[UO Herald] New Client Open Beta

[UO News]

With the release of UO’s 8th expansion pack around the corner we thought we’d give the community just a glimmer of the technology that’s been under development.


We’d like the community to take a look at our latest efforts to improve on the interface and user experience. Please understand that you do not need to use this client for the new expansion; however, we do think you’ll enjoy a lot of the features and improvements we’ve made. This client will maintain the “beta” tag as we continue to gather information and improve it based on community feedback.


We hope you’ll take a look, and more importantly, use it as a lens for future adventures as we open up the Stygian Abyss coming this Summer!
Please note: This is an open beta of the new client, but not the expansion content. This client will work on any shard, not just Test Center, so you can test it in a real environment.

Players can download the client here.




More...

 

[Teeshy]

Ok, so that I don't have to live vicariously through others - if someone downloaded the installer and the patch, then burn the resulting files from their hard drive to a disc and sent it to me, would it work on my PC?

If not, I want LOTS of images etc from other players

*anxiously awaits answer*

I REALLY want to try the new client =D

 

[Thangorodrim]

Is there a designated location for bug reports and the like for those who lack access to the closed beta boards?

 

[aarons6]

the install does not work with wine..

 

[HillBilly]

Is there a designated location for bug reports and the like for those who lack access to the closed beta boards?

You can report bugs via the main menu.

 

[DevilsOwn]

Is there a designated location for bug reports and the like for those who lack access to the closed beta boards?

there is a bug report feature within the game

 

[TheGrayGhost]

I'm so excited Just waiting on it to finish patching now

 

[Lady Kiara]

Ok I'm confused if you download this are you suspose to delete king Dumb reborn? Or just replace the client...although this client you down load doesn't have the content...is it suspose to run smoother...Thanks....

 

[TheGrayGhost]

Anyone know if you can bind movement to WASD like I did in Kingdom Reborn?

 

[HillBilly]

Anyone know if you can bind movement to WASD like I did in Kingdom Reborn?

Yes, you can.

 

[TheGrayGhost]

Yes, you can.

Awsome, main thing I was concerned about.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

UI wise, SA has a lot of great additions. Graphically, it's a HUGE step BACKWARDS.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

...

UI wise, SA has a lot of great additions. Graphically, it's a HUGE step BACKWARDS.

Of course the bulk of UO players do not care about graphics.....Honestly I would say any real gamer does not care about graphics, at least not nearly as much as playability and enjoyability... It is sad to see how so many people have taken to "looks" as being the defining factor of if a game is good or not. (not grouping you in there just stating the current state of games)

 

[It Lives]

Of course the bulk of UO players do not care about graphics.....Honestly I would say any real gamer does not care about graphics, at least not nearly as much as playability and enjoyability... It is sad to see how so many people have taken to "looks" as being the defining factor of if a game is good or not. (not grouping you in there just stating the current state of games)

Amen ...

 

[Lady Kiara]

anyone have comments on the playability with this Client Compared to KR Client.. As with lag...Slowness...

 

[Crysta]

RUns faster than KR does for me.

 

[kelmo]

Could we please get a day ot two of a Siege test shard? Just let us know. If you gave the vets (as you define the shard) a shot, we might be helpful.

I know you have done Siege Test in the past. Give us a weekend. Please.

 

[Deb]

:danceb
:

Now I dont have to ask about beta invites this week.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Could we please get a day ot two of a Siege test shard? Just let us know. If you gave the vets (as you define the shard) a shot, we might be helpful.

I know you have done Siege Test in the past. Give us a weekend. Please.

I assume this is asking for the content to be tested? The client should work on siege as is...So you can test with out needing a test shard, unless you are requesting it so all the siege players wont have to risk losing items because they are not use to the client, in which case ignore this post.

 

[Fink]

Of course the bulk of UO players do not care about graphics....

Of course they do. That's why SA client has the "old" graphics, to lure in the stalwarts.

It was one of the main and immediate complaints about KR, before even loading it up they made a decision based on screenshots. "It doesn't FEEL like UO, it looks so different" etc. "The bulk of" players wouldn't play it if it were in Windows 16-color reserved palette. At the very least they ought to offer a choice of new art or Legacy, as those that did adopt the new client (KR), and some who didn't, for the most part actually liked the updated art.

 

[Slayvite]

Could we please get a day ot two of a Siege test shard? Just let us know. If you gave the vets (as you define the shard) a shot, we might be helpful.

I know you have done Siege Test in the past. Give us a weekend. Please.

The client is for all shards? its just the content thats not being introduced yet, so you can test everything else to the way you would normally play. Or so i understand it to be.

 

[uoBuoY]

Ok, so that I don't have to live vicariously through others - if someone downloaded the installer and the patch, then burn the resulting files from their hard drive to a disc and sent it to me, would it work on my PC?

