Old News: January 2001

We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.6c this evening. This patch contains additional localization files and resolves some compatability issues with the Third Dawn client. Please note: Once you have received this patch, you must completely shut down and restart your Ultima Online client before you will be able to reconnect to the game.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:

• Check the "Patch" directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
• If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html. Run a virus scan on your computer. If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech at uo.com

 Posted by Balandar
 Friday, January 26, 2001 9:19 AM EST

The following was just added to Testing for Next Update:

Karma Locking

Players will be able to lock their karma. By locking karma, players will be able to control their character's status titles better. Players who wish to appear as "evil" will be able to kill monsters without gaining both fame and karma. Players will still gain or lose fame, regardless of karma lock status. The important thing to remember about karma locking is that you can only prevent yourself from gaining karma, not losing it.

The karma lock will function in the following manners:

• The first time a player goes "negative" in their karma rating, their karma will no longer be able to raise until they visit a shrine to be "cleansed". New characters start at just above the zero karma setting, within the positive range. If players "cleanse themselves," therefore "unlocking" their karma, and then do an action that generates any more negative karma, the karma will lock again and will not be able to raise karma until the player visits a shrine to be cleansed again.
• If a player with positive karma chooses to lock their karma from raising any higher, they may go to the Chaos Shrine and speak the word "bal". Doing so will lock their karma, and they will receive the message "You once again control your destiny".
• Players wishing to remove their karma lock may visit the virtue shrines and speak the following words of power for that shrine:
  • Compassion - mu
  • Honesty - ahm
  • Honor - summ
  • Humility - lum
  • Justice - beh
  • Sacrifice - cah
  • Spirituality - om
  • Valor - ra

Players who are having trouble raising karma may wish to visit a virtue shrine and speak the appropriate word of power to make sure their karma is not locked. If a player has their karma locked, the action of "I honor thee" from other players will not cause the locked karma to raise. The karma must be unlocked for "I honor thee" to have an effect

 Posted by Balandar
 Tuesday, January 23, 2001 6:19 PM EST

Due to issues with the veteran rewards system, we have deactivated the system on all shards. At this time, we do not have an updated schedule for when they will be reactivated.

We strongly advise players not to participate in selling, trading, or buying existing rewards until further notice.

We will update you again once we have additional information.

 Posted by Balandar
 Monday, January 22, 2001 12:00 AM EST

In addition to a Terms of Service agreement, Ultima Online also requires agreement to our Rules of Conduct. These rules cover any aspects of conduct that may affect your Ultima Online account standing and we strongly recommend that you review these Rules of Conduct on a regular basis to be certain that you are up-to-date and in compliance.

We have recently updated the Rules of Conduct to reiterate the importance of keeping your billing and email information up-to-date within our system.

12) You may not give false information or intentionally hide any information, such as email address or billing information, which is required at the time you register with the Ultima Online Service. It is your responsibility to keep this information up-to-date using the website located at

http://www.ultima-registration.com.

 Posted by Balandar
 Friday, January 19, 2001 6:09 PM EST

In an effort to provide optimal support for all shards as we release Veteran Rewards, we have tentatively rescheduled their release. We are currently targeting to release 12+ and 24+ month veteran rewards to all remaining shards following their Wednesday, January 24th maintenance period. Veteran rewards for these accounts will be activated on the Siege Perilous shard following its Friday, January 26th maintenance period.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you should not choose to accept rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards mistakenly chosen on the wrong shard will not, under any circumstances, be replaced or transferred.

To speed resolution of any support-related issues with Veteran Rewards, we recommend that you contact the Account Support department with any questions about account age discrepancies at uobilling at uo.com. Non-account related Veteran Rewards issues should be directed to uorewards at uo.com.

 Posted by Balandar
 Friday, January 19, 2001 6:08 PM EST

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.5a. This patch contains localization files.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:

• Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
  
• If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
  Run a virus scan on your computer.
• If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech at uo.com.

 Posted by Balandar
 Friday, January 19, 2001 10:43 AM EST

We have revised the target date to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12+ and 24+ months or older on all non-Japanese shards. Veteran Rewards for these accounts will be activated on the shards on Monday, January 22nd (local server time). The Siege Perilous shard will be activated with the rewards following its regularly scheduled maintenance period on Friday, January 26th, barring any unforeseen downtime.

We are continuing to work to resolve the localization issue with the Japanese shards and will release a schedule for these shards once one has been determined.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you should not choose to accept rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards mistakenly chosen on the wrong shard will not, under any circumstances, be replaced or transferred.

