What exactly is "legal" in UO?

[SuperKen]

Me and a guildmate are having a little debate about this.

I'm an old fashioned kind of guy; UO, UOA, and UOAM is all I run. I have no other programs running on my computer that affect UO, or even my computer's performance.

I've tried looking through several forums and online, but cannot find a definitive answer anywhere.

Any help on the matter is greatly appreciated. Some of the questions I have in particular are:

1. Hardware based overclocking?
2. Software based overclocking?
3. Software based programs?

I'm pretty sure there's no debate that E***UO and software programs that directly alter UO's data stream are illegal. But correct me if I'm wrong.

Lastly, I'm not asking which programs, hacks, cheats, etc. get me banned. (I already know that answer: none of them, if my daily experience is any indication of the vigilance against cheaters...*sigh*) I'd like to know UO's official answer on what is considered "legal" and OK to use.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

EA knowledge base lists only the items you and I know as UOPro products as the legal ones. Anything else is illegal if you hold to that in strictest form.

 

[Basara]

The devs have in the past have stated the following...

Software-based programs are most likely illegal. The ones that are legal are the UOPro ones.
Software overclocking, they stated is illegal (such as the program S******XP).

Altering the cachesizes in your 2D client's .cfg files is legal, and will probably make your game run much better.
Making your own skins for KR is legal, including ones that tweak functionality without modifying the game itself (adding Tithing point displays like UOAssist's, displaying other info, etc.).
You can alter the music files for your client, but doing so will probably cause patching to fail, so save a copy of the directory, prior to the changes, and replace the altered folder as needed prior to client patches (the swap the changes back in).

Hardware (as in processor) overclocking is legal AFAIK, but risks damage to your computer system. And, there's nothing they can really do to detect it anyway if they considered it illegal. And, why one would need it for UO is beyond me...

And, additional keypads are legal; in fact, the devs use them when they play the game, personally.

 

[Nok]

Basara nailed it.

 

[Balian of Asgard]

Basara nailed it.

Ive always wondered how a mage can cast FS on me twice before i can flee off the screen in full flight.

 

[Nok]

Hi Balian,

Ive always wondered how a mage can cast FS on me twice before i can flee off the screen in full flight.

Could be any number of reasons.

Illegally. Someone could be cheating.

Legally. Someone might... have a better computer than you. A faster Internet connection. Less data congestion over their ISP's regional backbone connection. And dozens of other technical possibilities.

Or all of the above.

 

[Pickaxe Pete]

Hardware (as in processor) overclocking is legal AFAIK, but risks damage to your computer system. And, there's nothing they can really do to detect it anyway if they considered it illegal. And, why one would need it for UO is beyond me...

It might help a little bit with those Pentium 166s we had when the game was new!

...and to think people wonder if they can even run this game with some 1ghz monster....

 

[SuperKen]

Thanks for the replies, guys and gals.

I believe Basara has indeed nailed it.

Balian's computer runs just fine. If he's getting two flamestrikes, especially from a distance...well, I think we know what he's trying to imply is happening.

I wasn't aware that you could alter your own .cfg files! That's pretty interesting; does this mean I could get myself a bigger backpack?

Oh, and my apologies for writing out the program's name, I should have known better.

 

[Basara]

Nah, all those config files do is record a few basic settings (your default cache & screen settings), and a bunch of other things that don't even work anymore....

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Altering the cachesizes in your 2D client's .cfg files is legal, and will probably make your game run much better.

How exactly do I have to alter the cachesize? What exactly is the cachesize? The amount of data UO keeps in the memory? Does the value I should set depend on my RAM?

 

[Basara]

you go in with notepad into the various .cfg files (uo.cfg, etc. there are three that have the lines in the main directory, and 1 or 2 in each character's directory) and look for a line that says "CacheSize=25". Change the 25 to twice your system RAM, or 1024, whichever is lower.

Since making the change on my characters, while I have about an 80-110 ms latency connecting to Lake Austin, I often outrun people with half of less that who haven't made the change, because their system is constantly having to clear the cache and reload new material as they move.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Forgot the keypad as legal ... good point. Logitech G15 is part of that legally ... as are the other keypad-only rigs. The Devs have stated they use them as well.

 

[SuperKen]

Nah, all those config files do is record a few basic settings (your default cache & screen settings), and a bunch of other things that don't even work anymore....

Yea, I just realized that myself. .cfg files are just config files, not graphical files.

Those 2D client backpacks are so tiny... =[

 

[SuperKen]

you go in with notepad into the various .cfg files (uo.cfg, etc. there are three that have the lines in the main directory, and 1 or 2 in each character's directory) and look for a line that says "CacheSize=25". Change the 25 to twice your system RAM, or 1024, whichever is lower.

Since making the change on my characters, while I have about an 80-110 ms latency connecting to Lake Austin, I often outrun people with half of less that who haven't made the change, because their system is constantly having to clear the cache and reload new material as they move.

A question about that: I have 4gb of RAM (I'm using Win x64), so do I set it to twice my system ram (4x1024 = 4096) or do I keep it to 1024?

 

[Rainbow Stu]

ummm i think you leave it at 1024. I am not sure i would like to know what i would do also i have 1gb of ram.

 

[Basara]

The dev that mentioned said that going over 1024 wouldn't have an appreciable effect (after all, the 2D client is less than 1 GB in total size, so having 1 GB reserved is more than enough)