If not, I want LOTS of images etc from other players

*anxiously awaits answer*

I REALLY want to try the new client =D

Yes. A UO support tech did exactly that for me.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Of course they do. That's why SA client has the "old" graphics, to lure in the stalwarts.

It was one of the main and immediate complaints about KR, before even loading it up they made a decision based on screenshots. "It doesn't FEEL like UO, it looks so different" etc. "The bulk of" players wouldn't play it if it were in Windows 16-color reserved palette. At the very least they ought to offer a choice of new art or Legacy, as those that did adopt the new client (KR), and some who didn't, for the most part actually liked the updated art.

Quoting me out of context does not really work...If they cared about graphics in the way I obviously posted (considering the quote in my post) then they would have instantly went to KR because the graphics were "so good". I had no problems with the graphics, and I will still say KR did not, and does not, feel like UO. Nothing to do with the graphics, per say, but the feel of the game is very different from the 2d client. Of course I would have played KR but there is a minor problem with it for me that makes it virtually unplayable.

I do not say those that complained are the "bulk" of players. Just because the bulk of those who complained about it complained about graphics does not mean the bulk of the player base actually cares about such things. And again, I was pointing out the current state of games, where as the "graphics" are such a defining factor that even if the game is not good "at least it looks good".

Edit: So not to continue changing this thread, this will be my last "off topic" post...

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Of course the bulk of UO players do not care about graphics

REALLY? So that's why they state that very thing and then trash a client based on their graphical dislike of said client? My problem with the SA client's graphics are that they've been downgraded in terms of resolution and smoothness compared to KR. Instead of nice higher resolution detail as you zoom in, we're back to a pixelated mess (not as bad as 3d would get, but still jarring).

.....Honestly I would say any real gamer does not care about graphics, at least not nearly as much as playability and enjoyability...

So you'd be fine with Ultima VI graphics? V? IV? III? ASCII? At some point graphical quality plays in and SA is a resolutional quality step BACKWARDS from KR. KR was going in the right direction... it still needed to be polished and completed, but it was moving forward. SA does not move forward, it moves backwards from what was possible.

It is sad to see how so many people have taken to "looks" as being the defining factor of if a game is good or not.

Did you say this to the people who bashed the 3d or KR clients based on looks as well or is that reserved for single direction only (no offending the sensibilities of those who don't want UO graphics to advance past the SNES era, but be damned to people who want the client to maybe, just MAYBE offer higher end graphical options for those who want and can use them)?

Please, spare me the garbage in this post... after 2 years of dealing with KR bashers (yes, gloat now, get it out of your systems... your cries for mediocrity have won the day... Huzzah! Low resolution graphics for the masses!), hearing this tripe gets noisome.

 

[kelmo]

The client is for all shards? its just the content thats not being introduced yet, so you can test everything else to the way you would normally play. Or so i understand it to be.

You are correct. I will do this the hard way. I will test on Siege Live. Every time I make a mistake I will die. My stuff will be gone. That is OK normaly. If I get beat, the winner deserves the spoils.

But... IF that test shard is still around? Could we borrow it for the weekend?

 

[Crysta]

I don't play Siege, but I agree with Kelmo.. Siege is the expert shard, but adding getting used to a new client on top of that might be a bit much and without the Siege envirnoment, Siege players couldn't do such testing/acclimating properly.

 

[Slayvite]

Yeah, sorry about that Kelmo. i'd allready posted when i got what you were on about.

 

[Teeshy]

Yes. A UO support tech did exactly that for me.

MWAH!

Thanks so much for letting me know =D

*wanders off to beg people to do so for her*

 

[kelmo]

No worries... I am not that Siege poster you hate. I am the good guy. If and when you folks ever want to try Siege, come on over. I will spend every gold piece and pixel I have to make you comfortable and help you learn to survive.

If not? Enjoy this game we all share. There is room for us all.

By the way... If that test shard is still available?

 

[kelmo]

No worries... I am not that Siege poster you hate. I am the good guy. If and when you folks ever want to try Siege, come on over. I will spend every gold piece and pixel I have to make you comfortable and help you learn to survive.

If not? Enjoy this game we all share. There is room for us all.

By the way... If that test shard is still available?

By the way folks... Mythic. It is always fun when we have a Siege test shard. Make it happen and come see. *winks*

 

[MissEcho]

If you didn't play KR and are new to the SA client you may wish to use the SA user guide on Spellweave.com.

Note this is a client guide only and does NOT contain any SA content.

 

[Teeshy]

Oh good on ya MissE!

I used your KR guide a lot, no doubt will use the SA one a lot too So easy to understand and use =D

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

...