For more information on the various types or rewards and qualifications for receiving those rewards, visit Testing for Next Update.

 Posted by Balandar
 Thursday, January 18, 2001 9:07 AM EST

We are currently targeting to release the Veteran Rewards to accounts aged 36 months or older on all non-Japanese shards on Wednesday, January 17th. The rewards will be activated on these shards following their return from regularly scheduled maintenance. We are working to resolve a localization issue on the Japanese shards and will activate rewards to these shards on a separate schedule if necessary.

We will monitor the activated shards for any issues that may arise. We are tentatively scheduling to release Veteran Rewards to accounts 12+ and 24+ months of age or older (in addition to the 36+ month accounts) following regularly scheduled maintenance on Thursday, January 18th (local shard time). Shards which do not have scheduled Thursday morning maintenance will receive their rewards following maintenance on Friday, January 19th. As with the 36+ month activation, this schedule includes only non-Japanese shards.

Important! Veteran rewards are distributed by account, not character. You are granted a total number of rewards to be divided among any characters on your account. If you do not normally play on a shard, you SHOULD NOT choose to take rewards on that shard. Veteran rewards will not be transferred between shards.

More information regarding specific details of the various types of rewards, and qualifications for getting those rewards, can be found at http://update.uo.com/next.html

 Posted by Balandar
 Tuesday, January 16, 2001 5:48 PM EST

We have resolved the issues affecting Veteran Rewards on the Sonoma shard, and will be reactivating the rewards system. However, it is possible that during a brief period before rewards were deactivated, some players may have had the opportunity to receive more veteran rewards than they should have.

While we do have extensive tracking systems in place for Veteran Rewards, the issues that affected the Sonoma shard also affected the tracking systems, rendering the data from that short time period unavailable. While it would be technically possible to remove the Veteran Rewards system entirely and delete all rewards, and/or identify many of the accounts that may have more than their fair share of rewards, the resource drain in doing so would not only hold the release of Veteran Rewards to the remaining servers, but would require resources currently committed to Ultima Online: Third Dawn -resulting in a delay of that product as well. Without this data, we are unable to determine the number of accounts that may have received extra rewards during this time period.

After discussing the delay of other systems and the Third Dawn product against the possibility that some players may have received additional rewards during a short period of time, we have determined that the best possible solution at this time is to continue forward with the Veteran Rewards publish. The issue that caused this bug in the rewards system has been resolved and should not affect future publishes to other shards. At this time, we will not be addressing the possible extra rewards, but will continue to schedule the release of Veteran Rewards to the remaining shards.

 Posted by Balandar
 Friday, January 12, 2001 7:10 PM EST

From Testng for Next Update on the UO.com website:

Changes to magic in justice areas and the disabling of the Hero/Evil system.

The following changes will be updated.

• Certain spells that were previously castable in justice regions will no longer be castable in justice regions. These spells include: Wall of Stone, Poison Field, Mass Curse, Paralyzation Field, Chain Lightning, Energy Field, Meteor Storm, Earth Quake, Blade Spirits, and Energy Vortex.


• to conflict with the faction system, the Hero/Evil system will be disabled on the Siege Perilous shard.

 Posted by Balandar
 Wednesday, January 10, 2001 12:29 PM EST

We are currently releasing client patch 2.0.4.d to all shards. This patch fixes a crash issue with boat/house placement.

If you have any difficulty receiving this patch, please check the following:

• Check the “Patch” directory within your Ultima Online directory (the default location is C:\\Program Files\Ultima Online\Patch). This directory should be empty. Any files in this directory should be deleted.
  
• If you are unable to connect to the patch server at all, and are using an original (Non-T2A) version of Ultima Online, you may need to update your verinfo file. For details on updating this file, please see the information posted at http://support.uo.com/tech_6.html.
  
• Run a virus scan on your computer.
  If after trying the above, you are still experiencing difficulty patching the Ultima Online client, please contact Technical Support at tech at uo.com.

   Posted by Balandar
   Tuesday, January 9, 2001 7:53 PM EST

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  Ethereal Ostards and Veteran Rewards

  Players with non-T2A clients who select the ethereal ostard as a veteran rewards will be unable to access/view their reward (as it is not supported by the original UO client). If you are a three-year veteran with a non-T2A supported game client, you will need to upgrade your client. Information on upgrading is available through the Ultima Online website at https://secure.owo.com/order/order.asp

   Posted by Balandar
   Monday, January 8, 2001 6:13 PM EST

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  Client Patch 2.0.4c

  We are targeting to release client patch 2.0.4c later this evening. The client patch will include the following: