Snow Tree Question

[Endrik]

So one of the new anniversary gifts is a "Snow Tree". I saw someones house on sonoma that had one, but it was set to Private and I could not go inside. My question is... Are these new trees coded the same way as the Apple and Peach trees where they cast a shadow on every level of your house underneath them, or did they actually do these right and code them so that they cast no shadow in sub levels? Does anybody have one yet who can tell me one way or another? Thanks.

 

[Endrik]

Come on, there has got to be someone out there who either has one, or has seen one in a friends house? Anybody?

 

[Crysta]

It isn't a matter of "coding them right". All trees with canopies do that. They could make the tree a one piece grapic, but then the canopy would never fade to semitransparent. Deal with it.

 

[Endrik]

It isn't a matter of "coding them right". All trees with canopies do that. They could make the tree a one piece grapic, but then the canopy would never fade to semitransparent. Deal with it.

Well thanks for the, albeit rude, reply. However, my question was do the new trees use the same coding. The reason I ask is because I have seen one on Sonoma on the roof of a house I cannot enter. When you scroll over the tree it highlights, unlike the Peach Tree it seems to be modeled after. Seeing as how it highlights more like an item then a deed, I think my question was a valid one. And when it comes down to it, I would much rather the tree NOT turn semi transparent and actually look good in my house, then turn semi transparent and make my house look like shiz. Some people want their deco to improve their layout/design rather then screw up 3/4 of it. Deal with that.

 

[Endrik]

Since I hate being the guy who complains without offering any recomendations on a fix...

1) What if instead of having the canopy turn semi transparent when you walk behind it, it turns invisible instead. Its only the canopy that shows on sub-levels, and it only shows in its transparent form. So if it was an invisible form instead would that fix the problem?

2) What if upon using the deed you were presented with a menu like you are with the ladder. You could choose a tree with a transparent canopy, or a solid tree which would be a single graphic and therefore no longer cast a shadow on sub-levels. (I actually don't like the fact that they turn transparent when you walk by them. Im sure some people out there may enjoy this feature, it annoys me to no end. Having this option would actually solve 2 problems at once, at least for me, and make these trees 1,000 times better)

Any other ideas or feedback on these two?

 

[Littleblue]

Since I hate being the guy who complains without offering any recomendations on a fix...

1) What if instead of having the canopy turn semi transparent when you walk behind it, it turns invisible instead. Its only the canopy that shows on sub-levels, and it only shows in its transparent form. So if it was an invisible form instead would that fix the problem?

2) What if upon using the deed you were presented with a menu like you are with the ladder. You could choose a tree with a transparent canopy, or a solid tree which would be a single graphic and therefore no longer cast a shadow on sub-levels. (I actually don't like the fact that they turn transparent when you walk by them. Im sure some people out there may enjoy this feature, it annoys me to no end. Having this option would actually solve 2 problems at once, at least for me, and make these trees 1,000 times better)

Any other ideas or feedback on these two?

I like these suggestions, as I am always one for options and individual choice. Not being a programmer, I am not sure if this could be implemented, but if it could, sounds good to me!

 

[Draconi]

So one of the new anniversary gifts is a "Snow Tree". I saw someones house on sonoma that had one, but it was set to Private and I could not go inside. My question is... Are these new trees coded the same way as the Apple and Peach trees where they cast a shadow on every level of your house underneath them, or did they actually do these right and code them so that they cast no shadow in sub levels? Does anybody have one yet who can tell me one way or another? Thanks.

That's a good question. I believe we were planning to do a fix for them for displaying in Felucca anyways, so it'll be borne in mind.

 

[Endrik]

Thanks for the response Draconi, I hope I didnt come off too harsh in my original post. I have taken a few programing classes, and I have nothing but respect for those that are able to program... its definitely not my forte. And hearing that you are at least looking into a fix for these really lifts my spirits. These trees make awesome deco, I hate not being able to use them more. Im not sure if my suggestions are feasible (programing wise) but I hope they help.

 

[Draconi]

Thanks for the response Draconi, I hope I didnt come off too harsh in my original post. I have taken a few programing classes, and I have nothing but respect for those that are able to program... its definitely not my forte. And hearing that you are at least looking into a fix for these really lifts my spirits. These trees make awesome deco, I hate not being able to use them more. Im not sure if my suggestions are feasible (programing wise) but I hope they help.

Not at all.

For the curious, this is a client related bug.

When UO was created, they chose to associate specific "flags" with every piece of tile art. For a 2D tile based game, this can be very fast and efficient, at the cost of being unwieldly and prone to conflict with later uses of the same art.

For instance, there exists flags for art like tree foliage (note that the trunk is a separate piece of art) such as... dun dun dun the "Foliage" flag, the "Background art" flag, "Weight", "Height", etc.

The 2D client has different ways of rendering the art depending on the player's position, state, info from the server, and those flags. The loss of foliage in Felucca is just a tweak in the client that disables anything with the "foliage" flag.

Shadows are yet another special case, and they play weirdly depending on the flags. We'll look into it.

(BTW, other things are directly associated with art, like item properties, resources, etc, and that just scares us)

 

[Raider Red]

(BTW, other things are directly associated with art, like item properties, resources, etc, and that just scares us)

AW Dude,you are a lead designer and nothing is suppose to scare you.

 

[Hemisphere]

Not at all.

For the curious, this is a client related bug.

When UO was created, they chose to associate specific "flags" with every piece of tile art. For a 2D tile based game, this can be very fast and efficient, at the cost of being unwieldly and prone to conflict with later uses of the same art.

For instance, there exists flags for art like tree foliage (note that the trunk is a separate piece of art) such as... dun dun dun the "Foliage" flag, the "Background art" flag, "Weight", "Height", etc.

The 2D client has different ways of rendering the art depending on the player's position, state, info from the server, and those flags. The loss of foliage in Felucca is just a tweak in the client that disables anything with the "foliage" flag.

Shadows are yet another special case, and they play weirdly depending on the flags. We'll look into it.

(BTW, other things are directly associated with art, like item properties, resources, etc, and that just scares us)

Wouldn't the simplest option here be to reuse the art? As in, rather than call up the same tile again, just copy that tile and save it as a "new" one, with new flags.

I'm not sure what the latest total is, but my art.mul is just 65mb, nothing compared to say, anim.mul. You could copy every piece of tile art 3 times over and not put too much of a dent in anyone's disk space - and besides, it's not like you'd have to do this very often. Just in cases like this where conflict issues arise.

 

[Draconi]

Wouldn't the simplest option here be to reuse the art? As in, rather than call up the same tile again, just copy that tile and save it as a "new" one, with new flags.

Yep