Shard Name: Paths of Virtue
IP: 149.56.46.199
Port: 2593
Website: https://www.uopathsofvirtue.com/
Paths of Virtue is an Ultima Online shard with an emphasis on immersion and role-playing. The shard is essentially a homage to the original Ultima single player games, particularly Ultimas IV and V, my favorite Ultimas as well as my favorite CRPGs. I have eschewed static quests and such in favor of trying to create a more open, persistent Ultima experience. In so doing, I have striven to implement many of the features of the original series, including a skill-based class system that includes the original eight Virtue Professions as well as a few lore-related professions.
Role-playing one's character is not enforced, but is highly encouraged, as is having an Ultima sounding name. The era is set to LBR. There are no starter zones, new player status, or rewards. It is not a flashy shard, and follows a very careful old-school aesthetic. It uses a slightly customized version of the map (single facet of Britannia only, no New Lands or other facets), including a new town and some new dungeons, as well as a remodeled New Magincia. This is my original work, using CentrEd. Some things have been rearranged a bit as well. The custom client likewise includes, and is designed around, a remastered version of the original UO soundtrack. For any who do download the custom client and try the shard (the custom client is required), please let me know if there are any problems, with the download or otherwise.
You can find an extensive list of features on the opening page of shards' website. You will also find general information, instructions for downloading the custom client, and instructions for connecting to the shard, as well as a link to the Book of Lore (the shard's wiki).
I have been working on this shard, on and off, for about five years. While I have learned quite a bit in that time, I am utterly new to running a shard, and would not call myself a coder by any stretch.
I suppose that this project could be considered to be in alpha. I have done quite a bit of testing, but there are undoubtedly considerable bugs, potential exploits, and the like, yet to be discovered. I hope that I can work with any who choose to give the shard a try in fixing such issues as quickly as possible. I must here beg a bit of patience, as this is my first attempt at running a shard, and thus far it is only me as far as staff goes. I embarked upon this adventure knowing absolutely nothing. I know a little more now. This is not my area of expertise by any means. I am more accustomed to writing and world building. I am, however, passionate about this project, and will work diligently to fix any issues that arise, or find someone who can (though it may not happen overnight). I am going to try to make this a gradual process and to avoid restarts, but there may be some bumps and down time. There will definitely be changes along the way. Please consider this a process, with the goal of becoming the best Ultima-centric, role-play and immersion-focused shard it can be.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the emulator community, especially the RunUO and ServUO communities. I have made use of several scripts generously provided by members of those communities, and have tried to list them all, with links, in the credits page in the shard's wiki. I would also like to thank the many members who personally helped me and answered my ridiculous questions.
Special thanks to techy for his invaluable assistance in helping me set up the server and downloads, Fargariel for helping me try to get an Ubuntu server going (though I was too far out of my depth with Linux), ViWinFii for helping me get his amazing multilinguist script working (and helping with the CSS and Time System...I finally got it to work), and to tindo, Voxpire, Hammerhand, zerodowned, Enroq, tasanar, Wise Ol Cor, m309, and fraz (and anyone I have left out) for all the help.
