Why don't they just make 2D in hi-res? 2016

[petemage]

Lady Mesanna: I have confidence in Bleak he will continue to try

I really hope they can at least enlarge the gaming window resolution to have a wider field of view. This doesn't involve modifying preexisting artwork, and has been proven feasible to a degree

Good luck with what you people wish for.

Dynamic objects have a limited viewing distance of only about 16 tiles (even in EC where you can view way more with zoom). Thats ok because most of the old lands level design is based on static world building (i.e. cities, dungeons, etc.).

With the latest ToL expansion on the other hand they decided to do whole level design for shadowguard only with dynamic objects, resulting in empty rooms for anything beyond your 16 tiles viewing distance. This is probably way more convient for them to roll out world updates as they dont have to do world updates in publishes but can just "lock down" their changes in a live world. From the EC perspective its just horrible.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5mOXrDt6a1A/hqdefault.jpg

Thats the kind of stuff you people will get. Because nobody at BS will ever use the zoom for themselfs. I call it another Mesanna vaporware.

 

[Thrakkar]

Why don't they just make 2D in hi-res? 2016

We have two 2D clients:
First there is the CC, that's not hi-res.
Then we have the EC, that's hi-res... no... wait... it uses the tileset of the CC. So it can't be hi-res as well... but at least it can have a 4k game area or even bigger if needed...

 

[Deimos]

Third Dawn, Kingdom Reborn, and now the Enhanced Client all have had fundemental design and art styles which were poor or in some cases just plain wrong. It has wasted so much developer time it is unreal.

That's the real tragedy and hell, scandal, they must've spent a fortune doing all those 3 clients, trying to make UO a more modern game, but in the end, it was a failure.
If they got it right the first time, UO would probably have a much larger team and a much larger client base by now, but instead they squandered the chance, three times
A high res 2d client using reworked/high res art/animation, would be awesome, you only have to look back at that art challenge thread years ago when Saphireena? updated random bits of art to a more high res standard, it looked awesome.
Andrea's Ultima Online page > General > UO Art
E.g.

 

[MalagAste]

That's the real tragedy and hell, scandal, they must've spent a fortune doing all those 3 clients, trying to make UO a more modern game, but in the end, it was a failure.
If they got it right the first time, UO would probably have a much larger team and a much larger client base by now, but instead they squandered the chance, three times
A high res 2d client using reworked/high res art/animation, would be awesome, you only have to look back at that art challenge thread years ago when Saphireena? updated random bits of art to a more high res standard, it looked awesome.
Andrea's Ultima Online page > General > UO Art
E.g.
View attachment 43504
View attachment 43505

Yes and every time someone reminds us its a VERY sad day. Had they listened at the time and started the project then.... And actually HIRED her it would be done already.... and we would ALL be enjoying it.... but sadly they chose to let that opportunity go and then they gave us KR and wondered why we all wanted to throw up a little in our mouths. I honestly can NOT understand why whenever they try to throw a new client at us that they INSIST on totally changing all the art instead of just taking what we have and making it better and modernizing it. One would think by now they would get that we don't want the art completely changed... just improved to be a better quality for modern machines. *sighs*

 

[Uvtha]

Had they listened at the time and started the project then.... And actually HIRED her it would be done already.

If it was her alone, no chance. Even though that was what 5 years ago? From what I remember of her stated times for conversion and assuming 16kish pieces needed of varying size and complexity... that's not a job one person can really do. Even if she did 5 pieces a day every day of the year (obviously impossible) it would still take the better part of 10 years, and she would have gone insane long before completion. As wonderful as the game would look with one person doing the whole shebang it's just not possible.

That's sort of a question I have about getting people to go in and hand pixel it. You would need a team of like 20-30 people working for a year or two, and the results are going to be different for each of them, so the graphics could come out looking patchwork.

I think you either just simply double the size to make it visible, or forget about it.

 

[MalagAste]

If it was her alone, no chance. Even though that was what 5 years ago? From what I remember of her stated times for conversion and assuming 16kish pieces needed of varying size and complexity... that's not a job one person can really do. Even if she did 5 pieces a day every day of the year (obviously impossible) it would still take the better part of 10 years, and she would have gone insane long before completion. As wonderful as the game would look with one person doing the whole shebang it's just not possible.

