Spawn and map holes

[Aerodice]

I'm sure this has been brought up so many times but it needs to be mentioned again. There are too many spawn and map holes in the game and they really need to be addressed and fixed.

What is a spawn/map hole?
A spawn/map hole is a location in the game where a monster spawns and gets stuck or cannot be attacked. A player can also find themselves trapped in a map hole requiring the use of recalling out or using the stuck option.

Why is it a problem?
A monster does not respawn if it is not killed. If you cannot kill a monster that is stuck, it can stop whole spawners and systems. The worst case scenarios involve getting a renowned monster stuck and completely halting a spawn system. It is also possible to completely wipe out an area of spawns because they have all respawned in an area that you cannot access. In terms of players getting stuck, most of the time you can recall out but it is still a big problem if you die or a monster decides to follow you in.

I am posting this because I am sure that I, as well as many other players, would like to see some kind of permanent solution to this frequently occurring problem.

Solutions that are not appropriate:

-Paging a gm to remove or move the spawns/player. This is a temporary solution and does not address the big issue.

-Using a ranged fighter to kill "stuck" monsters. This is also a temporary solution and not everyone has the means to do so. Not all creatures can be killed this way and forcing players to use a certain template to overcome this flaw is not appropriate.

 

[Ludes]

This has actually been a fixture in the game since day one.

 

[Sept]

This has actually been a fixture in the game since day one.

This is more than likely true, however this does not mean that the problem can/should be overlooked.

 

[Nyses]

A part of the current publish is a fix for the renowned Devourer of Souls. They have also fixed other spawns as a one off situation in the past, such as Navery.

I am of the opinion that they only fix the inaccessible spawns, when the GM's complain that too much of their time is being taken up having to respond to pages regarding the issue.

There has never been a game wide cleanup of the "map holes", that I am aware of.

 

[Aerodice]

This has actually been a fixture in the game since day one.

There's truth in that but there's also truth in that it has become a much more frequent problem after UOKR and the introduction of UOSA. The spawn holes have been growing in numbers and areas that never used to have them have them now.

It doesn't just happen with renowned bosses, they just tend to get addressed because more people notice them. In ter mur, there's an area I frequently kill stuff in that has bad map holes. It's where the lava elementals and fire daemons spawn.

 

[5% Luck]

There is some code in the arrgo timer that makes a mob respawn after a set amount of time if it does not find a player to arrgo. This was put in because a while back players were luring a number of spawn to an area to circumvent them and work only on a specific mob.

Give it a try. If you lure all the mobs from an area except one and just fight that one for around an hour the rest will begin to respawn so long as no one causes an arrgo at their lured location.

With that I will say that at certain spawn locations the likelihood of a mob spawning in a stuck location renders the spawn near useless. If it happens you can wait out the argo timer but if it happens far to often your waiting out the arrgo timer more often then you are using the spawn and That is not fun.

The few I would note are:

Firedemons in overland telmur.

Wind dragon/demon spawn

Entrance to the abyssal infernal. Lots of mobs stuck at the entrance. It was noted in the patch notes about the renowned not spawning in a stuck location but then notes were not specific to all mobs in that area.

There are tons more but a single player is simply unlikely to know or remember them all. Maybe the OP can keep an eye on this thread and edit in a list from all the replys.

If posters are willing to leave a note in this thread!

Or maybe a moderator could reiterate a list from this thread in the bugs forum if it gets comprehensive.

 

[Ludes]

This is more than likely true, however this does not mean that the problem can/should be overlooked.

I agree 100% but I'd bet anything its one of those things that if they knew how to fix it they would have a long time ago. I've heard stories about the coding for UO and I wouldn't be surprised if theres noone there anymore that would have any idea how to go about tracking that bug down... they'd probably break it worse anyway if they tried.

 

[Aerodice]

There is some code in the arrgo timer that makes a mob respawn after a set amount of time if it does not find a player to arrgo. This was put in because a while back players were luring a number of spawn to an area to circumvent them and work only on a specific mob.

Give it a try. If you lure all the mobs from an area except one and just fight that one for around an hour the rest will begin to respawn so long as no one causes an arrgo at their lured location.

With that I will say that at certain spawn locations the likelihood of a mob spawning in a stuck location renders the spawn near useless. If it happens you can wait out the argo timer but if it happens far to often your waiting out the arrgo timer more often then you are using the spawn and That is not fun.

The few I would note are:

Firedemons in overland telmur.

Wind dragon/demon spawn

Entrance to the abyssal infernal. Lots of mobs stuck at the entrance. It was noted in the patch notes about the renowned not spawning in a stuck location but then notes were not specific to all mobs in that area.

There are tons more but a single player is simply unlikely to know or remember them all. Maybe the OP can keep an eye on this thread and edit in a list from all the replys.

If posters are willing to leave a note in this thread!

Or maybe a moderator could reiterate a list from this thread in the bugs forum if it gets comprehensive.

Thanks for the tips and advice, I'll try that out. The fire daemons and lava elementals in ter mur were the big problem. I also managed to get stuck on the mountain and a fire gargoyle decided to jump on me and attack in a spot I couldn't hit back. Luckily I was able to recall but it was quite the scene.

 

[Raptor85]

God, I wish they'd go and fix some of these, while we're at it heres my two favorite areas... (ones that have been a problem for a loong time too, not even new SA ones they haven't gotten to yet)

Destard champ spawn...... the hills and holes spawn tons of stuff in there that can't get out, and there's not even line of sight so you can't even hit with ranged weps, about the only way to kill them is with area attacks, and not even all of those work.

Ice East champ spawn..... everyone knows this one, the little valleys with trees fill with TONS of spawn that's completely unreachable, there's absolutely no way to kill anything that spawns in there, which as the spawn goes on severely reduces the number of monsters in the areas where you can actually kill them. While they're at it for the love of god make a path through those rocks so you don't have to hop on a boat to cross to each side to kill the ones spawning behind the spawn area

 

[Nyses]

Ice East champ spawn..... everyone knows this one, the little valleys with trees fill with TONS of spawn that's completely unreachable, there's absolutely no way to kill anything that spawns in there, which as the spawn goes on severely reduces the number of monsters in the areas where you can actually kill them. While they're at it for the love of god make a path through those rocks so you don't have to hop on a boat to cross to each side to kill the ones spawning behind the spawn area

I have always believed, that the teleporters (sparkles) in that spawn were coded wrong. It would make a lot more sense if the 2 sparkles on the west side, and the 2 sparkles on the East side, actually took you to the opposite sides. As it stands now, each set just teleports you to the opposite end of the same side. In what way is that helpful?