PvM Melee Problems Last Night

[steeda95gt]

Hi everyone,

First off, I posted this thread in UHall, so my apologies if I didn't post it in the right place to start, but I figured that I could get a good response by placing my client issue in this forum.

Detals below:

This issue didnt occur until last night, so I have a feeling that it has to do with the latest update or publish 63, although I could be wrong.

I was out hunting last night and I noticed something very strange happen. As soon as I kill a monster, the graphics displayed on my client make it look like it 'froze'. I would have to run off the screen for a few seconds and come back to have the updated graphics (of the dead corpse), and come back to loot it. I couldn't loot it while it was in this 'frozen' state.

I didn't experience any other type of lag while playing. I could run around fine, and the monster graphic art was updating fine as it was walking towards me. The problem came when the monster and I were on the same tile (or possibly one tile apart), where I notice that the artwork wasn't updating nearly as frequently as usual. Kind of like the monster was in "slow-mo", but the action sequences (giving and taking damage) were updating normally as in the past.

I checked the patchlog file and I wasn't missing anything on my client. I am using the classic client 7.0.4.2 (patch 80). I play on atlantic as well.

Anyone else experience this? Or could it just be my machine?

Thanks in advance!

 

[steeda95gt]

Well, are there any ideas here?

Should I try to re-install the client?

 

[Skylark SP]

I think your post title may be deterring people from looking at your problem. The title makes it sound like a game mechanics issue rather than a technical issue with playing the game. Perhaps something such as "excessive delay in mob graphic updates during combat following Publish 63" or something along that line would give a better indication of the problem. Also, you have not given us any information, other than the version of UO client you are using, such as operating system/hardware info or any details about your Internet connection.

If I understand correctly, the server tracks state & coordinates of mobs and sends out updates for the client to render accordingly, and all the graphics load is handled locally. It sounds like either something is interfering with timely communication between the two or possibly something is corrupted in the client and causing it to not respond properly. Maybe with both your char and the monster on the same tile, something is getting garbled.

Without anything further to go on, I really have no advice on troubleshooting this issue. Reinstalling the client is time consuming and a pain, I know but I don't see that it can hurt. If your installation of UO is very old, it will have experienced a great deal of bloat, and a fresh install can really help performance. (I know it did on my older computer with limited graphics RAM). If you have a lot of macros and such you will want to back those up.

-Skylark

 

[steeda95gt]

Skylark,

Thank you for your advice. I realize now that I should have titled the thread a little bit better, but I figured that anyone playing a non-melee character wouldn't experience the same issues that I have. I didn't have a graphics rendering issues while the creature was walking towards my character, and wasn't experiencing any lag while running around.

Are there any files in my local UO directory which would log errors between the client and server?

I figure that if I reinstall the client, it will be an overnight thing. I believe that since I would be upgrading since 9th anniversary, I have over 500MB of updates to snag, which I don't mind, but setting up the character macros is the real pain. Speaking of which, is there a directory that I can copy the desktop and macros to a temp directory so when I reinstall the client, I can just copy the files back over?

In fact, UO runs great on my computer. I installed UO on my computer on Halloween of this past year (just returned from a two year hiatus) and haven't experienced this problem until Publish 63. I sent an email to the customer service department stating this issue, but I haven't received a response yet - nor do I think they will.

Here are some details about my computer:
3.0GHZ P4
2GB Ram
Nvidia 5500 Video Card (256MB Ram), kind of old, but UO still runs fine.
Bellsouth DSL 3.0MB Connection

Lastly, could a mod please change the subject of this thread to "Excessive delay in mob graphic updates during combat following Publish 63"?

Thanks again!!

 

[Skylark SP]

I'm unaware of any error log files for communication between client & server (doesn't mean they are not there, I haven't really poked around in the UO installation much to know).

Let's try a simple test to see if something in your existing character's local configuration settings are corrupted.

Please make a fresh character on another east coast shard that you currently DO NOT have any character on. This will make a fresh configuration folder for that shard/character in the Desktop folder of the game installation directory. As soon as you create the character, go attack a mongbat or something, and see if you experience the graphic bug in combat. If you don't, that is a pretty good indication the problem lies with the configuration files for the Atlantic character.

Here is an article from EA's knowledge base, which describes saving a copy of the folder containing the customized settings for a character (i.e. macros, screen layout), deleting the original, and forcing the game to create a fresh one. In your case, the name of the game installation folder will be different since you used the 9th Anniversary disc to install.

*edit* the location of the character configuration files has been changed, and is no longer in the game Desktop directory; see post below.

-Skylark

 

[steeda95gt]

Skylark,

I can't express my gratitude for you helping me out with this issue. I am currently at work right now and when I get back to the house, I will try out this method. I also apologize for not listing Windows XP SP2 as my OS. *slaps forehead*

I'll let you know what happens!

Thanks again!!!!

 

[Skylark SP]

OK, I looked on my new Windows XP computer that I recently installed UO on from the 9th Anniversary disc, and saw that it actually placed the character settings in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\User Data

It will have a folder for each of your accounts, and a shard subfolder, and then finally a folder for any character name you have logged in on.

The old "Desktop" folder in the game installation directory is empty.

There is a macros2d.txt and macros.txt file in the folder with my character name. The one labeled macros.txt actually has my custom macros in it.

-Skylark

 

[Wulf2k]

I've had this problem myself. It's not just dying things, but that's the most obvious.

A bunch of animations 'stick'. It should do the same thing when you cast on foot. You'll get the first frame of casting animation, then no more.

Reboot the machine. I don't know what causes it, but that fixes it.