Another Pack Gaming effort: Ultima Online!

[Vagrant]

What?

Ultima Online, a massively-multiplayer online game originally developed by Origin, and adopted by EA afterwards.

It's a World in which one can do whatever they want, there's a skill pool, and whatever you do you get better at the more you do it, there's no classes, it's based on working at something until you become a master at it. Want to be a chef, a tailor, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a miner, a dungeon-explorer, a slayer of great beasts, a treasure-hunter, an animal tamer, an alchemist, a fisherman, a detective, a tinker, a bard... ? You can, and there are many other professions too, and a huge, open World to have fun in.

Why?

I figured it would be fun to have an Ultima Online server just for the pack alone, I'll be keeping it online as much as possible, so that anyone can pop in and out at any time. I've also got it setup to allow shapeshifting into a Wolf right from the moment a person creates their character, a few other goodies are there too.

I'm also arranging things so we can start our own little player-run town, I've got a method to travel there setup and everything.

How?

1) Download these files.

http://rapidshare.com/files/224743904/UO.7z.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/224753673/UO.7z.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/224765601/UO.7z.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/224777741/UO.7z.004
http://rapidshare.com/files/224788140/UO.7z.005
http://rapidshare.com/files/224798230/UO.7z.006

2) Use 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org) to decompress them (the password is pack.servegame.org).

3) Create a shortcut to client.exe once you've decompressed them and put that somewhere.

4) Login!

It's that simple, the first time you log in it creates an account for you, and you just have to login with the same details again to get access to your characters.

Anything else?

Not much, it's free, charging something would be illegal anyway, and that's something I don't want. :p It's a freely mirrored game, and that's what my above files are, just another mirror (with a slight different login.cfg file), and EA has never kicked up a fuss about people running private servers, or the RunUO project.

So this server should be good for as long as my laptops and backups are!

I've already scanned the above files with the latest version of Vipre antivirus, which I trust, but if anyone wishes to give 'em another scan, feel free. And if you find anything, let me know and I'll upload the file to VirusTotal to check it out. I'm 100 per cent sure it's fine though, so I'd be surprised if there were any problems.

If anyone's wondering why I'm supplying my own files, it's to take the hassle out of getting the game to run manually, which was a pain in the arse.

First of all you have to download and install Mondain's Legacy, then you have to watch the patcher run up until exactly version 6.0.10.0, then you have to stop it, then you have to edit the Login.cfg with my details. But I found that UO runs fine even if it's just unzipped (not installed), so I decided the best approach would be to take the hassle out of it for other people, I like making things as easy as possible, after all.

Right then, that's it, if you want to join in, please do. This is open to all, providing you behave yourselves and don't grief other players. Enjoy!

[Xiroteus]

This will work out very well.

[Vagrant]

And a free little boat for everyone who joins before the 29th!

<.<

>.>

What?

Hehehehe. Gods, this is fun.

New on the server:

We now have IRC access, we can talk via IRC, join us on #UO on the Paradice IRC server if you want to see us yammer at each other.

[Wingman]

Hey, I keep getting prompted for a password whenever I try to extract the files. Is that something you forgot to mention, or is that something gone wrong on my end?

[Midnight]

.

[Vagrant]

Wingman: There is indeed, I can't believe I forgot to mention it, the password is also the public domain of my server, which I did just to make it easy to remember.

Password: pack.servegame.org

I'll mention it in the first post in a moment.

Midnight: Ultima Online has been about since 1997, it's had numerous expansions, but the original client (which we're using) could run on a mid-range machine from 1997. It's purely 2D, and it isn't demanding at all, it's also well-optimised. Basically: If your computer is advanced enough to run basic web Flash, then it's more than advanced enough to play Ultima Online.

There is a client that people can use optionally called PlayUO, this does provide graphical updates, but I don't support that client, I won't be able to help people with it, because that client is demanding. It was made by a player who wanted to give UO better graphics, and it supports things like environment shadows and flashier spell effects.