That's sort of a question I have about getting people to go in and hand pixel it. You would need a team of like 20-30 people working for a year or two, and the results are going to be different for each of them, so the graphics could come out looking patchwork.

I think you either just simply double the size to make it visible, or forget about it.

I still think they should outsource it for rewards to the players... have us do the work... those that can and give some sort of "gift/reward" for those that do based on volume of work and quality. Then have their own art guy approve them or send them back if not good. Each person who volunteers takes like a section.... someone takes all the stone castle walls.... someone else takes all the small brick walls.... etc... they part them in groups and such so that there is consistency between sets. I think if several folk worked at it then It'd be done in no time.

 

[DJAd]

I think the closest thing we are going to get to "high res" UO is going to be shards online.

 

[Zeph Wightfyre]

I don't expect there to be any significant update to the art at this point. We may see one or two improvements trickle out, but I expect those will only make the EC look even more incoherent. UO is an ancient game at this point, and who knows if a significant art update would even be worth the investment?

 

[HoneythornGump]

Give me the KR toggle back then...

Seeing a high resolution (Kingdom Reborn)of Ultima Online is what brought me back to UO after a 3 year hiatus.

The game looked so much better with KR. Maybe some items and monsters didn't look that great but it's better than what we have right now.

And I don't buy the "look & feel of UO" argument that's attributed to the decline of this game.

Gve me an isometric game that's high resolution with all the UO content we have and that's UO.

Those of you who think the game look good are off your rockers. The game looks absolutely terrible..it's a blurry mess.

I really wish someone would do something with the game in terms of graphics upgrade, but with Mesanna still at the helm it's unlikely to ever happen.

The game will continue to go down the tubes unless they can get it looking better.

 

[Mitzlplik_LS]

"Bleak: So we have tried this in the past. We found a number of issues we would have to address. The biggest is the performance.
Lady Mesanna: If we can find a way to do it that does not effect the performance we would"

I call BS. I play 1024/768 on a 21 inch monitor with 1920/1080 resolution. I don`t have any performance issues.
For all the years UO has existed, that is the one thing that is inexcusable. The tiny lil window CC users get to play on. Seriously, thats the best you can do? That size should have been upped like 10-15 years ago, even than it was possible.
Its so absurd something like this has lingered since creation and somehow people are ok with it.

 

[Thrakkar]

And actually HIRED her it would be done already....

As Uvtha said, she most probably wouldn't have been able to finish it. Besides, who tells you, she is or was up for hire?

I still think they should outsource it for rewards to the players... have us do the work...

That's the worst idea ever. Let's assume there are 10000 tiles of art to upscale (that number is completely made up, no idea if it is accurate) and you find exactly 10000 volunteers (not talking about professional artists here, just volunteers). It is going to look like some ****ty patchwork graphics where most tiles don't mix and match.
Besides, if you outsource it to anyone, who is not even a professional, you can most probably quadruple the amount of time, he takes to finsih it. Besides, those people usually don't have the tools to do it right. Or do you want them to do it with MS Paint?
If you really want to do it the right way in a professional manner and in a year, you need a big team of professionals who knwo what they're doing. And that's not going to happen.

And should you finally be able to manage to complete it, what are you planning to do with the new art? Just replace the art files in the CC with the new art files and magically it will work and be bigger?
Hate to burst your bubble, but someone has to code in those new tiles with the higher resolution. We're talking here of the CC, not the EC, which has been built to have the tiles and sprites scale. That client is 20 years old, maybe even older, should they have taken over code from the U8 engine. Heck, they don't even dare to increase the game area window with keeping the art the same, because even with that they run into problems, which cannot easily be solved.

Best would be, if you all hop on the "UO isn't about graphics" train, like so many others on the forums are preaching and deal with it, that we never ever are going to get any different or higher resolution art!

For all the years UO has existed, that is the one thing that is inexcusable. The tiny lil window CC users get to play on. Seriously, thats the best you can do? That size should have been upped like 10-15 years ago, even than it was possible.
Its so absurd something like this has lingered since creation and somehow people are ok with it.

If the architecture of the client is messed up from doctoring around on the code for years, it could easily mean, that you just can't do it without a major refactoring, touching most major components of the software. Which would then take as much time as writing a new client from scratch. Guess what, that new client is called EC!

