new spawns

[Serpent]

These changes brought back dungeon memories for me. Covetous definately looks like i remember it, although it does have a bit less annoying critters than OSI did back then. Like was said, the population doesn't warrant anymore of those though.

Thanks for fixing these spawns!

[Kharza]

Thank you all for the feedback, negative or not. I am here to add in some information on spawning related changes. "Note, this is for the old lands dungeons only...no t2a ones or world spawns has been touched as of now, I'll be working on t2a dungeons starting this week"


Removed inaccurate UOR/AOS spawns.

Added correct popular t2a spawning hotspots, here are some examples.

--- Covetous ---

Throne room lich spawn.

--- Deceit ---

Lich Lord room spawn corrected.

Added the alternating Lich spawn's in Deceit 3rd and 4th LvL

--- Despise ---

Ogre Lord island reverted back to t2a mad mage island.

--- Shame ---

Corrected Blood Elemental room for better spawning accuracy.

--- Wrong ---

The Ogre Lord room is now accurate.

I know alot of trash mobs was implemented, its just how it was. I did it for the accuracy and I also took into account for server population. In all honestly the spawn numbers are quite off due to that choice. Please take some time to learn the new dungeons before you vent off. These changes actually push the players closer together and forces them to interact more. It's still easily soloable even now with the incorrect ai system. When that's fixed it will be even more easy. I'm pushing for the LL room in deceit to be corrected so that you can start ev'ing on the ledge again. The correct ai will fix this issue a little better. Thanks for all the support to all that has pmed me, and to the few that dislikes it im sorry but accuracy is this shards goal.

curious, why was the mummy/skelton spawn changed outside of wrong? (when you cross a tile it spawns 2 mummies and a skel right outside the entrance)

Was this removed in error or on purpose.

I dont have the best memory but i distinctly remember 2 things there. People farming the spawn, Pks farming the people farming the spawn. Its gone now

Mummies didn't spawn in the old lands during t2a That spawn you're talking about was an inaccurate spawning node. Maybe it was added in aos/uor? I'm not sure but I know it wasn't there during t2a era

We never played in AOS/UOR. I actually stopped playing UO during the T2A era and before UOR came out. I've never known a game without pre-casting.. BUT I do remember that spawn outside Wrong. It was always there walking over tiles and having things from the crypts spawn. I should know.. it was my favorite place to PK people. Check again because I'm with Hoots on it always being there.

Kharza

[BloodyBandage]

Has Deceit bone wall been redone? I remember going there (about two months ago) clearing the wall, and not have another one spawn for minutes. I remember back in 99 killing one at the wall, and having another pop up usually instantly or within 2mins to keep the wall constantly active.

Same goes with Harpy room. I remember one would spawn after another making it a good spot for intermediate players looking for skill/loot at the same time.

I like the idea of more accurate spawns. Kudos to your hard work so far.

[Ezp]

Yes Bloody they're both redone and accurate Test them out and see if theyre to your liking which im sure they will be

[malice-tg]

This is horse S$%T.

I played from start-up till way after T2A and I don't remember there being excess spawn in these particular areas. I remember despise getting excess slimes and giant rats on level 1 but not at level 3.

I don't think your screen shots have any provenance, they could be from anywhere....

All this modification does is ruin perfectly good areas of a dungeon and make it unplayable for the majority of players on this server.

I and anyone else without a team of 3 or 4 can no longer hunt hyloth level 4. And if I had a team of 3 or 4 I wouldn't be going there to battle with slimes and mongo's.

Zeal for a replica of T2A is commendable but this is bordering on madness.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the way the updates were handled via patch notes seemed alot more reasonable to me than foisting these untested and quite frankly bug ridden changes on us. Here's another bug: the evil mages don't actually attack you unless you attack them. They walk upto you in attack mode and stand one square off. Surely this is a simple test? I admired the way this server was being run but these undocumented changes are appalling.

hyloth was hard back then!because of all the stupid small mobs!

so, ya you couldnt do lvl 4 by yourself. I remember hyloth being the worst with all the stupid hell hounds and crap.

the balron spawn was good and clean though usually if you trapped the dogs and rats. the problem is the mobs have the smart AI so it makes the dungeons a little harder than back then.

stupid mobs that cant pathfind make the zerg easier to clean up. i think changing the AI would be exteremly difficult though.

[Faust]

I have already coded the correct AI. All that is left to do is for Derrick to integrate it into the actual scripts of the server and wait for the next restart from that point.

[XaN]

Can anyone confirm whether you were able to block monsters with chests and other obstacles during this era? I was always sure as hell that T2A had that during its time, that's partly how I got so rich on OSI Sonoma.

