

We have determined it necessary to delay the 2.0.4 client patch while we address some late-breaking issues. We will post a revised release schedule as soon as one is determined.

Posted by Ursula at 5:32 PM

December 19, 2000

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.4

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.4

We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.4 on Wednesday, December 20th (CST). The client patch will remove the tips and update messages, fix an issue with the default desktops, and update language files.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 11:47 PM

December 18, 2000

Ultima Online: Third Dawn (PC) New Screens And Details

Gamespot recently posted this article about Ultima Online: Third Dawn, the original of which can be found here.

Ultima Online: Third Dawn (PC) New Screens And Details
The new 3D Ultima client revealed.

We have 9 pix
check them out...

Announced at the inaugural Ultima Online World Faire, UO: Third Dawn was paraded to the press yesterday with, if not a fanfare, then a certain degree of pride.

At heart Third Dawn takes the old 2D client software (the software that gives you access to the Ultima worlds) and gives it a new interface, improved functionality and most importantly, a new dimension.

Gone are the old 2D sprites, trees, texture tiles and lighting and in come fully 3D rendered avatars, monsters, vegetation and animals to give the game a look more appropriate to 2001 than 1996.
Origin has created nearly 200 different character models for the new 3D client but they are keen to make sure that it is reasonably accessible to most users, aiming for a minimunm spec of a 8Mb video card.

Ultima Online users with low-end machine needn't panic though - the old 2D client will still work perfectly well, the only downside is that 2D users won't be able to access the new land that is being launched with Third Dawn. This features a number of new buildings and monsters that are simply incompatible with the older 2D client.

The new land will be roughly equal in size to the land that was launched alongside Ultima Online: Renaissance, the previous 2D client iteration.

Origin claims the new interface is much more user friendly and better designed than before, and certainly the screen looks alot less cluttered. Where the old interface was a blank page to be filled by the user (often daunting to the new user, says Origin) the new interface has everything a user needs right there, although elements can be moved and removed with ease.

This all fits with the philosophy of making the Ultima Environment challenging for hardcore players but also enticing for the new user. As such the release of Third Dawn will also mark the launch of a new help channel to aid newbies get started.

Ultima Online: Third Dawn (which will include the 2D client) will be released by EA Games in the UK in March 2001.

Click the link above to see the new screens and join us next week for more info and screenshots.

Julian Boardman for GameSpot UK

The screenshots begin here.

Posted by Keith at 12:30 AM

December 15, 2000

OSI: Veteran Rewards Testing

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Veteran Rewards Testing

We will be restoring a recent game backup of the Great Lakes shard to a test shard in the next several days, and we urge Great Lakes players to drop by and join in Veterans Reward phased testing. The current phase in testing will allow reward choices to only those accounts with 36 months or more of active status. You do not need to have a current character on Great Lakes in order to help test. Any 36+ month account can create character(s) on the Great Lakes Test shard to test the rewards system. The rewards system may have to be deactivated for some hours at a time during these tests. If you do not see the system on when you arrive, try again in awhile!

We look forward to seeing you on the test shard!

Posted by Keith at 10:36 PM

December 14, 2000

OSI: Join the UO Customer eSupport Beta Test

The following was just posted to What's New on the UO.com website:

Join the UO Customer eSupport Beta Test

Ultima Online Support receives thousands of email letters every day from UO players around the world. Our team works to answer your questions, concerns, suggestions, and calls for help about everything from account questions to house lockdowns to llamas and ostards. We're always striving to find new ways to increase the level of customer service provided through our email support, and we'd like to ask your help in beta testing a new option.

The UO Customer eSupport System is a searchable knowledge base through which you can find answers to common questions about Ultima Online, browse frequently asked questions, send email, and rate the helpfulness of the information you find within the system. We are currently beta-testing this application and plan to release it to the public early next week. However, we can certainly use your comments and feedback! If you have a question or concern regarding Ultima Online, we hope you'll take the time over the next several days to visit the eSupport System and try it out. Does it offer valid and timely answers to questions? Is it easy to navigate and understand? Would you use it again to find answer to your questions? Simply send us your comments and feedback using the new system—we're interesting in hearing your opinions!

