True 
So, my last comment was a reaction to the behavior of Ryan, who could have forgotten to fix this option
So, my last comment was a reaction to the behavior of Ryan, who could have forgotten to fix this option 
- Thread starter Feeh
- Start date
Lol. The majority of us here moved on long ago. I just still go back for reference, in NO WAY for the community there. That died on RunUO a long time ago.
My login no longer works on the forum, so I guess I'll stay here.
I kinda stopped posting there because Ryan seemed to change his mind about the site and official runuo game servers, like the wind changing direction.
He would appear, change something, like moving hosts, or updating the forum software, promise new interest in the project, then dissapear for 6 months to a year, come back, repeat and then dissapear again
And then he would shut down a shard with no notice or information as to why (I think it was called Revelation?)
That kinda behaviour is just poisonous to the community.
I kinda stopped posting there because Ryan seemed to change his mind about the site and official runuo game servers, like the wind changing direction.
He would appear, change something, like moving hosts, or updating the forum software, promise new interest in the project, then dissapear for 6 months to a year, come back, repeat and then dissapear again
And then he would shut down a shard with no notice or information as to why (I think it was called Revelation?)
That kinda behaviour is just poisonous to the community.
Ryan had a lot going on outside of RunUO, that was causing problems too. Some of the mods that were "in power" when he wasn't around enjoyed abusing their permissions. I might be biased (as I'm still IP banned there going on three years now), but when most of my time was spent helping people, both publicly and privately in PMs, and supporting RunUO and even helping Ryan with one of his projects, getting the door slammed on my fingers sort of soured my opinion of RunUO as a community. Working on Orb's Dev team helped revitalize my community support, then that went belly up. So, now that brings me to ServUO...where I'll stay until Insanity decides he's had enough of my shenanigans LOL
I feel bad, as everyone has said, there was no notice, he just quit. In my opinion, what really is the "knife in the back" situation is, instead of just leaving it as a "I do not have the time" or "no longer interested in the project anymore", he states he is ending runuo to go work on Shroud of the Avatar. That to me is a slap in the face. Maybe its just me, but I feel like he quit doing runuo just because of that.
If it is just me, sorry all, had to vent.
But now, I see people posting the fact that RunUO has been dying, bleeding of life for some time now. Too bad, I got my start with runuo, as I found it to be the easiest of them all to get going from the start.
Oh well.
If it is just me, sorry all, had to vent.
But now, I see people posting the fact that RunUO has been dying, bleeding of life for some time now. Too bad, I got my start with runuo, as I found it to be the easiest of them all to get going from the start.
Oh well.
Thank you. In a way, that is comforting.
It didn't help that he had so many "followers", almost like a cult leader
They acted like he was the best thing ever, even when he treated them poorly, almost like dogs being abused by their master.
oh my god..
He threw me out with the trash once too.. back in around 2004 after I spent around 4 months working on a custom map he asked me to create.. I got nothing in return, and never really heard from him again. That was my first taste of the real Ryan and how he just uses people. And why I left RunUO for some 6 years or so there after.
He threw me out with the trash once too.. back in around 2004 after I spent around 4 months working on a custom map he asked me to create.. I got nothing in return, and never really heard from him again. That was my first taste of the real Ryan and how he just uses people. And why I left RunUO for some 6 years or so there after.
Dian I know this really isn't funny but when you stated-
I just had to laugh the way you stated it
Ouch..
...do you have a copy of it?
Yeah I do. Its nothing super special. He kept rushing and rushing me.. wanting it as simple as possible. And it was, for the most part.
He opened it to just about anyone that wanted to build on it. There was some hundered players on there when I ran around for a look. Just plain chaos. lol
Dian I know this really isn't funny but when you stated-
I just had to laugh the way you stated it
lol its fine, I am way past being bitter over that. In fact, I was over it the next day. I just couldnt stand going to RunUO for a long time afterwards.
maybe you could build and post custom maps for ServUO shard builders to use along with or without the UltimaLive Map Streamer.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
john, Custom maps take so much time, its just stupid. For one guy, it can take years to complete a decent map.
