Publish Notes from 2000-12-15

Publish 9

The following is a list of changes deployed as Publish 9 on December 15, 2000.

T2A Transport Changes

The current travel restrictions that exist between T2A (Second Age lands) and Britannia (Old Lands) will be lifted in the following manner:

• Players will be able to recall and gate between the Lost Lands (T2A) and Britannia.
• Passageways and connection points between the Lost Lands and Britannia will be open to tamed creature travel.
• Players will be able to use stablemasters in both areas with T2A or Britannian creatures. Players will be able to remove Lost Lands creatures from the stables while being within the Britannian lands, and vice versa.
• Players will be able to ride a mounted ostard or rideable llama across Lost Land/Britannian access points.
• Allow for rideable llamas to be mounted in the Old Lands (Britannia).

Holiday Tree Enabling

Players will be able to use their currently existing holiday tree deeds on both the Trammel and Felucca facets. Because of the way foliage is displayed in Felucca, there will be an option to display a holiday tree without foliage or a second option for a tree with foliage. Players with the foliage display turned on for Felucca with see both tree types with foliage. Trees placed on the Felucca shard must be re-deeded by double-clicking the trunk portion of the tree, regardless of their foliage option. Classic style trees will not show foliage in Felucca, if the player has Felucca foliage disabled as their option. Modern style trees will display foliage in Felucca regardless of display settings.

Lockdown Changes

Players may now lockdown items on/near stairs that are “passable”. This means they can lock down any item that can be walked over or on, near stairs.

Default Desktops

• The desktop arUO:rangement for new players will now be automatically set when they first enter Ultima Online. The game will automatically open and place:
  • The paperdoll window
  • The backpack window
  • The radar screen
  • The skills list
• This desktop will also load each time a new player opens their paperdoll window.
• This change should not affect existing players as they will already have desktop configurations set.
• To enable or disable the default new player desktop, a switch is being added to the Interface section of the Options menu.

House Add-On Changes

Placement of house add-ons will be changed, to provide a cancel/confirm window before the add-on is placed. Players will be able to use a targeting cursor to place the house add-on, and after the placement attempt is made a confirmation window will appear asking if this spot is the desired location. Cancelling the placement will cause the house add-on deed to remain with the player.

Elemental Corpses

All elementals will now leave a corpse upon their death. The loot items contained on the creatures will now be within this corpse, and subject to normal looting rights.

Holiday Gifts

Characters that are older then 30 days (real days, not UO days) will be given a holiday ticket in their backpacks. This holiday ticket will only work for the player who received it Origin ally. Double-clicking this ticket will allow players to choose from the following items. The item will then be placed in the character's backpack once the selection is made. Note that the system will be made inactive before January 8, so any characters created from this point forward will not be able to get a holiday ticket this season. All items are blessed (no loot/no steal), which means they cannot be looted or stolen.

Holiday Bells

Choosing a holiday bell will give the character a random bell. Each bell plays a random sound when double-clicked, says which Development Team member it is from when single-clicked, and is hued a random color. The sounds, development member name, and colors are random for each bell selection.

Snow globe

The snow globe is a round orb on a small stand, that glows and has “sparkles” inside of it. The snow globes will be named “a snowy scene of {town name}”. The names of all non-player created towns will be possible within the name, and will be randomly selected. The snow globes will function as a small light source.

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.

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 bring up a menu window, allowing the choice between classic and modern style trees. A classic tree is the model used previously in UO, and will not have visible foliage if used in Felucca (only if display settings are set to not show tree foliage). The modern style tree will show foliage on both facets, regardless of foliage display settings.
• Holiday Trees cannot be placed within two tiles of your front door or within two tiles distance of stairs and cannot be placed outside.
• Players will be able to re-deed their tree and choose either tree style, as desired.
• Holiday Trees can only be placed by the house owner.