The UO Customer eSupport System is located at http://uo.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/uo. We hope you'll drop by and join in the testing!

Posted by Keith at 5:13 PM

OSI: Publish Update, Holiday Gifts

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update, Holiday Gifts

We will be publishing the changes listed in Testing for Next Update to all shards (excluding Sonoma) to be active following their Friday, December 15th scheduled maintenance period (local server time). This publish will include holiday gifts and holiday tree activation.

The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 5:10 PM

OSI: Ultima Online Service Update

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online web site:

Ultima Online Service Update

Power outages in the Austin area are continuing to interrupt areas of the Ultima Online service. At this time, the Lake Superior shard is unavailable. Additionally, telephone account support, email, game patching, and the Account Management website are out of service.

As we are unable to provide adequate support coverage for all shards due to power outage, we have decided to hold the publish of the items listed in Testing for Next Update to the remaining shards. We will release an updated schedule for this publish as soon as possible.

We are continuing to work at bringing the affected areas of our service online as quickly as possible.

Posted by Keith at 10:31 AM

December 13, 2000

OSI: Ultima Online Service Update

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online Service Update:

GM Support

Severe weather conditions in the Austin, Texas area have resulted in power outages affecting multiple areas of the UO service. Currently, all servers excluding Lake Superior are available for login. Telephone billing support, the patch server, email services, and certain areas of the UO.com website and the Account Management website are unavailable at this time. Technical support is available by telephone or via email.

We are working to restore functionality to all areas of the service, but are currently unable to provide an accurate estimate of the duration of this outage. We apologize for any inconvenience this interruption has caused.

Posted by Keith at 5:57 PM

OSI: GM Support

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online web site:

GM Support

We are having issues due to the inclement weather. GM support is currently unavailable until further notice.

Posted by Keith at 5:56 PM

OSI: Ultima Online Service Update

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online web site:

Ultima Online Service Update

Severe weather conditions in the Austin, Texas area have resulted in power outages affecting multiple areas of the UO service. Currently, all servers excluding Lake Superior are available for login. Telephone billing support, the patch server, email services, and certain areas of the UO.com website and the Account Management website are unavailable at this time. Technical support is available by telephone or via email.

We are working to restore functionality to all areas of the service, but are currently unable to provide an accurate estimate of the duration of this outage. We apologize for any inconvenience this interruption has caused.

Posted by Keith at 5:55 PM

OSI: Severe Weather Account Support

The following was posted to Common Issues on the Ultima Online web site:

Severe Weather Account Support

Due to severe weather conditions currently crossing the state of Texas, Ultima Online telephone account support will close at 12:30PM on Tuesday, December 12th. Barring any changes in weather conditions, telephone support will open slightly later than normally scheduled on Wednesday, December 13th. Changes to billing and accounts may be conducted through the Account Management website at http://www.ultima-registration.com. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will return to regular support hours as soon as weather permits.

Posted by Keith at 5:54 PM

OSI: Severe Weather Customer Support

The following was posted to FYI on the Ultima Online web site:

Severe Weather Customer Support

Severe weather conditions currently moving across Texas may affect the level of service provided in Ultima Online over the next 24-48 hours. We will continue to have staff on duty to provide shard support coverage, however we do ask that you limit your calls to any issues that are restricting your immediate gameplay. During this limited coverage period, you may wish to search for answers to non-critical game questions on the UO.com Message Boards, or address them via email to support@uo.com. We will return to our regular shard support coverage schedule as soon as weather permits.

Posted by Keith at 5:53 PM

December 11, 2000

OSI: Publish Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update

We will be publishing the changes, including holiday gifts and trees, listed in Testing for Next Update to the Sonoma Shard. This publish will be active on the shard following its Tuesday, December 12th maintenance period, barring any unforeseen downtimes. We will continue to monitor the Sonoma shard for any issues that may arise, and will continue to publish to all remaining shards as soon as possible.

