Thank You! (A Decade Late)

[Hannes-Erich]

One of these shards is mine.


Recently, I found myself looking through my Steam library and other places for a good sandbox game to get into for a while. Then I remembered, probably the best sandbox experience I ever had was while running Ultima Online through my own private shard. I could build, customize, play by my own rules, even design my own game elements. Best of all, any loot or rewards I gained were mine forever, or for as long as I could maintain a backup. It didn't all go away if I stopped playing for several months (or years), like with the infamous IDOCs of official and player-run shards alike.

So I've spent the past few nights adventuring around a new Britannia, filling out some details here and there such as loot tables, but mostly fighting, exploring, progressing -- quite a change from how I used to approach a private shard (like an administrative busybody, with over-sized ideas and plans for a multiplayer shard, etc... which never materialized and only resulted in burnout).

While I don't know whether my return will be brief or long, it feels really amazing to come back to this very unique way of experiencing UO; and while I don't expect to be able to get questions answered in 2018 if they arise, right now I'm really grateful for all the names around here, who worked so hard over the years, and may never see this thank-you letter, or may see it long after I've moved on again.

Looking around the vaults and submissions, I can see the project's polish really came together thanks to just a handful of people who came later, after so many others had come and gone. That's bittersweet, but exciting. (Especially this Dragon Slayer person, WOW! Quite prolific. And now he is long-gone, too.)

I really appreciate you, Xuri, for maintaining this worthwhile escape to another world and important piece of gaming history! The halls are empty, but there are years and years worth of progress since the last time I messed around with UOX3, almost a decade ago. It may feel like ancient history to some, but for this foolhardy adventurer, a great deal of it is new and shiny.

[Xuri]

Hiya! Good to see some forum activity! Unfortunately there's not much activity around here anymore, but I will keep this site running as long as I possibly can, no worries!

I occasionally do the same as you, and boot up my own UOX3 shard (including one with savefiles from around 2001, in a really old version of UOX3!), just to walk around and take in the wave of nostalgia that washes over me Good times.

If you have any UOX3-related questions I'll do my best to answer them, although my response time has dropped in recent years, as I don't check the forums as often as before... :X

[Hannes-Erich]

Well, my top burning question right now, which seems like it might never have even been brought up

What combination of the client and server features am I actually playing, by default?

The INI file's default settings are:
CLIENTFEATURES=1021183
SERVERFEATURES=14824

Did the person who plugged in those numbers document the #values they selected for the default setup?

By extension, I guess I'm also wondering how many eras are coded for in 0.99.2b and to what states of completion (if you had to guess). For instance, I haven't seen any AoS-era weapons, but right now I don't know if that means AoS-era and later stuff is just turned off or if it means AoS and later stuff never made it into UOX3 at all. (I realize there are lots of bits and pieces of various eras in the DFN & JS vaults, which is awesome.)

[Xuri]

I don't think the default value has been documented anywhere :X So let me rectify that:

CLIENTFEATURES=1021183 is a combination of the following features (add decimal numbers together):
(0x01) 1: Enable T2A support (chat-button, lost lands)
(0x02) 2: Enable UO:R support (Felucca/Trammel)
(0x04) 4: Enable TD support (First 3D client, Ilshenar)
(0x08) 8: Enable LBR support (skills, maps, MP3s, LBR monsters in 2D client)
(0x10) 16: Enable AoS support (necro/palas, malas map, resistances, weapon abilities, AoS monsters, detailed tooltips)
(0x20) 32: Enable Sixth Character Slot support
(0x40) 64: Enable SE support (ninja/samurai, spells, skills, tokuno-map)
(0x80) 128: Enable ML support (elves, spells, skills)
(0x400) 1024: Enable the Tenth Age
(0x1000) 4096: Enable 7th character slot
(0x8000) 32768: Live (non-trial) Account. Since client 4.0 this bit has to be set, otherwise bits 3..14 are ignored.
(0x10000) 65536: Enable SA features: gargoyle race, spells, skills, housing tiles
(0x20000) 131072: Enable HS features
(0x40000) 262144: Enable Gothing housing tiles
(0x80000) 524288: Enable Rustic housing tiles