 

[Mitzlplik_LS]

If the architecture of the client is messed up from doctoring around on the code for years, it could easily mean, that you just can't do it without a major refactoring, touching most major components of the software. Which would then take as much time as writing a new client from scratch. Guess what, that new client is called EC!

No refactoring,no nothing. Select a different res from a drop down box, tada!!! Worked fine for me when I used to play EA/UO.

I find this small window thing unacceptable for a game this old that is still supported and loved by so many.

And yes, I also played with the EC,quite alot. I actually prefer it.
I just get annoyed when I read something referring to the impossibilities of a bigger CC window.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

I play UO CC in full screen with a decent sized black border. Just enough black area for my paperdoll, pack, status gump, and some spells. It works for me. I guess the only issue is if you want to access the bottom windows toolbar. Windowed mode is too annoying for me.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

This is what my screen looks like in full screen mode. As I said it's not cool for people that want access to the windows toolbar. But it's a LARGE game window especially on a large monitor. I don't use 3rd party programs and such so it's not a big deal to me.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

So what's wrong with that? Looks fine to me

 

[Thrakkar]

No refactoring,no nothing. Select a different res from a drop down box, tada!!! Worked fine for me when I used to play EA/UO.

I find this small window thing unacceptable for a game this old that is still supported and loved by so many.

And yes, I also played with the EC,quite alot. I actually prefer it.
I just get annoyed when I read something referring to the impossibilities of a bigger CC window.

I think you completely fail to see the issue here.
If the game renderer is heavily coupled and tied into other systems like GCD and other timers (after all everything has to be synced) and drawing a bigger game are is a timing issue, then you can't just crank up the resolution and just draw more tiles, because everything else would be affected or rendering would be impacted.

If it would be as simple as flipping a switch (or adding higher resolutions to the already existing combobox), they would have already done it several times.
They already tried it at least once and screenshots exist of this failed prototype, which had rendering issues.
And since they decided to go for a new client, refactoring the old obviously wasn't an option manpower-wise.

 

[arkiu]

That does look fine... pretty good actually... but I think it would be cool to enlarge the game window AND to allow for a wider field of view - similar to how the EC has an expanded field of view when zoomed all the way out. I think its doable by the devs. One example off the top of my head that I think this would be useful is during EM events. Sometimes dialogue appears off screen because of the limited space due to how crowded events can be.

Speaking of EM events - yea I think @Peekay mentioned performance issues related to in game animations. If you disagree with me on the usefulness of a larger CC game window - that's fine. But I hope we can all agree that these performance issues Peekay mentioned are totally unacceptable, and should be tackled before implementing a larger CC game window that apparently comes with performance drops as well. That kind of crap makes EM events miserable, and I really hope something can be done about it in the CC.

Also I'll add that I'm no expert in game mechanics so I acknowledge that anything I say or suggest should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Thrakkar]

So what's wrong with that? Looks fine to me

Not aiming for the native resolution usually sucks, especially if the software resolutiuon isn't an even multiple of the hardware resolution. That definitely worked better on CRTs.
Besides back in the days as 1024x768 was the thing, usual monitor sizes were 15", 17" later on. I'd rather not aim for that res on my current 27"...
Yeah, here in the forums a 1024x768 screenshot looks all fine and dandy... but no way I would go fullscreen with that.
TBH, it really looks incredible, way better than it would look in the EC, nevertheless, I could never go back to the CC... not with todays hardware...

 

[lucitus]

UO is a zombie, iam wondering that you are playing it anylonger. Sorry the producer of today is bad in my eyes has the wrong priorities. Iam out and iam happy with it, i think in 10 years i will see a new version of ultima online.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

This is what my screen looks like in full screen mode. As I said it's not cool for people that want access to the windows toolbar. But it's a LARGE game window especially on a large monitor. I don't use 3rd party programs and such so it's not a big deal to me.

View attachment 43514

What is that screen setting again?

 

[Uvtha]

I still think they should outsource it for rewards to the players... have us do the work... those that can and give some sort of "gift/reward" for those that do based on volume of work and quality. Then have their own art guy approve them or send them back if not good. Each person who volunteers takes like a section.... someone takes all the stone castle walls.... someone else takes all the small brick walls.... etc... they part them in groups and such so that there is consistency between sets. I think if several folk worked at it then It'd be done in no time.