I honestly do not know how DarkShard does it, to be honest. and then to only charge $15 for a fairly well completed map, thats just crazy. If I had to put a price on my custom map, it would be in the thousands of dollars, and really.. that would equate to pennies an hour. Literally.
Anyways, I am not in the map making business, never will be. I only did mine because we wanted our own world like no other, rather than just another Britannia shard. I often wonder how things would have ended up had I just stuck with the OSI maps from the beginning. Im sure I would have been competing with UO Gamers in all likelihood. I had the talented partner for the first few years, but the map work had just ruined progress because we were always waiting for areas to be completed to move forward. Players got tired of patching map files every week, sometimes more than that.. just to begin with the headaches.
Ryan only got a slapped together map that never did get finished, because he wanted it NOW NOW.
Now though, my map is on the verge of becoming very well completed, and am at a point where very soon I can just focus on in game content finally. Unfortunately, it has come at a time when the UO communities are dying off, and may be too late to have that successful shard I hoped for. Who knows, time will tell.
I get what you are saying though, and had thought about that over the years. There are not many people that really devoted the time to create a custom map, and actually finish it for a real shard.
I honestly do not know how DarkShard does it, to be honest. and then to only charge $15 for a fairly well completed map, thats just crazy. If I had to put a price on my custom map, it would be in the thousands of dollars, and really.. that would equate to pennies an hour. Literally.
Anyways, I am not in the map making business, never will be. I only did mine because we wanted our own world like no other, rather than just another Britannia shard. I often wonder how things would have ended up had I just stuck with the OSI maps from the beginning. Im sure I would have been competing with UO Gamers in all likelihood. I had the talented partner for the first few years, but the map work had just ruined progress because we were always waiting for areas to be completed to move forward. Players got tired of patching map files every week, sometimes more than that.. just to begin with the headaches.
Ryan only got a slapped together map that never did get finished, because he wanted it NOW NOW.
Now though, my map is on the verge of becoming very well completed, and am at a point where very soon I can just focus on in game content finally. Unfortunately, it has come at a time when the UO communities are dying off, and may be too late to have that successful shard I hoped for. Who knows, time will tell.
I get what you are saying though, and had thought about that over the years. There are not many people that really devoted the time to create a custom map, and actually finish it for a real shard.
Dian, if I wanted to make a map, what software would you recommend and what steps are needed.
A lot of that answer depends on how much time and detail you want to put in it.
If you want to make a map thats good detail, but do not want to spend stupid amounts of time doing it, Dragon would be the way to go. Dragon Mod 9 would be a good start.
If you are willing to spend the extra time, and want the most detail all in one shot, Map Generator 2 is the bet program, hands down.
Those are the ones I have used, and know. There are others, but nothing that compares to MapGenerator at least.
You would start by getting one of those programs, and Paintshop or Photoshop. Gimp would work too, its free. You would create a new raw BMP image in Paint shop, and load the pallet file that comes with the Map program, so to hae the correct colors to paint your map with. Oh, the size of the image in pixels will represent the size of the map in square tiles.
Once you get that far, you are ready to paint away.
Dragon Details:
Dragon uses shades of a color that share both the Land tile, and Altitude. So lets take grass for instance. There is a variety of green shades to the pallet, the lightest is the lowest altitude, the darkest green is the highest altitude. Same go's for the rest of the colors. Each color represents a Land Tile and a set altitude. It is editable within a txt file if you need to alter them.
Once you paint enough of your map, and are ready to check it out, Run the Dragon.exe file. You need to just enter the directory of the BMP file and the folder you want the Map0.mul to be created in. It will create the Map0.mul file. At the same time, it will save a txt file that holds all the items that would go along with it, like trees for your forest areas, and such. After you ran Dragon, you then run DragonSP.exe and it will create your Statics0.mul and Staidx0.mul files. You then can copy these files to your Ultima game folder, AND your ServUO folder client files, and should be able to boot the shard, and have a look.