The features not included by default
(0x100) 256: Enable (basic) KR support (2D client only, up to 6.0.14.1)
(0x200) 512: Enable the Ninth Age splash screen and crystal/shadow housing tiles
(0x800) 2048: Enable increased housing and bank-storage
(0x2000) 8192: Enable KR faces
(0x4000) 16384: Enable Trial Account


SERVERFEATURES=14824 is a combination of the following features
(0x08) 8: ContextMenus
(0x20) 32: AoS
(0x40) 64: SixChars
(0x80) 128: SE
(0x100) 256: ML
(0x800) 2048: Unknown3 - added sometime between UO:KR and UO:SA
(0x1000) 4096: SeventhCharacterSlot
(0x2000) 8192: Unknown4 - added with UO:SA launch

Features not included by default:
(0x01) 1: Unknown
(0x02) 2: IGR
(0x04) 4: CharLimit
(0x10) 16: OneChar
(0x200) 512: Unknown2 - added with UO:KR launch
(0x400) 1024: Send UO3D client type? client sends 0xE1?)
(0x4000) 16384: new movement system
(0x8000) 32768: Unlock new Felucca faction-areas

As for what eras have been coded for 0.99.2b... I think the combat code and item stats in UOX3 are based off of the UO:R era, but don't arrest me if I'm wrong! It's been a while :X Many of the features added later on (such as AoS-era weapon skills, palading books, high seas stuff etc) has not been added. But yeah, there's bits and pieces here and there from many different eras ^^

[Hannes-Erich]

Wow! Epic reply. Sounds like you (or whoever set it up) got all the important stuff in there. And this is why I don't go hog wild changing settings in software before I get my bearings; looks like I wouldn't have done myself any favors in this case.

I think you're crazy to still come around and answer questions like this, but crazy in the good way. Honestly, between the server software and all of the mods posted by the community, I think there's a legitimate amount of game in this game server.

The server itself appears stable nowadays. I haven't thrown everything at it, but so far, no crashes, and only a couple of hiccups (and only one of those reoccurring -- the occasionally disappearing world deco, annoying but I've found a couple of workarounds at least).

Edit: I'm finally a UOX3 Neophyte! Guess I'm a slow learner....

[Xuri]

Congrats on your promotion! lol XD

Hmm disappearing world deco, you say... any pattern to it that you can see?

[Hannes-Erich]

Sorry I don't mean literally disappearing, I just mean disappearing from view. Same bug that's been reported for many years, like if there's a bookshelf there, you'll still bump into it, you just won't be able to see it.

As you know, running off screen and back sorts it out. And it hardly ever happens, otherwise I might find it a bigger deal. I've been playing a bunch and can probably count the times on one hand.

And of course, if you've got access to 'RESEND, you don't even have to run off-screen and back. Naturally, I'd love to give this command to normal player characters. Commands.dfn even seems to invite me to so in its example (below). (Unless it's literally actually saying you can only enable it for Counselors and above, and not just describing what a setting of '1' will do...?)

GET READY FOR SOME PICTURES!!!



You can see how I typed the line as per the instructions (below).



Which leads to this message in the console...



And this message in game.



This issue has been reported before.

Also...not sure the correct way to let players use the 'resend command. It isn't originally in the commands folder, even though they use it as the example in the // intro section. I tried copying that putting it under players then changing it to 0 but that didn't work out.

(I also tried a cold restart of the server after typing the setting in; no dice.)

[Xuri]

Ahh I think that comment is out of date. Commands.dfn is used determine access to hardcoded commands, but RESEND was moved out to JavaScript at some point. Try removing the RESEND you added to the commands.dfn file and try modifying resend.js under uox3\js\commands\ folder instead. Change the RegisterCommand( "resend", 1, true ) line to RegisterCommand( "resend", 0, true ) and reload commands or restart server, and see if that helps!

[Hannes-Erich]

That worked! Another epic reply. And you taught me something about the JS files. Sadly, I don't remember anything about the JavaScript I learned a decade ago, mostly in order to make quests and gumps in an earlier version of UOX3. Also, all the work I did back then, as well as my old shard itself, got lost when a harddrive went bad. Luckily, I think any of the ideas I had that were new back then were later done by somebody else here. Also, I'm just as interested in playing as tinkering nowadays, and that means there's a lot for me to do in the DFN files.