The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 9:03 PM

December 8, 2000

OSI: Holiday Gifts

The following was added to "General Testing" on the Ultima Online web site:

Holiday Gifts

Characters that are older then 30 days (real days, not UO days) will be given a holiday ticket in their backpacks. This holiday ticket will only work for the player who received it originally. Double-clicking this ticket will allow players to choose from the following items. The item will then be placed in the character's backpack once the selection is made. Note that the system will be made inactive before January 8, so any characters created from this point forward will not be able to get a holiday ticket this season. All items are blessed (no loot/no steal), which means they cannot be looted or stolen.
Holiday Bells

Choosing a holiday bell will give the character a random bell. Each bell plays a random sound when double-clicked, says which Development Team member it is from when single-clicked, and is hued a random color. The sounds, development member name, and colors are random for each bell selection.

Snow globe

The snow globe is a round orb on a small stand, that glows and has "sparkles" inside of it. The snow globes will be named "a snowy scene of {town name}". The names of all non-player created towns will be possible within the name, and will be randomly selected. The snow globes will function as a small light source.

Snowballs
Selecting the snowballs will place a snow pile in your backpack. To throw a snowball at another player, double-click the snow pile and target a player. Only players who have a snow pile in their backpack can be targeted in this manner. You will receive a message if the targeted player is not a valid target.
There is a delay as to how often you can throw a snowball from the snow pile.
The snow piles have unlimited uses.
Holiday Tree Deed
Selecting the Holiday Tree Deed will place a deed in your backpack.
To place the tree in your house, double-click the deed. This will bring up a menu window, allowing the choice between classic and modern style trees. A classic tree is the model used previously in UO, and will not have visible foliage if used in Felucca (only if display settings are set to not show tree foliage). The modern style tree will show foliage on both facets, regardless of foliage display settings.
Holiday Trees cannot be placed within two tiles of your front door or within two tiles distance of stairs and cannot be placed outside.
Players will be able to re-deed their tree and choose either tree style, as desired.
Holiday Trees can only be placed by the house owner.

Posted by Keith at 6:35 PM

December 6, 2000

OSI: Elemental Corpses

The following was just added to Testing for Next Update on the UO.com website:

Elemental Corpses

All elementals will now leave a corpse upon their death. The loot items contained on the creatures will now be within this corpse, and subject to normal looting rights.

Posted by Keith at 9:02 PM

OSI: House Add-On changes

The following was just added to Testing for Next Update on the UO.com website:

House Add-On changes

Placement of house add-ons will be changed, to provide a cancel/confirm window before the add-on is placed. Players will be able to use a targeting cursor to place the house add-on, and after the placement attempt is made a confirmation window will appear asking if this spot is the desired location. Cancelling the placement will cause the house add-on deed to remain with the player.

Posted by Keith at 9:00 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.3b5 Update

The following was just added to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.3b5 Update

We are currently experiencing technical issues with the 2.0.3b5 patch that are affecting connectivity for Japanese and European players. We will be updating a fix to temporarily remove certain non-English language files from the clients. While these files are gone, the Options menu will only display in English. Once the issue has been resolved, we will patch the non-English language files back to the client. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and expect to have a new client available within 1.5 hours. The non-English options file will be corrected and updated within the next 24 hours.

Posted by Keith at 8:58 PM

OSI: Client Patch 2.0.3b5

The following was just added to FYI on the UO.com website:

Client Patch 2.0.3b5

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.3b5 to address several crash-related issues involving factions and horses, and to update the default desktops detailed in Testing for Next Update.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:
Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
Run a virus scan on your computer.
If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech@uo.com.

Posted by Keith at 8:56 PM

OSI: Default Desktops

The following was just added to General Testing on the UO.com website:

Default Desktops

Default desktop configurations for new players.

The desktop arrangement for new players will now be automatically set when they first enter Ultima Online. The game will automatically open and place,
The paperdoll window
The backpack window
The radar screen
The skills list
This desktop will also load each time a new player opens their paperdoll window.

This change should not affect existing players as they will already have desktop configurations set.

