In Por Ylem 2.0 - Free Ultima Online Shard

[Gibson12345]

I don't know how many nostalgia-clouded Ultima Online veterans inhabit the Anandtech forums, but I thought this might be of interest.

In Por Ylem, the largest player-run UO shard ever (as far as I know), is coming back on Friday, 21 January 2011. Key features include:

• A skill gain system designed to balance out the casual and the hardcore, the players and the macroers. Skills gain most quickly at the beginning of your play session, 200% skill gain in dungeons, and soft-caps on gains after an extended play session.
• A player justice system that assists and rewards players who hunt down murderers.
• Randomly-placed portals that transport you to skill-appropriate mini-dungeons.
• Enhanced crafting.
• A political system that is too complicated to summarize.
• Presumably, much more.

The goal of the developers is to balance out the "wolves and sheep" situation that was classic Ultima Online. They've tried to give anti-PKs a reason to exist, PvEers more content, and crafters more influence on the economy, all without destroying what made UO great in the first place. Whether or not they'll succeed, I can't say; I'm not in the beta. But I'll be playing on the 21st.

For more information, see:

• The lead developer's blog
• The shard site
• A Something Awful post that does a better job than I did of summing up the shard

 

[mizzou]

:thumbsup:

will def look into it,

how is this "legal"? I have my old beta CD and UO CD, surprised origin would let this go on while UO is still active?

 

[pontifex]

:thumbsup:

will def look into it,

how is this "legal"? I have my old beta CD and UO CD, surprised origin would let this go on while UO is still active?

its not

 

[mizzou]

its not

I remember a long long time ago it was OK from what I remember, to run your own personal shard on your computer.

Was pretty stupid though considering you had nobody to play with

If Origin was smart, they would open up classic shards, running the OG stuff before the ridiculous nanny safe town shards came up

 

[pontifex]

I remember a long long time ago it was OK from what I remember, to run your own personal shard on your computer.

Was pretty stupid though considering you had nobody to play with

If Origin was smart, they would open up classic shards, running the OG stuff before the ridiculous nanny safe town shards came up

From the TOS: http://support.ea.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2688

(d) Official Service. Ultima Online has been designed by Electronic Arts for play only on the Service. The Software is licensed to you for play on the Service only. Electronic Arts does not grant you a license to use the Software for any other purpose. You agree to play Ultima Online only on the Service and not through any other means. You further agree not to create or provide any other means through which Ultima Online may be played by others - for example, through server emulators. You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software, including any proprietary communications protocol used by the Software. You acknowledge that you do not have the right to create, publish, distribute, create derivative works from or use any software programs, utilities, applications, emulators or tools derived from or created for Ultima Online unless specifically authorized in writing by Electronic Arts.

 

[Wardawg1001]

UO free shards have been around forever, many of them enjoyed quite a bit of success (in terms of users and longevity), and many more crashed and burned within weeks or months. As far as I know EA has never pursued any legal action against any of the people running free shards, possibly because of the difficulty involved and the lack of any real motivation to do so. Most of these free servers use various incarnations of the older rule sets (or completely new rule sets) and are only attracting players that have stopped playing the legit servers.

 

[Gibson12345]

UO free shards have been around forever, many of them enjoyed quite a bit of success (in terms of users and longevity), and many more crashed and burned within weeks or months. As far as I know EA has never pursued any legal action against any of the people running free shards, possibly because of the difficulty involved and the lack of any real motivation to do so. Most of these free servers use various incarnations of the older rule sets (or completely new rule sets) and are only attracting players that have stopped playing the legit servers.

Exactly. My understanding is that as long as no one is charging money to access the server, EA doesn't care. I wouldn't worry about the legalese. If the server dies a horrible death, I'd wager it'll be due to bad management, not a legal threat.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I agree it's perfectly legal to run or play on one provided no money is exchanged. Anyone who thinks I'm wrong I'd love to know what law is being violated by using software that was legally purchased.

 

[GZFant]

Wow. I haven't heard nor mentioned the words Ultima Online since the year after it came out lol..

This has definitely reinvigorated me to play.

So, how is it that we join this? Do we need the UO client or game? Where can I purchase this or the old UO game?

Awesome, can't wait to try this out!

 

[Gibson12345]

Wow. I haven't heard nor mentioned the words Ultima Online since the year after it came out lol..

This has definitely reinvigorated me to play.

So, how is it that we join this? Do we need the UO client or game? Where can I purchase this or the old UO game?

Awesome, can't wait to try this out!

The client is actually available as a free download. Free means free! The basic process will be:

• Install the appropriate UO client software, referenced here.
• Install Razor.
• Specify the server address and port in Razor and connect. Razor will automatically launch UO.

If you're using Windows Vista or 7, you might need to play around with your compatibility settings. Razor needs to be run in administrator mode (presumably so that it can launch UO), and client.exe (UO itself) seems to benefit from XP SP2 compatibility mode, with visual themes and desktop composition disabled.

 

[GZFant]

The client is actually available as a free download. Free means free! The basic process will be:

• Install the appropriate UO client software, referenced here.
• Install Razor.
• Specify the server address and port in Razor and connect. Razor will automatically launch UO.

