My new project: "Ultima Nostalgia" server based on UO map

[Lichbane 51]

Hi Malena.  It's good to see someone having a crack at getting an Ultima server going again.  I just saw your project on Massively Overpowered and thought I'd check it out.

 

While Britannia Reborn was set in a different period from UO (many generations after the Armageddon of Ultima IX) and has some slight changes to some islands, if your interested, I still have the original maps used to generate Britannia in WU.

 

The landscape was originally taken from the UO map and them modeled using World Engine so it could be realised as a fully realised world sized map.  I was way too ambitious, trying to do it as a 16k map, but it was a lot of fun creating it anyway.

 

The lag issues I had were, I believe, because of the map size during the earlier stages of WU. A lot of people warned me a map that size coyld have problems, but I tried pushing the boundaries anyway.  Latency issues were because I had to host it at home ... because a commercial server of that size would have cost way too much to run and it needed a very beefy server (32Gb RAM minimum). I'm not sure if 16k maps are better supported, but I'm sure the WU folks have the fog spider bug licked by now.

 

With some work, the map could be scaled back to 8k and could possibly retain its original feel.  If you wanted it to be more precisely reflecting UO itself, the map would need some rework.  It's extremely close to the original Britannia though.

 

Let me know if you're interested anyway.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Lichbane

[Malena 2,854]

On 4/23/2017 at 2:49 PM, Katorone said:

Never played UO myself, though I've played the offline ultima games a lot.  I'm very impressed with your progress so far, and am looking forward to your next updates.

Thank you very much Katorone! After getting through the initial hurdles seen in this thread, everything has been going smooth as pie now - much thanks to all the people who have helped me here. Thanks guys!

 

13 hours ago, Cecci said:

Same here, never played UO, only UU, so many hours.

This looks awesome and so are you Malena.

Oh my goodness, the Ultima Underworlds were the bestest! So much atmosphere! Thank you for your kind words!

 

21 minutes ago, Karbonyl said:

Thanks for the hard work Malena.  Always appreciated your artwork and Britannian Fashion; your website is usually my first stop when I am scratching that UO nostalgia itch.  

Aw thank you Karbonyl. I'm glad that I've kept the site up and running. I should probably fix it up a bit some time to adjust to our current monitor sizes though. Starting to be a bit hard to read the texts hehe.

[Malena 2,854]

23 minutes ago, Lichbane said:

Hi Malena.  It's good to see someone having a crack at getting an Ultima server going again.  I just saw your project on Massively Overpowered and thought I'd check it out.

 

While Britannia Reborn was set in a different period from UO (many generations after the Armageddon of Ultima IX) and has some slight changes to some islands, if your interested, I still have the original maps used to generate Britannia in WU.

 

 

Hey Lichbane! Thanks for popping in. You know I actually drooled over all the work you had done with Britannia Reborn. So much love and dedication and I had even watched some players testing the server out on YouTube. Had I realized the existence of your project at the time, I'd have probably rushed over to take part in it. Alas, I've been mostly playing Wurm Online instead. In any case, I'm sorry you were having such troubles with lag etc. 

 

Thank you so much for your gracious offer on the map, but I've already created a map for this project. At first I played around with a heightmap I happened to find online, but it was not matching the Ultima Online version of Britannia, so I decided to make my own height map. 

 

I used the map below as a base, starting with the blue area, which was super easy to select thanks to having such a sold color. Turned that black for the water areas. With the mountains, since they're just a flat plateau, I hand painted them into the veiny shapes you need for mountain to give them height (as they are completely flat in this map) For the rest of the ground, I let it be relatively flat with very little height variation since that would give it that "ultima online" feel. And made the mountains stick up suddenly, like they do in UO (versus a more gradual progression of height like in mother nature). I did paint in some slight differences in height though, very very slight. With the hedge maze, I painted a white square to mark the spot where the little house and garden is in the middle, otherwise I'd never be able to "find" it once I go in to terraform. As for scale, I made a grid of the whole map into 1024 tiles and measured to see if that would match the scale of building stuff in Wurm, and it (by complete chance and coincidence) was a perfect match. And I've now been building Britannia and my measurements turned out absolutely perfectly. I couldn't be happier with the size and scale. 