To enable or disable the default new player desktop, a switch is being added to the Interface section of the Options menu.

Posted by Keith at 8:52 PM

December 5, 2000

OSI: Faction System, All Shards

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Faction System, All Shards

We will be activating the Faction System publish, as listed in Testing for Next Update, on all remaining UO shards on Wednesday, December 6th (local server time). The publish will be active on shards following their regularly scheduled maintenance period on Wednesday morning.

The remaining shards activated with this patch will be Baja, Napa Valley, Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Catskills, Chesapeake, AOL Legends, Formosa, Oceania, and all European, Japanese, and Korean shards.

The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 12:32 AM

December 4, 2000

OSI: General Testing Dec 4 2000

The following was just posted "General Testing" on the UO.com website:

General Testing Dec 4 2000

The current travel restrictions that exist between T2A (Second Age lands) and Britannia (Old Lands) will be lifted in the following manner:
Players will be able to recall and gate between the Lost Lands (T2A) and Britannia.
Passageways and connection points between the Lost Lands and
Britannia will be open to tamed creature travel.
Players will be able to use stablemasters in both areas with T2A or Britannian creatures. Players will be able to remove Lost Lands creatures from the stables while being within the Britannian lands, and vice versa.
Players will be able to ride a mounted ostard or rideable llama across Lost Land/Britannian access points.
Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online

Posted by Keith at 5:36 PM

OSI: Atlantic and Pacific Factions

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Atlantic and Pacific Factions

We will be activating the Faction System publish, as listed in Testing for Next Update, on the Atlantic and Pacific shards on Tuesday, December 5th. The publish will be active on the Atlantic and Pacific shards following their regularly scheduled maintenance period that morning.

We will monitor the Atlantic and Pacific shards for any issues that may arise, and will continue to publish to all remaining shards as soon as possible. The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 5:34 PM

December 1, 2000

OSI: Testing Ultima Online

The following was just posted to What's New on the UO.com website:

Testing Ultima Online

We're continuing to work hard to ensure that Ultima Online is as stable and bug-free as possible, but we can always use your help. By participating in tests of new systems and changes, and sending in detailed bug reports, you can make a great difference in Ultima Online. The Test Center shard has been specifically adapted to allow players to easily test game systems. On Test Center, you may adjust your own stats or skills, and your bank box comes filled with a variety of reagents, items, moonstones, and runes.

The best way to contribute to the test environment is by watching the In Testing section of our website to keep up-to-date on the latest changes currently in testing. Once you're familiar with the latest game tests, log in to Test Center and start trying to break them! Try anything, try everything. Test Center is a world we want you to do your best to abuse.

Second, you'll need to submit bug reports to the QA Team in an efficient and timely manner. Bug reports should contain the following information:
Client Version Number. This is located at the bottom of the main UO login screen.
Server Name
Detailed Bug Description (step-by-step, tell us what you did and what happened)
Date/Time of Occurrence
Location (Sextant coordinates, facet, and city location)
On-site references (If you spoke with a counselor or GM, what was his/her name and what were you told?)
It is extremely important to include the necessary steps to recreate a bug, thus allowing the QA Team to promptly review it. We do recommend that you try to be as concise as possible when sending in reports as well. Try to tell us only those steps that were necessary to activate the bug.

Completed bug reports can be sent via email to TCBugs@uo.com. We look forward to working with you!

Posted by Keith at 5:49 PM

OSI: Account Support Availability

I read the following on the Common Issues page of the Ultima Online Web site:

Account Support Availability

Ultima Online Account Support will close at 1:45 PM CST on Friday, December 1st and will remain unavailable until 6:00 PM CST. Should you experience any billing related issues during this period, you may wish to visit the Account Management website at http://www.ultima-registration.com.

Posted by Keith at 12:55 AM

November 28, 2000

OSI: Chesapeake Factions and Publish Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Chesapeake Factions and Publish Update

In light of an issue with the faction system publish, we have decided to delay the release of the faction system on the Chesapeake shard. The stablemaster and monster changes listed in Testing for Next Update will be published to the shard and will be active following the Chesapeake shard's Tuesday, November 28th maintenance period. The factions system, however, will remain inactive on Chesapeake until further notice.