Potential legal considerations aside, I really don't think letting players do it would get the job done. I think you may be underestimating the skill level (and tools) required to do a good job, and guessing by the size player base I would wager the number of people who could do an even passable job would be few and far between.

I myself, for example, have done hundreds of hours of pixel artwork over the years and my skills are dramatically behind Sapraheen (spelling), both in speed and quality. I could do a pretty good job I think, but it wouldn't look anywhere near as good as what she did, and if we were both doing it, you would know straight away that two different artists had worked on it.

I just don't see it.

 

[Uriah Heep]

And, @Capt. Lucky , the new art being off? Looks like thats what we are gonna get from here out. From last night's M&G:

Mesanna: Greetings
EM Asiantam: about artwork
EM Asiantam: New Quest Reward
EM Asiantam: why are they so circle
EM Asiantam: not oblique
Mesanna: because thats the way it looked best
EM Asiantam: I think there are some discrepancies are existing with the old items
EM Asiantam: they are more oblique
EM Asiantam: like the dye tub above
Mesanna: we will address it in the next newsletter
Mesanna: but the art probably will not change
Mesanna: thank you

 

[Capt. Lucky]

What is that screen setting again?

Sorry for the delay. Been actually playing instead of hanging here pancaking options -> eyeball looking thing -> full screen 1024 x768 game play 800x680 Check use full screen display. Depending on your windows version.... right click on the UO desk top icon. Click options... compatibility.... check "disable display scaling on high dpi settings". That should do it

 

[Capt. Lucky]

And, @Capt. Lucky , the new art being off? Looks like thats what we are gonna get from here out. From last night's M&G:

Mesanna: Greetings
EM Asiantam: about artwork
EM Asiantam: New Quest Reward
EM Asiantam: why are they so circle
EM Asiantam: not oblique
Mesanna: because thats the way it looked best
EM Asiantam: I think there are some discrepancies are existing with the old items
EM Asiantam: they are more oblique
EM Asiantam: like the dye tub above
Mesanna: we will address it in the next newsletter
Mesanna: but the art probably will not change
Mesanna: thank you

She don't get it at all and probably not much we can do about it. It might look cool setting alone on an art program, but when you introduce it into the world it looks obviously way off. We need people running the game that actually play the game. It's unprofessional to let something like that slide by, too encourage it gets into words I shouldn't use

 

[arkiu]

The lava rock display looks pretty good... but the tiger rug, banana hoard, and turtle fountain look pretty bad.... Wonder specifically what the player was referring to.. my guess is the turtle fountain... I would never place that in my home. Looks big and just doesn't mesh well with preexisting artwork.

 

[Uvtha]

And, @Capt. Lucky , the new art being off? Looks like thats what we are gonna get from here out. From last night's M&G:

Mesanna: Greetings
EM Asiantam: about artwork
EM Asiantam: New Quest Reward
EM Asiantam: why are they so circle
EM Asiantam: not oblique
Mesanna: because thats the way it looked best
EM Asiantam: I think there are some discrepancies are existing with the old items
EM Asiantam: they are more oblique
EM Asiantam: like the dye tub above
Mesanna: we will address it in the next newsletter
Mesanna: but the art probably will not change
Mesanna: thank you

Wow. I really just... wow.

I mean... EVERYONE hates the way it looks! It doesn't look right in game! I really have no idea how they can just stick with this when not only does it divert from core graphics, but everyone wants it the old way. I mean what about the sundail? Like honestly, what the hell.

I'll wait for the newsletter but the explanation here seems to be "we like how it looks" which is frankly shocking.

 

[MalagAste]

Wow. I really just... wow.

I mean... EVERYONE hates the way it looks! It doesn't look right in game! I really have no idea how they can just stick with this when not only does it divert from core graphics, but everyone wants it the old way. I mean what about the sundail? Like honestly, what the hell.

I'll wait for the newsletter but the explanation here seems to be "we like how it looks" which is frankly shocking.

They don't care how things look anymore. That's obvious. No matter how many times we point out that the perspective is WRONG totally they continue to F it up... they don't have to look at it every day what the heck do they care?