Of course the bulk of UO players do not care about graphics

REALLY? So that's why they state that very thing and then trash a client based on their graphical dislike of said client? My problem with the SA client's graphics are that they've been downgraded in terms of resolution and smoothness compared to KR. Instead of nice higher resolution detail as you zoom in, we're back to a pixelated mess (not as bad as 3d would get, but still jarring).

.....Honestly I would say any real gamer does not care about graphics, at least not nearly as much as playability and enjoyability...

So you'd be fine with Ultima VI graphics? V? IV? III? ASCII? At some point graphical quality plays in and SA is a resolutional quality step BACKWARDS from KR. KR was going in the right direction... it still needed to be polished and completed, but it was moving forward. SA does not move forward, it moves backwards from what was possible.

It is sad to see how so many people have taken to "looks" as being the defining factor of if a game is good or not.

Did you say this to the people who bashed the 3d or KR clients based on looks as well or is that reserved for single direction only (no offending the sensibilities of those who don't want UO graphics to advance past the SNES era, but be damned to people who want the client to maybe, just MAYBE offer higher end graphical options for those who want and can use them)?

Please, spare me the garbage in this post... after 2 years of dealing with KR bashers (yes, gloat now, get it out of your systems... your cries for mediocrity have won the day... Huzzah! Low resolution graphics for the masses!), hearing this tripe gets noisome.

Seriously? "Not caring" means just that, if you read my reply above your post I am sure it will answer your questions. Once again, not grouping you with anyone, Simply pointing out the current state of games. And yes, I would critic the people who complained about KRs graphics but again I point out they are more than likely not the majority of UO players, keep in mind there is a SMALL portion of players who post or voice their opinions. Again I shall point out the loudest group gets heard.

I have never bashed KR and I even promoted it, I have however stated I can not play it, which is the truth when I hit the enter button it toggles Fullscreen, and I have yet to be able to rectify the issue, it is more than likely something I did but since I can not fix it, I can not play it. All that said, I still promote it and try to get others to try it.

Again, graphics should not decide the playability of a game, they should also not be the basis on how good it is or will do in the future.

One more answer, Yes I would be fine with Ultima I graphics.

 

[TheGrayGhost]

Seriously? "Not caring" means just that, if you read my reply above your post I am sure it will answer your questions. Once again, not grouping you with anyone, Simply pointing out the current state of games. And yes, I would critic the people who complained about KRs graphics but again I point out they are more than likely not the majority of UO players, keep in mind there is a SMALL portion of players who post or voice their opinions. Again I shall point out the loudest group gets heard.

I have never bashed KR and I even promoted it, I have however stated I can not play it, which is the truth when I hit the enter button it toggles Fullscreen, and I have yet to be able to rectify the issue, it is more than likely something I did but since I can not fix it, I can not play it. All that said, I still promote it and try to get others to try it.

Again, graphics should not decide the playability of a game, they should also not be the basis on how good it is or will do in the future.

One more answer, Yes I would be fine with Ultima I graphics.

when I hit the enter button it toggles Fullscreen, and I have yet to be able to rectify the issue, it is more than likely something I did but since I can not fix it, I can not play it.

Oo........... this I can actually help with. It has to do with Alt+tabbing out. Once you do this, every single time you hit enter your screen changes from full screen to windowed and visa versa. The way to fix this is simply hit enter to get which you prefer first then hit alt once. You can now hit enter freely without it wigging out on you.

The reason this happens is a bit wierd but has to do with Alt+Enter being the default key binding to switch from full screen mode to windowed mode. Once you have the desired version (Windowed or Full Screen) I would recomend setting the default toggle to something else. This "should" keep it from happening again.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Oo........... this I can actually help with. It has to do with Alt+tabbing out. Once you do this, every single time you hit enter your screen changes from full screen to windowed and visa versa. The way to fix this is simply hit enter to get which you prefer first then hit alt once. You can now hit enter freely without it wigging out on you.

The reason this happens is a bit wierd but has to do with Alt+Enter being the default key binding to switch from full screen mode to windowed mode. Once you have the desired version (Windowed or Full Screen) I would recomend setting the default toggle to something else. This "should" keep it from happening again.

!!!!! I have been trying for like a year to get this to work. lol. Thank you, I may try it...but considering SA's release I may just call it quits on the KR client. But at least now if it happens in SA I know what to do.

 

[TheGrayGhost]

For those of you that haven't given the SA client a go yet, I recomend you do. If you like the KR clients performance and percision but hate the stability issues and graphical glitches SA has you covered. So far it is out shinning KR performance (Even with KR tweaked) and has had great stability. If you like the look of the 2D client but don't like the slower response of the controls then SA has you covered there as well.

