Taming and KR... rambling first observations and questions

[Samaira]

Got a new puda during my recently ended 8 month hiatus from the game, and decided rather than copying my 2d macros over, I'd use the chance to actually explore KR.

First thing's first - I'd like to get down on my knees and kiss the feet of whoever was responsible for the pet healthbar sticky thing. And the fact that it remains up even when riding one of your pets. I know it's probably been around for a while now, but I just wanted to say it's AWESOME and offer eternal cheerleader-ings to whichever dev(s) that little gem came from. Thank you!

Secondly, someone please (pretty please!) tell me that the bake art is going to change... I vaguely remember CatHat muttering something about the red wolf being a placeholder, and it just doesn't gel with the current target art of the tsuki wolf heads. Judging from the murmurings I've caught in UHall, I'm guessing (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm quite out of the loop) that a lot of KR stuff is going on the backburner and SA taking priority...

Lastly, I guess i just want to touch base with my fellow tamers... has much changed in the last 8 months? I left just after GD's were released, but popped back long enough to hear something about a new horse...? Has there been any nerf-stick-swinging our way, or just the usual?

 

[Tina Small]

Glad to hear you're trying out KR on your return, Samaira. One word of warning about releasing pets in KR. If you have more than one pet out of the stable and you use a pet's health bar to release the pet, there's a really good chance you will end up releasing the wrong pet!!

To avoid having this happen to you, rename the pet that you wish to release and then use the release command, e.g., rename it A and say, "A release."

 

[Old Man of UO]

...
Secondly, someone please (pretty please!) tell me that the bake art is going to change... I vaguely remember CatHat muttering something about the red wolf being a placeholder, and it just doesn't gel with the current target art of the tsuki wolf heads. Judging from the murmurings I've caught in UHall, I'm guessing (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm quite out of the loop) that a lot of KR stuff is going on the backburner and SA taking priority...

Follow Tina Small's VERY good advice... only have ONE pet out of the stables if you are going to release it.

I love taming with KR. It took a bit of experimenting, but now I find it so much easier than using the 2D client. Create a taming macro to tame last target, then set it to repeat 10 times. You can disrupt it at any time by using another macro, using the Escape key (although that is iffy for me), or creating a dummy macro with no commands - this will stop all other macros.

I use lead taming and this self-repeating macro is a very nice feature.

Second, take the time to download the latest BBE Enhanced user interface. Set the frame rate to 60 (default is 30). This will make all the animation run smoothly. I never noticed before how jerky the 2D movement is. Here is a Stratics forum posting to help download and optimize KR settings:

http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=122985

And lastly, the KR improvements are on the back burner because the new SA client will replace it - my understanding is basically it is an updated KR client.

 

[Zodiac19]

First thing's first - I'd like to get down on my knees and kiss the feet of whoever was responsible for the pet healthbar sticky thing. And the fact that it remains up even when riding one of your pets. I know it's probably been around for a while now, but I just wanted to say it's AWESOME and offer eternal cheerleader-ings to whichever dev(s) that little gem came from. Thank you!

+1 here, I love my little foxes but the but the pink and white art is really horrible....

 

[this guy]

I remember when the first 3d client came out and could never get into it. I've been an avid fan of the 2d client forever basically. One of the main reasons is the art too. I love the art for the bake in the 2d client. They look wise, terrifyingly deadly...and cute. Somehow. Haha.

Is there anyway I can use the KR UI without using the 3d graphics? If there is, I'd really like to give the interface a try.

 

[this guy]

Oops. Forgot to mention that I use a Nostromo N52 SpeedPad for pretty much all my PC games and it works wonders to give me a huge variety of macroing options without having to move my fingers around the keyboard at all.

 

[Old Man of UO]

...
Is there anyway I can use the KR UI without using the 3d graphics? If there is, I'd really like to give the interface a try.

Well, there is a Legacy option for graphics, that sorta gives a blend of the KR and 2D graphics. Not exactly what you are looking for. It also helps a LOT to turn off shadows, things aren't quite as muddy looking. That is what I use... it took me a couple weeks to get used to the new graphics, but now I love it.

Crafting and resource (mining and lumberjack) macros are simply awesome in KR. The dress macro does instantaneous armor/weapon changes - something that UO Assist was never that great at. And if you take the time to load the BBE User Interface and optimize the client, it actually runs faster than the 2D on most (not all) computers. The BBE UI created by the Modders removes a lot of bugs and adds some very nice features (percentage health bars, real world clock, countdown timers of buffs).

If you need help with the client, the folks on the KR forum are very helpful and nice for the most part.

FYI- A lot of so called "Pvpers" refuse to use KR because certain programs do not work with it.

 

[Tina Small]

I made myself sit down and take a few days to read up on KR and then set up a couple of my tamers with it, using the BBE_Enhanced custom UI. It runs much better than I had expected and I've had very few crashes with it. Still don't want to use it when I know there will be a lot of spell casting and confusion on the screen, because I generally end up crashing and dead. But for the stuff I do with my tamers, it's been fine. I've even been using the targetting system and finding out it isn't as bad as I expected. Have not set it up yet to use it with any of my crafters or fighters, but I understand it has some wonderful features for the crafters. I demonstrated the undress/dress macros to all my guildmates and they were astounded. Apparently I got a bit carried away, however, and to my chagrin ended up with a guild title of "Guild Stripper." Guess I have to come up with something else outrageous for that character to do so Poo will change it to something else.

Old Man and several others on the KR forum are simply wonderful with helping people get going and answering their questions. If I'm not mistaken, he is one who clued me in to renaming the pet to be released and using the verbal release command, so he gets the credit for that good advice!

So if you've been thinking about switching over to it, now might not be a bad time to do it and get used to it before the SA client comes out. The SA client should be similar to the KR client, but hopefully even more stable and with some additional great features.

 

[Old Man of UO]

The dress macro in KR is for a LOT more than just dressing after resurrecting. I use to swap on luck jewelry (Bleue bracelet and ring) just before the final stroke to get a luck boost, swap weapons, and swap slayer talisman for my Trinket.

 

[Samaira]

Thanks for the advice folks, it's good to be back