It is just another straw right? Or is that a full sheaf?

 

[Dot_Warner]

Besides, who tells you, she is or was up for hire?

When Calvin Crowner was still the producer, he offered Saphireena a job as an artist for UO, ostensibly to work her pixel magic on the old assets. Unfortunately, he (and or EA) dicked around long enough that she got an offer from another studio and became unavailable.

 

[Lady Storm]

*Does a double take*
Calvin Crowner .............. EA's attempt to kill UO.. with stupidity and ignorance.
A total yes man.... to the masses to blindside and pull away from what was about to happen.
Try to look up his cred's... You will see what I am saying.
He did nothing.
The whole steam behind the work out of Mythic's office was Mesanna and the few dev she had left.
EA sent job offers to some Dev team members to join Bio, or other projects, others they outright handed pink slips to and ushered them off property.
How fast you forget the few days the people left had to get what equipment and things needed to keep UO online!
I remember what was left had to be gotten the hell out of that office before EA destroyed it all.
Get this through your thick skulls...
Had it not been for the 1 board member of EA doing a startup company and sweet talking the rest of the board into letting him take DAoC and UO on a management role. This game would be on the trash heap... and no EA wouldn't sell the rights.
EA has us still by the purse strings.
Our Dark Lady has said if you know anyone who is UO, type games familiar and is an engineer or any other opening UO has please send them a resume.
Riddle:
How far can you spread the dev on toast?
IDK only 5 bites worth... not far. commented the local Damon Lord

 

[Mitzlplik_LS]

I think you completely fail to see the issue here.
If the game renderer is heavily coupled and tied into other systems like GCD and other timers (after all everything has to be synced) and drawing a bigger game are is a timing issue, then you can't just crank up the resolution and just draw more tiles, because everything else would be affected or rendering would be impacted.

If it would be as simple as flipping a switch (or adding higher resolutions to the already existing combobox), they would have already done it several times.
They already tried it at least once and screenshots exist of this failed prototype, which had rendering issues.
And since they decided to go for a new client, refactoring the old obviously wasn't an option manpower-wise.

I think you fail to realize I have already ran OSI UO in a higher resolution. It was as easy as flipping a switch. It does exist and is easily obtainable but it is unapproved. So tell me more how the devs just can not figure out how to make the game window bigger.
Cause when I rolled OSI/UO I certainly did not settle for the postage stamp size window and I did not have any performance issues at 1072/768.

But please drone on about these impossiblities. It is very interesting.

 

[Uvtha]

They don't care how things look anymore. That's obvious. No matter how many times we point out that the perspective is WRONG totally they continue to F it up... they don't have to look at it every day what the heck do they care?

It is just another straw right? Or is that a full sheaf?

Well the thing is that with this specific case it's not an issue of not caring, it wouldn't take any extra work to give it the prospective that people want. It's a case of them disagreeing with our taste in the art, which makes zero sense to me. Not only because it quite plainly and absolutely doesn't fit in the world, but because if it makes no difference, why not give people the perspective they want?

 

[Thrakkar]

I think you fail to realize I have already ran OSI UO in a higher resolution. It was as easy as flipping a switch. It does exist and is easily obtainable but it is unapproved. So tell me more how the devs just can not figure out how to make the game window bigger.
Cause when I rolled OSI/UO I certainly did not settle for the postage stamp size window and I did not have any performance issues at 1072/768.

But please drone on about these impossiblities. It is very interesting.

Oh, wow that is so awesome! You really managed to get it to 1072x768? That still sucks on a FullHD screen...
Now I googled around and I found that "tool". What you also find, are people who report that they have to deal with rendering errors, artifacts, black/grey screens, performance issues etc, the higher they go. And none of them gets even close to FullHD. Still as easy as flipping a switch, eh?

 

[MalagAste]

Well the thing is that with this specific case it's not an issue of not caring, it wouldn't take any extra work to give it the prospective that people want. It's a case of them disagreeing with our taste in the art, which makes zero sense to me. Not only because it quite plainly and absolutely doesn't fit in the world, but because if it makes no difference, why not give people the perspective they want?