Map Generator 2:
Somewhat same kind of deal as Dragon, however Map Gen2 differs dramatically being it uses 2 BMP files to paint your map. One BMP file is pure Land Tiles, the other is Pure Altitude. Now, why is this you might ask? It is because Dragon is limited to a 64 (off my memory) bit pallet, and because of that it shares Land Tiles and Elevation. Map Gen split these up, so now you have one pallet that does not need 10 shades of green (or 50 shades of gray
) for just grass, it only requires ONE green for grass, period. This means you are able to have MUCH more land tiles to choose from to paint your map with compared to Dragons.. 15 or so Land tiles.Now, once you paint your primary Land Map, it will generate a base image duplicate for you to begin elevation painting. Same principle as Dragon, different shades for different Z levels. Now you can do some serious detail work with this program.
Then, when you finish enough, you compile the images into the map/statics/staidx files, boot your shard and have a look.
Final thoughts:
Why is Map Generator so much better, beyond the obvious? Because you have much more Land Tiles to choose from during the painting stage, and WAY more elevation levels to choose from.. so you will have MUCH less time needing to be spent after the map is done using something like CentrED to do the fine detail work. Where as with Dragon, you will finish your map as good as you can or are able.. but will then need to spend a ton of time with CentrED cleaning up the areas that you couldnt do because of the limitations.
I spent somewhere around 4 years painting my map, compiling to MUL files, touching up areas, compiling, touching up areas, compiling.. before I was finally done enough to ditch Dragon, and be okay with edits with just CentrED (World Forge at the time). And yes, I was anal with my map. Almost the entire map was done pixel by pixel by pixel. I wiped it out once, and started over almost completely one time as well.
dang.. yeah, that sums it up kinda. Hope it helps you out. My fingers hurt now..
I dont think I have ever shown this to the public, but its converted to JPG resized and without dungeon area.. I have never given the real painted bmp out to anyone, ever.. but I thought while on the subject, you guys might like to see an example of just what kind of crazy paint work I had done with mine. This is about where I finally quit using Dragon, and moved on to in game and CentrED (actually World Forge at the time) map editor for any remaining detail work..
This map, because of the limitations of Dragon I explained earlier, took me 4 personal custom versions of Dragon to generate in several sections. One Dragon for normal world areas, one for Deserts, one for Dungeons, and another for Snow.. (fairly certain, but you get the idea) Once I generated a map with each Dragon version, I cut the areas out and pieced them all together into one map0.mul file to get the map I wanted (or as close to it as I could)
Even if someone did get the BMP file to my map, it would be seriously near impossible for them to generate a usable map with any version of Dragon. So, as you can see.. map making can get crazy out of hand.. And really, as detailed as this might seem, in my opinion it is still lacking in many ways.. for instance, my map does not have a lot of nice elevation changes throughout.. the way I really wanted it to be. But, it is what it is..
This map, because of the limitations of Dragon I explained earlier, took me 4 personal custom versions of Dragon to generate in several sections. One Dragon for normal world areas, one for Deserts, one for Dungeons, and another for Snow.. (fairly certain, but you get the idea) Once I generated a map with each Dragon version, I cut the areas out and pieced them all together into one map0.mul file to get the map I wanted (or as close to it as I could)
Even if someone did get the BMP file to my map, it would be seriously near impossible for them to generate a usable map with any version of Dragon. So, as you can see.. map making can get crazy out of hand.. And really, as detailed as this might seem, in my opinion it is still lacking in many ways.. for instance, my map does not have a lot of nice elevation changes throughout.. the way I really wanted it to be. But, it is what it is..
lets say we take map0.mul and rename it map16.mul, will there be any conflicts?
Unless you intend on using Ultima Live, it will never be recognized by the UO client. The UO client in its unmodified form only recognizes map 0 - 5 and in their true sizes OSI had set them at.
If you have read the MapDefinitions.cs file that explains how to add more map definitions, those will ONLY add new Facets of existing maps, not recognize more maps than the standard issued 0-5. For instance, if you wanted a tram/felucca style facet for Malas.. or you want a whole new facet for the Ice Island.. etc.
