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09) 23rd November (Publish 1)

Posted on by Mariah
Wiki > Ultima Online Wiki > Technical > Previous Publishes > 1999 > 09) 23rd November (Publish 1)

Publish 1

The following is a list of changes deployed as Publish 1 on November 23, 1999.

Co-owners

Co-ownership will allow you to select trusted friends and allies to control some of the important functions of a house. This will allow more flexibility for house owners and provide a method for additional storage for those players who share houses.

Selecting Co-owners

  • Other characters on the same account as the house owner will be treated as co-owners unless:
    • They are already an owner or co-owner of another house.
  • You may select up to eight characters to be co-owners:
    • A co-owner may not be the owner of a house.
    • A co-owner may not be a co-owner of another house.
  • To select a co-owner:
    • Double click on your house sign.
    • Click the “friends” option.
    • Select “add a co-owner”. A targeting cursor will appear.
    • Target and click on the character you wish to make a co-owner.
  • Removing a co-owner
    • Double click on your house sign.
    • Click the “friends” option.
    • Select “remove a co-owner”.
    • A list of co-owners will appear, check the box next to the co-owner you wish to remove.

Co-owner Features

  • Co-owners will be able to do everything that an owner can, except:
    • Transfer ownership of the house.
    • Re-deed a house.
    • Add another co-owner.
    • Change the house locks.
  • Co-owners can also place one secure container, called a “strongbox”.
    • To place a strongbox the co-owner must say, “I wish to place a strongbox”. The strongbox will appear at your feet.
    • The strongbox can only be accessed by the co-owner who placed it and the owner of the house.
    • A strongbox can hold up to 25 items and has no weight restrictions. Note that the strongbox is a secure container, but items in the box do not count against the total number of lockdowns for that house. These strongboxes are additional storage.
    • A strongbox belonging to a co-owner that is removed will become unsecure (and subject to decay) as soon as it is accessed again.
    • Other characters on the same account that are being treated as co-owners will NOT be able to place a strongbox.

Taste ID Changes

The Taste Identification skill is now difficulty based.

  • Potions will be more difficult to taste than food is.
  • Poisoned food and drink will also be more difficult to discern.
  • The sound affects for tasting are now correct for food and liquids.
  • Tasting poisoned food or drink now has a chance to poison you on failure.
  • Potion Kegs can be Taste IDed (Information on Taste ID and potion kegs is below).
  • Potions from alchemy kegs not Taste IDed will only return the color of the liquid when looked at.
  • Currently tasting beverages (wine, ale, water, etc.) is not functional.

Maker’s Mark

Some of the trade skills will be enhanced to allow for more flexibility and personalization of their wares. These enhancements will affect Tailors, Carpenters, Blacksmiths, and Tinkers.

  • In addition to Blacksmiths and Tailors – Bowcrafters, Carpenters and Tinkers will now be able to craft “exceptional” items.
  • Exceptional marking works as follows: As an example, an exceptional katana made by a non-Grandmaster smith or made by a Grandmaster smith who chooses not to put his makers mark, will now say, “a katana of exceptional quality”. An exceptional katana made by a Grandmaster smith who chooses to place his maker’s mark on it will say, “a katana crafted with exceptional quality by…” This will be true for all exceptional items.
  • When a Grandmaster creates an exceptional item, a window will appear asking if they wish to place their mark on the item. Selecting “okay” will place the creator’s name on the item when examined (single clicked). Selecting “cancel” will not put the maker’s mark on the item.

Perma-reds

Saying “I must consider my sins” has been updated to include a message that will let you know if your character is permanently red.

If your character is permanently red, you will receive the message, “You are known throughout the land as a murderous brigand.”

Message Color Changes

The text color for the messages will now operate under the following conditions:

  • If the player will experience stat loss upon resurrection, the text color will be red.
  • If the player will not experience stat loss, the text color will be blue.

Skill Management

In an effort to give players more control over their character’s skills we will be implementing a skill management system. To facilitate this management the skill menu will be changed in the following ways:

  • A toggle button will be added at the top of the menu. This toggle button will change the state of the menu so that it will show or hide your character’s unmodified skill numbers. This will allow you to see what your actual skill level is unmodified from stats.
  • A toggle button will be added next to each skill. This toggle button will have three states: “up”, “down”, and “stop”. Skills marked “up” will rise normally and will never go down. Skills marked “down” will be candidates for atrophy. Skills marked “stop” will not go up or down, regardless of how often they are used.
  • A field will be added to the bottom of the skill menu that lists the character’s unmodified skill total. This will allow you to see how close you are to the skill cap (700).

