House Placement - Why Can't I Place Here?

[Val-Tur]

There seems to be plenty of space. I am one tile away from the trees, etc. But when I try to place an 18x18, I get the *invalid terrain* message. What is keeping me from placing here? Also, I have to be 1 tile from a tree, correct? It gives me the same message when I try to place right next to the trees.

 

[Akiho]

Needs to be a 1 tile space by the sea for people to get around, whilst not explicitly mentioned in placing rules it is a rule. I guess you could possibly place the 18x18 3-4 tiles south.

 

[Larisa]

Also, I see that you are in the Classic Client. If you are in Windowed Mode, make sure your game screen is all the way in the upper left hand corner.

But yes it looks like if you move a few tiles south it *might* work.

 

[jack flash uk]

if you need help. pm me I can take a look. but yes, game window pushed up to the top left of your screen, the tool is off target if its anywhere else, and it needs to be further from the water, try a 17x18 and see if it fits.

 

[jack flash uk]

try 2 tiles forward as well to get more area around the top right corner where its too close to the coast there

 

[Val-Tur]

I know I have seen houses with no space to pass between the water and the house. That is so confusing.

 

[Dryzzid of Atlantic]

I know I have seen houses with no space to pass between the water and the house. That is so confusing.

The housing rules have changed drastically since release. You used to be able to place houses pretty much anywhere - even on top of other houses. There are still houses standing from those days and they are considered grandfathered - they don't adhere to the current rules for placement. However, if a house sitting next to a blocker were to fall, it could not be replaced.

Plus, there are some spots where a classic house will fit but a custom plot will not due to classic house footprints not using the full row of tiles for stair space. You can place a classic house and then convert it to a custom plot and the stairs of the custom house can potentially rest up against a blocker.

 

[Sellingahouse]

there are also some spots where a new keep will fit but an old style will not. just weird.

 

[Akiho]

The housing rules have changed drastically since release. You used to be able to place houses pretty much anywhere - even on top of other houses. There are still houses standing from those days and they are considered grandfathered - they don't adhere to the current rules for placement. However, if a house sitting next to a blocker were to fall, it could not be replaced.

Plus, there are some spots where a classic house will fit but a custom plot will not due to classic house footprints not using the full row of tiles for stair space. You can place a classic house and then convert it to a custom plot and the stairs of the custom house can potentially rest up against a blocker.

I wonder if there are any of those left. I have one screenie of a place I passed many moons ago, might have been Napa Valley or Lake Superior, easy 15+ years ago. Not my place but back then it was something I always wanted myself!



That was my full gameplay screen back then on a CRT monitor, how times have changed!! That particular tower had 2 small houses placed either side of the door too (against current house placement rules), You can see the top of the left house but the right is out of shot.

 

[Dryzzid of Atlantic]

I wonder if there are any of those left. I have one screenie of a place I passed many moons ago, might have been Napa Valley or Lake Superior, easy 15+ years ago. Not my place but back then it was something I always wanted myself!

The ones I remember on Atlantic were a tower near Despise that had a small house on it, a keep on Ice Island that had its doorway blocked with 3 small houses, and the Atlantic Mage Tower annex which was a large brick placed half out into the sea - but that one may have been placed by IGM/seers because it was a blessed building.

 

[Val-Tur]

It's the shore that is the issue. I can place if I move multiple tiles forward. But the spot is ruined. The trees are almost right on the front stairs becasue of having to move it forward so much. My current house has trees too close to the steps, which is one of several reasons I want to move. On to find another spot.

 

[Akiho]

Found one at the front of the tower.

 

[Akiho]

It's the shore that is the issue. I can place if I move multiple tiles forward. But the spot is ruined. The trees are almost right on the front stairs becasue of having to move it forward so much. My current house has trees too close to the steps, which is one of several reasons I want to move. On to find another spot.

I feel your pain, nothing worse than finding an awesome spot only for your doorstep to be covered by a tree or some such obstruction. I've abandoned keep and even on rare occasion castle spots for that very reason. Seems trivial, but not for me and many others.

 

[Obsidian]

I recommend going to another shard that has a house in that spot and take a picture using the snipping tool in Windows. Then go back to where you are trying to place and try to match the picture with your placement. You can also try using EC which I find to work better for house placement, but that may just be me. I like the zoom feature in EC.

 

[The Zog historian]

The housing rules have changed drastically since release. You used to be able to place houses pretty much anywhere - even on top of other houses. There are still houses standing from those days and they are considered grandfathered - they don't adhere to the current rules for placement. However, if a house sitting next to a blocker were to fall, it could not be replaced.

After my first house got jacked (got killed with the key on me, a for-the-time powerful 2x GM swordsman by an exploiter swinging a halberd once per second), I saved up all over again and looked around for days to place a large patrio. Housing space had started to get pretty scarce on Sonoma. I even offered 25K to whoever could find a spot for me. Finally I found a spot in Ocllo among the trees. I didn't mind if they poked through the roof. The problem was that the house wound up high in the trees so that we had no way to get inside. A GM responded, and I had hoped the house could be forced down, but the GM couldn't (wouldn't), instead deleting the house and giving me the deed.