I was a bit skeptical about some saying it was the best of KR and 2D, but so far I'm sold. One of the things about KR that won me over from the 2D was the responsiveness and the performance I got out of it. After playing KR (Tweaked a bit) I tried going back to 2D but I just couldn't help but notice the slight pauses in the controls. KR just surpassed the 2D client in performance, but the stability was always an issue and the bugs and graphical glitches made it more trouble than it was worth at times. I like the old 2D client and it will always hold a place in my heart but I just couldn't go back after experiencing the performance boost KR provided.

SA truly is a perfect mariage between the two so far. I will stress so far, a few hours without any issues or crashes isn't anything to brag about (Unless you've played for awhile with the KR client lol). Toning down the graphics for SA was a good move. While I did like the look of KR, the graphics created more problems than it was really worth. Where KR shined was the performance, percision and the functionality of the UI. SA seems to have all that minus the issues.

Wife and I are both loving it.

 

[Lady Michelle]

...

UI wise, SA has a lot of great additions. Graphically, it's a HUGE step BACKWARDS.

When I logged in and seen all my plants were the 2d graphics I was disappointed KR graphics least made the plants look more real.

 

[AesSedai]

...I like the old 2D client and it will always hold a place in my heart but I just couldn't go back after experiencing the performance boost KR provided.

SA truly is a perfect mariage between the two so far. I will stress so far, a few hours without any issues or crashes isn't anything to brag about (Unless you've played for awhile with the KR client lol). Toning down the graphics for SA was a good move. While I did like the look of KR, the graphics created more problems than it was really worth. Where KR shined was the performance, percision and the functionality of the UI. SA seems to have all that minus the issues.

Wife and I are both loving it.

- I'd love to see the classic treasure chest open up (and soundly creak, ja) upon logging in; with a choice between classic and updated graphics
(Everything seems updated und better thus far & I'm glad to see this is BETA rather than an official Live release. Great job UO Team!)

 

[Shakkara]

I quit when they canned the 3D client as I hated KR due to the horrid blurry graphics and the 2D client wouldn't run smooth at my PC and had a crappy UI compared to 3D (tiny backpacks, non-scalable game window, annoying menus, etc).

This may bring me back as long as it looks and plays as good as the old 3D client.

 

[Uthar Pendragon]

Sounds to me that this client is being received alot better than KR ever was so that bodes well. Now if I can just get past the comfort factor. after 9 yrs on the old client it doesnt feel "comfortable" but I will continue to give it a go and see if this passes.

 

[FrejaSP]

You are correct. I will do this the hard way. I will test on Siege Live. Every time I make a mistake I will die. My stuff will be gone. That is OK normaly. If I get beat, the winner deserves the spoils.

But... IF that test shard is still around? Could we borrow it for the weekend?

Dying is a part of Siege, just don't carry anything you can't affort loosing
The client may speed up your running skill

 

[RJO]

So I am a little confused.. is this essentially a 2D client with KR's UI, etc?

I've been seriously considering coming back lately and this would push me WAY over the edge.

 

[Nvnter]

Must......Buy......Faster.......Hard....Drives...Faster...Processor......4 hours now and almost done........1723 MB / 1864 MB....


I hope it works,,,,,I guess I should cry now in expectation of client failure

 

[olduofan]

well over 3 hours and stalled at 92%

anyone else ?

 

[Slayvite]

from 92% onwards its just really slow, mine dipped to 1kb/sec but it does download. honest.

 

[Vyal]

wow, crap download speed for sure. Stick it on fileplanet they got better servers Please
about 5 kb a sec if that from 22MB on, I would be better off to download FF13

 

[DevilsOwn]

So I am a little confused.. is this essentially a 2D client with KR's UI, etc?

I've been seriously considering coming back lately and this would push me WAY over the edge.

pretty much what it is, yes

 

[olduofan]

95% unreal could they put this on fileplanet still have 1000mb to go ahhh hope its worth it

 

[Shakkara]

It has the crappy blurry KR terrain. And the items do not seem to be as detailled as they are in the 2D Client. They look as if someone compressed them all to JPG and back several times. The avatars are just plain horrid and again one big blur instead of the fine detail I've come to expect of the (original) 3D client.

I was hoping it would be somewhat like the 3D client, as in 2D with better-looking avatars and a superior interface. Unfortunately it seems just another KR debacle with crappy graphics, the UI isn't better than the 3D client either (less efficient without the right-clicking, and the UI interface elements are very ugly by themselves, it breathes student project instead of breathing ulitma, then again it's missing a font too).
As much as I would have loved to otherwise, DO NOT WANT.

*doesn't re-activate subscription*

 

[Ailish]

Out of curiousity Shakkara, have you tried the various suggestions people have put out there for optimizing and cutting blur? Did you give it more than a minute try? Did you remember that it is not only still in Beta, but has been explicitly stated that it will be in Beta for a good while yet, which means you have a decent chance of giving feedback and suggestions that *could* cause changes to happen?