Additionally, we will be publishing the monster and stablemaster changes listed in Testing for Next Update to all shards to be active following their Wednesday, November 29th maintenance period (local server time). As the Siege Perilous and Sonoma shards will be updated with the monster changes to be active following their next maintenance period.

We will release a revised schedule for the activation of the Faction System on Chesapeake as soon as one is determined.

Posted by Keith at 1:04 AM

November 27, 2000

OSI: Item 'Smashing' and Monster Movement

The following was just posted to Testing for Next Update" on the UO.com website:

Item 'Smashing' and Monster Movement

Monsters may no longer be 'trapped' by barricading them behind various objects in the game world. They will now attempt to maneuver around the objects and in some cases may smash the objects barring their movement.

Items that are locked down, secure, or strongboxes may not be smashed. Containers, if smashed, will spill their contents onto the ground.

Posted by Keith at 5:46 PM

OSI: Chesapeake Faction System Publish

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Chesapeake Faction System Publish

We will be activating the Faction System publish and stablemaster changes, as listed in Testing for Next Update, on the Chesapeake shard on Tuesday, November 28th. The publish will be active on the Chesapeake shard following its regularly scheduled maintenance period that morning.

We will monitor the Chesapeake shard for any issues that may arise, and will continue to publish to all remaining shards as soon as possible. The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 5:45 PM

November 14, 2000

OSI: Faction System Publish Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Faction System Publish Update

We will be activating the Faction System publish, as listed in Testing for Next Update, on the Sonoma and Siege Perilous shards on Wednesday, November 15th. The publish will be active on the Sonoma shard following it's regularly scheduled maintenance period. The Siege Perilous shard will be taken down for a special maintenance period following its first completed backup after 9:00 AM CST. Upon return from this maintenance period, the Faction System will be active on this shard as well.

We will continue to monitor the Sonoma and Siege Perilous shards for any issues that may arise, and will continue to publish to all remaining shards as soon as possible. The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 11:47 PM

November 13, 2000

OSI: Publish Update

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Publish Update

We will be publishing the stablemaster changes listed in Testing for Next Update to the Sonoma Shard. The publish will be active on the shard following its Wednesday, November 15th maintenance period, barring any unforeseen downtimes. We will continue to monitor the Sonoma shard for any issues that may arise, and will continue to publish to all remaining shards as soon as possible.

Additionally, we will be publishing the overland spawn changes, previously published on Great Lakes only, to all shards this evening. These changes will be available on all shards following their next scheduled maintenance periods.

The changes will be added to Latest Game Updates once the publish is active on all shards.

Posted by Keith at 5:30 PM

November 8, 2000

OSI: Publish Update, November 9th

The following was just posted to FYI on the Uo.com website:

Publish Update, November 9th

We will be publishing overland spawn changes to the Great Lakes shard on Wednesday, November 8th. These changes will affect the creature spawn outside dungeons and will be active on the shard following its next scheduled maintenance period, or any downtime.

We will monitor the Great Lakes shard for any issues that may arise, and will continue to publish these changes to the remaining shards as soon as possible.

Posted by Keith at 11:17 PM

OSI: Traceroutes and Technical Support

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Traceroutes and Technical Support

Ultima Online is an ever-changing game and from time to time you may experience technical difficulties that require helpful intervention. In most cases, these situations will require either contacting Technical Support, or sending us a traceroute of your connection to your regular game server. Sending the correct information through the correct channels greatly improves the speed at which we may address your technical issues.

Technical Support should be contacted when you are experiencing problems specifically with your game software, such as display problems, error messages, or inability to successfully install or run Ultima Online. Ultima Online Technical Support is available from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM CST daily at (804) 963-8577 (Press option #2 from main menu). You may also email technical support questions using the form located on our contacts page.