FAQ

Q: “What happens if I’m at the skill cap and all my skills are all marked ‘up’?”
A: “None of your skills will change.”

Q: “What happens if I’m at the skill cap and the only skills marked ‘down’ are at 0.0?”
A: “None of your skills will change.”

Q: “What happens if I mark all my skills ‘down’?”
A: “None of your skills will change, because they only atrophy when another skill raises.”

Q: “If I mark all my skills ‘down’ except for one, will that skill go up faster?”
A: “No.”

Q: “Will I gain stats when I use a skill marked ‘down’?”
A: “No.”

Q: “Will I gain stats when I use a skill marked ‘stop’?”
A: “No.”

Q: “What happens when I try to train with an NPC if I am skill capped and all of my skills are marked as either “stop” or “up”.
A: “You will not be able to train with the NPC”

Q: “How will this system affect murderers with regards to ‘stat-loss’?”
A: “Murderers will still take stat and skill loss as normal, regardless of their skill locks.”

Q: “Can I set a different configuration for each character?”
A: “Yes. Each character on each shard can have different skill management settings.”

Q: “How do I gain stats when at the skill cap?”
A: “You can only gain stats from skills that are marked as “up”. If you are at the skill cap, you will only gain stats from skills if you mark another skill as “down” (provided that you have points to atrophy in that skill) or if the skill is at Grandmaster (in this case, you do not need to mark any skills as “down”.

Vendor Changes

Buying from vendors will be made more secure. After selecting an item to purchase from a player vendor, you will be given a message that tells you the item name and the cost associated with it. The message will have two options:

  • To purchase the item, click “okay”.
  • To cancel the transaction, click “cancel”.

While the message is on your screen, the vendor owner will not be able to move the item or change its price until you click either “okay” or “cancel”. The message will remain on the screen for 60 seconds to give you time to decide.

The evaluate intelligence skill will not work on vendors.

Pet Changes

Some issues involving pets will be addressed.

  • To avoid a bothersome misuse of pets, you will not be able to name any pet “you” or “your bag”.
  • Pack horses will now accept food. Dragging food onto a pack horse will cause the horse to eat it.

Clean Up Britannia Phase II

As part of Phase II, the number of secure containers and locked down items will be increased for most house types. The numbers are detailed below. The total items column is the maximum number of items that can be stored in each house. Designating a container as secure will take up 125 of your lockdowns, regardless of how many items you actually put in the secure container. Note that containers within a container do not have a weight limit. This allows players to forego secure storage for more lockdowns. Secure containers do not have weight limits.

House Type Secure Containers Lock Downs Total Items
All Small Houses 3 425 425
Brick Houses 8 1100 1100
Large Patio Houses 8 1100 1100
Both Two Story Houses 10 1370 1370
Towers 15 2119 2119
Small Stone Keeps 18 2625 2625
Castles 28 4076 4076

These changes, along with the ability to lock down stackable items and the removal of weight restrictions from secure containers and bank boxes, should offer you adequate room to store your most valuable and useful items and decorate your home.

You will also be able to lockdown containers and the items inside of them. These items will not be subject to decay once locked down in the container. Saying “I wish to lock this down” on a container will:

  • Count the items that can be locked down inside the container.
  • Check the available number of lockdowns you have left for your house.
  • If you have enough lockdowns available, the system will lock all items down, including the container, and report success.
  • If you do not have enough lockdowns available, the system will report the failure and give the reason.
  • Releasing a locked down container will automatically release all of the items in it.

Locked down items can be used in the following manner:

  • Only the owner, co-owner, and friends of the house may use or take items from a locked down stack.

Boats

Some issues involving boats will be addressed.

  • Issues that did not allow players to dry dock a boat even when it was empty will be resolved.
  • The miniature boat models will now say the type of boat and the name of the boat when examined (single clicked).

Carpentry

The carpentry skill will no longer use more cloth than is needed.

  • When creating an item with carpentry all of the undyed cloth in your backpack will be stacked.
  • The appropriate amount of cloth is then taken to make the item.
  • If possible, the remaining cloth will be converted into bolts.

Veterinary and Healing Changes

We have made some changes to the Veterinary and Healing skills to improve their performance and make them more consistent.

