Ryandor.com

So, Whats up everyone :P

I've been away for what seems like ages now. First the big move from town to town, and recently I've been introduced into WoW and havent had time to do anything else :/

Makes me feel kinda guilty, I have all my plans and ideas I wanted to do. Hell, I've even got 6 servers ready to go to do this thing :P

I keep trying to pull away, but kinda hard when everyone else in the household plays WoW and keeps dragging you back :)

Anyway, Just wanted to let you folks know that I'm still semi-around, I watch all the forums regularly, and am hoping to plan a comeback sometime...

Yeah... well, At least I'm still around eh? :)

ahhh yes.... another WoW conformist zombie is born....

Heh, Yeah. I think I'm almost to that point where my brain has turned into a jelly :P, soon only WoW commands will get through, heh.

Kinda sad though when I have all this hardware & software sitting next to me (6 servers for the planned UO server, W2K3, Exchange, SQL Server, AD, etc) not doing anything, and bandwidth going to waste :/

So how's UO still doing? Do many people still play with UO2D, or even 3D? I know the 3D client was destroyed in a recent patch (Glad I kept a copy of it).

How's UOKR doing? Is it better/worse, Is it out of Beta yet?

Is developing a UO server still viable? I mean, as a hobby if you didnt care about players, that'd be great (Which I really dont that much), but I'm wondering if people are still developing new servers, is it still a reasonably thriving community?

Someone fill me in please :)

Personaly, I got bored with it all and quit. I couldn't take the bank / auction house lagg and all the standing around spamming in said lagg



I have 3 shards in developement atm..... I'll put yor server space to good use



Most still play 2d client in my circles anyway. 3d wasn't destroyed, they removed it favour of KR



The graphics are nice an all... but the UI blows big time. EA has said a few times they would kill off the 2D client. The player responses have basicaly been... "Do that and I quit!"



The quick answer to all the above is ...... Yes.

there kinda 3 schools of thought at the moment

1. Leave your shard using pre-6.x, like a fresh install of ML or even 9th Annivesary with NO OSI patching
2. Keep patching all the way with the 2D an STAY 2D.
3. Do either and wait till somebody gets a working KR client version

Client 5.0.9.1 and befor , all ran as you probably remember.

Client 6.0 and later have allowed Map1 to be designed as a regular map with NO DIFF files. Problem is, Map2,3 and 4 you have to move the entire map up/down to match the correct Z height that the client is hard wired to look for now. You can't just put them at Z0 anymore and expect no troubles. Ilshenar is -Z76, Malas -Z90 and Tokuno is Z25 (I think, check InsideUO to be sure) The OSI maps were always at these Z hgths, its just the client never "looked" at them the way it does now. you have to be a match or you get stuck in your map.

KR ... (Which has been out of BETA and available as a free download for over a month) I know a few people are tweaking away at it, with some good progress... but who knows. RunUO has stated they will NOT pursue KR updates in anyway. Sphere hasn't said anything publicly, that I know of. Sphere has put out some minor updates this summer for 6.x clients w/new features an such.

UOGateway is all but dead, the 5.0.7 encryption issue showed the team was not doing any work at all, so there ka-putz.
ConnectUO, put out by the RunUO guys has basicaly taken over as the front end multi shard loader.

Bottom line, there still 3-5 hundred+ free shards out there and many in developement, including my own triple server mega shard. (Dragonlance - Ansalon, Taladas, Adlatum) Unfortunately, the player base has shrunk and the avg shard runs around 12-25 ppl, if your decent. RunUO's 3 shards still run in the hundreds of ppl tho. Imho, Most freeshard are for the owners own hobby and play enjoyment, if there friends play too, it's a bonus. I know thats my out look on it.

Wayne
email - wstaple2@Yahoo.com
MSN - wrstapleton@hotmail.com