Connection blues
Posted February 24, 2001 - 2:43 PM PST by Adam Ant
I don't know about how your shard is performing, but the Napa connection has been terrible the last few days.
EA Comments on Connectivity Issues
Posted February 22, 2001 - 1:08 PM PST by Adam Ant
Ruben Cortez, Sr. Manager of Network Infrastructure for EA.com, posted this article on the Ultima Online Connectivity Board:
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...
Purple what...?
Posted February 19, 2001 - 6:32 AM PST by Nieves
I noticed that if you have purple armor or clothes on overnight (when server backs up) they turn to normal upon logging in the next day. This has happened to me and might be useful for people with purple items that they dont wish to destroy.
That's what happens when you buy stupid crap in game. ::shakes head:: People never learn.
I swear, Ultima Online brings out selfish, greedy, ignorant behavior in alot of people. Why do we continue playing this game?
Hasta.
North America Connectivity Issues
Posted February 16, 2001 - 9:27 AM PST by Adam Ant
Just found this on Stratics:
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It has come to light that above.net, OSI's hosting partner, is having problems handling all the network traffic that is coming to them the AT&T backbone, att.net. The Road Runner cable modem service, along with many other ISPs use att.net as one of their backbones.
The problems are causing many people to experience lag. This lag may be due to the extended ping times and dropped packets caused by the above.net/att.net problems.
OSI claims that above.net and att.net are aware of the problems, and new circuits are being put in place. However, it may be months till all the upgrades are in place.
If you wish more information on this, or other connectivity problems, please see the Connectivity Board. The specific article that discusses this issue can be found here.Note, you must have a My UO account to view the message boards.
If you would like to view YOUR network connection, you can downlaod a tool, provided by OSI, called UOTrace. UOTrace can trace the route used to get to a specific server. You can then poll that route to see what sort or ping times and packet loss you are experiencing. You can either e-mail problem traces to uotrace@uo.com, or post them on the above mentioned connectivity board.
Information on downloading and using UOTrace can be obtained here.
New Item Identification Window
Posted February 13, 2001 - 5:42 PM PST by Adam Ant
Testing for next update:
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.
Thoughts?
Player Owned Vendor Changes
Posted February 13, 2001 - 5:38 PM PST by Adam Ant
Testing for next update:
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.
Thoughts?
Bandage Creation Changes
Posted February 13, 2001 - 5:30 PM PST by Adam Ant
Testing for next update:
Players can cut multiple bandages at once using the following manner:
Fear Interviews Designer Evocare
Posted February 13, 2001 - 5:19 PM PST by Adam Ant
Want to hear the word on the Faction system straight from a UO designer? Join Fear of Battle Vortex as he interviews Designer Evocare about the past, present, and future of factions. Listen in at Ultima Online Factions!
Don’t forget, you can listen to the Battle Vortex Audio Shows with your RealAudio™ player. Don’t have one? Battle Vortex will help you get started on their RealAudio help page.
Ultima Online Bi-weekly Events
Posted February 13, 2001 - 5:11 PM PST by Adam Ant
Fresh off the UO Update Center:
Join Us For Ultima Online Bi-weekly Events
Looking for a way to put a little excitement in your weeknight gameplay? Join us for Ultima Online Bi-Weekly Events! Beginning on Monday, February 12th, we’ll be hosting an event every weeknight on two chosen Ultima Online shards.
Ranging from monster mashes to skill contests to PvP competitions, we’ve organized events to offer a little excitement for every playstyle. Each night, multiple events will run on two Ultima Online shards.
While we want to make this fun for everyone, not all types of events will run every night. If you don’t find an event to your liking, we hope you’ll stop by the next week. To find information on specific events, visit your nearest in-game Town Crier on the shard’s scheduled day for details. Events will begin at approximately 7:00 PM local server time on US shards, excluding Lake Superior, Siege Perilous, and Great Lakes. Events on the latter three shards will begin at 7:00 PM CST. European shard events will begin at 8:00 PM local server time, and Japanese events will begin at approximately 11:00 PM local server time.
Please remember: Ultima Online Game Masters are not involved with these events and will be unable to provide you with any information about locations, schedules or event types.
Please do not call Game Masters regarding these events.
Removal of “Murderer” title
Posted February 8, 2001 - 1:13 PM PST by Adam Ant
It’s time to remove the title of Murderer from players with more than 4 murder counts. You see, killing both players and NPCs gives you murder counts making it virtually impossible to become Dread. I beg you OSI, let the evil ones be evil and wear our title of Dread Lord proudly! Otherwise, you need to get rid of the current Karma/Fame table you have in the Users Guide and replace it with this one: --Adam Ant
The reason is this: I don’t believe it's any longer possible to reach the lowest karma and highest fame title of Dread Lord.
"Goodie two shoes", "Goodie goodie", "Sissy pants", "Dandy", "Pantywaist" 
Player Designed Gaming Worlds
Posted February 7, 2001 - 9:31 AM PST by Adam Ant
It's hard to become involved with a massively multiplayer gaming world without, at some point, wanting to affect the world oneself. As in life, in games players strive to leave their mark on the virtual world, whether it be by building, by name, or by guild. Some players take it a step further, by leaving behind an entire world.
As gamers become more educated in computer programming, and as technology allows for comprehensible world-building tools to be released, the line between designers and player is thinning. By this time next year, Neverwinter Nights will be released, allowing players to create their own worlds, design their own rules, and invite gamers to play on their very own servers. But that is off in the future...and right now there is another facet of the gaming community that is leaving their mark: UOX Shards.
Soon after the initial release of Ultima Online, gamers used the world building tools within the game itself and designed their own player-hosted shards, unaffiliated with OSI. These shards have since then grown into their own subculture; some dedicated themselves to PvP, others to roleplaying. Some shards allow you to play as various races. Others present worlds that bear little resemblance to Britannia at all.
The Stratics Central editorial staff is preparing a feature on these player-created worlds. If you run a UOX Shard, or plan on hosting a unique Neverwinter Nights world, then we want to hear from you! Stratics will select representatives of the best servers out there, and review them for the public.
In order to submit your server for consideration, please send an email to the Stratics Central editorial staff containing the following information:
All submitted UOX shards must be prepared to provide a temporary account for Stratics Central staff to review the shard.
DEX Changes not intentional!
Posted February 5, 2001 - 3:38 PM PST by Adam Ant
Calandryll, Manager of Community Services over at Origin Systems, says: “Wasn't intentional. It's going to be fixed and the fix will be retro-active.”
This statement was in response to a question posted on the Development Board over at the Origin site.
Well, there you have the official word.
However, if you like the new changes, speak up.
Blessed Rune books were an accident too and were scheduled to be removed from the game until we all stood up and said “No! Leave them in!”
--Adam Ant
What do you think?
Bone Armor with no DEX loss?
Posted February 3, 2001 - 11:23 AM PST by Adam Ant
This just in from Callisto:
Hello,
I just found out OSI changed the Bone Armor again...
You can now wear the bone armor like the old days and get an AR of 28 or
so, without Dex Loss.
I haven’t had a chance to verify this, but has anyone else noticed this?
--Adam Ant
What did you find?