05) 5th November

Ultima Online Patch Notes for 11/05/1997

  • A general upgrading of creature difficulty.
  • A much more detailed menu-based help system accessed via the Call GM button.
  • Book titles and other more detailed names will show in shop windows.
  • A major stability issue that also caused lag was resolved.
  • Fixed an exploit whereby you could remove items from locked containers if the container was already open on your screen.
  • Added a macro called “AllNames” that lets you bring up the names of everyone on screen instantly.
  • Combat mode highlighting now works correctly on sitting people.
  • Fixed some problems with combat highlighting, particularly on animals. The neutral hue is now different as well.
  • Mining now has a small animation, a delay, sound effects, and autostacking of ore in your backpack.
  • Fletching and lumberjacking also now have sound effects, animations, and require “process” time.
  • Changed the animation used by the energy vortex.
  • Teleporting too close to houses and ships is now impossible.
  • Gate travel is now two-way, so that if someone tries to trap you on a roof you can just walk back.
  • There are now four damage types: direct (ignores armor), physical, fire, and energy.
  • Slashing, bashing, and piercing weapons now damage different types of armor materials at different rates.
  • The damage taken by fire and energy attacks will depend in part on the sort of armor you are wearing.
  • All offensive spells now affect notoriety and call guards, including non-damaging ones.
  • A general revision to spell damages was done to tier them better. *Flamestrike in particualr is much nicer now.
  • Ships and boats now put a spare key in your safety deposit box when you build them.
  • You can double-click a recall rune and edit the text on it to label it whatever you want.
  • The paralyze spell will take magic resistance into account.
  • The problems with directions and locations being identified as “0 0 0 0” should be fixed. Note that existing recall runes will not be corrected (but you can now rename them as you prefer, see above).
  • Lords British and Blackthorn’s guards now match city guards in abilities.
  • More undead should show up in cemeteries.
  • “Good” brigands and pirates should stop appearing.
  • There were apparently stregnth requirements on some items of jewelry; these have been removed.
  • A few more types of creatures will start to travel in groups.
  • You can now sell items that are in containers in your backpack.
  • Practice weapons now always stay with you when you die, just like spellbooks do.
  • Fixed some more messed up notoriety titles (Noble and Lord were reversed, and “looking”–the single-click–was giving you “Lord” status at a different point than your character window was).
  • Paladins are tougher now.