It's sad really and the more things look horrible the more and more I get disgusted. I won't put most of the new stuff in my homes. I can't stand to have it look so out of place. I can conceive of my character having some of the Tokuno stuff because he studied Bushido... So obviously he would have a connection to the culture... but when it comes to having things look so grossly misshapen I just can't do it. As a Type A personality who is very OCD (CDO).... it bugs me. IF they are going to continue to put crap in that doesn't match the perspective then first they need to go back and change the perspective of everything already in the game... But otherwise they should leave it the way it is. It's all or none IMO not here a few there a few looks like crap... and again I wonder don't people take pride in their work anymore??? What ever happened to that?

 

[Mitzlplik_LS]

Oh, wow that is so awesome! You really managed to get it to 1072x768? That still sucks on a FullHD screen...
Now I googled around and I found that "tool". What you also find, are people who report that they have to deal with rendering errors, artifacts, black/grey screens, performance issues etc, the higher they go. And none of them gets even close to FullHD. Still as easy as flipping a switch, eh?

Unless you have played with what I played with, you just sound silly to those of us who know for sure. I don`t need your assumptions based off a google search to know for a fact 1072/768 is a non issue. If I wanted to donate $13 to BS I`d re-up and log in just to show off my oh so unattainable resolution screen shots. But it isn`t worth my dime just to convince the likes of you. I never had any graphical issues, no grey stuff, none of that. How do I know this? I played, I didn`t google. Don`t assume whatever you found is the gospel. More than likely, you aren`t even talking about the same thing. But do carry on =)

 

[Thrakkar]

Unless you have played with what I played with, you just sound silly to those of us who know for sure. I don`t need your assumptions based off a google search to know for a fact 1072/768 is a non issue. If I wanted to donate $13 to BS I`d re-up and log in just to show off my oh so unattainable resolution screen shots. But it isn`t worth my dime just to convince the likes of you. I never had any graphical issues, no grey stuff, none of that. How do I know this? I played, I didn`t google. Don`t assume whatever you found is the gospel. More than likely, you aren`t even talking about the same thing. But do carry on =)

Maybe you want to re-read my post. I never said I don't believe you or I have to have proof.
What I said is, that 1072x768 is still a measly resolution for todays screens, where FullHD is quite common and even higher resolutions getting more popular...

 

[lucitus]

And, @Capt. Lucky , the new art being off? Looks like thats what we are gonna get from here out. From last night's M&G:

Mesanna: Greetings
EM Asiantam: about artwork
EM Asiantam: New Quest Reward
EM Asiantam: why are they so circle
EM Asiantam: not oblique
Mesanna: because thats the way it looked best
EM Asiantam: I think there are some discrepancies are existing with the old items
EM Asiantam: they are more oblique
EM Asiantam: like the dye tub above
Mesanna: we will address it in the next newsletter
Mesanna: but the art probably will not change
Mesanna: thank you

I can't believe that they really think that the game is looking goo now, the add on was the worst thing in uos history. It simply makes no fun, the champ is so bad designed, I can accept that you recycle old art, but the whole champ makes no sense. ants, monkeys, turtle why? Bubbles around the turtle why? Is that turtle eating bubble gum ?

 

[BrianFreud]

Oh, wow that is so awesome! You really managed to get it to 1072x768? That still sucks on a FullHD screen...
Now I googled around and I found that "tool". What you also find, are people who report that they have to deal with rendering errors, artifacts, black/grey screens, performance issues etc, the higher they go. And none of them gets even close to FullHD. Still as easy as flipping a switch, eh?

Those generally are people trying for 2k and 4k resolution. Yes, if you try to zoom so high that all of Luna fits on a single screen, you'll run into issues. The main limiter is that OSI only sends out data for X number of tiles in any direction - 30, if I recall correctly. You can already hit that limit if you go high enough now. When you have a higher resolution/larger view window, you can more easily see the edges... but honestly, it looks better even then!

 

[Uvtha]

Bubbles around the turtle why? Is that turtle eating bubble gum ?

Is there any context message for that attack? I honestly don't remember, I only fought the thing the first week.

 

[Thrakkar]

The main limiter is that OSI only sends out data for X number of tiles in any direction - 30, if I recall correctly. You can already hit that limit if you go high enough now.

That's the same limitation as for the EC. But in the EC every tile, which is part of the world map is drawn correctly. Everything else (EM placed objects, houses, Mobs, other players) is only drawn, when within the max tile range and will pop up out of sheer nowhere as soon as it comes into max tile range.