Occasionally, you may experience difficulties connecting or maintaining a connection to a server, or experience latency issues that cause your gameplay to be slower than normal. In these cases, we recommend that you review the troubleshooting suggestions at http://support.uo.com/tech_0.html. Should these suggestions fail to resolve your connection difficulties, we recommend sending a traceroute (a log tracing the path of information from your computer to the UO server) to uotrace@uo.com. We have available a small program, called UOTrace, that allows you to easily trace the routes to all of the Ultima Online servers. Once these traceroutes have been forwarded to us, our network team will analyze them for any significant issues that are within our control.

Posted by Keith at 5:29 PM

OSI: Catskills Faction Test

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Catskills Faction Test

Backup issues have required that we refrain from using a Sonoma backup for faction testing at this time. We have restored a backup of the Catskills shard to a test shard and will be opening the shard as "Cats Factions" later today. We urge all Catskills players and others to stop by and join this final testing of the Faction System. Your assistance will allow us to speed the testing process and bring the Faction System to launch as quickly as possible.

Posted by Keith at 5:26 PM

OSI: Siege Perilous, Sonoma, and Factions

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Siege Perilous, Sonoma, and Factions

We will not be shipping the Faction System to Siege Perilous this week. We have decided to run the system through a couple of production shard backups before releasing this to Siege Perilous or any other shards for additional system and load testing. We will be placing a recent backup of the Sonoma shard to a test server late tonight, to be available for play beginning tomorrow, and we strongly urge everyone from Sonoma and other shards to stop by and join in the final testing of this large and complex system. Your assistance and participation in these final beta tests of the Faction System are critical to its successful launch.

We are currently targeting to publish the Faction System to the Sonoma and Siege Perilous shards early next week. A detailed schedule will be posted as soon as the publish date is confirmed.

Posted by Hazard [EiC] at 12:31 AM

November 6, 2000

OSI: Reminder about monster blocking

The following was posted to the FYI section of the Ultima Online web site:

Reminder about monster blocking

As a reminder to the players, "monster blocking" is considered to be an exploit and can result in GM intervention. Monster Blocking is defined as using items such as boxes or chests to block a monster or player into, or out of, a certain area thus allowing for easier combat. For more information on this topic, please refer to the Support Pages at support.uo.com. Thank you.

Posted by Keith at 5:40 PM

November 3, 2000

OSI: Faction System Murderer Reprieve

The following was just posted to In Development on the UO.com website:

Faction System Murderer Reprieve

The faction murder reprieve will be a one-time reduction in the various types of murder counts that a murderer may have accumulated. This reprieve will be given only when a murderer who has not previously received a faction-related reprieve first joins a faction. The reprieve will carry the consequence of regaining all of your prior murder counts should the character become labeled as a murderer once again (i.e.: they get 5 or more short-term counts). This reprieve will only be offered for one month after it is published, after which the reprieve code will be disabled.

To get the reprieve, the murder must join the faction (as described in the faction system document) through the faction stone. Note this means murderers will not be able to join the Council of Mages or True Britannians factions unless they are part of a guild whose guild leader is able to get to the faction stone and join the faction.

Murders who have more than five short-term or long-term murder counts who receive a reprieve will be set to four short-term and long-term murder counts and automatically become "blue". Murderers whose "ping-pong" counter is 4 or greater will have that counter set to four. The system will retain the previous short-term, long-term, and ping-pong for these characters and should a reprieved murderer become a murder again, all of these counts will be set to their original numbers.

Posted by Keith at 11:11 PM

OSI: Siege Perilous Downtime and the Faction System

The following was just posted to FYI on the UO.com website:

Siege Perilous Downtime and the Faction System

We will be bringing the Siege Perilous shard down this afternoon (CST) in order to remove the Rate over Time (RoT) skill gain system as currently detailed in Testing for Next Update. Other changes to the Siege Perilous shard (such as those listed in In Concept) will be published at a later date.

In addition, we are currently targeting early next week to publish the Faction System to Siege Perilous. We will then monitor the shard for approximately one week. If all goes well, we will publish the system to the other shards. A detailed announcement will be made to this section of the site once the publish date is confirmed.

Posted by Keith at 5:19 PM