Another thing that strikes me as odd about deco in UOX3 -- Here's a picture of a chest's tool-tip not updating after the chest's contents have been changed from empty to 1. If I had used the nearby dresser, or a bag, or any container, the result would be the same; it also wouldn't matter if I didn't have its gump open while checking (I just did that for the example in the picture). (using 'RESEND causes these tool-tips to update, too -- as does running off-screen and back.)



I was wondering if the cause of the bug is in the JS files, or in the source code. (Or "The big, very scary source code," as I think of those things. )

[Xuri]

That sounds like a source code issue, tbh :/

Btw, out of curiousity, what UO client version are you using?

[Xuri]

Also, if you are feeling adventurous, backup your UOX3 folder and try using the following executable (throw it in your UOX3 folder and run it instead of the normal UOX3.exe) and see if it makes a difference when it comes to container tooltips etc being updated when dropping items in them:
UOX3 Container Test.

I don't have a UO client installed atm so cannot test, but made a tiny code change that could have an effect on the problem (or not, random change lol).

[Hannes-Erich]

Well your change doesn't appear to break anything (at first glance, at least ), but it also doesn't fix the updating problem. At least not for tool-tips.

In order to see if it did anything about disappearing deco such as bookshelves, tables and whatnot, well, I don't know how to reproduce that at will; I can play for days and not see that [side of the] bug.

Besides running off-screen and back or using 'RESEND, there's another way to get a container to update its tooltip, and that's by moving the container (if it's movable, of course) out of the container it's nested in and onto the ground or into another container; or vice versa, moving a container from the ground into your backpack or some other container. I guess the game has to reload all of its details or something.

I'm using client 7.0.15.1; not too new, not too old as far as UOX3 goes.

[Hannes-Erich]

Ok, this is amusing. So, I entered my shard with an older client (5.0.6c, Mondain's Legacy IIRC) just to see if that made a difference; because I previously actually had to use 5.0.6c to perform a particular bit of maintenance that I couldn't perform with 7.0.15.1 (involving a disappearing item) -- a sordid tale for another time, lol, I'm trying not to inundate you.

Anyway, I'd gone out of the room from the previous pic while using 7.0.15.1. When I came back while using 5.0.6c, the aforementioned bug had reared its head!



Notice how the bug only appears to be happening to a door that was just previously used (as well as a nearby floor tile). The server had not been shut down while I switched clients. Of course, 'RESEND fixed it. (But FYI, invisible doors cannot be opened!)

Now, I will switch back to 7.0.15.1 and see if it happens again....

Edit: It didn't happen again.

Edit: I also switched back again to 5.0.6c and it didn't happen then, either.

[Xuri]

Lol yeah that bug is quite random :X Would fix it if I could.

Also, another test-build if you care to give it a whirl:
UOX3_0_99_2d.zip

I got hold of a UO client and did a little testing and tinkering, and I think I might have nailed (at least part of) the tooltip refresh issue when adding and removing items from containers. However, I'm not sure if I broke something else in the process! ^^ So test it at your own risk, and as always... BACKUP

[Hannes-Erich]

It's been a long day and I wasn't going to play on my shard tonight, but now I'm glad I had a last-minute itch to!

IT WORKED!

At least with tool-tips* -- and I tested a few different types of containers and objects. Both the item count and stone value updated immediately upon dropping something in there!

What is this mysterious '0.99.2d' and what did you do?!? (And what are you afraid that you broke?!?)

* On a related note, I've been figuring this whole time that the tool-tips not updating was probably owed to the same bug causing world deco to sometimes not update. But I'm getting the impression from you that this isn't the case, which makes sense because I'm an idiot (duh, one bug is random while the other is easily reproducible).

[Hannes-Erich]

Also...

So test it at your own risk, and as always... BACKUP

Never fear!

[Xuri]

The last official UOX3 release was 0.99.2b, which is the one you get from the downloads page.