If you're using Windows Vista or 7, you might need to play around with your compatibility settings. Razor needs to be run in administrator mode (presumably so that it can launch UO), and client.exe (UO itself) seems to benefit from XP SP2 compatibility mode, with visual themes and desktop composition disabled.

That is beautiful, concise and thorough information. Thank you.

Hopefully we'll see you on the 22nd =D

 

[SunnyD]

The client is actually available as a free download. Free means free! The basic process will be:

• Install the appropriate UO client software, referenced here.
• Install Razor.
• Specify the server address and port in Razor and connect. Razor will automatically launch UO.

If you're using Windows Vista or 7, you might need to play around with your compatibility settings. Razor needs to be run in administrator mode (presumably so that it can launch UO), and client.exe (UO itself) seems to benefit from XP SP2 compatibility mode, with visual themes and desktop composition disabled.

The client is free to download, however you still need to accept the EULA to use it, therefore shard servers are illegal.

This thread should be going In Flam shortly.

 

[pontifex]

I agree it's perfectly legal to run or play on one provided no money is exchanged. Anyone who thinks I'm wrong I'd love to know what law is being violated by using software that was legally purchased.

you're violating the company's terms or service as I already posted above.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

you're violating the company's terms or service as I already posted above.

But terms of service are not "laws" they are what they say "terms of service" ie: EA won't "service/support" you running this software, they probably could ban your game key from playing on a pay server again but once again you are not breaking any laws.

 

[smackababy]

I find it hard to believe IPY was the largest free shard. The RunUO was the largest I'd seen. Any idea what the ruleset is? Pub15 I presume? I might check it out.


And as far as violating the company's ToS by using their software, you can download a "better" client. IIRC it offered a lot extra than the basic client.

 

[SunnyD]

But terms of service are not "laws" they are what they say "terms of service" ie: EA won't "service/support" you running this software, they probably could ban your game key from playing on a pay server again but once again you are not breaking any laws.

:biggrin: HAHAHAHHAHAAHHAAAA... you're OBVIOUSLY not very familiar with contract law, are you? Here's a hint for you: A EULA is a contract that you're compelled to accept before using the software. Deviating from the EULA is prohibited. The word prohibited in a legal environment means illegal.

 

[pontifex]

I find it hard to believe IPY was the largest free shard. The RunUO was the largest I'd seen. Any idea what the ruleset is? Pub15 I presume? I might check it out.


And as far as violating the company's ToS by using their software, you can download a "better" client. IIRC it offered a lot extra than the basic client.

the ToS is still being violated. can't you guys read?

 

[novasatori]

fwiw UO packet encryption was originally reverse engineered before DMCA was even around

it could be maybe they never changed the encryption

and yes you are breaking the TOS on the original client to connect to other servers, but you can use other 3rd party clients which have no such TOS

still the legality of it all is questionable... either way player run shards from t2a era are better than what EA did to UO

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Exactly my point the EA terms of service are violated NOT a state or federal law. The TOS is similar to a renters agreement like not to use more than 2 parking spaces, if you violate it you're not going to jail or getting fined from the state, it's the landlords responsibilty to deal with it by evicting you or adding money to your rent.
Another good analogy is wireless contracts. Nobody is going to arrest you for canceling early it just generates a fee on the final bill.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I found UOGamers to be my favorite shared when I played. Peak time when I played would hit 1000 players, but I'm not sure how that compared to others.

 

[pontifex]

fwiw UO packet encryption was originally reverse engineered before DMCA was even around

it could be maybe they never changed the encryption

and yes you are breaking the TOS on the original client to connect to other servers, but you can use other 3rd party clients which have no such TOS

still the legality of it all is questionable... either way player run shards from t2a era are better than what EA did to UO

i'm really confused about what part of this you don't understand?

(d) Official Service. Ultima Online has been designed by Electronic Arts for play only on the Service. The Software is licensed to you for play on the Service only. Electronic Arts does not grant you a license to use the Software for any other purpose. You agree to play Ultima Online only on the Service and not through any other means. You further agree not to create or provide any other means through which Ultima Online may be played by others - for example, through server emulators. You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software, including any proprietary communications protocol used by the Software. You acknowledge that you do not have the right to create, publish, distribute, create derivative works from or use any software programs, utilities, applications, emulators or tools derived from or created for Ultima Online unless specifically authorized in writing by Electronic Arts.


I'm really surprised this thread is still open. usually threads for free MMO servers get locked/deleted pretty quickly.

 

[Genx87]

:biggrin: HAHAHAHHAHAAHHAAAA... you're OBVIOUSLY not very familiar with contract law, are you? Here's a hint for you: A EULA is a contract that you're compelled to accept before using the software. Deviating from the EULA is prohibited. The word prohibited in a legal environment means illegal.

Contract law is civil, not criminal. I think the point is, if you break the contract with EA, then what? They dont support you? Do they sue you for breach of contract? The "illegality" of this is not criminal. Meaning there wont be the police breaking down your door because you violated EA's EULA. And what EA will do about it is apparently not much.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Well said thank you sir. SunnyD and I will need to agree to disagree, I appreciate too many of his posts to disrespect him.