[Mr.T]

I just wish we could gate monsters (i think it was way before t2a though)... that was halarious when I would throw up a gate to the harpy room and all these balrons and daemons would walk in from hyloth. It was so funny too watching everyone crapping their pants and trying to run away.. haha

[Ezp]

I just wish we could gate monsters (i think it was way before t2a though)... that was halarious when I would throw up a gate to the harpy room and all these balrons and daemons would walk in from hyloth. It was so funny too watching everyone crapping their pants and trying to run away.. haha

lol yah that was removed before t2a and was quite fun to do...that was more around the dread days.

[Faust]

Clarification on these topics from patch notes.

Gate traveling monsters

9/16/98
It will no longer be possible to gate monsters. Only escorts, hirelings, pets, and summoned creatures.

As much as I loved doing this it was not a part of t2a, so it would make no sense to add it to a t2a shard. This is more on the lines of a Pre-T2a feature that was great.


Monsters destroying blocking obstacles

Housing Update Phase 3 Dec 21 1998 1:48PM
Monsters will pick up and destroy items that block them as follows:
The item must be moveable.
The creature cannot be a pet.
The item cannot be locked down.
The item must be impassable.
Monsters can destroy an item anytime.
Human NPCs must be attacking someone to destroy an item.
Animals must be attacking someone to destroy an item.
The creatures will destroy stacked items one at a time.

However, it was disabled here during '99

Dec 21 Publish Dec 22 1999 3:06PM CST
Monsters will no longer destroy objects that block their path. This is a temporary change and will be changed back.

It was than reactivated almost a year after the UOR publish

Item ‘Smashing’ and Monster Movement Nov 27 2000 5:30PM CST
Monsters may no longer be ‘trapped’ by barricading them behind various objects in the game world. They will now attempt to maneuver around the objects and in some cases may smash the objects barring their movement.

Items that are locked down, secure, or strongboxes may not be smashed. Containers, if smashed, will spill their contents onto the ground.

Since it was "disabled" during '99 I believe we will be adding this feature in. It was a very popular feature that many people enjoyed back in the old days. It is a great nostaglic feature that existed in the history of Ultima.

[XaN]

Monsters destroying blocking obstacles

Housing Update Phase 3 Dec 21 1998 1:48PM
Monsters will pick up and destroy items that block them as follows:
The item must be moveable.
The creature cannot be a pet.
The item cannot be locked down.
The item must be impassable.
Monsters can destroy an item anytime.
Human NPCs must be attacking someone to destroy an item.
Animals must be attacking someone to destroy an item.
The creatures will destroy stacked items one at a time.

However, it was disabled here during '99

Dec 21 Publish Dec 22 1999 3:06PM CST
Monsters will no longer destroy objects that block their path. This is a temporary change and will be changed back.

It was than reactivated almost a year after the UOR publish

Item ‘Smashing’ and Monster Movement Nov 27 2000 5:30PM CST
Monsters may no longer be ‘trapped’ by barricading them behind various objects in the game world. They will now attempt to maneuver around the objects and in some cases may smash the objects barring their movement.

Items that are locked down, secure, or strongboxes may not be smashed. Containers, if smashed, will spill their contents onto the ground.

Since it was "disabled" during '99 I believe we will be adding this feature in. It was a very popular feature that many people enjoyed back in the old days. It is a great nostaglic feature that existed in the history of Ultima.[/quote]

I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially since the spawns were so tragically screwed up. This should be put in ASAP, unless we're wrong and you have evidence that says otherwise.

[Faust]

Well I coded it to where mobs don't destroy obstacles in their path when I was coding the AI the other day. I am pretty sure Derrick is adding it in when he integrates all the new code into the server's files. I will let him confirm it though, because I am not entirely certain if he was planning on adding it or not.

[Mirage]

I will also have to make another comment on this change. I understand that the AI right now is completely off. Having an incorrect AI with the same spawn types as T2A makes things much more difficult. However, I am working on the AI right now and hopefully Derrick can implement it as fast as possible. Some examples of this will be a fix for the path finding, dispelling, and destroying obstacles in the way. So you WILL be able to place boxes at your feet like you were able to in the old school days so that monsters can't get to you. Once the correct AI comes in place things should be a lot better for handling the trash mobs.

Flatwoods also makes a great point. A lot of the people on here have become very spoiled. UOR has only made the majority of the people worse in this case. Dungeons became a risk free during UOR, and you could wizz by without any effort at all.

Yeah I was wondering why you weren't able to place boxes in the way.

[Derrick]

I really saw this as being the other way around. Monsters (not all) did destroy objects thoughout the majority of the era. This is still up in the air.

[Faust]

I do love the feature where monsters don't destroy obstacles, however that is not the only reason I think it should exist. The main factor towards why I am in favor of the boxes is because of my philosophy towards patches superceding previous patches until the last patch in '99. Perhaps, we should throw up a vote in suggestions for this? I could live with what ever option that is chosen though. It did and didn't exist during the era. It isn't a major factor involving combat or anything so it isn't that big of a deal for me to really care one way or the other.