20) 2nd December

Ultima Online Patch Notes for December 2nd & 8th 1998

(includes mini-updates 10th, 15th and 17th)

Encryption change Dec 2 1998 2:32PM

  • A client patch was done to upgrade the encryption scheme used for client-server communications.

Housing Update Phase 2–Claim Process Begins Dec 8 1998 10:08AM

MISCELLANEOUS

  • A textual bug in the anatomy skill will be fixed. It will no longer give human references to animals.
  • Reapers will be more aggressive.
  • Hair dye will give you an extensive menu of hair color choices. Simply double-click the hairdye, and a menu will appear with choices for color categories going down the side. The tab next to the color category will let you pull up a page of color samples for that color category. Select the one you want, and hit the OKAY button.
  • It will not be possible to steal from someone unless you have line of sight to them and can see them, even if you already have their backpack open.
  • Practice weapons will now be handled by the code that retroactively fixes weapons with non-standard abilities. Newbie weapons will automatically have newbie stats replaced on them every time they are equipped.
  • It will no longer be possible to chop up secure containers in houses. They must be unsecured first.
  • You will no longer be able to attack things that are offscreen, even if you still have their name on screen.
  • A variant ridable llama now exists for the Second Age lands. Llamas from Britannia will cease to be ridable.
  • Traps and the magic lock spell can no longer be placed on locked down containers. You can still place them on containers before they are locked down, however. This was done to prevent people from trapping containers to ambush the container’s owners.

HOUSING

  • All tents will be deleted when the server boots.
  • The new house menu will be in place. Double-clicking the sign will bring up a new interface window.
  • The claim process will begin! It will last for two weeks, during which time the following will be attached to the window:
    • The top claimant will be listed.
    • Claim priority is:
      • Placer of the house
      • Holder of the master key
      • Guildmaster of a guild within the house
      • Key Member of a guild within the house
      • Owner of a vendor attached to the house
    • It will look like: (Top Claimant: SoNSo, Placer).
    • If there’s a tie, it’ll be (Top Claimant, SoNSo, Keyholder; (tie) OtherGuy, Keyholder).
    • If you have not claimed a building and you can claim this building, a CLAIM button will be present. It will report back as to the success of the claim.
    • If you are the placer and also have a master key to the building, a new menu will appear which allows you to choose to simply turn the house back into a deed on the spot (since your claim is pretty much guaranteed to be uncontested,) or to be claimed as normal. This will not be possible, however, if there is a guildstone in the building. If you turn it into a deed, you can then go on to claim a different building. All of your items in the house will just fall to the ground.
    • If you have claimed this building in particular, an UNCLAIM button will be present. It will report back as to the success of the unclaim.
    • When the claim process ends, the top claim on the house will become the owner of the house. Houses that have ties, or are not claimed, will be deleted . This is because if the house remains in dispute for two weeks, we don’t think that the issue can be resolved.
  • If you are not a keyholder, it’ll be a brass sign with the house name on it.
  • If you are a keyholder, it’ll be the new house ownership menu, with said brass sign mounted on it.
  • Clicking the INFO, FRIENDS, and OPTIONS tabs will change the appearance of the window.
    • The first page will be the INFO screen.
      • The owner of the house will be listed. This will show as “nobody” until owners exist-that won’t be until after the claim process is complete.
      • The number of locked down items and maximum number of lockdowns available for the house will be listed.
      • The number of secure containers and maximum number of secure containers the house can hold will be listed.
      • The approximate number of visits by non-keyholders will be listed. This is so that public buildings can gauge their popularity.
      • A button will exist for changing the name. Clicking on this button gives you a text prompt for entering the new name. The new name will appear on the brass sign next time you use the sign. Other than that, changing names acts exactly as it used to.
    • The second page is the FRIENDS screen.
      • Friendship will work like guild membership does, once it is in place. You will be able to apply to be a friend of the house even without the owner present, and then be accepted even if you are not present. Four options with buttons will be listed for now. Use of all of these buttons will report that they are inoperative until ownership goes in. When ownership is installed, four more options will be on this window, for handling ejection from the building and managing the enemies list.
      • Display list of house friends
      • Add a friend
      • Remove a friend
      • Clear the friends list
    • The third page is the OPTIONS screen.
      • The menu lists these options, with buttons. All of them will report that they are inoperative until ownership goes in.
      • Change the house locks
      • Transfer ownership to another player
      • Demolish the house and get a deed back
      • Declare the building to be public
      • If the building is PUBLIC then the menu has different items on it, but of course, no buildings will be public until after the claim process is complete.

Mini-update for some claim process fixes Dec 10 1998 1:02PM

  • Master keys that are contained in a vendor deed will now allow players to claim.
  • When a murderer redeeds their house, the house deed is placed into their backpack and not their bank box.
  • The ability to have multiple house menus up and make the claims on multiple houses will not be possible. Players who have attempted to claim multiple houses this way must unclaim all houses they have done this on and claim the one house they truly want. If you do not do this, we cannot guarantee which house you will get ownership on.

 

Mini-update: moving guildstones Dec 15 1998 10:45AM

When the servers come back up for maintenance they will have a mini-update on them.

  • This update gives Guildmasters the ability to move, or teleport, their guildstones once a week. This ability will be permanent. Selecting this option will give the Guildmaster a teleportation stone that they may take to the target house and then use it to teleport the guildstone to that location. As before, guildmembers will not be able to access their guildstone until it has been teleported. We added this ability so that players, who will not be the owner of the house where their guildstones are currently, will have the opportunity to move that guildstone to a house of which they have a higher claim, instead of losing access to the guildstone once ownership is implemented. The one guildstone per house rule is still in effect as well as the valid location checks. Valid locations are defined as the inside of a house that you own, which currently is defined by having a key.
  • This update also ensures that teleported guildstones attach correctly to the target house. This means that in any house that currently has more than one guildstone, all guildstones other than the first one placed will automatically start the teleportation process as they violate the one guildstone/house rule. This move does count towards the “one move per week” limitation so choose your destination carefully.
  • When you are picking a location to teleport your guildstone, the location is designated by where your character stands. There is no “ghosted” image for you to pre-position the placement of the guildstone.
  • WARNING: As this ability is limited to once a week, Guildmasters will only be able to move the guildstone ONCE, before ownership goes in. Choose wisely and remember you have to give up claim on one house to get claim on another. Game Masters will not be able to move your guildstones as we have given this ability to you the player.

 

Small client update–translation and stacking items Dec 17 1998 3:15PM

  • Some items that previously were surfaces will no longer have surfaces (eg you cannot walk on them or climb them).
  • Small updates were made to the translation software.