Then a friend tried placing a 2-story, I think outside Trinsic. The only way to get it to fit was to have the front steps. His similar problem was that he couldn't get on the steps to enter the house! He paged a GM, who couldn't (wouldn't) force the house over and it was the darndest thing: the GM deleted the house as pieces, but not the walls or stairs like customizing a house, but as triangles whisked away like when Photoshopping an image. Then he gave my friend a deed.

 

[Akiho]

I recommend going to another shard that has a house in that spot and take a picture using the snipping tool in Windows. Then go back to where you are trying to place and try to match the picture with your placement. You can also try using EC which I find to work better for house placement, but that may just be me. I like the zoom feature in EC.

A house can not be placed where he is trying, there must be a 1xtile space around the entire plot (not including the front space rule). maybe 3-4 tiles south will be fine.

 

[Akiho]

After my first house got jacked (got killed with the key on me, a for-the-time powerful 2x GM swordsman by an exploiter swinging a halberd once per second), I saved up all over again and looked around for days to place a large patrio. Housing space had started to get pretty scarce on Sonoma. I even offered 25K to whoever could find a spot for me. Finally I found a spot in Ocllo among the trees. I didn't mind if they poked through the roof. The problem was that the house wound up high in the trees so that we had no way to get inside. A GM responded, and I had hoped the house could be forced down, but the GM couldn't (wouldn't), instead deleting the house and giving me the deed.

Then a friend tried placing a 2-story, I think outside Trinsic. The only way to get it to fit was to have the front steps. His similar problem was that he couldn't get on the steps to enter the house! He paged a GM, who couldn't (wouldn't) force the house over and it was the darndest thing: the GM deleted the house as pieces, but not the walls or stairs like customizing a house, but as triangles whisked away like when Photoshopping an image. Then he gave my friend a deed.

Those times are gladly, maybe not for everyone, gone.

 

[Obsidian]

A house can not be placed where he is trying, there must be a 1xtile space around the entire plot (not including the front space rule). maybe 3-4 tiles south will be fine.

Yes, we agree. That's why finding a shard where there is a house placed offset by a tile or two will give him the info he needs to get a plot down.

 

[Akiho]

Yes, we agree. That's why finding a shard where there is a house placed offset by a tile or two will give him the info he needs to get a plot down.

Apolgies for being blunt but I believe he want's to place on the shard he is playing. Flipping shard will not change anything for him/her on the desired shard. As a multishard player myself I know plots can differ.

 

[Val-Tur]

Yes, we agree. That's why finding a shard where there is a house placed offset by a tile or two will give him the info he needs to get a plot down.

I can place a house, but the trees to the south will be almost on top of my stairs (see several posts ago). I have given up on this spot.

 

[The Zog historian]

Found one at the front of the tower.

View attachment 114915

It's 99.44% certain there was once a third house that closed it off, forming a secure "courtyard" for recalling into, back in the day when getting into a house (and refreshing it) depended only on having a key. It was an infinitesimal probability that someone somehow already marked a rune for in that spot, not impossible but extremely unlikely. You'd find out for sure if someday you recalled in, and a dozen invaders came out of hiding in that courtyard. There was also an old trick of hiding and logging out where a house might be placed, because if one did, the character wouldn't be booted upon logging in.

Even for just a small house, it was worth 120K to put three other houses around it, if there was space. A courtyard enclosure was the only way to make the front doors truly secure, before the implementation of owner/friend access to doors and containers. If you used another account (not holding a key) to open the doors and let in your main character, an invader could still have hidden outside and rush in with you. Then he'd play hide and seek while waiting for friends to come, who he could then let in, and if they didn't get your key they could at least start looting. A lot of frustrated people quit UO forever because of the time to buy a house, only to lose it.

There were also these, for larger houses with inner rooms, giving some security but still not guaranteed. Still have mine from a large brick:

 

[Akiho]

There was a time when a small tower could go for as low as 500,000 and that was with trees in the way etc. Now, uless you are playing Atlantic, you can pretty much place anywhere you want to and castle spots are abundant.

 

[The Zog historian]

Those times are gladly, maybe not for everyone, gone.

I'm glad they were. The game wouldn't have survived without Trammel, and I don't think it would have lasted until Trammel had we not gained house security. After my first-ever house got jacked a few days after I placed it, I begged the GM for a way to change the key so I didn't waste all that time. No luck. "I'm sorry, I cannot help thee" was the most macroed thing in the game.

 

[Dryzzid of Atlantic]

It's 99.44% certain there was once a third house that closed it off, forming a secure "courtyard" for recalling into, back in the day when getting into a house (and refreshing it) depended only on having a key. It was an infinitesimal probability that someone somehow already marked a rune for in that spot, not impossible but extremely unlikely. You'd find out for sure if someday you recalled in, and a dozen invaders came out of hiding in that courtyard. There was also an old trick of hiding and logging out where a house might be placed, because if one did, the character wouldn't be booted upon logging in.

The keep I mentioned in an earlier post on Atlantic was like this - two small houses flanking the front doors and another small house in front of those two creating a courtyard. Only someone with a pre-marked rune could access that house. The last owner I knew was GreyPawn of MTC and the keep is long gone now.