There have been some changes done since then, though, and sometimes these changes are accompanied by "experimental builds", sort of un-official/interim releases, that contain the changes done since the last full release. These are documented here: Changelog for the next UOX3 Version

Since 0.99.2b, these changes have been made:

Code: Select all

14/11/2012 - Xuri (0.99.2b+)
   Fixed issue where DISPLAYDAMAGENUMBERS and ATTACKSPEEDFROMSTAMINA settings in UOX.INI were overwriting the DISPLAYHITMSG setting instead of their own respective settings
   Fixed a server crash in CMulHandler::CheckStaticFlag() which could crash the server when using a client-version below 7.0.9.0
   Fixed a potential server crash in cSkills::FishTarget(), which would possibly crash the server when using a client-version below 7.0.9.0

Code: Select all

10/11/2013 - Xuri (0.99.2c)
   Fixed some issues in CHandleCombat::CastSpell() and level1targ.js that stopped NPCs from casting Heal on themselves
   Added new UOX.INI settings to make hardcoded damage to armor and weapons in combat more customizable:
      WEAPONDAMAGECHANCE=17    // Chance of weapons taking damage when attacking
      WEAPONDAMAGEMIN=0      // Minimum amount of damage a weapon takes if damaged in combat
      WEAPONDAMAGEMAX=1      // Maximum amount of damage a weapon takes if damaged in combat
      ARMORDAMAGECHANCE=25   // Chance of armor taking damage when defending
      ARMORDAMAGEMIN=0      // Minimum amount of damage armor can take if damaged in combat
      ARMORDAMAGEMAX=1      // Maximum amount of damage armor can take if damaged in combat
   Added new UOX.INI settings for adjusting combat-speed on a global scale:
      GLOBALATTACKSPEED=1    // for adjusting speed of melee and ranged attacks globally for all chars
      NPCSPELLCASTSPEED=1    // for adjusting the overall speed of spellcasts for NPCs (base spellcast speed determined by SPADELAY tag in NPC dfns)
   Increased the chance of NPCs attempting to cast spells instead of doing regular attacks in combat-rounds

Code: Select all

12/09/2015 - Xuri
   Added new UOX.INI setting for defining the amount of stamina lost when using the fishing skill
      FISHINGSTAMINALOSS=2   // The amount of stamina lost when using the fishing skill

And I would add "Fixed tooltips for containers not immediately updating when adding/removing items" to that list, with the version number 0.99.2d, so it is easy to identify which build people are using, but atm I cannot write to the source code CVS repository (SourceForge made all CVS repositories read-only a while back, and I'm in the process of converting over to Github, but it's a slow process), so I'll add it to the list when I can update the source-code too

I'm not really that worried about having broken anything, just a disclaimer ^^

Edit: Also, I just realized it has been over 6 years since the last release of UOX3, and as the only "active" (lol) contributor I only make tiny updates every couple of years... :X

[Hannes-Erich]

So many questions! -- Like, why did SourceForge do such a thing? But I can probably Google that.

Those are some nice-sounding fixes, and wonderful additions to ruleset customization. (And I might just spy a fix in there to a crash that occurred while having to use 5.0.6c). I noticed, too, that the 0.99.2d executable I dropped in my "Test Center" (lol) automagically updated my INI file with those additional settings, pretty sweet. My non-programmer brain was wondering why you only gave me an .exe to download.

I gotta say, it feels good to have some small part in updating UOX3's developmental builds! Your tool-tip fix IMO represents important polish because the bug is so easily noticeable, almost as soon as someone begins playing.

And for anyone who stumbles across it nowadays, I can totally see a fan of UO just wanting to use this to play UO, alone or with a few friends ... and easily make additions to their sandbox without needing to be a rocket scientist. I don't care what people say about RunUO etc, I've messed around with RunUO, and despite all the obvious comparisons, I always thought UOX3 had a unique opportunity and claim to fame where accessibility is concerned.

[Xuri]

SourceForge did such a thing because the CVS version control system was getting old in the tooth and they wanted people (and projects) to migrate to other version control systems, I guess. Since they insist, I figure we might as well take the opportunity to drag UOX3 kicking and screaming into the 21st century and migrate the source code (and related data) to GitHub. Conversion process is almost complete, and I will make the GitHub repository available in the near future!

I don't think a lot will change because of this conversion, but in theory, being on GitHub could make it easier (and/or more appealing) for people to participate in future development of UOX3. Easier to fork the source, easier to bring in updates/fixes people make to their specific forks, etc. Time will tell..