 

[BrianFreud]

Aye, it's the same for the classic client when it's pushed to larger game window sizes.

 

[Magnus]

I think what is ridiculous, is that in 2016 the 'Enhanced' and graphically superior client that we have is a significant downgrade to the client we had in 2007.

For example, lets compare the art size of an elemental. Ignoring any preference for the art or anything, but from a pure technical perspective.

How is it acceptable that the EC has a faded out, 2/3 the size image that is barely recognizable as being anything other than a blob?

 

[Arroth Thaiel]

I can't believe that they really think that the game is looking goo now, the add on was the worst thing in uos history. It simply makes no fun, the champ is so bad designed, I can accept that you recycle old art, but the whole champ makes no sense. ants, monkeys, turtle why? Bubbles around the turtle why? Is that turtle eating bubble gum ?

The expansion is the "Time of Legends" and the content is based off legend or myth. In this case, Chinese origin mythology.

Legends are quite often interpretive, so what becomes the story is quite often exaggerated or changed to the point where the original isn't recognizable. There is a movie called "10,000 BC" that uses this interpretive storytelling as its main plot device, as does "The 13th Warrior", as do other movies.

In this case Chinese myth holds that there were four great creatures at the beginning.
Black Turtle
White Tiger
Vermillion (Red) Bird
Blue Dragon

The blue dragon and the black turtle got together and had an offspring, which is the dragon turtle.

Representing this myth in game, and playing with interpretive "legends", it looks like the development team put in the following.
Black Turtle = Myrmidex (it has a humped back shell)
White Tiger = Tigers (some are white - although why they didn't go with sabertooths, who knows)
Vermillion (Red) Bird = Phoenix (the origin of the phoenix mythos may be the vermillion bird)
Blue Dragon = Allosaurus (A big blue lizard - a dragon without wings)
Dragon Turtle = Dragon Turtle

The colored spheres may have to do with Feng shui (sticking with the Chinese theme) and patterns of energy, or something like that.

As for gorillas....well, they are mythical creatures of the forest I guess?!? Or maybe the dev team just thought a monkey with a banana cannon would be cool?

Is there any context message for that attack? I honestly don't remember, I only fought the thing the first week.

Don't see any system message.

 

[Zosimus]

This is what my screen looks like in full screen mode. As I said it's not cool for people that want access to the windows toolbar. But it's a LARGE game window especially on a large monitor. I don't use 3rd party programs and such so it's not a big deal to me.

View attachment 43514

I think they have a show on TV about hoarding addiction. Think I should give them a call.

The screen doesn't look bad though and not pixelated.


Now this part doesn't apply to you Capt


I preferred the KR client or art or whatever they called it. I thought it was better than the CC and the EC art.

I know I know. I heard about some glitches about paintings and stuff. Oh noes! It looked so terrible. I thought the game looked so smooth and more modern when they had it. I give the Mythic team that worked on it a thumbs up because it was never appreciated.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

I think they have a show on TV about hoarding addiction. Think I should give them a call.

The screen doesn't look bad though and not pixelated.


Now this part doesn't apply to you Capt


I preferred the KR client or art or whatever they called it. I thought it was better than the CC and the EC art.

I know I know. I heard about some glitches about paintings and stuff. Oh noes! It looked so terrible. I thought the game looked so smooth and more modern when they had it. I give the Mythic team that worked on it a thumbs up because it was never appreciated.

Don't like my deco? *cries* All the chests are for organization. They're not all full by any means. One row is armor, 3 rows are rares, another row for crafting supplies, that sorta thing. It's my system, I pretty much know instantly where I need to look for anything I want. Then in the rows of chests I put color coordinated bags to sub categorize, lol. Rares are always green bags, Christmas is red bags, etc, but it's important to note they always fall under the category of rares chests (which are organized by category first in rows from top to bottom). I have a lot of time on my hands... Heck, I still have at least 32 lock downs left!