  • You will no longer be able to use Veterinary or Healing on the following monsters: Zombies, Daemons, Air Elementals, Earth Elementals, Fire Elementals, Water Elementals, Gazers, Liches, Spectres, Skeletons, Wisps, Energy Vortexes, and Blade Spirits.
  • The Veterinary and Healing skills will also now distinguish between animals, monsters, and humanoid creatures.
  • The following animals and monsters will be healed using the Veterinary skill: Gargoyles, Corpsers, Dragons, Reapers, Slimes, Terrathans, Eagles, Birds, Giant Snakes, Spiders, Gorillas, Mongbats, Giant Scorpions, Snakes, Drakes, Frogs, Sea Serpents, Dolphins, Horses, Cats, Alligators, Pigs, Rabbits, Lava Lizards, Sheep, Chickens, Goats, Ostards, Bears, Grizzly Bears, Polar Bears, Cougars, Giant Rats, Cows, Dogs, Llamas, Walruses, Wolves (timber), Nightmares, Bulls, Great Harts, Hinds, Rats, Pack Horses, Pack Llamas.
  • These creatures will be healed using the Healing skill: Trolls, Cyclopes, Ophidians, Ogres, Ettins, Orcs, Harpies, Headlesses, Lizardmen, Ratmen, and Humans (including Player Characters).
  • The issue with double finger slips while healing when hit with a magical attack will be resolved. You will now only slip once.
  • The Healing and Veterinary skills are now difficulty based when attempting to cure poison. The higher the level of poison, the more difficult it will be to cure it.

Bank Boxes

Bank Boxes have had their weight limits removed and containers within the bank box will not have a weight limit either. The bank box retains the 125 total item limit and that includes any items in containers within the bank.

Alchemy Message

Alchemy messages will appear in the lower left of the UO play window of the alchemist. Other players will not see the messages.

Rune Books

Rune Books are designed to help reduce the total number of runes in the game and to assist rune libraries with the lock down changes. Rune Books will allow players to keep far fewer runes in their bank boxes and houses while still being able to carry a regular rune when travelling outside of town.

General Features

  • A rune book will hold a total of 16 locations.
  • One of these locations can be set as the “default” location.
  • Casting the recall or gate spell on the rune book will treat the book like a rune marked with the default location.
  • Books will have charges that will allow you to recall to locations in the book without casting recall. Using a charge will require you to have the necessary magery skill and mana to cast the spell just like casting from a recall scroll.
  • Rune Books will be rechargeable with recall scrolls. Dragging a recall scroll onto the book will add one charge (up to its maximum).
  • Dragging a rune onto a book will add that location to the book.
  • You can name the rune book by opening the book and clicking the red gem on upper right. After clicking the gem, simply type in the name of the book and hit enter.

Creation

  • Rune Books will be craftable using the inscription skill.
  • Inscribers will need 8 blank scrolls, 1 recall scroll, 1 gate travel scroll and a rune.
  • To make a rune book, use the inscription and then target the blank rune. The system will then check to make sure you have the necessary components.
  • You cannot have your spell book equipped at the time you attempt to make a rune book.
  • The number of charges a book can hold will range from 5 to 10, depending on the skill of the Inscriber.

Using the Rune Book

  • On the top left of the first index page is a large Red Gem button. Press this to rename the book.
  • Casting recall directly on the rune book will transport you to the location set as the “default”.
  • Casting gate directly on the rune book will open a gate with the destination to the “default” location of the book.
  • To access the non-default locations, you will be able to open the book by double clicking on it.
  • When open, the book will display two index pages with 8 locations on each page.
  • Each index page will have the current number of charges listed on the top left side and the maximum number of charges the book can hold on the right side.
  • Each location entry will have a small blue “recall” button (similar looking to the buttons used in the skill list). Clicking this button will use a charge and transport you to that location. If the book has no charges left, you will not be able to do this.
  • The index pages will display the first 18 characters from the marked rune’s name.
  • At the bottom of the index pages, there will be the numbers “1” – “8” (just like spell books). Clicking these numbers will bring you to a “rune page”.

Rune Pages

Each rune page will contain:

  • A button to use a charge and recall to that location.
  • A button (a small down arrow) to drop the rune from the book. This will return a rune with that location marked.
  • The sextant coordinates for the rune’s marked location.
  • A button to make the rune location the default location. This button will appear green unless the location is the default location, in which case it will be red.
  • An icon to cast recall. You will need to have the required mana, skill level and the reagents. This will not use a charge.
  • An icon to cast gate. You will need to have the required mana, skill level and the reagents. This will not use a charge.

House Age

Players will now be able to determine whether a house is a “legacy” house or not. Double-clicking the house sign will display one of the following messages in the window:

  • If the house was placed after the house placement changes, there will be a message stating, “This house is of Modern Design.”
  • If the house was placed before the house placement changes, there will be a message stating, “This house is of Classic Design.”