 

Our projects serve a different purpose thankfully, as mine is only going to be a "look but don't touch" tourist attraction. (I've deeded the entire server haha). Where as your's is all about building a community and people setting up homes and working together like in a true world. I know there are many people out there who would love to play on a server like that, so hopefully you start up Britannia Reborn some day and solve the technical issues. I might just come and play there myself when you do!

 

 

[Malena 2,854]

I'm absolutely shocked guys. Massively OP has written an article about this project. It looks like I'll actually have to see this through haha! 

 

http://massivelyop.com/2017/04/24/this-player-is-rebuilding-ultima-online-in-wurm-online/

[Malena 2,854]

Britain is coming along nicely!

 

 

Edit: By the way, the dye system is something I never really tried before in Wurm, but it is a GODSEND for getting the colors of those houses just right. And do you see how the timber walls are now a nice creamy color? I'm gonna have to make some dye in Wurm Online as well and dye my timber houses to get that same warmth. 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Malena

[Raybarg 437]

Seeing the familiar britannia in wurm style brings a smile on my face.  The countless order vs chaos fights we fought running circles under that wall.

[Malena 2,854]

One last screenie before I hit bed. This is how I map out how to lay out the buildings: 

 

[Ayes 3,715]

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 10:33 AM, Malena said:

In this thread, I'll be documenting the whole process as I go along.

 

I am glad to read that you will be commenting on your project as you develop it further. I find it very interesting to get some insight into server developers motivations and mindsets as they create and expand upon their individual visions for their various WU servers. A nice little trip down memory lane for the old UO players it should be as well. Best wishes on your project then and much enjoyment amongst it all.

 

=Ayes=

[Malena 2,854]

1 hour ago, Ayes said:

 

I am glad to read that you will be commenting on your project as you develop it further. I find it very interesting to get some insight into server developers motivations and mindsets as they create and expand upon their individual visions for their various WU servers. A nice little trip down memory lane for the old UO players it should be as well. Best wishes on your project then and much enjoyment amongst it all.

 

=Ayes=

 

Thank you for the kind words Ayes. You always been so supportive regardless of whatever I was doing here in Wurm and I thank you for that. Indeed, the community here in Wurm is just lovely. You and all the other wonderful people showing their support in this thread are a beautiful example of how special this community is. Right now we Wurmians are in the spotlight. This forum thread is being posted all over the place. Articles are being written. People from other gaming communities are peeking into our world through this thread. And although I'm thrilled that they have an interest in this project, what actually moves me more than that, is how the wurm community shines in this thread. So many people helping out with my dumb questions, people offering help and giving encouragement, and even our mod guru bdew arriving like a knight in shining armor to make me a mod so I won't have building restrictions. You guys amaze me.  How proud I am to be a part of this wonderful community! Thank you so much everyone! 

[Malena 2,854]

And indeed, there has been a new article about it! Wagner James Au from the Second Life blog "New World Notes", interviewed me and posted this up on the NWN site: 

 

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2017/04/ultimate-online-wurm-unlimited-mmo.html

 

 

[Malena 2,854]

Tonight's challenge: Sooooo I mapped out the South West section of Britain, but ran into some troubles with the docks. Well a) we don't have proper docks in Wurm do we? So most of us go the old school route of raising the dirt to create fake docks. I was originally gonna wait and see what happens with bdew's amazing bridge mod to create nice bridge docks, but I'm too impatient and want to finish Britain. So I went the old school way. 

 

Alas, when I was raising the dirt I ran into ye olde "the slope is too steep bla bla" and was forced to drop dirt into the water to raise the seabed. But trying to see that deep was pretty much impossible, so I dropped some slabs down to get some sense of the angles that the tile edges were going in. Of course, we can see the slope numerically via hovering, but keeping track is hard. So the slabs helped. Got it finished in the end although it took all evening. A shame that one cannot flatten deep tiles in god mode!