 

[Zosimus]

So you are a little OCD

 

[THP]

well most folks play the cc for sure.... what we had 3 failed attempts at a horid 3 d model....

hi rez 2d ....yes pleze!!!!....make a lot of lot of lot of uo players happy...even the few ec players too

 

[Eärendil]

I think you fail to realize I have already ran OSI UO in a higher resolution. It was as easy as flipping a switch. It does exist and is easily obtainable but it is unapproved. So tell me more how the devs just can not figure out how to make the game window bigger.
Cause when I rolled OSI/UO I certainly did not settle for the postage stamp size window and I did not have any performance issues at 1072/768.

But please drone on about these impossiblities. It is very interesting.

Can you show me how? Please write me a PM, I would like to try it. Sounds good!

 

[Saphireena]

I still think they should outsource it for rewards to the players... have us do the work... those that can and give some sort of "gift/reward" for those that do based on volume of work and quality. Then have their own art guy approve them or send them back if not good. Each person who volunteers takes like a section.... someone takes all the stone castle walls.... someone else takes all the small brick walls.... etc... they part them in groups and such so that there is consistency between sets. I think if several folk worked at it then It'd be done in no time.

Having worked with large groups of artists (in game development) who were working together in a tight in-house team I can say that keeping a consistent style is still challenging, even when the whole team work in the same space and even with the best of art direction and style guides. It can be done though... that is, if it's in house and the art director can visually show and guide the artists.

However the idea of having fans of the game do the artwork brings not only a large variety of styles and visions, but also varying degrees of skill in pixel art which as you know as a pixel artist yourself, is a whooooooole different ball game than your normal every day graphics. And without close face to face art direction, the end result would undoubtedly be an outsourcing nightmare, with the poor outsourcing artist or AD pulling their hair out trying to give feedback over and over again.

A more realistic approach is an in-house art director / outsourcing artist who meticulously studies and documents the rules of the art style, creates the ultimate style guide which is then given to an outsourcing team in a cheaper country that has a good track record and has actual pixel talent, then makes sure that the AD of the outsourcing company totally gets it, leaving them to guide their own team in the and ensure that every point in the documentation is followed.

Edit: Crap sorry to resurrect this post. I didn't notice that it was actually from 2016.

 

[MalagAste]

It's ok... sometimes it happens...

 

[THP]

Ok time out!

I will explain this one more time....
EA owns UO.
EA holds the purse strings.
Broadsword is still running UO/DAoC.
Mesanna has been searching for more workers for the game.... she has interviewed many. Of which so far many who tried out didn't work. Even someone on stratics took the challenge and left after few weeks. They couldn't deal with it.
They must have some experience in UO... how hard can it be?
Apparently very.
She has 5 counting herself people to deal with the running of UO.
EA let go or sent elsewhere good talent from mythic before it closed shop. (stolen/lost talent)
This was not a sudden thing.
EA plotted this..
Look long gone are the days when over 25 Dev team members worked on the game.
UO was written on very old software, using ways designed by our games creator's and his dev.
Every time a publish that goes in ether for bug fix, update of current works, or a new publish it messes with that old code.
When I say messes I mean it breaks it in ways that can be impossible to repair back the way it was.
Ok I have one thing to ask and that is this... who went to the old Meet the Dev gatherings at the office?
I know some of you went to the old Mythic offices on the anniversary a few years ago.
I remember one commented on how much went into working on a nearly 20 year old game.
They don't pussyfoot in there people.
It's not easy working on that old a code and not cause a catastrophic failure....
Also time... how many times do you all pancake that they are not talking to you or listening to your wants and needs?
Last time I looked those meet and greets that are on usa shards mind you at 7pm est and run well past 11pm!
Asian and Oceanic time meets are hard too as the hours players are on them can be super late/early for the dev.
7 to 11 is not quite office hours!
Saying Mesanna lives and breaths UO is mild.... the lady lives on UO time! Dedicated to the players and game.
I don't think it is fair to her or the rest of the dev to hold something promised when EA had such a big hand in an effort to kill us off.
I play the CC. Yes I would love for it to fit the big screen on my TV.
but...
I can and will live with what I got and still be here till the lights ether go out on me or the game.

awesome read but the EC does suck out......yes it seems pvp gets a boost from the gliding on skates speed.....but to be honest if i was the lady id drop the EC and try make a crisper 2d model..better to help 75% than 25%...and add the 3d cheats to the 2d model.. did i say cheats i meant the 3d advantages...ksara same thing