Potion Kegs

Potion Kegs will require the following items to make. An empty barrel, a barrel lid, a tap, and 10 empty potion bottles.

Empty barrels are created by carpenters using:

  • 3 barrel staves (made by carpenters, requires 5 pieces of wood each).
  • 1 set of hoops (made by tinkers, requires 5 iron ingots).
  • 1 lid (made by carpenters, requires 4 pieces of wood).

Tinkers can then turn a regular barrel into a potion barrel with the following items:

  • 1 empty barrel (made by carpenters as per the above method).
  • 1 barrel tap (made by tinkers, requires 2 ingots).
  • 1 barrel lid (made by carpenters, requires 4 pieces of wood).

Creating a Potion Keg

To create a potion keg, a carpenter must first create a keg:

  • Have all of the necessary components in your backpack (3 barrel staves, 1 set of hoops, 1 lid).
  • Double-click on a carpentry tool.
  • Select “containers” in the carpentry menu.
  • Select the “open keg” in the containers menu. (Note this will not appear if you do not have sufficient skill.)
  • Provided you have the proper materials and enough skill level you will attempt to create the keg.

Once a keg is created, a tinker must then turn the keg into a potion keg:

  • Have all of the necessary components in your backpack (1 keg, 1 barrel tap, 1 barrel lid, 10 empty potion bottles).
  • Double-click on tinker tools.
  • When the targeting cursor appears, click on the keg.
  • A menu will appear with a potion keg as an option. Select the potion keg checkbox and click OK.
  • Provided you have the proper materials and enough skill level you will attempt to turn the keg into a potion keg.
  • When placed, potion kegs can be stacked on top of each other.
  • Potion Kegs cannot be made “secure”.

Owning a Potion keg

  • Placing a potion in an empty potion keg will:
    • Make you the owner.
      • Owners can identify the type of potion keg without using the Taste Id skill
      • Non-owners will need to use taste id to identify a potion barrel.
    • Designate the type of potion the barrel can hold.
  • Placing a potion in a partially-filled potion keg will make you the owner if the barrel is in your inventory.
    • In order to place a potion in a potion keg you must be the owner, or have identified the keg with the Taste Id skill.
    • The potion keg will only accept potions of the same type.

Looking at a keg

  • When empty, single clicking on a potion keg will return the message “a specially lined keg for holding potions”.
  • When filled, single clicking on a potion keg will return:
    • “A keg of (color) liquid” for non-owners and anyone else that has not used taste-id on the barrel.
    • “A keg of (potion type)” for the owner or those who have used the Taste Id skill on the keg (up to 5 at a time).
  • A filled keg will also return a message giving a general description of how full it is.

Filling the potion keg

  • Potion kegs can hold up to 100 potions of the same type.
  • Drag a potion onto the keg.
    • For an empty potion keg, any potion can be used.
    • For a partially filled keg.
      • You must be the owner, or have used the Taste Id skill on the keg.
      • The type of potion in the bottle must be known.
      • The type of potion in the bottle must be the same as the type in the keg.
      • An unidentified potion can be placed in an unidentified potion keg, provided that they are of the same type of potion. This will allow players who use an unidentified potion keg to put potions they draw from it back into the keg.
      • Weight of keg increases by 4 for every five potions added.
  • Potions can be crafted directly in the keg if there are no bottles in the alchemist’s backpack.
    • After you begin to make a potion you will be given a targeting cursor.
    • Clicking on the potion keg will add one potion.
    • The same rules apply to this method as for dragging a potion onto the keg.

Retrieving items from keg:

Double click on the keg to retrieve a potion

  • If the keg is empty, you will receive the message “the keg is empty”.
  • If the keg is partially filled or full.
    • The keg will fill one empty bottle in the user’s backpack.
      • If the type of potion in the keg is known to the user, the new potion will already be identified.
      • If the type of the potion in the keg is unknown to the user, the new potion is identified by color only.
    • If no bottle in the user’s backpack, the keg will ask for empty bottles.
    • The weight of keg reduced by 4 for every five potions removed.