If you have read the MapDefinitions.cs file that explains how to add more map definitions, those will ONLY add new Facets of existing maps, not recognize more maps than the standard issued 0-5. For instance, if you wanted a tram/felucca style facet for Malas.. or you want a whole new facet for the Ice Island.. etc.
Need to think about this more, and 3am is too late to do this.
And this has me thinking.
MmMmMm
Could try taking a tokuno map and using blank statics files.
I need to do research, I have an idea. I could use the tokuno map.mul file, create blank statics files, and make it a "what if this happened" type of scenario.
How do I make blank static.mul files?
And this has me thinking.
MmMmMm
Could try taking a tokuno map and using blank statics files.
I need to do research, I have an idea. I could use the tokuno map.mul file, create blank statics files, and make it a "what if this happened" type of scenario.
How do I make blank static.mul files?
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Well that would do it.. But you will want to keep in mind that doing a wipe of all statics will not only wipe buildings and stuff, but also all trees, foliage, WATER shore lines and All else that makes the map tiles transition properly. You would really be best maybe melting that map in game and wiping areas by hand.. its not that large a map, or in CentrED. You seriously do not want to go back and hand place water edge tiles and stuff like that. Trust me.. I have done that very thing to the Malas map.. replaced the stars with water, and had to hand place every water edge tile to the entire maps shore lines.
I am cursed with punishing myself with monotonous tasks like that..
I am cursed with punishing myself with monotonous tasks like that..
Thank you for helping me in avoiding said curse.
Thank you for the reminder of why I script instead of build!
just going through and deleting the buildings. And had another idea about possibly making a map just for my welcome area, training hall, and stuff. mmmmmmmmmmmmm
sad I thank the hevanes he was worthless in it all.... not to be mean but yeah runuo gave this emu a born path and other people but ryan didn't do it all by him self he is a selfish no good credit taker...
he never created uox3 he never did half the code work on runuo it was the other devs that left.. plus thousands of people that helped support it and give it the life it needed,. im sorry but he didn't write a thank you letter he didn't write shit he left saying I owned it blah blah...
Truth is his letter should of been like this just some points
Thank all the Devs that has helped in he emu as if it wasn't for them we would of never got it all the ground... I think the Users for coming and joining and putting your input into runuo to make it what it is today..
if he wanted to get into history with emu start he better check him self because uox3 was made by some one that retired long long ago.. but since he didn't post all this
I like to say Im glad to see servuo be the next gen emu for uo... I always like this project I hope stays alive
he never created uox3 he never did half the code work on runuo it was the other devs that left.. plus thousands of people that helped support it and give it the life it needed,. im sorry but he didn't write a thank you letter he didn't write shit he left saying I owned it blah blah...
Truth is his letter should of been like this just some points
Thank all the Devs that has helped in he emu as if it wasn't for them we would of never got it all the ground... I think the Users for coming and joining and putting your input into runuo to make it what it is today..
if he wanted to get into history with emu start he better check him self because uox3 was made by some one that retired long long ago.. but since he didn't post all this
I like to say Im glad to see servuo be the next gen emu for uo... I always like this project I hope stays alive
What will happen to all those archived scripts? I tried to logon the other day had forgotten my password. Went to make an account to a new email and never received the activation email. Then I checked the site more closely and bam! The end. Now I wonder how I will download resources from them. What if they turn their server off? Will all that just poof? Very sad
Ryan stated that the forums will not be taken down, so this is good news for all the scripts and information posted there. Since you didn't get an activation email maybe they now have this turned off :/ You might have to just try any password you can think of, did you also try I forgot my password?
I have a HD that is labeled Ultima Vault. It contains some 30 gigs (over 200,000 script files and then some) of forum scripts and related stuff that I have collected since.. well, the beginning of RunUO. Its a sloppy mess, but if something did happen to RUO and it went poof, or the submissions were removed, whatever.. I can help folks with getting copies of scripts of the past. I do not have every script submitted, but definitely the bulk of..
And that is not including all tools nearly ever released.. and etc..
And that is not including all tools nearly ever released.. and etc..
I got a lot of runuo scripts that was posted as well backed up I been fixing a lot of old ones and updating them to run on servuo and trying to make them crash free