 

Now I'm wondering whether there is a way to set the height of the tile via the "Set data" popup? 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Malena

[bdew 2,462]

The bridge mod is sadly currently on hold due to lack of time. 

 

I do have a #setheight command on my server that can change the height of the tile you stand on (or other tiles in a radius) to any arbitrary value which might be of help here. If you want i can package it as a standalone mod and release it.

 

You could also try using the "flatten" option in "create focus zone", it will raise tiles to your current character altitude (respecting GM flight) regardless of the slopes. I would recommend doing backups before using it as getting it to do what you want can be sometimes tricky and undoing it's effects is sometimes impossible with the existing tools.

 

 

[Malena 2,854]

41 minutes ago, bdew said:

The bridge mod is sadly currently on hold due to lack of time. 

 

I do have a #setheight command on my server that can change the height of the tile you stand on (or other tiles in a radius) to any arbitrary value which might be of help here. If you want i can package it as a standalone mod and release it.

 

You could also try using the "flatten" option in "create focus zone", it will raise tiles to your current character altitude (respecting GM flight) regardless of the slopes. I would recommend doing backups before using it as getting it to do what you want can be sometimes tricky and undoing it's effects is sometimes impossible with the existing tools.

 

Oh a mod for setheight would be amazing and very useful! This is only the first dock out of many that I'll have to make, so it would be a great time saver as most of my evening went to raising the seabed versus actually building. I'm sure others would find it useful as well. Thank you. 

 

I've never once tried the "create focus zone" as I had no idea what it does. It does sound a little bit risky though.

 

Speaking of backups, if I make a backup of my server, is it merely a matter of copying the entire "Wurm Unlimited Dedicated Server" server folder somewhere, or is it enough to copy a certain file? 

[Retrograde 12,013]

1 hour ago, bdew said:

You could also try using the "flatten" option in "create focus zone", it will raise tiles to your current character altitude (respecting GM flight) regardless of the slopes. I would recommend doing backups before using it as getting it to do what you want can be sometimes tricky and undoing it's effects is sometimes impossible with the existing tools.

 

 

I once did an 18,000 slope pillar, but that's still nothing compared to enkis terrorforming efforts

[ozmods 271]

19 hours ago, Malena said:

 

 

Speaking of backups, if I make a backup of my server, is it merely a matter of copying the entire "Wurm Unlimited Dedicated Server" server folder somewhere, or is it enough to copy a certain file? 

I do a back up every day, it's just a matter of copying the "ultima" folder somewhere else, personally I zip up my folders daily then copy elsewhere in case I need a fallback

[Malena 2,854]

14 minutes ago, ozmods said:

I do a back up every day, it's just a matter of copying the "ultima" folder somewhere else, personally I zip up my folders daily then copy elsewhere in case I need a fallback

 

Ok thanks for the info. Gosh I haven't taken a single back up yet! So just out of curiosity, have you guys experienced things getting messed up often then? Like have you concretely needed those backups, or is this just a precaution?

[ozmods 271]

18 hours ago, Malena said:

 

Ok thanks for the info. Gosh I haven't taken a single back up yet! So just out of curiosity, have you guys experienced things getting messed up often then? Like have you concretely needed those backups, or is this just a precaution?

since i'm the king of stuff ups, yes I need them LOL, I've got over 3400 hours in wurm, but I have bugger all to show for that lol. trouble with being a creativist  I get a retentive about it being just right lol.

[bdew 2,462]

2 hours ago, Malena said:

Oh a mod for setheight would be amazing and very useful! This is only the first dock out of many that I'll have to make, so it would be a great time saver as most of my evening went to raising the seabed versus actually building. I'm sure others would find it useful as well. Thank you. 

 

Ok, i'll try to get it done later today.

 

1 hour ago, Malena said:

 So just out of curiosity, have you guys experienced things getting messed up often then? Like have you concretely needed those backups, or is this just a precaution?

 

On my live servers i haven't ever needed to use them, one time was close when server transfers got borked by a bug in one of the mods and eaten a player character, but i managed to recover that with data from another server.