Updates

Update 1

On December 10, 1999, the following was published:

  • The “someone is already using this” message with potion kegs will be addressed.
  • Issues with Potions Keg weight will be fixed.
  • You will no longer be able to make a Potion Keg “secure”.
  • Using a Potion Keg will now check line-of-site.
  • Potion kegs will stack.
  • Locked down stackable items (such as ingots and fish steaks) can only be used or “cut” by the owner, friends, and co-owners of a house. This applies to both private and public houses.
  • An adjustment to veterinary skill gain will be made to allow players to reach grandmaster in the skill.
  • Co-owners will be able to “detect hidden” in houses.
  • Houses reporting incorrect number of lockdowns will be addressed.
  • When a co-owner is removed, the strong box associated with them will be deleted. All items will fall to the floor.
  • Issues related to co-owners when a house is deleted or the co-owner is removed while the player is offline will be addressed.
  • Locking down a container will now check to make sure you have enough lock downs available. If you do not, the container and the items in it will not be locked down.
  • Lockdown will ignore items inside of spellbooks, rune books, keyrings, and checkerboards. These items will only count as one lock down.
  • You will no longer need to remove co-owners in the order they were added.
  • A fix for a problem where exceptionally crafted tailored armor has the same AR as normal tailored armor.
  • When a container is unsecured, it will have a weight limit.
  • Sextant coordinates associated with Rune Books will be corrected.
  • UO-chat has been fixed. You can now name the rooms using any letters.
  • A fix for a problem with reported age of houses.
  • Rune books will no longer consume scrolls out of spellbooks.
  • A problem with stealing and locked down items will be addressed.
  • A bug with the trade window will be fixed.
  • Christmas Tress will be activated.
  • Fixes to guildstones to prevent loss of data.
  • Placing items in secure containers will no longer cause the item to be locked down.
  • Attempting to cure a poisoned creature before it has taken damage will now work properly
  • The [exceptional] tag will be removed and replaced with a new system of marking exceptional items. As an example, an exceptional katana made by a non-Grandmaster smith or made by a Grandmaster smith who chooses not to put his makers mark, will now say, “a katana of exceptional quality”. An exceptional katana made by a Grandmaster smith who chooses to place his maker’s mark on it will say, “a katana crafted with exceptional quality by…” This will be true for all exceptional items.

Update 2

On December 21, 1999, the following was published:

  • NPCs will no longer scavenge items.
  • Monsters will no longer destroy objects that block their path. This is a temporary change and will be changed back.
  • You will no longer be able to place locked down items into your backpack.

Holiday Gifts

Players will receive tickets when logging in their characters. Any ticket can be matched to any other player’s ticket. Once a ticket is used on another ticket, each player can select from a variety of holiday gifts, compliments of Origin. The tickets are blessed, meaning they cannot be looted or stolen. In addition, each ticket can only be used by the original owner of the ticket.

Matching Tickets

To use the tickets, simply open a trade window. Once one ticket is in the window, you do not need to actually agree to the trade. Double-click on your ticket and target the player’s ticket in the trade window. You will then be given a window from which to select your gift. You do not need to actually give your ticket to another player to use them.

The Gifts

All of the gifts are blessed. They cannot be looted or stolen. As with all blessed items it is important to leave the item in your main backpack. Placing a blessed gift in a container inside your backpack will make the item susceptible to thieves as they can steal the container with the blessed item inside.

  • 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.
  • Potted Plants
    • Selecting the potted plant will place a potted plant deed in your backpack.
    • To get your plant, double-click the deed. This will place one of five random potted plants on the ground at your feet.
    • Once placed the plant can be picked up and carried.
    • Potted plants need to be locked down after Phase III of Clean Up Britannia begins.
    • Although the potted plant deed is blessed, the plant itself is not.
  • Fireworks Wand
    • The fireworks wand will shoot fireworks when double-clicked.
    • The wand has 100 charges.
  • Clothing Bless Deed
    • Selecting the clothing bless deed will place a deed in your backpack.
    • The deed can be used on any article of clothing (such as tunics, boots, hats, etc.)
    • After double-clicking the deed, target an article of clothing. Once targeted, the clothing will become blessed (meaning it cannot be stolen or looted).
    • Blessed clothing can still take damage (from maces for example).
  • Wristwatch
    • Selecting the wristwatch will place a watch in your backpack.
    • The watch will tell the time in Britannia, which can be very useful when using the moongates.
  • 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 place the tree at your feet.
    • Holiday Trees cannot be placed within three tiles of your front door and cannot be placed outside.
    • Holiday Trees do not need to be locked down once Phase III of Clean Up Britannia is published.
    • Holiday Trees can only be placed by the house owner.

Update 3

On December 22, 1999, the following was published:

  • The exploit that allowed people to gain magic resistance using blade spirits without taking damage from the blade spirits has been fixed.

Update 4

On January 4, 2000, the following was published:

  • Deactivation of the distribution of holiday tickets.
    • While players will no longer receive tickets, any existing tickets can still be matched.