But yeah, the client we're using could probably run on an archaic machine from 2000 with ease, so you have nothing to worry about.

[Silent Hunter]

This looks like a really fun idea. I want to try UO so this sounds good.


Oh and how much power do you have over your "world" Vagrant. I mean can you totally restructure maps etc, create enemies, safehosues etc?

[Vagrant]

In the order asked: With great difficulty, yes. Yes. And yes.

In fact, players can create their own houses, there's even a Sims-like house architectural system for those that put in the effort to get access to it.

[Silent Hunter]

Also, important question, is there any bugs or anything you would like us to report? I know there was a bit of a password problem but it would be useful if there is anything you want us to look out for or/and watch.

[Vagrant]

*headdesk*

That looks like it hurt.

Man, I wish you would've said something earlier about your plans! What is so hard about about ante-upping the $10/mo to play?

What if the purpose of running my own server isn't so much about paying? What if it's because it makes me feel comfortable that I can create an easygoing environment for people to game in, since I'd be an administrator?

You know what they say about assuming.

This makes my head hurt,

I imagine it would, you just hit your head on your desk.

and makes me want to thump you.

Anger management issues over a benign and free community project? Good grief.

lots of folks to help you out at any hour of the day (most guilds can't say that).

Of course, lots of folks and a server filled with people who have mixed motives and intents can be scary. However, I'm always willing to help anyone on my server as well, and I've provided no end of aid to both Xiro and Moon. I might not be an entire guild, but I have my own ways of being useful.

Overall though, I'm absolutely amazed by your post Baph, and frankly... maybe a tiny bit hurt, too.

*headdesk*

That looks like it hurt.

Man, I wish you would've said something earlier about your plans! What is so hard about about ante-upping the $10/mo to play?

What if the purpose of running my own server isn't so much about paying? What if it's because it makes me feel comfortable that I can create an easygoing environment for people to game in, since I'd be an administrator?

You know what they say about assuming.

This makes my head hurt,

I imagine it would, you just hit your head on your desk.

and makes me want to thump you.

Anger management issues over a benign and free community project? Good grief.

lots of folks to help you out at any hour of the day (most guilds can't say that).

Of course, lots of folks and a server filled with people who have mixed motives and intents can be scary. However, I'm always willing to help anyone on my server as well, and I've provided no end of aid to both Xiro and Moon. I might not be an entire guild, but I have my own ways of being useful.

Overall though, I'm absolutely amazed by your post Baph, and frankly... maybe a tiny bit hurt, too.

Edit: Scratch that, a lot hurt. Just because I may take a tiny bit of Pack attention away from your guild is no reason to make an arse out of yourself in my thread and imply that I'm doing this solely so that people can dodge subscription costs. I do admit that this was a reason, so that people could get together regardless of their financial situation, but it wasn't the driving force behind the idea. When I first had the idea, I wanted to do it because I could customise the experience to what my friends wanted.

I don't see how a hang-out server where a bunch of friends can play and have fun without the rest of the World getting in the way is such a threat to you or anything else. It's not real UO, it's not official, it's not supposed to be any of these things.

I've been with UO since beta, and as a UO player I suppose I figured that you'd actually support this idea. Well, live and learn.

Final Edit: And Baph, I suppose I just never expected this from you. You're a moderator too, after all, that comes with a degree of responsibility, and what you've done here is talked down my projected to talk up your guild, something outside of this forum.

I think the reason I'm so upset about this is because there are others I may have expected a self-boasting post from, but not from you, Baph. And that's what that was, a shot below the belt at me so that you could advertise your guild and hopefully convince people that your way is better. Recruitment > All?

I'm not surprised though, I've seen this recruitment drive from a lot of Guildmasters, who'll do anything to convince people that their competition is not as good as they are. And until your post, I wasn't even aware I'd be competition, not that I was even trying to be.

[Silent Hunter]

Errr, you may want to be careful when using RS btw:

http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-shar ... rs-090425/