 

On my test servers i had quite a few times when i broken stuff either by mod issues or careless use of GM powers, but hey that's why they are test servers

 

There were also multiple other servers in the community to serve as a cautionary tale that got trashed by bugs, hardware failure and/or operator error and had to do a complete wipe due to lack of backups. And not just player-hosted servers *cough*wurmageddon*cough*. So doing backups is highly recommended. Also testing that the backups are getting done, and can be recovered from.

[Malena 2,854]

1 hour ago, bdew said:

 

Ok, i'll try to get it done later today.

 

 

On my live servers i haven't ever needed to use them, one time was close when server transfers got borked by a bug in one of the mods and eaten a player character, but i managed to recover that with data from another server.

 

On my test servers i had quite a few times when i broken stuff either by mod issues or careless use of GM powers, but hey that's why they are test servers

 

There were also multiple other servers in the community to serve as a cautionary tale that got trashed by bugs, hardware failure and/or operator error and had to do a complete wipe due to lack of backups. And not just player-hosted servers *cough*wurmageddon*cough*. So doing backups is highly recommended. Also testing that the backups are getting done, and can be recovered from.

 

bdew you're the bestest! If you like chocolate, send me a PM with your postal address and I'll send you a package of the best chocolate in the world, right here from Finland.

[bdew 2,462]

Thanks for the offer of chocolate, but knowing our customs, post service and climate i highly doubt it will arrive here in any other state than molten goo

 

As for the mod - https://github.com/bdew-wurm/setheight/releases/download/v1.0/setheight-1.0.zip

• Adds a new command (usable by GM with power level 5 only)
• Usage: #setheight <height> [radius]
• Will set height of tile to specified value (in dirts)
• Radius is optional, by default will change the tile you stand on; with radius 1 - will do 3x3; with radius 2 - 5x5 and so on.
• Will happily turn your server into a parking lot, mess up houses, mines, etc. Use with care.

 

[Steveleeb 1,067]

You may wish to be careful, EA owns the brand, even Garriott is having to change names, graphics, maps for his new mmo `Shroud of the Avatar` to avoid legal complications.
good luck tho  
very interesting

[Malena 2,854]

6 hours ago, bdew said:

Thanks for the offer of chocolate, but knowing our customs, post service and climate i highly doubt it will arrive here in any other state than molten goo

 

As for the mod - https://github.com/bdew-wurm/setheight/releases/download/v1.0/setheight-1.0.zip

• Adds a new command (usable by GM with power level 5 only)
• Usage: #setheight <height> [radius]
• Will set height of tile to specified value (in dirts)
• Radius is optional, by default will change the tile you stand on; with radius 1 - will do 3x3; with radius 2 - 5x5 and so on.
• Will happily turn your server into a parking lot, mess up houses, mines, etc. Use with care.

 

 

Oh thank you so much bdew! I'll let you know how it worked as soon as I get a chance to test it. And if you ever move to a more northern country, that offer still stands :).

[Malena 2,854]

8 minutes ago, Steveleeb said:

You may wish to be careful, EA owns the brand, even Garriott is having to change names, graphics, maps for his new mmo `Shroud of the Avatar` to avoid legal complications.
good luck tho  
very interesting

 

Very good point! I would have never connected it to something like this (which one could consider a form of "fan art"). But you never know! This thing is getting covered all over the place too so they are bound to notice. I was just pointed to Vice's Motherboard that did an article as well. Surreal!

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/an-ubisoft-artist-is-rebuilding-ultima-online-in-3d

[Malena 2,854]

Thank you so so much bdew! Worked like a charm! I had no idea what number to set in the command so I just went with 10. So judging from the height, I'm guessing that when you said "height of tile to specified value in dirts", you meant using sea level as reference? So basically, how DeedPlanner works when we set height there, right? Cause that tile looks like it's around 10 dirts above sea level. In any case, this is such a godsend! I was instantly able to zap a tile up that would have otherwise taken me hours to get up from very deep seabeds. Thank you!

 

[Malena 2,854]

And a mere few minutes later we have a dock!