Question for Devs/IDOCers Concerning Decay

[Omnius]

In the past as an IDOC hunter, I found that houses usually decayed during a certain sweet spot period. All houses that were going to fall fell by a certain time in the day.

Well, it seems like that sweet spot period no longer exists. Houses are going into different decay stages less predictably. I found a house in the morning that was greatly worn. I went to check to see if it had gone idoc later tonight and it was already down! I've seen two cases of this since the fix.

Can anyone else confirm that this is now the case and houses collapse during less predictable times, or rather that they are entering decay stages less predictably(not all clustered like they used to)?

 

[Moby Grape]

They are still falling in the same time periods as before.

The couple that you saw were probably owner knock downs. For some odd reason peeps love to cycle them to greatly, before they xfer or demo them.

The ones out of the normal fall time period are normally owner moves.

 

[Omnius]

thats pretty hard to believe given the content of many of these idocs. I see them GW. 7 hours later it's idoc. An hour later it's already down. Thats shorter than the standard 12ish.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

already answered in theFoF of June 6 Under: Playguide Updates:

yadda yadda yadda
Housing: Purchasing and Owning a House: Added 15-day character age requirement.
Housing: Building Your House: Added 15-day character age requirement, demolish timer, and placement tool cooldown info.
Housing: Housing States and Home Maintenance: Added placement timer on IDOC plots.(<< has new decay cycle)
yadda yadda yadda

and yeah! My linkies work and the Heralds don't ... SO !?!? tough! learn how to internets!
LoL

 

[Olahorand]

Housing: Housing States and Home Maintenance: Added placement timer on IDOC plots.(<< has new decay cycle)

that information, that the IDOC period takes 12 to 24 hours, is wrong since the housing changes years ago.
It's usually around 7 hours.
So the OP could have seen the Greatly Worn status a few moments, before the house changed to IDOC, which he recognized maybe 6 hours later.
So after one more hour the house would have gone.
*Salute*
Olahorand

 

[Omnius]

Thank olah for confirming my thoughts.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

Housing: Housing States and Home Maintenance: Added placement timer on IDOC plots.(<< has new decay cycle)

that information, that the IDOC period takes 12 to 24 hours, is wrong since the housing changes years ago.
It's usually around 7 hours.
...

Oh yeah? ... well, whateva ... Last updated June 6, 2008 IS the date at the bottom of the doc ...

When a house collapses, new houses cannot be placed on that lot for a random amount of time.

IS one of the new changes ... I guess we Can assume the op is a seasoned and practiced idocer,
We can assume he can tell time and keeps accurate notes,
We can assume he actually returned to the same spot, for all of that ...
(Of course, we can be sure there was NO exageration as to the precision of the observed Times)
However
Failing a mention, of actually trying to place there, the plot "no place timer" is unknown to be working or not.
Failing a mention of loot, could be an owner demolish (as others pointed out)
No mention of shard and/or general area of shard, also leaves that point unresolved.(re: Origin vs all the rest)

I mean, Moby Grape's offfer of: They are still falling in the same time periods as before.
... hmmmm we're talking 24hour type precision? yes? no?
(just keeping "the" minute and "the" hour as a trade secret? I suppose that could be expected)

I guess we can assume that the "Approximate Duration" is actually based on hard coded "days" and "hours" (real world, sosarian time would make it tooooo confusing)
and an "approximate" day would be no less than 24 hours and an "approximate" hour no less than a full 60 minutes (for the "first" day/hour when there are two)
although ... in the case of a forty hour transition .... we can't really be sure that the first addend was 19hours and the second 21 ... doesn't matter ... still adds up to forty ...
won't have reason to be suspect till the first sighting of a "house state changing" in 23hours55minutes .... which ooops! would actually explain what the op "saw".

never mind, myself? I'll wait for an established and known IDOCer to recheck and establish the "current state" of IDOC falls and timers.

 

[THP]

THE LAST CYCLE... 'in danger of collapsing' as been 7 hours for years ...

I HAVE FOUND THE HOUSES THAT are now decaying and falling per day are still within a sweet spot all falling within 1 maybe 2 hours max..

 

[Moby Grape]

never mind, myself? I'll wait for an established and known IDOCer to recheck and establish the "current state" of IDOC falls and timers.

Most established and known IDOCers would not spoon feed you, that infomation, no matter how long you tend to wait.

Maybe more time in the field and less time 'in the rear with the gear' is what you need to answer your question.

 

[KoolAidAddict]

As an IDOC'r on atlantic for many a year, I can attest to the "pert near" 7 hour window from "idoc" to "poof". I have sat many an idoc from server up to looting, and know almost exactly how long my arse has to be in the chair.

As for the "other" timing issue, there is an advanced decay rate for houses that once were idoc, but for whatever reason it went "owned by osi", usually due to having leftover vendors and or vendor money tied to the home. Once that issue is dealt with and it reverts to idoc and NOT "owned by osi", the decay rate is comparable to a damn paragon imp that crossed a server line!!
Thats prolly what hap to your house that fell so quickly.

As for a certain someone linking to the "outdated" idoc info, yes the doc is dated blah blah blah, but the "change" to the idoc timer info was not. It makes the doc up to date as per june whatever, but doesnt do the same for some of the info.
It did add the info for the random timer as to placing a plot once the idoc went down, but poster was asking for the timing of said house in "idoc" status to "fall", I believe.

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

IDOCer or not ...the "updated on" gives the Dev's perfect cover to put any range of changes in ... to the timers,
and NOT get beaten up for "not saying/warning" in the event any one house on any one shard ... goes Over the "accustomed"
7 hours ... OR in the event any one house on any one shard, doesn't fall in the "sweet spot"

Besides ... with the new delay to place immediatly after the fall, all the goodies are gonna be gone, and no temp's will be placing (15 day old requirement)
and peeps will be locking into delay(house tool adjustment), trying to guess the random "okay! Place!" timer expire ....

any "sweet spot" just got just a little wider.

You wanna call that "as sweet" or "sweeter"
FINE

knock yaself out ...

 

[Sysaro Rakshasa]

So... I am new to IDOC'ing, but as there seems to be fewer and fewer people playing the game, I am guessing that the # of IDOC houses will increas so I am looking at getting into the "trade".

However in Publish 52, it states:


* When an IDOC drops, housing cannot be placed on the lot for a random amount of time
* Items that drop from the IDOC will have protections against scripted looting

It is the second bullet that I have question on. Does this mean that if a house collapses, that I can't loot what is there?

I also read at http://www.andrea.net/uo/general/screenshots/screen37.shtml that "These days, only the owner and friends of a house may see it's decay status via the house sign. But in the olden days, anyone who clicked on the sign of a house could see what stage of decay it was in." Is there any truth in this? or just an attempt to reduce the moral of other would be IDOC'ers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

It is the second bullet that I have question on. Does this mean that if a house collapses, that I can't loot what is there?

Only IF your using an illegal scripted program to "do" the looting ... maybe ... no reports either way as to "success or failure" (or what)
Stick to "ingame" methods of picking and grabbing ... should be fine.

Is there any truth in this? (State of Decay)
First sign you see WITH decay status (and without "owned by OSI" or "Demolition pending") ... would kinda "put the lie" to that ...
yes?
Reports of "functioning as usual" Have been recieved, fairly recently.

yw
G'hunting!